• Photo Gallery -- Part I
• Fingerlakes Region, NY
• Lake George, New York
• 1000 Islands, New York
  

• Boston / Cape Cod, MA
• Newport, Rhode Island
• Long Island, New York
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  

• Asheville, North Carolina
• Lake Murray, So. Carolina
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Lake Monroe, Florida
  

Photo Gallery 2015 -- Part I

At the left is a composite of just a scant few of the shots which you can see in Part I of our Photo Gallery covering the first half of our 2015 travels, after leaving Oregon, down through California, across country through Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Memphis, TN and then down to Florida to do some sailing. Then in spring the tour continued up the east coast through Savannah, GA, Virginia's Shenandoah River Valley and Luray Caverns, on up through historic Harpers Ferry and Antietam, and then arriving at the Fingerlakes Region in New York in May, which starts Part II of our photo gallery below....

Photo Gallery 2015 -- Part II

The Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York

We left Western Maryland/PA and arrived in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York on Tuesday, May 19. We're staying at the lovely Pinecreek Campground, just outside the city of Ithaca. We're nearest Cayuga Lake, left, which along with Seneca Lake to the west are the two largest of the Finger lakes. Cayuga is 40 miles long and 435 feet deep. We saw people out sailing but we're not putting our boat in the water this week. We're just here to explore the area, visit Cornell University and nearby Watkins Glen, and see some of the other sites in the area, before we head on to Lake George to begin our summer sailing season.

This photo of Cayuga Lake was taken from Stewart Park just near the Cornell University Campus, which should provide some excellent kayaking perhaps on the weekend when the weather warms up a bit. It's also the northern trailhead of the Cayuga Waterfront Trail which should provide some excellent bicyling for us as well.

Cornell University is located right in the heart of the town of Ithaca, NY... a charming college town which reminds us a lot of Corvallis in Oregon, home to Oregon State University where two of our boys went to school. Cornell is a beautiful campus with classically beautiful ivy league architecture. This is a residence hall, perched high on a bluff overlooking the town of Ithaca and Cayuga Lake. I had always heard Cornell girls had great legs as a result of walking up and down the extremely hilly campus.

Libby is an avid birder and has spent a lot of time researching birds on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website... so she felt honored to visit this renowned institution, a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary. We also visited the Cornell Plantations Arboretum, which Corey enjoyed romping thru. We had a nice view across the Arboretum of the "ponds" on the Plantations grounds.

According to tradition there are 161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do before graduation - #141 is to "ring the giant bell in the Cornell Plantations". Many decades ago I was accepted for admission to Cornell, but chose to attend a state university rather than rack up the bills for a prestigious private university like Cornell. Now, visiting Cornell half a century later, I thought it was fitting to fullfil at least one Cornell tradition. I was also tempted to try #1 on the list: "Make the library into your bedroom and have sex in the stacks" - but the wife said fuggedaboutit! Well, I guess ya can't win em all.

After a day of touring around the area we dined at the world famous Moosewood Restaurant. This renowned natural foods restaurant has been in business since 1973 and generated a dozen cookbooks. We had a delicious squash and tomatillo soup and an excellent brown rice Waldorf salad with superb homemade whole grain bread.

Today we drove over to the town of Watkins Glen NY, famous for the annual Grand Prix auto race held there each September. It's a cute town located right at the base of Seneca Lake, the other of the two largest Finger Lakes. We investigated some RV and sailboat marina options for future reference. We walked about the town a bit and stopped in at the Glen Mountain Bakery where we had some of the best bran muffins I have ever eaten. And I LOVE bran muffins. We also bought the last two to take back to the coach as well as two loaves of their super bread. I weighed that Cinnamon Raisin loaf on the right in this photo... it weighs 2.2 pounds! Mmmmm...

After tooling around Watkins Glen for a bit we drove another 25 minutes over to the city of Corning, home of the Corning Museum of Glass. Here we wandered around for a couple hours, looking at exotic pieces of glass art and watching some demonstrations of glass blowing and also of fiber optics and how that works. Fascinating. We found a cute potential friend for Corey and then we were tempted to pick up this gorgeous bowl of glass fruit... but it was about 3 feet in diameter and we decided that was a wee bit too large for our dining table in the coach.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a sail on Seneca Lake out of the town of Watkins Glen aboard the True Love. This gorgeous 67' twin masted Schooner has an illustrious history, made famous as Bing Crosby's yacht in the movie High Society on which he wooed Grace Kelly. And here's my very own Princess Grace, my own True Love, dressed in blue and seated near the mast enjoying a lovely afternoon cruise. I hope to go back out one day next week when there is a lot of wind. I asked them to call me when they have 15+ knots of wind and I will make myself available.

This is what the Schooner True Love looks like under full sail. Obviously I couldn't capture a photo like this while onboard and we didn't really have the wind for it, so I borrowed this one from the web. Built in 1926 by renowned sailboat designer John Alden and originally named Malabar VII, she took first place in the 1926 Newport to Bermuda race. True Love made her movie debut in the 1940 romantic comedy, The Philadelphia Story, where she appeared as a miniature model of herself. In the memorable scene in this movie, Katherine Hepburn uttered one of the most famous sayings in modern sailing: "My, she was yar!"

On our afternoon cruise on Seneca Lake, the True Love cruised up by Hector Falls. After Taughannock Falls at 215', Hector Falls is the second highest waterfall in the area at 165'. It is certainly a beautiful spot to sail past on the lake, providing many memorable 'Kodak Moments' for True Love passengers.

On the way back we took the road along the east edge of the lake and stopped at Hector Falls, high above the lake. This is the upper section as seen from the road. Very pretty waterfall.

And here we are... the fearsome threesome... after a hard day out on Seneca Lake, relaxing in the late afternoon sun alongside our coach at Pine Creek Campground, enjoying cocktail hour. Ah, the good life!

Today, Memorial Day, we went kayaking out of Alan Treman State Park on the southern west shore of Cayuga Lake. There's an excellent free boat launch there on a nice channel called Cayuga Inlet which runs south from the park... it's a no wake zone, nicely protected and lots to look at. We'll go back again while we're here this next week. That is the The Boatyard Grill ahead of us, by all reports a good place to eat!

Here I am standing in the open space out in front of our coach at Pine Creek Campground near Ithaca. It was a breezy day so I pulled out the Quantum Prism Sport Kite I bought some time ago to give it a try. These are a lot of fun to fly... with a 7' wingspan, these are definitely not the old diamond shaped paper kites of our childhood. Watch some videos here. The wind was not steady enough to make flying it easy for a beginner but I made several good runs with the kite high aloft until the wind petered out. I look forward to playing with this toy again perhaps at a lakeside park where the wind is more steady in and around the Catalina sailboat, the model sailboats, the bicycles and the kayak. Sigh.... soooo many toys, so little time!

Here's Libby by Ithaca's picturesque Buttermilk Falls on a warm May afternoon. This one is easily accessible from the road... no hiking required.

We drove over to Cornell University and visited their lush Botanical Gardens. A nice effort by the university. I read this memorable quote on a sign there: "Flowers' lustrous colors, ephemeral nature and ability to perpetuate life through seeds reflect the diverse, finite, and life-affirming nature of humanity."

After a pleasant afternoon at the Botanical Gardens and Buttermilk Falls, we stopped off for some liquid refreshment at Ithaca Beer Company Brewery and sampled some of the local brews. We talked about going back for the tour of the brewery on the weekend. But our time here ended all too soon. Time to pack up and head for Lake George and do some sailing with my brother, Frank.

Lake George in upstate New York

It was a pretty day for my first day out sailing on Lake George in upstate New York. We arrived a few days ago, but various chores needed attention, and weather got in the way, but today was perfect. We got the sailboat rigged and launched her at Rogers Rock State Park just a couple miles from our campground. It was pretty windy so after getting her launched, I sailed her down the lake about 6 miles to my brother's cove. I pulled into Frank's place around 4:15 in the afternoon. We got the Anne Marie set up on a mooring ball just out from my brother's dock... and that's where we'll be sailing out of for the month of June.

OK... sorry... another food photo. But mangoes have LONG been my very favorite fruit... probably my favorite food bar none, ever since I visited my dad in the Philippines. The ones that grow over there are as big as melons and are invariably delicious. We learned to eat them asian style... you stick a fork in the stalk end, then slice off the two sides against the pit, just like filleting a fish, to create two cups. Then you pick up the fork, peel off the skin around the seed with the sharp knife and chew that part off the seed... and then you proceed to eat the two cups, scooping out mango chunks with a spoon. It just doesn't get any better than this... this mango was a ten. No deductions... not a 9.9 but a full 10. The color, sweetness and juiciness of this one were without equal in modern memory. Only sad part is that it came from Wegman's Grocery in Ithaca, and I cannot go back and buy more since we have left Ithaca far behind now in our travels.

Brookwood RV Resort in Ticonderoga, NY at the north end of Lake George, is certainly not our favorite camping experience of the trip, but it does rank right up there for Corey. The Lake George region is loaded with chipmunks or "chippies" as we call them and Corey just loves those things. Westies are just born rodent hunters and these are just his size! He is always on the hunt when we are out, and he spends most of his time by the window in the coach watching for them. Just outside the coach, there is one little chippie that just loves to sit on the rocks of the outdoor firepit and taunt him. Dog TV we call it. Here's a link to a funny Youtube video of Corey on duty.

On Friday with a disappointing wind prediction for the day, I took Corey into the nearby town of Ticonderoga for a stroll on the LaChute River Walk which winds all along the LaChute River. It culminates at the magnificent waterfall at the left in the town's historic Bicenenntial Park. A great spot for a walk with the dog... I'm sure we'll be back!

Here's Corey and me sitting on the wall looking down at the rushing LaChute River from a good vantage point along the LaChute River Walk. Pretty spot to sit and ponder nature. Corey would rather be sniffing and hunting, but he consented to take a break and hop up with me for the photo.

We drove the 90 miles up to Burlington, VT in our car for the day to check out the city and future RV and sailing options on Lake Champlain. We had lunch lakeside at the very resorty Splash At the Boathouse Restaurant (left), and took Corey for a walk after lunch in the lovely waterfront park. As in a lot of places, well behaved dogs like our Corey are welcome in outside dining venues like this. Perfect because temps were about 80 and it would have been too hot to leave him in the car for an hour. He sat under the table quietly in the shade hoping for food to drop.

Lake Champlain is a huge beautiful lake ringed by majestic mountains and marvelous scenery, a very popular locale for sailing with literally thousands of sailboats moored or docked here. We might consider returning here next summer. With Vermont's largest city, Burlington, right on Burlington Bay on the west shore, it is a great place to spend some time. The University of Vermont is located in Burlington, along with a number of smaller colleges, like Burlington College and Champlain College, making it a vibrant hip city to visit.

We visited Lone Pine Campground in nearby Colchester, VT, a suburb of Burlington, and decided that it would be a wonderful option to spend a month or more in our motorhome. Extremely clean, well manicured, with very roomy lush green campsites, it is our kind of place. And very well located in a quiet location yet minutes from shopping and a wonderful marina for our sailboat. That is a Tiffin Phaeton coach in the foreground... we felt right at home!

Just a couple miles away, Champlain Marina, located in beautiful Malletts Bay, is a splendid modern facilty and would be the perfect choice to dock our boat. We would be in some excellent company with many large yachts and a lot of sailboats. A photo of one of the really nice docks is at the left. And the facilities are wonderful... clubhouse and lounge with wifi and cable TV, store, showers, laundry, covered barbeque area, reserved parking, etc etc. And it's not outrageously priced for such a nice facility. Definitely some food for thought here.

Back on Lake George, on Wednesday my brother Frank took us for an evening margarita cruise along the pristine eastern shoreline of this sublime lake in his pontoon boat. Libby and Corey sat up front taking in the scenery. As we crossed back over to the west shore we cruised past the magnificent Silver Bay YMCA, an historic lodge and conference center, located immediately south of my brother's property.

On Thursday we drove down to the south end of Lake George to Lake George Village and boarded the 'Adirondac' (at the far left of the photo) for a two hour lake cruise. At 85' the 'Adirondac' is the newest cruise boat in the lake tour fleet. We cruised up the west side of Lake George as far as Bolton Landing for the first hour, then turned around and cruised back along the eastern shore of the lake.

We chose the 'Adirondac' because it offers an extended two hour cruise and they allow dogs on the cruise. Corey enjoyed himself as usual, begging for snacks and getting comfy in mom's lap.

We passed many islands on our cruise. In all, Lake George is home to 165 islands and 230 satellite islands (395 total), some privately owned with homes like this one. but most of them state-owned.

Many wealthy people have built magnificent summer 'cottages' on the shores of Lake George... like this stately home along the south west shore. Passed from generaton to generaton, families return year after year for summer vacations to the pristine waters of Lake George.

We passed many beautiful lakeside mansions on the lake tour. Built about 1905, this beautiful Tudor Revival–style summer residence, the Royal C. Peabody lakefront estate. is on the National Register of Historic Places. It located on the south west shore of Lac du St-Sacrement as it was first named by a Jesuit Missionary in the 1600's. It was renamed as Lake George in the 1700's and was a strategically crucial front during the American Revolution.

Our lake cruise took us past the Sagamore Resort, a Victorian-era resort hotel on Green Island in Lake George at Bolton Landing, New York, just about 8 miles south of my brother's place in Silver Bay. The Sagamore opened in 1883, then was fully reconstructed in 1930, and fully restored in 1983 when it was then placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a gorgeous place and will run you an average of about $350 a night in the summer season. We'll just stay in our Motorhome :-)

Friday, June 26 was our final day of sailing Lake George. Here I am at the helm on a close reach in a good stiff north wind. Directly astern on the shore is the magnificent Silver Bay YMCA Lodge and Conference Center. It was a perfect day to wrap up our sailing experiences on Lake George this summer. We sailed more than 3 hours in warm sunshine and 12-14 kts of steady wind. There is a significant storm system moving in this weekend, so we will get the boat pulled out early tomorrow and prepare her for hitting the road next week.

Here's a shot of Libby as we head back across the lake toward the Silver Bay YMCA Lodge. We made a few passes back and forth here to get a few good photos before we began beating our way upwind for a couple hours. After we reached the town of Hague some 4 miles up the lake from the Lodge, we dropped the mainsail and cruised easily back on the genoa jib almost straight downwind again to my brother's cove, Oneida Bay next to Silver Bay.

While Libby and I manned the sails, Corey was busy adding some ballast to the stern of the boat.... an important job for a westie. You can see he is working hard at it.

Here's a fun 30 second video we shot today which shows the sailing action up close and personal as we cruise across Lake George on this beautiful day.

A closeup shot of our Garmin GPSMAP 740s Chartplotter, an invaluable tool which we added to the Anne Marie shortly after we bought her. You can see our tracks for the afternoon, indicated by the dotted lines, as we make our way back down to "Frank's" at the end of the afternoon. It is showing our speed at 5.7 mph, pretty good with only the jib up, as we head downwind. It also shows our current depth at 149'. The Garmin allows us to plot our course, watch the depths, monitor our speed, and more.

Well we have enjoyed our month visiting with my brother and sailing the crystal clear waters of Lake George. It is easy to see what families keep returning to Lake George for their summer vacations year after year, generation upon generation. But our focus is on sailing and the winds here were just not consistent enough, at least this June, to call it a great sailing destination. We're moving on to the Thousand Islands on the St Lawrence Seaway, reported one of the premier sailing locales in the US if not the world.

The Thousand Islands, New York

Well, after three years of planning, dreaming and preparations, we finally made it to the fabulous Thousand Islands region of the St Lawrence Seaway, on the Canadian border in upstate New York. We said good-bye to my brother and left Lake George on Tuesday. After a brief layover in Albany, we rolled in today to our first stop in the area at the Association Island KOA Campground on Henderson Bay, NY (left). Located at the northeast corner of Lake Ontario, where the St Lawrence River begins its 1900 mile journey to the Gulf of St Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean.

We are staying here at the KOA in a bayfront site for just 4 nights, because we wanted to check out this unique island campground, one of a kind, really. But it is an hour away from the marina where we've chosen to dock our boat for cruising the St Lawrence this summer. So after a short visit here, we'll move over to the RV Park near the marina we have chosen for the next seven weeks in the Thousand Islands. Corey's happy here, though... on his first evening walk here, we encountered an unusual critter... fortunately it scurried off before any damage was done.

On Friday we took a drive over to the 1000 Islands Campground where we be staying for the next 7 weeks beginning Sunday, as we begin our sailing sojourn in the Thousand Islands. It's just 5 minutes from where we'll be docking our sailboat and 1/4 the price of this KOA, where we are now. Our space there was vacant, so we pulled in with our car and munched on a Subway sub sandwich, soaked up a little sunshine and enjoyed the tranquility in our little quiet corner of this quiet RV Park... very different from the busy, noisy KOA where we're staying now on Henderson Harbor. Especially on this July 4th weekend when many revelers seem to agree with W.C. Fields who famously said, "The only way to celebrate the 4th is to buy a 5th on the 3rd."

I had to get a picture of another RV in this RV Park... this is the very first RV we have ever seen towing a sailboat besides ourselves. It's a little West Wight Potter. We'll have to make their acquaintance. It is connected to the hitch behind the fifth wheel which is in turn towed by a pickup truck. That's a triple tow, which must be legal in New York State. That's brave! I sure wouldn't want to try it.

I also had to get a photo of this house. We have seen so many houses in upstate New York in dire need of a paint job. Actually that would be a compliment. This place needed a paint job 20 years ago. He has his satellite dishes though! Wonder if he watches "This Old House?" This is not that unusual! It never ceases to amaze us how badly some houses up here need paint. People actually live here! We have abandoned houses in Oregon which look better than this!

Home Sweet Home! Our spot at the 1000 Islands Campground located midway between the towns of Clayton and Alexandria Bay, right along the St Lawrence River. We'll be staying here for the next 7 weeks while we enjoy sailing the fabulous Thousand Islands region of the St Lawrence Seaway, on the Canadian border in upstate New York. Once again Corey is ecstatic... with the thicket right behind us, we have little cottontail rabbits and chipmunks scampering around right outside our coach!

Clayton is the town we'll spend most of our time in, since it is where our sailboat is docked and is the town closest to our RV Park as well. Click on the image at the left to see a slide show of Clayton presented by the Chamber of Commerce.

We are docking our boat at Bayside Marina in Clayton, right next to the French Creek Marina. This is an aerial view of the marina, situated right in the protected nook of the bay just a minute or two from downtown Clayton. The little yellow arrow in the center of the photo indicates our boat slip. Convenient, friendly and priced right... Bayside Marina is our kind of place!

Our first day out sailing on the St Lawrence Seaway out of Clayton Harbor, as we cruised out into the Thousand Islands. I had put together a whole web page of great photos and links to videos of this incredible place. Don't miss it. Out ahead here to our right is one of the 1800+ islands which are the Thousand Islands of New York and Canada. This one is Calumet Island, with the castle and former summer residence of New York tobacco tycoon Charles G. Emery. Emery built this lavish 30 room castle in the late 19th century. It was largely destroyed by fire in the 1950's, but still visible from a distance is the iconic water tower, which has been converted to a light house. It is a thrill to be here, the dream of a lifetime!

The St Lawrence is a BIG river... and it gets some big commercial traffic heading to and from Lake Ontario. Out ahead of us is a large vessel with the name 'Canadian Steamship Lines' on the side. We saw two of these this afternoon while sailing - we had to try to get close for a photo, but there is plenty of room out there. As you see from the heel of our boat, we had excellent winds... a steady 12-15 all afternoon. And lots more of it in the forecast. What a great place to be for the summer!

Just in from another fabulous day on the river Saturday, with excellent winds and bright sun, I met two other sailors in our marina. One of them tipped me to this article in USA Today: Reader's Choice Poll for the Best U.S. Boat Ride, 2014. Readers picked their top ten favorites... and guess which was NUMBER ONE? The Thousand Islands. And that's above Alaska's Inside Passage, Colorado River & Grand Canyon, Sunset in the Florida Keys, and the Pacific Northwest's own Puget Sound. It certainly gets MY vote!

We call this photo, the "Statue of Limitations." (Statue vs Statute, get it?) Corey will sit for hours like a statue watching for chipmunks. There are a lot of them here in the RV park. The neighbors have a bird feeder outside the front of their fifth wheel trailer and the little devils are always climbing the pole stealing bird seed. This is great entertainment for dogs. So he sits like a statue watching through the space below the trailer as they come and go... but he's a statue with limitations because he cannot be off his lead, or he will chase after them and they will all disappear into the thicket behind our spaces.

Welcome to Alexandria Bay. There was no wind today, so we drove the 8 miles down to the town of Alexandria Bay to take a boat tour of Millionaire's Row in the Thousand Islands, where wealthy magnates from the 1800's built their summer residences.

We boarded the Alexandria Belle, one of Uncle Sam's Boat Tour Paddlewheel River Boats, and headed out of Alex Bay for a 2 1/4 hour tour of the heart of the Thousand Islands.

Directly across from the Alexandria Bay harbor sits the iconic Boldt Castle, built at the turn of the 20th century by George C. Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. He set out to build a full size rhineland castle in Alexandria Bay, on picturesque Heart Island, but when his wife died suddenly of consumption in 1904, he ceased building and only in the late 20th century, was it acquired by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority and restoration was begun which continues to this day.

As we passed Boldt Castle, the tour continued for 2 hours in and around more than 100 islands in the chain of more than 1800 total. We headed west on the Paddlewheeler through Millionaire's Row with many fabulous estates and then turned and headed east all the way past the Thousand Islands Bridge (which crosses into Canada) before turning and heading back. There are many more photos from this cruise on a special Thousand Islands Tour webpage I have created exclusively for some of the best photos I took during this 2 hour tour. I will be adding more over the course of the two months we're here this summer.

Here we are enjoying our afternoon cruise in the heart of the Thousand Islands aboard the Alexandria Belle Paddlewheeler on a beautiful summer's afternoon. I love sailing here, but the area up around Alexandria Bay is too far for us to sail up to for the day and get back to Clayton. It's also is too narrow and precarious for sailing anyhow... better for powerboats in this area... so it's perfect for taking a guided tour to learn more about the remarkable region. Behind us is the Thousand Islands Bridge which extends from Collins Landing near Alexandria Bay, NY to Ivy Lea, Ontario, near Gananoque, crossing Wellesley and Hill Islands and spanning a distance of 8.5 miles.

Next day back aboard the Anne Marie... sometimes the captain likes to take a break, and the first mate takes the helm. A lifelong sailor herself, Libby is quite capable of handling the boat herself, even in a stiff breeze. That's Wolfe Island, Ontario, west of Clayton in the background. The sailing here in the Thousand Islands is just beyond compare.

After sailing for a couple hours off Clayton today in good stiff winds, we came back in early to take a 3 hour 'Thousand Islands Museum History Boat Tour' of the islands off Clayton, around Grindstone and Wellesley Islands and over to Gananoque, Ontario and back. Breathtaking scenery with fascinating historical perspective. The drawing at the left is captured from a brief two minute slide show video with some wonderful drawings from the Thousand Islands in 1886 when it first became a fabulous resort area for the wealthy.

Gananoque in Ontario, Canada is a colorful resort city we'll visit one of these days. It's just a few miles from our RV Park across the Thousand Islands Bridge to the Canadian side of the St Lawrence. Gananoque has a beautiful harbor there (pictured at left) with a lot of sailboats. We'll also sail over that way in the coming weeks. I added 10 more photos from today's history tour to the Thousand Islands Tour webpage.

We sailed Saturday 7/18 in magnificent conditions, took the day off on Sunday (when the river is the busiest) and were back out today Monday 7/20. Winds were strong... 13-15 on the US side and 15-20 out by Grindstone Island. We sailed east out of the harbor, up around the south side of Calumet Island (left), over to Grindstone Island then back over towards Bluff Island before beating our way back up the channel to French Creek harbor. We hadn't sailed over that way before but watching our GPS Chartplotter, we had no problems. We passed only one big steamship heading upriver, and otherwise it was all pleasure boats including half a dozen or so sailboats.

On Monday we drove over to Gananoque, just over the Thousand Islands Bridge in Ontario. Gananoque is a sailing town... there are many more sailboats there than in Clayton and Alexandria Bay combined... and they have a beautiful giant carved plaque in town celebrating their sailing heritage. We had lunch in town and nosed around the marina and a couple RV Parks. No chance we will be staying over there. Cute town but the marina is horrendously expensive for anything but the whole season, and the RV parks are a joke. Nice place to visit, but we wouldn't wanna stay there!

On the way back from Gananoque, we stopped in Wellesley Island on the US side of the bridge. It's mostly a big state park with a quaint, picturesque little community at the west end. It would be a charming place to stay, but the state park is like so many and doesn't offer full hookups, so impractical for us to stay for any length of time. The maximum stay in NY State Parks is 2 weeks, anyhow.

Wednesday 7/22 was mostly overcast with some threatening thunderstorm clouds moving around the heavens accompanied by some gusty winds, so instead of sailing, we visited the renowned Clayton Antique Boat Museum. They have canoes, skiffs, sailboats and powerboats of all shapes and sizes. I enjoyed seeing all the different classic sailboats on display. The beautiful Mahogany power boats, some in the museum and others in the water, were spectacular as well.

Today, Thursday, we got out for a late afternoon / early evening sail. We were rewarded with steady winds in the 9-12 range for the first hour and a half, and then we cruised in as it began to lighten up, watching a pair of hot air balloons drifting over Clayton in the late afternoon sunlight. I snapped this shot as we passed by the iconic Calumet Island right off Clayton. The old Water Tower, now a lighthouse, is our classic landmark as we head back in.

Words fail me here.... 'Sunset in the Thousand Islands'.... that says it all!    (Taken at Fisher's Landing this Thursday afternoon)            

Today was a memorable day of sailing as we sailed right up thru the Wolfe Island Cut, a clearly marked channel off the east end of the Canadian Wolfe Island, straight into Canadian waters. Our first time in international waters, eh? We reported in by telephone to the Canadian Border Patrol as required by law, and then sailed several tacks back and forth, marked by the dotted red line, on over to Howe Island just off the Canadian mainland. It's about a 3 mile crossing and we were cruising at about 6 mph so each pass took one glorious half hour. It took us two hours to sail several tacks up to the channel, and about an hour sailing back downwind to our harbor on a broad reach - we sailed a total of 5 hours and covered 28 miles.

At the left is a shot off the bow of Howe Island just off the Canadian mainland as are sailing north, whereas today's photo on the blog is a shot heading south back towards the Wolfe Island lighthouse at the northeast point of the island. The picturesque lighthouse indicates the narrow channel between US & Canadian waters. The photo at the left is not exceptional except that we are sailing 3 miles north of the Canada/US border, an adventure that marks our very first time in international waters. With the aid of our Garmin GPS Chartplotter we had no trouble at all. The wind was actually stronger and better on the Canadian side - we had as much as 12-15 at times. A great day!

Today we took the day off from sailing even though winds were pretty good. But the winds look good for the next ten days and we wanted to do some other things during our stay here in the Thousand Islands. One thing on our list was to tour the iconic Boldt Castle. George Boldt built it for his wife Louise in the late 1800's but it was never completed and is now under complete restoration. You can catch the shuttle over from downtown Alexandria Bay and spend as much time as you like walking through the castle and the grounds. It is quite a place, a premier attraction here in the Thousand Islands, and well worth the time to take the tour.

We walked all through 4 floors of the castle. Most rooms on the first two floors, like the dining room at the left, are completely restored and look almost exactly was they did in George Boldt's day. Parts of the upper floors are still in sadly deteriorated condition resulting from years of neglect and awaiting restoration in the coming years. If you can't visit yourself, watch a professional video tour of the castle.

The fabulous leaded glass dome ceiling above the main stairwell is a wonder to behold. Painstakingly restored using original fragments to duplicate the glass and workmanship, it is a testament to the craftsmanship which has gone into this restoration.

The view from the balcony on the fourth floor of Boldt Castle is magnificent as you look out across the channel at the town of Alexandria Bay and east and west up and down the St Lawrence River.

We strolled out to Alster Tower on the point of Heart Island, often called the "Children's Playhouse". It had a bowling alley in the basement, billiards tables and plenty of entertainment for Boldt's children. It is still awaiting major restoration from the last century's deterioration.

We also took the shuttle from Heart Island over to the 'Boathouse' on Wellesley Island just across the channel. A mansion in its own right, it is a beautiful structure built to house George Boldt's boat collection. Like the Clayton Antique Boat Museum mentioned earlier in this blog, there are many marvelous examples of antique wooden boats housed in the boathouse.

I am having withdrawal pains today... we couldn't sail yesterday because it was tooooo windy and I was busy solving electrical issues anyhow. And today, Libby has arranged to attend some kind of ladies' function, so I am dweebing my day away as I try to do a trick installation on a new Waterboss water softener that we just purchased from Home Depot... one with automatic regen like a home unit instead of the manual kind we have been using up to now. Libby found this handcarved tshotshke on Amazon and she ordered it for coach decor.

Today my TRC Voltage Regulator arrived via Amazon Prime. Pictured at the left, I connected it to the power Pedestal here at the RV park and then plugged our power cord into it. This park is not wired well and many of the sites like ours have low voltage at least on one of the legs of the 50A power. Low voltage means power outages and potential damage to expensive RV appliances. Our Allegro Bus is already fitted with a high quality hard wired Surge Guard Surge Protector, a necessary item in any case, but especially when using a voltage regulator like this. The good news is that it is working well and now we have good voltage on both legs for the rest of our stay, and for returning next year for the entire season as we are planning to do.

We attended the Antique Boat Show in Clayton, the longest running Antique Boat Show in North America. This is a fine example of the highly prized Gar Wood, among the most sought-after classic boats in the world. Garfield Wood started building boats during World War I and eventually developed what many said was the finest boat building factory in the world. In 1930 Gar opened a new factory that could produce 1200 custom quality boats a year in Marysville, Michigan. This is one of a number of immaculately restored Gar Wood boats at the show, cruising by the Clayton docks in the Sunday parade.

Another fabulous wooden yacht cruising past us in the Antique Boat Show parade. These things are a labor of love for their owners... the amount of maintenance these boats require takes a true passion... and a lot of moola. This was one of our favorite wooden yachts, the "Zipper" - but our favorite antique boat name was "Sea n'Isle". I guess that says it all!

Still another magnificent old wooden yacht cruising past the Clayton docks in the Antique Boat Show parade. It was just a gorgeous day for a parade.

Not all the gorgeous old boats at the Antique Boat Show were in the water. Some were proudly displayed in all their glory on the park grounds behind the Antique Boat Museum. I wish I had written down the name of this beauty. Out on the water at French Creek Bay, you can make out a lot of boats in the distance all out to watch the parade from the water. We chose to watch from the docks and avoid the traffic... and then go out sailing in our own boat afterwards.

After the parade at the Antique Boat Show concluded and we had sufficiently gawked at all the wonderful old boats, we went to our own wonderful NEW boat, the Anne Marie, and went out sailing. It was another very windy day today blowing 16-20+. That is a lot for a Catalina 22, but I was anxious to try my new reefing setup. I have been sailing the Anne Marie for 5 years and have never felt the need to reef the mainsail. But here in the Thousand Islands, it BLOWS... and blows HARD, sometimes. I read up on it online and watched a bunch of youtube videos. I ordered a reefing hook for the Tack reef point and rigged my lines for the foot of the sail and clew. As you can see it worked well... she handled well and with just a small amount of jib unfurled, we were getting 7 mph on a close reach.

I am an inveterate tweaker and tricking out the bus is sort of a hobby. I had bought an On-the-go Portable Water Softener a couple years ago, and it works pretty well. But when the water is extremely hard like here in the Thousand Islands, it requires manual regeneration twice a week to keep the water soft. Very tedious. So after some research, I decided to install a WaterBoss 700 Water Softener available from Home Depot. You can see the trick installation I did in one of my sliding Joey beds in the Bus' basement. I plumbed it with PEX and connected it to the sewer for auto regeneration. Like a home unit, all you do is add salt once or twice a month. Quite an upgrade for the ole Bus!

On Tuesday, August 4th, in what was surely one of the highlights of our summer in the Thousand Islands, we drove over to Gananoque in Ontario, about a half hour's drive from our campground on the New York side of the St Lawrence, and were met at docks by a new friend, Susan Smith. She ferried us in her boat over to her home on their enchanted Isle, Sagastaweka in the Admiralty Islands, part of the Thousand Islands on the Canadian Side near Gananoque. We sipped white wine and enjoyed a tasty lunch on the screen porch served by our hostess and her husband Marceli Wein.

Sagastaweka is a beautiful small island in the Admiralty Islands group, next to the larger Bostwick Island and just across from the Gananoque Marina. Susan and Marceli live in Ottawa, about 2 hours north and built a gorgeous classic style summer home on Sagastaweka in the mid 1980's. It is a beautiful quiet spot set against the tall green trees and azure blue waters of the St Lawrence River. Access is only by boat which they keep in a parking condo spot in Gananoque. What a treat it was to experience life in the Thousand Islands, first hand.

And who better to give us a taste of life in the Thousand Islands than Susan Smith, editor of Thousand Islands Life Magazine, a "monthly journal of articles about this distinctive region - its current development, its colorful heritage, and its characteristic marine lifestyle."   Since retiring from her career as a professional fundraiser, besides managing Thousand Islands Life Magazine, Susie has served on the Board of the Thousand Islands Land Trust and Save the River in Clayton, and the Arthur Child Heritage Museum and the Thousand Islands Assn in Gananoque. Truly the hostess with the mostest!

After a delicious lunch, Susie and Marceli toured us around the Admiralty Islands in their Striper motorboat, navigating expertly through the narrrow channels and dangerous shoals with ease. We stopped to say hi to one of Susie's best friends, Catherine Van Sickle, who has a charming little summer bungalow and boat house on another nearby island. What a delightful way to live!

As we pulled away from Katherine's dock we waved goodbye and headed back toward the Gananoque Marina, concluding our all-too-brief visit to the Admiralty Islands. Look at that sky! It hardly looks real! We hope we'll have an opportunity to see Susie and Marceli again before we leave, but certainly again next summer when we return to the magical Thousand Islands for the entire summer season.

A northerly flow for the past couple days has resulted in light winds, so we are catching up on some other tourist options in the interim. Today, Saturday, we caught the boat shuttle over to Dark Island, where Singer Castle is located. Frederic Gilbert Bourne, millionaire yachtsman and president of Singer Sewing machine company at the turn of the last century built this incredible 4-story 28 room medieval style castle from solid granite quarried from nearby Oak Island. In 2003 it opened to the public for guided tours and has become a popular attraction in the Thousand Islands.

Bourne built the castle originally as a hunting lodge, complete with tunnels, dungeons and hidden passageways. It was later expanded by Bourne's daughter Marjorie and her husband Alexander Thayer for their personal use until the late 1950's. In the early 2000's it was purchased by a group of German businessmen, renovated and opened for public tours.

Commodore Frederick G. Bourne - self-made millionaire, entrepeneur, yachtsman and the president of Singer Sewing Machine Company from 1889-1905, built "The Towers" as his hunting lodge...

Here I am in my Thousand Islands cap leaning on the sign for Singer Castle on Dark Island. In 2008, Dark Island was listed for sale through Sothebys International Realty for $24.5 million. Stories about a complex maze of dimly lit secret passageways, complete with a dungeon, have all increased the romantic mystique of Dark Island over the years.

This classic 1940's power launch was our shuttle for the half hour ride over and back from Schermerhorn Landing to Dark Island, where Singer Castle is located, some 12 miles or so east of Alexandria Bay, just inside the US border out in the middle of the St Lawrence River. I am standing with Glen, our captain, who gave us some additional history and nautical information on the area.

Sunday was our 14th day of 31 sailing here this summer, a beautiful summers day with lighter NE winds instead of the prevailing westerlies. We decided to go out even though Sundays are crowded, because I have been waiting for a NE wind day so we could explore further east, now that our confidence is up. So we braved the power boat chop, sailed out of French Creek Harbor and headed east below Calumet Island. The red arrows at the left shows our course as we tacked our way all the way out past Bluff Island to sail in the bay between the NY side and Woronoso Island, south of Grinell Island. The full size chart is HERE.

The winds were a little light even in the early afternoon and then got even lighter so we couldn't explore as far as we wanted. I was thinking to sail all the way to Thousand Islands Park but the NE winds more or less died and we had to power back to our marina. It was just a few miles so no big deal with our trusty, quiet-running Yamaha four-stroke outboard. We thought we might pull into the Boateak, a unique Island gift shop, but as we drew close we could see that, being a Sunday, there was no room at the docks so we just motored on home.

A great way to cap off a summer's afternoon of sailing is to stop by Castle Ice Cream in Clayton for a delicious dish or cone of Perry's Ice Cream, available in softserve or in two dozen scoop flavors.... the best around these parts! I had Cannoli ice cream... Yum!

On Wednesday we took a day trip and drove about 20 miles out to the picturesque Tibbetts Point Lighthouse, in Cape Vincent, NY, which stands right at the very point where the St Lawrence River begins its long journey from Lake Ontario heading towards the Atlantic Ocean. Constructed in 1854, Tibbetts Point Lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It still uses a Fresnel lens, which allows the light to be seen over greater distances.. Only 70 such lenses are still operational in the U.S., 16 being on the Great Lakes of which two are in New York.

After visiting Tibbetts Point Lighthouse we drove back into the village of Cape Vincent and enjoyed a delicious lunch at Aubrey's Inn. The Reuben sandwich in the photo at the left, along with the sensational sweet potato fries, were some of the best I've ever eaten. Libby's chicken quesadilla was also pretty awesome. Try not to drool on your keyboard, please.

After lunch we caught the privately run Cape Vincent Ferry over to Wolfe Island, Ontario. The plan was to cruise Wolfe Island for a little while just to see it since we often see it from the river when sailing and were curious to see it up close. Then we wanted to catch the other ferry from Wolfe Island to Kingston, ON, on the mainland, do a little sightseeing, then drive back east along the river to Gananoque and back across the Thousand Islands Bridge to Alexandria Bay in New York. But the full size Kingston Ferry is in for repairs and it was a 2 hour wait to board the small ferry so we opted to just visit Wolfe Island and take the same ferry back to Cape Vincent... no waiting line there at all.

As luck would have it, our own Miss Congeniality struck up a conversation with a lady by the name of Pat DiSisto on the Ferry ride over to Wolfe Island. Pat is a retired woman from New Hampshire who bought her island cottage on Wolfe Island about 12 years ago. She has 18 acres with a gorgeous waterfront homesite on Murray Bay just across from Carleton Island. What a view from her deck! We became fast friends, and I'm sure we will see her again.

We also drove out to the easternmost point of Wolfe Island. This is where the Wolfe Island Cut, a clearly marked channel off the east end of the Canadian Wolfe Island, heads due north into Canadian waters. We have sailed through the Wolfe Island Cut a number of times since we've been here, so it was interesting to be standing on land watching other boats pass right by. Beyond Libby in the distance, about 4.5 miles away, is the town of Clayton. Corey, the international traveler, enjoyed his visit to Wolfe Island as well!

We decided to try kayaking today at nearby Butterfield Lake. Located just 12 miles from our campground just east of Alexandria Bay, it looked like an excellent place to use our Hobie Outfitter Pedal Kayak when we scouted it a few weeks ago. Even on a warm Saturday afternoon, we had the 1000 acre lake pretty much all to ourselves except for a few fishermen and spent several hours out pedaling around. Very enjoyable!

Butterfield Lake is like the Thousand Islands, just on a smaller scale, but with quite a few small islands of its own, many with houses on them. And in the kayak we could pedal right up to them and around them. This was a charming one that someone is just in the process of rebuilding. All in all, a great day of exercise and fun cruising on picturesque Butterfield Lake.

We decided to take one last cruise through the breathtaking Thousand Islands off Alexandria Bay before we leave next week to continue our journey. So on a Saturday evening, we boarded the Uncle Sam's Twilight Island Cruise tour aboard one of his smaller cruise ships, and took one last guided tour through history as we cruised through the nearby islands until sunset. We had lots of big puffy clouds earlier in the day which would have made for a spectacular sunset, but unfortunately they had all dissipated by evening. Still, this shot leaves us with a warm glow.

After yet another superb afternoon of sailing on "The River", as the locals call it, our 16th day of sailing here since we arrived, we cruised back from the Canadian side in our last venture over there this trip. We'll sail our last day tomorrow, and then have to get the boat ready to be towed to Lake Murray, South Carolina for us, where we'll see her again October 1. We sailed some 20 miles today in outstanding winds to bring our total close to 300 miles here this summer. I never get tired of seeing Calumet Island in the late afternoon light (left) as we pull into our harbor at Clayton.

Here's the Anne Marie, our Catalina 22 MkII, in her slip at Bayside Marina, gleaming in the late afternoon light. She earned her "street cred" here as a worthy vessel, fully capable of sailing in a wide variety of challenging conditions in international waters on the St Lawrence Seaway this summer. On the dock, a cute young girl in her late teens was admiring the boat and we got to chatting. When we told her of our adventures, she said, "I wanna be you guys when I grow up!"  {Smile} I think our Anne Marie was blushing!

Our new friend, Susan Smith, editor of Thousand Islands Life Magazine ran a feature article on us this month, August 2015. The article summarizes our current lifestyle and includes excepts from my blog, which residents of this area might find interesting. I permitted the Windseeker homepage to be linked from the article so we'll see if I get any interesting Guestbook comments.

One of the great benefits of staying at 1000 Islands Campground near Clayton is that it is right next to Grass Point State Park, a terrific place to get some exercise and take the dog for a walk. This beautiful waterfront park is right along the St Lawrence and several islands from the 1000 Island chain are visible in the background. Even the kids' play structures have the 'castles' theme here! Grass Point State Park is also a popular campground, but is open to everyone for a modest fee. We purchased a New York State Parks Empire Passport when we were in Lake George and so we always get in for free. We went over here almost every day, sometimes twice a day, morning & evening!

Today, August 17, was another perfect wind day to wrap up our sailing here on "The River". Tomorrow we will derig the boat and get her road ready. I have arranged for her to be towed to Lake Murray SC where we'll join her Oct. 1 for a month of sailing there. As we sailed into French Creek Harbor this evening, we furled in the jib and carefully threaded our way thru the rocky Calumet Shoals, motoring in close for one last iconic shot of Calumet Island... all the while imagining the castle in its glory days. The view at the left is the one that will forever live in my memory, calling to mind the many wondrous days of sailing here this summer in the marvelous, magical Thousand Islands.

On our last free evening in the Thousand Islands, we were invited to dinner wth friends Bill and Penny Stallan, at their beautiful home in the country above Gananoque, Ontario... which they lovingly call Stallangrad. They have been to Russia and to St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), so the name is a term of endearment. We had drinks on the deck out back surrounded by a silent forest. They have a fully fenced acre so Corey had a ball running free with their two airedales. I have said it before.... like anywhere, it is the people who make any area truly special. And having the opportunity to make new friends and get a taste of their Canadian Country lifestyle (and delicious Canadian BBQ) was a real treat.

Boston, Massachusetts / Cape Cod & Martha's Vineyard

After arriving Friday afternoon in the Boston area, on Saturday we drove the 15 miles from our RV Park in Middleboro Mass, a few miles south of Boston, over to Plymouth Rock Memorial State Park on the coast in the town of Plymouth, Mass. At the left is a photo of Corey and me by the memorial.

Plymouth Rock is, of course, well known to every American as the actual spot onto which the first pilgrims stepped ashore almost 400 years ago, when they first came over from jolly Old England to colonize America. For most of us this legendary piece of granite seems mighty in stature in our imaginations, but in reality it is quite small, measuring perhaps 6 feet across. The park ranger explained that in the early days tourists were allowed to chisel off a piece as a souvenir and so it shrank in size considerably from its original form. But even in reduced size there is still a mystique or aura which surrounds it.

Besides the memorial, there is a reproduction here in Plymouth Harbor of the original Mayflower - the sailing ship which brought the pilgrims over from England in 1620. Plymouth Harbor is packed with private boats moored offshore.

Here I am standing next to a bronze statue of one of the original pilgrims who came to Plymouth, Mass. in 1620 and formed the first English colony in the new country. This one is of 'William Bradford, Governor and Historian of the Plymouth Colony.' "Whoa, take 'er easy there, Pil-grim"

Libby and Corey and I walked thru the waterfront part of town, past the memorial, the Mayflower, and the docks and browsed a few shops along Water Street .

We walked up Leyden Street where the Pilgrims began building their first homes before Christmas in 1620 after disembarking from the Mayflower. Originally named First Street, in 1823 it was renamed Leyden Street, also known as Leiden Street, named after the city in Holland that offered the Pilgrims refuge before coming to America. Town Brook is adjacent to the street and provided drinking water for the early colonists.

We also walked along Sandwich Street. We had to get a photo. It bears some explanation. We nicknamed Corey the 'Earl of Sandwich' when we first got him, because he would stand sometimes like in a daze and stare at the floor. We kidded that he might be a few sandwiches short of a picnic, and thus the name Earl. He actually turned out to be pretty sharp, but the nickname stuck. This photo in front of a classic New England building, serving as a Cat Clinic, of all things, seemed to be one we just could not pass up.

Well after all this history, we got a little comic relief on the way home. Gas prices are really low here in New England and we needed to fill up the tank. We put "fuel" into Garmin and she suggested Main St. Market. As we turned down Main Street, she said "approaching Main Saint Market on the right." LOL! We call this Garminisch. Turned out there were no fuel pumps there so we tried again and chose the "Stop N Save" convenience store. As we approached it, she said, "approaching Stop North Save Market on the right." We cracked up!

We took the 20 stop Old Town Trolley Tour of Boston Monday morning, visiting famous historic sites like Faneuil Hall. Libby stands in front of the historic spot next to a statue of Samuel Adams. Sometimes referred to as the "Cradle of Liberty", Faneuil Hall was rated number 4 in America's 25 Most Visited Tourist Sites by Forbes Traveler in 2008. I could feel the history as I stood by the stage where many important statesmen like Sam Adams made inspirational speeches.

Another interesting stop on the trolley tour was the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) & Museum. Old Ironsides is a 44-gun United States Navy frigate, still in commission and is currently in drydock. The ship itself is closed to tours on Mondays, but we went inside the museum where we learned a lot about this historic ship, built in 1794, which played an instrumental part of the victory in the War of 1812.

We also saw the USS Cassin Young (DD-793), a Fletcher-class destroyer, a U.S. Naval vessel which was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1974, and is permanently on loan to the National Park Service. She stands on display next to Old Ironsides here in Boston Harbor. In the 60's, I served in the US Navy as a young Ensign aboard the USS McKean (DD-784), a Gearing-class destroyer, stationed in Long Beach, California, which was very similar to the Cassin Young. Memories....

We ducked out of the drizzle and stopped at the Quincy Market where we enjoyed a quick lunch at 'Cheers', the pub and restaurant made famous in the 80's sitcom.

After lunch we boarded the trolley again and made a stop at the Old State House in front of which is the site of the Boston Massacre, which is credited with starting the Revolutionary War. You have to look closely to see Libby (indicated by the yellow arrow) standing by the circle in the sidewalk which commemorates that fateful day. We were running out of time so we sat out the rest of the trolley ride back to where our car was parked and braved Boston traffic to drive an hour and a half back to Middleboro to rescue Corey from doggy daycare before closing time at 6:30.

We drove down to Cape Cod on Wednesday morning. Our first stop before crossing onto the island was in the town of Buzzard's Bay, where we visited the National Marine Life Center, a marine wildlife hospital and rehab center. We drove over and took Corey for a walk along the Cape Cod Canal which separates the Cape from the mainland.

After leaving Buzzard's Bay we crossed the Bourne Bridge and took the scenic route, Hwy 6A, which runs east through the northern part of the Cape. The first town we arrived in along the scenic route was Sandwich, the oldest town in Cape Cod, founded in 1637. A very picturesque little town, and home to the 'Earl of Sandwich Motel' which we had to get a picture of on Corey's behalf. (explained earlier on this page)

From Sandwich we meandered slowly eastward through the villages of Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis and Brewster, arriving at the Cape Cod National Seashore at Wellfleet. My Seniors National Park Pass got us past the $20 parking fee without charge, and we took Corey down to the beautiful beach and walked along the seashore for a while.

After leaving the Cape Cod National Seashore, we decided against driving all the way up to Provincetown (a.k.a. P-town) at the tip of the Cape... and instead headed back south down through the town of Orleans, where I snapped this photo. Cape Cod seems to be known for two things besides the seashore and a thousand ice cream stands... windmills and lighthouses. This is the beautiful Jonathan Young Windmill at Orleans along Cape Cod's south shore.

And here is the other thing the Cape is best known for, its popular lighthouses. There are 14 lighthouses on Cape Cod... this is the one at Chatham on the south shore, which is also an active U.S. Coast Guard station. After leaving Chatham we drove east again through Harwich to the city of Hyannis, the largest city on the Cape, population 14,000. We drove through the downtown shopping district, but didn't stop. As it was getting late, we then hopped on Hwy 6, the four lane highway through the center of Cape Cod, and drove the hour back to our RV Park.

After a 10 hour day of touring Cape Cod yesterday, we decided to adopt a more leisurely pace today, starting with brunch at Dave's Diner again, and then cruising back down to the scenic Cape Cod Canal to bicycle along the Bikeway which runs some 7 - 8 miles right alongside the busy canal between the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges. That's the nice thing about retirement and the RV lifestyle... we like to savor the lifestyle rather than cram it full of constant activity. The weather has turned really nice, and so tomorrow we will visit Martha's Vineyard.

We rode the ferry from Falmouth to Oak Bluffs Ferry Landing in Martha's Vineyard on Friday for a quick look at this fabled summer island resort. Our time was pretty limited. Leaving home at 10:00 am, it took us over an hour to drive down to the shuttle bus parking lot to catch the noon ferry, then a half hour shuttle ride and a 45 minute ferry ride. With waiting time it was a full 2 1/2 hours to get to the island and the same on the return. And we had to get Corey to doggy daycare and then be back before 6:30 to pick him up again. The highlight of the trip for us was the ferry ride over and back. It was a beautiful summer's day.

The harbor at Oak Bluffs is lovely. If we were salt water sailors, I could easily imagine sailing in Vineyard Sound which separates the island of Martha's Vineyard from Falmouth on the south shore of Cape Cod. But we stick to fresh water sailing... we're just here to visit a few places we've always heard about and never been to. Just filling in a few mental blanks. So we just walked about the harbor a bit, and had lunch at a waterfront restaurant with a couple bowls of the obligatory New England clam chowder.

Most of what there is to do at Oak Bluffs involves tourist shops, restaurants and pubs, none of which are of much interest to us, and then fishing, water sports and boating, which we did not have any time for. This was just a quick peek. We might have enjoyed some of the other towns more... Chilmark, Aquinnah, Edgartown, and Tisbury... but since time was limited, after lunch we just walked off the chowder, took a few photos of the charming 19th century Victorian bayfront cottages, and had to call it good.

We caught the 3:45 ferry out of Oak Bluffs back to Falmouth Harbor (left). The 45 minute ride in the warm sunshine with a stiff cool breeze in our faces was delightful. Definitely the best part of the excursion for us. We made it back to doggy daycare just in time to retrieve the lil' dude before closing time. We were glad to have a chance to see Martha's Vineyard, but if we ever go back we'll make other arrangements, and either bring our car over or rent a car there and see more of the island, the way we did with Cape Cod. The Vineyard is far too large to see much of it on foot.

Newport, Rhode Island

On Monday we drove across the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge, a magnificent structure reminiscent of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, into The City by the Sea, beautiful Newport, R.I. At 3,428 meters, it is the longest suspension bridge in New England and spans the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay, from Jamestown RI to Newport.

Newport, R.I. is an old seaside city dating back almost to the landing of the Pilgrims at nearby Plymouth Rock. In the downtown Newport Historic District. It has one of the highest concentrations of colonial homes in the nation. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions built during the mid 19th century Gilded Age, it is also the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport, where I attended Navy Officer Candidate School after college in the late 60's. Newport was also the center of the slave trade in New England, and was a popular port with the rum runners.

Newport is often referred to as the "Sailing Capital of the United States." In 1851 Commodore John Cox Stevens, a charter member of the fledgling New York Yacht Club (NYYC) at the time, won the first America's Cup sailing race, a tradition which has continued ever since with the NYYC winning more than 25 titles, an unbroken string of victories until 1983 when the America's Cup was won by Australia's Royal Perth Yacht Club, thus ending the longest winning streak in the history of organized sport.

Newport is home to the fabled Mansions of Newport, presented by the Preservation Society of Newport County. The fabulous homes from Newport's Gilded Age include The Breakers, Marble House, Chateau-sur-Mer, The Elms, Rosecliff, Green Animals, Kingscote, Hunter House, Isaac Bell House, and Chepstow. We drove along Millionaire's Row, Bellevue Street, and visited the first of several mansions on our list, The Breakers. This fabulous turn of the 20th century Vanderbilt Mansion, Newport's largest and most extravagant, is seen here from the back lawn. The Breakers was named for its location along the cliffs of Newport with the ocean waves breaking down below.

Built during Newport's Gilded Age by Cornelius Vanderbilt II who according to the family tree, was the favorite grandson of the founder of the Vanderbilt fortune, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. No luxury was spared in the building of this opulent 138,000 square foot "summer cottage" for the Vanderbilt family. Pictured at the left is The Breakers Great Hall, which one enters from the front entrance with the splendid staircase leading up to an only slightly less opulent second floor with its 13 bedrooms.

This is The Breakers "Dining Room" complete with gold leaf, solid marble columns, Baccarat Crystal chandeliers, a 1700's stone fireplace from Europe, and much more. We took the marvelous self guided audio tour which explained that this is where the term "conspicuous consumption" came from. This takes 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' to a whole new level. Read more about The Breakers here.

This is the fabulous Music Room at The Breakers. Both Cornelius and his wife were musically gifted and would entertain themselves and family as well as host concerts here in the summer.

NOTE: All the interior photos here from Newport are borrowed from the web, as photography is not permitted inside the mansions. It is just as well, since it is virtually impossible to capture this grandeur on an iphone anyway.

Here we are standing by the massive wrought iron Entrance Gates offering a glimpse of the magnificent Vanderbilt mansion The Breakers behind. We purchased a one year membership to the Preservation Society of Newport County which with a military discount was just $60 and gets us unlimited access to any of the 8 mansions owned by the society (and some other properties) which are available for touring. They provide ample free parking near each mansion on the tour with docent-led guided tours at 5 mansions and marvelous stop-and-go self-guided audio tours at the top three... this is surely one of the great bargains we have encountered in our travels.

Alva Vanderbilt, wife to William, had the spectacular fifty-room Marble House Mansion built between 1888 and 1892 at a cost of more than $11 million (reportedly a quarter billion in today's money). An incredible 500,000 cubic feet of imported Italian marble was used in the construction. It was the first of the mega mansions or 'stone palaces' built in Newport, R.I. during the Gilded Age. At 30,000 SF it set a new standard of grand scale living, only to be outdone by William's brother Cornelius II, who built the 137,000 square foot mansion, The Breakers, a couple years later as a summer 'cottage' for his family.

The lavish splendor of the Marble House decor, from the 500,000 cubic feet of imported Italian marble to the extensive use of 22 kt goldleaf in rooms like the Gold Ballroom at the left, was at a level previously unknown in the Americas. The style and decor of Marble House was modeled by Alva Vanderbilt after Louis XIII & XIV Versailles Palace outside Paris, France. The Ballroom was used in the filming of the 1974 film, The Great Gatsby.

The extravagant Dining Room with seating for 12 was entirely done in red marble and gold leaf. The chairs were made of bronze covered in goldleaf and, because of the weight, required a butler to seat each guest at the table. The fabulous silver centerpiece and candelabra is "The Judgment of Paris" (1822/23) created by renowned English silversmith Paul Storr originally for the Baron Henrique Teixeira de Sampaio of Lisbon, Portugal. Sandwiches anyone?

The incredible 'Gothic Room' was all created in meticulous gothic style using many original pieces from Europe like the stone fireplace and the floor-to-ceiling leaded glass windows, transported to Newport in large crates and reassembled on site for the Marble House. Even the wood floor was imported from Europe. Alva Vanderbilt used the Gothic Room to house some of her fabulous art collections like her gold chalices and other fine art pieces.

The view from the back lawns across the bay is equally impressive. Some of the neighboring Bellevue Avenue mansions can be seen around the graceful arc of Sheep Point Cove, all backing up to the Atlantic Ocean. On a clear day one might just be able to see Martha's Vineyard some 30 miles across the bay off Cape Cod.

After her divorce from William, Alva Vanderbilt returned to Marble House. She had a Chinese Tea House built in 1912 on the seaside cliffs behind her mansion, where she hosted rallies for women's right to vote, a cause she championed until 1919 when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted women the right to vote. This picturesque, lavishly-decorated Chinese-style pavilion can be rented by the general public to accommodate small meetings, and dinner or cocktail parties.

On Wednesday we were able to arrange a private tour of US Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport. It was the 60's during the Vietnam War and immediately after graduation from college, I was either to be drafted into the army or I could join the Navy. I chose the Navy, and after attending OCS, I received my commission as an Ensign in the US Navy in 1968 and was assigned to Navy Destroyer USS McKean DD784. This is a photo of me with our Escort, Lt Rory Larson, out in front of King Hall, which was my dorm when I went to school there. Much has changed since the 60's so it was very interesting to have a chance to revisit the place almost 50 years later.

I felt like a V.I.P. or something, being assigned a full Lieutenant to give Libby and me a private tour. We met him at the Base Pass Office and he chauffered us in his sharp blue BMW through the Naval Station and over to the OTC (Officer Training Command) as it is now known. Officer Candidate School or OCS is a part of the overall OTC. We saw the dorms, classrooms and saw young OC's marching to class just as I did back in the 60's. I felt like a time traveler. The Navy always treated me very well and this was no exception. I salute Lt Rory Larson and the Navy for making me feel welcome home so many years later.

On Thursday, our last day here in Newport, we drove back down to Bellevue Avenue to visit our third and final mansion for this trip... The Elms. This photo is from the back lawn. The front of the mansion is more difficult to photograph because of trees and lighting. Our membership to the Preservation Society entitled us once again to free entrance and self guided audio tour headset.

At 60,000 square feet, The Elms is about half the size of the Vanderbilt mansion, The Breakers, and twice the size of the more extravagant Marble House. The interior is still lavish, however. The Dining Room is fit for a French king, literally. The huge tapestries and paintings throughout the mansion were incredible. The 'smallish' dining table, pictured here, had leaves and could be expanded to seat 24. Hors d'oeuvres anyone?

The Breakfast Room at The Elms was unique amongst the three mansions we toured here in Newport. Completely done in an Asian motif, the delicate black laquered panels were lovingly and meticulously restored by the Preservation Society of Newport County

I think our favorite room was the Conservatory, a sort of cool marble Garden Room and wonderfully refreshing respite from the formality and gilded extravagance of the rest of the first floor. The views out into the gardens from the Conservatory are breathtaking. PBS did a virtual tour of the Elms which might be the next best thing to being there.

We walked the gardens of The Elms a bit, in order capture some marvelous photos from the rear. Beautiful bronze fountains are located around the gardens. The incredible 100 year old beech trees are especially beautiful and carefully nurtured by the Preservation Society.

Here I am by another beautiful bronze fountain in the gardens... behind me is the Carriage House currently under restoration. Perhaps we can visit that next trip!

After leaving The Elms, on our drive back to the RV Park, we passed once again by Aardvark Antiques. We had to stop and capture this photo and take a quick peek at their inventory. This magnificent Bronze Lion weighs more than a ton and is actually one of a pair. They are $35,000 each or you can save and buy the pair for just $65,000. Statuary worthy of a Newport Mansion for sure! We're going to start saving up!

Long Island, New York

We made a very brief stop on Long Island primarily to visit with two old friends of mine from High School years. Saturday morning, Bernie Zaccaro drove over the Campground to visit... then we drove into Malverne, drive around the old neighborhood including past the house where I lived with my family in the late 50's (right). The neighborhood looks remarkably similar... still a very nice middle class neighborhood with nice and homes and lots of big trees.

Two of my dearest old friends from high school days, Ed and Dee Escoffier, came out to the Campground Sunday eve - we sat outside, dined on chinese food and drank some vino, remembering the good ole days. We had dinner at their house Saturday night as well. Since we're leaving NY tomorrow, this was one last opportunity to visit and for them to see the coach they've heard so much about. Obviously, they were not disappointed. Tomorrow we move to Cream Ridge, NJ on the outskirts of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

On Thursday I took Libby to the Philadelphia International Airport to catch her flight back to Portland area to visit the kids. I stayed back with Corey. After dropping her off I went to a birthday party at my cousin Ralph's house outside Philadelphia in Sewell, NJ. That's Ralph on my right and his sister Catherine on my left. And that's my cousin Paul next to Ralph. I remember little Ralphie when he came over on the boat from Italy when he was 13 back in the 50's. He has done very well in the Bakery business and raised a fine family and leads a very comfortable lifestyle. I am proud of his success.

The birthday party was a backyard pool party for Ralph's twin grandkids... age 4. Adorable little blond boy and girl. Ralph served marvelous food... some of the largest juciest prawns I have ever eaten among many other tasty delights.

At the table left to right are my cousin Catherine and her daughter Maria, and my cousin Paul and his longtime ladyfriend Angela.

The birthday party for the twins was a pirate theme and there plenty of pirate costumes among the many guests. There was music and marvelous food and drink. A great opportunity to see relatives I hadn't seen in many years and to meet some new ones of the younger generations. One of the great joys of motorhome travel...

On the way home I stopped for gas. I had to get a photo of these gas and diesel prices. What a boon for travel! Half what they were a few years ago!

On the weekend I drove down to Brigantine, NJ where a lot of our relatives have had beach homes for many years. It was interesting to see the changes, especially since Hurricane Sandy which caused serious flooding and damage there in the island community. Everyone is building up to be above the flood line now. I stayed at the home of my cousin Paul who lives in Brigantine full time now. What started as a small one story home was expanded to two levels some years back, and now after Sandy, he has had it raised 12 feet to comply with new federal standards. Here we are toasting to our Aunt Nan with stingers (her favorite drink), the same Anne Marie after whom I named my sailboat.

Hagerstown, Maryland

We made a layover for a couple days in Wiiliamsport, MD near Hagerstown after getting a couple warranty items taken care of at Risco RV in Farmingdale, NJ, close to Cream Ridge where we were staying. We're staying at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Campground. Is that a pica-nic basket, Booboo?

The Hagerstown City Park. is a picturesque collection of man-made lakes, wooded walking trails, picnic facilities, and active recreation facilities, museums and outdoor amphitheater, and is rated the Most Beautiful City Park in America. We stopped back through Hagerstown, Maryland on our way down to our next stop at Appomattox, Virginia. Not only is the park a landscaping masterpiece, it is focal point of the community with activities, concerts and parades. In the background of this photo is the local model sailboat club holding a regatta. There are lots more great photos from our previous visit in the spring.

We will never be able to come through here after our last trip without stopping in for the incredible antipasto at Carmine s Creative Italian Cuisine. YUM!

From Hagerstown, we made a detour to Durham, NC before heading to Asheville, our next key destination. We found a lovely campground in the Durham area... Jones Station RV Park. One of the nicer ones we're stayed in and very reasonably priced as well, but alas they have an RV club coming in tomorrow so we're only able to stay one night. Some other parks in the area were downright scary, so we're moving on tomorrow to Asheville, NC for one week. Tonight we met up with Matt Bowen, our son Patrick's best friend ever since childhood. We met up at a local BarBQ restaurant and had BBQ and Brews.

Asheville, North Carolina

After our brief layover in Durham, we headed west to Asheville, NC to visit, among other things, the area's top attraction, the fabulous Biltmore Estate, America's largest home at 178,926 SF, built by 26 year old George W. Vanderbilt at the end of the 19th century. Since we also visited some of the other grand homes of the Vanderbilts in Newport, R.I., last month, the Biltmore Estate was of particular interest.

On Thursday, day one of our Biltmore visit, we took a quick peek inside the mansion just to get a quick flavor of this amazing place. The mansion was built by George W. Vanderbilt to resemble a French Renaissance Chateau on the exterior but with an English flair inside. Here's Libby sitting by the front entrance to this massive home, now a major tourist attraction, with over one million visitors a year. We will do the self guided audio tour of the inside of the mansion tomorrow and focus on the gardens today.

For our visit to the Biltmore Estate, we bought a two day pass, and since it is supposed to rain tomorrow, we'll visit the interior tomorrow, while we toured the extensive gardens today. The Biltmore Estate encompasses 8000 acres and the gardens are a virtual Botanical Garden paradise with thousands of species of plants and trees all carefully nurtured by the Master Gardener and his staff.

This is the Conservatory at the Biltmore Estate, a huge greenhouse with arched windows that look out onto the gorgeous gardens. It features many sections for everything from gorgeous tropical plants to exotic flowers including many species of orchids.

We walked all through the various gardens - the Italian garden, the Rose Garden, the Shrub Garden, and the beautiful Walled Garden (left).

After touring the gardens and conservatory, we drove out to the Estate Winery for their free wine tasting which is included with the admission. There we sampled some 20 different red and white wines, from Merlots and Cabs, to Chardonnay and Riesling, including some varieties we had never heard of! We even purchased a rather expensive special occasion bottle of their Thirtieth Anniversary Red Wine. After drinking more than we should, we carefully drove home where Corey greeted us with his suspicious "Where have YOU guys been?" face.   Oops, busted!

Today, Friday, some much needed rain arrived in western North Carolina as predicted. So as planned we returned for day two of our visit to the magnificent Biltmore Estate, this time to take the tour of the interior. At almost 180,000 SF (over 4 acres of floor space), this is no small task. Like the Newport mansions we visited last month, the Biltmore Estate offers a self guided audio tour which is a great way to see something like this at your own pace.

Biltmore has four acres of floor space and a total of 252 rooms in the house including 33 bedrooms for family and guests, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, and three kitchens. To the right of the marbled Entrance Hall, the octagonal, sunken Winter Garden, very fashionable in those days, is surrounded by stone archways with a ceiling of architecturally sculptured wood and multifaceted glass. It is a truly grand atrium.

NOTE: All the interior photos here from Biltmore are borrowed from the web, as photography is not permitted inside the mansions. Just as well, since it is impossible to capture this grandeur on an iphone.

Adjacent to the Winter Garden is the stupendous Banquet Hall, the largest room in this gargantuan house. The hall measures 42 x 72 feet, (over 3000 SF, the size of our own house) and features a 70-foot-high barrel-vaulted ceiling. It literally takes your breath away when you enter. Fully extended, the table could seat 64 guests and is surrounded by five enormous rare early 16th century Flemish tapestries and a triple fireplace which spans one end of the hall between the two doors. Along the back wall of the Banquet Hall are two intricately carved thrones.

The warm and elegant Breakfast Room was used for family breakfasts and more intimate family meals. The Italian marble fireplace forms a centerpiece for the ornate room with the Vanderbilt family coat of arms above it beneath the warm glow of the intricately patterned ceiling. Photos of the patriarch Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and George's father William hang on the walls. The drapes and furniture are all covered in a rich brocade fabric and all the walls are covered in hand tooled Spanish leather. Could somebody pass the corn flakes please!

To the left of the entrance hall is the 90-foot-long Tapestry Gallery, which leads to the Library. The Tapestry Gallery features three huge, priceless 16th-century Flemish tapestries, part of a set called The Triumph of the Seven Virtues, woven in Brussels in the early 1500's, The Triumph of Faith tapestry in the middle is the only surviving example of this famous tapestry in the world today.

The magnificent two-story Library with its rich walnut paneling contains over 10,000 volumes in eight languages, reflecting George Vanderbilt's interests in classic literature as well as works on art, history, architecture, and gardening. An ornate walnut spiral staircase leads to the second-floor balcony. The baroque ceiling painting, The Chariot of Aurora, an incredible three dimensional work of art, was originally painted by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini for the Palazzo Pisani on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. George purchased it, had it restored in Paris, and had the room especially created to showcase the painting.

The Bachelors' Wing features the Billiard Room, which is decorated with an ornamental plaster ceiling and rich oak paneling and was equipped with both a gorgeous custom-made pool table and a carom table (a table without pockets). I enjoy shooting pool myself and had my own competition pool table in our last home. I would have enjoyed hanging out in this room. The wing also includes the Smoking Room, another room which was fashionable for country houses, and the Gun Room which held mounted trophies and displayed George Vanderbilt’s gun collection.

The Music Room was not completed originally. It was finally finshed and opened to the public in 1976. What is curious is the massive size of the chairs, situated around the room, each of which looks almost like a throne. The hardwood floor is adorned with one of the many gorgeous persian rugs collected by George W during his trips abroad. Rug collectors ourselves, we had seen a PBS special some time ago on the persian rugs of the Biltmore Estate, and the great extent they go to in preserving and restoring these magnificent works of art. The large collection is rotated throughout the Biltmore so that only a small portion of the entire collection can be seen in any single visit.

Ascending the grand staircase, we arrive in the Second Floor Living Hall which served as a formal hall and portrait gallery which included life size portraits by artist John Singer Sargent of Biltmore's architect, Richard Morris Hunt, and landscaper, Frederick Law Olmsted, both portraits commissioned for the home by Vanderbilt. Sargent was considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" in the first quarter of the 20th century. Off the Living Hall in the south tower is George Vanderbilt's opulent Bedroom with gilded walls and custom furniture designed by Richard Morris Hunt, as well as several marvelous persian rugs.

Connecting George's bedroom (pictured above) to the equally elegant bedroom of his wife Edith is the carved oak paneled Sitting Room at the left which features a large stone fireplace and an intricate plaster ceiling. Here the Vanderbilts typically enjoyed intimate breakfasts together before starting the day's activities.

For even more photos and info, here's a link to a more detailed tour of the Biltmore House as well as a brief video tour on youtube.

George Vanderbilt opened his opulent estate on Christmas Eve 1895. This photo is from 1900. After George died in 1914 at the age of just 51 due to complications from an emergency appendectomy, his wife Edith intermittently occupied the house, until the marriage of her daughter Cornelia to John Francis Amherst Cecil in April 1924. The Cecils then lived at the estate and opened it to tourism in 1930. After his split from Cornelia, Cecil maintained his residence in the Bachelors' Wing until his death in 1954. Still owned by the Vanderbilt family, the Biltmore House ceased to be a family residence in 1956 and has continued to be operated as a historic house museum.

Lake Murray, South Carolina

We moved down to Lexington, SC on Wednesday, planning to stay and sail Lake Murray for the month of October. But by evening, the forecast for the next three days in the Lexington area is for rainfall of historic proportions. This is explained in some detail on Weathergoddess.com's blog, which says that due to the interaction of Hurricane Joaquin with the 'Bermuda High', "this storm has a high chance of undergoing extratropical transition," thereby dumping extremely heavy rainfall on the area where we are staying (predictions in the last 12 hours have ranged from 12-16 inches), so we decided to clear out until it passes.

Atlanta, Georgia

With the "historic rainfall" and flooding due to hit the Carolinas we decided "better safe than sorry." Since Columbia looks like a direct hit for tomorrow, we figured it was best to get out of harm's way. Thursday morning we packed up quickly and drove west about 265 miles or so past Atlanta to Bremen, Georgia. We're staying at a nice quiet Jellystone RV Park where rains over the next three days are only supposed to be light rather than torrential like what is predicted at Columbia and Lake Murray. Rainfall above one foot in three days is more than we care to experience. We'll have some fun in Atlanta for a few days.

There's no shortage of things to see and do in Atlanta, GA. On Friday, we visited the World of Coca-Cola museum here in Atlanta, Georgia (where the company's headquarters are located). During what was essentially a two hour infomercial, we learned about the history of The Coca-Cola Company and visited various entertainment areas and attractions. It did include a mock mini bottling plant and lots of nostalgia displays, and some historical perspective back to the birth of Coca Cola in the 1800's. And we also got to meet their mascot!

Coca Cola actually sells a lot more than Coke.... they sell 600 different brands of beverage and a total of more than 3500 flavors globally. At the end of the tour they have a tasting room where you can taste as many different drinks as your stomach can handle. We visited the Europe kiosk and tasted a number of uniquely different European bottled beverages, our favorite being a German one called Mezzo Mix. It is basically standard Coca-Cola with a light orange flavor, but it seems drier and less sweet than normal coke.

Coca Cola makes a big deal about their "Secret Formula". They say they have the only written recipe in a big safe on the premises under armed guards. And they show you an entertaining "4D" movie about it which is 3D (using 3D glasses) plus theater seats that rock and roll and water splashes.

After the World of Coca-Cola, we walked around the corner to CNN Headquarters which is located here in Atlanta. They also offer guided tours, so we forked out another 30 bucks and visited 9 floors of CNN's news making machine. At the left is the Newsroom where all the news stories are written, researched and vetted.

CNN's sister news station is HLN, the Headline News Network. I am standing in the studio for filming HLN news programs like Robin Meade's morning show.

On Saturday afternoon we drove into Atlanta again and visited an old friend, Janet Wells, who has lived here for many years. She is an actress and someone I know from my days in the business from long ago. We've remained friends and her brother Shad is also a close friend in L.A. and we visited him while we were there in January. Janet cooked us a delicious southern meal with southern fried chicken, collard greens, mashed potatoes and fried green tomatoes. Good food, good drinks, and reacquainting with good friends. One of the great parts of life on the road.

Well, the epic storms have cleared leaving diasaster in their wake. The news media are calling it a 1000-year flood. But it is apparently worse than that. The convergence of weather patterns which created this epic flood situation dumped as much as 24 inches in a four day period, and really nailed the area we were scheduled to visit. We're very sorry for the many people of South Carolina who were hit hard by these floods. We're going to head south earlier than planned and plan to return and sail Lake Murray in the spring when things have returned to normal.

Lake Monroe, Florida

We moved to our winter quarters, Wekiva Falls RV Resort in Sorrento, Florida and got set up on Monday October 12. We had picked out this premium spot #742 last spring before we left. This is just a lovely park. Our nice big roomy spot has a wonderful view out the front windshield, with some live oak trees for some shade but not blocking our clear shot at the Dish Network Satellites. We'll be here in Central Florida's Premier RV Resort until April, and will be keeping our sailboat at the Monroe Harbour Marina on nearby Lake Monroe which offers excellent winter sailing.

Lake Monroe offers perhaps the best fresh water sailing in the state of Florida. Most of the attention to Florida sailing is given to coastal locations, but since we do not sail salt water, our choice here in Florida is Lake Monroe. Located south of the freeze zones in the state by the city of Sanford, it covers roughly 7500 acres and is close to 5 miles wide at its widest point. We were here for a full month last spring... sailing 17 days total... and never saw a single alligator. The lake offers consistent steady winds much of the year and is never crowded. Monroe Harbour Marina is a great marina for docking our sailboat and offers protected slips with easy access out onto the lake.

An RV Park is not normally the kind of place you would expect to see the best Halloween display anywhere, but these folks really take it to the limit. It's just down at the end of our circle along the main entry road here at Wekiva Falls. Ghouls, goblins, witches, skeletons, a hearse, you name it! Pretty amazing. If they do this kind of display for Halloween, I'll be interested to see what they do for Christmas.

Unlike so many sterile RV parks we've stayed in, Wekiva Falls RV Resort is a very natural environment. Several miles from the main road, it is very quiet with lots of open space, beautiful trees, a swimming lagoon fed by the Wekiva River, and many forms of wildlife which are very entertaining for dogs! Here's Corey watching the local resident sandhill cranes grazing out his picture window. There are lots of squirrels, some rabbits, and the occasional black bear from the adjacent wild bear preserve to beware of as well!

                       Corey's Motto                                  

One of the hazards of living in a campground with a dog is that people and especially kids often leave food scraps by picnic tables or near trash cans or just along the road. Hence, walking Corey always requires exceptional vigilance. We are reminded all too often of the frightening incident when Corey earned the nickname Captain Hook.

Happy Halloween to all our friends! See our special greeting by clicking on the pumpkin. We're celebrating the occasion in warm Florida sunshine this year. And tomorrow we'll be sailing again!

After retrieving our sailboat from Catalina Yachts over in Tampa, Florida where we had some fiberglass repairs done, we got her launched and into her slip at Monroe Harbour Marina on Lake Monroe on Sunday November 1. We have the same slip we had in the spring. We just love this marina! That's me in the bright green T-shirt standing aboard our beloved Anne Marie, second sailboat from the right.

We've had several excellent sunny sailing days out on Lake Monroe since we launched the boat here Nov 1. Today, Nov 8, was a bit sketchier with big black rain clouds circling the lake. We decided to go out anyhow, staying closer to the marina, and dodged rain showers for an hour and a half until after 5:00 as evening approached. But we didn't get wet and had fun in light winds ranging from perhaps 6-9 mph.

Enjoying yet another excellent day of sailing on Lake Monroe today, Monday 11/16, we observed an interesting operation as a sunken sailboat was raised and towed to the harbor. Apparently while sailing in strong winds on race day, one boat was sailing downwind with his spinnaker out and raised his keel for speed downwind, when someone made a mistake and a gust took the boat over and it sunk. That's why we like our wing keel, a very stable fixed keel which makes it almost impossible for our boat to go over. And because it has no moving parts, there is nothing to jam, leak or cause any problems.

We left Wekiva for a couple weeks, first to head over to Venice to see my brother... and then over to Daytona and Ormond Beach to visit my sister for Thanksgiving. What we did not know is that this weekend is also the annual Turkey Run, with thousands of hot rodders and bikers converging on Daytona. Or campsite at Sunshine Holiday Resort was not exactly the peaceful quiet RV experience like back in Wekiva Falls. At left is our immediate neighbor. These people are from a different world. We awaken each morning to "Gentlemen, start your engines" as these folks fire up their street rods and head over to the Daytona International Raceway to take their positions for the day's car show activities.

Corey was bored.... not exactly the kind of view he enjoys out his picture window. He's resting his nose on his little stuffed buddy, Roger Rabbit, waiting for his next outing. At least Sunshine Holiday Resort has a lot of trees and squirrels! I think he is "trusting in God" that we won't be here too much longer. We'll head back to Wekiva Falls RV Park on Tuesday and back to sailing Lake Monroe.

While these street rods and custom cars are not exactly our own focus, it is somewhat entertaining to see what lengths some folks will go to to recapture their youth and their fantasies in the cars of yesteryear. At the left is the ever popular '57 Chevy Belair. My Dad actually had a more sedate silver model back in the late 50's. I wonder, as our generation ages, and people that were born in the 60's reach retirement age, whether they will retain a fascination for cars of the 50's which were not part of their youth.

My sister's husband Jim is a very handy guy and also kind of an electronics wiz. So I enlisted his assistance for a long deferred project. The Home Theater unit, Satellite Receiver and Blu Ray Player all fit nicely in the cabinet by the entry door along with various switches and the external Harddrive for the Dish Receiver DVR. But the way this equipment was all installed you could not get to the back of anything. It was a formidable task but we removed all the equipment from the cabinet, built a sliding shelf to set the equipment on, untangled and carefully labeled the massive rat's nest of wires and cables, then hooked all the equipment back up correctly again. I have been wanting to do this for a year and half. Very happy to have it handled.

Back at Wekiva Falls RV Park, before we moved back into our long term winter space, I reconstructed some wooden platforms for the coach tires. I had bought 10 pressure treated 2x6's at Home Depot back in October and we were parked on those until we left for Venice. I set the wood planks aside and reassembled them upon our return with better 'strong ties' to hold them together as we pulled up on top of them and set up camp for the winter. The reasons were twofold... these huge Michelin tires are very expensive and sitting in moist sand all winter is bad for them. In addition, the sand is a bit soft and we wanted to avoid sinking into the sand with this 20 ton coach.

Sunday Dec 6 was excellent sailing with consistent winds in the 12-15 range. The weather was mostly overcast though and threatening rain at times even though it never did. Monday we went back out after hitting the gym for an hour. The weather forecast called it partly cloudy and winds were again in the 12-15 range. By late afternoon, it was mostly sunny - really a perfect afternoon with temps in the upper 60's winds nice and steady and not another boat on the lake! We sailed until sunset and were walking up the dock in the twilight. We had yet another excellent day of sailing on Tues.  Lake Monroe does not disappoint!

We sailed the 7th, 8th, 11th and had excellent sailing each day. Friday, the 11th was a little lighter so we took Corey. He had not been sailing in a while, but he settled right into his groove, back in the stern in his little sun shelter we made for him. He's always been a great little sailor.

Yet another excellent day today, Saturday the 12th. Libby took the helm a good part of the afternoon, and I sailed in the strongest winds between 3 and 4pm. Just one other sailboat out... odd when the marina is FULL of sailboats. What more can you want than an 80 degree December afternoon with steady 12-14 mph winds and a nice cold beer?

We sailed Monday and Thursday this week... our 6th and 7th days this month, a better than 40% average! It's supposed to rain tomorrow so that will wrap it up for us before we fly back to Vancouver this weekend to spend the holidays with our kids. It was an excellent day once again with winds 12-15 earlier and tapering off to 8-10 after 3:30. A GREAT day to wrap up a great year of sailing together.      On Saturday I sailed one last time with my old college roommate, Bob Carns. It was he who first introduced me to sailing on the Chesapeake in the 60's. We had a great exciting sail with winds at 18-24... actually reefed the main!

We flew home to Vancouver, WA for the holidays. We left Corey with a pet sitter in Florida for the week. I'll return on Dec 27th to pick him up. Here in the Pacific Northwest it is blustery and chilly this time of year. It *feels* like Christmas time. Back in Florida, Santa is skipping the sleigh and reindeer bit and is enjoying the sunshine and warm weather, getting in a little sailing. I'll join him next week!

We never know what to get each other for Christmas any more, but we are both serious western film fans... and we also watch Encore Western Channel reruns of Gunsmoke, Cheyenne and others recorded regularly on our Dish Network system DVR. We got to ride in a real stagecoach when we visited Old Tucson in Arizona this past winter, and today I was browsing eBay and spotted this marvelous detailed Franklin Mint diecast model of an Overland Stage so we decided to make this a Christmas gift to each other to add to our "western theater" decor in our family room at home.

Libby and I had a joyous Christmas at home with our boys. All are well and happy in their work. 2 civil engineers here in Portland and an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank. We shared good food, small presents and lots of laughter. Enoying brunch around the dining table on Christmas morn, from left to right that is Pat, Drew, Libby and Tim.

I've been having sailing withdrawal symptoms so this evening we watched a movie called Maidentrip on Netflix streaming, the remarkable story of 14-year-old Laura Dekker who set out on a two-year voyage on her 38' Jenneau sailboat in pursuit of her dream to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. She completed her remarkable journey in 2012 at age 16 and this intriguing documentary was made the next year chronicling her amazing adventure. I can't wait to get back on my own boat next week.

As 2015 draws to a close, and we reflect back on our "excellent adventure," I propose a toast to all the good things that have come our way and all the good times ahead as the Windseeker 2016 Eastern US Tour continues. We hope you will join us for some exciting times in the New Year! Cheers!