Adirondack Mountains, NY

Well, We haven't had good internet for awhile, so will try to catch up. After Niagra Falls, we decided Al would be best to fly out of Albany, NY, so we slowly headed that direction enjoying the scenery. Stayed at an Elks parking lot at Henrietta, NY, then up towards Lake Ontario. Got on a dead end road with a circular turn around, but not big enough circle for us, so had to unhook the car to manuever the turn, then hook back up. Good practice, I guess, and at least it was not raining! Onward. Had lunch at a pretty park on the lake, and drove a little further to Chimney Bluff State Park where we "camped" for the night, hoping no one would ask us to leave. Very quiet and peaceful.

Continuing on Hwy 104 to Oswego where we parked at another Elks. Woke to them BBQing 300 chickens for a big feast! Left before done, though! On to Watertown, and south aways found "Hidden Acres" (about 10 miles off the road), and it was awesome. Only $15 with our PA discount. Couldn't get the Seahawks game, so watched a couple movies on the ION TV channel.

Headed towards Rome NY on Hwy 49 by Lake Oneida. Tues, 9/20 we got to Frosty Acres RV Park in Schenectady, NY where we stayed for a week. Lots of wild geese, and we saw 3 wild trukeys in the fields. Al flew to Portland, and I stayed with the "boys" (kitties). I took him to the airport at 4:30 am, and it was foggy and dark. I didn't have a clue what a scaredy cat I am!! couldn't see 10' in front of me, and thoughts of "what if..." were making me crazy! I got back ok, shaking like a tree in Hurricane. Ventured out that afternoon to find a groc store, got all turned around, but with help of GPS, made it back. Didn't leave again until going to pick up Al the following Sunday! (This time in daylight!). Had heavy rain, thunder and lightning, and developed a leak in the RV! I cleaned, read, etc, and was really happy to have him home again!

Al's trip was good. He had his appointment, got to have dinner with our youngest son, Brent and family who drove to meet him 1/2 way from Seattle in Chehalis.

He also met with good friend, Holly, from Tillamook who rode his motorbike all the way to Portland.
From there, we went to East Dorcet, NY, and toured the Wilson House where Bill Wilson (founder of AA) was born. The Wilson House was a hotel with a bar, built in 1852. Bill's parents lived in a room behind the bar where he was born. That is now a living room in the present hotel with a lampthat is left on 24 hours in memory of Bill. The photo of the house dog, "Barley", is of that room. Also, his grandparents' home next door where he lived from age 11 until he went into the service. It is now an AA library downstairs, but his bedroom and study upstairs still remain as it was when he lived there. Got to park overnight for free there, too. (Oh, we passed the house when we first got there, and kept driving looking for place to turn around. Road got smaller and smaller, so we finally had to un hook again and turn around. Glad it was only about a mile or so.) They hold meetings in the house, but not on Wed and Thurs., which was when we were there. We did drive to Danby with one of the volunteers for a meeting there that night. Wish we had this sign in all the meetings at home!!!

The Wilson House still operates as a hotel with meals served, as it always has. It is open to the public, and often used for retreats and seminars. It is a private foundation, not related to AA, but is used by many 12 step groups of all kinds

Lots more rain! Al had caulked where he thought the leak may be coming from, but it leaked again. :-( Left E Dorcet in the morning, and headed to 30N, then 149W to 22N. About Grainville, the radio emergency warning system came on and announced a tornado heading for Montgomery County in Eastern NY. We had no clue where that was and were passing a Fire Station, so pulled in there and Al went and got reassured and directions for good roads onward. We headed for Fort Ticonderoga. Beautiful spot. We walked around a bit, but didn't want to pay another $30 to see another fort. It was threatening rain, and we wanted to find a place to stay. Found a Wal-Mart only 3 miles from there. :-)

From there, we took Hwy 9 north towards Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains. Looking for a wide enough place in the road to stop for lunch, we accidentally pulled into the Olympic Jumping complex parking lot, which we realized when I walked around waiting for Al to once again caulk around the window. So, after lunch, we paid the $8 each to take the chair lift and 26 story elevator to the top of the K120 ski jump! Incredible to be up so high imagining what it must be like for the skiers who jump!!! There were also skiers going down the slope and into a pool of water. They have special runways that they keep watered down to assimilate snow slope! Love it when we accidentally discover things like that!

This week-end is Octoberfest here in Whiteface, NY, where we are parked at the North Pole Camping Resort for 2 nights. We went a few miles to the festival, paid the $8 or 9 each to get in even though it was cold and raining. Not many booths, except beer, but we walked around long enough to get wet and cold, then headed back to the RV, had hot soup and here I sit. Now, Iwill try to post a few pics. I still haven't found an easy way to post them where I want them, but will try. All is well here. Miss all our friends and family. As you can see in a couple photos, the leaves are just starting to turn color, so next blog will be full of them. Al has some better photos on his camera, and will add them when I can. I have a hard time taking photos in the sunlight, so he uses his more outside. All for now. Love ya!