Pennsylvania & Ohio

12 Sept – It rained heavily in the night and continued raining this morning as we headed thru the multi laned roads leading thru Buffalo south. This makes driving these roads harder as it is hard to see the lane markings. Eventually we left the busy main roads and entered a hilly wooded area and the Allegany State Park. Eventually we found the camping area and sat tight as it rained or drizzled all day.

13 Sept – It was really cold last night and we had the heater on. It is hard to imagine that only 4 days ago it was over 33C and we had the aircon on. That’s what it’s like at this time of the year however. It had stopped raining so we biked a 3 ½ mile sealed cycleway around a small lake over a covered bridge and passed “Red House”, an old Tudor style building in this park. We drove on thru the Allegany State Park and at some stage, not obvious, crossed the New York/Pennsylvania border.

We went thru some pretty poor towns in Pennsylvania before driving back into the Alleghany forest and eventually found a forest park for the night. The rain had cleared and we sat outside under grey skies for a couple of hours. Cold again in the night!

14 Sept – We have revisited our route this morning so that we can take in the largest Amish settlement in the USA in a few days in Ohio. We zigzagged our way thru northern Pennsylvania in lovely sunshine and camped at a State park at Pymatuning Lake right on the lake shore. We enjoyed sitting in the sun and the view. The sun set right over the lake.

15 Sept – It was only a short drive to the Pennsylvania/Ohio border. We were in Ohio, in early June, for one night down the south when we went to the Serpent Mound.  I have decided to have the exhaust pipe professional fixed after the tyre incident outside Montreal and so we headed to a garage about 30 miles away. We waited for 1 ½ hour for them to start the job which took about 30 minutes. They charged us only $36US! We stopped at a State Park with the unfortunate name of Mosquito Lake. A nice place despite the name! 

16 Sept – We are on a detour west into Ohio to visit a National Park in the Cuyahoga Valley which follows the Erie Canal between Akron and Cleveland. Tomorrow we will cycle the tow path that follows the canal for 22 miles. We are staying close to the Park in a community camping area which is beautiful. We will stay 2 nights here. We got petrol today for $1.96/gallon. First time ever for us under $2.00.

17 Sept – We drove 10 miles to the train station at the south end of the Erie Canal Tow Path bike trail. There is a scenic train that runs the length of the Cuyahoga Valley which we flagged down and loaded our bikes onto. It was $3 each for a 1 hour ride to the north end of the trail. Our plan is to bike back. The train trip was thru forest and beside the Cuyahoga River but not particularly scenic. At the north end we set off on the Tow Path Trail. The Erie Canal was built in the 1820s and connected Lake Erie and the cities to the south.

It had many locks as the canal climbs going south. The Canal lasted until the railway was built in the 1860s. The tow path was for the horses that pulled the barges along the canal. We stopped at various points where the locks were and where there was a museum. It was a great ride in the sun and shade and quite hot around 30C. The 34km ride took us 2 ¾ hours. Back at the community camp we had a chat with a lovely couple from Florida.

18 Sept – Thru the major roads of Akron and S.E into Amish country.

We stopped at the Yoder’s Amish Farm. We took the deluxe tour for $11 each which included a guided tour of the two houses, the barn, the school house and a gig ride. The guide was very good and was related to the owners of the farm. She explained the different branches of the Amish faith and the first house belonged to the strictest branch. There is no electricity or running water. The second house was a little more “normal” but still did not have electricity. Their clothing was fascinating. Amish ladies do not even have buttons on their clothes as it is thought to be too fancy! There are very strict rules as to the style and colour of the clothes for men, women and

children for various occasions. Amish do not like having their photo taken as it is seen to be being too proud. The children’s dolls do not even have faces as it is thought to be a “graven image”. There are no Amish churches as Sunday services (lasting 3 ½ hrs) are held in a family home. The ride on the horse drawn gig (it was actually a surrey) was great. This is the normal means of transport for the Amish as they do not drive cars.

We are camped at Amish Country Campsite at Winesburg for the night. Free firewood so we will have a camp fire tonight.

 

19 Sept – We drove on thru the beautiful Amish countryside to the next town of Berlin.

On the way we passed many horse and gigs going to shop in this town. There are some strange sites. A team of horses towing a modern round hay baler would be up there however. After finding a park we looked thru several of the shops including an Amish quilting shop where Val was in seventh heaven. We are now heading S.E. towards the Ohio River. Our overnight camp was a surprise. We saw a sign on a country road and expected to find a small camp in the woods but instead it was a huge camp with many permanent trailers and 5^th wheelers. Most of them were packed up for the winter.  It rained later in the afternoon and is now much cooler. Our detour thru Ohio to ride the Guyahoga Valley Tow Path and experience the Amish lifestyle has been well worth it.

20 Sept – Only a short drive of 65 miles but we did it in three states. We set off S.E thru Ohio, crossed the Ohio River into West Virginia thru some very poor hillbilly towns and into Pennsylvania where we have camped for the night in a very small State park. After lunch we walked a great 2 mile trail thru the woods. The true “fall” colours are still not at their best yet.

21 Sept – We drove east thru Pennsylvania’s small towns and coal mining area under cloudy skies and cool temperatures. We have bypassed Pittsburgh which is north of here. Our overnight stop was at Ohiopyle State Park. In the afternoon we followed a steep track down to the town of Ohiopyle and got some great information from the tourist centre. There is a cycleway here and one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s (famous architect) houses close by so we have decided to stay another night. We trudged back up the track just before it started to drizzle.

22 Sept – A nice sunny morning so we drove back thru the town and on to the Frank Lloyd Wright house. It is called “Fallingwater” and is thought to be one of his best designs. The brief for the house was that it should feature the waterfall but instead of building it with a view of the falls he sited it at the top with the water flowing under the house. It is unbelievably beautiful, more remarkable that it was designed in 1935 and completed in 1939. Very futuristic. 

Back in the town and we cycled south on the Great Allegheny Passage. This cycleway runs from Pittsburgh in the north to Washington DC a distance of 320 miles. It is on an old railway track following the Youghiogheny River. We only cycled 9 miles ate our lunch watch people launch their canoes and then returned. A nice flat ride thru the forest with great views of the river. Back at our camp we changed sites for more sun.

23 Sept – Another three state day! We started in Pennsylvania, crossed into the “panhandle” of Maryland and ended up in West Virginia. The drive was thru beautiful countryside, a mixture of farming and forest. The “fall” colours are now on full display. We are camped at the Blackwater Falls State Park.

We spent some time researching and booking a scenic steam railway trip which we do in two days time. It was a short walk to the Blackwater Falls which were very pretty. Hopefully we will publish this blog tomorrow.

Quebec City, Vermont & Upstate New York

29 August – We spent some time planning the next couple of weeks before catching the shuttle into Quebec City. It took us thru the old city walls and into the old town. This is one of Canada’s oldest cities established in the 17^th century and the original parts are on a series of terraces leading down via some steep streets to the port on the St Lawrence Seaway. Most of the cobbled stoned streets are pedestrian only with great buildings all around now mainly bars, restaurants, arts galleries and clothing boutiques.

We wandered around really enjoying the atmosphere and the sights. Hunger took us into a French café where we had typical French lunch. We stopped to listen to a group singing French songs at a small square and walked up to the citadel where the last battle between the French and English was fought. After a glass of wine we caught the shuttle back to our camp. With dodgy internet we managed to skype both girls.

30 August – We crossed thru the city and over the St Lawrence Seaway into southern Quebec. This is the furthest east we will be this year and we are now headed S.W. back towards the USA border. The villages are still extremely “French”, each having a huge catholic church with high silver coloured spires. We stopped for the night at a Canadian National Park at Frontenac. We are not very impressed as the camp site was expensive, down a long gravel road, and on a not very impressive lake. This changes our plans and we will stay in a private camp tomorrow night!!

31 August – Back out the gravel road and on thru the towns of Sherbrooke and Magog where we found a nice private camp with power and internet so we booked a State Park camp in New York State for labour weekend. We even managed to skype Linley and Ron. This is our last day in Canada this year.

1 Sept – It was 15 miles to the USA/Canada border and we crossed into the state of Vermont. The agriculture lady at the border searched our fridge and took one spring onion and made me cut our tomatoes in half. (God knows why!) After filling up with petrol (much cheaper than in Canada) we drove south thru deciduous forest into the Groton Forest where we stopped at the Branbury State Park. Back to the US cheap state parks again. The New England tree colours of fall are just starting to show, red and gold.

We are a couple of weeks early for them at their best though. We had a swim in the lake and in the evening Andrew and Sienna ( a couple holidaying from just up the road) invited us to join their camp fire.

2 Sept – We had run our food stocks down so we had a huge shop at a Wal-Mart before heading into the Green Mountains of Vermont. Another great State Park in a botanical gardens-like setting and another great swimming beach. It’s still warm - around 32C.

3 Sept – We drove a short distance to a trail to the Falls of Lana. It was only a 1 ½ mile hike but uphill. It gave my back a bit of a try out. It is still a bit sore! The drive to the Vermont/New York State border was short but we stayed on the Vermont side of the large Champlain Lake. No swimming today as the lake is a bit weedy. Vermont is beautiful and we will visit the southern part next year.

4 Sept – Over the bridge and into New York State where we followed Lake Champlain before turning away from the lake and into the Adirondack Park. This is a huge area with many lakes and low mountains. It is very like the Muskoka area in Canada except that the holiday “cottages” are called “cabins” here. The State Park Camp we had booked for Labour Weekend was at Lake Raquette and we had a beaut site, level with a mixture of sun and shade. We even had a view of the lake. As most people had not arrived yet I gave us both a haircut. The beach was great, and the water was shallow but very warm. There was even a life guard on duty. Hard to imagine how you could drown though.

5 Sept – The weather is still perfect. We can not remember when we last saw rain or it was cool. We spent the morning cleaning everything in sight - toilet, shower, floors, cab, dashboard etc. We walked up to the office to buy firewood but were disappointed to find that at this camp there was none for sale. Never mind it only makes everything smell of smoke! The afternoon was spent on the beach swimming and sunbathing and sitting the shade. The camp is still filling up.

6 Sept – In the morning we went for a walk thru the camp, over the highway and up a trail to a waterfall with very little water in it. Another beautiful day but for some strange reason they closed the beach, the life guard disappeared and they even removed the swimming enclosure buoys. No seemed to mind and there were far more people swimming than yesterday, us included.

7 Sept – This is Labour Day here and most people packed up early and drove home. School starts tomorrow. We relaxed and waited for most people to go before heading off. Fortunately there is a dump station at the next camp as I reckon there was 1 ½ hours worth of campers and trailers lined up to dump here. We enjoyed another great drive thru the forests (colours getting better) and lakes of the Adirondacks to our next camp. It had been full but has emptied out. We had a nice site overlooking the lake and a boat ramp which kept us entertained. If anything it is getting hotter! Fortunately there was another swimming beach where we cooled off.

8 Sept – It was a long drive south and west today, out of the Adirondack Park and on thru rolling country and many towns to our camp in the Finger Lakes area at another State Park. It is very hot and humid but the lake here is weedy so we sat in the shade and read. This is the first time we have had power for ages so we have the aircon going in “Ernie”. Later in the day, when it was a little cooler, we found the swimming beach and had a swim much against New York State regulations!

 

9 Sept – A drive of 65 miles south and west to Letchworth State Park There is a gorge here that a camper told us not to miss. As we were checking in the skies opened and we had 20 minutes of torrential rain. We drove to a lookout and had lunch waiting for the rain to clear before walking a trail passed the best views of the gorge and the waterfalls. This gorge is called the ‘Grand Canyon of the east’ and is very pretty but not in comparison with the real Grand Canyon. Still well worth the stop.

10 Sept – It was a short drive, with a stop for supplies, to a camp near the city of Buffalo from where we will visit the Niagara Falls tomorrow. We have seen the falls from the Canadian side and are looking forward to the view from the USA side. We crossed the busy road to a restaurant where we had dinner.

11 Sept – A 10 mile drive to the Niagara Falls but we had trouble finding parking as there were many road works confusing our GPS. Eventually we parked in the Aquarium carpark which had been the suggestion of a couple we spoke to two nights ago. It was a bit of a walk along the gorge edge to the main viewing points on the USA side of the falls. The weather was perfect and there were not too many tourists around. From the observation gallery we had a great view of both the USA Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. A lift took us down to the bottom of the USA Falls where you can really appreciate the power and the roar of the water.

Back up the top we walked the rim for a close up view of the USA Falls. We when walked onto Goat Island and Luna Island for more spectacular views over the edge of both the USA Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. Unfortunately they are working on the viewing point for the Horseshoe Falls so our view was not as good. We then retraced our steps back to the carpark and “Ernie”. We must have walked about 5 miles. Viewing the Niagara Falls (the term given to the three waterfalls) from the USA was quite different from the one we had seen from the Canadian side a few years ago. On the USA side you get closer to the edge at the top but you are viewing the falls from side on where as on the Canadian side you look straight into them. Most people carry their passports with them and go to both areas. Great internet at this camp so we will publish this blog and skype our girls.