Congratulations to Ryan Shattuck. He and his dad aka manager/mechanic have been racing at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Summer Shootout series. He and his family have been staying at Yates Family Camping this summer while competing in area Bandolero events. Ryan is a rookie and this coming Tuesday night (August 10) at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, he has a chance to be the first rookie to ever win the series in its sixteen year history! Lets all go out and support him! He driving car #13!

A shout out to Noah Cornman who won a Summer Shootout race in his age bracket. In another race, he wrecked Bruton Smith’s grandson and was then put at the back of the pack. Yates Family Camping has helped Noah out with his racing needs this summer. He has finished the season and returned home. We hope to see him again next season.

The first 1,000 fans will receive a free die-cast car on August 10.  The action starts at 5:25 with the youngest drivers. Adult tickets are $7, 6-12 are $3 and younger fans are free.

Hummingbirds, hummingbird moths, writing spiders and treed oppossums have all made their appearance this week along with an array of beautiful butterflies. I teased Roaul that the writing spider was making stitches in its web for his knee healing.  Our dog Nikki, kept jumping up at the oppossum and then tried to climb the trunk of the tree trying to get at it. The hummingbirds are zipping around the feeders. It has been hot but with the afternoon showers, our flowers are still very pretty. Everything is green and colorful. Roaul is doing excellent with his knee replacement. He has already been mowing and riding the golf cart to spray round-up. Roaul has a great attitude and already feels much better and stronger than before the surgery. The hot days have made it easier to stay inside and recover. Thanks to everyone’s prayers and help during the last couple of weeks. We greatly appreciate it!

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO MADE IT TO CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY LAST MONTH. IT WAS A FANTASTIC TIME HERE AT YATES FAMILY CAMPING. WE ENJOYED VISITING WITH OUR RETURN GUESTS AND MAKING NEW FRIENDS. WE DID MISS A FEW WHO COULD NOT MAKE IT THIS TRIP.  WE HAD SOME RAIN. IT WASN’T TOO ANNOYING. FOR THE MOST PART IT WAS NICE. GREAT FOOD AND SOCIALIZING WAS THE BEST PART OF THE WEEKEND. I ACTUALLY WENT TO THE TIME TRIALS AND THEN TO THE 600 WITH SOME GOOD FRIENDS. I HAD NEVER BEEN TO ANY NASCAR EVENTS. I THINK I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO THE TIME TRIALS EVERY YEAR. I REALLY ENJOYED THAT.

IF I EVER GO TO THE NASCAR RACE AGAIN - I WILL DEFINATELY GET A HEAD SET OR USE SOME OTHER METHOD TO STAY INFORMED. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY HELPFUL. THE CARS DROVE SO QUICKLY AROUND THE TRACK -THAT IT REMINDED ME OF BULLETS WHIZZING BY. I FEEL THAT WAS THE MOST PATRIOTIC EVENT I HAVE EVER ATTENDED.

THE ANNOUNCER SAID THAT THIS WAS THE ONLY SPORT THAT ENDED THE OPENING PRAYER WITH “IN JESUS NAME”

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THE PATRIOTISM AND THE RELIGIOUS STANDINGS - IT IS PRETTY AWESOME.

THEN TODAY, I WENT TO THE NASCAR HALL OF FAME WITH ONE OF OUR GUESTS. I WAS IMPRESSED WITH EVERYTHING THE HALL OF FAME HAS DONE TO ENGAGE THE FANS AND CELEBRATE THE SPORT AND DRIVERS. THE OPENING MOVIE IS A MUST. THE THEATER IS VERY COMFORTABLE. THE MOVIE LASTS ONLY 12 MINUTES.

ANOTHER FAVORITE WAS THE GRAND SHOW ROOM WITH ALL THE CARS GOING AROUND A TRACK. THERE IS A MUSEUM UPSTAIRS AND ASLO AN INTERACTIVE AREA. I ENJOYED THE CAR HAULER. I NEVER KNEW WHAT THOSE LOOKED LIKE INSIDE.

OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP. IT IS FAIRLY EASY TO GET TO FROM YATES FAMILY CAMPING.AND WELL WORTH THE TRIP. SOME OF THE EXHIBITS ARE CHANGED OUT EVERY 6 MONTHS.

The Jade Buddha for Universal Peace is in Charlotte, NC on Lake Drive through Saturday. On Sunday there will be a ceremony at 10 A.M. and then it will be moved to another city.

I visited today, there was music and incense candles. It is free and there were lots of admirers. The statue is 10 feet tall and made of exquisit gemstone quality jade that was mined in Canada. It is valued at over five million dollars.

Cavalia will be in Charlotte now thru May 20th. Fortunately, my sister, Janet has purchased tickets for both me and my little sister, Melanie to attend on the 18th.  It is for Melanie’s birthday and a really early birthday gift for me. There are 60 horses preforming at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. According to my sis, Janet, the show is magical. The artist who wrote the musicial score has done work for her husband’s company and is a phenomenal talent. We are so excited and I will blog on the performance next week!

Happy Mother’s Day to all! It was a mild day. I celebrated with my two sisters, one brother-in law and my parents at their home in Cherryville.  We also celebrated one sister’s birthday as it is in the same week.

 We had all finger foods : country ham biscuits, deviled eggs, shrimp cocktail, veggie sandwiches, jalapeno poppers, pigs in a blanket, sausage balls, veggies and dip, a fruit basket (see my recipe page) and two wonderful deserts. (I will have to post those two recipes soon!) My dad reminisced about his youth and we all enjoyed the dad.

Roaul cooked Mayan fish for his mom at our house. I had made posters for both our moms and my sister’s birthday. It added just a little more fun to the festivities.

It was a beautiful day here. Roaul and I walked this morning. I enjoyed tasting the honeysuckles on the way. It was windy which helped keep the heat down. I drove over to Gastonia to meet my family at Tony’s Icecream . Afterwards we visited the Daniel Stowe Botonical Gardens. It is remarkable how the plantings are so varied. The gardens were gorgeous. We also toured the orchid conservatory.

After I came home, I went to the grocery to get the supplies for a fruit basket. Check out the photos under Cyndi’s Cooking. I think they look great. I made one for my family’s Mother’s Day celebration tomorrow and also one for Roaul and his mother. He is cooking for her tomorrow. I also have made posters to help celebrate. A partial photo of one of the posters is in one of the fruit basket photos.

We wish everyone a Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow! We look forward to seeing lots of our race fans soon!

It is just gorgeous here this time of year. We have so many beautiful plants blooming and the grass is lush and green. The birds are singing and we even caught a glimpse of a hummingbird this week.  It was so warm last week that we even had our  chow dog shaved. It will be a little cooler this week with the highs close to 70. The sky has been a lovely blue with those beautiful white cloud accents.

Yesterday I visited the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens. There are several greenhouses and seven acres of both native and exotic plants. A creek runs along the middle of the garden with a rising hill on either side. Footpaths and trails wind back and forth to permit you to get up close and personal with the specimens. Thankfully, there are bridges, gazebos, rock structures and benches. These decorative accents helped to keep me from getting lost. The exotic section had a winding palm tree and the yellow orange azaleas were in full bloom. In the native section the rhododendrons were in bloom also. The blooms were huge. The gardens are mostly shaded with a tall tree canope.

The parking is free. During the week you will need to get a temporary parking pass. The gardens are open to the public and are only a hop and a jump from our campground.

We wish everyone a happy Easter and a wonderful Spring Break week.  It is really getting lovely here.  The tree leaves are just coming out and beautiful blooms are everywhere.  The days are getting longer and we are getting close to 80 degrees in the next couple of days.  April is starting off wonderfully.  We are hoping to have a big announcement soon - so please check back often for updates.  As always, we wish everyone safe and happy travels.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We really happy its a lovely week here at Yates Family Camping.  Roaul is looking forward to mowing the grass.  He is getting another batch of round-up ready to spray on the weeds.  The NHRA is coming in this month. For those of you who haven’t visited us lately, we have lots of improvements to show off. As you can see from the photo - A NEW WELCOME SIGN!. Roaul has widened one of the entrances and we have a new Wi-Fi system that everyone loves. Roaul has painted some buildings and roofed all our buildings to match. He has been making sure the sites are staying level after all the rain we had this winter. Everything looks great to greet our guests. We are filling up our reservations for all the race events coming in. We still have tent sites available and limited accomodations for campers. Call Roaul as soon as possible to check for any availability. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!