We drove from Ellsworth, ME to Plymouth, MA on September 11. Pretty uneventful except for hitting Boston traffic. We killed a little time with a stop at Trader Joe’s and Claire getting her hair cut! We finally made it to Plymouth that evening.
Friday morning we woke early to go check out Plymouth Rock. Then we did some school work in a Walmart parking lot before heading to the KOA in Middleborough.
The next morning we took the commuter train into Boston to walk the Freedom Trail. Highlights included coffee at Ogawa (thanks to Amelia for the recommendation), Faneuil Hall, the Holocaust Memorial, Bunker Hill and the presentation there, and the U.S.S. Constitution. We caught the commuter train back and picked up pizza on the way back to the campground.
After making pancakes the next morning we drove down to Bristol, Rhode Island. This was one of the places Matt has really enjoyed working and was excited for showing us around. We were graciously hosted by a guy (Rob) that Matt had worked with and his family. It was an enjoyable afternoon/evening making new friends.
The next morning we walked to a couple parks on the ocean to do school and got coffee/steamers. From there we did a little more exploring before getting a thorough tour of the factory from Rob. Quite an impressive operation and a wonderful learning experience.
From there we drove to New Haven, CT to get thin, New Haven crust, mashed potato pizza. City logistics can get complicated with the camper, but after trying to figure out how to make it work, Matt said we should just go for it – order the pizza and he’ll drive the van and camper through downtown New Haven to pick it up! The bouncer at the pizza place laughed as I hopped out of the van to pick up the pizza, but it went better than expected and the pizza was fabulous!
The next day after getting some school done, we had plans to go back into New Haven for hamburgers at Louis’ Lunch. This is the birthplace of the hamburger, and Reece and I had been talking about making this happen for months. Check out their history here (https://louislunch.com/history/). Matt dropped us off a few blocks away and then unfortunately ended up driving the camper through the Yale campus. He was stressed out, but Claire, Reece, and I just waited patiently for our food to be made in the original ‘machines’ they used. A fun experience for us – sorry Matt!
From there we continued on to Kittatinny Campground in Milford, PA where we could look across the Delaware River to New Jersey, and visit our friends, the Mortensons, in Port Jervis, NY. We enjoyed dinner and their company two nights in a row before leaving our camper with Dan’s parents and heading upstate with just the van.
The drive was beautiful, and the scenic route we took made us glad we did not have the camper. We stayed with my Aunt Lise (my mom’s cousin) in Amsterdam, NY. What a lovely visit! We toured Old Fort Johnson and the Erie Canal, were treated to lunch by Aunt Debby at a fun roadside café and then went apple picking and through a corn maze at Sand Flats Orchard. The owners lived in Colorado Springs for a number of years. Such fun!
The next day were joined by Michael, Lise’s husband, and went up to Lake George, NY and saw a re-enactment of the Battle of Lake George. Very impressive and informative. It was a gorgeous fall day!
Thankful to Aunt Lise for such a relaxing and fun time with good food (stuffed shells and meatballs, miso eggplant, potstickers, the sushi name I can’t pronounce, Stewart’s ice cream, and blueberry muffins), good conversation, and lots of family history! Five stars for Camp Coolidge (aka Aunt Lise’s house)!
From there, we took advantage of being camper-less and detoured to Vermont (since we were close and hadn’t visited that state yet) to do an overnight backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. It was nice to get out in the woods, and the fall colors were really starting to pop!
During the middle of the night we heard a loud screech/scream. We thought it was a screech owl, but with the help of Dan’s dad, we figured out it was probably a fox! If you’re interested to know what the fox says – listen to this or this – you’re welcome.
We got help from Dan’s dad, because we went back to their house to pick up the camper after backpacking in Vermont. That was also a beautiful drive on some smaller roads with the fall colors really starting to come in. We ended up making a short detour to see FDR’s home in Hyde Park, NY. We really only saw the grounds because we were there late in the day and home tours were no longer running. Beautiful nonetheless.
Dan’s parents were gracious enough to let us stay on their property that evening and even gave us a wonderful tour of the wood shop and garden and breakfast the next morning. Super grateful for the generosity of ‘strangers’ who are now ‘friends’.
From there we travelled more narrow roads (now with the camper) through the Delaware River Gap Recreation Area (PA side) down to our friends’ house a little outside Philadelphia. It was wonderful to see Ryan and Claudia and their girls and their dogs. Their property (including their garden, treehouse, and fabulous Halloween decorations – of course) is amazing, and we’re so grateful that we get to spend some time with them and they let us crash and leave the camper there.
We did end up having to leave the next day to travel to the Pittsburgh area where Matt has several days of work. I’m writing this from a hotel room on a rainy day near Pittsburgh. Don’t worry, we’ll go back to Ryan and Claudia’s and see them more and even get to camp with them!
The new element of leaving the camper is freeing, but packing and unpacking adds to the mental load. Learning new things!
Still enjoying the road and making it work! Matt has several work jobs lined up, so that’s great!
(Once again – pictures coming eventually. After I catch up on all the others! )
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