The Highs of our First State Park Stay
RV Life isn't a magical fairytale; it's just life, with its highs and lows. We experienced an influx of lows leading up to/arriving at our first state park, Jordan Lake State Recreation Area in North Carolina. We had to quickly change our plans for our stay, had trouble backing into our site, and then had to contend with stormy weather and a sick cat. Thankfully, towards the end of our stay we were able to turn things around.
Jordan Lake is a big, beautiful lake outside of Raleigh. It has several campgrounds, but during the off-season, only one is open. This year happened to be the Crosswinds Campground, 3 loops of rustic back-in sites, some overlooking the lake. We, of course, didn't get such a view due to our last-minute booking, but we were only a short walk away. No matter what site you get, they're all really spacious, which was a plus.
As soon as we had sunny (albeit chilly) weather, we took Tanner exploring. The Crosswinds Campground has a little hiking trail running through it that connects all 3 loops. We walked the road around our loop (Loop B) and over to Loop C (to see the site we would have had if we didn't need to change our plans), and then took the hiking trail back to our site. We were in NC in mid-March, and the trees weren't quite turning green yet. However, the state park is home to tons of holly trees that gave the woods some colorful dimension.
It felt so good to get outside and be amongst trees and woods. This is exactly what we want out of RV life! We got a little bit of elevation gain on the hiking trail with some small rolling hills, and we got to see fun little features like this walking bridge.
The best part, of course, is the lake itself. There are so many different vantage points in the state park, but this is the one from our campground loop.
On our final day at the park, our friends Tara and David visited. We took a hike to New Hope Overlook and got to see a different perspective of the lake scenery. Then Tara and David came back to our site to get a tour of Buggy and enjoy a picnic/campfire. It's been really nice prioritizing seeing friends and family while on the road. Tara and David moved from MA to NC over 3 years ago, and we never imagined being able to have them come visit us in their state!
Those last couple of days at Jordan Lake put us in good spirits for our next travel day. We'll be back in NC in the near future, with plans to get our trailer serviced. But until then, it was time to go where no Buggy had ever gone before! We were heading into South Carolina, into Spring, and into another much-needed full hookup campsite!