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.

New York - Day 12 - Niagara Falls vacinity

Yellow Warbler
(not my photo)

Evangola State Park, near Buffalo
Saturday, 12 May 2018

The KOA campground had quite a few yellow warblers, and they are so pretty.  A picture can't capture their beauty as they flit around looking like bits of sunshine.

Today I wanted to see Niagara Falls and was stumped again because I have both an RV (which isn't welcome in many parking lots) and living critters inside it (which I don't want to leave without knowing how I'm going to get back to them).

The parking lot at the American Falls - the largest that's entirely on US soil (so to speak) said no RVs allowed.  I could park farther down the road and take a shuttle in, which I'd have been glad to do, but then I'd have been at the mercy of someone else's schedule in trying to get back to the critters, and I'm just not comfortable with that.  I may feel differently in a year or two, but that's where I am now.

Instead, I went even farther back down the road to the Whirlpool State Park, and the dogs and I took a 2-mile round-trip walk down a trail that allowed me a view of the mist coming off the falls.  Unfortunately, the photo I took doesn't begin to show the power of it.

my photo

I realized later if I'd hiked another quarter mile I could have gotten a better picture, but I wasn't going to go back - I couldn't drive to that trail - it was pedestrian and bike only.

The mist sprayed so high into the air it was breathtaking.  Literally, it took my breath away.  The power behind it must be enormous.

internet photo

I cribbed this photo of American Falls because I never got to see the falls themselves.  I drove around the area a while but just couldn't figure out how to do it.  Decided that would be something for another time and, after all, I saw their power.

Speaking of which, I was surprised, though I shouldn't have been, to see a hydro plant there.  Of course they have been harvesting the power that's so obvious, and they've been doing it for almost 150 years.  There's even a treaty with Canada about it.

That's Canada, by the way, in my photo.  It's right across the Niagara River.  What I also hadn't realized, and it's about time I learned this, is that the water that makes the falls comes from 4 of the Great Lakes - the last one being Erie - and flows into the 5th (Ontario).

After I left the falls area, I drove into North Tonawanda.  Right.  I've never heard of it either but it was a major hub for the amusement ride and player piano/organ industries.  I learned this at the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum.  What a delight!  Mr. Herschell first saw a carousel in New York City and decided he could build that, and did in 1883.  He called it a steam riding gallery (it was powered by steam) and it was considered the original thrill ride for adults - no children allowed.  Just as well - the early ones went 8-10 mph.

"Factory" connotes a mechanized approach that wasn't there.  Instead, all the horses and so forth were carved by hand out of real wood.  The carvers came from a number of countries and spoke many different languages and tended to communicate with each other using drawings of what they should be doing.  The music came from a player organ (like a player piano), especially after a military one was perfected (it sounded like a military band and could play marches).

My $5 senior admission bought me, in addition to the exhibits, a ride on a carrousel (their spelling) - one of the first 3 they built, back in 1916.  And they were the original horses and everything.  It was wonderful.  Their motto is: Once around is never enough.

The state park I'm in now is on Lake Erie - my old friend from Erie, PA.

Tomorrow I'm going back into Buffalo to see a few things there if I can.

today's route

New York - Day 10 - Rochester

Lakeside Beach State Park

Thursday, 10 May 2018

I’ve figured out at least part of the reason I’ve been cranky lately: I’m getting frustrated at not having time enough to see all the things I want to see.  Take today, for instance.

I drove in to Rochester, intending to go to at least 3 specific sights (Susan B. Anthony Home, George Eastman’s Home, and the Seneca Art & Culture Center at the Ganondaga State Historical Site) and do 2 specific chores (laundry & grocery shopping); what I was able to do was 1 chore and see 1 sight.  That’s been happening more and more, and I’m finding it hard not to be disappointed at what I’m not able to see, rather than pleased by what I am able to see.  I need an attitude adjustment fast, because the next 4 years are going to be like that.

I got started a little later than I’d intended, then encountered a very rough road that slowed me down to under 40 mph, then got lost.  By the time I got found again, it was already 10:30 and I knew I’d have to pare down my list.  This was disappointing because I’d already had to pare it down – the International Museum of Photography is closed for several months and the Strong Museum of Play (huge building with toy collection) charged a high admission cost and seemed to be currently displaying mostly toys from the last 15 years or so, which I’m not interested in, though I did want to see the original Monopoly set and Barbie.

Anyway, I decided on 2 sights I really wanted to get to, got Google directions from where I was to the first one, and then got lost again.  I was aiming for the Susan B. Anthony Home and kept telling myself my difficulties were nothing compared to the battles she fought, and that helped.

Once I found it, I learned they have lots of photos of the house taken at various times while she lived there, including many of the rooms, so they’ve been able to reproduce or track down original furnishings for much of it.  The house next door belonged to Anthony’s sister, and that’s being used as a gift shop and office and exhibit room.  The docent who showed me around the home was tiny – about 4’9” maybe – and probably 20 years older than me, and she knew a lot about her subject and enjoyed talking about it.  Her tour took us to the 3^rd story of the home, which Anthony had converted from an attic into an office, and I can’t even imagine how that docent managed to climb those steep stairs every day.

The house on the left is Susan's, on the right is her sister's

She explained that Anthony’s father had to declare bankruptcy when she was young and, because women could not legally own property, her mother’s inheritance from her parents (and her mother’s eyeglasses) could be taken to satisfy her father’s debts.  This experience, coupled with those of all the married women she knew, convinced her to fight to win the right for women to own their own property.  The right to vote sort of trotted along with that fight, because women were more likely to gain the right to own property if they could vote.

She worked her entire adult life, usually in collaboration with others such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, her friend for 50 years, to gain these goals.  She traveled all over the country as a guest speaker, earning a living on the payment for these speeches.  The right to vote was gained after she died, but the bill in Congress was called the Susan B. Anthony Law.

By the time I was done with that visit and then walked the dogs and fed everybody, it was nearly 1:30.  My 2^nd priority was the Seneca Culture Center, located about 30 miles southeast of Rochester.  My campground is northwest of town.  Very reluctantly I decided to give up the idea and looked for a laundromat instead.  There I got lucky, finding a clean, staffed place almost next door to a Chase Bank branch.  So I got 2 things done at once.  And by then it was about 3:30 and traffic was already picking up.

I’d been thinking Rochester was a small town, like Ithaca, but I finally looked it up and learned it’s New York’s 3^rd largest town, with 209,000 in town and nearly a million in the metro area.

Not far from downtown, I was surprised to find a wall mural proclaiming the Little Italy Historic District.  I hadn’t really thought about Rochester’s history much beyond the Eastman Kodak thing.  In downtown Rochester I saw a huge building with “Gannett Newspapers” carved in stone on at least 2 sides; it’s been there long enough to have been able to afford the craftsmen to do the carving.  Maybe some of those Italian immigrants.

I've never seen a Methodist church that looked like this one.

The ride back included that same very rough road – it’s so rough the highway department has signs up warning motorists of a rough road.  The slowdown made the drive longer.  The compensation was that the road, called Lake Ontario State Parkway, ran mostly alongside Lake Ontario with lots of vineyards along the road and really was pretty.

Across the road at intervals are a number of attractive arched stone bridges.  The problem with them is they have a low clearance, and the highway dept. announces that in very large numbers, though without giving anybody a chance to get off the road if they don’t fit.  I’d go under a section marked “11’5”” and tell myself I measured my RV myself and know I’m lower than 11’.  It was unnerving, though.  Over and over, because there are quite a few of those bridges.

I saw a wild turkey by the side of the road.

On the radio I heard there’d been a celebration today honoring the New York Canal System’s 100 years in existence, and from somewhere they produced one of the shovels used way back then in digging the canal.  Digging by hand.  Imagine the work involved.

The only TV stations I pick up in this campground are Canadian.  Of course they give the temperature in Celsius, and I haven’t looked up a translation but getting down to 3° sounds cold.

Without being able to pick up a wi-fi signal in this park, I’ve been unable to use this time to plan the rest of my New York trip, or post on this blog, or answer emails.  It’s relaxing but now I don’t have anyplace planned to stay after tomorrow night near Niagara Falls.  At least that’s a KOA and I’ll definitely have wi-fi.

Pennsylvania - Day 29 - Scranton

Lackawanna State Park, near Scranton
Sunday, 29 April 2018

Our campsite the previous 2 nights was near what's called Lower Lake at Promised Land State Park.  This morning the dogs and I walked down to the lake and learned that boaters are prohibited from going beyond a certain marked area because there's a pair of nesting Bald Eagles near there.  Apparently they've been returning to nest there since 1999 and most years have fledged at least one chick.  Pretty neat, huh?

We drove into Scranton to the Electric City Trolley Museum.  Scranton got the nickname Electric City when, in 1886, it began using the world's first electric streetcar.  Before that, all streetcars were horse-drawn.  

By 1903 they'd figured out how to use AC power to transmit electricity over long distances without too much resistance on the lines draining all the power.  Then substations were set up to convert the AC to DC, which is what the streetcars used, but DC can't travel more than a few miles without losing steam (so to speak).  The AC use allowed electric trains to spread way out to the surrounding area, allowing suburbs to grow because people could now commute easily.  And the coal industry relied heavily on the trains to bring the coal out of the mines and then ship it into town.

In 1913, I think, the Wilkes-Barre and Hazelton Railway was built.  It stretched for 30 miles and was a remarkable railway: over that 30 miles it covered a 1200' change in elevation, crossed 3 valleys and 2 mountains, plowed a 2700' tunnel through a 3rd, and never had more than a 3% grade.  Now that sounds like something the highway department needs to study.  How come I've been dealing with 10% grades almost daily if the railroads had it figured out more than 100 years ago?

One of the other remarkable things about the W-B and H Railway is that it used 3rd rail power rather than overhead wires and, for the first time, it covered that 3rd rail so it wouldn't be subject to power outages due to snow or ice, and so it would be safe for pedestrians to step on - because they didn't touch the rail, they stepped on a wood plank that covered it.  It worked so well that the next year the New York City subway system adopted it.

Operating steam train at the museum

It was all very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot, but when I got back to the RV I found the temp inside had dropped into the 50s.  And by the time everybody ate lunch it was even colder - the wind was blowing, increasing the wind chill.  I'd intended to go to the Steamtown National Historic Museum just across the parking lot but decided to skip that and the Anthracite Heritage Museum nearby and head to our campground.  But honestly, if the weather'd been better - both museums offered rides on trolley and train, respectively, and I think it'd've been a hoot to go.  Just way too cold today.

This park is only about 15 miles north of downtown Scranton and - yea! - I've got a wi-fi signal and multiple TV channels to get weather reports.  There's talk of some snow showers tonight and temps in the low 30s, so I'll wait and see whether I go back into Scranton tomorrow to pick up the things I missed.

Pennsylvania - Day 13 - Ft. Necessity

PetsMart Parking Lot, Pittsburgh PA
Friday, 13 April 2018

It was an interesting day.  I walked the dogs before we left Kooser State Park and found that there’s a Kooser Spring, which is presumably the source of Kooser Run.  (In Pennsylvania, streams are called runs. I don’t know why.)  And as we walked along the run, which was where the frogs were singing last night, we startled a Great Blue Heron who flew away.  I wouldn’t have seen him if he hadn’t flown.

Which reminds me that I’ve been hearing and seeing Mourning Doves all over PA; I’ve always thought of them as southern birds, but the bird book says they’re all over, including here.

Just down the road a few miles from the park is an active gravel mine: there’s a chute running alongside the road going uphill at a steep angle (the road’s going downhill at the same angle) and depositing gravel in a pile at the top.

All day long I kept finding stretches of the road that were such a serious grade that the highway dept. warned motorists about them.  One of the most foreboding came as the road went steeply uphill with a sign near the top, screaming in large letters “Warning” and “Dangerous Road”, which turned out to be such a serious grade they didn’t tell us what it was and it went on for miles and trucks were given a speed limit of 10 mph and told to use lowest gear.  Part way down that one was a runaway truck ramp into a hill of gravel.  That one was really scarey.  The others were just nerve-wracking.  Who needs amusement park rides?

The reason for all these steep grades, I learned later, is that this is part of the Allegheny Mountains, which are a subset of the Appalachian Mountains, which run almost the entire length of the US.  So they really are mountains and I didn’t realize they were coming.  Well, I knew they were there but didn’t know how that would translate into road conditions.

I had thought about stopping to see Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s house, and found there were clear signs directing me to it.  And when I got there I learned the entrance fee was $33.  It’s managed by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy but, good cause or not, I still don’t have that kind of money to fling around on something like this.  There were many other signs directing me to Kentuck Knob, which I hadn’t heard of but decided not to stop at, and later learned that it’s a house Wright designed, and that it too has an entrance fee.

The Methodist Church is big in this part of the state.   Every little town seems to have a well-established Methodist church (brick, stained glass) prominently located.  But they’re not the only ones.  I passed a sign saying I’d be missing a chicken and biscuit supper at a Church of Christ next Saturday.  And I passed another church touting an upcoming buckwheat pancakes and sausage event.  I remember my mom used to make buckwheat pancakes occasionally.  I passed a Baptist church with a sign for Bible Study and Soul Food at 6:45 on Tuesdays.  Obviously eating and religion go together in this part of the country.

I stopped for a while at Fort Necessity.  It’s managed by the National Park Service and is the site of a battle that started the French and Indian War, which led to events that resulted in the Revolutionary War.  At the time, George Washington was 22 years old and had just been made a colonel of a Virginia regiment on a mission for the British governor.  He had no education or experience which would have told him he was locating his “fort” in a place that couldn’t be defended.  The fort was actually just a very small stockade in a valley surrounded by low hills covered with trees.  The French soldiers just picked off the Virginians who had no ability to retreat. Washington had to surrender but, the NPS notes, he never surrendered again and he learned from the experience.

Still, this battle led to England and France declaring war on each other, triggered over both wanting to control the Ohio River valley, which this battle was on the edge of.  And 30 years later, the result was a new country.  Ours.

Pittsburgh has 5 area Walmarts, and I picked one that looked like it was in the middle of a bunch of stores.  When I got there, I found signs posted about every 6’ saying no bus or RV parking.  So I can take a hint – they didn’t want me – and I started driving around to see if I could find another store that might let me stay the night.  Nearby I found a PetsMart, which I needed to shop at anyway, and luckily got the manager to agree to let me stay.  “Luckily” because by then it was nearly 4:00 and I really didn’t want to be out in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic with no place to go.  But I hate to push my luck so think I’ll try to find somewhere else to stay tomorrow night.  Maybe a hotel.  This is near the airport so there’s lots of hotels around – I can see 2 from where I’m parked.

Trap Pond State Park, DE I

Trap Pond State Park, DE
Monday, 26 March 2018

As I was driving away from the campground this morning, I'm sure I saw bluebirds.  The sun was on their backs as they flew away from me and they were absolutely gorgeous.  I know why they're called the bluebirds of happiness, because their beauty made me feel happy.

At one of the Quantico exits, I saw a sign directing people to the National Museum of the Marine Corps.  Not having heard of it, I looked it up and learned that it's not that old but is now one of the primary attractions in Virginia.

I saw an incredible number of plastic bags caught in trees and lining the roadway beginning in northern Virginia.  Really makes you appreciate Austin's ban on plastic bags when you remember that's what Austin used to look like, too.

I was caught off guard both by the toll I had to pay just before crossing the Bay Bridge ($4.00) and by the length of the bridge (4 1/3 miles I discovered later).  Since I refuse to pay tolls in Texas for roads we've already paid for, I'm not used to tolls.  But this part of the country's full of them so I'd better adjust.

As soon as I left the major freeways (so to speak) in Maryland, I started seeing what can only be described as bucolic farms.  Fields and fields of green from the new crops or of dead stalks from the last crops.  One field of solar panels.  One cattle feedlot - is that what they're called? - where a bunch of cows eat a lot and the smell lasts a long way down the road.

I saw quite a bit of snow in shaded places all along the highway once I left Virginia for Maryland.  I took a photo to demonstrate that nobody's been making up reports of snow.

This was one of many such piles in a WalMart parking lot where we stopped for a lunch break.  The air temp was certainly above freezing but the breeze brought down the apparent temp and those chunks of snow weren't melting very fast.  Still, I'm sure it used to be quite large.

Here at the park, the ranger said yesterday they suddenly had about 45 minutes of hail and rain and terrible winds, and then it all stopped.  No sign of it today.

I couldn't have been more wrong about this little park.  I've got several TV channels, and I've got a wi-fi signal, and I've got a phone signal.  All the comforts of home.  Although, when I checked in they suggested I move from the area I had reserved to another one because they hadn't turned on the water yet in the reserved area.  I figured water might be a good thing, so I switched.  Maybe it's because it's Monday or maybe it's the weather, but there's almost nobody in this park.  

Nice little park on a nice little lake they call a pond.  I'll get photos tomorrow.

I'm re-reading Steinbeck's Travels With Charlie for the first time in about 50 years.  Because of signs I've been seeing on the road, I was reminded of something in the book that I read yesterday: "Those states with the shortest histories and the least world-shaking events have the most historical markers."  I'll be interested to see how that plays out as I move westward, but in this part of the country, there's a lot of history.  History being defined as the story written by the winners.