Saturday, August 16, 2025 Oswego, NY

Deb here once again. Big day planned today! We ate breakfast in the van, then drove into town and parked. I’d made a plan to meet with Mary Maxon Grainger for coffee/tea at 10, so we had a nice catch-up at Riverfront Coffee while John worked on his AI stuff at Riverfront Bagels right nearby. 

We drove back to the RV Park a bit before noon, just in time to meet at Rudy’s for another lunch. We had a bigger group this time around, with Ro, Jacque, Carol, Carol, Sheila and Maris along with a few of our spouses. Once again, so great to catch up! We gave them all a tour of our van, and after lunch Ro and I went in for a dip in the lake.

Not long after everyone left Rudy’s my brother Pete showed up and we crossed the street to go back over to a Rudy’s pavilion with him. We hadn’t seen each other for almost 2 years, so really good to have a bit of time together. And then to top it all off, my brother Tom, his wife Kim and granddaughter Victoria all showed up to join us a bit later. We hung out near the beach until a bit after 4.

Once they left it was time for showers and getting ready for the big event, the 50th class reunion dinner. What a fun night! About 160 people and those of us who were Campus School graduates all had a couple of tables together. Lots of pictures, conversations and laughter. The dinner and party broke up about 9 and we headed back to our campsite. A wonderful day!

Friday, August 15, 2025. Oswego, NY

Deb here again. It was so lovely to wake up and see Lake Ontario across the road! We took our time at the campsite and then drove into town to visit Fort Ontario. It had been years since I’d been there and John didn’t think he’d ever visited, so it was time to go. The Fort has done a nice job with some newer exhibits and we enjoyed trying to follow the rich and complicated history of it all.

We then went downtown and parked near Riverfront Coffee, a newish coffee shop. Oswego keeps cleaning itself up and the downtown area, especially by the river, just keeps improving. 

By this time it was time to head back to the RV Park so I could meet friends at Rudy’s for a 12:30 lunch. Jacque, Sheila, Maggie and Laurie were all there and it was great to catch up at a picnic table outside and some good Rudy’s food (fish sandwich, the best). John hung out with us for a bit and then took off to visit the Maritime Museum in town. Since he’d taken the van I’d packed a “bliss bag” (his words, not mine) and left it on one of our camp chairs at the site. I changed into my bathing suit and headed down the beach for a swim. Heavenly. Clear water and sunny skies. I sat on the beach for quite awhile with my Kindle and thought again how lucky I was to grow up right on this beautiful lake. 

Once John returned we walked over to Bev’s for ice cream and ordered Mexican sundaes in my mom’s honor, those were her favorite. 

There was an informal reunion gathering at GS Steamers in town, so we went there at 6:30. Lots of people there and good to catch up with old friends and meet some new faces. By 8:30 the two of us were all talked out. We’d made the mistake of not eating dinner beforehand, so we walked to the Press Box across the street and managed to sneak in an order before their kitchen closed at 9. Clam chowder, tuna sandwiches and back in the van to crash for the evening.

Thursday, August 14, 2025 Robert Treman State Park to Sunset RV Park, Oswego, NY

Deb here. The weather cooled off enough last night that we had a pleasantly cool night to sleep. We had coffee/tea and packed up, heading to The Milkstand in Ithaca for breakfast at 8:30. Larri and Larry had tipped us off the night before that The Milkstand is the Ithaca go-to place for a good breakfast and they were right. Tasty and quality breakfast food.

From there it was on up the west side of Cayuga Lake, with a stop at Taughannock Falls State Park. We walked the 1.5 miles out and back to see the gorgeous 215 feet waterfall. Then on up the west side of the lake to Seneca Falls, where we stopped at McDonald’s for their WiFi to upload the blog. 

By early afternoon we arrived in Oswego. Let the walk down memory lane begin! Several months ago I’d booked us 3 nights at Sunset RV Park, which is right across the road from Lake Ontario and two of my favorite food establishments, Rudy’s and Bev’s. The park owner had us scheduled for one of the tent sites with no shade, but instead he found us a nice shady spot. Perfect. I can see both Bev’s (ice cream stand) and the lake from our site. The park is really clean and there’s even a pool, which I tried out in the afternoon.

Later in the afternoon we drove into Oswego to check out the farmer’s market and music. Lots of people in town on this sunny evening. Good music, lots of vendors and we met up with my grade school/high school friend Laurie Pfund Byron at Old City Hall Tavern. A bit later another friend, Carol Lloyd Brady and her husband Dennis stopped in, and then we all walked down to the riverfront to listen to another band. Another classmate, Mike Adams, showed up and we had a great conversation. By the time we broke up it was almost 8 and we hadn’t eaten anything for dinner, so on Carol and Dennis’s recommendation we walked to Southern Fare for $2 pork tacos and $5 margaritas. A great first night back in my hometown! 

Wednesday August 13, 2025 Robert Treman State Park

Today is supposed to be a bit cooler than yesterday so we got up early and drove to the parking lot near the swimming hole which is also where you start hiking. We walked up the gorge trail and visited the old mill building where they used to grind wheat into flour back in the mid 1800’s. The gorge trail is about 2 miles up and the rim trail is about 2 miles back to the parking lot with lots of vertical climbing on the gorge trail and a little less so on the rim trail. It rained off and on so by the time we got back to the van we were thoroughly disgusting. On with the bathing suits, we walked to the swimming hole which was at 72 degrees, nice and cool. Since we had sweaty hiking stuff and wet swimming stuff we found a nice laundromat in Ithaca with the Lincoln Street Diner next door so we got some lunch while our laundry tumbled next door.

We stopped at Ithaca Falls up the street then back to the campground to take showers. On the way to the campground Deb talked me into stopping at Purity Ice Cream, a place she used to go to when in college. After showers it was off to Larri (Deb’s stepsister) and Larry’s home for dinner and a lovely night of catching up with all the Richmond clan.

Back to the campground and right to bed. We were exhausted…

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 Watkins Glen State Park to Robert Treman State Park, Ithaca, NY

Deb here. We had a lazy morning hanging around the campground since we didn’t have far to go today. We finally left around 10 am and stopped at the dump station on the way out of the park.

The drive to Ithaca was only about 45 miinutes long, but so green and pretty. I wanted to go back on the Cornell campus, so first stop was Collegetown Bagels, right off campus, for bagels and coffee/iced chai. I remembered going there (although I learned their former location was across the street) in college, and we learned that the business was started in 1976. Wow, those rosemary salt bagels toasted with cream cheese were really tasty.

From the bagel shop we walked onto the Cornell campus, and while much has changed, much has also stayed the way I remembered, at least from the outside. The day was another scorcher, with 90+ degrees, sunshine and lots of humidity, so after a bit of walking we were ready to call it quits.

Yesterday we’d decided that if today turned out to be as oppressively hot as yesterday (which it did) we’d consider a movie, so that’s where we went. The Naked Gun was playing at the local theater, and while the movie was really silly the air conditioned theater was wonderful. A good respite from this heat.

Once out of the theater at 4 we drove to Treman State Park, our destination for the night. I’d swam at Treman before and knew about the awesome swimming area, so that’s where we went first. The water temp was only 70 degrees and wow, was it ever delightful. The natural swimming area at the base of the falls is really gorgeous, and great to see so many people enjoying the water.

After swimming we checked into our campsite and decided to try getting dinner nearby in an air conditioned restaurant. Unfortunately, no air conditioning at the restaurant, so we returned to our campsite and had sandwiches, salad and apple for dinner. Hoping it cools off again for a good sleep tonight… this heat really wears a body down!

Monday August 11, 2025 Skaneateles to Watkins Glen

Nice to stay in a luxury hotel, nicer to be married for 40 years. Somehow we like this being on the road life and think less about getting back home. We are thinking that it makes more sense to drive all the way to California after Deb’s reunion instead of straight home to Bisbee. Got to see those grandkids as they are growing like weeds these first months.

It is going to be hot today and tomorrow and the combo of heat and humidity is a little tough.

We walked downtown and sat in front of the bakery and watched the people and traffic go by. The hotel had coffee and croissants so we did not need anything to eat, unfortunate since the bakery goods looked pretty inviting. We gathered our stuff and loaded the van and headed west to Geneva. Then down the west side of Seneca Lake which ends in Watkins Glen. We found our campground and campsite which is next to the gorge at Watkins Glen. Lots of empty sites but it is huge campground with 200+ campsites. And there are showers and flush toilets for $25 per night.

We drove down the hill and found the parking next to the south end of the gorge. We hiked from the south to the north entrance to the park down in the bottom of the gorge. Big bonus was it was nice and cool down there so the perfect place to be on a hot day. As the pictures show, it is beautiful with a nice clear sunny sky today and sun streaming down through the green leaves and lighting up the waterfalls in the gorge.

We came up the north end and then turned around and did the same hike backwards to stay out of the heat above. 

We came out of the gorge and Deb promised me a nice cold beer which we found at a bar called Roosterfish. Slow day in the bar so we had a nice chat with the young guy behind the bar. Then we walked down to the docks on the lake and had dinner at Lucky Hare. Then walked back through town where Deb found new flip flops (her old ones disappeared) and back to the campsite and immediately to the showers to knock all the sweat off.

Cranked the fans in the van and waited for the temperature in the van to get down below 80 and then bed.

Sunday August 10, 2025 Vestal to Skaneateles

 

Deb here. Woke up to a sunny day. We hung out on the back deck with Patrick and Tom, munching Wegman’s baked goods and bacon (thanks, Patrick). After pictures and goodbyes we headed out.

First stop was a McDonald’s, where we spent a long time updating the blog with pictures since we finally had some strong WiFi. We then set our sights toward Skaneateles, where I’d booked a room at the Sherwood Inn to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. 

Another gorgeous Finger Lakes drive with lots of back roads, sunshine, water and greenery. We arrived in Skaneateles a bit before noon, and the first stop was Doug’s Fish Fry for a delicious seafood lunch. We then walked to The Sherwood Inn to see about parking and check-in but our room wasn’t quite ready. The Sherwood is right across the street from the public swimming area, so we walked back to the van and I changed into my bathing suit for a swim. What a great public swimming spot… lovely water temp and large enough to swim out to a floating dock and hang out. John enjoyed sitting in the shade and reading his book.

We checked in at 3, then spent some time walking around town. We stopped for an anniversary celebratory drink at Bluewater Grill, and then enjoyed a tasty dinner at the inn (salmon for John and pot roast for me, all good). After dinner we found a great park bench by the water and enjoyed people watching. All in all a perfect day and a great way to celebrate another year together.

Saturday August 9, 2025 Eighth Lake State Park Campground to Vestal NY

 

The campground had dried out since the thunderstorm yesterday before we arrived. Lots of empty sites and lots of sites being restored. This campground is ok but it needs the potholes repaired and the sites re-graded so they don’t collect water. We saw a few tents sitting in the middle of a puddle.

We did the dump station thing and cleaned out any remaining recycling and trash. We still have half a tank of water so good to go.

Today we drive to Endicott NY where we will stay in the driveway of Deb’s hiking buddies, Patrick (Goat) and Tom (Tommy Hawk) Kelley.

 We stopped at a SeaSons Diner on Rt 28 for a late breakfast. Lots of traffic in both directions since it is peak vacation season.

We next stopped at the Endicott Visitor Center which has a museum of sorts dealing with the town history. IBM and Endicott-Johnson shoe factories built this town. IBM in those early years made business machines like time clocks and typewriters. Tomas Watson was the figurehead of IBM and took them through the early growth years, although he never lived here. Sounds like he was more a finance guy who acquired companies and created what was to become IBM.

Endicott-Johnson made shoes and had huge facilities from tannery to actual shoe manufacture. E-J seemed to be the company who really cared about their workers and created a real company town. All that drifted away in the 80’s and 90’s as globalization began and now neither company has any presence in town.

We landed at Tom & Patrick's for afternoon drinks and snacks and then off to Beer Tree Brew Company for dinner and a hot air balloon ride. Beer Tree is a big place and it was hopping. We met Patrick’s new friend Christi and after dinner we headed down to the field to help setup (Deb and I watched them set up) the hot air balloon. Justin is the owner and has been ballooning since he got his first ride at the age of 13. Justin’s brother and three other friends formed the ground crew which has to chase us and then pull us down when we land, more important than we realized. Patrick, Tom and Christ also helped on the ground so I think they have done this before. The magic is Justin’s experience in “feeling” the terrain and wind shifts. There is no obvious way to steer the balloon and there are a limited number of spots to set down. We were in the air for about 45 minutes. You need a clear field with road access so the chase vehicles can get to us in time for us to drop. We went back to Beer Tree and had the traditional champagne toast after a successful flight. Thanks to Justin and crew!!

Then back to Patrick’s and our van in the nice flat driveway.

Friday, August 8, 2025 Golden Beach Campground to Eighth Lake State Park Campground, Inlet, NY

Deb here. We had a good thunder and ligntning storm last night, complete with some heavy rain. No rain this morning, but the air was still smoky due to the Canadian wildfires.

By 8:30 a.m we were packed up and headed to Schoolhouse Grounds Coffee Shop in Blue Mountain Lake for bagels and coffee/tea. The main objective at the coffee shop was to access WiFi and upload the last 5 days of blog entries. John was able to upload the blog posts, but the WiFi was too weak to also upload pictures. 

By 10 a.m. we were back at the Adirondack Experience to see what we didn’t see yesterday. We toured the exhibit about logging history, which was great, then headed down the .75 mile Minnow Pond trail to take a boat out on the water. John had the chance to row an Adirondack skiff while I sat in the “passenger princess” seat. Very fun to be out on the beautiful pond for a bit.

Back to the van by 12:30 and we decided to drive into Inlet and Old Forge, aka down memory lane. We rented a cabin on Limekiln Lake (right near Inlet) from family friends when Jake and Hannah were toddlers, but it had been a lot of years since we returned. Inlet was bustling, with lots of people about and new businesses, so not much that looked familiar.

We continued on to Old Forge and it was even more packed with tourists than Inlet. 30+ years ago we took the kids to The Enchanted Forest in Old Forge, which was a lot of storybook scenes involving fiberglass (such as Cinderella’s pumpkin coach). Somewhere down the line The Enchanted Forest took a back burner to the new and exciting Water Safari, and that was hopping today. Water Safari is in big letters with Enchanted Forest beneath it. Lots of kids and families.

As we drove through Old Forge we spotted a carousel pony outside of the candy shop that we remembered putting the kids on, complete with the sign that reads “pony rides for our little friends one at a time”. Still working, and still 25 cents a ride. I went inside and talked with the shop owner, who verified that it was the same pony we remembered and had been around for 30+ years. She thanked me for the memories and I thanked her for keeping the tradition alive.

Ice cream (soft serve twist) then back to Eighth Lake State Park Campground, our home for the night. It rained on the drive and the campground was soaked with lots of puddles. Shower for John, swimming for me, and scrambled eggs, toast and veggies for dinner. 

Thursday August 7, 2025 Adirondack Museum, Hedges, Raquet Lake boat tour

Busy day today! Slept great, again. The temperature was pleasant with no heat required last night. We made coffee / tea and got breakfast at Chef Darrell’s Diner up in Blue Mountain Lake. 

Next stop was “The Hedges” which is a resort that Deb’s friend Mary and her husband Brad have been going to for a long time. Very sweet place, kind of like a compound that you rent a cabin at and then can use all the facilities in the compound. Beautiful old historic buildings and lots of families.

Then on to the “Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake”. We have both been here before but it’s been a few decades. It is now

a huge museum which we will need to take two days to explore. Beautiful wooden boats, renovated historic camps, a display about Theodore Roosevel’s race to Washington from Mt Marcy when President McKinley was shot, lots of native American history and crafts, and more and more. We did not have time to see everything but the ticket is good for two days so we will come back tomorrow and finish the rest.

We had to hustle to make it to the Raquette Lake boat tour in the afternoon. It was a 90 minute trip around the lake with a narrator talking about each of the big camps and their history and back stories. Wonderful.

Then back to the campground to swim and enjoy some beach time. The water was warm and the air was still smoggy from the Canadian fires. You can’t smell the smoke but you sure can see it. Hazy since we have been here.

Dinner of tacos, some reading and then bed.

Wednesday August 6, 2025 Raquette Lake / Sagamore Camp

Cool enough last night that we had to close the windows, turn off the fans and turn on the heater this morning. Breakfast of cereal, yogurt and fruit, then off to our 10 am tour of the Great Camp Sagamore. This campsite is amazing since we have what looks to be one of the three premium locations in the Golden Beach Campground. It looks like one of those campsites people start trying to reserve Jan 1 each year. Someone must have cancelled at the last minute and Deb happened to check an hour later.

The sunset last night was something out of a scifi movie. The sun was dim and bright red as it sunk over the mountains and the sky was grey and orange, still half rain clouds and smoke.

The tour was two hours and we walked through all the buildings at Sagamore. It was built by William West Durant, son of Thomas Durant (see miniseries “Hell On Wheels”), the railroad baron, in the the late 1800’s as a very exclusive destination for the very rich. The idea was to build this one first, then invite rich people up to convince them to have one built for them. This was super luxury at the time, but I am guessing that once you could fly to Paris instead, the idea faded out. Our tour guide Ellen happened to be the granddaughter of Sagamore’s caretaker in the early days, and she was a great storyteller. Following the tour we had a nice lunch there in the main dining room. Nothing too fancy, but anything you eat in a Great Lodge tastes special.

We made it back to our campsite and had some sun/swim time (Deb) and nap time (me) before happy hour and dinner. We weren’t feeling too hungry, so we had a good stroll around the campground before making dinner.

Fresh greenbeans, soup, crackers and veggie box for dinner. Blog, cardplaying and reading before bed.

Tuesday, August 5, 2025. Glenn’s home in Orange, CT to Golden Beach Campground, Raquette Lake, NY

Deb here. We had coffee and tea with Glenn this morning followed by pictures, and then it was time to hit the road. We were in the van and on the road by 8 a.m.

We hadn’t been sure where we were going after Glenn’s home, but two days ago I was searching the Campendium app for a campsite on water in the Adirondacks and stumbled on Golden Beach State Park. Somehow I hit the reservation booking site at the right time and a waterfront campsite was available. I booked it for 3 nights so that was our destination. I’m trying to soak up as much water time as possible this trip!

The drive to the Adirondacks was beautiful, through a bit of CT, a corner of MA and into NY. We opted out of toll roads, and never drove on a bonafide highway until we were close to Albany. We stopped along the way for a food resupply at Walmart, where we were approached by a couple of different people in the parking lot with questions about our van.

Up the Northway (Rt. 87) we drove, finally exiting at Warrensburg. At that point we got a text from Erick, who’d checked our location and told us we had to stop at Oscar’s Smokehouse. We were only 1.5 miles away from it at that point, so why not? Who knew?! Huge place with all kinds of meats and dips. We bought some kielbasa and cheese dip and got back on the road.

It was around 3:30 p.m. when we arrived at the campground. We checked in and drove to our campsite and soon felt as though we’d won the lottery! We have our own private beach access and both the beach and the lake bottom are sandy. We quickly put our suits on, grabbed our camp chairs and headed down to the waterfront. There was time for a swim before the clouds and a bit of rain moved in. Heavenly.

Appetizer was crackers and Oscar’s bacon cheddar chees dip and dinner was corn on the cob and tacos. All good!  

Monday Aug 4, 2025 Greenport to Glenn’s house.

 

Breakfast of leftover yogurt parfaits and danish, then we walked to 67 steps beach (I only counted 60..) and back to work off the breakfast. We loaded the Honda Fit with our luggage, the kids rocking chair and us 4 adults and drove to the ferry, stopping at Latham’s farmstand to get some fresh veggies and fruit. We said our goodbyes, bought our tickets ($46 for both) and took the 1 hur, 20 minute ferry to New London. The chair was a good conversation starter!

The van was there waiting for us so we unpacked a bit and set the GPS to Orange, CT where our old friend Glenn Gaetano lives. Glenn was waiting for us and made us fresh raviol and his secret pasta sauce, along with fresh egplant parm his brother brigs to him once a week. An evening catching up after three years then bed. Thanks Glenn!!

Sunday Aug 3, 2025 Another day in Greenport

 

Slept like kings last night as it is cooler. Erick & Hannah had a 7am meeting with the dock owner and then coffee to wake up then we chilled while they and Libby got set up for the brunch cruise which we will go on. It is a bluebird blue sky day so perfect weather. They have 15 this morning including us which is a nice amount of people. The three of them swing Bonnie Lynn away from the dock and out to the sound we go. A local bakery dropped off the brunch goodies, yogurt parfait, a couple kinds of pastries, and coffee. It’s an easy format for chatting with people and other than the 6 people up front, who are a self contained family, we spent the next two hours chatting with some nice folks and soaking up the beautiful day with sails billowing above us. 

We returned to dock in a couple hours and then borrowed Hannah & Eric’s car to drive to Riverhead to buy me new shoes for Deb’s 50th reunion in a week. I forgot to bring anything fitting as my old ones are kind of nasty.

We stopped back in Greenport at Little Creek Oyster Bar for lunch of fancy hot dogs and beer/cider.

Back to the dock just as Bonnie Lynn was returning to dock their second charter today.

A last minute pool christening party at Elizabeth and Steves, who we had dinner last night, was our last event today. Steve & Elizabeth, Noah & Eve, Ron & Michell, Hannah and Erick all enjoyed a glass of champain and a dip in the new pool. Steve filled the grill with burgers and dogs, corn and good conversation filled the rest of the night. We walked back to the boat and crashed at about 11:00.

Saturday Aug 2, 2025 Day in Greenport

 

Deb here. We woke up to a spectacular blue sky day with temps promised to be in the 70’s. We had coffee and tea on the boat and then cleared out, since Hannah and Erick’s first charter took off at 10. We had fun watching people board and then the process of departure. Hannah has to push Bonnie Lynn with the dinghy so she can spin around and make it out of the narrow harbor. Quite a process.

John and I walked into Greenport. First stop was for bagels and coffee/tea at Goldberg’s. There was quite a line but we found a table on the porch and enjoyed people watching.

By this time it was close to 11 and we walked to the East End Seaport Museum. It’s a small museum but filled with lots of interesting local info. There was an exhibit about Frank Mundus, the monster shark hunter who was the inspiration for Quint in “Jaws”. Frank was also Pat Mundus’s dad, and Pat had sold Surprise to Erick and Hannah. There was also lots of info about menhaden, a historically important fish to this area. Who knew?!

We then walked to the Railroad Museum in town and met George, the volunteer there who was a wealth of info. A small museum, but they also had an original 1927 caboose outside and hearing about how that had operated was fascinating.

We walked on around town with a stop at the I.G.A., then back to the dock. Hannah and Erick’s first charter was done by this time and they’d been left with sandwiches so we hung out there a bit. After they departed with the second group at 2:30 we put on our bathing suits and headed to Norman Klipp beach for a quick swim. Back to the office for showers, then walked over to Billy’s for drinks. Billy’s is in the marina and has a Florida Keys vibe with fun live music and lots of locals.

By this time Hannah and Erick were coming in from their afternoon charter. After cleaning up we walked to their friends Steve and Elizabeth’s home, who’d invited us all for dinner. It was a beautiful evening sitting outside with wonderful friends and delicious food. Erick had prepared a seafood platter appetizer with shrimp cocktail, oysters and whitefish dip, and Steve had made halibut, rice and salad, followed by a berry tart baked by Elizabeth. By the time we waddled back to the boat it was 11. Another perfect day!

Friday Aug 1, 2025 - Vernon VT to Greenport NY

Coffee with my brother Dave (thanks for putting us up!) and set the GPS to New London CT. It’s only 2+ hours to the Cross Sound Ferry to Long Island. We stopped in Greenfield at “that Scottish Restaurant” for coffee and then boogied down the highway.

We got to New London and pulled into the ferry yard and the kid there said their parking lot was full. So across the street to the Water Street parking lot but they only have a clearance of 6 or 7 ft and we need nine. So around the corner to the LAZ garage and they were also too short. We walked into the LAZ garage office and asked what other options there were and she said we could park outside her office over the weekend ($20 per day).

We packed our bags and walked across the train tracks, bought two ferry tickets and had a nice 1.5 hour ride over to Long Island. Hannah and Erick were waiting for us and took us to the fish market/restaurant for lunch. We drove into town to get some supplies (wine) and then back to the boat. Bonnie Lynn looks just as magnificent as we remember.

We chatted a bit and all walked down to the Norman Kipp Marine Park beach and back. Deb and I kept going and did a tour of the old cemetery nearby while Eric made a curry for supper.

Charlie and Sarah, who bought Surprise, and another boat neighbor, Kelly, stopped and chatted until supper was ready.

We had a pleasant dinner on deck and then off to bed. Feels good to be back on board Bonnie Lynn.