Decompression - And Happy RV Anniversary To Us!

You all remember reading about our summer vacation with our grandson, Jace. While extremely fun, entertaining and educational, it was also tiring. When you're both nearly 10 times older than the kid you're taking care of, you can expend a LOT of energy, even if it's just a simple trip to the campground pool for a few hours.

So afterwards, it's nice to have some decompression time, where all you have to do is enjoy retirement by doing as little as possible. In our case, we also get to enjoy that decompression time surrounded by nature due to the lifestyle we have chosen.

So it's a couple of weeks each in two of our favorite US Corps of Engineer parks in Georgia, both because they're inexpensive, and because they sit on two big lakes in Georgia - Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona, respectively. They're also close by to where Jace lives, just in case we need to step in for a day or so before his school year began in earnest.

First order of business is ordering of another kind; that being parts I'll need to fix some of the things that broke or just need replacement after 2 solid months on the road with more than 3,000 driving miles on the motor home. There's also monthly maintenance items that just take a few minutes, like checking fluids and topping them off, resetting tire pressures, and checking the water levels in the four 6-volt batteries that power our coach. We're nearly 4 years into this journey, and due to proper maintenance, the batteries still test out as almost new. I figure another 3-4 years before we'll need to replace them.

It's also a time for me to get my left hand rechecked by a VA orthopedic specialist in Atlanta. First checkup looked good, and another just one month later shows both breaks completely healed. The downside is the recurring swelling in the left hand, which the specialist tells me can stay for 6 months to a year! But now that the hand is no longer immobilized, the more I move it and use it, the quicker the swelling should go down (or so he says . . .).

Our final destination before heading back out on the road again is a new RV campground for us - Yonah Mountain Campground in Cleveland, GA. We've stayed in the Cleveland area for many months during our first few years of RV ownership, but the campground we always stayed at (Leisure Acres) has instituted a very cumbersome application process if you want to stay with them for more than 2 weeks, and it's frankly not very customer-friendly. So it was time to look elsewhere. This was one of those cases where change is good. Not only is Yonah Mountain Campground better in most respects to Leisure Acres (more wooded lots, social activities every Friday and Saturday, and being closer to the town of Helen, GA by 15 minutes or so), it has no process to stay for any extended time, and is less expensive by more than $50 per month!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

And it's here that we get to celebrate out 4-year anniversary of living in an RV. It's a cliche, but time really does fly when you're having fun. It brings back a memory Barbara and I had one time at the Florida RV show the January before we were going to order our Tiffin. We had been sitting in the exact model coach for more than an hour, changing seats from the dining area to the living area, imagining what life might be like living in this coach full-time, speaking to and answering questions from other folks looking to purchase a Tiffin. At one point we both looked at each other and said, "Yeah, this is home. We can do this".

So four years after picking up our new home on wheels at Marlin Ingram's in Montgomery, AL, we're still immensely enjoying the decision, and still looking forward to more travel and adventures. Has it been perfect? Of course not. Nothing in life is. But it's been far more trouble-free than many folks suggested it might be, which just solidifies our choice of manufacturers and model of our coach. The homework of 3 1/2 years has paid off, as has the ongoing preventive maintenance and upkeep we've stuck to religiously during and in-between trips.

RV living isn't for everyone, but it's certainly worked out for us. Here's to four more years!

The End Is Near!

OK, so not to be too dramatic, but after 7 weeks of travel with our 7 year-old grandson, we're actually looking forward to some alone time. Especially Grover. Jace can get very excitable, and Grover's not big on “ambushes” when he's trying to catch up on his beauty sleep.

But first, it's a stop in the commonwealth of our birth – Massachusetts (as everyone in Massachusetts knows, Massachusetts not merely a “state”, but a “commonwealth”). It's another destination in which we've never parked our RV when visiting, so this will be one more new sticker for our state map, and a chance to visit friends and family.

Spacious Skies – Minuteman in Littleton, MA is a very old campground, developed at a time when travel trailers were the norm, and it shows. Perhaps their new corporate owners (Spacious Skies has been purchasing a number of existing campgrounds across America) are planning some upgrades, but there's no getting around the narrow dirt roads that are an adventure for larger RVs such as ours to navigate, the shorter and narrow sites themselves, and the aging infrastructure. Water went out 3 days in a row while we were there, and while it was repaired fairly quickly, it was inconvenient for many (we were busy with other tasks during the outages – more on that later). The staff is extremely friendly and helpful, but they've been given a daunting task to keep campers happy. On the plus side, Minuteman is only a 20-minute drive to visit my Dad, instead of the usual 45-50 minutes we typically had when previously staying in southern New Hampshire.

My Dad had just turned 94 years-old the previous week, and in prior telephone calls had expressed a desire to go to the beach, so with our first good day of weather we picked him up and headed over to Salisbury Beach in Massachusetts. Salisbury Beach brought back memories of my youth, when the family would take a day-trip to the beach and arcade area, where we could enjoy a day of sun, surf, games and unhealthy but delicious food. Dad seemed to have a good time, and Jace enjoyed Joe's Playland where he could crash to his hearts content playing driving games. I renewed my acquaintance with Skeeball after a few lost decades, and Barbara herded everybody in an attempt to keep us all together.

The 94 year-old patriarch gets his day at the beach!

 

Another planned activity for us was to show Jace some real history while on vacation, so we took the MBTA commuter train from Littleton into North Station, and walked a mile over part of the Freedom Trail to visit the USS Constitution – Old Ironsides. Jace got his first visit on a vintage warship, and was pretty impressed with the Constitution's history. Personally, I'm always in awe that such a ship still exists in such immaculate condition, and the fact that I could walk on the same decks men once trod to defend this nation still sends a chill up my spine.

Jace enjoying his first-ever train ride. Of course we had to ride in the upper level of the double-decker car!

 

Being a boy, Jace is fascinated with things that can go BOOM!

Best pic of the day. Mimi and Jace at the stern of one of the most famous warships ever built.

As originally planned months previously, we had intended to camp a few days with our best friends Rick and Marielle Penney, who have a Grand Design Reflection 5^th wheel. They had booked a spot right next to us so that we could enjoy each other's company without much of a walk, but both the weather and another unexpected diversion ended up pretty much ruining our plans to socialize. We still got to see them, but not nearly as long as planned, and not in the relaxing campground setting we had hoped to enjoy. We did manage to join them for a couple of meals, especially breakfast at the Red Arrow Diner in Nashua, NH, and Costello's in Plaistow, NH, home of our favorite roast beef sandwiches!

The Red Arrow was celebrating a Harry Potter menu, so he had a wizard at our table for breakfast!

The Red Arrow features a menu item I always wanted to order - their "Mug of Bacon". 20 pieces of extra thick bacon for everyone to share.

That diversion I alluded to earlier? Moving my Dad from one senior-living facility to another. At 94 years of age, Dad just doesn't do all the things he needs to do on a daily and weekly basis any more, and he needed a higher level of care than his previous place could provide. Their quality of meals had also suffered during COVID, and had never recovered. So, Barbara, Jace, my brother Doug, our friend Paul and yours truly moved the bulk of Dad's stuff from Chelmsford on Friday, then everyone but Paul helped set up Dad in his new digs in Billerica off and on for the next few days. We ended up extending our stay two nights just to get the job done, and Barbara and Jace got to experience a tornado warning while staying at the campground. Yay!

Jace was VERY helpful in prepping for the potential bad weather. Barbara had explained that if the weather got really bad and a tornado formed, they'd have to move from the motor home to one of the more permanent structures in the campground. Jace decided that he'd need to save his half-dozen “stuffies” - his stuffed animals – and had them all ready in both arms to take with him to the shelter. He then informed Mimi that she would have to grab all his Dogman books to bring with them – because his hands were full. Of course, Barbara had to explain to Jace that she would be carrying Grover in one arm (Grover would never go willingly out into a thunderstorm) and Jace in the other, and that his Dogman books would just have to take their chances with the storm. What a kid!

The move and his summer vacation complete, we finished off the trip with a few decompression days in central Pennsylvania at Twin Groves RV Resort – a very nice place to stay, btw – and made the drive back to Georgia to drop Jace off with his Mom. Overall, it was 8 weeks, 3,300 motor home miles, 7 campgrounds in 4 new states, one visit to an emergency room, 3 damaged or failed parts to the motor home (all suspiciously in Massachusetts), and hundreds of priceless memories we hope Jace will remember for a lifetime.

Now it's time to rest up, catch up on some missed sleep, and hopefully get my hand fixed and ready for future travel this Fall.

So you think RV retiremnt is easy? Try dealing with the VA on the road!

First of all, I'm thankful for being covered under the VA for my medical care. For the most part, it's been better than many have been led to believe, it's available in most every area we've visited, and if you know how it works, it can be relatively easy to obtain - initially.

Until you need a specialist.

So, case in point, my recent slip and fall at the top of Mt. Washington. No VA emergency room nearby, so we head to the nearest civilian ER. Get in, get fixed up for the immediate issues, and go home. Then make sure to call the VA within the next 24-hours to let them know we used a civilian ER for treatment. After that, the VA covers the bills incurred at the ER, and we're good to go. Sounds too good to be true, right?

But what if you need a follow-up appointment?

Then, you have to go back into the VA system for that follow-up. If you're stationary like most Vets, there might be a delay in seeing someone based on the area and VA coverage in place. If the wait for a VA specialist is too long, the VA tries to hook you up with a private practice specialist through what's called Community Care. For the most part, that works and you can usually get your follow-up visit taken care of in a few weeks.

Not so if you're a full-time RV-er traveling from state-to-state.

First, I have to be temporarily “transferred” into the particular state's VA health care system to be seen, and that takes a visit to a VA emergency room where I will be evaluated (a waste of a VA emergency room), possibly taken care of if there is a specialist on-hand, or more likely an attempt is made to set me up with a specialist at a later date. The problem is that there aren't enough specialists in the VA system to see someone in less than 4 weeks or even 4 months depending on what is needed, so we're usually in another state by the time any appointment can be made. And Community Care, while having more options than the VA, can also take weeks to set up an appointment. Plus, your referral for Community Care doesn't travel with you from state-to-state; it's only good for the VA system you have been “transferred “ into. (Sigh) So once we leave one state for another, I have to start all over again – IF I think we'll be there long enough for it to matter.

So now I have a broken left hand that needs to be looked at by someone other than an ER doctor, I'm now in Maine instead of where the injury took place in New Hampshire, records have to be transmitted from the civilian ER to the new VA system I have been temporarily “transferred” into, and I'll be in Massachusetts before an appointment in Maine can be established! And forget about starting it all over again in Massachusetts, because I'll only be there for one week!

So now, my follow up appointment with an orthopedic specialist that should have been done in 2 weeks will now have to be set up in the Atlanta area almost 5 weeks after the initial injury (if I'm lucky!), and I have to hope the ER doctor did their job right initially or I'll have to have surgery to correct the fully-healed problem – extending my recuperation into months instead of weeks. Oh, and I can't just get a referral from my primary care doctor to see an orthopedic specialist in Atlanta. That would be too easy. No, I have to go to the Atlanta VA emergency room with my disk of X-rays to have the ER physician on staff see me in order to refer me to Radiology with a form that allows them to scan my disk into their system, ONLY after I give them a form from the original ER to transfer my medical records from that visit to the appropriate VA! BY FAX! And then I MIGHT see an orthopedic specialist at the Atlanta VA hospital that day, but probably not.

And don't get me started on scheduling a colonoscopy . . .

Retirement can be tougher than you think.

Jace Vacation Update #5 – Maine is a BIG disappointment

How to describe our 2-week stay in Maine . . . ?

If Jace were to describe it, it would be summed up in one word: “Meh”.

Having never visited the Bar Harbor area before, Barbara and I were looking forward to seeing something new. Everything is new to Jace, so his input didn't matter. Rather than be close to the water, we chose a campground about 20-25 miles as the crow flies away, so that while we were here over the 4^th of July Grover would not be inundated with fireworks being set off over the harbor, and the campground we chose is in a no-fireworks-allowed town called Ellsworth.

Based on the weather, we probably could have gotten away with a campground closer to the water.

Forest Ridge campground is kinda different. I think it wants to be a 55-and-older place to stay but doesn't want to lose the family revenue. Rules regarding don't do this, don't do that, and if you do something we don't like we reserve the right to kick you out without recourse or refund. It's not a very relaxing place to stay, and if we do happen to venture to Bar Harbor again, Forest Ridge will NOT be on our list of places to stay.

But back to the weather.

Maine has been undergoing the wettest summer in recent memory, and our two weeks here have been no exception. Most times it was constant drizzle and low clouds, other times constant rain, and some times even heavy downpours. Maine was, in a word, dreary.

The weather our first week and a half kept us indoors - a lot. It kept us from doing anything but a cursory stop at Schoodic Peninsula, where waves can crash onto a rocky promontory and fly more than 40 feet in the air. It even kept us from doing anything but a drive-through in Bar Harbor proper, which is cute, but very crowded and very touristy. And NOT a place to get caught in rain.

Our first attempt at Schoodic Point was on a foggy day, but still impressive

Our second attempt in week 2 was much sunnier!

Maine might very well go down in Parental Parolees history as the worst place we've ever visited, and we've been to New Jersey!

One highlight was being able to join fellow 2020 Open Road 36LA owners Ed and Kathi Kaminsky for lunch. Ed and I have been email “pen pals” since he found our Parental Parolees blog online, and we've picked each other's brains on various problems over the years. Unfortunately, due to differing schedules and destinations, we've never been able to meet in person. How nice it was to find out they were camping only 20 minutes away from us this summer, and a meet-and-greet was on (even if it was raining that afternoon)! Really nice people (as you would expect), and we had a great time catching up with them.

After a week and a half, the rain had cleared and the sun finally came out, allowing us to get a couple of sightseeing things accomplished in the area.

The first was a drive up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Given my LAST experience with a mountain, I was approaching this with a bit of trepidation. Fortunately, the drive up is very comfortable with a wide two-lane road, and plenty of granite evenly spaced on the edges to keep wayward drivers from committing a big mistake. And unlike Mt. Washington, Cadillac Mountain features actual cement and stone trails visitors can walk. Sure, you can venture off the pathways onto naked granite all over the place, and we did, but we had a much better choice of safe and level routes in which to do that.

So no slip and falls for me that day. Grover even enjoyed his afternoon on Cadillac Mountain.

 

The views are spectacular from the summit. You can look down into Bar Harbor, and a good portion of the Mt. Desert area. We spotted a large cruise ship moored outside of Bar Harbor, and many of the islands that form a barrier against the ferocity of the Gulf of Maine. And on our way back to the campground, it was time for Barbara to enjoy her first lobster in almost 40 years!

 

Our friends Ed and Kathi had recommended an Island Cruise boat tour out of Bass Harbor, and we were able to take advantage of our last day's stay in the area with sunny skies and warmer temperatures to enjoy the tour. It's a two-hour boat ride for about 32 people on a converted lobster boat. Captain Eli and his first mate (his teenage daughter) are life-long residents of the area, and his narration of the history and people who make up that part of the Maine coastline makes the time fly by.

Sunny day for a harbor cruise!

The tour takes you past a local lighthouse, large rock formations in the water that are home to many seals (some of whom just stare at you from the rocks while other peek at you from the water), local water fowl and bald eagles (eagles can be terror on baby seals), and a large commercial salmon fishery. It finishes with a stop at one of the 5 lobster pens they have in the water, where the day's catch is brought up for inspection. Crabs are thrown back into the water, while legal lobsters are brought home for the captain's family dinner. Jace had a stare-down with one member of the day's catch, but wouldn't touch him.

 

Seals hanging out on rocks

These seals are very curious about us!

One of a pair of bald eagles hanging out within striking distance of the seals on the rocks

Anybody want environmentally-friendly, sustainable salmon?

Our first mate has crabs! (Sorry, couldn't resist the cheap joke here)

Captain Eli with his catch of the day. One of four he was able to retrieve from the trap.

Jace would look, but did not touch the lobster! (Wuss)

All-in-all, a fitting end to our stay in Bar Harbor.

Now it's time to pack up and head south to Massachusetts to visit my Dad and some long-time friends. Too bad my busted hand won't allow me to play some golf with the guys I used to work with at Xerox. After almost 3 long years of shoulder rehab, I was finally swinging a golf club again.

Jace Vacation Destination #3 – New Hampshire – Stormy Weather

“Don't know why . . . There's no sun up in the sky . . . Stormy Weather . . .”

So for the first 2+ weeks of Jace's vacation, we'd managed to dodge any serious weather issues, but we're in week 3 and we're back in New England, where the old saying goes, “If you don't like the weather, wait a minute . . .”. First couple of days weren't so bad, but there was re-provisioning to do, and Barbara had a birthday cake to make for Jace's upcoming birthday at the end of the first week, and Barbara's birthday cakes over the years have become the stuff of legends. No such thing as throwing a box of Duncan Hines together with some canned frosting – oh, no. Themed cakes in every shape and style imaginable are the norm.

We filled the days with marginal weather by hitting the “heated” pool at our resort (could have been about 5 degrees warmer), a trip to the playground and Jace riding his bike, but sightseeing was pretty much put on hold until the second week of our stay at Danforth Bay. We did find out that Grover loves to use the slide at the park's playground, and he entertained himself, us, and other visitors with his new found skill.

As one fellow Tiffin owner told us when he saw this picture, "Grover is more ham than hound . . ."

Our lone attempt at hitting a local attraction in our first week at Danforth Bay was about 20 miles away at StoryLand, but while it remained dry as a bone in Freedom, NH, the town of Glen, NH just north of North Conway was hit by a local deluge with thunder and lightning added in for good measure. This resulted in a rain check to be used sometime when the weather was supposed to improve later in our second week.

Meanwhile, Jace ended up officially turning 7 years old on our first Friday here, but it ended up being a 3-day event, capped off by a cookout at Barbara's cousin Jon's house just 10 minutes down the road. Watching Jace work his charms on a room full of women is both eye-opening and scary. I fear for the female population of his town once he gets to dating age. He has this ability to charm women that you have to see to believe.

Another Barbara masterpiece cake, this time the Death Star from Star Wars

 

A few days later, the skies finally cleared enough to head back to StoryLand. For those unfamiliar with StoryLand, it's an older themed park based on all the popular nursery rhymes; Mother Goose, Peter-Peter Pumpkin Eater and so on. Its been a New England institution for decades, and as far as I'm concerned, for a seven year-old, it has all the fun of a Disney World without the sensory overload and exorbitant prices. They have live characters like Tinkerbell and Peter Pan who do shows throughout the day, and rides small enough for kids Jace's age. Jace pronounced it “The best place he's ever been to, and always will be”.

Enough said.

Not the easiest chair to get in and out of, I can tell you!

A little Humpty Dumpty action with rolling eyes

Great live action show with Tinkerbell and Peter Pan with Captain Hook in the middle with Jace

 

Even if you drive as bad as Jace does, you can still get an official StoryLand driver's license!

A couple of days later, we had sunny skies and much warmer temperatures, so we figured it was the best day to hit Mt. Washington via their Cog Railway, a steep, 6.000 ft slow crawl up to the summit. It's a fun ride, with entertaining brakemen on board your car to give you some history of the railway and the mountain while you're taking the 45-minute trip up and back down, with an hour for sightseeing in between.

Mt. Washington has about 60 days each year when it's sunny, warm, and the winds are calm. We happened to hit one of those days. Once at the summit, we could see New York state, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and might have seen the ocean from there if it weren't for some haze. In the middle of June, there was still a bit of snow in one area as well.

The only downside to the summit was actually due to the calm winds, as they don't blow the billions of insect residents off of the top of the mountain on calm days. They swarm. They crawl all over you once they land. They're a darned nuisance! Who knew we'd be wishing for gale force winds? But still, we were in shorts and short sleeve weather at the top of Mt. Washington, and the views were spectacular.

Expectations were high for a great day at the summit on Mt. Washington!

Jace holding on at the breathtaking speed of 5 mph!

Jace was pretty close to the summit here, but there was still a few feet to go

Jace and I made it to the top! Summit selfie!

Unfortunately, I was able to get a close up and personal view of the summit after I slipped off a rock on the way back from the selfie with Jace at the highest point on Mt. Washington and ended up face-planting on one rock, and breaking my left hand on another in what must have looked like a spectacular slip and fall to other visitors. Not so much for me.

 

Nice faceplant, Dave . . .

After some first aid at the station while Barbara and Jace found a postcard to send to our step-grandson, Noah, (Mt. Washington has it's own zip code, which is pretty cool, btw), we headed back to our train for the decent. Thank God we didn't do the drive up the mountain road and took the Cog Railway, because if we HAD survived the drive down, once we got to the bottom, Barbara would have surely killed me for making her drive down that mountain!

A painful 40-minute drive to the Memorial Hospital ER in North Conway ensued, where my injuries were confirmed and treated. Fortunately, they weren't busy that day, and I got right in. Next for me will be a follow-up at a VA facility, which is a story for another day. A few days of rest and recuperation for me, and some Barbara and Jace time together without me were on tap, and our New Hampshire stop on Jace's summer vacation was over. Could have been better.

Next stop, we visit another state in which we've never stayed in our RV - Maine.

Jace Vacation Destination #3 – New Hampshire – The Drive Day

After a wonderful stay in Niagara Falls, it was time to head to more familiar territory for Barbara and me – central New Hampshire. Specifically, Freedom, NH and a stay at Danforth Bay campground in the Lake Ossipee area. Historically for us (and Jace), this campground was the first extended stay of more than a night nearly four years ago when we headed out on our first trip in our new home. Fittingly, Jace was with us for THAT trip as well, but he was barely more than three years-old at the time.

But first we had to get there.

As with many people my age, sleep doesn't come in 8-hour increments anymore. Getting a good night's sleep for me means maybe 3-4 hours, then up for another 3-5 hours, then back to sleep for a few hours more. Being retired, this doesn't hamper things much, except on drive days. Perhaps some of you readers have noted that when you wake up in the morning, there's a new post waiting for you. Most of my typing and posting comes between the hours of 1:00 am and 4:00 am in the intervening hours between sleep.

On the rare drive days that will take a minimum of 12 hours if everything goes well, this can be a problem.

So it's important for all of us (especially me) to “strike while the iron is hot” so to speak when approaching a long drive day. That means that when I get up, EVERYBODY else gets up so that we can get on the road and arrive in one piece. For Barbara and Grover, it's not a big deal. Both can nap if they need to, and certainly do if I have interrupted their sleep cycles. But now we have an almost 7-year-old with us, and there's no telling how that's going to work out!

I'm up at 11:45 pm, and by 12:10 am we're pulling out of our campsite in NY. Everything but shore power had been disconnected before we went to bed, so it was a simple task to take Grover out to do his business, unplug from the pedestal, bring in slides and jacks and strap ourselves in. For Jace, this meant no car seat for the early part of the ride. He's a very good sleeper; going right back to sleep if he wakes up in the middle of the night. So Barbara came up with a solution to just loosely strap Jace in with a seat belt on the couch, give him his pillow and cover him up. Given his propensity to roll around in his bed at night, I wasn't too sure how well this would work, but he slept pretty much straight through until around 7:00 am (his usual wake up time). And he didn't fall out of “bed”.

Jace let me take a 2-hour nap in the back bedroom while we parked in a Mass Pike Service area, we grabbed a surprisingly well-prepared McDonald's breakfast and it was back on the road to finish our drive, arriving at Danforth Bay at 2:00 pm. Thank goodness we have a motor home, as setting up is pretty automated except for attaching water, sewer and electric, since I was pretty wiped out after 600 miles, 2 stops for gas, and one 2-hour nap. Longest drive day ever for us.

But we got here.

Just a couple of points to note about the drive:

I-90 through New York State is long, but in remarkably good condition for a highway in the northeast. A lot of recent repaving has resulted in a very easy and relatively quiet ride in our motor home. I honestly wasn't expecting that.

The tolls on the early part of this trip have been BRUTAL due to the direct nature of our trip planning. Three weeks of motor home travel in West Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have resulted in approximately $80 charged to our EZ-Pass thus far, with travel to and from our Maine destination and more Massachusetts driving yet to come . . .

The Mass Pike has completed some really nice improvements to their service areas along the entire length of the roadway in recent years. New buildings, and more importantly, new gas and diesel pumps designed for large trucks and RV's. Instead of RV-ers like us having to potentially block the access ways by the gas pumps in front, they have installed 4 long pull-through lanes accessed via the rear of the building which allow fill-ups without blocking traffic. More importantly for us gas motor home owners, there is a single gas pump in the left-most lane of those four lanes that makes my life easier. Sure, you'll pay the higher than normal price for gas on the turnpike, but the ease of pulling straight in and out more than makes up for the higher prices.

Up next, will New England weather interfere with Jace's vacation plans?

Jace Vacation Stop #2 - Niagara Falls!

“Slowly I turn, step by step, inch by inch . . . !” - Hat tip to an old Three Stooges routine.

We could have done the drive from Beckley, WV to our site in Wilson, NY in a single day, but the drive would have been close to 10 hours with tight local roads at the end of the drive, so prudence kicked in during the planning stages to find a boondocking site in between the two for a free night's stay. Originally it was going to be a Cracker Barrel in North Canton, OH, but a closer view using Google Earth didn't fill me with confidence on the amount of space and ease of egress for that site, so we pushed onward a bit to do some J-Docking at a Flying J in Austinburg, OH.

It was to be our last cheap gas for the rest of the trip (nothing is cheap in New York or the Northeast states) and as with almost all Flying J's, there was a Denny's attached where we could get a good breakfast the next morning. The gas WAS cheap; the Denny's was, shall we say, operating under “flexible” hours. Apparently, the management has a “We'll open when we're ready” policy for every mealtime, and that morning they just weren't ready.

By 2:30 we're pulling into our site for the next 8 days at Daisy Barn Campground in Wilson, NY. It's about a 30 minute drive to all the Niagara Falls attractions, and is situated right on Lake Ontario. A small park containing less than 100 sites, it does contain a community fire pit, a much-needed playground for Jace to work off some energy, and a soon-to-be-opened pool later this year.

Not wanting to waste any time as this was one of our shortest stays with the most attractions nearby, we headed to Niagara Falls the very next day. Just for a little background on this trip, we had asked Jace 2 years ago what he wanted to do on his summer vacation that year. His response to Barbara was that he wanted to see a waterfall. We had already made a few reservations for that trip last year before gas prices spiked into the high $4 per gallon stratosphere, which made that trip – along with the usual costly camping fees in the Northeast – impossible to afford. Fortunately, the parks where we had already paid deposits held them without penalty for as long as it took to get there, so after canceling that trip we didn't lose any money (even though it WAS being held for us in the future).

Anyway, if Jace wanted to see a waterfall, by God, Mimi and Papa were going to take him to see a waterfall!

His first experience was to see the falls from the top. Barbara covered his eyes and shuffled him forward until he could get a good view overlooking the American falls, and I positioned myself with cell phone ready in front of him to capture his reaction. Priceless!

This picture says it all. Worth the trip just for this!

 

After that, we walked around Goat Island to catch various views of both the American and Canadian falls. Jace was suffering a bit of sensory overload by the time we headed back to the car. Our next day, we planned to hit the Maid of the Mist.

Jace at the Canadian side of the falls

 

The Maid of the Mist is the name of the tour, not the boat. The boats on the American side have been upgraded in the past few years to be all-electric, making them both eco-friendly and quieter than past versions. Our particular cruise boat was appropriately named for Nikola Tesla. For 2 adults and 1 child the cost was approximately $80, which got you the boat ride to the bottom of both falls, access to the observation tower and a free and very attractive blue rain poncho.

Of course, the best spot on the boat is the upper level and up front. We got a place about 20 feet away from the front on the top deck. At this time of year, there is very little “mist” and a whole lot of deluge due to this Spring's run-off. The falls are simply roaring right now, and the result is a super-soaker experience that is far beyond what most people get to have! They take you slowly past the American falls where you feel as if you're in a hurricane with horizontal and vertical downpours.

Then they park the boat at the bottom of the Canadian falls for at least 5 minutes, inching the boat closer and closer. Once finished, they use the powerful current to turn the boat on it's axis in about 5 seconds, and then rocket away from the maelstrom. A quick curly-q past the American falls again so that both sides of the boat get a great view, and it's back to the dock.

Barbara and Jace at the base of the Canadian Falls on the Maid of the Mist

 

Two thumbs way, way up from Jace at the

 end of the Maid of the Mist cruise

After docking, there's a short climb to the “Crow's Nest” lookout about 2/3rds of the way up the American falls for Jace and me (Barbara's shoes were too wet and slippery to make the attempt), followed by an elevator ride back up to the Observation Tower and the ubiquitous trip to the souvenir shop where Jace got a magnet and we got our New York Christmas ornament.

Jace at the Crow's Nest, about 2/3rds of the way up against the American Falls

 

Our next visit in the Niagara area was Lockport, NY, site of the last operating lock on the original Erie Canal route. It is also the location of the “Flight of Five” locks constructed back in 1838. As opposed to the current system raising tour boats in two larger steps through metal doors, the original Flight of Five once cycled boats in shorter steps using wooden doors. Pretty impressive to watch the lock in operation as it brings tour boats up from the lower river approximately 50 feet, and raises them high enough to allow the upper deck of the tour boat to rise above eye level. It gives you the chance to talk with the passengers for a few minutes while the lock does it's thing.

A cruise boat entering the lock at Lockport

Barbara and Jace in front of a restored lock boat.

 

Our final destination on this short week was to take Jace to the Cave of the Winds, bringing us underneath Bridal Veil Falls on the American side. We met our good friends Byron and Lynn Hill who were glamping nearby at a state park, and drove the 30 minutes to Goat Island, home of views of both the American and Canadian falls from above, and the entrance to Cave of the Winds. Dropping 175 feet down from ground level, an elevator takes you to an opening in the rock face, where you pick up the ever-present bio-degradable poncho (this time in not-so-stylish yellow) for a stroll along platforms erected each year that allows visitors to experience the waterfall up close and personal. There is no way to say it any clearer – you WILL get soaked on this tour! A couple of places on the decking brings the discharge from Bridal Veil Falls past you, but ultimately the platform brings you to your end goal – The Hurricane Deck!

The bottom of Bridal Veil Falls. Doesn't prepare you for what comes next!

About the midway point up the decking heading to the Hurricane Deck. Getting a feel for the power of the falls!

 

The Hurricane Deck is where you can literally stand below a small portion of the power of Niagara Falls. It's attenuated somewhat by a large boulder that reduces the incredible onslaught of water dropping down that 175 feet, but there's plenty of power remaining to hammer you with the winds generated by it's downward movement and the sheer force and weight of the water hitting you! I was able to stay under it for a couple of minutes while Jace moved in and out in at least five shorter duration's. Barbara was finally able to get a picture of the two of us together while I kept Jace from being swept towards her!

It's not just the water literally hammering you from above. It's the waterfall-generated winds blowing down on you! Welcome to the Hurricane Deck!

 

We had a ball! Every place the poncho didn't cover was dripping wet; our sleeves, our hats (the winds being generated kept blowing the poncho hoods off of our heads!), our pant legs and our footwear. But it was worth it! I'm pretty sure that our Niagara Falls visit with stay with Jace (and us) forever.

But now it's off to our next destination, the White Mountain region of New Hampshire on Lake Ossipee. Unfortunately for me, it's a 600-mile, 12 hour drive day, something I am loathe to do, but unavoidable in this case.

Look for that next installment in about 2 weeks!