Grand Island, NY (September 12 - 15)
Stayed at a very basic campground without amenities or much to do, however with Niagara Falls only 5 miles away, we knew we wouldn't stay in the RV park much. We arrived at 3 pm Thursday and decided to immediately grab the bikes and go. We rode about 4 miles to the American side of the Falls and it was pretty cool. On Friday, we ran/walked along the Niagara River on Grand Island in the morning. That afternoon we drove to the border and walked across the bridge to Canada. The views of both sets of Falls were much better north of the border. The view is really spectacular. The Canadian side was very touristy and somewhat obnoxious. We avoided the wax museum, Ripley's and bar food restaurants but succumbed to the ice cream cone vendor. Luckily we destroyed that evidence prior to passport check at the border going back.
Pulaski, NY (September 15-24)
Stayed at an RV Resort that has 1,500 campsites. It is a lakefront property on the eastern side of Lake Ontario bordering Canada. The place is massive with two swimming pools, pickleball, community center, restaurant, etc. Dana was happy doing water aerobics.
Pulaski is also home to a large Mennonite community in upstate New York. Neat to see the road signs like those below and pull up to the grocery or hardware store and seeing the horse and buggy.
We did a few side trips. Went to Syracuse one day for a run/bike ride and checked out the campus of the university. Some cool very old buildings at Syracuse University. Then we went to a fish hatchery and finally to Salmon Falls which was a 110 foot set of water falls that were beautiful. Since it is starting to get colder here, we experienced our first bonfire next to our RV.
East Stroudsburg, PA (September 24-25)
Just a quick overnight stay here in the Pocono's Mountains. Definitely a rural older campground that could use some improvements, but good enough to spend the night. Jim was kicked off the track at the local university since the women's soccer team was using just the field portion (WTF?).
We met a very nice woman (April) at our campground who is from Sonoma, California and she is also full time camping around the US. We joined her and her dog to hike at an amazing place called Bushkill Falls only 15 minutes away. The waterfalls and natural beauty were stunning (seems to be a waterfall theme going on in our travels lately).
Unrelated to our current travels, unfortunately Jim was rejected from his second Tokyo Marathon in a row -- so no need to plan on traveling to Japan in March. Apparently after getting rejected 3 years in a row, applicants are put in a much higher probability lottery their fourth year. Looks like it could be 1-2 more years before a Japan/SE Asia trip.
Lancaster, PA (September 24 - October 10)
Arrived to Pennsylvania Dutch Country area for a week of on again/off again rain. Had big plans on places to see that were disrupted by the weather. The campground is amazing with all the amenities (Indoor pool, outdoor pool, mini golf, pickleball, weekend activities, etc).
When it cleared up when went on a Covered Bridge tour in the countryside and saw 8 different bridges (pretty cool - some from late 1700's).
We went to a couple different Amish farms and loaded up on home grown vegetables and eggs.
Gettysburg, PA (October 10 - 15)
Stayed at historic Gettysburg for 5 nights. Enjoyed a relaxing day in their downtown and listened to some live music then enjoyed a local lunch. Another day we did a 3 hour long civil war battle tour in our truck since the area of the war throughout the countryside was so vast. The app was great and include GPS so the stories matched the actual location. We would highly recommend it. We camped right on a river and the view from our RV was awesome. The campground was a working farm with horses, cows, chickens, goats, sheep, etc.
Last long run (20 mile) of training session before NYC marathon in a few weeks. Training has been rough and don't expect a fast time for the race, may just take it slow and enjoy the experience.
New Holland, PA (October 15 - 20)
Only moved an hour away to a new campground. Campground has a workout room with a few treadmills that Jim has been using everyday since the mornings are cold (37 degrees) and the area has hills that are very steep. Weekend had many Halloween activities including movie night, maze,, parade and trick or treating.
We drove to the city of Philadelphia for the day on Friday and did a guided walking tour of the historical sites. Pretty cool historical perspective of the founding city of our country. Our tour guide brought us to Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed, saw Ben Franklin and his wife's gravesite, Ben's house, Betsy Ross House, the Liberty Bell, and the Senate and Congress meeting rooms before Washington DC was constructed. We also went to Carpenters Hall which was the original meeting place of the Continental Congress where the original ideas of sedition and overthrowing the government took root. Awesome US history refresher.
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You guys aren't wasting a second. I love hearing about all the places and people, and the photographs are wonderful--make me homesick for the East. Savor!