Casco and Bucksport, Maine

 Tomorrow starts the slow meandering trip back south.  We've been camped in Bucksport, ME for the past week, about a half hour south of Bangor, 45 minutes from Acadia National Park.  We visited this area in 2017, but it's been nice seeing it again.  We were here for what might turn out to be the hottest day of the summer, maybe 90 degrees and a little humid.  That's what we consider mild, but it was a "scorcher" for the locals.  The first week we were in Maine, we camped near Sebago Lake and visited our friends Craig and Jody, along with Barry and Barb, and Tony and Suzie.  They're a great group, though over the years they've all quit Jeeping together through the hills.  We still had a nice visit, highlighted by a road trip down to Old Orchard Beach to hear some live music and enjoy the cooler oceanside temps.  Overall, we've really enjoyed our time in Maine, have to do it again some day.  Some pics from the visit...

L to R - Tony, Suzie, Barry, Barb, Laurie, Me, Jody and Craig

Dyce Head Light House

Looks like fun

It would be great to have a little boat like this guy with all these islands to explore

Bar Harbor.  It's low tide, and you can see the sand bar that gives the harbor its name,

on the right.

Intrepid travelers, rocky viewpoint off the Acadia National Park loop road.

More rocks...

Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park

Bar Harbor from the summit of Cadillac Mountain

The Penobscot Narrows Bridge, completed in 2006 on US Highway 1.  We took the elevator

to the top of the closest spire to see the view from the observation deck.  There's also a 

coastal protection fort, Fort Knox (decommissioned before the one in Kentucky was established)

Bucksport at the top of Penobscot Narrows, and you can see Fort Knox on the point of land

to the left.  It was never used in combat, but no ship would have tried to sail past at that range.

Fort Pointe Light House

Our spot at the Bucksport/Fort Knox KOA

Concord, New Hampshire

 I'm running about a week behind on my entries.  So...we stayed a wee in central New Hampshire, just outside Concord in a little village called Contoocook.  It was a great stay.  We had a nice spot in a quiet park, and took in a few local sites while we were there.  New England is a great place to beat the summer heat and way less crowded than other areas we've been to.  Here's some pics from last week.

Riverfront dining on the Contoocook River.

The oldest covered railroad bridge still standing.  No longer on an active track, but they saved

the bridge.

Intrepid travelers at New Hampshire's only entry in the National Park system.

Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, Cornish, NH.  We bought one of those National

Park passport stamp collecting books this time around, so we've been to a few that we

missed first time around.  This mansion was purchased by the top sculptor of the Gilded Age,

Augustus Saint-Gaudens.  He created a lot of bronze sculptures, some at a studio onsite here,

many in other locations around the world.  A community of like-minded artists sprung up around

him, called the Cornish Art Colony.

Saint-Gaudens' garden.

One gigantic Thornless Honey Locust tree, planted in the front yard and allowed to take over.  

The base of the trunk is massive, maybe 8 or 10 fee across, and they removed the front steps to allow

it to grow over the years.

Standing Lincoln, one of the many bronze statues cast by Saint-Gaudens.

Catching some live music by the river in Contoocook.

Our spot at Sandy Beach campground.  We don't always get this much room and shade, pretty nice.

Central Vermont

 We scooted next door to one of our very favorite destinations last week, Lake Champagne Campground near Randolph, VT.  We've stayed here 3 or 4 times, going back to summer 2017 on our way to Newfoundland.  Here are some pics from the latest visit.

Good old spot A3 at Lake Champagne.  You get a ton of room, a great view, peace and quiet, 

all for a reasonable price.

Ottauquechee River

This was something new for us in Vermont, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.

It's a preserved mansion and grounds, dedicated to some rich folks that were champions of 

preservation.  That hill over behind us, above our heads, was clear cut when they built the mansion

in the 1880s, along with about 80% of Vermont.  They cut so much the hills were melting into the streams.  Good to see the turnaround, because the entire state is again blanketed with mature trees.

Stairway in the foyer.  Pretty grand for 1885.  It remained a private residence

until the late 1990s, but the family did a good job preserving a lot of antiques.

Front porch.

Another view of the mansion.  You can visit the grounds free of charge, really pretty.  We paid $6 to

see the inside, thank you National Park system!

Upstate New York

 I'm getting lazy, too long since the last entry.  Moving east, we stayed in 3 separate areas of New York.  First, we camped near Lake Chautauqua in the western part of the state.  It's a lovely area, and we were invited for a visit with some MacDill friends if we were passing through, so of course, we stopped!  After a few days there, we headed east to the Finger Lakes region to stay at a campground we've used a couple times before when visiting the area, Cayuga Wine Trail Campground, formerly Snedacre's.  We were there for 10 days through the 4th of July holiday.  After that, we moved on to someplace new, the Saratoga Springs area.  We'd been in the Adirondacks before, but never this particular area.  We were at Saratoga RV Park, about half way between Glen Falls and Saratoga Springs.  It was a great week, some pics from the last few weeks.

Atheneum Hotel at the Chautauqua Institution

MacDill friends Brian and Michelle

Nice waterfall hike to Taughannock Falls near Ithaca, NY

Buttermilk Falls.  Lots of folks came out during the Heat Dome, almost 100 degrees

I honestly don't remember the name of these falls, somewhere in the Finger Lakes region

I lucked into an open mic night on Seneca Lake

Seneca Lake from Wagner Vineyards

Moving on to the Saratoga Springs area, we had to visit the final residence of 

President Grant.  He was finishing his memoirs, suffering from late stage 

throat cancer, and a wealthy friend put him and his family up on

Mount McGregor in this house/hotel.  He was photographed sitting

right where I am.  The actual chair he was sitting in is inside.  We got a personal

tour of the downstairs where he lived and wrote for the final 6 weeks of his life.  His bio on 

Netflix was really good.

View from the top of Mount McGregor

The actual flower arrangements used for Grant's funeral, 

fresh cut flowers individually dipped in wax still recognizable after

140 years

Grant Cottage

Our spot at Saratoga RV Park, nice corner lot

Ohio - Put-in-Bay and Madison

 After Michigan we checked out Put-in-Bay, OH on Lake Erie.  It's a little town on a little island, not far off the coast from Toledo.  Some folks liken it to the Key West of the North.  I've never been to Martha's Vineyard, but something tells me it's more the Martha's Vineyard of the Midwest.  Very cute, plenty to see and do.  We stayed at Bass Island State Park right next door to a friend from MacDill that spends summers there as a volunteer camp host.  After three nights on South Bass Island, we headed east a few hours to check out Madison, OH (also on Lake Erie) and visit old friends Hank and Rhonda Talikka.  Some pictures from the last week.

Loaded up on the Miller Ferry to South Bass Island

Idyllic harbor at Put-in-Bay

The monument to Oliver Hazard Perry's victory over the British Lake Erie squadron during

the War of 1812

Put-in-Bay's replica of the Southernmost Bouey in Key West, FL

South Bass Light House

When we got over to the island, it was mayfly season.  They were everywhere, thousands of them

coated the motorhome

The tourist snapshot spot, at our state park

Hank and Ronda, friends we met at MacDill probably back in 2012 or so

I was invited to play guitar and sing at our campground for a bunch

of younger folks that are seasonal renters.  One of the kids, Olivia, made me

this Thank You card, telling me I was "Rilly Good"!  High praise, 

and the portrait is the spitting image