Camping in the Catskills, we started out our visit in Upstate New York hiking Kaaterskill Falls. The hike was labeled easy, but was a continuous uphill climb on boulders and rocks (Sallie was very careful). The hike followed the river and enabled us to see many beautiful waterfalls along the way. We found out later, the hike was really a moderate hike. We definitely got our workout for the day, but it was well worth it!
The next day we picked up our 16 year old “niece” AJ from the Albany International Airport to share some of Upstate New York with her (thank you Bob and Jeanne). We moved on from the Catskills heading west to the city of Endicott, the hometown of our southern Florida Aztec RV Resort friends AnnMarie and Chris Foley. They shared their town with us and took us to some of their favorite restaurants. We stayed at a state park called The Hickories in the town of Owega. It was fun actually camping with them, we “glamp” at Aztec RV Resort (glamorous camping) and enjoyed some s’mores over the bonfire.
We moved on to Watkins Glen, the largest of the finger lakes, Seneca Lake. We went to some places that had been recommended back home by our vet Dr. Schutzman, who went to school at Cornell University. We hiked the Glen which included a total of 19 waterfalls, all within 1.5 miles. It was truly unbelievable! We also visited Buttermilk Falls and Treman State Park. Treman is dammed and has a swimming hole which was quite different. We also went to the city of Ithaca, where Cornell is and enjoyed the area.
We took a side trip to Niagara Falls, since AJ had never visited.
**** Niagara Falls from the CATS point of view****
(translated by AJ)
Silly: What?? Again?? How dare they? Graybee! Can’t you see what’s happening?
Graybee: YES, I see. Clearly the short blonde one that just got here is stealing the moms from us.
Harley: Whoa kids, chill out. They’re just going somewhere for a few days. They will be back.
Silly: How do you know? They only left us enough treats for about 5 minutes!! And NO one is trying to play with me!!!
Harley: GIRL… calm down. They will be back before you know it. I’m gonna sleep now, so don’t bother me and don’t touch my bed pillow throne. And be quiet… go look out the windows and watch the wildlife. Don’t go crazy!
Graybee: Silly, trust me, they’re leaving us. We just have to try to carry on as normal, so when they get back, they will have missed us more than they think we missed them and then they will stay forever! In the meantime, maybe we can convince the chipmunks to come in so we can play with them.
Silly: Okay, fine… but when the short blonde one comes back I’m gonna steal her bed EVERY NIGHT!!!
Graybee: Whatever…
It was great to show AJ the amazing Horseshoe and American Falls and the fun tourist town of Niagara Falls Ontario Canada. We did the famous Maid of the Mist boat trip and got a very close view of Horseshoe Falls. We also went under the falls on the Journey Behind the Falls. We would not want to get much closer… Oh and by the way, we got wet! Good thing for the ponchos…
For those who have never had the opportunity to see Niagara Falls, here is a short video taken in Canada at the brink of Horseshoe Falls. This obviously does not do it justice…
Heading east, we then came to the Lake George area and camped for a couple of weeks. We met up with our other Aztec RV Resort friends Rit and Judy Kaylor a couple of times. We had an awesome bbq with them and enjoyed a favorite restaurant. We went to Howe Caverns and did a 90 minute tour, hiked up the Pinnacle Mountain, went on a horseback trail around Lake Luzerne and drove up to the top of Prospect Mountain for some amazing views of Lake George. Luckily, the weather allowed us to soak up some sun at our campground pool too!
We were sad to say goodbye to AJ… We are now off to Canada for the next couple of months. Stay tuned…
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