green rolling lawns

While driving down a roadway this afternoon here in south central New York State, it occurred to me why these hills are so beautiful to me.   It has to do with large green lawns everywhere you look. Almost all the rural homes, farms, etc. have neatly mowed, very large lawns.  Some look to be several acres.  They mow everything around that is not forested, down to the highway, along the roadway, across to the barns or outbuildings, up the sloping hill behind the house ...... large lawns.
It makes the countryside very pretty, but surely it takes a lot of time to do so much mowing.  Of course, they have big tractors to mow with.... but I think they just appreciate green because they have it for such a short season.

Still here in Endicott, NY.  As of right now we plan to leave Tuesday the day after Labor Day.\
Later, Marilyn

still here

Still here in Endicott, NY at Pine Valley Campground set around a 6 acre lake ....very pretty !
Vera's brother-in-law fell off a ladder in their backyard yesterday .... has a bruised kidney (as well as some other superficial bruises.  Doing ok but still in the hospital for observation.  So Vera has continued to stay at her sister's house. 
Charlie and I have been going over most days to let the dogs have some free time in their large fenced backyard .... they love it.  Toby rolls in the grass, Bugsy hunts in the flower beds :(  and Boo chases tennis balls until she drops of exhaustion.
We have grown really fond of these little towns; and this area is quite beautiful ..... but then there is the subject of winter!

It really is starting to feel like fall here.... 50-60's at night, 83-85 days, and some trees are starting to turn color and fall. 

We will be here all this week, then head further upstate to Vera's other sister, Donna.

Later, Marilyn

green rolling hills

We are in Owego, NY, visiting Vera's sister Susie.  We stayed one night in a beautiful campground on a hillside, in a big meadow .... all by ourselves.  They didn't appear to have any other "transient" campers (only a handful of apparent full timers) .... so they escorted us up a rather steep hillside to "the field". It was beautiful, but the getting up there and down again gave me a good cupful of stress.
Then we moved several miles over to Endicott to Pine Valley campground set around a small lake. Beautiful!  We immediately signed up for a week here... and we may extend it. Vera has spent a couple of nights over at her sisters ... so Charlie and I and the dogs are really enjoying just 'settin' by the lake.

Before this stop, we spent a couple of days camping near a friend and former co-worker of Vera's down in north central Pennsylvania. 
Then the next nite in Troy, PA .... where Vera grew up; and visited with one of her high school friends.  They invited us to stay in their guest cottage next door to them on a small lake out in the country. It was wonderful.  We parked the motorhome next to the horse barn .... such a deal!

We have decided to slow down a little and stay longer at some places .... the monthly diesel gas budget gets slammed pretty quick if you travel every day.
We have discussed maybe not trying to make it to Nova Scotia this trip ..... we are notorious for biting off chunks that are too big.  If we slow down we usually enjoy it more anyway.

Pennsylvania (especially western) is just breathtaking.  Such lush, green hills and beautiful farmland.  This of course, is the height of corn season, so you see corn plots all over the distant hills.

More later, Marilyn

bee in her ...

The strangest things happen to us.
Vera got stung on her tongue .... by a bee .... while eating a cinnamon bun.
Seems like the bee was taking advantage of some free sweets .....
and Vera wasn't paying attention ....
Vera recovered; the bee didn't.
She said later (in hindsight) that she sorta was aware of a "dark" spot on the bun, but didn't focus on it and assumed it was a raisin or whatever.  
We have identified several possible "lessons" to be learned from this temporarily painful experience:
don't eat cinnamon buns
don't leave them accessible to bees
look before you bite
or, maybe wear your glasses when eating; and focus on the brown spots.

Later, Marilyn

BIG rocks

The lower part of Ontario which we crossed through has very, very obvious indications of glacial formations (eons ago) .... which I found to be fascinating.  Driving along the roads you see large rocks.. boulders... actually it's the bedrock.  The rocks vary from the size of a few blocks, to being endless .... like the size of a town; and it is obvious there is very little if any topsoil anywhere.
But the fascinating part is they are all rounded on top .... ground down ages ago by glaciers no telling how many hundreds of feet thick.
Then as you pass areas where they have blasted the rock away for the roadbed, you see the wonderful, colorful patterns of different types of rock all swirled and folded and uplifted.  All indications of volcanic upheavals in another eon ago. 
One location we actually saw them preparing the land for another two lanes adjacent to the existing ones.  The heavy machines were scraping the topsoil off and leaving exposed the large areas of solid rock.... then the drilling machine was brought in to start drilling for blasting holes.
Down south where I come from you can scrape gumbo all the way down to the water level.

The other glacial indication is the thousands of small lakes ... everywhere.  They are so beautiful and serene, with trees all around.  We had dinner one evening in a restaurant overlooking one .... they are undeveloped for the most part (I guess they are privately owned).

We crossed back into the US in Niagara Falls and spent two days there. Vera has nieces and great nieces in Buffalo, whom we had very nice visits with.  Now we are in Canton, Ohio to see the Football Hall of Fame; and tomorrow we go to Mill Run, Pennsylvania to tour one of Frank Lloyd Wright's famous designs (Falling Water).

We hit the heat again, coming so far south ... but by the end of this week we will be back in upstate New York, heading for Maine.

Later, Marilyn

feels like Canada

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario is three times the size of the city of the same name on the Michigan side of the bridge; but it is three times more hum-drum ..... couldn't be more different.  The only thing remarkable about the town was the Canadian Geese were everywhere ! ..... all over the green parks in town, along the rivers edge, in the parking lots, crossing streets, and even sitting down on the pavement to rest (or contemplate or whatever they do).  They just watched as people drove around them.  I got a little irritated about it and Vera's response was:  well, it is their country!

As we drove northeast into Canada, I remarked that this "feels like" Canada ..... never having been here before that sounded like a strange statement; but Charlie and Vera said they both agreed.  I think we have seen so many pictures of "Canada" (never mind that it is so huge and varied); but it looks like the pictures we've seen so many times .... i.e. ... feels like Canada.  Oh well.  Sometimes as we are driving down the road we find some rather mundane things to talk about
.
Speaking of driving down the road:  We get a LOT of reaction to us being women in such a big motorcoach.  Most of the time Vera rides in the passenger seat, and frequently Charlie brings the folding chair up to sit between us .... so the view of us coming down the road with three women lined up across the front is pretty attention getting .... we get a lot of waves and "thumbs up".  Some people just stare and their mouths drop open.  Some elbow their companions and point.  And when I'm turning tight corners right in front of their cars, their eyes open very wide.  It's kinda fun.

Later, Marilyn

Navy band

This is really a wonderful little town.  They have been having a weekend bicentenial "sailabration" of the War of 1812; so we have been enjoying lots of really interesting events and learning the history .... which turns out is not only local, but national.  Sault Ste. Marie is the oldest settlement in our nation.  The French fur traders started trading with the Indians here in the mid 1600's, and the missionary priests were right behind.  This exact location (probably a radius of 2 or 3 miles from the locks) was a large campground of the Native Chippewa nation because of the rapids providing such good fishing..... and the rapids were there because of the confluence of three of the "big" lakes.

And then from the viewpoint that most of the north's timber, iron ore, etc, passes thru these locks on its way down to the industrial areas of the lower lakes...... this has been (and still is) an historical resource funnel for our nation.

One uplifting thing I learned today .... the Native Americans were granted fishing rights to this area when the French turned over this land to America ...... and that is still being honored to this day!
The rapids between the lakes (21 foot drop in about 1/4 mile) were what gathered the Indians here in the first place; and whitefish has always been plentiful here. But local commercial fishermen cannot fish in St.Mary's River ..... they fish in Lake Superior (or Huron) and then sell their whitefish to the local restaurants.  Anyway, I was glad to find at least one promise that the white man made to the Indians that was kept.

Part of the festivities here has been a lot of military demonstrations/exhibits AND several outdoor performances by the Navy Band.  Of course the Army Corp of Engineers has a big presence here because they maintain and operate the locks ... and they did a bridge building demonstration, which Charlie and I watched for several hours.  Then the Border Patrol has a sizable presence .... and the Coast Guard.... both for obvious reasons.  You could tour the Coast Guard Cutter, a masted sailing ship, and there is a real live Great Lakes Freighter which has been made into a living museum.

Anyway, we have had a really grand time ..... we all just love the Upper Peninsula. Like the bumper sticker says: "its a whole different world".

Later, Marilyn

super.... tanker

We've been sitting here alongside the Soo Locks of Sault Ste. Marie, watching the ships go between Superior and Huron. It's been an enjoyable couple of days.... most everyone in the campground brings their lawnchair down to the river bank and sits, reads, talks, etc.
The largest iron ore carrier is 1016 feet long and 105 feet wide .... big as a cruise ship.
Vera has been visiting the casino .... Charlie, the dogs and I have been exploring and visiting the ice cream shops.
This is a "sleepy" little town built along the locks, with parks on the shores and viewing platforms to climb stairs up to better watch the lock traffic. Lots of small, old fashioned "lock view" motels; quite a few tourists... but really laid back ..... just strolling around.
Interestingly, many businesses here are named "Soo ...whatever" (grocery, campground, restaurant, etc.) ...... and not "Sault ...." I guess it's just easier to spell it phonetically.

We are actually waiting here for several more days to receive some mail (we requested it be sent to "General Delivery" here). We really can't go any further until it comes ..... we waited until the last minute to get our coach registration sticker renewed. This wouldn't be so much of a concern if we were staying in the states.... but we are moving up into Canada ..... and getting back into the US with an expired registration just didn't sound like a good idea to try.

Later, Marilyn