Showing posts with label NY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NY. Show all posts

Busy Weekend

Monday, June 26, 2017

We are so blessed to have our lifestyle, one where we can change plans pretty easily. And that is exactly what we did this past weekend. We had intended to leave Maryland on Sunday, arriving at our home in Tennessee on Tuesday. A last minute invitation changed that and we will now arrive at home on Thursday. Not a big change, but happy we could easily do it.

We headed north to the Hudson Valley of NY early on Friday morning, hoping to make it by 4ish for our granddaughter's high school graduation. Of course it was Friday and of course there was traffic, a lot of it. So that meant accidents and backups...after a couple of stops our five hour drive ended at a little over eight hours. But the graduation party had just started, so we were fine. LOL

Here are a few photos...oh, all taken with my little iPhone because guess who forgot their camera!

As soon as we got on I-95, there was an accident requiring HazMat - turned out a semi-truck had lost a saddle tank (fuel).


When we got the the New Jersey turnpike - repeat.


Scenery other than traffic....


On to New York state and a 54 minute backup! We opted to get off at the service plaza and wait it out.


The party is just getting started - five girls, their families and friends all celebrating their graduation from high school. The crowd grew as the evening wore on...everyone had a blast!






The graduate - Abbi. She is my late husband's youngest daughter's older daughter...phew!


I also got to see my youngest daughter and three grandkids...it had been too long and they are growing up so fast!






We left on Saturday, a day earlier than planned because I wasn't feeling all that great. A bunch of the kids all went hiking...it's such a beautiful area!


We did have some pretty sunsets on the drive home...








Sunday we laid back and just relaxed...in fact I took two long naps before finally crawling out of bed at 3pm. So today we are doing all the necessary de-oozing (putting away all the stuff that has oozed out over two months) as well as checking tire pressure, getting the garage ready to load the bike, cleaning the roof of tree debris, etc.

So tomorrow we are off and if all goes well, we should arrive home in Tennessee sometime on Thursday. WOOT!

Ciao for now!

A month? It can't be true...

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Curvy Road Ahead Sign clip artWell it has been a month, almost, since we last posted. A lot of things contributed to not posting - poor internet, my not feeling well, travel, motorcycle rides, family time, holidays, doctor appointments...you get the idea. LOL! So this is our catch up thread - lots of photos but even more in the links at the end of the post.

When we last left you, we were at the KOA outside Watertown, NY. We had a nice drive to our next destination in the Finger Lakes region of New York. We parked at Sned-Acres Family Campground and spent several delightful days investigating the local area. We had a site with a great view, saw a spectacular moon, visited several microbreweries and just generally enjoyed ourselves. We had great Directv reception from out site but internet was poor. They had free wifi but it tended to be a bit flaky. Yes, we would stay again but we would try one of the lower sites so we didn't have to do quite so much to level.

The Finger Lakes have long been known for their wineries but now they also are known for many distilleries and microbreweries. We loved it and stopped at several microbrews. One of our favorites was just down the road and we attended a festival on Saturday to benefit the local volunteer fire department. We left with several t-shirts, a growler full of delicious Scottish Ale and two Adirondack chairs with a turkey tail table. (see photo) Thank you Boatyard Beer Garden!

We also found a great ice cream spot not too far from our campground, Cayuga Lakes Creamery. Delicious!

Lots more photos in the link at the end of this post.

Sned-Acres Campground, Ovid, NY:

Our campsite view....


The moon....


Stu at Firehouse Distillery...


Boatyard Beer Garden and our future chair set (they ship)...


Next was another short move to Milton, PA where we stayed in an out of the way campground. We went through Watkins Glen which was packed with tourists. I did catch a shot of the Watkins Glen State Park Entrance.

Watkins Glen State Park Entrance...


Our final stop was at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park™ at Shangri-La in Milton, PA. We had a great campsite and even managed to get a weak signal for Directv. Internet and phone were all but non-existent. Close to town and nice riding area, we enjoyed out stay, taking several evening walks around the campground.

Set on a river, those sites mostly occupied by seasonals, they also offer cabins in several sizes. Activities galore for the kids and we took to heart the warning in the printed materials to go inside your rig if you were sitting outside around 12:30. The hay wagon picked up all the kids as well as several staff members and rode around spraying everyone with water. The kids loved it!

The road in was a little hairy - one lane and full of pot holes, but we made it. Worth the drive for the setting, we would stay again. (more photos in link at end of the post)

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park™ at Shangri-La 

Our campsite...


 

Our next move was back to Artillery Ridge in Gettysburg, PA - back where we started. The site was had last visit was taken so we ended up in the very back in a fairly new section that was perfect for us. Long pull-through with good satellite access. Finally, a good Directv signal and decent internet.

We enjoyed local riding but our best day was spent at the Eastern Museum of Auto Racing in York Springs, PA. Free but donations accepted, this was a surprise find. Very well done, supported by donations and the gift shop as well as the labors of a dedicated group of volunteers. Stu really enjoyed himself.

Once again, we found an great ice cream stop just down the road from our campground. Yeah!

Artillery Ridge Campground, Gettysburg, PA:

Our campsite...



Eastern Museum of Auto Racing, York Springs, PA:









Then it was time to move on to family in Delaware. The grandkids had already started school so we didn't see too much of them. That didn't mean there was nothing to do. Oh no, plenty to do! We were about 30 minutes out from Greenwood and our home driveway when the serpentine belt on the Freightliner went out. Repair number one on Stu's To Do list! He also went to Seaford Harley-Davidson and ordered a paint matched front fender to replace his dented one. Then there was grocery shopping, laundry and catch-up stuff. We also had great satellite for TV but abysmal internet access. One again, we were forced to use our Verizon phones as hotspot - thankful we upped our data limit for the summer.



We took one nice riding day and went out for the day. We started at Dogfish Brewery in Milton, DE and then just rode, enjoying the nice weather.

Dogfish Brewery, Milton, DE:



On Labor Day, we moved over to another family driveway where we will stay until lat in October (when we will head to Florida for the winter). We did get to see our youngest grand baby at Cracker Barrel. She is a ham!



Then we began the rounds of our annual doctor appointments. No cataract surgery for either of us yet, we are both just below the guidelines from Medicare. Maybe next year. We both had some meds added by our primary care doctor and I have the "joy" of a colonoscopy in early October to check out some issues I've been having. Yeah, joy....LOL!

I will leave you with some photos from our current cruise - we left Sunday (early) for our cruise out of Baltimore. We are cruising with good friends from the Annapolis area who are in the process of moving to Tennessee, maybe 2-3 hrs from our property. Whee!!!

The cruise is going well and our cabin was all decorated for my birthday. Sweet! All four of us had dinner in the steakhouse last night, perfect birthday dinner. Then I came back and tried to acknowledge almost 450 birthday messages on Facebook. No, I didn't make it...but I did try.

Leaving Baltimore - looking back at the Bay Bridge from our cabin:


It's my birthday!

Sunset at sea:

View of Grand Turk (Turks & Caicos) from our balcony:

Links to our photo albums at SmugMug - all campground selections also include photos from the drive there as well as day trips in the surrounding areas:
Ciao for now!

All about the weather....

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

We finished our time in Twin Ells and headed to the west, over towards Watertown, NY. Our last week at Twin Ells found me under the weather. Then the rain moved in. We opted to take the rainy day and head to the mall for some walking. Other than that, I was pretty quiet, resting at home. Stu ran some errands, one of which was replacing two of our 40 gallon propane tanks. They needed new valves and for $30 more, we got new tanks at Tractor Supply.

Sunday was moving day and the rain was gone just in time for us to pack up and head out. After a couple of tries with the inverter, Stu fired up the generator. Well, he tried to. It would start but not stay running. We traced the error codes and did everything else he could think of and finally got some ice from the folks in the campground office and headed out. It's always an adventure!

The drive was gorgeous...98% of it on Rt 3, a pretty two lane road with very little traffic. I took a lot of windshield photos (too many). Here are a few, you can see them all in our Smug Mug album.



Less than four hours and we were quickly settled into our nice pull-through site in the Watertown KOA.




We'd been watching the weather forecast and Monday was clear and sunny. That meant a motorcycle ride! The only photos I took were at lunch but it was a beautiful ride through the countryside to the south, up north through Watertown and then back east a bit to the campground. We had a nice lunch at a little diner, Lloyds of Lowville. It was packed with locals and we weren't disappointed. Especially when we discovered we could buy a diner mug!


But neither of us tried this....LOL!


When we got ready to leave, I grabbed a couple of outdoor shots but this was what interested Stu...


Tuesday was a rain day, as predicted. Since we have no Directv due to the trees, we finally cranked up our antenna and got some local channels. We watched several old TV shows on Me.tv. Fun! Oh, and back to our generator...after some fiddling, Stu determined the new connector wasn't tight enough and all is well with our generator. Phew!

Today I'm still not 100%, so staying in for the day, catching up on emails, blogs and laundry. Stu is out riding some different roads and picking up a few things at the grocery store. Tomorrow is moving day again. We're off the the Finger Lakes region of New York. Beautiful riding area, hoping the weather cooperates and doubly hope I feel well enough to ride a bit.

Ciao for now!

Returned....

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Well, returned to Twin Ells Campground in West Chazy, NY. As mentioned before, we liked it here so much that we booked the week after Escapade. Now we have booked a second week as well. Wonderful riding area, quiet and clean campground with wonderful management and convenient location.

We had another uneventful trip from Essex Junction, VT to here last Sunday. Setup was easy - we knew the spot well (yup, same site). We had been set up for a couple of hours and our friends from Canada, Char & Billy, arrived. Now they camp - not like us. LOL!



Monday was a rain day and our friends planned to relax from their trip. We opted to run errands and see a movie. After recycling the battery out of our old Trip-Lite UPS (replaced with a newer, larger APC UPS) at Lowe's, mailing a package (sending off a prize to a winner of my book promotion for Paradise Down), we headed to the mall to see the new Star Trek movie. Neither of us had any idea of the plot and both greatly enjoyed the movie. Afterward, we walked the mall for steps and took a few minutes to enjoy this:


I also got a kick out of this place, we knew our younger grandkids would have loved this place.


Our final stop was Sam's Club and Wal-Mart for groceries. We spent the evening walking around the campground with Char & Billy, then sitting and chatting till the bugs drove us all inside.



Tuesday, the trio set off for a scenic ride on the bikes while I stayed behind. I needed a day to catchup with laundry and other chores, including making reservations for our leisurely trip back to DE & MD. That accomplished, I tackled some back emails. Here are a few photos Billy & Stu took...note Char's excitement at the ice cream stop!



Wednesday we all headed out to ride the islands that dot the middle of Lake Champlain. I opted to leave my camera behind and just enjoy the scenery. Sorry (not really - LOL). It was a great day, first stop at the little New York state welcome area where we picked up more maps.



We ended up in Burlington - HOT, HOT, HOT with about a gazillion tourists/pedestrians. We finally made it to the ferry and I napped while we spent an hour crossing back to New York. All in all, a wonderful day!








From there we headed to Five Guys, a first for Char & Billy. Bellies full, it was back home for showers and rest.


Thursday Stu did chores while our friends rode to Ausable Chasm for some hiking. Friday, it was time for goodbyes, no, see you laters! We sat, enjoying our coffee while they packed up the camper and trailer. Soon, they headed out....till next time, friends!




Our plans for the next week are simple:

  • See the new Jason Bourne movie
  • Keep tackling all those little chores that never disappear
  • For me, WRITE!
  • Get in at least one or two more scenic rides

Ciao for now!