It has come time for our 2019 road trip which we have been planning on for months, but not really planning at all. Usually we have some parks picked as destinations but this time we are treating the trip as one great improvisation. We are heading west for the summer, but we don’t know how far, where our stops might be or where we may eventually turn around. The car is packed and we are ready to go.
As our friend Steve once said: “The hardest part of the trip is getting past your mailbox.” It was a whirlwind getting the house ready and finally hit the road on the evening of our first day. We made it as far as the orchard where we immediately dove into more chores (mowing and some light apiary work) before having a campfire dinner consisting of venison sausage (thanks Pat), baked beans and fried onions. We did dishes in the rain and spent the rest of the evening playing tunes before going to bed early.
We awoke early the next morning and decided that we needed some sage advice. Therefore, we went to the Port Henry Diner for breakfast to talk to our friend Don, one of the most well travelled people that we know about making some plans for the summer. He had some good suggestions for places to visit in Canada - we may hit those on the round trip since we are not currently pointed north. With our belts bursting, we waddled back to the car and started our drive through the Adirondacks.
We made slow but steady progress in the pouring rain with a short stop at the Adirondack Experience (formerly the Adirondack Museum) in Blue Mountain Lake to see some of the historical boats and lodgings of the region. We didn’t let the rain dampen our spirits, although some of the items in our car were not drying as quickly as we would like and were giving the vehicle a pungent musty aroma.
By the time we were sick of driving for the day, we pulled of the New York State Thruway to Cayuga Lake State Park on the northern tip of Cayuga Lake. I spent three summers at the southern tip of the lake many years ago, so it seemed like a nice place to while away an evening. We ate lasagna and played tunes on the porch of the picnic mansion while watching the herons glide over the misty lake. The campground was almost completely empty, se we enjoyed a quiet night of sleep.
In the morning we headed to Seneca Falls for a picnic on the river - grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast! Yum - clearly we are trying to eat leftovers from home! We then went to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park where we watched an incredibly dated introductory video and found many of the exhibits repetitive and in need of repair. Perhaps it was a symbol of unfinished social change....but seriously, get them some funding! Maybe we saw whats left of women’s rights? They did weave together the history of the suffragette, slavery, civil war and temperance movements nicely however so good work there National Park Service.
The afternoon was spent driving through New York’s wine country and winding through the Finger Lakes region. It was a beautiful drive and the weather was much improved from the previous day. Our afternoon destination would be the Lucille Ball museum in Jamestown. Since we both grew up watching reruns of the "I Love Lucy" show on Nick-at-Nite, we were shocked to see the show's set in color. Did you know that their couch was blue? Me neither!
After a quick homemade taco salad in Jamestown's nearest city park, we made our way west through the tip of Pennsylvania and into Ohio to camp for the evening and Punderson State Park, just east of Cleveland. It seems to be a busy place on a clear Friday evening, although we don't quite fit in without a Winnebago. Dinner was couscous with a jar of salsa and black beans and garlic scapes (from our garden!) to doctor it up. It'll be off to bed soon - and we are planning to see Cuyahoga Valley National Park in the morning - a park that we have driven by for years.
No comments:
Post a Comment