2017 - Year in Review (Part Two)

This is a continuation of the previous post.

3Q:

Next stop was Lehigh Gorge in the Poconos in Pennsylvania where we visited the Town of Jim Thorpe (named the greatest athlete of the century in 2000). It was amazing to see two gorgeous stained glass windows by Tiffany (one shown below) at St. Marks Episcopal Church. Some of the Molly Maguires (accused of being a secret group among coal miners) were imprisoned and several hanged at The Old Jail (open for tours).

We really enjoyed hiking in the state parks where we saw Boulder Field, Hawk Falls, remains of Lock 22 and more.

We wrapped up our stay with a quick visit with good friend, Lisa M., at Lake Naomi. 

Lake Naomi

Niagara Falls was as spectacular as you would expect, except that it is very commercialized. We were able to walk to the Canadian side and bring our sweet doggie, Sadie, across the border (with proof of rabies vaccination). The American Falls and Horseshoe Falls (Canadian side) are shown below.

We visited several NY state parks in the area, but my favorite was Old Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario. 

We stayed at one of the nicest RV parks (Turning Stone) in Verona, NY, for a short stay and visited nearby Fort Stanwix National Monument (1758 British fort). 

During our stay in Vermont, we visited Button Bay State Park on Lake Champlain, the Sheldon Museum, and Middlebury College.

We stayed in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, we hiked to the peak of Rattlesnake Mountain for a great views of Squam Lake and in the distance, Lake Winnipesaukee. 

The Motorcyle Museum had vintage Indian and Harley Davidson bikes used by police, military, and for recreation too. And don’t miss the New Hampshire Boat Museum if you are in the area!

The primary reason we came to New England this summer was to see beautiful Acadia National Park. And it did not disappoint! So much to see and do in and around Bar Harbor. Everyone should visit here at least once in a lifetime!

In Massachusetts, we visited:

• Saugus Iron Works (1643) National Monument, the first successful iron producer in the US, and Salem, home of the infamous witch trials.

• Cape Cod National Seashore although there was lots of traffic and a $20 parking fee (if you could find a parking space) to go to most beaches.

• New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park (great museum there) and Plymouth Rock

We stayed for a week in Rhode Island and visited:

• Providence where we went to the Roger Williams National Monument, oldest Baptist church (1638), state capital building (largest marble dome in the world), and Brown University; 

• Newport where we toured the Breakers (summer cottage of the Vanderbilt’s) along the Cliff Walk; and 

• Mystic Seaport in CT (one of our favorite historic attractions). You can spend a day there.

Our daughter, Amanda, visited us at a KOA about 70 miles a from NYC and we helped her move her stuff to her storage unit in Astoria prior to her move to Houston.

While in NJ, we visited Cape May, dog parks, Atlantic City, and had a lovely visit with long-time friend, Betsy, and her family. 

As we continued down the coast, we stayed a week south of Dewey Beach, NC. We encountered various (expensive) repairs for the RV (electrical system, motor for rear slide out), and serious flooding at our RV site (DE Seashore State Park). My brother, Mark, came to visit for a night and we met friends, David and Mary Alice, for cocktails...highlights of our stay.

Due to the crazy hurricane season, we changed our reservations and stayed on the mainland in NC instead of Hatteras. But we were close enough to visit Kitty Hawk National Monument and Cape Hatteras National Seashore. 

Grandson, Andrew, had his 2nd birthday! And we had a blast with him at the NC Zoo.

4Q:

In SC, we visited Myrtle Beach (both John and I vacationed here every year in our youth (this was our first time back since). And then went to beautiful Charleston. While there, I spent a weekend with girl friends from my high school days.

We began our journey westward, with a quick stop in Macon, GA, where we visited Ocmulgee National Monument (archeological site of Native American mound communities), Tubman Museum of African American Art, Mercer University (founded 1833), and the Allman Brothers Museum. And, we had our two front tires on the motor coach replaced (at our site!)

This year was our first stay in Alabama (Montgomery) and Mississippi (Biloxi). We visited many of the Civil Rights memorials in Montgomery including Dexter Avenue Baptist Church (Martin Luther King’s headquarters during the bus boycott), Rosa Park’s bus stop (she refused to give up her seat for a white man), the Civil Rights Memorial (designed by the same artist as the Vietnam Memorial in DC). A sculpture or Hank Williams was near the entrance to the River Walk park.

We were in Biloxi for a month and visited multiple art museums (work by local artists), festivals, casinos, state parks, national forest, beaches, lighthouses, restaurants, and more. We also enjoyed visits from our friend, Greg (drives a car carrier) from PA, and my brother, Mark, from DE.

Traveling through LA, we stayed a few days at Betty’s RV Park, where we ran into friends, Merlene and Dan (we met them at Betty’s a couple of years ago).

We arrived in Galveston before Thanksgiving for a 2-month stay. Since Amanda recently moved to Houston, we were able to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s together for the first time in 8 years! We did lots of fun things with Amanda and Kaitlyn in both Houston and Galveston including seeing A Christmas Carol at The Alley and Shen Yun at Jones Hall. 

We very much enjoyed the beaches, state parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and attractions in the area, but the cold, windy weather was not much fun at all! It even snowed in Galveston and went down to the 20s a couple of nights. 

2017 was a VERY busy year. In 2018 we will travel west and have plans to visit NM, CO, UT, ID, WA, CA, and probably AZ. Thanks for joining our journey!