Central Pennsylvania

On our way to my brother’s with wine to share we stopped at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center overlooking the Tioga Reservoir. It was a good stopping point (about halfway through the drive) to get out and stretch our legs – and the scenery wasn’t bad either! You can just barely make out a channel between Tioga Reservoir and Hammond Lake – the Tioga Reservoir is highly acidic from coal mining runoff so water from Hammond Lake is diverted to help improve the Tioga River water quality downstream from the dams. The dams also help with flood control.

We arrived at my brother’s house in time for supper and to met some of their neighbors. After a short visit and arranging to get together the next day we headed for the nearest campground – a church run facility (for summer camp & retreats) almost fifteen miles away over a mountain ridge in the middle of Rothrock State Forest. Along the last three miles (gravel road that probably took over half an hour to travel) we sighted many bunnies and even deer – but I wasn’t able to get pictures since we were bouncing around so much. Once we got set up we realized we had absolutely no contact with the outside world – neither our AT&T cell phone nor our Verizon data plan for Internet access would receive a signal. Luckily I was able to use the campground landline phone the next morning to call my brother to come pick us up!

After feeding my brother breakfast we headed back to his house again to visit more. We stopped at the top of the ridge to look out over State College & Penn State University and even at that distance I could tell how much it had changed since I was there thirty five years ago! His wife picked up Thai food on her way home from work and they opened one of the bottles of wine we brought from New York – it was a nice relaxing evening.

Since we hate being out of touch we moved to a different campground the next day while they were both at work. It wasn’t too far from where we were and was another church run facility – but it wasn’t in the middle of the forest and we had access to the outside world. A local RV repair team was working on someone’s RV and Charlie was able to arrange for them to attach our new exterior ladder (it was damaged in Kansas and we had a replacement delivered to my brother). After that was done we took a walk to the other side of the Little Juniata River. We could only stay at the new campground for two nights due to the upcoming Memorial Day weekend – and decided to go back to the first campground so we could visit more with my brother over most of the long weekend.

Before we were out of touch again we arranged for my brother to pick us up on Friday and headed back into the forest. Again we sighted deer along the gravel road – and it wasn’t anywhere near dusk when you would expect them. But the trees were so dense and close to the road that it was almost as if the road didn’t exist. We explored some of the forest roads once my brother picked us up on Friday and the wildlife was quite abundant – in addition to deer and bunnies we came across some turkeys in the yard of a possibly abandoned house.Then we stopped at nearby Stone Valley Recreational Area – part of Penn State where they hold team building seminars (complete with an amazing climbing wall) as well as rent cabins and boats (canoes, rowboats and paddleboats I think) to the general public and students.

Next my brother drove us around State College a bit and onto the Penn State campus – I hardly recognized anything! The Arboretum was built after I left and we really enjoyed wandering the Botanic Gardens – the iris were especially beautiful.

For dinner my sister-in-law and her uncle met us at Kaarma Indian Restaurant (bringing a bottle of their favorite Portuguese red wine). While waiting for them to arrive we wandered a bit taking pictures – we got our church fix with St. Paul’s Methodist and Faith United Church of Christ on College Avenue. After dinner the quirky caught Charlie’s eye – a vegan cafe that is plant-based (is there any other kind?) and an open book bench!

The loan of a car kept my brother from having to ferry us back and forth to the campground for the rest of the weekend. We were able to stop and get a picture of the deer Friday evening – there must have been about six of them but this one decided to pose for the camera. On Saturday we helped run errands and on Sunday we just visited. It was so restful enjoying their backyard.

It was such a nice visit – I’m so glad we were able to stay so long and they had some time off from work!

Click here for more pictures of our drive into Pennsylvania and click here for more of our sightseeing around State College with my brother.

Finger Lakes Region of New York

Leaving Lake Lauderdale we headed west for the Finger Lakes. We found a campground on the west side of Cayuga Lake with three wineries in walking distance so we could see if all the hype about the wine had any truth behind it.

As usual a few churches caught our eye – this time in Saratoga Springs. I also managed to capture a cute caution sign in a residential area.

Once we hit the Interstate the scenery got relatively boring – although the signs for Text Stop Areas were a bit different! For a long while we drove along the Mohawk River and bits of the Erie Canal.

After getting set up in our campsite we walked a nearby road along Cayuga Lake before dinner. There is a wide variety of vacation houses and boat docks along the lake. Since it was a weekday no one was home at most of the houses and the lake seemed almost deserted. It got chilly as the sun went down so we quickly headed back.

 

Next day we walked past the campground pond (complete with a family of geese) then along the lake again and a bit farther to taste some wine!

Our first stop was at Hosmer Winery where we tried three red wines (Lemberger, Cabernet Franc and their Estate Red) and two whites (Sauvignon Blanc and a Dry Riesling). All were pretty good but nothing knocked our socks off. We purchased a bottle of the Lemberger since it was something we’d never heard of before. Charlie didn’t care for the whites but that was expected! I was pleasantly surprised by the Dry Riesling and probably should have purchased a bottle.

Next we stopped at Thirsty Owl Wine Company but didn’t taste any wines. In addition to a ball cap for Charlie we purchased two bottles – Cabernet Sauvignon for Charlie and Apple Wine for me.

Our last stop was at Cayuga Ridge Winery where we tasted three red wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Chancellor), two whites (Dry Riesling and Gewurztraminer) and one fruit infused white wine (Cranberry Essence). Again all were good but only the Cranberry Essence really caught our attention. I’m not even sure Charlie tried the whites as they are not really to his liking. So we held off purchasing any additional – still had a mile to walk back to the RV.

We extended our stay for another day due to rain (and an expected influx of graduating college students and their parents from nearby Ithaca College). On our way out of town we stopped at Thirsty Owl and picked up another bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon (Charlie had opened the original bottle and decided it was his favorite of all we tried) and at Cayuga Ridge and purchased all three reds we tasted as well as two bottles of Cranberry Essence. We’re headed to my brother and it sounds as if they like red wine with a bit less tannin than Charlie.

A horse & buggy was just ahead of us as we finally left the wineries behind. Such a different way of traveling than what we are involved in!

Click here for the Finger Lakes Flickr album.

Not quite Central New Hampshire

Looking to stay in the woods we headed north for our next campground rather than northeast along the coast (and cities). Rain was forecast so we planned to sit still for a day before continuing our sightseeing. We had good power and water so many loads of laundry were done!

The Franklin Pierce Homestead State Historic Site was nearby but not yet open for the season so we only had a few photo opportunities planned for the day – probably good since it was still drizzly. Since we have to totally unhook the RV to go sightseeing we generally don’t return to a campground after a day of sightseeing.

Covered bridges are still found in New England and although two were nearby only one of them is still in use. Rowell’s Bridge was built in 1853 and still carries cars over the Contoocook River near West Hopkinton.

In the nearby Village of Contoocook the Railroad Bridge was built in 1850 to carry the Concord and Claremont Railroad across the Contoocook River. Rail service on that line stopped in the 1960s but the bridge, railroad station and a railroad car form a small historical site.

 

Several businesses attracted our attention throughout the day. We could have walked to the Henniker Book Farm from the campground (in the morning) – it doesn’t look like much but is almost as old as me and has an extensive collection of used books. Later in the day while driving through Concord both the content and name of Pitchfork Records caught our eye – does anyone use records anymore? And Piece Time Puzzles (near our afternoon campground) is very easy to notice along the road!

 

Concord was full of wonderful old buildings – we probably could have bypassed it on expressways but followed Google Maps through the city.

 

It was a short driving day with minimal sightseeing so we were situated at the campground early in the afternoon. The drizzly rain had cleared and the forecast called for clearing weather and warmer temperature so we are looking forward to our next adventure!

Click here for more pictures of south-central New Hampshire.

Submarines in Groton

After ARRL we spent two nights in a nice campground in Mystic but it rained so much that we didn’t get out for any sightseeing. As we left (headed for the Boston area) we stopped at the Submarine Force Museum and USS Nautilus – at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, CT.

The museum had several models and many exhibits of different aspects of the history and technology of submarines from the Revolutionary War up to the present (or at least as close to the present as they can get without giving away secrets).

The model of the Turtle from the Revolutionary War is full sized (with a full size mannequin). The model of a WWII Gato class submarine (with windows into most of the compartments) is maybe 1/12th sized (I’m guessing based on the size of the model people in the various compartments). After watching a film and wandering the exhibits we headed outside to tour the USS Nautilus – the first nuclear powered submarine (built in the early 1950s).

The captain and officers had downright palatial quarters – I think about ten bunks for enlisted men were in about the same space as the captain’s state room! I’ve gotten used to cramped quarters (we rarely put the slide out on the RV) but a submarine takes cramped to the extreme. I’m proud to say that I didn’t trip or bang my head on this submarine tour. The rather large gyro used for navigation was similar to the one Charlie had as backup on his submarine. Mannequins demonstrating various activities almost always have a cup of coffee nearby (sitting in a cup holder ring attached to a vertical surface) – they do say that the coffee urn on a submarine is never empty!

The tour only covers about half the boat – as best I can tell the tour omits the reactor, engines and rear torpedo areas. The main areas were mentioned on the self-guided tour audio and other areas just had signs. It was fun hearing from Charlie about what was different and what was the same on his boat twenty years later.

Our path towards Boston took us through a corner of Rhode Island (probably all we’ll see of that tiny state) before crossing into Massachusetts – mostly all boring Interstate driving (on horrid roads). Amazingly in 45 miles of Rhode Island we passed four accidents – more than we’ve seen in four months of traveling almost every day! But there were a few fun sights along the way.

A lonely wind turbine, a picturesque cell phone tower, the smallest school bus and a clock being tossed off a building – this is how I’ll remember Rhode Island.

And check out the gas pump decoration in Massachusetts – I thought they like Democrats there! We actually got off the Interstate in Rhode Island to go to a gas station just over the state line – I was afraid I’d miss the welcoming sign but as soon as we got back on the Interstate it appeared.

 

For more pictures of the Submarine Force Museum click here!

Virginia to West Virginia

After sitting an extra day at the campground along the Interstate due to snow we woke to bright sunshine and plowed roads. After a little research of weather and road conditions we decided to continue toward our next destination – which is reasonably close to the repair shop we have an appointment with on Tuesday.

The landscape was amazing! Everything was covered with a thick layer of snow and looked so pretty and clean. Evergreens and red barns showed up well but everything else was subdued.

 

The most colorful sight along the way was the water tower in Wytheville. We stopped for gas and then turned north toward West Virginia.

As with our dip into Tennessee a few days ago we were now traveling crosswise to the mountain ridges. But this time in addition to going over mountains we went through a few!

 

Somewhere in the second tunnel we crossed the state line but had to wait until we exited the tunnel for the sign.

A few miles later we decided to stop and stretch our legs at the Visitor’s Center. I was hoping for a center of higher learning but the street name gave me reason to doubt!

 

There was a snowball battle, snowmen and evidence of some very cold behinds!

As we drove farther into West Virginia the snow on the ground lessened. There were simple but pretty bridges, steep grades and fun signs. I didn’t know you could mine the sun!

And then we reached our campground (outside Fayetteville) for the next two days. The first site they tried to put us in didn’t look bad but we got stuck in the mud – fortunately got out after a bit of worry and fuss. The next site looked about the same – not too bad but mud was probably going to be a problem. Right next door was a great site but the water wasn’t turned on. Charlie convinced the owner to turn on the water to the third site and everyone was happy!

For pictures in Virginia, click here and for West Virginia, click here.