July 29 Heading back home ….

Hitching up under clear blue skies ..  one of the clear blue skies we’ve seen during our entire trip !!!  Hitched up and left camp approx 9:30 am …. trip home wasn’t as long as I’d always ‘imagined’ it to be … took us 3 hours .. approx 150 miles !!  We were home by lunch time .. Sunny blue skies didn’t last long .. by the time we bacled into driveway .. it started to rain on us .. just a few showers as we unhitched .. but .. by the time we were  leveled & chocked … heavier rain was upon us …  waited approx 60 min .. rain stopped so we finished unloading truck & Casita ….  it ALWAYS rains when we  get back home !

List of places we went to during our trip ….

Niagara Falls, Lockport (Erie Canal), Palmyra (General Store Museum & Coverlet Museum), Fayettville (Canal Barn needlecraft store), Skaneateles, Sodus Point Lighthouse & Museum, Hellava Good Cheese store, Seneca Lake wineries, Heartworks (needlecraft/quilts), Fly Creek Cider Mill, Fran & Jim’s, Cooperstown Hall of Fame and Farmers Museum ..     quite a trip !!!!!

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July 28 Cooperstown & Farmers Museum

Got to Cooperstown Museum just as it was opening .. 9am …  not as many people milling around streets today … found some ‘free’ parking along one of the nearby side streets .. parking lots are charging $10 & $15 dollars … Museum was pretty cool .. alot to see .. !  Two levels of baseball related stuff .. some pretty amazing pictures and a ton of baseballs, bats, and uniforms to see … some pretty neat baseball bronze sculptures on the outside …. Spent about 3 hours in the museum .. and that was moving a pretty brisk pace .. didn’t stop & look at or read everything .. need to save that for next visit !!!  Main St Cooperstown isn’t that big .. but .. they sure  have alot of places selling tshirts .. bats .. etc .. etc … Fans were lined up for a block on Main St waiting to get autographs from Ricky Henderson (who was inducted on Sunday) and Goose Goosage … Rumour has it Yogi Berra was in town signing autographs at $75 per ..

Johnny Podres & Roy Campenalla bronze statues

Holy Cow !

After our tour of museum we met F & J at park nearby park right on the lake … had some lunch outside on a deck at a restaurant  that was overlooking the lake  …  after lunch we headed back into town to check out historic Doubleday Field … pretty cool .. old stadium in the middle of town… watched a few innings of some kids playing a game .. seems as though alot of teams play games on the field for a fee …. father of one of kids playing said it cost the team $250 to play on the field .. got to be an exciting thing to do …  alot of bragging rights to had when you say you’ve played baseball on Doubleday field in Cooperstown .. Walked around the stands to take a few photos …

Lunch on the Lake

Doubleday Field

After our visit to DoubleDay field we headed off to Farmers Museum ..  not too far from Hall of Fame …  Beautiful buildings ..  Historic Village set up to recreate rural living in late 18th and early 19th century .. huge stone structure housed numerous farming artifacts and tools …  pretty amazing stuff … Toured all the buildings as well a some farm animals …

Farmers Museum

'Harry Plopper' ... ie Spider Pig

July 27 Hartwick Highlands Campground

Actually slept with some windows open last nite … other than a 2 am rain shower .. we almost slept through the nite !!  Normally would think you could sleep through some rain showers .. but in the Casita … the rain hits the fiberglass making alot of noise .. rain only lasted about 30 min .. then moved on …. typical weather pattern that we’ve seen for past few days .. right now sun is out but still alot of clouds .. we always close windows when we’re away from trailer .. weather can and does change very quickly !  After showers .. we’re off to the town of Cooperstown .. then heading to Fran & Jim’s house around 3-ish .. at least that’s the plan for now..

Before heading to F & J’s .. we drove around Cooperstown area .. Terri found a Needlecraft/Quilt store in a town called Fly Creek .. owner had building built next to her existing house .. she did a great job with it …..  Also stopped in Fly Creek Cider Mill .. specializing in apple cider (very tasty) as well as other food stuffs … over 40 samples of salsa’s, chips, sauces, dips etc to try as you walk around the store …  as a senior citizen .. I rate this place high for free eats !   🙂

Fly Creek 'Heartworks' needlecraft store

About 45 min  to Fran & Jim’s from our campsite .. beautiful scenery along the way .. very nice area.. Arrived at F & J’s around 3 pm .. they’ve got a really nice log cabin situated on a nice wooded .. secluded parcel of land …  great  kitchen and bathrooms were amazing .. Some amazing tilework  !!!  Nice  to visit with F & J .. they made us a great dinner .. and we chatted & visited until around 8-sh …  We’ve made plans to meet sometime tomorrow after we visit the Cooperstown Hall of Fame Baseball Museum..

Fran & Jim's house

Fran taking a mini break !

July 26 Milford – Cooperstown

Arrived at our new campsite for the next 3 days ..  pulled into campsite approx 1 pm .. very nice place .. this place restored our feelings about NYS campsites .. nice sites ..  room between sites .. clean restrooms/showers .. wifi .. good ‘air quality’ .. :).   Unhitched .. showers .. laundy filled most our afternoon .. grilled some salmon for supper and cracked open one of our wine bottles .. .. walked around the campsite .. I’ll take some pictures of it tomorrow .. of course we did have our daily rain showers just as we were finshed grilling .. looks like skies have cleared up for  now .. only issue we are having is that internet appears to be wonky .. it was dropped on me more than a few times .. and I can’t seem to download any photo’s to the blog … bandwidth issues ???

July 25 Sodus Point – Finger Lakes

Another early start .. todays ‘adventures will be taking a trip to Sodus Point Lighthouse and then to Seneca Lake to the wineries. Sodus Point is right off Lake Ontario .. Lighthouse & Museum were pretty neat … got to the lighthouse a little early .. guide was a little late opening doors so we walked around the the area taking some pictures .. after taking a few photo’s .. bad luck strikes .. I got stung by a bumble bee near my big toe !!!     I was wearing sandals .. and there was alot of clover in he grass …  After a few choice words .. I limped to the truck .. as luck would have it .. I brought some bug anti itch lotion !!  I got a few bug bites the previous nite ..  so I was prepared .. stuff really did a good job (Aveeno Anti Itch) .. bite didn’t bother me that much for the rest of the day !!!

Took the tour .. almost an hour .. guide gave a blow by blow of lighthouse activities ..  pretty interesting … seems    as though lighthouse duty was passed on from one family generation to another .. Climbed up the lighthouse  steps.. 52 windy .. vertical steps … before leaving .. guide presented us with a certificate that states we have  successfully completed the 52 steps to the top .. pretty cheesy .. but .. we couldn’t tell the guide we didn’t want it .. maybe I’ll frame it and give it Terri or one of the kids for an XMAS gift .. ????

While heading towards Finger Lakes we stopped at a ‘Hellava Good Cheese’ store .. we’ve had their cheeses before .. pretty good stuff .. after having some free samples .. we bought some cheese and a raspberry jelly .. then headed out …

Off for some wine tasting on Seneca Lake ..  while driving around the lake .. we stopped at several wineries .. by  the time we finished our tour we bought 18 bottles !!  That should last us for the rest this year and next !!!  Most  places charged us $2 each to taste any of their wines .. some places were for free ..  In that we were doing all these  tastings with an empty stomach .. we needed to get something to eat …  Found a restaurant we had been to during  our trip on our last visit .. Emillios .. great food !!   After dinner back to ‘Stinkytown’ …   Rough nite sleeping … woke up several times ..  weather was a bit humid .. couldn’t keep windows open .. had to run AC unit … running AC all night made us abit chilly … we couldn’t wait for morning .. we were ready to leave ‘Stinkytown’ and head to our next location ..  Town of Milford .. (which is very close to Cooperstown) ….

July 24 Canal Barn – Skaneateles

Heading to Fayetteville and Skaneateles today … Canal Barn for a quilt/needlecraft store is in Fayetteville (past Syracuse) .. Terri had this place scoped out for quite awhile now .. website  looked pretty good .. Terri was jazzed up about going to it .. she was not disappointed !!  Although was a bit of a drive .. it was a really nice place .. was originally an old barn .. now converted in to a store .. needlecraft and florist on first floor .. quilting stuff on the second ..  after spending most of morning in the store .. we left with a few new projects for Terri to work on … !

Next stop was to Skaneateles .. another nice town to cruise around in .. it’s located on the water .. and they were having their annual Classic & Antique Boat show on the lake .. All boats were vintage boats with alot of restoration work involved ..  spent a little time looking at them .. nice to look at … very nice work in getting them to their restored state .. but it got to be a little boring .. so we had lunch at a deli near the water .. then head towards Stinkytown .. stopping at a Wegmans for some supplies !!

July 23 Leaving Niagara Falls

8 am … rained all night .. raining this morning .. steady and hard .. ! We’re going to  get soaked hitching up this morning .. no doubt about it !!  We have rain jackets .. but .. no way we’re going to stay dry .. we don’t have to check out until 11 .. so maybe rain will at least lighten up ..  More bad news .. I just stuck my head out Casita door .. smells like there’s been some skunk action during the night !!  It’s going to be a fun morning !!!!  This could be worse than being on Maid of the Mist and Cave of Winds put together … wish we still had those ponchos !!!!!

9 am .. still have steady rain .. Casita is being pelted !!!  We get to wear our ‘rain suits’ today .. we bought some rain gear at Gander Mtn awhile back .. knowing someday  we’d be hitching up in the rain .. today’s the day !!!   Shouldn’t take us long to hitch up and leave .. glad I dumped tanks last night and checked tire pressure on Casita .. thats a few less thing we need to do this morning .. Just need to unhook electric cable.. shut off propane .. hitch truck to Casita and we’re good to go ..  !!  This is our last post from Niagara .. we had a great time .. we’ll log on from our next site ‘Cheerful Valley’ RV site in Phelps .. approx 2 hours from here …  !

Took us only 30 minutes to hitch up in the rain ..   Drove in rain for first hour on the road .. then stopped .. partly cloudy for the rest of the day ..  In that we had a few hours to kill before our next campsite .. we stopped in Palmyra .. nice small town .. alot of small shops on main street through town ..   Stopped in to see a General Store Museum .. actually a total of 4 museums .. in same area. General Store museum sounds boring .. but it was pretty interesting .. the general store & house were owned by  the Phelps family who owned & operated the place .. all having to do with it’s proximity to the Erie Canal .. in those days .. the Erie Canal was key for transporting goods & trade  ..  Store & house were left pretty much intact  since 1940 .. it’s like a time capsule .. everything was left exactly as it was ..  .. alot of history there … Another museum was  the Alling  Coverlet Museum .. Coverlets are like lightweight blankets .. museum had quite a few on display .. dating back to the 1800’s .. biggest collection on coverlets in the USA ….

After touring museums we had lunch at a place called ‘Muddy Waters’ overlooking Erie Canal . good pannini sandwiches !!   Next stop .. Cheerfull Valley campsite ..  arriving about 4 pm .. Nice spacious campground .. a few issues at registration .. we payed for full hookups .. we were given a site without sewer hookup .. we went back to office and advised them .. they agreed .. they made a mistake .. no big issue for us .. we’ll just their dump station we we leave .. They owed us $9 dollars due to the difference in sited .. (ie.. no full hookups) .. so we took the money in goods .. ie.. ice cream .. bottle waters .. We soon found out that although campground had pretty nice sites … it seems to have issues with their septic system … from here on .. campground is known as ‘Stinkytown USA’ … !   Not stinky all the time ..  mostly at night .. most of the time we had to keep our windows closed .. so much for camping in the country air !!!  I must have micalculated .. I thought this place at WIFI …  it does not !!!!!!