Thursday we left of Burlington, VT. We found a nice campground right on Lake Champlain that had great access to bike paths that went for miles. That evening we got our bikes out and rode into town which was only a couple miles away. We found a great spot in town that was closed off to car traffic with a bunch of bars, restaurants and shops. We sat and listened to some music for a bit then had a great…
We left Tuesday for Cooperstown, NY and the baseball Hall of Fame. This was someplace we both have wanted to see for years and finally made it. We found a nice KOA campground near the Hall of Fame and just relaxed the first night there. Day 2 we headed for the Hall of Fame. We both found it somewhat amusing they chose this location since it’s in the middle of nowhere. Supposedly baseball was founded here in the early 1800s…
Sunday we went out for some wine tastings. We started at a winery that looked like it had a good lunch. We got a cheeseboard and grilled cheese sandwich along with a wine tasting. The food was amazing. We continued on to three more wineries ending with two that both had live music playing. It was a great day and, of course, we ended up taking home many bottles of wine. Click on the picture above for more pictures.
During Jamie’s research she came across an event held every year in Buffalo called Porchfest. A bunch of people offer the use of their front porches and a bunch of bands come out and play from those porches. There were 52 bands playing across an area about 2 miles by 1 mile. It was about 20 minutes away from our campground so we loaded the bikes onto the Jeep and rode our bikes around the area all day. We saw…
And, of course, Friday it was on to more sightseeing. We spent the day seeing Niagara Falls and doing all the touristy things there. We had both been to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side but this was our first time on the NY side. I had always thought the Canadian side was supposed to be much better but we were pleasantly surprised. The NY side in my mind is more beautiful with parks and trails. What I didn’t know…
Wednesday we drove to Michigan to open Jamie’s family cottage and get it ready for summer use. We stopped at her mom’s house for a couple of nights to visit and get all the items that are needed at the cottage then spent Friday to Monday at the cottage getting it together. Went to Ashley and Brent’s on the way home for a night to visit and see our little grandson, Arden, then returned to Cleveland on Tuesday. Thursday we…
Tuesday we went to a Cleveland Indians game. We had fantastic seats right abeam first base about 10 rows up. A far cry from our seats at the Pirates game and these were cheaper. It was a pretty exciting game and they won 6-5 holding off a 9th inning charge by the White Sox. We also spent a couple hours walking around Cleveland. Nothing special, just another small city. But it was a nice place to walk around. Found a…
Monday we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame, which was built on the waterfront in Cleveland on Lake Erie in 1995. Many cities lobbied for the Hall of Fame but Cleveland was picked. Although many people in and out of the industry were polled as to where it should be built many think Cleveland was picked mostly because they were willing to put up the most money. Interestingly, there’s also a 2nd Hall of Fame in New…
Sunday we headed to the West Side Market, an indoor market recommended by someone from the campground. It’s similar to Reading Terminal market in Philadelphia or Pike’s Place seafood market in Seattle, two places we’ve been to and posted on our blog. What’s pretty cool about this market is it’s been around since 1859. 100 years longer than Jim! We had lunch at one of the breweries next to the market then headed off to do some shopping. The first…
The next day we left for Cleveland, stopping on the way to have the oil changed and engine serviced on the rv. We were very fortunate to travel Thursday because Friday it rained the entire day and we spent all day inside reenergizing from our hectic schedule past and coming up. Friday we went to the NFL football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. That was a very motivating and enjoyable visit for both of us. Along with the obvious…
Back to West Virginia. One of the places on Jim’s list was the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Yes, we all know Jim is a little warped. But in my defense Jamie likes these things, too. Maybe that’s why we’re compatible. This place was actually closer to Pittsburgh than Charleston, WV so we held off on going here while in WV. This was another creepy, paranormal place that offered a nighttime tour and overnight to experience the paranormal but we only did…
We got back from the BVI and Jim was nice enough to give Jamie one day of rest on Monday before resuming out sightseeing. Who says I don’t have a heart. But Tuesday it was right back at it. We went to the Heinz History Center. It’s hard to describe this place other than a museum that doesn’t really specialize in any one thing but has a hodgepodge of different types of displays. They obviously have all kinds of Heinz…
I’m jumping ahead because I’ve had some requests for photos from our BVI trip. Guess the rest of our rv trip isn’t exciting enough, lol. On May 13 we left Pittsburgh to join 3 other couples for a boat charter through the British Virgin Islands. This would be our first trip on a larger private boat. We first flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico for a night to make sure we wouldn’t have any problems getting to Tortola, BVI. The…
Monday we left for Pittsburgh. We found a campground just north of the city that was very similar to the one in Charleston. A long, narrow, winding road up to a mountaintop but a very nice campground. Our plan was to spend two nights in the campground, catch up on some laundry on Tuesday, then on Wednesday we got tickets to a Pirates day game. We would spend Wednesday night at a hotel near the airport then head out for…
The next morning we set out for a tour of the West Virginia Penitentiary and the Grave Creek Mound right across the street from the penitentiary. I’ll start with the mound. “Mound Builders” were prehistoric Indians that were around from 3500 BC to the 1500’s who lived mostly throughout the Midwest from the Great Lakes region down to the Gulf of Mexico. They built these mounds as a way to bury their dead during religious ceremonies. There are about 25…
We got up in the morning and headed for some caving. Jamie found a place called the Lost World Caverns that were discovered in 1942. A couple of cave explorers had heard about a large hole in the ground and decided to check it out. They lowered one of the explorers 120′ down to the bottom of the shaft and he discovered the cave. We’ve explored many caves during our trip and this one was one of the more beautiful…
From there we headed to a town called Lewisburg which was supposed to be some historic town. There were 2 things of some interest there but otherwise an insignificant town. The 2 things of interest were an old confederate cemetery and a Carnegie Hall. The cemetery was a bit interesting because it had grave sites dating back to the late 1700’s. Carnegie Hall was only interesting because prior to seeing this we thought the only Carnegie Hall was in New…
After giving Jamie a short night’s sleep Jim had her up and at em in the morning for some touring spots between Charleston, in northwestern West Virginia, to southeastern WV. We had an overnight booked in an exclusive hotel in White Hot Springs called the Greenbrier hotel. More on that later. Our first stop was the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, WV. It’s a bridge that was built in 1977 to get people across the New River Gorge in…
We left Louisville the next day for Charleston, Wv. We booked a campground just outside of Charleston that was beautiful but what a ride to get there. Off the highway we travelled about 2-3 miles up a long, narrow, winding road that had Jamie on the edge of her seat. But we survived and arrived at Rippling Waters campground. It was a beautiful campground on a lake with a cute little chapel sitting on the lake. We set up and…
After our hearty breakfast we were off for a day of bourbon trail touring. The day before we had called numerous distilleries to try and book a tour and every one we called was booked solid. And this was on a Tuesday! We decided we’d go to a few anyway and if we couldn’t sneak into a tour or a tasting, we’d just go to the gift shops. Our first stop was Barton distillery which was right there in Bardstown….