Day 29 East Coast Trip, Tues.Oct 17, 2023 At Wolcott NY

 Day 29, East Coast trip, Tues. Oct. 17, 2023 (Wolcott NY)

The weather held up today and even though it was cloudy, there was no rain. Today's travel from our campsite took us to the town of Sodus Point, New York, where there were two light houses. We packed our lunch as usual, and headed just  some 20 miles distant.

But before we could get through Wolcott, we saw the town waterfall,and although it was the dry season, a veil of water was coming down.

Wolcott Falls

One of thousands of rows of apples.

A wide view of one Orchard

Gotta show a few apples~!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our usual methods is to watch for anything unusual or something that tells about the culture or activity of the area. This area is is a center for apple growing in the state of New York so there were many apple orchards and workers in those orchards filling those big boxes with lots of different varieties of apples. Along those roads as we turned off the main road we saw a lot of color more than we had before. The orchards these days are using the small trees that grow only 7 or 8 feet tall so the pickers can stay on the ground while they pick. We did see some of them walking to work after their lunch, and they had what were bags that had shoulder straps and a quick release at the bottom that they can release into the boxes.

The keepers house is a museum, with lighthouse behind

The buildup of the spit over the years.

The Battle with the British (1813). British burned the town  along with many along the coast.

The breakwater light at Sodus

 

We arrived at SODUS point and started at the museum which is in the keepers house attached to Lighthouse . This is the old lighthouse and the second one built at this location. In the past 100 years the lighthouse has  moved from the point at Sodus, to being about a mile a way from what is now the point at Sodus. How could ths happen?  The reason is that sand has continually filled in away from the lighthouse and build what's called a split or a sandbar if you will, on which now a community of residences has been built. At the newer point so to speak, the other breakwater lighthouse was built  out on a levy or dike and warns the ships seeking shelter of the harbor there.

We cruised around town a bit looking for other vistas and found a few especially the parking lot at the beach where there were many cormorants and seagulls perched on the dike. While watching we also saw a swooping bird which we identified as a Merlin which we have not seen on the trip

The old Mash Mill at Sodus

Apple boxes with a dutch grower's name.

A 10 (ten) point deer grazing on road side (5 minutes he stayed)

Concord grapes at Thorpe's Vineyard and Winery

 

On the way home we tried to locate some cliffs that were nearby but it would have taken a 1 1/2 mile walk to get to them and they were not visible from any road. That led us to a satellite community about a mile away where there were some views of Lake Ontario and a small bay with good reflections with Tundra Swan, swimming there.

There was a winery in that community and we drove by it and saw that the Concord grapes were just about ready to be plucked (picked). The winery was called Thorpe's Winery. (No samples as they were closed!)

Barn number 1

BArn number 2

                                                        True prediction! 

It's a Mack! What year?

Elizabethan home in Sodus NY

Barn number 3

 So it was a good drive on a cloudy day with some color, lots of apples, a few lighthouses, and an interesting conversation with a birdwatcher who comes to that spot often, as the birds frequent the beach area during the year. We were a little late to see some surf scoters the day before. We had seen some a few days back, so we didn't feel too bad.

Found a few barns on the way back so Ruth had some subjects for her camera. We arrived back home about midafternoon, and had time to download photos and catch up on some notes.

Supper was a new favorite of ours of tuna fish and potatoes sliced. We top that off with blueberry pie that we bought from the Ontario Orchard Store.

. Tomorrow we head for another national wildlife refuge nearby at Montezuma. It has some drives so we should be able to avoid any long trails.

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.

Day 28, 2023, East Coast trip, Monday Oct. 16, 2023, At Waterloo NY

Day 28, Oct. 16, 2023, Monday,   East Coast trip, moved to Waterloo, NY

This was the short drive to the next campground and the shortest of any we have taken. Just 35 miles. Briefly I'll re-dexplain that dilemma that we head to solve. One campground close on the 15th, the next campground could not take us on the 16th because of some party. It was where we wanted to go to make it to the  next closest campground that happened to be only 35 miles away. Hence the extra stop.

Coming early into campgrounds is not a favorite of campground owners. They  usually like you to come in after 1 or 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I guesl so they can get the Leaving campers out and see that everything is okay for the new ones. So, I called Susan at the new campground and asked if we could come in as early as 11 o'clock. She said  "Sure", so that saved a lot of waiting  around.

You may be able to see the rainbow on ths misty day.

Some color

Simple Colonial style.

The 35 mile trip allowed us to go the long way again, which brought us into rural, northern, New York state. Rolling hills, smaller forest areas, and many soybean fields just waiting to be plucked. This also was an area of acres of corn that also are about ready to be harvested. With the often and on rain, I think many farmers are just waiting to get some drying to get those crops in.

 A National treasure

Tug LT-5 One of many.

How it came to be .

Downtown Oswego NY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruth saw some Barns along the way and hopefully we would see also on the way back (.And we did!). The goal was to get to Oswego New York, where there was a lighthouse called West Pier Lighthouse. We were surprised to find a few other interesting sidelights. First , in Oswego, there was a tug boat, named the LT–5 that was key part of the Normandy Landing in France, June 6, 1944. The town of Oswego manage to save it before it was scrapped in the 1980s. The tug's main job was to help assemble the "Mulberries" that were constructed near the beach at Normandy where the goods was dropped off and a long ramp led to the beach from there. They also placed on the beaches huge Barges full of ammunition which ended up being very important after the Mulberries were destroyed from the storm. about two weeks later after they were built. It was the main source of ammunition for the troop

Fort Ontario from the outside

Another angle of the Fort

Aerial View of the Fort

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                        FEW KNOW THIS HISTORICAL FACT. (I DIDN'T, FOR ONE)

Working our way around the Maritime Museum on the wharf we easily found where a lookout was to see the lighthouse. It is out in the harbor at the end of a half-mile rock pier.

The West Pier Lighthouse at Oswego NY

 

The viewpoint that we took ur photos  from is on the site of what was called Fort Ontario re-built in the inter war period (1926+) t, it became more important in 1944 to 1946. The United States at that time had an attitude of isolationism and Congress passed no laws to admit immigrants even during the war and after. Secretary of the interior Ickies, promoted a campaign along with his assistant Ruth Gruber, to bring 1000 refugees from the Holocaust camps to the United States. They were housed here at Fort Ontario from August 1944 until September 1946. Pres. Harry Truman rescinded a law that had prohibited them from staying in the United States. Many of them stayed after that law was passed and became citizens. A memorial on the grounds of the fort was dedicated in the 1980s and contains both an American and Israeli flag. It was an impressive site.

When the Fort housed the Holocaust survivors

The story of the Survivors (983)

The memorial today

 

The Fort has been used as a hospital, National Guard Trg.Center, Infantry barracks, and the above mentioned housing for Holocaust survivers.

The Fort Cemetery when it was active

The graves registry

                                                                      The story of the battle in which the British won/

On the grounds there was also a military cemetery where the men who served at the Fort had died  and were buried along with non-military personnel. The battle with the British occurred in 1814, and the British summarily destroyed the fort. (Remember Lake Erie and the defeat of the British.AdmiralPerr and "Don't Give Up the Ship".)  The Fort  was reconstructed later back to its present state.

We retraced our steps drive on returning to the campground so Ruth could get a few barns that we had seen along the way. There also was on the way back a stop at a market to pick up some apples. Remember northern New York this big apple country.   The name of the market was 'Ontario Orchards' and was very unique indeed. It was a converted horse stable that the family had been running as a market and store for over 75 years. I was really excited when I got inside even though we bought some donuts, a blueberry pie, and Ruth's favorite apples. I decided to go to the car and get my camera and came back in when the clerk who had waited on me, saw  my camera, Kim said "Let me show you more of the store", and promptly took me back to the back of the store and through a couple of doors where she introduced me to Kathy a daughter of the owner. Kathy was excited to show me around even though they were very busy in the backroom sorting apples and bagging them. She talked the whole time and walked me back into the room where they make their cider on an old-fashioned cider press that is squeeze by hand believe it or not. They also sell pasteurized cider to local schools with a  pasteurizing device they have to run the cider through. She wanted me to meet her dad, 76 years old, but didn't know where he was and called ou, "Where's Dad", someone answered came back "he's in cooler number 3". He came out and introduced himself and made me feel like I was an old friend. He is Dennis Ouelette, And he has been working in the store since he was six years old. It was a happy time and I'm glad Kim took the time to show me more.

The store counters were from the old stable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kathie (Ouelette) and the old cider press

Dennis Ouelette the "Dad"

Inside the store at one end.  Far wall is far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We returned to the campground by the same road, or should we say roads with an S. As there were many. The rain had stopped temporarily so the roads were dry.

Supper was taco salad and of course some of that Tillamook Mudslide ice cream. I finished writing in my log (I keep a journal everyday) and started on my blog.. That's it for the day and we want to thank you for reading and remember you can make comments on the site. Thanks–Jim

Day 27, East Coast Trip, Sunday Oct. 15, 2023 To Geneva NY

Day 27, East Coast Trip, Sunday Oct. 25, 2023

Today we travelled exclusively on I-90 westward towards Syracuse New York. The road is not entirely without bumps and chuck holes but the traffic moved along smoothly except for one place the State police were with  a young man helping him with changing a tire on the left side of road, so traffic slowed of down a bit. This stretch of road about 120 miles, follows the Mohawk River Valley as is the extension of the Erie Canal following it from Northern New York Southeast to Albany. (See note on Locks below).

It is a beautiful valley, rolling and some steep farmland to take care of with many farms lots, wood lots and small towns dotting the valley.

I-90 through the Mohawk Valley NY

How would you like to farm that patch on the hill?

Nothing spectacular yet, but some color.

 

Ruth tried to take a few pictures as the red colors begin to improve as we move west. There just were not many maples as it seems that road runs through a lot of cottonwood, elm, and the other hardwoods, but not much maple.  We have run ut of the evergreens being the dominant tree specie. Traveling at 58 mph it is hard to get a good picture from a moving vehicle. We will put in a few samples to show you what we saw.

Of course the Erie Canal has many locks, I think 58 in all.  Nope... There were 83 originally, then 72, and now 35 numbered locks.They also have something I had not seen before and that is moveable dams. There is a spillway under each one. That is they can be raised and lowered when needed to either slow the water or allowit to flow normally.. We have one picture of that to show. Two of these dams actually are roads that can be used for people to cross the Mohawk River. That was a stumper at first as I could see what looked like a bridge but then no road coming out from it. That was the dam. The portion of I-90 that we drove on contained the locks from number 11 to Number 17. 

Tonight's 'one nighter'. See Seneca R. in background

The Seneca is a slow moving River.

A better view of the Seneca R.

Downtown Waterloo, NY near Geneva, NY home 

 

    

                                                                                  of Women's Rights Nat. Hist. Park and National                                                                                                 Women's Hall of Fame.
 

 The day was an off and on misty light rain that would give us a little sun from time to time and then the light rain.  The overall temperatures were warmer today by about 5°.  (55F-60F) And although that did not seem much warmer there was no wind so that helped make it feel warmer. That continued until we got off the freeway and moved toward the campground 5 miles south of I-90. It was on the Seneca River just between Lake  Seneca  and Lake Geneva of the Finger Lakes. The campground was wide and not  as heavily forested as previous ones,  good wide sites and well manicured. We waited a few minutes before setting up for the rain to let up, and it did. (Know your weather)!

So arriving early at 2;15 PM, we had sometime to catch up on little things, like photos  of the site  (I like to do that and have hundreds of manuy of our campground sites), reset a rear view mirrow (Temporary for the trailer view) and prepare supper.  Ruth was talked into having noodles with some of our left over chicken.  It was good!  Of course we toppedit off with TILLAMOOK CHOCOLATE MUDSLIDE  (The best ever!)

Then there was  a chance to listen (Play by play) to the Detroit Lions play the Tampa Bay Bccaneers. (In progreess as we write with final score coming up).  Final score...  Lions 20, Tampa Bay 6. (Lions are now 5 wins and 1 loss)

Tomorrow we have only 35 miles up the road to Lake Ontario. It was not possible to get in on a Sunday at that Campground as they had some celebration and our previous campground closed today! So... so this is a one night interim stay here  at this KOA.  There is a very large National Wildlife Refuge named Iroquois and we will visit it  this week. It looks like another rainy day tomorrow so I think Tuesday will be the day to visit.

If you read these blogs, you can make comments and I would enjoy that. Thanks for Reading.

 

Day 26, East Coast trip, Sat/Oct. 14, 2023

Day 26, East Coast Trip, Oct. 14, 2023, last day at Glenville, NY

The threat today was for some rain later in the morning and afternoon .  (It never came!!!) We thought it best to try to get in some outdoor wandering before any rain set in. So we did that and headed for the Black Swamp WMA. It was about 25 miles from the camp ground.

Interestingly this area was settled by the Dutch along with a British in the 1600s.  As early as 1920) Hence, many names of towns and  streets have Dutch names. We are surrounded on both sides by two towns  named Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The street names follow the same theme, like Gilder, Voorsman, Van Buren and so on. The journey to this NWA takes us through the heart of Rotterdam and on the city streets that are just residences and no commercial building. Then again out into the country where we found the NWA.

(See sign following) A cemetery for the first Methodist church

Sign near cemetery

One of a number of Chipping Sparrows seen today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              Even on the map before taking this trip today, I noticed there were parking lots and no roads into the wildlife area. But I did see a paved road that actually went through some of the properties as it is split into parcels. That was what we aimed for. I saw a road named Hennessey and it seemed to go right through the swamp. That was a good movement, as it did exactly that about halfway on that road we were in the middle of the Swamp, and a huge, wide cleared area where the high-powered Electric lines when through.

Black Swamp in Albany County NY

Looking through Black Swamp to the Ridges NY

Black Swamp was quiet and peaceful.

 

By parking on the side of the road gave us tie to look for  a few birds including a Northern Harrier that came gliding by, of course the Blue Jays, some  Savanna Sparrow in asmall flock under a bush Black huckle berry, and some cowbirds. on the high tension poles. I think for the day we counted 10 birds. I am sure that in the  migration time in the early summer in this area would be Birders paradise. But because it's mid October that is not the case. Beside's the ducks the Mohawk River by the waterfall, we have not seen any ducks for a few weeks.

Berries of the Virginia Creeper

Those ever present Cattails.

Seldom seen Black Huckleberries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate our lunch by a large gate that entered the transmission line.. It definitely was a "no trespassing" zone. That was the end of our watching for the day and we did see a few skeletons and Halloween decorations along the way

That was a brief excursion for us, then we were back to the trailer by 1:30 and had a few chores to do to wrap up the afternoon.

 Last night at just after midnight it gets quite cold in the trailer and that usually means one of the tanks has run out.  It was 61F in the trailer. I got dressed and went out and switched it  over and stayed up until it heated back up again. The middle of the night is a good time to download any photos, or make  any additinal comments to my blog, so I did that and they all went on very quickly. When no one is using the Internet the strength of signal is always much better, particularly in a campground. Speaking of which this is the last night of camping for the season here at arrowhead RV and Marina. We thought we might stay another night  but Cherie, the owner said it was definite that they would close tomorrow.

So the chores that we had; to sort out the pills for two weeks that Ruth does faithfully, secondly, fill up  the second tank of propane, (Citco had a station), third, to pick up a few groceries such as orange juice and some cheese.  (Gabriel's supermarket) Both sites were near one another, so it was handy in the town of Rotterdam. (Hey, we are in the Netherlands, (faux)).  At the propane fill a young college student did the fill. I usually ask them if this is their full time job. He was from Burma,  in college, learning the skills of computer science. Good luck, Phong.

That was it and we arrived home in time for a short rest and  supper prep. It was hamburgers on the grill with my new approach to Ruth's huge hampurgers. I told her I wanted only 1/2 of what she usually makes for me. With those wondelful croissant buns , (hamburger style) it was just enough for me with a slice of onion, two slices of tomato, some mustard and mayo and I was good. I topped it off with a Dove bar  after supper that I had been saving for three days. (Yes there is Tillamook Ice cream in the freezer, but it will wait.)

Central Michigan Chippewas, played poorly on offense today, but managed to eke out a 17-10 win over Akron (away). They seemed not to play offense very well  but defense held the day.

Tomrrow we head for the Lake Ontario area (Upper NY) with an interim stop (one night) at a KOA just a half hour from that Lake Ontario site. (Could not get in on Sunday so has to "short hop" it.

Thanks for reading--Jim