The first several nights on this 72 day trip are one-night stays.
Iowa
We spent the night of June 21 at the Ottumwa City Park in Ottumwa, Iowa. It was hot and humid; a nasty storm came through early in the evening.
This was listed as a first come/first serve park but they recently changed to needing reservations. Because a balloon race is scheduled for this weekend, the park was almost full. We were lucky to get a spot, only because we only wanted it for one night, before the race.
On the way to Ottumwa, we stopped in Pella for some errands. Because of the tulip festival held here, there were a lot of windmills!
Illinois
We spent a night at Kickapoo State Recreation Area near Oakwood, Illinois, not far from the Indiana state line. We also celebrated the actual 5th anniversary of meeting each other.
Ohio
We were at John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs, Ohio, on June 23. Dave looked outside while we were eating supper and saw a racoon in our yard! The next morning, two of our flower plants had been uprooted. I wonder what they were looking for.
Pennsylvania
We stayed at Hickory Hollow Campground in Rockwood, PA, near Pittsburgh on the 24th. This looks like a fun park. We will return to it in August.
Delaware
We skipped over some areas very close to part of our spring route to get to Delaware where we stayed at a Harvest Host Brewery called Fordham & Dominion. This is our only stay in Delaware and we really like it. Dover has a lot of neat old homes.
To get here, we had to go over the Bay Bridge, crossing Chesapeake Bay.
Because it is Sunday and the weather was great, we enjoyed our weekly Bloody Mary’s on the lawn in front of the trailer before moving on.
New Jersey
We finally have a 3 night stay so I can unpack my kitchen. Yay!
We are at Tip Tam RV resort in Jackson, NJ, near Philadelphia. The resort has large lots, but they are very wooded and the roads between sites are narrow. I mentioned I didn’t think we could get in and the worker thought we would need a bobcat to put the trailer into the site. However, Dave parked it expertly!
A unique feature of this park is the sites have names instead of numbers. There does not seem to be a pattern, theme, rhyme or reason to the names. We are in “Twist” between “Spring Dale” and “Cushing”. Behind us are “DeSoto” and “Jonesboro” with “Nomad” “Pelican” and “Felda” across the road from us.
After setting up and cleaning up, we headed to Lumberton, NJ to visit Kate’s mom and dad. I had met them before at Nate and Kate’s wedding but Dave had not met them. We had a great afternoon chatting before they made a delicious meal for us.
It was fun to see Kate’s teen years home. Also, John and MaryPat were dog sitting a lab named Hershey. What a neat dog.
The next day, we tried to go in to Philadelphia but realized we needed a timed entry to the historic areas. Instead, we drove to Point Pleasant beach for some sun and water time with Boo. We followed up with a waterside brew.
June 28 brought ust us to Jersey City, across the harbor from New York City. It was fun to see the NYC skyline as we got close. We are parked in Liberty Harbor RV Park, next to the marina that takes the ferry into the city. It is basically just a parking lot but served our purposes.
The next day, we toured Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. WE had to drive 1 1/2 miles to park for the ferry. Ellis Island is beautiful but was also very moving, to think of all the people who came to our country through Ellis.
The statue was also awesome. We had tickets to get to the top of the base which is all the farther anyone can go inside the statue. There were many more tourists here that at Ellis.
There is also a memorial to 911 on Liberty Park. Standing in the middle of it, you look at the new World Trade Center building.
After returning to our campground, we decided it was too early to call it a day. So, we ventured to the nearest subway stop, which turned out to be farther away than a closer stop, to go to Ground Zero. It was a good way to become familiar with the walk to the subway, the subway system and do some more touring. Ground Zero was very, very moving.
On July 1 we took a 6 hour bus, boat and walking tour of New York City. For much of it, there were quick glimpses of things we have heard about all of our lives. I hope I have buildings labeled correctly.
One thing we learned about the theater district is that “On Broadway” “Off Broadway” and “Off Off Broadway” refers to the number of seats in the theater, not the location.
One of our first walking stops was Central Park. Across the park is the Dakota where John Lennon and Oko Yono lived and owned the entire top floor. Yoko still lives there. There is a memorial to John in the park.
We continued to Rockefeller Center and Rockefeller Square. The skating rink is an ice rink in the winter. it looks so much larger on TV.
We rode a ferry to Staten Island, just to experience it. There are only two ways to get to the island. One way is a $15 toll to drive across the bridge. The other way is the free ferry.
We went to the 911 site again and learned a lot more. The squares along with the first row of trees surrounding each hole are the footprint of each building. For a victim’s birthday, a rose is put by their name. They get a flag if it is their birthday and they are a veteran. A red rose is for their anniversary.
One tree survived the bombings and two hurricanes. It is known as the Survivor Tree.
We continued to a few more things. NYC is noted for making parks in areas that were once intended for something else.
After the tour, we walked back to Times Square where we had a couple of beers at an outdoor patio. The maitre d was a little Irish guy who liked to talk to us about baseball stats.
Then we took the subway to the Bronx, just so we could see the outside of Yankee Stadium.
Our last stop was Grand Central Station. It is huge and beautiful.
On July 2, we went back to Philadelphia, which we had not gotten to see when we stayed farther south. We wanted to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.This was the anniversary of the day when the Declaration of Independence was agreed upon. It would be ratified two days later on July 4. The constitution was written and ratified 11 years later. Thomas Jefferson was the main writer of the Constitution and even though he was a slave holder, he wrote this as if all men were free. The changes before ratification were to remove all mention of free black men. Independence Hall was were the US government meet until it was later moved Washington DC.
We also walked past Betsy Ross’ house and Ben Franklin’s grave. (We chose not to pay $5 each to walk into the cemetery…)
On the way back to Jersey City, we stopped at Delorenzo’s in Trenton for a famous pizza that we had heard about. Later we found that my DIL used to come here as a child and loved it. We thought it was excellent pizza too.
We finished the day by going to Liberty Park, near our campground to get some final photos of Manhattan at night.
Connecticut
To get to Connecticut from New Jersey, we had to drive across the George Washington bridge. We had the upper deck because of our height.
We had a campsite at Sun Outdoors Resort in Mystic, CT, arriving July 3. We stayed for 9 days, our longest stay of the summer trip.
One day, we drove in to Olde Mystic to walk around some shops and I did some Christmas shopping. The next day, we went to Mystic and did some more shopping. Dave saw the bridge go up, as he and Boo sat on a bench waiting for me to shop. We ended our day at the Bridge and Brew for a refreshment.
On the 7th, we drove to Providence, RI to pick of Clayton and Jane from the airport. Let the Myra family reunion begin!
While waiting for planes to land, we found a park with a zoo. We didn’t go to the zoo but the park was really neat with “swan boats” an indoor carousel, live swans and lots of walking paths.
We took Jane and Clayton to Newport where we walked on part of the Cliff Walk. We had hoped to see some of the mansions but most were not visible from the path. Also, part of the path was closed due to hurricane damage.
We stopped in Stonington for supper at the Breakwater to watch the sunset.
The next day was the official start of the 3 day Myra Family reunion. Dave, Jane, Diane Hawk and I spent part of the afternoon wandering around Mystic. We saw the bridge go up again and I attempted to take photos in order. I’m not sure why I did not video this. The counter balance weights are huge!
Several of us had a pizza supper at Mystic Pizza, then we all went to Bryan and Martha’s house for the first full family gathering. We enjoyed good conversation and some delicious desserts from the area.
On Saturday, July 9, many of us went to the Mystic Aquarium where Bryan is Director of Exhibits. It was neat to see where he works and the great work this famous aquarium does. We did a virtual reality experience where we “swam with humpback whales”.
Dinner that evening was hosted by Bryan and Martha at the Mystic Inn where we had a delicious meal. Before the evening was over, Hans and Nettie agreed to host the next reunion in 2025. Dave and I will help them.
Sunday, July 10 was the last day of the reunion. Most of us met for a picnic at Harkness Memorial Park in Waterford, CT. This is located on Goshen Point, across Long Island Sound from the eastern end of Long Island.
The next day, Dave, Boo and I toured the Mystic Seaport Museum. We really enjoyed this, especially the Charles W Morgan, the only surviving whaling ship.
Myra Family Reunion, Mystic, CT
There are many family reunion photos scattered above this but here is a more complete “picture” of the reunion.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island
July 12 brought us to Rhode Island, to the Ginny B Campground in Foster. It was a 49 mile drive!
On Wednesday, July 13, we drove to Warren, RI to meet my friend Terri. Terri and I met playing an online game called Fish Wrangler about 15 years ago. That was a fun time, fun game and we had an awesome team. I felt like I was really friends with my team mates but especially with Terri and finally got to meet her in person because she lives in Rhode Island.
We met at the Blount Crab Shack for some good food and good conversation. I am so glad we were able to make this work out.
On Thursday, we decided to visit a beach and light house. First, we drove to Rocky Point State Park. It was really neat but no beach or place to have a picnic lunch. However, it was interesting to read about a cafe here that at one time that could seat 4000 people!
Then we drove to Beavertail Lighthouse where we had a picnic lunch overlooking the water. It was hot out but a beautiful view and we renewed our tans a little.
We rounded out the trip with a stop at a tavern on the water. We had fun watching some sailing training schools and all of the rest of the boats.
One thing I have seen a lot in Connecticut and Rhode Island is plaques on houses showing the dates they were built 1870 s and 80s. I am not sure if all of the NE is like this.
Returning to the campground, we visited the camp store and was surprised to find fresh sweet corn so supper was corn and hotdogs, followed by a camp fire. A bunny taunted Boo.
Massachusetts
On July 15 we drove to our campground about an hour from Boston. It is called Canoe River Campground in Mansfield, MA. When we first arrived, some tenters were on our site. They had set up in the wrong site. We would not have been able to back into their site plus also not sure if that site was available for our full week so they had to move. For a thank you, they left their firewood with us two days later. It was enough for three campfires.
Salem was very interesting and gruesome. In total, 20 people were killed in 1692 due to public hysteria. Most of them were hanged but one person was pressed to death.
The memorial has stone ledges on the interior path. Each one has the name and death date of the victims.
We also saw a 1600s house, still on its original foundation.
We had passed through Boston on our way to Salem. Part of the route was the Ted Williams tunnel, more that 4 1/2 miles long. It even had exits to the street above.
Our Boston day was started with the Freedom Trail walking route. This was supposed to be 2 1/2 miles long and included many of the historical sites. Both of us really enjoyed that but we drove to parts of it, that were farther away.
In the middle of the Trail was Cheers! This is the bar used for the TV show Cheers but was originally named the Bull & Finch Pub. We were told it would be a 25 minute wait but ended up being less than 5. Meanwhile, Dave went to the bar to order beers. The people sitting there were just leaving so we snagged seats at the bar. Dave had Norm’s spot!
We shared a meatball sub. It was so filling that I barely touched my second beer!
We continued looking at historical sites. We were not able to get into Paul Revere’s house, the USS Constitution or the site of the Boston Tea Party without paying entrance fees so we only drove past and loaded some images from the internet. That was disappointing. I am also including some pics of crowded streets and outdoor dining.
We finished the day at the Sam Adams brewery. We opted against a tour but had a couple of beers before heading back to the campground. That night we built our first campfire.
We spent Sunday and Monday at the campground doing some errand and updating this site.
Tuesday, July 19 is Cape Cod day. We drove to Hyannis to see the Kennedy family compound, which is in a neighborhood called Hyannis Port. Actually, Hyannis is a village within Barnstable. How confusing!
We were not able to get within several blocks of the Kennedy homes. Only residents of the area are allowed to enter. However, we did tour the JFK Museum before eating lunch on a patio at Fresh Ketch.
After lunch, we drove to the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Coastguard Beach in the National Seashore. It was fun to have beach time again because it had been a while. We had to park and take a shuttle to the beach. We did not have suits on but enjoyed sitting on the sand, soaking up sun.
A “raft” of seals floated by, horizontal to the shore and not too far from shore. I counted at least 8 seals in the raft. We saw other seals, single and in pairs playing in the water. Sometimes they came fairly close and other times played farther out in the water.
On July 20, we took a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard, an island across the Vineyard Sound from the mainland. We had to drive an hour then get on a shuttle to make the 9:30 ferry and we made it as the last cars were being loaded onto the ferry.
We decided to take buses to the farthest point on the island as our first stop which was Aquinnah at Gay Head. The cliffs here are renowned for their colors. We also shared a fish and fries lunch there. This was a 3 hour round trip so took a large part of our day.
We also walked around Oak Bluffs, looking at the shops and the “gingerbread” houses. If you like ice cream, there are shops everywhere that sell it! This was a great day but got really long. We had left Boo at the trailer at 7 AM and didn’t get back until close to 7 PM.
Our last day in Massachusetts was a whale watching cruise out of Barnstable so we had to get up pretty early again for a 9:30 cruise. We sailed at 28 knots (about 32 mph) to an area where we “might” see whales. At first it was kind of disappointing. We saw one whale that would surface about every 4 minutes. You had to be on the correct side of the boat to see it and we weren’t very lucky. Eventually the captain decided to go to another area and we hit a jackpot.
There were probably 6 male humpbacks feeding in the area. At first we saw one, then he was joined by a friend, right beside him. Eventually we saw 3 and 4 feeding together. The whales in this area, the Gulf of Maine, have a unique way of feeding. Some slap their tales to stir of the fish. They most of them create a bubble net which captures the fish. They open their huge mouths and let the fist pour in, straining out excess water. We even heard one bellow!!
This was awesome to see. At one point, two of these large animals were within about 20 feet of the end of our boat, right where Dave and I were standing so we had an awesome view.
On the way back to the campground, we detoured to Plymouth, to see the famous Plymouth Rock. We had been told this was kind of anticlimactic and it was but we were glad we stopped there. There was a little pub across the street from the rock so we stopped and struck up a conversation with a couple from Syracuse, NY. Then, we returned to the campground and had one final campfire.
