Back in Ol' Virginny

Today was short day of driving through the western neck of Maryland, down through eastern West Virginia into Virginia.  We would have posted a picture of two more states going on the map, except for the heavy rain storm that came through right after dinner tonight.

West Virginia Welcome on I-81

Welcome to Virginia

Once again we had dry roads and good weather for the 120 mile trip south.  Traffic was a bit busier as we got on the Interstate 81 with far more big trucks, but we did not have any issues.  We drove through WV and into VA, then turned east for the last time on this trip to camp near Charlottesville. We arrived at Misty Mountain Campground in the early afternoon.  When we were being led to our campsite, we wondered why we were being led up the mountain on some very steep hills.  It turns out that was just fine when the heavy rain descended about two hours later!

A Girder Cross Seen Along the Way

This campground was one of the few that our site is so uneven that our automatic levelers almost could not level the coach.  We moved it a little bit and we were finally able to level the coach, but we blocked several tires to be safe.  We could have used our yellow leveling blocks under the hydraulic levelers, but did not need to do so this time.

After set up, we decided to explore the area a little bit, so we drove the Toad into Crozet, which we hit at rush hour---that means both the grade school and middle school had just let out and buses and parents were choking the narrow roads. So, we left and drove south to a Brew Pub near Afton, that had an extensive GF (gluten-free) menu and a beer and cider menu.

Our Dinner Venue Tonight

Since we have not had pizza during our fifty days of this trip, we both decided to have pizza.  Boy--did we get pizza!  Neil's was huge and he could only get through half of it, and Pamela has leftovers as well. It was quite yummy.  We are going to stop at Home Depot and purchase a large ceramic tile to use as a pizza stone in the RV oven for these leftovers.  

Pamela's Veggie Pizza and Salad

Neil's Large Carnivore Pizza

Beer Map of the US:  Rogue Ale for OR and Alaskan for AK (of course)

After dinner, it was just starting to rain as we walked out to the Toad.  After getting on the highway and heading the six miles back to the RV park, the heavens parted and it became what Neil's Dad would call a "hen drownder"--very heavy rain, in the inches an hour range.  We had to slow way down and were glad that it was not far to the park.  It was still pouring as we entered the park with the reddish mud that VA is known for flowing everywhere.  

We stopped at the store to pick up a couple of things and found that someone had found a use for the "darn" American Sweetgum tree seed pods. We have too many of these in our home yard.  The enterprising brother and sister put them in egg cartons and filled it up with wax to make fire starters.  

Sweetgum Balls Fire Starter

Unfortunately, this would not get rid of the thousands of these annoying things that we have every year from our one tree.  And, Neil is not going to go into business making these things.

Tomorrow, we will go into Charlottesville east of us to visit Thomas Jefferson's home of Monticello, and perhaps another historic President's home nearby. We are interested to see how the tour has changed in 25 years, as more genealogical information has come to light about his family. We did book a tour that now takes us up into the second floor bedrooms and up into the third floor dome.

 Neil and Pamela

Heading South -- NY thru PA to MD

Yeah---we survived the tail of hurricane Florence as it swung north through Pennsylvania and New York! We had over three inches in southern NY, but nothing like what the coast of VA, NC and SC are still experiencing. Our prayers are with those still out of their homes and without power. Today, we enjoyed surprisingly good weather, as the rain squalls ended in the night and we awoke to sunshine and fluffy clouds.

Our Damp Campsite in Watkins Glen with double glide chairs

In fact, we awoke to the whine and growl of  cars on the Watkins Glen International Raceway this morning.  We visited there, watching a practice run on the Grand Prix style looped track. We climbed sixty steps to the top of the grandstand for good photos and it WAS STILL VERY LOUD! The twenty plus cars were the smaller Mazda type race cars.  We heard them in the campground over five miles away this morning.

This One is For You, Seth!

In fact, today the weather rose into the mid eighties as we traveled south from NY through PA and into western Maryland.  We passed some very swollen rivers, including the massive Susquehanna River which was quite brown and muddy and over its banks in places. We had forgotten how big this major river is, as wide as the Columbia River near Scappose, down river from Portland, Oregon

Swollen Susquehanna River

The roadways were dry and traffic became heavier as we headed south toward larger cities. But, at least the highways are smoother than New York, and no rivers blocked the roads.

 

Our Route Today

We arrived into Maryland (MD) in late afternoon and pulled into a memory from our past. When we lived in Washington DC for four years, we saw much of eastern states by camping at several of these unique parks. 

Entering western Maryland

Remember Yogi Bear and Boo Boo on the cartoons. Well, we are at Jellystone Park in Williamsport.  There are 79 of these parks in 30 states and three provinces. they are similar to KOA's, but with cartoon bears scattered throughout the forest. The office was closed, a sign of autumn for camping, but we had reserved a site on-line last night, so we wound around some very narrow gravel roads, along Boo Boo avenue and Forest Ranger Road, until we found our campsite on Cindy Avenue (she was Yogi's girlfriend/bearfriend).  Cell service and TV is better here so we decided to post a blog. 

Yogi Bear and Ranger Smith Welcome Us

We added PA and MD to our map and then grilled a steak and corn on the cob to go with some of our recent wine purchases from New York.

Our Map Is Filling In

We are only staying here for one night and we head through a corner of West Virginia and south into Greenwood, VA.  We will be there for a couple of nights while we revisit Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, and maybe Highland, home of James Monroe.

Thanks for tuning in,

Neil and Pamela

Monday Update and Riding Out Some Rain

All is well here in Watkins Glen, New York.  We had a sunny day yesterday, and rose to some clouds today.  We drove into Corning to a great grocery store (Wegmans) to stock the larder and came back to the campground to do some chores to get ready to leave tomorrow.   The remnants of hurricane Florence arrived around 1500 and we have had pretty steady rain for several hours.

The rain is expected to be past us around noon tomorrow, so we should have a safe drive down to Hagerstown, Maryland and the Jellystone RV Park there.  We are on our way down to see Monticello again in Virginia and to stay with friends Andy and Connie in Blacksburg over the weekend.

Thanks to those of you who have expressed concern for us in the wake of the hurricane.  We are paying close attention to the forecasts and will adjust our plans as needed.  We were able to update the last blog with some photos because enough people left the campground that the WiFi signal improved just enough to add some photos.   We will hope that the cell or WiFi signals in MD are better than here.  We are safe, dry, and comfortable even though it may rain an inch or more tonight.

Best wishes to all,

Neil and Pamela

Finger Lakes — Corning and Seneca Falls

We had a longer day of travel on Thursday over some very rough roads (New York worst by far) and took a detour up and down a country lane to get here.  The weather is sunny, so far and it even got up to the eighties today.  We had miles and miles of the sunken concrete roads that just jar your teeth, every three seconds, even at fifty five miles per hour.

Chequaga Falls

We are in a large KOA campground near Watkins Glen just south of the Seneca Finger Lake, one of ten or so long, narrow lakes left from glaciation.  Since it is a weekend, it is full of weekend familes, as well as the motor home crowd.  Yesterday (Friday) we went south to Montour to view Chequaga Falls, an impressive waterfall that comes right down into the town almost. It is the opening background for one of the Hallmark mysteries movies we watch, and always wondered if that scene was real.

After that, we drove into Corning to the Corning Glass Museum.  Wow!  Three stories of exhibits `is almost over whelming to to absorb what they depicated about glass history, glass crafting, glass blowing, glass in industry, lighthouses, telescopes, fiber optics and much more.  I think that our friend Kurt might have been able to make it through the entire museum, but we flagged after about three hours.  It is worth a visit and they have demonstrations and even make your own glass item classes that we did not attend.  We did find it fascinating that the creation of glass goes back to the ancient Egyptians. We did learn the era of a couple of our vases and wince glasses that have been passed down from our mother’s.

One of MANY Glass Exhibits

One Very Large Punchbowl

Chess, Anyone?

The Corning Glass Gift Shop

Goblets and More Goblets

The Liberty Bell in Crystal

More Glass

After the museum closed, we drove downtown into Corning and found an old (established in 1951, it was as old as Neil) Italian restaurant called Sorges.  Pamela had gluten-free ravioli and Neil had seafood fettuccine. Both were outstanding, and we left very full and satisfied, including a glass of wine.

Sorges Italian - We Had the Table in the Back Left Corner

Today, we took a drive up the East side of Seneca Lake and stopped at one of the more than 80 wineries in the Finger Lakes. Tried six different kinds and came out with a half case of wine.  Our destination was Seneca Falls at the northern end of the lake, and the location for the Women’s Rights National Historic Park.  It is the site of the 1848 convention for women’s rights.  It only took 72 years from this first meeting of over 300 women and men for the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which gives women the vote.  It is an amazing history of dedication, much newspaper writing and speeches across the nation. If you look up the fate of women back in those days, you wonder why there was not a bloody rebellion with men dying in mysterious ways. We were surprised to learn several western states, such as Wyoming, Utah and Montana were the first to give women the vote at least state-wide.

Ranger Talk at the National Women's Rights Museum

Seneca Falls is also where the movie It’s A Wondeful Life was set.  There is a museum on it, but we decided to go to another winery and have dinner overlooking the massive 38-mile long lake. Course, we tasted more wine and dinner and bought four more bottles. This is the land that introduced the first ice wine — a special technique that leaves grapes to freeze on the vine for several days, then they are picked at night while frozen and made into a really sweet wine for after dinner sipping. The amazing part is that people pay for the privilege to go pick these frozen grapes at night! We had first tasted ice wine near Toronto 15 years ago and really liked the unique flavor. After that, we visited yet third winery, which included hard cider tasting, so have a little of quite a variety now. On way home, we stopped in Watkins Glen at Ben and Jerry’s before returning to the campground.

Here in the campground, Neil decided to finally upgrade the RV thermostat with a digital model.  Since it was the same make, it was just a mattter of cutting the old wires and splicing in the new ones, making sure to attach red wire to red wire, etc.  It was a successful upgrade, so we can set the temperature more closely.

Our New Digital RV Thermostat

Since we had  very poor WiFi and cell service at this campground, we had trouble attaching photos.  Enough people left that we were able to add them later.  Best wishes,

Neil and Pamela

Roosevelt's - Springwood and Val-Kill on the Hudson

It has been a couple of wet days here in the Hudson Valley, but got to two places we really wanted to see;  Franklin Delano Roosevelt's lifetime home called Springwood, and the later home of Eleanor Roosevelt called Van-Kill, along with the first Presidential library in the nation.

Springwood-FDR's Lifetime Home

Springwood was FDR's lifetime home.  He was born there, an only child for his parents. He lived there much of his life and returned hundreds of times when he was Governor of NY, Secretary of the Navy, and his twelve years as President.  He had a cerebral hemorrhage in Hot Springs, GA, but was immediately returned to Springwood and was buried here in the plain marble tomb he designed in the rose garden.

FDR, Eleanor (and two favorite dogs) Grave sites

Before his death, he established the first Presidential Library, which is next to his Springwood Home.  Springwood actually belonged to his mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt (who lived until 1941). She ran the houses, financed his political campaigns, built a townhouse for them in New York City (and one for her next door with connecting hall way), mostly raised FDR and Eleanor's five children during their travels, and in general was in charge of the domestic scene for almost all of FDR's life.  That wasn't the best situation for Eleanor, but more about that later.

We took a National Park Service (NPS) tour of the house and learned some interested facets about FDR and Eleanor's life there.   Upon FDR's death (his mother preceded his death by a few years), the house and all of the furnishings were donated to the US government and is managed by the NPS. In comparison to the Vanderbilt mansion, this is a more modest home, both bedrooms and furniture.

Dining Area of Springwood, with room for kids in back

FDR added on to Springwood house at least twice, and he took a very active role in the renovation, including adding wings to either side of his boyhood home and adding ramps after he contracted polio.  The ground floor of one of the wings was a very large study and library, which is preserved as it was for his adult life.

FDR's Study, library and Desk

A Portion of FDR's Library--He Had Thousands of Volumes

FDR's Bedroom after he got polio

He contracted polio in 1921 at 29, while the family was at their summer home in Campobello, just across the Maine border in New Brunswick, Canada. When he was well enough to come home by ship and railroad, he spent at least three years recovering and building his upper body strength so he could show the appearance of walking with leg braces. Eleanor slept next door in a small bedroom, helping him recover. Shortly after his recovery, she built had a small home built across the property, about two miles away at Val-Kill, where she and friends developed a small furniture and pewter making factory for people out of work. 

FDR Bust at Library

The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Presidential Library is an amazing collection of videos, artifacts, posters and exhibits that tell the story of our nation through the first sixty years of the twentieth century. It chronicles his rise to power as governor in NY and later the nation. The exhibits also tell the story of Eleanor's rise to fame as a journalist (published a column in newspapers for 36 years), activist for women and equal rights and became the traveling eyes and ears for FDR during his Presidency clocking over 40,000 miles in one year.

There are a lot of ship models and nautical art throughout the house and library.  Since his parents would not allow him to go to the Naval Academy, he got even later by becoming Secretary of the Navy, and he enjoyed ships and sailing all of his life, starting with his sailing on the Hudson River below Springwood and to Campobello. 

Beginning in the late 1920's, Eleanor was looking for a way to get out from under the domination of FDR's mother, Sara.  She and a few democratic friends bought land up the hill from Springhill and created a retreat and experimental workshop called Val-Kill Industries after the Val Kill River that was nearby.  The Great Depression did not allow the experiment to thrive, but as a result, Franklin learned the importance of people learning new crafts, which help lead to the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corp. Val-Kill  become the first home Eleanor ever had. She used it as a retreat center and home until her death in 1962.  She even received Senator John F. Kennedy there in 1960, and finally gave him her endorsement for President--on one condition.  She extracted the promise that if he became President, he would address the Civil Rights issues.

She had the Val-Kill furniture and pewter factories turned into a home for herself and grandchildren. It is here, where she received US and foreign dignitaries as part of her role as the first USA delegate to the United Nations.  Unfortunately, the NPS does not have all of the original furnishings, but it is recovering them after one son sold most of them in late 1960's at auction. Thanks to numerous photos of her life there, you understand who was important to her and her daily life here, after FDR died. 

Eleanor's Study at Val-Kill

Val Kill Dining Room--Note the Franciscan Apple Plates she chose

Franciscan Ware Apple Pattern Plates--Just Like We Have

Furnishings and life was much simpler at Val Kill than it was at Springwood.  In addition to the Franciscan Apple plates, the water glasses were made by Libby and were given away free with a tank of fuel at gas stations in the fifties. Neil's Mom admired Eleanor, and she also acquired the set of Franciscan ware apple dishes that we still use today.  If you were invited for a meal at Val Kill, you better hope you were invited for dinner any day but Sunday, as that was the cook's day off.  Eleanor only knew how to make scrambled eggs and toast! 

In 1946, President Truman named her the first USA delegate to the United Nations, where she worked for three years to create and pass the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" which contains FDR's famous four freedoms (in this order) freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. She thought this was her greatest contribution to the world. It is still in use today.

Eleanor was buried with FDR at Springwood, as were two of their favorite dogs.  Their children wanted to be buried with their grandmother, Sara so they are buried at another cemetery in Hyde Park.

View Across the Hudson Near Springwood

We have endured the remnants of hurricane Gordon that has been blown into this part of the east, with pounding rain, thunderstorms, flooded streets and in general a big departure from our warm and dry trip for the first forty days.  We think that this may become the "new normal" at least for a while.  

We also admit that we have been watching a lot more of the Weather Channel than we thought we would.  We will keep an eye out and adjust as needed, but think that we are far enough north to miss the major impacts of Florence.  We leave this area for the Finger Lakes area of New York near Watkins Glen.  Wish us luck as we head west and south.

Neil and Pamela

Back in New York: Hyde Park Along the Hudson

Adding Mass, Connecticut and Rhode Island to Our RV Map

We had an easy drive west out of MA and back into NY, reaching the highest point on a highway east of South Dakota, at 1,724 feet .  Our current campground is close to the Hyde Park along the Hudson River, near Rhinebeck.  It was a bit challenging to get here as we had to avoid the Taconic Parkway, which only allows cars and no commercial vehicles (including hearses, golf carts, and school buses) and avoid one lane roads, but we are we settled in and got set up before the remnants of hurricane Gordon (thanks, cousin) that come up the middle of the country and is now drenching the northeast.

We did like one aspect of the Mass Turnpike system, and that is the automatic toll sensors above the freeways.  No need to stop and dig out change.  Of course, it will be interesting to see just how big the tolls are when we get home and get the bill that they mail us.

Mass Turnpike Toll Overhead Sensors

Yesterday was day 40 of our trip, but it was ONLY day two for Neil wearing long pants.  He is accepting that the warm, dry weather of our journey is going fast--especially with recent remnants of storms coming our way.  It did rain quite hard last night (necessitating ear plugs for sleeping) and most of today.  We estimate one inch or more has fallen, since we arrived in Rhinebeck.  

Vanderbilt "Cottage" Along the Hudson River in Hyde Park

We decided to try to enjoy something that was mostly indoors, and Vanderbilt National Historic Site fit the bill.  It is a 55 room mansion on the Hudson River, just north of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt estate. Frederic and Louisa Vanderbilt had this cottage built for spring and fall use. It was begun in 1896 and it took three years to complete and furnish it.

We arrived at the estate in pouring rain and waited in the Visitor Center for a tour by the National Park Service.  Turns out this adjacent 22 room two-story house, built in just 66 days, was where all men stayed when they visited, unless they came with their wives!

Bachelor Pad and Current NPS Visitor Center

We were in a group of about twenty people who took a guided tour of the main house.  We were able to tour the first and second floors and the basement. The third floor contained servant quarters. The reason this 55-room mansion still existed and is open to the public is due to property taxes and a friendly neighbor! Frederic and Louisa Vanderbilt inherited their fortune from grandfather Cornelius Vanderbilt and he was the last heir to continue to grow the railroad and shipping companies. They had no children and did not trust all, but one of their nephews and nieces. So, when they both died they gave most of their fortune to charities such as Salvation Army, Red Cross, orphanages, hospitals, Vanderbilt college and all their staff.

Most staff received enough to buy their own house and not have to work again. The niece who inherited the house, could not afford the property taxes, so tried to sell it ---- in 1938 ---- for $250,000! When she had no takers, President Franklin Roosevelt recommended she sell it to the National Park Service, for one dollar!  But, she got a large income tax deduction.  Since the property adjoins the Roosevelt's, the Secret Service stayed in both houses and used the grounds while Roosevelt was President, until 1945.

Main Entry Sitting Area

The Vanderbilt's, Stanford's and Pinchot's, were considered "new money" in the USA at the turn of the 1900's, having made their money in railroads and forestry, unlike the Astor's, Roosevelt's and Carnegie's who made their money at least 100 years earlier in shipping and fur trading.  So, every home was furnished with art, tapestries and china from Europe. The Vanderbilt's had only one furnishing that was American made, a Steinway piano!  They were particularly fond of French design and furnishings from the Medici family of the 1600 and 1700's. Hence, the French royal crown wall hangings over his bed and the Queen's bed in Louisa's room.

Frederick Vanderbilt's Master Bedroom

Most of Louisa's bedroom furnishings had belonged to Marie Antoinette, which is why there is a low fence around the bed. This was as close to the bed as her ladies in waiting were allowed, until she woke up.  There is a gate near the head of the bed on each side.  Pretty weird in so many ways!

Louise Vanderbilt's Bed Chamber 

The oval entry into formal living room was lined in marble from Europe also. The house, was quite modern for its time, with electricity, each room having its own bathroom, heat vents in each room with a coal-fired furnace in basement, their own generator plant on property, their own train station (he owned the railroad, remember), but also had fireplaces in each room and a massive ice room in the basement. While he could have afforded refrigerators, it would have put six men out of work in the 1930's during the "Great Depression", so they kept the ice box in the basement.

National Park Service Interpreter at Vanderbilt House

Vanderbilt Dining Room (for 18) and China

Dinner was 7-10 courses, each with a different French wine. You had your own waiter and it took over two hours on average for a full meal. The food came from the basement on a large trolley, which was also used to take all your luggage to the basement. Years later, Frederic turned it into an elevator for himself, still in use today. After dinner, men and women separated for about 30 minutes.  Men retired to the "Smoking Room" below for cigars and port, to discuss finance and hunting.

Men's Smoking Room

Women retired to the Gold Parlor, so named because it is covered in real 16 caret gold leaf. There they discussed the latest fashions from France, upcoming marriages in the "Upper 400" (the wealthiest in USA and so named because that is the maximum number that fit in Astor's ballroom). 

Ladies Parlor covered in gold leaf accents

After thirty minutes, everyone came together in the large parlor to play cards (bridge and whist were popular), charades and have after dinner drinks!  No wonder everyone slept in, due to all that alcohol!

After Dinner Parlor

You knew how close your standing was when invited to one of these cottages in Hyde Park or Newport, RI, due to how close your bedroom was to the master bedrooms.  The Vanderbilt's even furnished your night clothes and towels, along with sheets and blankets, cause they were all color coordinated to match the room colors, such as the blue room or the favorite red room. The stairs were only four inch risers, so the women would not trip going up in their long gowns. More amazing is that the banister is covered in burgundy velvet! Why---so the women, in the silk gloves, would not snag those expensive gloves on any wood splinters!

Grand Staircase with Velvet Covered Bannister

The house was opened shortly after WWII and the big reason the Park Service knows so much of what occurred here, is due to retired staff coming back sharing stories, photos, and even the china in the dining room today, which had been gifted to the head housekeeper, who was in charge of all 30 house staff.

Eveready Diner in Hyde Park

After visiting the Vanderbilt House, we drove south into the town of Hyde Park and enjoyed an old-fashioned early dinner at the historic Eveready Diner, complete with milkshake and root beer float. It was like stepping back into the 1950's, complete with items offered on menu.  We had heard of "egg creams" but not a Chocolate Root Beer float--ugh (says Pamela)!

Inside of Eveready Dinner

Over the next couple of days we will tour both Roosevelt (FDR and Val-Kill of Eleanor's) homes and the first Presidential library, their grounds and see some other Hudson Valley attractions.

We did a little shopping before heading back to camp.  It rained pretty hard all the way back and we are glad that we are in a snug RV with electric and propane heat, our own bathroom and big TV, and not the large tent trailer near us.  We are keeping an eye out for hurricane Florence impacts, but we are well north of the projected rain so far.  Stay safe out there,

Neil and Pamela