New England

We left New York and moved into Connecticut last week as we continue our journey up the east coast.  We are in a little town called Chaplin, which is out in the middle of nowhere.  It is a very rural peaceful RV park and a great value compared to what we have been paying for sites on this trip.  The park is not that far from the places we wanted to see and the relatives we wanted to visit in Rhode Island.  As we could not find a decent park in Rhode Island we are staying at this park for two weeks to handle both states.

Here our activities for the first week. 

We drove to the coast of Connecticut to check out the towns of Mystic and Stonington.  Both are quaint little towns on the water with nice downtown areas to walk around.  You really get the feel of being in New England.  For you movie buffs there was a movie called Mystic Pizza which was the breakout role for Julia Roberts.  There really is a pizza restaurant called Mystic Pizza and some of the filming was done there.  We stopped in and bought a slice.

Mystic Pizza restaurant

View of the harbor with some sail boats

We had lunch at the next town over, Stonington, at a restaurant, Noah’s, recommended in our 1,000 places to see.  It was a very nice lunch. 

Noah’s restaurant

On Sunday we took a drive to see a couple of other little towns not far from here, East Haddam and Essex.  In East Haddam there is Gillette Castle state park which has a stone castle made at the turn of the 19th century by a man named Gillette.  He was famous for playing Sherlock Holmes on the stage during that period.  This house sits on a cliff and has amazing views of the area.  The amount of stone used is unreal.  Even the canopies over the windows are made of stone.

Gillette Castle

Stone canopies

The view

Part of the wall that surrounds the house

We had lunch in East Haddam at the Blue Oar.  This is right on the water and is a favorite place for boaters as there is a dock.  It was rainy and a little cold the day we went so no crowds.

Yesterday we drove to Newport, Rhode Island to check it out.  We ended up walking the downtown (wharf area), having lunch at the Black Pearl restaurant (fantastic clam chowder), driving on Bellevue Avenue (famous mansions) and Ocean Drive (more huge homes) and ending up walking on the cliff walk.  The town has built a nice walkway that extends 3 1/2 miles on the edge of the cliff and passes by many of the famous mansions.  About half the walk was closed when we visited but we did a little over a mile of it.

The cliff that the walkway follows

A small cottage!

Weekend retreat!

Newport was great and the weather was just perfect for the day.  The town was much larger than I had expected and I can see how it can get very busy on weekends and during the summer months. 

Next up is a visit to Hartford, Connecticut and a visit with relatives over the Memorial Day weekend.

New York

Last week we moved from New Jersey to Florida, New York, which is about 40 miles outside of New York City.  We have been here for a week and leave tomorrow, Tuesday, for Chaplin, Connecticut.  We did some sightseeing this past week so let me get you caught up.

We are in the Hudson Valley which is just a very beautiful area.  We picked this area as it is near a couple of sights we wanted to see, FDR Library and Home, West Point and it allowed us to get into New York City fairly easily by train.

First stop was the FDR Library and his Hyde Park home.  We were a little disappointed as the library is undergoing an extensive renovation so all they had open was a small exhibit following his life.  What was neat is his house.  You get to see it as it was when he last lived in it.  I could see why he loved to come to this house as the views of the Hudson Valley are spectacular.

Here is a picture of the library as it would look on the outside prior to the renovation.

His house

The view from the back of his house

His grave and his wife’s

Just down the road from FDR’s home is the summer home of one of the Vanderbilt’s.  They would use this house about 12 weeks out of the year.  It was given to the National Park Service back in the 40’s with all the original furnishings.  It represents the Gilded Age in America (turn of the century 1900’s).

Just a little weekend cottage!

Entry foyer with opening to second floor and skylight.

Next stop was a day trip into New York City.  We have been a few times so the plan was not to go to Times Square but rather to do some things we had not done.  I had not been to the 9/11 memorial so that was our first stop.  They have done a great job with this except for all the security.  It just so happened that the day we went was the day they officially topped the new building at 1776 feet by installing the last section of the spire.

The new Freedom Tower at 1776 feet.

One of the two memorial pools.

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn Bridge Park.

We’re walking, we’re walking!

Then it was a subway ride back into Manhattan, Chelsea District, to walk the High Line and have lunch.

We’re walking some more!

That was our day in the city.  Today, our last day, we went out to West Point and took a bus tour of the facility.  What a impressive place and some fantastic views of the Hudson River.

One of the chapel’s and probably the most famous.

Inside the chapel.  That is stained glass on both sides that line the walls and at each end.

As graduation is in a couple of weeks a cadet was out getting some pictures taken in his uniform.

The superintendent’s house.  This is the oldest building on the facility.

View of the Hudson River where it makes a turn.  This is called Trophy Point.  West Point was placed here as fort to protect from an attack from the river.

We had a chance to visit with some old friends from our days living in Concord, California.  We had not seen them in 20 years so it was a nice evening of catching up. 

Time to move on!

Cape May, New Jersey

We arrived in Cape May on Tuesday, April 30th, and will be here until May 7th.  If you look at a map, and have been reading my blog, you will see that we took the looooooooooooong way to get here.  We were actually just a few miles across the water when we were in Delaware and there is a ferry we could have taken.  We decided against it as we wanted to stop in the Washington, D.C. area and in Amish Country, Pennsylvania, so here we are.  That also allowed us to put two more map stickers on our RV map, which is very important!

We picked this area as neither of us had been here and wanted to see the Jersey shore and Atlantic City.  The beaches here are just beautiful so I can see why everyone comes here in the summer.  The big attraction here is Wildwoods which is right on the ocean and has amusement parks and a huge boardwalk with many arcades, restaurants and shops.  It is not tourist season yet and the weather is still a little cold so the place looked like a ghost town.  It is amazing to see all the homes, cottages and hotels.  The boardwalk was very impressive and I can see where families would have a great time.

A portion of the boardwalk in Wildwoods

Cape May lighthouse

Beach at Cape May

We took a drive up to Atlantic City and stopped at a town just before Atlantic City called Margate.  We had been told by a friend who is from the area to check out the building shaped like an elephant, so we did.

The things you see on the road

Neither of us had been to Atlantic City and wanted to go see the famed boardwalk.  As we get the New York TV stations on our DirecTV we had heard that much of the boardwalk had been damaged by superstorm Sandy last year, but that was not the case.  There was a lot of construction activity in the town and on one of the hotels lining the boardwalk but other than that the boardwalk and all the shops and restaurants were fine.

Trump’s Casino

A view down the beach.  They have restored the dunes and planted shrubs to help keep the sand in place.

A portion of the boardwalk. You see the cart in the middle of the picture, that is the boardwalk taxi.  You get pushed by someone, so you go walking speed!!  They do not allow bikes on the boardwalk during most of the day so this is what enterprising individuals have come up with. Did I mention you sit and move at WALKING SPEED!  I did not bother to ask how much they charge as I probably would not have been able to contain my laughter.

Weather has been cool and downright cold on some days.  In Atlantic City it was pleasant, but in Wildwoods we were bundled up in heavy coats.  Where is Spring?

Headed to Florida, New York next week, which is about 50 miles outside New York City.

Amish Country Pennsylvania

Last week we moved to Narvon, Pennsylvania, which is in Lancaster County, Amish Country.  The RV park is just fantastic.  Beautiful large spaces and the park has many amenities.  It appears it is used by many seasonals from New Jersey and the Philadelphia area.

Before I start on our sightseeing activities let me tell you about our little adventure on the drive here.  We stopped near York, Pennsylvania to have lunch at a McDonald’s.  The McDonald’s did not have a large enough parking lot for our rig so I drove into a store parking lot across the street.  The store was closed and there were no cars in the lot.  I parked way off to the side and towards the back.  Full disclosure, I did see a No Trespassing sign but figured since the place was closed and we were only going to be there about 20 to 30 minutes, we were good.  As we came back to our rig after lunch a township police car drove up and the officer got out.  He tells me as I exit our truck “expensive lunch buddy”.  He then explains that the owner of the store had called and we were trespassing and would be arrested.  Our truck and trailer would be towed and impounded.  He continued this “hard ass” approach for a couple of minutes or more, not relenting on that we were going to have to post a $1,000 bond and could spend 90 days in jail.  I am just thinking to myself, “is this really happening over a parking error?”.   He mentions that the owner has had issues with vandals and destruction to the property and he pointed out some damage.  I then responded,” being a retired law enforcement officer, I can appreciate the situation the owner is in and the need for the signs.”  He then asks me who I had worked for and I told him.  I think this was all he needed as he then said, “go on, get out of here, I will talk to the owner”.  Needless to say we got in the truck and left quickly.  Not exactly sure what was happening here regarding the officer’s demeanor and the way he handled the situation, but I am glad his final decision was to let us leave. 

Ok, on to sightseeing.  First stop was Lancaster, PA.  A larger city with a great historic feel to it, with many old buildings and a great downtown area.  We went here to check out the Central Market, but it was closed for the day.  We ended up getting information on the surrounding areas to visit.  There is a stretch of highway that takes you through some small towns with shops and restaurants.  It also takes you by many Amish and Mennonite farms.  The funniest town is Intercourse, PA.  This t-shirt we found in a shop shows that the Amish do have a sense of humor.

The t-shirt is correct.  The town of Intercourse is between the towns of Blue Ball, PA and Paradise, PA.

We stopped in a little town called Lititz which is where hard pretzels were first made.  The original shop is still there and we took a tour of the original factory.  The town itself was just beautiful with many old buildings that have been restored and a very nice downtown area that you can easily walk around.

The original pretzel factory

Fran’s attempt at making a pretzel and her certificate

We took a drive to Reading, PA to go grocery shopping.  The only sightseeing we did was to drive up to the Pagoda they have built atop one of the hills that overlooks the town.  Not sure why the built the Pagoda, but the view of the town was spectacular.

The Pagoda

View of Reading

On Sunday we took a drive into Philadelphia.  This is my fifth trip to the city but Fran’s first so we went in so she could see the historic sites.

Independence Hall

Room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed

Liberty Bell

Elfreth’s Alley.  The oldest neighborhood in the US.

Lunch at the City Tavern.  This is the restaurant the delegates went to after they signed the Declaration. 

Today we drove to Strasburg, PA.  This is mainly known for its old railroad and railroad museum.  We walked around the train stop to see the train and cars but did not go into the museum.

This is the steam engine they use to pull the cars for the daily train rides.

Train station where you board for the ride.

The one item the intrigued Fran as we drove through the countryside was the number of clothes lines and how large they were.  As many of these homes were occupied by Amish they dry their clothes outside and have clothes lines that go 50 feet or more and are way up in the air.  They are on pulleys.

Washington, D.C.

For the past week we have been staying in College Park, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C..  We leave tomorrow, Tuesday, for Lancaster County (Amish country), Pennsylvania.  Let me get you caught up on our activities here in our nation’s capitol.

The RV park we are staying at is a bit pricey (second highest rate we have paid) but it is located so it is easy to get into the city via Metro and the park has many very nice amenities.

Because of my previous employment with the U.S. Treasury I have spent many days in D.C. for work, including a six month detail in 2003.  I would always walk around the city and take in as many sights as I could but still had not seen it all.  My family has been here on a couple of occasions on trips we took but those did not allow Fran to see all the sights either.  So, on this trip we had a list of places to see for both of us.

First day we ventured into the district we went to the National Holocaust Museum.  Neither of us had been to this museum.  Fortunately as a retired federal employee I was able to get in without having to worry about a timed ticket as the ticket line was pretty long.  This time of year is a very busy time in D.C. due to spring break and many schools having field trips to the city.  The Holocaust museum is very nicely done in telling the story from Hitler’s rise, through the Holocaust and finally to the creation of Israel. 

Next we took a walk up the mall towards the Capitol stopping at the National Archives to see our nation’s most sacred documents.  I tried to tell Fran we had been here as a family but she did not remember, so we stopped in.  Cool to see that the documents for which our country is based on are still around, even though you can barely read them.

We were on our way to the Library of Congress when we came across the Newseum. This was on our list so we stopped in.  Wow, what a place.  It is a little pricey at $20 (look for coupons), but well worth it.  You could easily spend hours at this museum.  It is generally about the role of media throughout history but they have so many items from important events it was amazing.  The shirt that Lee Harvey Oswald wore when arrested, the door the Watergate burglars used to enter the building, the radio tower from the World Trade Center, and the list goes on.  They have the current daily paper from every state in the US and newspapers going back hundreds of years chronicling the important historical events.  We arrived later in the afternoon and were not able to spend as much time as we should have.  The ticket is good for two days but we could not make it back the next day.  Definitely a must see!

Saturday we drove out to Mount Vernon (home of George Washington).  I had been here 30 years ago and was amazed to see how much they have added and how busy it is.  You have to get a timed ticket to get into the line to see the house.  We were lucky in arriving early as our line time was less than two hours after our arrival time so it gave us time to see the rest of the grounds then go see the house.  The house sits on a little hill that overlooks the river.  The view is just spectacular.

The porch facing the river

The view from the porch

Front of the house

George and Martha’s tombs

Today we visited the International Spy Museum (very interesting), the Library of Congress, Supreme Court, Martin Luther King Memorial, FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. 

The iconic reading room in the Library of Congress

Amazed by the ornate ceilings in the Library of Congress

Supreme Court

Martin Luther King Memorial

We also visited the World War II Memorial.  As my stepfather is my most avid follower on this blog and a WWII veteran (Pacific) I post these pictures for him.

First a picture of him

 

A portion of the memorial

The wall of the fallen.  Each star represents 100 Americans killed in the war.

My step father is from Rhode Island.  Fran is standing in front of the Rhode Island column in the memorial.

We had a great time, but still more to see.  Next time…..