New York - Day 26 - Lake Champlain/Plattsburgh

Cumberland Bay State Park

Saturday, 26 May 2018

Since I had to check out of my non-electric site this morning but couldn’t get my electric site until this afternoon, I decided to go see if I could get a clear view of Lake Champlain.  The bay this campground is on faces south and I’m not sure how much of what I’m looking at is the actual lake.

today's route

The campground is just a few miles north of Plattsburgh, which is just a few miles north of a village called Valcour, which the map says has a clear view of Lake Champlain.  The route on the map is pretty clear but I looked it up on Google just to be sure.  Despite all that, I found once again that the roads aren’t marked in real life the way everybody says they’re supposed to be marked, and I had to drive around in Plattsburgh for a while before I could find the right road.  Plattsburgh is small enough that you wouldn’t think you even could drive around a while, but I managed it.  Twice, counting later on.

But first, I drove into town under a huge banner reading, “Georgia Pacific Welcomes You To Plattsburgh.”  So I guess I know what the main industry is.

I drove south of town and did indeed find some unobstructed views of a body of water that was clearly Lake Champlain, and I had an equally clear view of Vermont on the other side.  Very pretty view.

Lake Champlain

Along the way I passed something called the Stoneledge Sculpture Garden, which I’m guessing is the work of a single person, probably the man who was cutting the grass when I went by.  I stopped briefly in someone’s driveway (this road not having a shoulder either) to gawk.  The sculptures were mostly of metal in a wide variety of shapes.  He’d even done the Last Supper.  It was remarkable and I wish I’d been able to figure out where I could park so I could get some pictures.  If you ever find yourself in the neighborhood, take a drive south of Plattsburgh on St. Rt. 9, or you can look it up online - it's got a website.

Back in Plattsburgh, I tried to find the CVS the internet assured me was there.  Once again, nothing looked like Google had told me it would.  I mean, who can you trust anymore?  I got lost and then poked around a little and got found again.  Thank goodness I’ve just got this little RV so it doesn’t matter so much if I have to pull into a Tractor Supply parking lot to let Jasper out to use the box and the dogs to get a walk and me try to get directions.  The local 4-H was having a car wash there, but they reluctantly refused to wash my RV.  Not quite that small, apparently.

I finally found the CVS (too bad, it only had some of what I wanted) and I found a grocery store and a wine store across the street, so we got provisioned up to be able to stay a couple of days at the campground without having to go out again.  I thought everybody could use the break.

Our new campsite is within view of the bay, and it’s also within view of dozens of other occupied campsites, almost every one with a dog.  That wouldn’t matter so much except neither one of my dogs is willing to pass another dog without reacting somehow.  Plus Gracie’s gotten so hypersensitive that she can’t stand even so much as the sound of a child’s voice pitched at a perfectly reasonable level, let alone screaming as they do when they’re having fun.  If it were up to her, we’d never get back to our RV once we’d left it because we’d never be able to go past the campsites with little kids, bouncing balls or other dogs – i.e. all of them.  Truly pathetic.