New Jersey, New York & Connecticut

6 July –

We were now travelling up the length of New Jersey for three days and will be staying with Don and Sue Dinsmore at their private camp in the Harriman State Park in New York State, arriving on Friday. We met them when we were camping in Illinois last year and have kept in touch. There are some very populace bits on this trip which we will try and avoid! The first part was on country roads between Philadelphia on our left and Atlanta City on our right. We stayed the night at a private camp where we enjoyed a great swimming pool. It was very humid and we have the aircon running. The Internet was great and we were able to publish the last blog.

7 July –

Back on the road again thru some nice little towns and then into some busy suburbs. We now have Trenton (the State Capital) on our left and the City of New York on our right. At one stage we drove right thru the Princeton University Campus with some beautiful stone buildings. It reminded us of Otago Uni. There were no state parks in these areas so again we stayed in a private camp. Val did a huge wash and we passed the time in yet another great pool. It clouded over and thunder and rain were forecast but it never happened.

8 July –

We drove into Newton and shopped. The Wal-Mart was the type that had no meat or veg so we had to find another place which had what we wanted, with a liquor shop next door. This delayed us going into the Harriman State park where Sue and Don were waiting  for us. The road took us over a hilly area where there were some ski fields before dropping into a valley where the camp was. We followed a narrow road thru the camp to Sue and Don’s “tent” and parked on a nice flat area with power and water from their “tent”. These camps are unique to us. They are an area (100 acres for this camp) which are leased from the State Park to a group, who make the rules, maintain the area, and administer the finances. There are 20 of these camps in this State Park.

This camp has 50 residences which are either cabins (solid roofs) or “tents”. The “tents” have solid walls and all the facilities of a cabin (kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms) but have a canvas roof. Most dwellings have no toilet but share a common “John”. Families move in for the summer and either are related or are friends. The tents/cabins are handed down thru the generations and rarely come up for sale. We went to another cabin (Sue’s sister Flo) for drinks and met many of the family. We sat outside and just as we came back to Sue and Don’s camp the rain set in.

9 July –

After enjoying a pancake breakfast fund raiser in the communal dining room we explored the camp which is set on rocky outcrops and has a small lake with a swimming beach.  Sue and Don took us for a drive to the Hudson River where we walked across an old railway bridge, now converted to a foot bridge, which is the longest in the world at 1.3 miles. Back in the car and we drove across the Hudson River on the car bridge for views of the river and West Point military academy. After an ice-cream in one of the many villages we returned to camp where I made chicken burgers for dinner. Sue’s sister’s granddaughter, Katie, was taking her cousin into New York tomorrow and we have been invited to join in on the tour.

10 July –

Katie picked us up at 8:00am and drove us to the railway station where we caught the train into Penn Station, New York. The trip took about 1 hour with one change of trains. Katie works in the city and she gave us a great tour starting in Time Square, then a lift ride to the top of the Rockefeller Centre with great views of the whole of Manhattan Island.

We then caught the subway to Central Park and a food truck lunch before wandering the pathways in this great park. We saw the historic carousel, the boat pond and the Belvedere Castle. We came out of Central Park and caught a cab to an ice-cream shop which specialises in donut and ice-cream sandwiches. Too much for us so we settled for an ice-cream. We walked it off back to Penn Station and the return train/car ride back to the camp. It was hard to imagine that the camp feels so isolated but is only 1 hour from N.Y. More of the family arrived for a pulled pork taco dinner and we all sat around a camp fire on the patio.

11 July –

After some route planning for the next few weeks, Val and I set off for a hike to a nearby lake and then up Tom Jones Mountain. It was a good blow out of about 5 miles. Back at camp we swam in the lake which was very warm. We visited a couple who had been to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (Canada). They gave us some good tips for this part of our trip. After dinner Val and Sue packed bags for a children’s camp while Don and I relaxed. We could get used to this “camp” life!

12 July –

Don and I went down to the camp garage where we found a bench grinder. “Ernie” has been running with one of his fancy wheel trims off for the last month. I ground 1/8” off two of the wheel nuts and refitted the wheel trim. Great job! Val, Sue and I planted some citronella trees and ferns in the “tent” front garden and along with some rocks and bark chips. The end result looked great. There is a wedding here in 2 weeks’ time so everything is being tidied up. After lunch we retired to the beach for a well-earned swim and a read. The bride, Jessie (Sue’s granddaughter) and the groom, Eugene  arrived from Missouri.

I cooked a huge spag bol for dinner and then we lit a camp fire with many others arriving. The camp bear warning was sounded. The bear wandered thru the beach barbeque causing some concern. We did not see the bear in our part of the camp. Shortly after a huge bang and a flash. It turned out than a tree had fallen over the power wires so the whole camp was without power. After all that excitement everyone went off to dark camp sites and we just turned on our 12v lights as usual!

13 July –

The power was restored some time in the night. Jessie and Eugene found a snake skin in their bedroom which Jessie was not too keen on!  After hugs and farewells we left the camp. It had been a great experience! Back on the road and across the Hudson River and the New York/Connecticut border. We stopped for the night at a State Park near Sandy Hook, the scene of a mass shooting at an elementary school last year.  We were overlooking a river where many boats roared up and down.

14 July –

It rained in the night and as we only had a short drive we had a late start and “egg in the hole” for breakfast (more broken Wal-Mart eggs). We drove down to the Connecticut coast to a huge State Park at Hammonasset Beach.  It was only a short walk to the beach which is on Long Island Sound. We could see Long Island in the distance. The water was warmer than at some beaches further south. During a bike ride around the park the thunder roared so we returned back to “Ernie”. The storm bypassed us however.

15 July –

Another Friday so we were booked into a camp a little further east and inland. On the way we stopped at a Submarine Museum on the Thames River. There were examples of all the subs from old to new with their armourments including the titan missiles. The best bit was the Nautilus which we had a tour thru. This was the first nuclear sub famous as it went under the North Pole. All very interesting. We continued on to a small private camp on a grass site (quite unusual).  In the evening we had a brief electrical storm. This camp had good internet so we were able to skype the kids and my sister.

16 July –

 We met Sue and Don’s friends here as they have a permanent caravan on site. They had a pair of kayaks and we paddled for about an hour on the Quinebaug River. It was a beautiful trip with some lovely houses on the river banks. It is a special weekend in this camp and there was a Model T giving hay rides. There is also a Kebab Dinner which we have tickets for and breakfast tomorrow.