Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen, NY

Lake Seneca is 36 miles long and varies in width. At its deepest point it is 632 feet deep. We took a ride along the lake and were quite impressed with its beauty. The surrounding area is loaded with wineries. There are over 50 of them so we had to do a few wine tastings and see if any where worth purchasing for consumption. We are glad to report that there were some that were worthy so we helped the local economy a little, and we will benefit as well.

We met up with Jim and Caren as well as Caren's cousin Miriam and her husband Bob. They live not to far from here and joined us for the wine tour and a lovely dinner to celebrate Jim's birthday. It was a great day.

Still having fun

Yes, I know it has been a few days since our last posting. We have been laying low for the past few days and enjoying some idle time. The pictures in today's posting are from the campground in Windsor (just outside Binghamton, NY).

The fall colors are a little slow in coming as the weather has been warmer then normal. In fact the other day it went as high as 84 degrees. Today the temperature is only going to hit the low 70's so we are glad about the change.

We had a great location of the RV. The view we had is what you see in the picture. Just open space. At this time of the year there are no real crowds at the campgrounds. Weekends are a little busier, but still fairly quite by comparison to "in season".

Today we are getting together with my brother Jim and his wife Caren to celebrate his birthday.

We will be hitting some local Finger Lakes Wineries to enjoy the local grapes.

Miles of Smiles. Happy trails.

Binghamton, NY area

We are presently at a campground in Windsor, NY that is about 15 miles from Binghamton. The weather has been somewhat strange to us at least from Florida standards. Last night the temperature dropped to 49 degrees. Today it is 82. Tomorrow is supposed to go up to 84. Fall should start any day now. We do see evidence of the change in colors. However, it will be at least another week or so before it will show the vivid colors we expect to see.

This morning was quite foggy as evidenced by the picture. Well not really, it was just because the water in the lake is quite warm as compared to the air temperature (49). There is a nice walking trail around the 22 acre lake. We did two round trips for some morning exercise.

There isn't too much going on around here, but that is OK as it gives us some time to kick back and relax.

As you can see from the picture of Angel, she is very relaxed and is so happy to be with us 24/7.

From here we go to Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes Region.

Miles of Smiles. Happy Trails.

Central Bridge, NY

Once again we were lucky to have set up the RV next to a wonderful couple, Ivan and Pat from Idaho. It was so nice to sit around a campfire and just talk about our lives, kids, careers, etc. We had them over to our RV this morning for my famous banana pancakes as a parting gift as they left for Vermont, Maine and then Nova Scotia. We will miss them as neighbors, but we will hook up with them next year when we head out west. This is what we love about traveling in this style. There are so many great people that we have met along the way, and we are looking forward to meeting many more. Life is so good.

Yesterday we visited Howe Caverns. We are so glad we did as it was another opportunity to see what natural wonders there are out there waiting to be appreciated. We are truly grateful for having the time and ability to check it out.

Tomorrow we head for Windsor, NY making our way to the Finger Lakes region where we will be meeting my brother and sister-in-law for Jims birthday on the 29th. It will be good to see them. That is it for now.

Miles of Smiles. Happy trails.

Whitehall, NY

We arrived in Whitehall, NY on the 17th. Not necessarily the most exciting place we have been. The town sits close to the border with Vermont so we took a nice drive to explore. We wanted to do some hiking so we located Bomoseen State Park that had a nice hiking trail. Angel was ready to hike, and so were we. We really enjoy the hikes in new areas. The trails, and the scenery are different in so many ways. Actually, everywhere we go we see so many changes. That is one of the things that we love about traveling in the motor home. How else can you see so much.

Towing the car has given us the flexibility to really explore the areas we travel to. It would be too difficult to explore the way we do in the RV.

Today we are bringing the car in for an oil change and to rotate the tires so we will be just hanging around the area. Tomorrow we leave for Central Bridge, NY. The campground we will be staying in is located not too far from Howe's Caverns along with other caverns so we want to explore the area.

Miles of Smiles. Happy trails.

Whiteface Mountain, NY

Brrrrr!!!!! We took a ride up to the top of Whiteface Mountain. The temperature was 37 degrees. It was a cloudy day so at the top (4, 867 feet) there was zero visibility. We read that on a clear day you can see all the way to Canada. We were lucky to see our feet. It rained on and off most of the day at the higher elevations, but at the KOA it wasn't bad, it was just cold at about 50 degrees. Today's high is going to be 60. Should be a great day for a hike so we will check it out.

We took a ride through Lake Placid to check it out. It looks like a nice town. We can only imagine what it would have been like during the 1980 Olympics with all the activity going on. It had to be quite a scene.

More later.

Miles of Smiles. Happy trails.

Ferry to Burlington, VT

Yesterday we took the 10:00 Ferry to Burlington from Port Kent, NY. This was Angels first ferry ride. It was a very windy day (25-30 knots) so Lake Champlain was rather rough. As we headed into the wind plus our forward speed it put a lot of water into the air. Every thing exposed was drenched. It was good to be in the car for the ride. We had the comfort and the warmth. Angel enjoyed it, but then again as long as we are with her she is happy.

It took an hour to make the crossing to Burlington. We walked along the waters edge on a really nice bike/walking path. Andrea packed a lunch so we sat on a park bench and ate. After walking around the docks we decided to walk into town to check it out. The town has a really nice area set up with all sorts of restaurants and shops that are on two sides of "pedestrian traffic only". That way you only have to watch out for other walkers doing what we were doing, window shopping. Andrea stopped in a Borders and bought some books, and I stopped in a Ben and Jerry's to buy a small cup of Cherry Garcia ice cream. Lots of other dogs that is not such a thrill for Angel. She thinks that only humans should be tolerated. She is definitely "anti social" when it comes to other dogs.

Later today we leave for Whiteface Mountain and Lake Placid. We will be there for two nights before heading a little south to Lake George. Today is rainy so it is a good day to leave the area and see new scenery. We knew it was going to be raining this morning so I put everything away last night. Glad I did. That's it for now.

Miles of Smiles. Happy trails.

Awesome, at Ausable Chasm, NY

Wow!!!!!!!!!! You have to see this incredible place. We are talking
an unbelievable sight. This in many
aspects is jaw dropping like Niagara Falls. It is amazing what changes the earth goes through over the eons.

The chasm was created over 500 million years ago. That's old. Evidently there is a fault that lies under the area and over time there have been shifts that got the whole thing started. Mother Nature took care of rest with a constant flow of water from the Ausable River.

We took a ride down the gorge in a raft that holds 8 people plus a guide.
It was not a white water ride, but we had to remove the shoes as water does get in the raft. The water was damn cold. I am really glad that it was only our feet that got wet.

We really like the camp ground we are in. There are very few campers here during the week as after Labor Day most camping is done on weekends. Of course as the weather starts getting colder that also eliminates a lot of campers as well. We are very fortunate to have such a nice RV that is extremely comfortable no matter what the weather outside. Of course I am not talking about freezing rain or snow. We will be back to the warm weather of Florida before that happens in the area. In a way I guess we will now have to be considered Snow Birds.

Tomorrow we are taking a ferry across Lake Champlain to Burlington, VT as a day trip. Of course our trusty dog Angel will be with us. This will be her first ferry ride so she is excited.
That is it for now as I have to light up the BBQ for dinner.

Miles of Smiles. Happy Trails.

Goodbye to our friends in Montreal

We have really enjoyed our stay in Canada and especially here in Montreal. Today we took a drive with Bob and Nicole to visit Tremblant which is located about 95 miles north of Montreal. The entire area around Tremblant is ski country. It looks like a Swiss village. Absolutely gorgeous. The leaves are just beginning to make the change in color and should be really great in the next few weeks.

Our visit to the Montreal area would have not have been as fun had we not met Bob and Nicole. Having met them has turned this trip to Canada into an absolute joy. Andrea and I feel so blessed to have met them. A special thanks to them for their hospitality and their kindness while we where here. We hope that when they come to Florida that we will have the opportunity to reciprocate.

Tomorrow will be a clean up day so that when we leave on Wednesday we just unplug everything and head out. For the next month we will be exploring upstate New York.

Our new friends in Montreal

One of the things we love about RV'ing is that you have
opportunities to meet some really

great people. We met Bob and Nicole while we where visiting the Kingston area. It turns out that they live not too far from the KOA campground we where going to be staying at in Montreal. We were able to meet up with them yesterday after making arrangements to meet them at there house. We have a bike rack for the car so it was easy for us to transport the bikes to there house. They have a great bike trail that is close to their house that runs along a river. Bob and Nicole packed a nice lunch for us. We stopped at one of the locks for a nice picnic lunch and a rest. Each way on the bike trail is about 3.5 miles so it was a good ride. Angel stayed back at their house so we were gone only a few hours. We had a really delicious BBQ steak, pasta salad, tomato salad and of course some nice wine. Hmmm, good.

Today we did some shopping for supplies and some food. I washed the car and washed and waxed the front of the RV. The front is what really takes a beating with the bugs. It is nice and clean so it is ready for the next set of splattered bugs.

Tomorrow we plan on doing either some bike riding or walking along one of the trails that runs next to the St. Lawrence River.

Miles of Smiles. Happy trails.

Kingston, Ont.

On one of our bike rides we stopped
at one of 47 locks that go from Lake
Ontario to Ottowa. The locks were built 175 years ago and are still in operation today. They are hand operated so it was interesting to watch the lock master hand crank the lock open and close. This was of interest to us because of our trip to France two years ago. We rented a 40 foot boat and traveled the Canal DuMidi in south France. We did this with my brother Jim and his wife Caren and my sister Mary. We had to go through 67 locks in seven days. That was quite an expierience.

There was a cool front that dropped the temperature so a camp fire was certainly a treat. Andrea was all bundled up. We really enjoyed the 6 days we spent here. Kingston is a great little city. We would recommend that when ever an opportunity presents itself to visit Kingston that you should do so.

We met a very nice couple from Montreal that was also visiting the Kingston area. They stayed at the same camp ground and in fact was in the next camp site. We ended up playing Mexican Train domino's. Andrea won. We all had such a good time. There names are Bob and Nicole. They left yesterday to move on to 1,000 Islands for 1 night. We made arrangements to try to get together when we arrived in Montreal today.

We ended up seeing them on the road this morning and ended up following all the way to our camp site at the KOA in Montreal. They live about 20 miles from the KOA and we will be meeting them later in the week.

One of the things that we love about the RV life style is that you have the opportunity to meet some of the nicest people that otherwise would be just other people leading there everyday life. RV'ing changes all of that. How great is that.

We will be staying here in Montreal for 7 nights. There is so much to see and do here. Tomorrow we will be meeting up with one of the sales reps that I dealt with while working with KSM. I have known Dave Zimet for many years and he was kind enough to offer to show us around if we were to include Montreal in our travels. We look forward to be introduced to the area. We figure between Dave, Bob and Nicole we will pretty much cover at least the high lights. More to come later.

Miles of smiles. Happy trails.

Kingston, Ontario

Well, here we are in Kingston, Ontario. We really like this town.
There is a beautiful downtown area that is right on the river. This is where the St. Lawrence begins. We could see the transition from Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence River. This area is known as the 1000 Islands. We took a boat tour of some of the area, but you can not see all that many Islands in just an hour and a half.

The city of Kingston dates back to the 1600's so there is a lot of history here. Lots of buildings that go back to the early 1800's including Fort Henry. We could go on and on about the beauty of this area. It's a lovely city with much to do. When we first arrived and checked out the town, there were concerts and outdoor movies going on. People bring their chairs and blankets and enjoy the entertainment. We walked around the waterfront trail that walks along the waterfront (duh) to enjoy the cool weather and the parklike setting. The trail goes on for miles, but we only did a short part of it. Angel has trouble being sociable with other dogs. It is a very dog friendly city with dogs and their owners everywhere you go. The city has a european flair to it and you can hear many different languages being spoken here, but English is the primary language with French being second.

The campground we are staying in is huge, but very comfortable. There must be at least 300 sites here but all nicely spaced for privacy. They also have lots to do including boating, swimming, etc. Because it's the holiday weekend it's filled up and we were lucky to get a space here. Last night it was fun to sit around our campfire and see the glow of the other campfires around us. With the chill in the air (about 45 degrees) the campfire felt good and kept us warm. It's quite interesting to just sit and ponder by the campfire with no distractions except the dancing of the flames. We loved it.

Toay we plan on taking a major bike ride. There is not a bike trail here, but the area does not have a lot of car traffic. We scoped out an area by car that we feel will be interesting to see. There is a river near the campground that has a Lock that is unattended so the boater needs to operate the lock.

More later.

Miles of Smiles. Happy trails.