MOOCH-CAMPERS EXTRAORDINAIRE!

     We just completed our 2 month "whirlwind tour" of New England and it was a blast.  Instead of our usual scenic tours this trip was 100% focused on family and friends in the northeast.  We did a lot of moving around and it was exhausting, but well worth it.  A major focus of the trip was to catch up with the younger generation as they are buying houses and pumping out babies.  It was great to get one-on-one time with these wonderful people in their own homes.  Further, everybody had a place for us to park our rig on their driveway where we could stay for free!--a.k.a. "mooch-camping."
Whenever we visit Vermont Nancy cannot resist the opportunity
to hit the Lake Champlain beaches and collect Iberville
Shale for her jewelry projects.

     AND the really big news--our youngest daughter Acacia and her husband Adam announced that they are pregnant with a girl!!!!  We are so happy for this wonderful couple and excited about becoming grandparents.  Now...how is this going to impact on our travels???
     Our first stop was Sudbury, Mass to visit with Marie and Tom.  Nancy and Marie have been best friends since high school and it is always a joy when we get together.  Of course, when we are there a visit to Boston is always on the agenda and this time Newbury Street and the Boston Commons were the headliners.  Boston is a great city and the whole area is rich in history.  We love Boston.
Newbury Street in Boston.

Nancy and Marie at lunch in Boston.

     Next we moved on the South Kingston, Rhode Island the home of the Ocean State Waves Baseball Team and its owner Matt Finlayson, my nephew.  Upon arrival we were greeted by my brother Bill and his wife Joyce.  Bill is a 2 time winner of the Connecticut Runner of the Year Award!
      One of the potential downsides to "mooch-camping" is the 12'-6" height of our rig.  So when went to turn onto Matt's street our way was blocked by a street full of tree branches hanging  as low as 8'! No way were getting down that street.  Since it was a short street and the neighbors were very cooperative, we ended up breaking out my ladder and saw and cutting down all the obstructions as we backed down the street.  (Yes, since there was no place to turn around, we had to back our rig down Matt's street.)  The whole adventure took about an hour but were able to safely tuck into Matt's driveway and...BONUS...he had a 30 amp hook-up for our use.  Yay!
     Later in the day we took the opportunity to attend a Waves game.  The Waves are a "wood bat" summer league for college students.  The players stay with volunteer households and everything comes together for great family entertainment.  AND BTW, the most recent poll of college summer leagues rated the Waves as #1 in the country!  Way cool.

The Ocean State Waves playing
ball on a beautiful summer evening.
     Matt was generous enough to allow us to store the rig on his driveway while we visited our Connecticut family and friends.  We were able to spend a lot of time with our daughters, Bryce and Acacia as well as several days with Hazel, my mother.  It was on this trip that Acacia announced her pregnancy to us.
Nancy, Hazel and Bryce at Knapp's Landing in Stratford, CT.

Bryce and Nancy in Milford, CT.

     Moving on to Vermont we visited our niece Lisa, her husband Thomas and their wonderful daughter Tessa.  Of course, Tessa became the star of our visit, but we were really impressed with small town living in northern Vermont.  We were fortunate to visit on a Thursday night were the entire town turned out for the farmer's market.  With food vendors, local musicians and all the children playing it was a fantastic family atmosphere.  The next day Thomas took some time from his busy schedule to guide me on a hike up Worcester Mountain--a steep hike to the 3,274' summit vista of the Green Mountains.
Lisa with her daughter Tessa.

Thomas on top of Worcester Mountain.

Me at the top of Worcester Mountain.

     Now it was time to visit Joyce & Larry Space, a couple we met through RVing.  Joyce & Larry own a beautiful waterfront home on Lake Hortonia in Vermont.  Joyce and Larry are amazing RVer's as they travel the world for 9 or 10 months a year.  When in the United States they live full-time in a truck camper, but they also own a small Sprinter which they ship all over the world to travel.  They have spent a lot of time in Europe and most recently spent a few months in Morocco.  Their travel tales are amazing.
One of our favorite free camping spots while visiting the
Space's was in a field of  wildflowers.
At night the entire field was illuminated with lightening bugs
and in the morning deer would stroll by.
"The Horseshoe" was a local dancehall closed years ago.

     We lucked out with he weather while at the Space's so we had a lot of time relaxing on their waterfront.  Also, they just purchased a pontoon boat so we went on the maiden voyage were we toured the lake, had a wine and cheese party and swam in the lake's refreshing water.  We look forward to visiting this couple again.
Joyce & Larry Space with Nancy & me
on the pontoon boat.
Thanks to Joyce for the photo.

'nuff said!

     We next traveled to New Hampshire to visit our niece Meghan, her husband Alex, their daughter Payton and their son Leo.  Once again, it was more driveway camping which afforded us the opportunity to watch the children at play.  It seemed that the children's favorite playground while we were there was our rig and Leo's focus was to pretend that he was the driver.  What fun and what a wonderful family.
Payton & me hanging out in the rig.

     Next it was the big event--the Lyon family reunion at George's cabin on Oak Pond, Maine. George is Nancy's father as well as the father of Donna, Carol, Pete, and Lorri.  It was the 4th of July weekend so everybody was able to attend.  People traveled from as far as North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington.  For the evening of our lobster party we had around 35 people there!  It was 5 days of fun, games, swimming, boating, eating and partying, and yes, 2 nights of fireworks.  This was a wonderful family event and we were able to spend some quality time with every member of the family.
Lyon Family Reunion
July 4, 2017
Kudos to Carol for the photo.

     After the reunion we returned to Sudbury for a longer visit with Marie and Tom.  This gave us a more relaxed time visit, tour Boston and Rockport, and allow Nancy and Marie time to collaborate on some art projects.  It was a great place to hang out before our next big adventure...the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in Oak Hill New, York.


All photos are from Rockport, MA.

     Grey Fox is one of the top bluegrass festivals in the country.  It draws all the bluegrass headliners as well as up-and-coming stars.  It is set on a farm in the Irish Alps north of the Catskill Mountains. Gates open on a Wednesday morning in mid-July, the music starts Thursday afternoon and the festival ends on Sunday afternoon.  There is a main stage, a dance tent where the main stage performers also play, a master's tent were the top performers perform and discuss their music, a children's stage, lessons for performer's of all ages, tons of vendors, and all night long jam sessions often featuring the artists from the various stages.  Camping is at the base of a hill leading up to the main stage, so we were jammed into a spot with 10,000 of our closest bluegrass friends.  It doesn't get better than this.
     Once again we were joined by more family, including Acacia and Adam.  Pete, Nancy's brother has been attending this event for 19 years, so his daughters Meghan and her family as well Krista with her fiance Nick were there.  Although it rained for the first couple of days, there was no dampening of our spirits and the music continued unabated.  The rain's biggest impact was to turn the dirt roads into a muddy mess resulting in cars and trucks getting stuck.  Although, we love attending Grey Fox, we do not plan on being annual participants as we have way too many other things to do!
Meghan and Acacia hanging out at Grey Fox.

My beautiful niece Krista sporting the latest in
high fashion garb and makeup at Grey Fox.
Muddy it was!  This is right in front of our campsite.

A view from the main stage into the
camping area at Grey Fox.

     Our final event was a week with my cousin Robert and his wife Penny.  We met up with Rob & Penny in the Finger Lakes region of New York.  Rob & Penny are new to RVing so they picked our brain a lot about all aspects of life in a rig.  But most importantly we we able to catch up with their lives and swap memorable family stories.
Robert, Penny & Nancy at
Taughannock Falls.

Taughannock Falls

Penny & Robert braving the rapids
below Taughannock Falls.

     The Finger Lakes area took me by surprise.  I was expecting farm country with a lot of beautiful lakes.  Although my expectations were partially correct, I was completely surprised by the number of beautiful waterfalls all over the place.  We toured Taughannock Falls, the tallest falls in New York (20' taller than Niagara Falls), we visited Buttermilk Falls State Park and saw 12 very impressive falls on an easy 3/4 mile hike, and we went to Robert H. Treman State Park which featured a great swimming hole at the base of a huge waterfall.  Perhaps the best state park was in Watkins Glenn which featured 19 spectacular waterfalls along an easy 1.5 mile walk through a beautiful mountain chasm.



Some of the waterfalls in
Watkins Glen State Park.

     It sounds like Robert and Penny are planning on several RV journeys of 2 or 3 months duration, so we are hoping to see them again down-the-road.


Some of the beautiful waterfalls
in the Ithaca area.

A dinner cruise on Seneca Lake
with Robert and Penny.

CHEERS!
   

Comments

  1. Great blog entry, George! It made me feel I was there the whole summer.

    ReplyDelete

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