Sunny Rest Resort Palmerton PA

July 01 - 08, 2014 

We made it to a Walmart in Lewisburg PA on Tuesday the 1st of July to stock up on food.  We picked up 40 lbs. of ribs, 12 lbs. of small potatoes to make salt potatoes, and 8 lbs. of green beans all for the BBQ we are having with friends on the 4th of July at our next stop, Sunny Rest Resort in Palmerton PA.   We also picked up some food for ourselves after the 4th weekend so we wouldn’t need to leave while we are at the resort.

Pork Ribs for the 4th of July BBQ at Sunny Rest Resort.

Picture from my walk on the morning before we left Jellystone.
This is the Chillisquaque river.

Thought this was interesting, a full size refrigerator in a tent at Jellystone Park.

We left Jellystone Park on Wednesday the 2nd for the 95 mile trip to Palmerton PA.  We arrived at Sunny Rest Resort around 1:30 pm and headed to our reserved site F19.  We reserved the site last year when we were here.  This was one of the last sites available last year because we waited a few days past the 4th to reserve a site as we didn’t know if we would be back.  Well, here we are on F19 as we decided to do this one more year.

Site F19 is not a very good site for our large RV.  The site is very rocky and is very unlevel from front to back.  Since our rig is 40 feet long we like to push all of the way to the back of the site so we have plenty of room in front for our 22 foot truck.  We also wanted to make room for 2 cars from our friends who were going to be on our site with us.  The first attempt at using the auto level didn’t work because the system needs to allow the front of the RV to go below level before rising again to level.  The rig was just about level with the front jacks all of the way in so it couldn’t get below level to start the auto level routine.

We re-hitched the rig to the truck and pulled forward about 6 feet and tried to auto level again.  We still couldn’t level the rig.  So I leveled the rig manually using the leveling system.  It’s not hard to do using the electronic controls and watching the read out for levelness front to back and side to side.   I have found it easier to level the rig side to side and then front to back.  

As I was setting up the outside stuff, the electricity went out in the rig.  I first looked at our power management meter and found it was dark meaning there wasn’t power coming into the rig.  Next I checked the breakers at the pedestal and they were not tripped.  I got our 110 volt fan and plugged it into the pedestal and it didn’t work either.  It now looks like we do not have power to the pedestal.  Our neighbor however has power as his AC is running.  I called up the resort office to let them know and they sent out a repair guy right away.  It turned out to be a feed breaker on a pole behind us that had failed.  Within an hour the repair guy had the breaker replaced and we were in business again.

After getting the rig hooked up I began setting up all of the “fun” decorations including decorative lights, our large flag, ground pad, and lots of chairs.  We only set up all of this stuff if we are staying more than a couple of days and usually more than a week or more.  However, this week is a fun holiday week so I went all out on the decorations.  This took me almost 3 hours.

Cooking the ribs late on the 2nd of July.

Now that the decorations and outside stuff was setup I began to cook all 40 lbs. of the pork ribs for the 4th.  I wanted to get the cooking of the ribs out of the way before the 4th so I could relax some on the 4th instead of cooking all day.  The plan was to get the ribs cooked with a dry rub in the oven on a low 300 degree setting for 3 hours.  After the slow cooking I brushed them with BBQ sauce that would caramelize on the grille before serving them.  I then cut them up into 4 and 2 ribs sections for easier handling and serving. I finished the ribs around 10 pm and then it was off to bed.  I was beat!

Our site at Sunny Rest Resort.

Thursday the 3rd 3 of our friends arrived at our site to stay with us for the next 3 days.  It will be a bit tight but 3 people is the limit of overnighter’s without major space issues.  Our married couple friends, Cindy and Rob, took the air mattress and our single friend, Leigh, took the sofa.  During the day we just flipped the air mattress up against the wall for more space which worked great.  Also, to save space, our guests kept most of their extra clothes in their cars.

That evening half of the 25 or so that are in our group went into town to eat dinner and the rest of us ate in the resort restaurant including us.  We went out to the outside restaurant, which is very good by the way, last year.  We just decided to stay in the resort as much as possible this year and need to deal with driving or riding anywhere.   The food is not as good at the resort but it isn’t bad either.  I think both groups had fun wherever they went.

The 4th of July I started grilling the ribs around 4 pm to be served at 6:30 pm.  I had the ribs in 2 large aluminum pans we use for the chafing racks.  I had the pans with the ribs in our large cooler on ice for the past day.  I now caramelized the ribs on medium heat on the grille.  I did about 8 lbs. at a time for about ½ hour each and then placed them in the chafing racks to stay warm.  The last hour before serving time, Patty started the salt potatoes and I started the green beans.  We had it all ready for serving by a little after 6 pm. Amazing that we were early!

All of the food turned out great!  Cindy, Rob, and Leigh brought cakes for desert and they were good too.  It was great effort by all to have a fun 4th BBQ for 29 friends.  After dinner most everyone went to the disco.  Patty and I went to bed as we were bushed from the work preparing dinner.

Saturday the 5th the resort had their fireworks to celebrate the 4th holiday.  The weather was perfect for the fireworks; 70 degrees, clear, and no wind.  It just doesn’t get better than that!  After the fireworks we went to the dance at the pool side where they had a live band.

Sunday the 6th was leaving day for our friends Cindy, Rob, and Leigh.  They got packed up and were on their way by around 11 am.  We will see them again next month as we are staying in Cindy and Rob’s driveway for 4-5 weeks in NJ near the shore.  Patty and I are here at the resort until Wednesday.

We went to the pool for the rest of the day and then had dinner with Leo and Diana at a new friend’s, JR, house here at the resort.  We had a good time eating and looking at old pictures of Gunnison beach from as early as 1990.

Monday the 7th I washed the rig.  Sunny Rest allows washing of cars, trucks, and RVs except on Friday – Sunday, and on Holidays.  So I took advantage of this and got it washed.  It had not been long since I washed it back in Indiana 6 weeks ago.  However, we have driven through a lot of rain and wet roads since then as well as many bugs.  This time washing the rig I put the truck up real close to the front of the RV and since it is very low due to the leveling condition here I could hand wash the nose of the RV.  This is probably the cleanest the nose of the rig has been since it was new.

After relaxing for a while and taking a shower, we took a short walk to see how Patty’s hips are doing.  Well, not so good yet.  We heard the karaoke singers so we went down to the pool and had a couple drinks and Patty sung a couple of songs.  It was a nice night.

Tuesday the 8th, our last full day here at Sunny Rest.  I decided to wash the truck this morning and then maybe we would go the pool and relax some.  I got the truck washed and then the sun went away being replaced with clouds. We decided to just vegetate in the RV.  We will probably have left over pulled chicken sandwiches tonight for dinner and watch some TV.

Tomorrow the 9th we need to put away all of the decorations and prepare to leave for Elmira NY.  We will just be in Elmira for a couple of nights and then we head up to Grand Island NY for the next 4 weeks.

Stay Tuned!