Watkins Glen, New York

W. W. Clute Memorial Campground is a pretty nice city park in Watkins Glen, NY on the south end of one of the Finger Lakes, Seneca Lake.  Its the largest lake, about thirty-eight miles long and nearly two miles wide.  Its the deepest lake in the US that is entirely within one state at a bit over 600 feet.  We were told that because of its great depth it doesn't freeze over in the winter.

Watkins Glen might be more known for its race track up a hill from the lake.  Everything is up a hill from the lake.  We found out that for a nominal fee we could get out on the race track with the dually at highway speeds."  We drove up to the gate and the attendant told us he'd take our money but that the track turns would no doubt cause the dually to skid and that we'd be pushed by the BMW car club that was on the track going at "highway speed" comparable to what I experienced in Nevada in the 60's (no speed limit.)  We chose instead to take his offer of watching the BMW car club make a few laps at no charge.

When we arrived at the stands there was an old race car in the parking lot set up so people could get in and take pictures.  There was a couple there ahead of us and the wife was squeezing through the passenger window as we got there.  Then it was our turn.

Oh...and just as the wife squeezed out of the passenger window a guy came by and showed us an easier way.

The town of Watkins Glen is touristy quaint with older buildings and nice shops about a mile from the campground.

The sidewalks have lots of plaques with many names I don't know and many that I do.

...and a nice mural.

The city dock, marina and a kind shopper volunteered to take our picture on the streets.

While we were at the dock we noticed a schooner that had been featured in the 1956 Movie "High Society" with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly.

The next day we took a two hour cruise of the lake on it.

At least the lakes and surroundings we saw look about like bathtubs carved out of the land.  Coming in and getting out involves climbing some pretty big, steep hills.  Maybe that's why there's so many waterfalls.  We saw this one on our cruise.

The next day we drove just up the road to Taughannock Falls State Park.

And we found a good winery to end the day.

Newport Vermont

We spent the month of August in Prouty Beach and Campground in Newport, Vermont.  The town is on the south end of Lake Memphremagog.  The lake is about thirty miles long with two-thirds of it being in Quebec, Canada.  The town of Newport is with a poulation of about forty-five-hundred.  As one local told me, its the hub of the very rural northern Vermont.  The campground is on a bluff overlooking the lake and the town about a miles south.

One picture of the campground from town and another of the town from near the campground.

While were were there our bicycles came up missing one morning.  I called to report this to the police and got the feeling that somehow they knew about this already.  About two hours later I got a call from them that they had recovered one and were sure they would have the other shortly.  By the time I got in the truck and drove the mile to the police station they had both of them.  As I walked into the office there was a window where I had to ring a bell to get waited on and was told to wait for an officer to come out and get me.  While I was waiting two young ladies came in and rang the bell while cussing about the police arresting someone and taking her bicycle from her.  I stood in the corner trying to be inconspicuous while listening to this.  Finally an officer came out and took me back to make a statement while the other officer (only two on this shift) fended off the women.  The officer showed me a long scratch on his arm where the thief had attacked him when he was arresting him and I found out that Pat's bike had been sold to the women for $15 by the thief.

The reason they knew where the bikes were is that the policeman on the night shift saw them riding the bikes at about 4am that morning and, thinking that a bit strange, followed them to see where they landed.  The police were literally waiting for my call.  We got our bikes back.

Lake Willoughby south of Newport is one of the prettier lakes we've seen.

And Lake Memphremagog is very nice.

We got in the kayaks and paddled down the Clyde River until it became too shallow and came back out into Lake Memphremagag.

 Pat was looking for things to see and found a Wild Flower Farm about a two hour drive south through some very scenic country.  So we got up one morning and drove down.

While I was at the police station our neighbor, Murry, took Pat out on his golf cart to look for the bicycles and they ran out of gas.  His wife, Francine, went and got him some gas and told us about their first date when he picked her up in a dump truck.

On September 1st we moved to Robert Moses State Park near Massena, NY where we visited the Eisenhower Lock.  We were fortunate that a large tanker was going through the lock when we got there.   All we could see was piloting area when we got there.

I don't remember how much the water came up but the after pictures give you some perspective.

Clayton had a model train show.  We haven't seen model trains in years.

In years past we've stayed at Wellesley Island State Park on the St. Lawrence River, but our new rig is too big for there so we stayed at Merry Knoll Campground in Clayton, NY.

We've been in this area a few times before and its very nice, but we don't envision coming back as we've about done it all here.  On to our next adventure.