Wednesday, August 26: We left the Wilson NY area about 11:30 A.M. and
drove 255 miles to 1000 Islands/ Association Island KOA in Henderson,
NY. This large campground is on a 65 acre island in eastern Lake
Ontario. Included are a marina, many cabins, beautiful sunrises and
sunsets, and almost every campsite has at least a partial view of the
water. This is a popular family campground with many activities for kids. Lakeside sites cost $75 per night. We opted for a regular site
4 rows back for $32 per night and we still have a nice view of the lake.
While we're in our current location at the 1000 Islands KOA in Henderson
NY, we won't be adding pictures to our blog posts. The free Wi-Fi is
not good enough to handle the transfer of pictures in a timely matter.
Our Verizon monthly billing period has just started, so we don't want to
use a lot of those gigabytes right now by transferring pictures. Therefore,
our blog posts will not have pictures we've taken until we get to
Vermont on Sept. 3, where the grass is greener and the free WiFi is reported to be much better. We'll see how that turns out and hope to catch up with pictures then.
Friday, August 28: This was another sightseeing day. We drove an hour north to Alexandria Bay and the Thousand Islands area. Uncle Sam Boat Tours offers several excursions on the St. Lawrence River. We chose the 2 Nation Tour - a 2 1/4 hour outing around many of the islands, learning some of the area history, and seeing many millionaires' homes. We even added Canada to our list of places visited as the boat cruised in Canadian waters for part of the tour - no passport needed as long as you stay on a USA boat. As we headed back to the marina, we were treated to an up close view of a large cargo ship as it crossed right in front of us. Our return trip to Henderson took us through Watertown, NY where we stopped for an early dinner and some Walmart shopping.
Tomorrow (Monday) we're driving 30 miles south to meet up with Kathy & John. We met at Tom Johnson's Camping Center last summer while our two coaches were being repaired, and we've kept in touch over the past year, hoping our paths would cross again.
During the rest of our stay, we enjoyed the campground activity around us while looking at the lake in front of us. The weather should remain nice, although much warmer temperatures are in the forecast for this week. We'll be here until Wednesday, Sept. 2 when we head east toward Vermont.
Our life on the highways and byways of America.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Saturday, August 29, 2015
WILSON, NY: Time for Updates, Part 2
The rest
of our time at Daisy Barn Campground was most enjoyable with beautiful
weather, pleasant conversations with residents, and Hank even played
some pool.
It was the perfect place for relaxation or getting chores done. Of course, most of our 'chores' involve computer time, so there's not a lot of physical labor. Staying in one place for a week or so works out well - time to explore and plenty of time with our computers.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
WILSON, NY: Time for Updates, Part 1
The Daisy Barn Campground is a pleasant place to stay. The sites are a
little close together, but with the full hookups, good free WiFi,
over-the-air TV reception, nice residents, and the beautiful view of
Lake Ontario, it's easy to like this place. We like it so much, we're
staying until Wednesday, Aug. 26.
Last Wednesday, we went to the small town of Wilson which was larger than we expected. It has a shoreline 'touristy' area with many small shops and eating establishments, as well as a small amusement park for small children, a large city park also on the shore, and the usual small town commercial and residential areas.
This is the marina area with a couple of good size restaurants.
Boat making its way to Lake Ontario
We continued exploring other nearby towns like Olcott, Newfane,and Ransomville, before enjoying an early dinner at Ray's Tavern west of the campground.
Thursday, brought occasional rain showers so we spent the day indoors. In the evening, we walked to the shoreline and visited with some of the other campers.
Friday dawned partly cloudy and much cooler, so it was a good day to do more exploring through parts of Amherst with lunch at Outback, through North Tonawanda, the city of Niagara Falls and in Niagara Falls State Park.
We parked in parking lot #3, (not shown on the map) and purchased trolley tickets ($3 per person). The trolleys travel throughout the Park, stopping at the various attractions and giving out information along the way. There are paved walking trails all around the island as well. Our first stop was at Horseshoe Falls. Unfortunately, they are renovating the viewing area at Terrapin Point so we couldn't get as close to the side of the falls as you could in the past.
This shows the closest edge of Horseshoe Falls just behind the yellow construction vehicle, and the far side of Horseshoe Falls.
Our next stop was at the American Falls next to the Maid of the Mist area. The best views of the falls are from the Canadian side, but we don't have passports so a border crossing is not in our future..
Here we had our best view of Niagara Fall and the boats below (blue slickers from the American side on Maid of the Mist on the left,, red slickers from the Canadian side on Hornblower on the right)
Both vendors load the boats to the max!! This is a Canadian boat.
American falls in the left foreground and Horseshoe falls in the distance.
Click HERE for a short video.
(May be slow to load)
All together, we stayed in the park about 4 hours. None of the other attractions interested us, but you could easily spend all day and evening taking in the various attractions. There were large numbers of people there from all over the world, but the traffic in and out of the area was much less than we expected, and the wait for the trolleys never seemed very long.
Last Wednesday, we went to the small town of Wilson which was larger than we expected. It has a shoreline 'touristy' area with many small shops and eating establishments, as well as a small amusement park for small children, a large city park also on the shore, and the usual small town commercial and residential areas.
This is the marina area with a couple of good size restaurants.
Boat making its way to Lake Ontario
We continued exploring other nearby towns like Olcott, Newfane,and Ransomville, before enjoying an early dinner at Ray's Tavern west of the campground.
Thursday, brought occasional rain showers so we spent the day indoors. In the evening, we walked to the shoreline and visited with some of the other campers.
Friday dawned partly cloudy and much cooler, so it was a good day to do more exploring through parts of Amherst with lunch at Outback, through North Tonawanda, the city of Niagara Falls and in Niagara Falls State Park.
We parked in parking lot #3, (not shown on the map) and purchased trolley tickets ($3 per person). The trolleys travel throughout the Park, stopping at the various attractions and giving out information along the way. There are paved walking trails all around the island as well. Our first stop was at Horseshoe Falls. Unfortunately, they are renovating the viewing area at Terrapin Point so we couldn't get as close to the side of the falls as you could in the past.
This shows the closest edge of Horseshoe Falls just behind the yellow construction vehicle, and the far side of Horseshoe Falls.
Our next stop was at the American Falls next to the Maid of the Mist area. The best views of the falls are from the Canadian side, but we don't have passports so a border crossing is not in our future..
Here we had our best view of Niagara Fall and the boats below (blue slickers from the American side on Maid of the Mist on the left,, red slickers from the Canadian side on Hornblower on the right)
Both vendors load the boats to the max!! This is a Canadian boat.
American falls in the left foreground and Horseshoe falls in the distance.
Click HERE for a short video.
(May be slow to load)
All together, we stayed in the park about 4 hours. None of the other attractions interested us, but you could easily spend all day and evening taking in the various attractions. There were large numbers of people there from all over the world, but the traffic in and out of the area was much less than we expected, and the wait for the trolleys never seemed very long.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
WILSON, NY: Hello, New York State
Today we left Mentor, OH after spending a quiet night in Walmart's parking lot. The temperatures cooled enough last night that we were quite comfortable with the bedroom window open and a small box fan pulling air in, and we also had one roof vent fan going. We hit the road about 10 A.M. intending to avoid tolls. When we neared the New York state line, we switched from I-90 to Ohio 5 which goes along the Lake Erie shore. There were a couple of low overpasses that caused us to move slowly to check the clearance, and there was one we detoured around completely. Once we were in Buffalo, we took I-190, crossed a couple of bridges and ended up at the Daisy Barn Campground on the shore of Lake Ontario near Wilson, NY. Over the last several weeks, we've seen parts of all five of the Great Lakes.
We're about 20 miles from Niagara Falls, in a peaceful rural setting. The pictures on the website tell it all, but important to us is the good Wi-Fi offered and the lower cost compared to campgrounds closer to Niagara Falls. With our roof antenna, we're picking up several TV channels, including Toronto stations. We'll be here at least 5 nights.
Monday, August 17, 2015
MENTOR, OHIO: Good-bye Michigan, Hello Ohio!
Today was a much longer travel day than we expected. After an enjoyable stay in a very pleasant campground, we left Covenant Hills Campground near Otisville, MI about 11 A.M. We wanted to avoid toll roads so we knew that the trip wold be longer in time and miles than the interstate route. Due to an hour delay getting through the Toledo area, a lunch and fuel stop, and then another hour getting through Cleveland at rush hour, it took 7 hours to travel about 263 miles. Now we're safely parked in the Mentor, OH Walmart lot. Looks like our overnight neighbors will be 3 semi-trucks and any shoppers that feel the need for a late night Walmart shopping experience.
The weather here is very warm and humid. We're using the generator to run the A/C for now, and we're hoping it will cool off a little by bed time since we won't go to sleep with the generator running for safety reasons. Tomorrow night we should be in a cooler environment on the shore of Lake Ontario.
The weather here is very warm and humid. We're using the generator to run the A/C for now, and we're hoping it will cool off a little by bed time since we won't go to sleep with the generator running for safety reasons. Tomorrow night we should be in a cooler environment on the shore of Lake Ontario.
Friday, August 14, 2015
OTISVILLE, MI: Small Town, Large Campground
We are at the Covenant Hills Camp and Retreat near Otisville, MI, northeast of Flint, MI. This large facility is owned by the East Michigan Free Methodist Church. There is a 321 site RV park with full hookups, along with a retreat center, youth camps, plenty of outdoor activities including a zipline, archery course, high ropes challange course, and climbing wall. With the free Wi-fi (good most of the time) and good cell phone reception, we've decided to stay until Monday. Four of our days will be 1/2 price thanks to our Passport America membership.
Yesterday, we drove 22 miles northwest to Frankenmuth, MI (nickname - Little Bavaria). We stopped at Bronner's Christmas Wonderland for a few minutes where it's Christmas all year long. The huge building houses just about anything you might want in the way of Christmas decorations, novelties and lighting as well as other gift items.
We only walked through a small part of the 7 acre building, but you could probably spend all day in there and still not see everything.
Hank went to a local lab for his routine blood work, we had some lunch at Big Boy's, then shopped at Meijer's on the way back to the campground.
There are no big plans for the weekend. The weather is warming to normal temperatures for the area - high 80's a and low 90's, but there's almost always a nice breeze.
Yesterday, we drove 22 miles northwest to Frankenmuth, MI (nickname - Little Bavaria). We stopped at Bronner's Christmas Wonderland for a few minutes where it's Christmas all year long. The huge building houses just about anything you might want in the way of Christmas decorations, novelties and lighting as well as other gift items.
We only walked through a small part of the 7 acre building, but you could probably spend all day in there and still not see everything.Hank went to a local lab for his routine blood work, we had some lunch at Big Boy's, then shopped at Meijer's on the way back to the campground.
There are no big plans for the weekend. The weather is warming to normal temperatures for the area - high 80's a and low 90's, but there's almost always a nice breeze.
Monday, August 10, 2015
ST. IGNACE, MI; Highlights of the Past Week - Part 2
Friday, Aug. 7 This was our day to drive north to Sault Ste. Marie
and have lunch at The Antlers, a well-known restaurant with many appropriate
decorations.
We couldn't find a convenient parking place near the Soo locks, so we kept going west then north to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. We chose to view the Upper Falls, walking along the paved 1/4 mile path, with views of the falls
then descending the 94 steps to the brink of the falls.
The water flow was a little less than usual due to the very dry conditions in the area, but the scene and sounds were still very impressive.
Our first selfie!
It started raining as we made the return walk to the car. We had one more stop to make a little further north - The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point on Lake Superior. One building contains a museum that pays tribute to some of the ships and crews that met their end on the Lake with histories and recovered artifacts. It also includes the bell from the Edmond Fitzgerald, the most famous Great Lakes shipwreck. Other buildings contain a gift shop, a theater showing a film about the Edmond Fitzgerald, a Coast Guard museum, a lighthouse, and a fog horn building. There's also a large wooden observation deck overlooking the part of Lake Superior where many vessels went down.
Whitefish Lighthouse (still operational) and keeper's house, and the foghorn building.
Saturday, Aug. 8 Early in the afternoon, we drove to Dave & Charlotte's house on Lake Michigan. Dave has built a stairway down to the beach, and it includes a small deck halfway down.
Dave, Charlotte and Selene enjoying the view of Lake Michigan
Part of the small deck at the top of the stairs
We enjoyed good company and conversation on another beautiful Michigan
afternoon, followed by a delicious dinner of chicken wings, raw
vegetables and dip, corn on the cob, baked beans, potato salad,
cantaloupe and watermelon, and coffee cake.
Sunday, Aug. 9 This was to be our last visit with Dave and Charlotte for now. We met for an early dinner at the Mackinac Grille in downtown St. Ignace beside Lake Michigan. After dinner we strolled on the pier past the marina, watching the ferries arrive and depart, and looking back at a town that we've enjoyed visiting. We'll catch up with Dave and Charlotte again in February in Florida, where they spend the winter.
Monday, Aug. 10 Today is wrap-up day as we get ready to head south tomorrow morning. Next stop - Otisville, MI
We couldn't find a convenient parking place near the Soo locks, so we kept going west then north to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. We chose to view the Upper Falls, walking along the paved 1/4 mile path, with views of the falls
The water flow was a little less than usual due to the very dry conditions in the area, but the scene and sounds were still very impressive.
Our first selfie!
It started raining as we made the return walk to the car. We had one more stop to make a little further north - The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point on Lake Superior. One building contains a museum that pays tribute to some of the ships and crews that met their end on the Lake with histories and recovered artifacts. It also includes the bell from the Edmond Fitzgerald, the most famous Great Lakes shipwreck. Other buildings contain a gift shop, a theater showing a film about the Edmond Fitzgerald, a Coast Guard museum, a lighthouse, and a fog horn building. There's also a large wooden observation deck overlooking the part of Lake Superior where many vessels went down.
Whitefish Lighthouse (still operational) and keeper's house, and the foghorn building.
Saturday, Aug. 8 Early in the afternoon, we drove to Dave & Charlotte's house on Lake Michigan. Dave has built a stairway down to the beach, and it includes a small deck halfway down.
Dave, Charlotte and Selene enjoying the view of Lake Michigan
Part of the small deck at the top of the stairs
Sunday, Aug. 9 This was to be our last visit with Dave and Charlotte for now. We met for an early dinner at the Mackinac Grille in downtown St. Ignace beside Lake Michigan. After dinner we strolled on the pier past the marina, watching the ferries arrive and depart, and looking back at a town that we've enjoyed visiting. We'll catch up with Dave and Charlotte again in February in Florida, where they spend the winter.
Monday, Aug. 10 Today is wrap-up day as we get ready to head south tomorrow morning. Next stop - Otisville, MI
Sunday, August 9, 2015
ST. IGNACE, MI: Highlights of the Past Week - Part 1
Tuesday, Aug. 4 We drove about 3 hours to Marquette to return an item to Best Buy. The scenery was mostly woods until we approached Marquette and Lake Superior.
Wednesday, Aug. 5 We went to a local print shop to order some more business cards, then visited the Kewadin Casino to donate our budgeted amount.
Thursday, Aug. 6 We used a Buy One Get Free Coupon from the St. Ignace Money Bag and caught the 9:30 Shepler's Ferry to Mackinaw Island, sitting in the lower enclosed cabin. Our voyage included cruising under the Mackinaw Bridge. Mackinaw Island's docks are adjacent to the island's main street which is filled with fudge shops, souvenir stores, restaurants, and other places that might entice you to spend some money.
Under the Mackinaw Bridge
We shared the lake with this tanker.
Approaching the dock on Mackinaw Island.
We walked a block to the Carriage Tours loading point, bought our tickets, and boarded our first carriage of the day - a two horse rig that carried about 20 people.
The first stop was the Carriage Museum and the Butterfly House.
Then we boarded a 3 horse carriage carrying about 30 people.
Our tour took us the through the State Park, with stops at Arch Rock, Fort Mackinaw, and the Grand Hotel.
Arch Rock
The Grand Hotel
Back at the Carriage Museum, we took another 2-horse carriage back downtown. Our tour guides were all interesting people and gave out great information about the island. We saw two things that most visitors don't see. First, one of the horses in a double team pulling a dray fell down and all traffic stopped until he regained his feet - not an easy task for a horse weighing 1500 - 2000 lbs. in heavy harness. Second, a moving ambulance with lights flashing (one of four vehicles on the island - cars have been outlawed since the beginning of the 20th century) made its way down the crowded streets. After our carriage tour, we had lunch at the Mustang Lounge,
then walked around the marina
and down the main street
before returning to the ferry dock to await our ferry back to St. Ignace. On our return trip, we sat on the open-air upper deck.
We had another beautiful day to enjoy along as well as learning about some of the history of the island. After stopping at the local print shop to check on some business cards, we had an early supper with Charlotte and Dave at Timmy Lee's Pub & Grille.
Wednesday, Aug. 5 We went to a local print shop to order some more business cards, then visited the Kewadin Casino to donate our budgeted amount.
Thursday, Aug. 6 We used a Buy One Get Free Coupon from the St. Ignace Money Bag and caught the 9:30 Shepler's Ferry to Mackinaw Island, sitting in the lower enclosed cabin. Our voyage included cruising under the Mackinaw Bridge. Mackinaw Island's docks are adjacent to the island's main street which is filled with fudge shops, souvenir stores, restaurants, and other places that might entice you to spend some money.
Under the Mackinaw Bridge
We shared the lake with this tanker.
Approaching the dock on Mackinaw Island.
We walked a block to the Carriage Tours loading point, bought our tickets, and boarded our first carriage of the day - a two horse rig that carried about 20 people.
Our tour took us the through the State Park, with stops at Arch Rock, Fort Mackinaw, and the Grand Hotel.
Arch Rock
The Grand Hotel
Back at the Carriage Museum, we took another 2-horse carriage back downtown. Our tour guides were all interesting people and gave out great information about the island. We saw two things that most visitors don't see. First, one of the horses in a double team pulling a dray fell down and all traffic stopped until he regained his feet - not an easy task for a horse weighing 1500 - 2000 lbs. in heavy harness. Second, a moving ambulance with lights flashing (one of four vehicles on the island - cars have been outlawed since the beginning of the 20th century) made its way down the crowded streets. After our carriage tour, we had lunch at the Mustang Lounge,
then walked around the marina
and down the main street
before returning to the ferry dock to await our ferry back to St. Ignace. On our return trip, we sat on the open-air upper deck.
We had another beautiful day to enjoy along as well as learning about some of the history of the island. After stopping at the local print shop to check on some business cards, we had an early supper with Charlotte and Dave at Timmy Lee's Pub & Grille.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
ST. IGNACE, MI: Same City, Different Campground
Last week, we decided that today we would move from Tiki RV Park to Lakeshore Park Campground so we would have better cell phone reception. The drive was about 6 miles - south on State Street to west on US 2 - and we didn't need to get on the Mackinac Bridge. With storms on the way, we got most of the departure chores done before the rain moved in, and we were able to depart in sunshine after the first wave of storms moved through. Traffic was stopped on US 2 due to the big bridge being shut down in both directions as a result of 65 mph winds during the storms and an overturned camper, which meant no one going south from the area was leaving anytime soon . What should have taken us 20 minutes ended up taking almost an hour, but we eventually made it to our campsite. The bridge reopened early this afternoon.
We're now set up in site 212 at Lakeshore Park Campground, next to the pavilion and bathhouse. We're in the second row and have a view of Lake Michigan as we look in between the RV's in front of us. This is a basic park out in the country with no playground or pool. There are shaded sites and some without trees.
Our view of Lake Michigan.
Ducks on the lake
View of the Mackinac Bridge from lakeside in front of our campsite (same bridge that was shut down earlier today)
This week we hope to do some more sightseeing, visit the casino again, and spend some more time with Charlotte and Dave. We may be here for the next two weeks or more as we wait for Hank's computer to be returned.
We're now set up in site 212 at Lakeshore Park Campground, next to the pavilion and bathhouse. We're in the second row and have a view of Lake Michigan as we look in between the RV's in front of us. This is a basic park out in the country with no playground or pool. There are shaded sites and some without trees.
Our view of Lake Michigan.
Ducks on the lake
View of the Mackinac Bridge from lakeside in front of our campsite (same bridge that was shut down earlier today)
This week we hope to do some more sightseeing, visit the casino again, and spend some more time with Charlotte and Dave. We may be here for the next two weeks or more as we wait for Hank's computer to be returned.
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