The Paved Frontier

After a couple months of being stuck at home (we moved into the new house, the boys started school- Rowan for the first time, Katherine started a new job, and we adopted a new puppy- Ullr), we finally got a chance to take the RV out.  Our family definitely needed the weekend away.  It’s been a pretty crazy end to a summer that was totally relaxing and fun and fulfilling (I’m talking about our awesome road trip).  Now we are looking forward to Autumn.  We started it off with a 3 day weekend trip not far from our house.  We enjoyed late night fires, lazy mornings, afternoon hikes, and even went to a professional bull riding event.

Check out our video here:

We stayed at the Mays Landing RV Resort.  It was a pretty good RV park- the people were all really friendly.  The rest
of the park was just ok- the bathrooms and laundry room were fine, but since we were only there for the weekend, we didn’t mind.  Although the roads and RV sites were dirt, there were tons of trees and shade, and the sites were level with full hook ups.  The playground was really great, and there was a stocked pond where you can catch and release- the kids loved it!  Since it was so late in the year, the pool was closed, but it looked good.  Another benefit of this RV park was the price- Only $34/night for full hook ups and it was at a pretty central location.  There were a lot of things to do with a half hour drive of us, and if you’re heading into Atlantic City, it’s only about a half hour drive (we didn’t go there this weekend though).  Despite the almost constant rain, it cleared up Sunday night and we had gorgeous weather for a hike on Monday.

The Estell Manor Park was only a 10 minute drive away and there were miles of easy hiking trails, playgrounds, and picnic tables, as well as a nature center.  They didn’t have very good RV parking, but they let us park in the maintenance parking lot, which was nice.  The boys had a great time collecting sticks and playing on the huge playground.  We got to do some off leash training with Ullr.

The biggest event of the weekend was the PBR event- we’ve never been to one and we were super excited to take the boys.  We definitely treated ourselves with expensive tickets, but there were some available for only $25 each.  But it was worth the expense- because we had a great time!  The boys thought it was awesome, it was high energy and a lot of fun, and (kind of) a once in a lifetime experience.

Since we’re focusing on budget friendly weekend trips for the school year, I want to do a breakdown of each weekend’s cost.  If it weren’t for the PBR event, it would have been a totally budget friendly weekend.

Lodging: $92.00

Food: $60.30

Gas/Tolls: $15.60+ $6.00 (in the video I said we had to pay the toll twice, but we ended up only having to pay it one way)

PBR: $208.00

Total: 381.90

This weekend was a great time away.  We were able to relax, enjoy the RV, and see new things.  One of the reasons we were able to actually relax and feel refreshed from this weekend away was all the prep work I did before heading out on Friday afternoon.  I had all our meals ready to be cooked and I tried to have everything loaded up the evening before.  Check out my post here about preparing all your meals at home throughout the week so you aren’t stuck cooking and doing the dishes all weekend.  We’re working out the best ways to get out of the house as soon as possible, and once I get it down pat, I’ll be sure to share those tips and tricks with you, too.

Have you ever visited the Jersey Shore?  What did you do there?  Anything you consider a “must see?”

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