Kennebunkport Maine

Kennebunkport Maine. . .a pretty little coastal village

with a pretty little harbor

a pretty little beach path

overlooking the beautiful Maine Coast and Atlantic Ocean. . .

but. . .being a Texan. . .there’s one main reason for stopping over in Kennebunkport.

To see with my very own eyes. . .the summer home of Bush 41. . .

the Texas flag almost unfurled in the breeze. . .

plaque and anchor near the parking area

a pretty little cove. . .tide’s out

and my favorite picture of the day. . .

 

loved seeing Kennbunkport. . .a great day for the memory bank. . .

‘til next time,

Janice and Dave

Troubles–Troubles–Troubles

ahhh. . .well I know it must seem that our life is just a bed of RV’ing roses. . .ha ha. . .t’aint so!

sometimes you just have one of THOSE days. . .or as you will see. . .one of THOSE weeks. . .

it happens. . .you either learn to go with the flow, or ya drive yourself crazy. . .

it’s easier to just go with the flow, and move on to the next thing. . .that’s just the way it works sometimes!

Friday morning we left Fourmile Creek State Park in Niagara Falls. . .

for a somewhat short, three hour trip to Parish New York. . .

enjoying the New York State scenery as we went. . .

 

Now being RPI (Resort Parks International) members

as a part of our Thousand Trails package,

we are able to stay at participating parks across the country for $10 per night. . .

the RV Park in Parish NY was one of those parks. . .

which was going to work out just perfect. . .right?

WRONG! 

A few things were very wrong about this whole plan. .

first off, see all these great gravel pads. . .

I guess ‘cause we were getting the great rate

we didn’t deserve to be parked on one of them. . .

so we’re parked on a grass pad at the end. . .

all righty then. . .no problem. . .

plus. . .we arrived thirty minutes before check in. . .oops. . .

the girl at the gate was a real snot about it. . .

I guess they’re sticklers for the rules. . .no problem. . .

their park. . .their decision. . .and truly. . .

it wasn’t so much the waiting to check in

as it was the attitude that went along with it. . .

oh well. . .water under the bridge. . .

 

With all that said, it ended up being a pretty great little RV “Resort”. . .

the Café had a Prime Rib Dinner for $12.95 that was just great. . .

and all the rest of the folks we came into contact with were just as nice as could be. . .

so I would say. . .if you are in the area anyway. . .

Bass Lake Resort in Parish NY would be a fine place to stay. . .

would it be worth driving out of the way for?  no. . .and whatever you do. . .

do NOT arrive before 2 o’clock. . .PM. . .

 

guess what the second part of the problem was. . .

bad planning. . .that’s what!

See Prince Edward on the map. . .well. . .let me tell you. . .

Prince Edward in Lake Ontario

and Prince Edward Island are not EVEN the same thing. . .DUH!

one of those major brain malfunctions where ya just say. . .

what was I thinking? ? ? ?

oh well. . .more beautiful New York State scenery. . .

and on to Frosty Acres Campground just out of Schenectady New York. . . 

we decided since it was going to be a really short driving day. . .only about two hours. . .

we would just take the State Highways. . .and not get back on Interstate 95. . .

we checked it out in the Trucker’s Atlas. . .it was all good trucker roads. . .so off we go.

 

Now the problem is. . .sometimes the lady on our GPS just decides

that we should take tours of little downtown areas. . .

so when instructed  to take a perfectly plausible turn we did. . .

not good. . .we came up over a little rise. . .

and right there at the bottom is one of those

fabulous little stone bridges that this part of the country is so fabulous for

. . .with a 9 1/2 foot clearance. . .

Dave just slams on the brakes. . .

well I don’t mean literally slamming on the brakes. . .

he had plenty of room to get stopped. . .

but he just stopped dead right in the middle of the road. . .traffic and all. . .

 

NOW WHAT? are we going to do. . .

it ends up that the 9 1/2 foot clearance is at the sides of the bridge,

and that the center was actually plenty tall for us to drive through

if we get right out in the big middle of both lanes. . .

so that’s what we did. . .

otherwise, we  would have unhooked the toad,

and backed around to a driveway nearby. . .

 

Goodness. . .GUESS WHAT? 

We got ourselves back on the Interstate and took ourselves to Schenectady. . .

enough of that foolishness. . .right?

 

On to the next trauma/drama of the day (week). . .

get to the RV Park. . .get all set up. . .

fabulous full service spot. . .overlooking a little private lake. . .only 30 amp. . .

but hey that’s not a problem. . .

just excited to have full service. . .especially sewer hookups. . .

 

Yeah. . .not so fast. . .the voltage kept dropping below norm. . .

so with nothing running. . .no a/c’s on. . .

just the induction burner plugged in to fix supper. . .

the EMS (Emergency Management System)

started shutting us down. . .then it would come right back on. . .

and then shut down. . .ugh!

 

These were the nicest people ever who owned this park. . .

he came over right away to see what he could do. . .

when we told him the EMS was shutting us down. . .

he said. . .oh, we just HATE those things. . .

yeah. . .I’ll bet they do. ..

but he was so kind, and moved us right over to a 50 amp spot. . .GREAT!

 

NOPE. . .same thing. . .

so we spent the night with the windows open and just a fan running. . .

we were scheduled to be there five nights. . .

ended up getting a refund, and pulling out the next morning. . .

 

At that point we decided we had had enough

of New York State for the time being. . .

and since we could get into our

Thousand Trails Park in Wells Maine right away,

we just cancelled our reservations for Albany,

and made tracks for Maine. . .

 

We’ll circle back on our way home next month, and catch Albany. . .

I still need to get that New York State House picture for my State Capitols Collection. . .

 

Maine is beautiful. . .we are loving it. . .lots more to tell you,

‘til next time,

Janice and Dave

 

The Erie Canal–Canal Boats–Locks–and the Escarpment . . .what on earth?

As soon as I heard Lake Erie in conjunction with this trip,

I knew I absolutely must see the Erie Canal. . .up close and personal.

the nearest and best place to see it was Lockport New York,

located about 45 minutes from our RV Park in Niagara Falls. . .

 

and of course any time there’s a trolley tour. . .we gotta be on board. . .

$5 pp for a one hour tour. . .leaving from the visitor center. . .

what a great way to get an overall picture and learn some history to boot. . .

 

Now, sharing a lot of details is not really my blogging style. . .

however I was absolutely fascinated by the story of. . .

DOLOMITE – look at this stuff. . .an entire wall of it

and that’s only the beginning. . .there are miles and miles of this stuff. . .

I won’t even try to explain the Niagara Escarpment -

you can read more about it here. . .and see a map of how vast it is here. . .

but when the idea of a waterway (Erie Canal) was conceived. . .

reaching from the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River  to Lake Erie

this wall of rock needed to be gotten through. . .

I highly recommend you read much more of

the story of how it all happened at this website. . .The Erie Canal

anyway. . .to get back to why I was so intrigued by dolomite. . .or dolorock. . .

is that when they were digging and blasting the canal. . .the rock was free to the community. . .

you could have as much as you could haul. . .

so there were buildings, churches, homes of every shape and size built of the stuff. . .

and they were all really, really fascinating to me. . .I know. . .to each his own. . .right?

this is the “Flight of Five” the way the canal originally looked. . .

there are some excellent depictions and video clips if you click the link. . .

I wanted to see real canal boats operating on the canal. . .

but alas. . .this was the best that I could do. . .

we did get to see the locks in action. . .

and some boats passing through. . .

we enjoyed our day in Lockport and learning more about the Erie Canal,

and it’s importance in the History of Transportation as featured on the History Channel. . .

an added bonus to the day. . .in the First Presbytarian Church. . .

located directly across from the Visitor Center

was an entire collection of stained glass windows designed by Tiffany’s of New York. . .

no pictures could depict how glorious they were. . .

this clip and this link can only give you a small inkling of the beauty. . .

I hope if you ever visit Lockport, you will make it a point to enjoy the tour. . .

 

and as an absolutely perfect ending. . .we met Margery and Paul

in Niagara Falls for some pretty yummy mexican food. . .

I told Margery, that being a Texan. . .

eating mexican food away from “home” is always a bit dicey. . .

but it was a great choice. . .as you can see. . .

I’M the only one at the table with anything that looks the least bit healthy. . .HA!

too bad I look like a stroke victim in the picture. . .oh well. . .what’cha gonna do?  LOL. . .

Til next time,

Janice and Dave 

Niagara on the Lake–Ontario Canada

Niagara on the Lake, a pretty little tourist town on Lake Ontario

is just one of those picturesque little quaint places where you immediately feel comfortable

as though you have stepped back in time. . .and yet you still belong. . .

the problem is. . .I get to a pretty little tourist town like that. . .

see all the cars, and all the people everywhere. . .

my photography brain just shuts down. . .I got nothing. . .

so. . .with that said. . .and so you can can see how beautiful it really was. . .

I will refer you to our friends, Margery and Paul’s, blog. . .

Living Our Dream – Niagara on the Lake

you will see they did a lot better job of capturing it than we did. . .

I did however, capture a beautiful shot of the beautiful “French Castle”

located at Old Fort Niagara, which I will write about later. . .

and the Fort Niagara Lighthouse from a park located in Niagara on the Lake. . .

Margery and Paul also toured the Botanical Gardens in Canada. . .

those pics are also included in their post. . .

so if that is something you are interested in. . .click the link above. . .

on our way back home, we passed one beautiful vineyard after another,

but, we were most amused by this little chapel,

located at a farm stand where we stopped to have ice cream. . .

we decided if we ever wanted to start a church,

this would be the exact size of building we would need. . .it seats about four people. . .

that’s about how many people would show up if we were doing the preaching. . .LOL!

and on to the lovely border crossing. . .we were fortunate. . .only a thirty minute wait. . .

it’s pretty easy actually. . .you show them your passport. . .they ask questions like. . .

did’ya drive all the way here from Texas. . .uh. . .yeah!

Our Texas plates get us lots of attention when we are this far from home. ..

Kinda funny really. . .they’re just doin’ their job. . .

and off we go. . .back to the motorhome to rest up for the next adventure!

 

Til then,

Janice and Dave

 

 

Old Fort Niagara–Niagara Falls NY

Tuesday, July 9

Old Fort Niagara

Being that Dave is somewhat of a history buff

anytime there is an old fort in the vicinity, we usually make an effort to see it.

Old Fort Niagara is built in the French Style of other forts we have see in Canada.

Here you see the “French Castle” with the flags of the three countries

under which the fort was ruled, France, United States, and England. . .

which housed the Commander’s Quarters. . .very fancy

as opposed to the enlisted men’s quarters. . .

note the pallets laid out side to side in one long trough. . .ugh!

the redoubt. ..or what we would call the guard shack. . .

overlooks were posted here, and also had their living quarters here. . .

 

The hardest part of seeing old forts, or old battlefields is to always be mindful of the fact

that this wasn’t just a beautiful place, where we can go and stroll the grounds,

and oooo and ahhhh over the history of it. . .young men actually lived and fought on the

very places where we now walk. . .as I stood at the top of this knoll where this redoubt

was located. . .I found myself just stopping for a moment to reflect on that truth. . .

it’s very easy to get caught up in the tourism of it. . .yeah, yeah, yeah. . .on to the next thing!

I don’t ever want to allow myself to be blasé’. . .I want to always be thankful for the sacrifices

that were made which allow me to enjoy this fabulous life I now live. . .

we enjoyed visiting with the blacksmith in residence while we were there. . .

he actually works full time at the fort. . .and explained to us how he creates

many of the authentic period pieces needed by the re-enactors. . .

he kept the fire stoked with coal, and the bellows going the entire time we were there. . .

he also created beautiful jewelry pieces which were for sale in the gift shop. . .

another re-enactor marching to a cadence

these re-enactors were playing a game of ball in which they loaded

the ball into a mechanism. . .stepped on it with their foot, which tossed the ball straight up,

as they attempted to hit it with a flat paddle. ..they were fairly entertaining

several of the children exploring the grounds joined in the fun. . .

I actually wish I would have gotten more info on what they were doing. . .

but at that point we had been there a while. . .it was hot. . .yada, yada, yada. . .excuses!

as we were exploring the grounds of the fort. . .

sailing classes were going on out on Lake Superior. . .being from the South,

we had never seen sailing classes in action. . .the instructors were in small skiffs

with outboard motors, and could be heard barking instructions to the students. . .very interesting!

Sheriff’s Department boats also went roaring across Lake Superior while we were there,

not sure if there was an emergency or if they were just in training mode. . .

Old Fort Niagara Lighthouse located on the grounds. . .

 

and as viewed from Niagara on the Lake later in the week

and Old Fort Niagara. . .also viewed from Niagara on the Lake later in the week. . .

 

We enjoyed our tour of the fort and would say, if you are going to be in the Niagara Falls area

for a few days, it was worth the effort, even with the entry fee of $12 pp to check it out. . .

 

Before you go check out these links:

history of the Fort

Interactive Map of the Fort

and for more beautiful pics, history, and a different perspective

check out our friends Margery and Paul’s blog posting about the fort. . .

I think you will enjoy it. . .

Living Our Dream ~ Old Fort Niagara

 

til next time,

Janice and Dave