Trip Out East

In late June through early July, we and another family went on a 13 day trip out east with our pop-up camper. It was a great time where we saw many wonderful sites and brought back fond memories of our travels.

After driving through Canada, we stopped at a state park on Lake Ontario, about 25 miles north of Niagara Falls. We spent one full day in Niagara and did some touristy things including a bus tour. The bus tour took us to a hydro-electric power plant downstream from the falls, we walked out on the observation deck, went on the Maid of the Mist boat tour and did the Cave of the Winds tour where we walked to the base of the bridal falls, which is on the American side of the falls. We were all in awe of the power of the falls and the amount of water that goes over the falls. Did you know they can control the amount of water that goes over the falls?

As we headed east, we really enjoyed going through mountains on our way to Maine. We stopped several times to look out at the mountains and valleys.

After stopping off at a couple campgrounds as we headed east, we finally made it to our primary destination point; Acadia National Park in Maine. We spent 5 nights in Acadia and easily could have stayed 5 more. We went on a tour of the east side of the park along the Atlantic shore, stopping several times to take pictures. We drove up Mount Cadillac which is 1,532 feet high and is the highest point on the North Atlantic seaboard. Both families went hiking up one of the larger mountains where we saw some breathtaking views of the mountains, valleys and the southern part of the island. The following day, all the boys went for a hike up and down a couple of the more challenging mountains near our campground. We also spent some time at two beaches; one on an inland lake between two mountains and one on the Atlantic ocean (the boys didn't spend too much time in the water... brrrrrr).

During our time at Acadia NP, we enjoyed fresh seafood 3 of the five nights. We boiled fresh lobster two of the nights and made a fisherman's stew with swordfish, clams, muscles and shrimp another night.

After Acadia, we went to Harriman State Park in New York. We left our campers in the park and took a train into New York City (Manhattan). Again, we did the touristy thing of going on a double decker bus tour, but it was very interesting. We were able to see ground zero, the Brooklyn Bridge, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (through the fog), Times Square, the Flatiron Building, the Empire State Building and many other buildings. We stayed overnight in the city and after dinner we went up the observation deck of the Empire State Building and looked over the city at night time; very cool! The following day, before we took the train back to Harrisburg, we went for a walk through the south end of Central Park.

We had a great time on the trip and the kids of the two families had a blast playing with each other. The boys (and Patti) did a great job of riding in the car as it typically was a 6-8 hour car ride to each destination each travel day.

We can't wait to go on another trip... maybe west next time????