Travel
What a disappointment to find that the shores of Lake Ontario, as many of the other Great Lakes, are in private hands. Today I could only snap a photo from afar while on the Ontario Lake Parkway. Every time I tried to turn down a road that looked promising it ended up being private. I'm hoping to see more tomorrow.
I did find something unexpected in the little town of Medina - The Erie Canal: the bridge going over the canal is a also a drawbridge!
Here are two photos I snapped from the Parkway, a divided highway with a very wide median strip, and mostly large trees on the lake side. If you get a break in the trees you get to see the fine houses lining the lake. I wouldn't waste a picture on those.
I only drove 90 miles or so today. The campground was comfortable, quieted down early, and I got a good night's sleep. There was heavy dripping dew all over everything when I finally got up this morning. I wiped off the tent fly as best I could, although the dew reappears immediately. So I've packed a wet fly; the tent stayed relatively dry but as soon as I removed the fly the moisture tried to land on the tent. I got that down in a hurry, but everything needs to be air and sun dried soon.
I'm in a motel in Rochester, hoping to get a load of laundry done. I'm ready to cry over this place, which is nice enough, but the doors are almost impossible for me to handle. I've bruised and cut myself just trying to get through them. I asked for a room near an outside door so I wouldn't have to carry my bags far from where I parked the car. They have me in a spot not to my liking, but I know the desk clerk tried and had no idea what I really was asking for. She's too young!
I've found several things on the map I'm interested in, as well as trying to find camping. Seneca Falls is nearby and I might try to get by there. Tonight, Saturday, is the hardest time to find camp sites available - I've already tried a couple of places. As long as there isn't any rain in the forecast I'll sleep in my tent the next couple of days, I hope.
Several readers have commented that I'm making "good time", which never really figured in my planning. I had "x" number of days to work with, and way more things I could think of to see than I could fit in those days. I'm glad in the long run that I decided not to go into Canada, as I would probably not have gotten to Lake Ontario if I had. Of course, I still need to get a good look at Ontario, and I hope to tomorrow.
I think the Great Lakes are national treasures for both the U.S. and Canada. It is so sad that so much of the shorelines in the U.S. are held privately, and it's really difficult to determine where there is public access. I thought about going into a State Park today, one of those that had no camping sites available, but I'm not sure how much if any lake access I would have had from the park. It sure wasn't advertised. I still think Michigan features Lake Huron in the best possible way, but I can only say that from the little I've seen, so don't take my word for it.
Thanks to those who responded to my questions about the Edmund Fitzgerald. Of course it happened in Lake Superior. I think what threw me was that there are so many verses in the song, and all the Great Lakes are mentioned in it. And I should have known the singer was Gordon Lightfoot.
I hope tomorrow is a better day for lake viewing as well as for camping.
- Day 1 - Nevada
Sacramento to Ely, NV: 445 miles; 9 hrs. On Wednesday I realized I had no TV or internet connection - I mistakenly asked AT&T to turn it off on Apr. 1 rather than Apr. 2. No TV and no internet is hard to deal with when you...
- Heading Around The Last Turn
I left the motel in Rochester this morning thinking I'd find my way to the Ontario shore. I couldn't get near it but a little further east I did find a spot to take some pictures. Getting bored with looking for elusive Great Lakes,...
- Fri, Aug 23 - Darien St. Park, Ny
I left the motel in Lorain, OH at 7am this morning to try to beat the worst of the commute through Cleveland. But first, a word about last night's dinner. I went next door to a restaurant that had the nicest staff I have met in a long time. ...
- Thur., 8/22 - Lorain, Oh
Today wasn't what I had hoped or expected, but it got me to where I am now. The first part was along Lake Huron, mostly hidden by all the cottages and resorts on US23. I would really like to return to this eastern shore of Michigan some...
- Have Dinner In South Africa
Voulezvousdiner Have just launched a new special offer. ...
Travel
Searching for Lake Ontario
What a disappointment to find that the shores of Lake Ontario, as many of the other Great Lakes, are in private hands. Today I could only snap a photo from afar while on the Ontario Lake Parkway. Every time I tried to turn down a road that looked promising it ended up being private. I'm hoping to see more tomorrow.
I did find something unexpected in the little town of Medina - The Erie Canal: the bridge going over the canal is a also a drawbridge!
Here are two photos I snapped from the Parkway, a divided highway with a very wide median strip, and mostly large trees on the lake side. If you get a break in the trees you get to see the fine houses lining the lake. I wouldn't waste a picture on those.
I only drove 90 miles or so today. The campground was comfortable, quieted down early, and I got a good night's sleep. There was heavy dripping dew all over everything when I finally got up this morning. I wiped off the tent fly as best I could, although the dew reappears immediately. So I've packed a wet fly; the tent stayed relatively dry but as soon as I removed the fly the moisture tried to land on the tent. I got that down in a hurry, but everything needs to be air and sun dried soon.
I'm in a motel in Rochester, hoping to get a load of laundry done. I'm ready to cry over this place, which is nice enough, but the doors are almost impossible for me to handle. I've bruised and cut myself just trying to get through them. I asked for a room near an outside door so I wouldn't have to carry my bags far from where I parked the car. They have me in a spot not to my liking, but I know the desk clerk tried and had no idea what I really was asking for. She's too young!
I've found several things on the map I'm interested in, as well as trying to find camping. Seneca Falls is nearby and I might try to get by there. Tonight, Saturday, is the hardest time to find camp sites available - I've already tried a couple of places. As long as there isn't any rain in the forecast I'll sleep in my tent the next couple of days, I hope.
Several readers have commented that I'm making "good time", which never really figured in my planning. I had "x" number of days to work with, and way more things I could think of to see than I could fit in those days. I'm glad in the long run that I decided not to go into Canada, as I would probably not have gotten to Lake Ontario if I had. Of course, I still need to get a good look at Ontario, and I hope to tomorrow.
I think the Great Lakes are national treasures for both the U.S. and Canada. It is so sad that so much of the shorelines in the U.S. are held privately, and it's really difficult to determine where there is public access. I thought about going into a State Park today, one of those that had no camping sites available, but I'm not sure how much if any lake access I would have had from the park. It sure wasn't advertised. I still think Michigan features Lake Huron in the best possible way, but I can only say that from the little I've seen, so don't take my word for it.
Thanks to those who responded to my questions about the Edmund Fitzgerald. Of course it happened in Lake Superior. I think what threw me was that there are so many verses in the song, and all the Great Lakes are mentioned in it. And I should have known the singer was Gordon Lightfoot.
I hope tomorrow is a better day for lake viewing as well as for camping.
- Day 1 - Nevada
Sacramento to Ely, NV: 445 miles; 9 hrs. On Wednesday I realized I had no TV or internet connection - I mistakenly asked AT&T to turn it off on Apr. 1 rather than Apr. 2. No TV and no internet is hard to deal with when you...
- Heading Around The Last Turn
I left the motel in Rochester this morning thinking I'd find my way to the Ontario shore. I couldn't get near it but a little further east I did find a spot to take some pictures. Getting bored with looking for elusive Great Lakes,...
- Fri, Aug 23 - Darien St. Park, Ny
I left the motel in Lorain, OH at 7am this morning to try to beat the worst of the commute through Cleveland. But first, a word about last night's dinner. I went next door to a restaurant that had the nicest staff I have met in a long time. ...
- Thur., 8/22 - Lorain, Oh
Today wasn't what I had hoped or expected, but it got me to where I am now. The first part was along Lake Huron, mostly hidden by all the cottages and resorts on US23. I would really like to return to this eastern shore of Michigan some...
- Have Dinner In South Africa
Voulezvousdiner Have just launched a new special offer. ...