Lake Placid, New York

August 21 to 24, 2020

This was a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) park in Wilmington, NY and you could tell. It is a little more expensive, but everything you need is there for you. 

 

 

The ride there through the Adirondacks was amazing - the road followed the Ausable River most of the way and though the water was very low, it was mesmerizing to see the twists and turns that the flowing water took carving through the ancient rocks and ledges. The sky was azure blue with occasional puffs of white fluffy clouds. Green jagged peaks of the Adirondack mountains were outlined distinctly against the sky with interruptions of brown and gray where the dirt and stone prevailed. 

 

 

 

 

 

Rich's daughter, Nora, accompanied us on this trip. She grew up as a true camper and goes whenever the opportunity presents itself. She tented on our site and was set up in no time with all of the luxuries she felt necessary. The good news is she is gifted when deciding on the menu for the 4 days. She had her Coleman stove and Rich had his propane grill - you didn't need anymore than the food to prepare. Did I mention that Rich is a chef as well? The food is always top notch when this family gets together. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As mentioned before, I was prepared with the hammocks. Lesson learned that you have to mention the need for trees when you reserve your site. There were two trees spaced perfectly for one of the hammocks. We walked the grounds which had cabins as well as sites for tents and RV's. There were so many things you could do if you chose to. 

 

 

 

 We took a day to drive through Lake Placid and north to Paul Smith's College which is Rich's alma mater. He had done his internship at Hotel Saranac and was happy to visit the area after 50 years and see that not much had changed. It was nice to hear him reminisce and tell the stories of how he and Nora's mom managed to see each other while going to different colleges. She was at Potsdam State University which was 1 hour from Paul Smiths. 

 

We only got out of the car for a couple of brief stops at grocery stores so we were not exposing ourselves to the Covid world around us. Again, the traffic was heavy in town with people walking around in the bright warm sun. 

Newport, RI

July 30 to August 2, 2020                                                         Listen

Our maiden voyage together was to Newport, RI. The big attraction for Rich was clam chowder he had at the Black Pearl back in the 70's. It had a lot of dill in it to his liking.  So we had reservations for Saturday night, our 2nd day there. All else was left to chance which seems to be the way to roll these days.

With a 25 foot Class C Jayco camper, it can be tricky getting a parking place in a very crowded downtown area. We were surprised at the traffic and number of people walking around in this pandemic - 90% with masks. Finally we found two empty spaces in a row by the wharf, but it was hard to tell if we would be fined since the meter said it did not accept coins or credit cards. The message was written on a piece of scrap paper by a previous disgruntled customer. We took our chances but it was 3:40 and we called the Black Pearl to see if we could get in earlier at 4pm. They said yes, so we booked it and speed walked there arriving just in time. We had a great meal - the chowder didn't have dill in it anymore, but was still delicious. 

 

 

 

We had driven the 10 mile route around on Friday to see the mansions from a distance and the beaches as driving by. It became clear that we needed to tow a smaller vehicle to do excursions. Stay tuned to hear more about that...

We spent most of our time at the camp ground watching other campers and their patterns. Kids, dogs and hammocks were plentiful so I knew I would be purchasing two hammocks for the next trip. Done. Ready for the next trip scheduled for Lake Placid.