NEW YORK CITY

While staying at the USMA RV park at West Point, NY, we just had to get into see New York City! We took a train that was close to the base and arrived at Grand Central Station, NY to start our journey. We walked to Time Square, then took a Greyline Bus tour of the city on top of a double decker bus! Later in the day, we took a short trip over to see the Statute of Liberty. Unfortunately, by the time we got over there, Ellis Island was closed for the day. We will be back sometime this fall for the tour and as we found out, there is SO MUCH to see and do in New York! We will be leaving NY and heading for several days in the Amish countryside near Elizabethtown, PA.

Westfield, NY

We had the opportunity to stop and stay 2 days at Westfield, NY. This was our stop in order to see the area here as well as visit Niagara Falls. It was a very nice KOA with a pool for the kids and a nice fire pit to burn all the NY wood I could find. When we left, we were going to visit Jamestown, NY, the birthplace of Lucille Ball. However, due to a 3 on 3 basketball tourney, I decided not to take Howe (house on wheels) near any basketball courts. We did stop in the city park in Westfield as they were having a farmers market. Many Amish folks were there and we had the opportunity to buy some homemade bread, real maple syrup, jelly, fudge, strawberries for Lindsay and a homemade lazy susan for our dining room table. We are off now to stay one night at Watkins Glen, NY, then off to a military RV park near West Point.

Niagara Falls

We stayed at a KOA site somewhat close to Niagara Falls, so we decided to stay an extra day to see the sites. The weather was in the 80's and clear, perfect for us to get wet and wild near the falls! After seeing an IMAX show about Niagara Falls, we took a trolley to grab a ride on the "Maid of the Mist". Lindsay wasn't too sure why we would go up to a large falls to get wet, but since there were 50 other wet people with her at the time, she was okay with it. If that wasn't enough, we took another wet trip up the side of the falls and stood on an overlook called "Hurricane Ridge" (there is a reason for that name). We all got wet a 2nd time, even though they give you the gay rain gear. I folded mine up later for a trash bag for the truck. Since we were wet at this point, we might as well go visit the aquarium. We managed to walk around for 45 minutes before they closed, but did get to see a neat Sea Lion show before they closed.

Oh, I do have some sad news to report. My truck has caused the death of a rather slow moving Malard Duck, who decided to cross in front of my vehicle (24,876 pounds) moving at 65 MPH. All we saw was beak, feathers and heard his last "squeak" as he hit my trucks grill. Oh well....

A visit to Laura Wildes Museum

The Fenn girls and 1 male arrived in Walnut Grove, MN pronounced (minnesoda)! Kelly has spent so many years reading these books to our girls, she asked me after baking an apple pie, if I would be so kind to stop at the Wilder museum. Me, being of sound mind (and realizing who is really in charge) said, "that sounds great!". While the girls looked at all the girly stuff, I managed to find an old barn with old tools, old nails, old picture frames and old stuff..we all did have fun and the girls managed to buy some "new" stuff at the store. While we were in the area, we visited Russell, MN as well where Kelly's dad, Noel, went to high school.