Goin' Road Trippin'

Vermont

9/29/22 we head north towards Maine, but first ice cream!

We leave four mile creek campground near Niagara
Falls. Beautiful, spacious and an awesome campground

Mitch got a pic of Lake Ontario before we headed out

The architecture of some of the houses in New York

Huge nice rest stop right before the Adirondack Park, Mitch had drove for about 5 hours and we called it a day and slept here for the night

It was a foggy morning as we entered into Vermont

We didn’t do the tour of the factory (it was being cleaned we were told from the last 3 days of producing ice cream) but we did get ice cream

They have the flavor name, a poem and the dates each was first on the market and when they canceled it

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream

We then stopped at Cabot’s cheese store, so many samples, so much cheese.. yum!

We met Micheal Mullen, the guy who designed the graphics for the store..

I found a rock with a quote, I love it when that happens

The leaves are beginning to change in Vermont and it is beautiful

We also got maple syrup and some apple cider. Each place we visited was busy as could be, it’s season time in Waterbury, Vermont

Tonight we stay at Maple Woods camp ground.

The place is very nice, the people are personable and the view is amazing!

We scootered down to the store at the RV park, visited the owner, I got myself a hat! This is Mitchs new favorite pic, he thinks I’m the coolest!

The campground is full, the people are friendly and it’s the first time ever.. ever…people are outside of their RV, playing corn hole, having some laughs. So awesome to witness.

The view from our campsite as I write this with the sun setting. The tall tree in the middle is a red maple and the sap is used to produce syrup.

Now onto the Maine attractions.
Our next few stops planned out

Niagara Falls New York

9-27-2022 we are at Niagara Falls, a place I’d always dreamt of seeing, but wasn’t sure it would ever happen.

Our first view of the mist from the falls, a welcoming seagull posed for a pic

Two layers of clothes is the way to go in September and tall water boots for sure.

The Maid of the mist boat ride line.. that tall building behind is an elevator you ride down to the boat. They provide plastic ponchos to help, but rain pants would have been the way to go.

I danced in the mist, soaking up every moment

View from the top of the elevator after the ride

The weather was chilly but today I didn’t care

We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, the nachos rocked! Pun intended

After we ate, we scootered on over to the cave of the winds.. this tunnel leads to the front side of the mountain

View of the cave of the winds from the maid of the mist

You’ll get soaking wet on this adventure

You get to actually experience the falls coming down on you. They call it hurricane deck

We scootered (Mitch named his scooter mcgavin, I haven’t gave mine a name yet…) we get back to Harvy, poured the water out of shoes and changed into some dry clothes. It was 3.4 miles from where we parked, the corner of rainbow Blvd and Niagara st. They have a huge gift shop area and all day parking is $10, but they charged us $20 since we were in an RV.

Video on maid of the mist

I’d recommend doing the maid of the mist first, then hurricane deck since you’ll get drenched. Also, doing them both in the same day makes it no big deal since you’re already wet 🙂 plan to spend about $25 per person per attraction.

A 40 year dream come true for both of us

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

We opted to skip our last night at Punderson state park after we went to the hall of fame on 9-25-2022.

The campground site is paved, but there isn’t much room and it slopes quite a bit, which made it handy not having to close doors… but we were ready to move on.

Ohio is beautiful to drive through, this is on way to our next stop

The original musical arrangement for Blueberry Hill

Replica of the door of the Beatles
headquarters in London

It’s starts from the beginning of rock and roll, showing the history and has so much memorabilia.

We ate in the cafe, and Mitch got the most delicious warm Italian sub! I loved it.. it was his, but he shared.

It was much cooler around these parts than anticipated.. so we went shopping at Walmart for rain gear and warmer clothes. After we shopped, we stayed the night in the parking lot in Ashtabula, Ohio. The rain was comin down so hard and fast most the clothes we got were drenched.

Thanks Walmart in Ashtabula! We actually went in again in the morning and got rain boots! Definitely worth it for what’s to come

It rained most of the day yesterday while we drove 9-26-2022 this was the windshield wipers on full blast!

We went in and out of Pensilvania long enough to get a photo of the sign

Once we made it into New York our first stop was a laundry mat.

Welcome to New York and toll roads.. the new kind that get a pic of your license and send you a bill if you don’t pay

We are currently staying at Four Mile Creek campground about 20 minutes north of the falls. Wonderful campground. Site 214 will be our home for another couple days.

Did I tell ya? We loved the scooters so much in Chicago we decided to get our own! So much fun they are, and with our bad backs they’ve already made a world of difference with sight seeing.

Mitch was test driving mine out if the photo above. I got one with a seat, he didn’t. His is cool, mine is crazy cool, just like me! Ha! As I proof read this, don’t believe all what you read! Mine is best and I got it to 33 mph today? Wahoo! What a great way to get around Niagara Falls park! (Mitch)

Hello Chicago

9/21/2022 we are in Illinois

The campgrounds official name is Adeline Jay Geo Karis Illinois Beach State Park and there are two different locations. We went to the no camping area first, a few miles down the road.

Thursday morning September 22, 2022 Mitch dropped me off at the shower facilities and he went for a bike ride. The showers are the water saving kind, you push the button, and for 30 second, half cold, half warm, then it shuts off..it was not a fun time. After I got done, Mitch had to show me what he’d found on the other side of the campground, it was the hugest lake we’ve ever seen!

Lake Michigan, it is sooo big, it seems like an ocean!
It was a cool morning, around 50 degrees and the waves just kept coming

Are we at the ocean? No wonder it’s called the Great Lakes

As we headed out to visit the Windy City, we didn’t agree on how you say Illinois. Do you say Illinois with the “s” at the end, or do you say it with a silent “s”? Per usual we turned it into a bet, (I think the “s” is silent, he says it’s not) we are going to ask 3 locals and who ever wins, gets a 10 minute massage! As we routed our way, Siri pronounced Illinois with a silent “s”. I asked Mitch if we could use her as one of the 3 people, he was adamant about it being people. Haha

The only RV in the city.. Harvy’s special:)

we came up this beautiful fountain in Grant Park only a block after we parked

We made up rules about how we have to ask the three people. First we have to inquire if they are from Chicago, then we cannot say the name of the state and we have to be together to ask the question. When we ask we have to say, “how do you say the name of this state?” Our first person was a guy sitting in a city utility truck. He pronounced it with the “s” being silent. I did a little dance.. “oh ya, I’m getting me a massage, buddy” I say to Mitch.

We rented the Divvy bikes for a while, but riding bikes on the city street of Chicago with the traffic.. no thanks

We got ourselves a slice of pizza at Fontano’s and while Mitch was inside and I was guarding the bikes he asked the pizza guy about how to pronounce Illinois.. although I was not there the answer was a silent “s”

We stopped in at the Apple Store, they’ve got the best view in town and the friendliest people working there. I decided to ask a man who maintains the city’s trash, he said he’s lived in Chicago his whole life and he pronounces it with an “s”. Best two out 3, I win sweetie!

It’s 94 stories high and your ears pop on the way up the elevator

This is a panoramic pic. They have a sky bar, a tilt out you can experience and a souvenir shop up top

On our way back down the magnificent mile (all the fancy stores) I see people taking pictures, so I inquire. They said the sun only sets through the city streets that run east and west twice a year, and today was one of the days.

As we tried to map our way back to Harvy we went a different route and I was able to get another picture of the sunset

You can also take a boat tour of the city

You can walk under it, and get a new perspective

We’d made it a half a mile down the street and all these people we waiting to capture the sun setting

By this time, we’d spent hours touring the city and my back was killing me. The quickest way to get back to Harvy? We rented scooters! Now that’s the way to go, easier to weave in and out of the crowd on the sidewalk. I’d never ridden one, and it was quite the sight. I think I traumatized one guy, as I cut in right in front of him I said, “sorry, bad driver” he responded “you ARE a bad driver!” I respond, “ I will try and do better.. sorry!”

So long beautiful Chicago,
your clean streets, the welcoming vibe, I didn’t know I would love you like I do

We saw the navy pier as we drove out of town

The next morning 9/23/2022 we packed up and began driving towards Ohio. It was about a 5-6 hour drive to our next campground. we are currently at the Punderson state park in Ohio.

We made a new friend last night, a raccoon. It was so cold last night you could see your breath

Mitch sent a text to the family.. this is what it said, “A wild taco. Just walked up to within a foot of me and I forgot to push record! Haha!” Autocorrect changed the word raccoon, to taco. So Mitch named it Taco. The little one came back around and he did get a video.