Lunch out and chores to do

June 30 – We were a bit more productive today!  Once breakfast was out of the way I taped up a package to take to the post office on our way to lunch today.  Kam gave me a gift certificate for Mother's Day to a place close by so we thought we’d go there for lunch after the post office.

We stopped by the office to see is they needed anything from the post office and gave me 2 old flags that they asked me to drop in the flag box in front of the post office. 

The box was there and had some other flags in it.  I gather the local VA or some organization picks them up and performs the proper disposal of American flags.

Waiting for our ice cream

As our luck would have it, the post office had just closed from noon to one so we went to the Ashford Dairy Bar and Grill.  They had quite a crowd which was a good sign.  They are only big enough to have pick up but have 2 big covered shelters and apparently have removed a lot of the tables but now have them spaced out in the back yard area.  Service is a little slow but they cook you food as you order it.  Bill went with a BLT and potato salad and I wanted Clam chowder but they didn’t have any.  So I had a Clam Roll and sweet potato fries.  We ate under one of the pavilions and Bill called his sister Carole and we chatted with her while we ate.  Seeing the ice cream cones that people were leaving with was too hard to let pass!  I had Toasted Coconut with Chocolate chips and Bill had Deer Tracks which is espresso with chocolate chunks!  They had some interesting ice cream for sure!!  Thank you Kam!!

We stopped back at the post office and put the package in the mail and headed back to the RV.  Bill washed and waxed the front of the RV and put his flags back up.  I took down the piece of wood trim that was coming off the wall and the 6 inch panel of siding that is was supposed to be holding on one side.  It looked to me like the RV settled and the pieces were now a smidge long.  After I pulled the staples and nails all out, Steve got out his chop saw and trimmed ¼ inch off of them.  They are now back in place  but I need to set the nails I put in the trim piece and get something to finish the small nails in the paneling as the holes were staples and VERY close to the edge.  Put it’s secure until I get to Lowe’s or Home Depot. 

I researched the screen door shade that won’t stay up so you really can’t take advantage of it.  I email the manufacturer to see if there’s a part to repair it or if I need to get a new one.  It’s about $100!  Nothing on these RV’s is cheap (price wise)! Waiting for my reply!

Next up was to tackle this TV situation.  I finally got the lounge TV working in sync with the front TV so I can face one from my computer while Bill faces the other from the couch and we can watch at the same time!!!  Pam and Steve showed us their portable satellite and told us how it works and it’s with DISH, which is what we now have so before we leave from here we will probably get one and then if we are under trees and can’t use our rooftop we can set up the portable. 

The rain kept hovering and eventually the skies opened up on us for a few hours.  All of the outside projects for today were done, so it was fine.  I had taken out burger to grill but that was not happening.  So I got George down and let him have the honors.

Nothing much was on TV so I finished my book and Bill was reading also.  Then I realized I had some posts to do and today to write, so here it is!

Shopping and settling in..

June 29 - It looked like rain once we got up and then the sun was trying to come out.  This kinda went on back and forth but we had planned to go to the post office and then to town to Wal-mart, so once we had breakfast and showered we left.

It stayed pretty nice while we stopped and notified the post office that we would be getting a couple of mail packets and then we drove into Willimantic.  We reminisced as we drove and some places had changed or closed.   We checked out the downtown area and some places we liked are still there.  Bill dropped me at the door to Aldi and I made a quick sweep there but was reminded that you cannot buy wine in grocery stores so I will need to get to a liquor store soon – I’m down to 3 bottles!!

We both went into Wal-mart and we now had all but one item on our ongoing list.  Just as we pulled into the campground some splats started and once we got inside it was a downpour! Apparently it had hit before we got here and stopped as Bill had put out his flags on the RV front and they were all down and soaked.  Then it poured again as we had our lunch and put things away.

New neighbors moved in next door at one of the 2 cabins here. 

Charlie Brown - Here we are!!

June 28 – Last day on the road for a while!  Looking forward to sitting in one place for a while and setting up my computer desk and leaving my laptop out! 

We were only about an hour to Charlie Brown Campground in Eastford, Ct, and didn’t want to arrive among the weekenders trying to leave.  We  had our breakfast, cleaned up the inside and got out our books and read until we decided it was time to  empty the tanks and boogie on down the road.

I was worried that we had parked too close on the driver side to the fence to make the turn out of the space into the park road with the truck hooked up.  Bill said to just swing a little right before I made the left and we were fine!  Phew!

The drive was fine, some interstate and some rural roads but all in good shape.  The closer we got the hillier it got and that’s little nervy!  I hate looking in my side view mirror and seeing a line of cars that I know are ticked to be behind me.  Bill say’s, “oh well”!  Just as we arrived at the campground and were turning in, a big motorhome was coming up their hill to leave.  I managed to sneak by and we went to the middle level where we unhooked the truck and I turned around and we topped off our propane.

We were excited that Pam had text that we were now going to be up top with a full hook up!  She ended up trading us with another couple who has not arrived that has a smaller unit and can take another space up top that we can’t begin to fit in!

We greeted Pam and Steve and then Steve walked me in as I backed down the top lane to the 4^th space and he directed me in.  They drive a motorhome and owning the campground he’s very good at getting you in the space on the first try.  Of course, some of the success is my excellent ability to follow directions!!

We got parked then had some lunch and then set up for the 2 months stay.  I set up my computer desk and we put down our bit rug and coffee table.  It’s show some issues so when we get home I’m going to make a new top for it.  The folding base is in excellent condition but the top is laminate and I will use oak plywood to cut new pieces and finish with a natural sealant. 

Found homes for a few things that needed to be moved and then we went over to visit with Pam as Steve had gone in to take a nap.  Bill got bored and came back to the RV but Pam broke out the wine and we polished off quite a bit.  One of the other staffers was doing some office work and she had her glass while working as well! 

It was a great visit and time to catch up on both of our families!  Today was the birthday of 2 work campers so Pam was ordering pizza for everyone.  I had taken steak out for dinner but knew Bill would quickly chose pizza over a steak. (unless it was from Mathews or Blackstone)!  The entire work staff and Pam and Steve shared 2 huge pizzas.  I was very happy for an all veggie one and it was delicious!  I took over my jello pie (it only had 2 pieces missing) and offered it to everyone.  Those that tried it really liked it and asked for the recipe.  There was enjough for us to have tomorrow night with our dinner.

Once the pizza party ended everyone went home!  It was a very nice first night at Charlie Brown!

Absolutely do nothing day!

June 27 – We planned today for just what it was, a day of rest!  Bill did walk about and take the trash to the dumpster during a break from sitting out and reading.  Then the rain started and rained until around 5.  I felt bad for the families with children who were so enjoying their bikes, friends, and the playground.  And then there were the poor folks who had to walk their dogs in it.

Not much traffic in our loop, one RV left and another took its place and one passed by and went somewhere behind us.  It cooled off a lot and the AC hasn’t had to work much at all. 

I made a raspberry jello pie for tonight to go with Bill’s favorite (yeah right) fish, mixed rice and zucchini.  At least he will like the pie!

Had a nice conversation with my sister this afternoon!  Very hot and muggy there and rain needed!  I guess we will take the rain over the heat!!

Not much going on!

June 26 -  This was a very unusual day!  The new campground in Massachusetts was only about 80 miles and we could not check in until 3.  So we took our time with breakfast, reading, etc and left at 12:15 after Bill met 2 Florida folks that summer at the campground.

We drove to the first Travel Center on the turnpike after exiting the interstate and had a late lunch there.  I thought the 3pm check – was kinda late but once we got there we understood.  They have a large open field across the road from the campground and as you arrive you circle around in there and line up to cross over to the actual campground in the order you arrived.  Only 1 RV can fit in front of their check – in without being in the road.  They also want to send everyone in  one direction in and then when you check out, you leave in the opposite directions as they are so packed with spaces that there is no one way in and one way out and the roads are only 1 lane wide.  It’s a pretty big place with a pool that is closed and a pond that quite a few were gathering around at least to sit in the sun.  It looked like some teen age boys were venturing in to the unknown!

We have a pull thru space across from the play ground but it’s fine.  This was just a place to relax a day before we make the last short leg to Connecticut.

Moving on to Covered Bridges

June 25 -  A nice relaxing morning!  Eventually we headed into Keene, close to lunch time so I could have a Wendy’s salad.  Wendy’s is few and far between up here.  I made quick stops at Dollar Tree and Staples, then we got in the long line for Wendy’s.  Bill was a good boy today and he had a salad as well!  We found a big parking lot across the road with some trees so we ate there in the car.

Bill filled the truck up and also took it to the car wash.  He takes good care of his baby!

Cresson Bridge

As we headed to Hinsdale to a Superwalmart, we stopped first at one of the many covered bridges in the area.  The first was Cresson Bridge, built in 1889.  Of course we drove thru it as well.

After our trip to Walmart we stopped at several other covered bridges on the way back.  The first was Thompson Bridge built in 1932.  I really liked this one

Thompson Bridge

as it has walkways along each side of it.

Number 3 was the ugliest one.  It had no personality and seemed a bit neglected.  It’s name is Coombs Bridge and it’s pretty brown looking.  A little paint would sure help its self-esteem!

Then there was the Ashuelot Covered Bridge which had the nice side walkways.  It was built 

Coombs Bridge

Slate Bridge

in 1864 and has a cute sign at each end that says “$5 fine for riding or driving over this bridge faster than a walk.  Needless to say, we did not go very fast over it!

Ashuelot Bridge

Our last stop of the day was the Slate Bridge built in 2001.  Just a baby bridge!  It also had the same sign about a fine.  There were 4 others that we did not manage to get to!  I was sad but we were both tired and ready to head home. 

As it was, I didn’t get my meatloaf in the oven until 5:30 so we didn’t get to eat until 6:30.  I bought some really sweet corn on the cob today for .29 each and boy, was it good.  Added a toss salad and we were good to go!

Tomorrow we head south to Massachusetts.

Touring and travelling....

June 24 -  Today’s outings were along our way to New Hampshire.  We thought the drive would be really short, even with our stops, however it took MUCH longer than we expected.  The weather was great today so that was a big plus!

The first place we planned to stop was The Granite Quarry.  It has great reviews of how beautiful it was, but as we were headed in that direction, Bill also read that it was not recommended to drive to it in a large RV.  The roads in to the quarry are very narrow, steep and curvy.  Top 3 things I try to avoid while driving!  It wasn’t feasible to park it anywhere and unhook the truck so we continued on south.

One side...

the other side

Our first actual stop was Quechee Gorge.  We were not sure where the actual parking to see the gorge was so there was a good sized lot at a shop and restaurant that was relatively empty and we could easily see and walk to the bridge from it.  Which is exactly what we did!  The bridge is across a giant “U” from one side to the other.  Pictures do not do it justice!

Back on the road and starting to get hungry! Bill called ahead to verify there was parking for the RV at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP and the park does not have parking for tourists but a place across from it allows visitors to park there.  It’s a big space and hardly anyone there and we pulled in one end as we spotted a driveway at the other end.  Surprise!  The far end gate was locked.  We parked under the shade trees and had lunch, then unhooked the truck as I could not make a u-turn towing the truck and positioned us in the direction to get out and parked the truck in front of us to allow maneuvering space should we need it.

Bill and his "entourage"

We walked up by the farm part first and Bill got to pet all the young heifers.  He wished he had some carrots to feed them as they were friendly and nudging him.  We crossed over to the house side of the road.  The caretaker’s house and the barn are now museums.  The barn is HUGE!  The mansion is huge as well and has the old covered area where the carriages drove through and later cars.  The trellis is covered with vines and very beautiful.  The

The barn

mansion is literally on top of the hill so to get far enough to take a photo you are down the hill, but I did the best I could.  Maybe if I was taller???

View from downhill

We tried peeking through the entry side windows but they were windows and storm windows so you couldn’t see or get a decent photo.  Oh well.

The walk did us good and it wasn’t overly hot out.  We stopped again at the cows so Bill could pet and say good-bye.

We hooked the truck back up and were back on the road to Winchester, NH where we snagged the only spot left for 2 nights.  Shady big pull through!  Of course that means no TV!

I got George out and grilled some venison sausage and made some slaw to go with it.  We are steadily working on those peanut butter bars!  I did put a container in the freezer to enjoy down the road!

Time to relax!

Wrapping up our time in northern Vermont

June 23 – I love this relaxing in the morning!  Reminds me of home, oh, I am home!

Today once we had breakfast and showered we headed into Winooski for Bill to get tested for the virus.  He had registered but was not on the roster and he showed his paper I printed.  He's been feeling bad on and off and felt better checking for sure.  There's not much there but we did stop at the post office to mail Bill’s hearing aid in.  One is broken and he was informed it needs to go back to the manufacturer from his doctor.  We had some post cards to mail as well. 

Zee plane, Boss, Zee plane!

While in town several fighter planes flew over.  It took me a bit to realize more were coming and I did manage to get a photo of the last one!  They are loud so I don’t imagine they do much sneaking up on anyone!

We took a short ride to Richmond, VT where the Old Round Church is.  Of course it was closed but it’s very unique and I was able to look in the windows and take some photos.  It’s 2 stories and I could see the stairs but no way to see what is up there.  The church was built in

The Old Round CHurch

1812 – 1813.  It’s a bit strange that there are 3 houses literally right next door.  There were some benches out front under the trees so we sat for a while.  It was a very nice day out under the trees.

There was really no place in town to have lunch and we needed a few things at the grocery so we drove back to Shelburne and stopped at a new Hannaford

A peek inside the church

store.  It’s a bit on the pricy side but then again, it’s a ways for trucks to bring stuff that far north with such a small population.  Mostly needed fresh veggies and some lunch meat.

As soon as we got home we had lunch.  I read for a while as Bill took a nap and then I made a batch of peanut butter bars with peanut butter frosting.  That’s the first thing I’ve baked since we left.  We still have some tea breads in the freezer but the cookies are gone and the ones Jean made of us, so it was time!  They are really good even though I didn’t make them exactly like it said.  I have a bad habit of doing that but most of the time it works out OK. 

I did some posting and worked on photos.  For dinner I simmered the leftover chicken from last night with broth and some sage and then put in some german noodles.  I let the noodles soak up the broth so it wasn’t like soup.  We had a nice fresh crisp salad and peanut butter bars for dessert.

We have been discussing our next move and we have several stops for tomorrow that are not too far apart.  Bill will call a campground in southern NH once we get on the road and see if we can get 2 nights there.  Wal-mart in Massachusetts is our back up plan right now. 

Sightseeing and Shopping!

June 22 – Another busy afternoon!  Actually we were both up earlier than normal but didn’t get motivated too early.  We left the RV about 11:30 and Bill had mapped out for us the best order to visit places that were on our list. 

Colchester LH

We headed a bit south in Shelburne to get some photos at the Shelburne Museum since it’s closed.  They have the Colchester Reef lighthouse there.  It was moved a while back and behind it is a steamboat and there’s a Roundhouse.  The grounds are rather large and it has regular museum buildings in addition to the large

Roundhouse

exhibits outside.  At the end of the property is and old Covered Bridge.  They were smart to close it off as I’m sure some loon would try to drive thru it!

Not many people make a special stop to see the World’s Tallest File Cabinet, but Bill and Kelly Chambers were on the list!  It could use a coat of paint but it stands near the lake area behind a factory of some kind. 

Actually it's a lot of file cabinets

Can you believe we were the only ones there??

From there we drove to our furtherest point, Ethan Allen’s Homestead.  It’s part of a park that his bike and hiking trails and encompasses quite a large area outside side of Burlington.  There was a gentleman who was preparing the house to open in a week for tours and he had to put in some Plexiglas.  The rooms are nicely furnished and I think it’s all

Ethan Allen Homestead

period stuff.  We could not go in but I did a pretty good job of getting photos through the windows.  There are community gardens all around the house property and they were looking pretty good.  I might have been tempted to gather a few things if no one was around!!!

From the homestead we came back into Burlington to go to Greenmount Cemetery where Ethan Allen is buried and has a huge memorial in place.  No one knows exactly where his site is, as studies have been

Ethan Allen Memorial

done and I guess there was no head stone that lasted.  Around the memorial are graves of other Allens and soldiers.  It was very sad to see the overall condition of that cemetery.  Only a couple of areas were “somewhat” mowed and others were hip high! 

This completed our tourist activities for the day!  We headed to the only RV place in town to get a new sewer hose and water pressure gauge.  The “store” part of the dealership was pretty sad!  Lots of empty pegs on the walls and spaces on shelves.  Bill asked for a lunch recommendation and we headed to The Pour House.  Not impressive in my book as I’m not much of a “bar” person. 

The rest of the afternoon was shopping!  I needed ink for my RV printer so we stopped at Staples and then we went to Penney’s at the mall.  There was hardly anyone in there and they were having their big summer clearance of fall and winter stuff.  In addition, there was a lot of other stuff on sale.  I called Bill and told him he might want to come check things out.  He ended up with 3 pair of shorts, I got 3 tops and 2 things for Jude for Christmas.  Some things were a low as $5. 

Time to head home and relax a while before getting dinner, posting blogs and planning for tomorrow!

New place, new sights!

Lake Champlain

June 21 -  Once again we got up and took our time as we had only 75 miles today.  We

Bridge to VT over Lake Champlain

headed south and crossed on the bridge over Lake Champlain and ended up  in Shelburne, VT.  We had spoken to them twice about our reservation and guaranteed it with a CC, however, we sat in the hot RV waiting for them to reach the right person and find our reservation (they do it all by hand).  We had reserved 2 nights and once they found our reservation we asked if we could extend another day.  Soooo we did get a 50amp, full hook up spot for 3 nights! 

We have a corner spot and had a choice to angle in or be parallel to the space on one side.  We went with the second option in hopes the satellite would be in the open but NADA!  We have plenty of books to keep up occupied!

Champlain Memorial LH

We set up just hung out a good part of the day.  Bill took a nap and I read.  Eventually we showered, dressed and headed in to Burlington to see if we could locate 3 lighthouses.  Bill made a dinner reservation at The Shanty on the Shore.  Just happened that as we parked at the harbor we were right behind the restaurant.  At least we knew where it was to come back to in time for our dinner!

South breakwater LH

North Breakwater LH

I could see one of the Burlington Breakwater lighthouses but the view was obstructed.  Bill drove us next door to paid parking but the attendant let us in for free when I told her I just wanted to get a

photo.  It ended up that once we got there I could also see the other light at the other end of the breakwater!

Our hunt for the Juniper Island lighthouse was not so rewarding.  My info listed 2 city parks that it was “supposedly” visible from.  One park was surrounded by trees and you couldn’t even see out to the water and the other had road work going on and we weren’t sure if we should go in or not.  I did get one shot of a building on our side of the island but will have to see when I blow it up if it’s the lighthouse or not.

Sailboat on the lake while we had dinner

We completed our search earlier than expected but the restaurant let us in early for out reservation and we changed from outdoor to indoor.  It was REALLY hot out!  It’s primarily a seafood place so I knew Bill was go with chicken parm.  I had a cup of lobster bisque and my meal was a crab cake and broiled seasoned shrimp.  For the price I thought I’d get more than 3 shrimp but they were excellent as was the crab cake.  The rice was a little dry but nice flavor.  We were both full and didn’t feel like dessert was an option!

Bill left our water pressure gauge at the last stop so we found a Wal-mart not far from the restaurant and looked there for one but no luck.  I picked up a couple of things I knew were on my list at home.  It was one of those small stores with no fresh produce.

The ride back to the RV was an adventure!  Using both the truck GPS and the phone, we seemed to be going a long way out!  Finally we thought we were getting close and there happened to be a policeman stopped at a residential street so we pulled up beside him and admitted we were lost and looking to go to Shelburne.  He said we were in Shelburne.  He directed us to the main drag as that was where the RV park is!  Geez!

Ah, no nice to be back home!  With no TV we both read.  I didn’t even feel like getting on the computer after our “adventure”!

At lot of driving and a little sight seeing - better than all driving!!

June 20 – I was up at 6:15 this morning!  I’m pretty tired now that I’m sitting down at almost 9pm to type before I forget the day!  We had some difficulty with the leveling legs – again!  The dash light would not go off and the console was showing an error but the legs were up!  Also there really was not a good spot to hook the truck up to the Rv but we had scoped out a spot on our way.  It was gravel and pretty level.  I put the legs down and retracted again and it still gave the same messages.  So we headed on our way and after a short while the beeping stopped but the dash light stayed on.

We headed north along the St. Lawrence for a while and gradually ventured easterly as we were going to be driving south along Lake Champlain.  The day turned out to be much longer than we planned as although the distance was fine, there must have been 30 small towns that the speed dropped and had a traffic light or 2 so it was kind of slow going.

We drove through a Mohawk tribe reservation.  You can tell by the large number of places selling cigarettes cheap!  We passed 2 small closed casinos but at end of the town was a huge new one but it didn’t look like they had much business.  We couldn’t tell if they were even open due to the virus.

About 1:30 I was getting pretty hungry!  We were about to get on the Interstate and there was a McDonalds with 5-6 trucker spaces.  Nice!  Worked out well other than they currently don’t carry salads, but I enjoyed my chicken sandwich! 

Bluff Point LH aka Valcour LH

From there we hopped on the interstate and in no time we were in Keeseville, NY.  The campground is not one I would recommend.  It’s very close to the interstate but not very level an of course, lots of trees so no satellite.  There are a lot of tent campers and travel trailers that are families here for the weekend. 

Once we set up and took a break, Bill said he would drive me to the lighthouses.  As much as I love to see them, I really didn’t want to backtrack all the way back north so we went to the closest one to us, Bluff Point AKA Valcour LH.  It’s on an island in Lake Champlain.  The lake is gorgeous!  Very vast and today there were lots of boats entering and departing at the dock where we were.

Power plants creating nice
waterfalls

On the way back we decided to take a shot and see what we could see of the Ausable 

Chasm.  We parked at the bridge and walked across and back to see both sides.  It’s really kinda like waterfalls and there are 2 powerhouses that intake the water and it spews back out with force.  We were planning to take the raft trip down through the Chasm but thank you Virus!!  We drove in and to the far end from the bridge where the dam is controlling the flow of the Ausable River.  A very impressive area for sure!

Kerry text me that my new lawn guy never showed up so Mark was cutting our grass.  That means the front has not been weeded or the society garlic all pulled up.  I will be working on further arrangements.  I text the guy and someone responded on his phone that he is incarcerated!  I know how to pick them!!!

Ausable River

I made fish for me and chicken for Bill and a new frozen Birds Eye bag of potato, sweet potato, broccoli and cauliflower that was seasoned.  You can put it in a skillet or microwave it.  It was very good, Bill even liked it!

We only have 30 amp here so we only had one AC going and while I was busy typing it went off.  Bill checked and the power was off.  We are just so lucky!  I called the office and he came out and the breaker tripped at the pole.  He asked if we had 2 ACs going and Bill told him no, just one.  So will see how the night goes.  It’s cooling off but gets pretty warm in the bedroom.

We don’t have things worked out after 3 more nights so…who knows!!

Half and half day

June 19 – This morning I wanted to catch up on my journal before I forgot what we did yesterday and wanted to have lunch at home and then head out for the afternoon.  Bill’s legs BOTH started back to twitching last night so he didn’t have a good night.  I made his favorite, red velvet waffles, for breakfast this morning.  My plan worked out for the best as he was able to take a morning nap while I typed and did my photos.  I was so bummed that as I went to save one row of photos with captions, Google erased ALL of my captions for all of my photos for this year’s album.  It’s so much work  to go back and redo them all!!

The AC kept turning off, then I realized it was the power going off and coming back on.  I called the front office and she said her husband would be right down.  He did some testing and said the problem was the power coming in to the park.  We put it on 30 amp while we ate and prepared to leave and it was fine.  I was a little worried to leave Molly here in case it went off totally but when we got home it was still working fine.

Ogdensburg Harbor LH

The decision was to drive to the furtherest lighthouse and work our way back.  It was a challenging adventure as several were on private property.  We drove to Ogdensburg.  The Ogdensburg Harbor Lighthouse was listed as part of the National Park Service.  We followed the road right up to the property and there was a no trespassing sign.  I got out and took a couple of photos but did not walk past the sign.  As Bill was turning around a lady walked up to us and said we were trespassing.  We apologized and asked if it was her place and she said no.  She is on the board for something to do with the property surrounding it and that you are not to drive on the road.  Well when you see signs that say no parking along a road, you figure the parking is at the end!  Anyway, I told her about the NPS and she said it is owned by a guy who wrote a grant request to pay the taxes on it and he lives there.  She said she guessed he made an arrangement with the government as he threatened to tear it down.  Well, I got my photos and didn’t get arrested so all was well!

Chippawa Bay was our next stop.   The lighthouse and keepers house are on one of the

Crossover Island LH

1000 islands and we could not go on private property but I could get a look between houses along the road!  I needed just a bit wider area but managed to get my photo.  The other lighthouse there is on the other side of one of the islands and we could not see it.  You’d have to go out in a boat or to Canada. Maybe another time.

We did stop along the way at a Wal-mart but it was the small one with no fresh items.  A bit further down was an Aldi so I did get some fresh veggies and fruit as the fridge is getting bare.  I popped into Dollar Tree for reading glasses but the strength I wanted was not available.  I did make a

Maybe Rock Island LH

few other purchases though.  We stopped once more for gas so the truck will be fueled up for our departure tomorrow and we spotted where we will pull in and hook up the truck in the morning.  It’s not feasible to do it here.

Dinner was leftover meats but fresh butternut squash and zucchini.   Double squash night.  Once the dishes were cleaned up we walked down to the bottom of the campground near the water.  Boy, is the road down steep for driving.  NO way would I drive the RV down there.    Now I see that the campground is actually 4 levels.  The lower 3 are pretty much in the open but the first is all wooded.

MY Google photo captions reappeared!  Strange but good!

Hope to post this and read my book for a while!

Boat tour, lighthouses, what could be better?

June 18 – Short drive today to Clayton, NY.  Our campground, Merry Knoll, has a section on the St. Lawrence river and that’s where they parked us.  The front on the road is VERY wooded and they put smaller seasonal units there.  We are parked by a Winnebago Tour that’s 42’, very nice RV and very nice neighbor.  His wife’s children and grandchildren live here so this is where they summer.  They are full timers and winter in Tucson.

Boldt Castle

Once we set up, put in a load of laundry, and had lunch we headed out.  We had reservations for the 2:30 Uncle Sam’s Boat tour called “Millionaires Row” north in Alexandria Bay.  It’s only an hour tour and since none of the places (Boldt Castle) are open, it was pretty much our only choice.  You have to wear a mask while boarding, unboarding, going to the snack bar or restroom.  You must stay in your designated area on the boat.  We requested seats up top and they have

Boldt Guest House

removed, I would say, 2/3 of the benches.  So we had our own little space and could stand or sit and the seat in front or behind is 6 feet away.  We took jackets but in no way needed them.  Boy, it got hot up there.

The young lady who gave the tour was excellent.  This area is called “1000 Islands” as the river has probably that many islands from one big rock sticking up to multiple acre islands.  There are little houses built on some that don’t look like there is any land left.  The

Boldt power plant

Boldt Castle has a huge island and the mansions are amazing.  Most can only use generators for power and are strictly seasonal homes but there are some who paid for an underwater power lines there are year around.  The castle has it’s own power house.  There’s a tiny lighthouse just off the shore we left from.  Only 2

Our new place

"Living on the edge"

kinds of commercial boats can use the river and it does freeze in the winter and the islands have all varieties of animals that migrated to them during the winters.  The river is fished all year long as they ice fish in the winter.  She named a long list of fish that reside here and are caught.  Pictures don’t do it justice and I would love to come back and go in the castle.  It has a sad story but it’s an amazing looking place to visit.  www.boldtcastle.com.

After the tour there were too many people out and about for me to venture into any shops so we headed to Cape Vincent at the south end where Lake Ontario flows into the river.  At the cape in the Cape Vincent lighthouse (which is closed) but

Island Cottage

the grounds are open to look out over Lake Ontario.  One of the displays showed Charity Shoal Lighthouse waaaay out

Cape Vincent LH

there.  I was able to get it with my new camera! 

There was another old lighthouse listed but we didn’t see any signs as to where it was so we pulled into a convenience store and asked the first couple to come out.  Luckily there were locals and told us the old one was moved up the road beside the store.  We thanked them and drove the half mile to its new home in front of one of the town buildings.

It was about dinner time and the couple also told us their favorite

Cape Vicent Breakwater

restaurants in Alexandria Bay so we drove back there to O’Brien’s.  It’s down across from the bay.  There were not many diners, mostly drinkers at the bar.  They seated us by the window away from anyone else.  I know I’m particular about food.  I want “good” quality when I pay for a nice meal.  Well, the clam strips were strips and chunks and like elastic!  The side of crab salad was delicious but for the price I’m pretty sure it was not crab but imitation.  The poutine appetizer we shared was yummy and my Riesling was delicious!  Bill had chicken parm and brought part of it home.

We strolled some of the shops now that the afternoon crowd had died down.  Didn’t really see much of interest, the normal tourist items. 

We were both beat from the time in the sun and read until bedtime.  Bill set up the TV but didn’t watch it.