June 27-29, 2008 – Weekend with Friends

Our good friends, Tina and Bob, drove up to spend the weekend with us and what a wonderful time we had getting caught up with each other. We are so blessed to have such good people in our lives!


On Friday, we roasted a turkey over the fire – mmmmmm! On Saturday, we visited the original Woodstock Festival Site and museum, Bethel Woods. It was the second visit for Andy and I and we saw even more things that we had missed the first time. Plus we saw more of the grounds area. It was great seeing the history with friends who grew up in the same era and talking about our experiences and memories!!

And today after they left was just a kick back day for us. It did rain off and on and they are calling for severe thunderstorms later tonight.

Until tomorrow.

June 26, 2008 – Just a Regular Day

Today was laundry, grocery and cleaning day (and hoping our leaks are fixed!). It rained off and on so no campfire tonight. Hopefully it will be drier tomorrow.

June 25, 2008 – Kaaterskill Falls

We woke to a beautiful, crisp morning and decided to go to Kaaterskill Falls.

This is the start of the trail (I am not sure of the name of these falls):
This is the trail (Yikes!):


Actually it was not a bad trail, just very rocky. A picture along the way:

The lower falls:

The upper falls:

I could not get a good picture of them together because of the angle of the sun. The falls are the highest in New York State, although not spectacular like Niagara or some of the other falls we have seen, it was still beautiful.

The rest of the day was spent trying to dry out the motorhome and in doing so, we found two leaks: one at the shower drain and the other at the shower skylight. So, yours truly, went around with a caulking gun (yes, folks, it was me not Andy). Last year, we had leaks in both places and thought we fixed them but obviously not!!

I also made reservations for our next leg of the journey. We will be leaving here on July 8 and going to the Ball Mountain Area in Vermont for a week (for now :-))

And this evening was another great campfire night!!

June 24, 2008 – Clean Up Day

Today was clean up day: we dumped and cleaned the tanks, filled the water tank, went for propane and gas, and tried/trying to get the moisture out of the motorhome since it FINALLY stopped raining.

We also tried setting up our satellite dish in the open field and it worked. This is the first time we were able to set up successfully on the road. But alas where our site is, there is no clear view. Ah well, we don’t have electric anyway.

We found out that we are the only campers in A&B loop tonight – nothing like having the place to ourselves…

And another great campfire evening!!

June 23, 2008 – Woodstock – the Festival

Today we took the journey to the actual site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. The site is now owned by a foundation that wanted to preserve the legacy as well as promote art and music and is now know as the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. (http://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/)

Two years ago, concerts were started and on June 2, 2008, a museum opened.

The museum had sections on the 1960’s from history, politics, music, etc.; background on the Woodstock Festival; music and films of the Festival; interviews (current) of attendees, townspeople, musicians and the effect of Woodstock and the 1960’s on them.

For me, it was an incredible experience – the memories of that time from TV to music to all the things that were happening. I just kept smiling and saying, “I remember that”. I still believe that was the best music!!!

I am not going to go into the history because there is so much on the internet but I will leave you with some pictures.

The plaque:
The field:

The Bethel Museum:

Memories!!

Woodstock
by Joni Mitchell

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him where are you going
And this he told me
I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm
I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land
I'm going to try an' get my soul free

We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who I am
But you know life is for learning

We are stardust

We are golden

And we've got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation

We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

Copyright © Siquomb Publishing Company

June 22, 2008 – A Lazy Sunday

Just a lazy Sunday! Rain and storms so we stayed in – read, computer, etc. The only thing I have to report is that we tried the blue potatoes – baked. They taste just like any other potato except for the color and it was a little strange eating blue food - :-)

June 21, 2008 – Cat’n Round the Catskills and the Bavarian Festival

A beautiful day for a drive and to visit the local communities!

We first went to the village of Catskill. Every year they have a cat statue show/exhibit in the town where artists paint the cats and then they are auctioned at the end of summer to benefit local organizations. There were 62 cats done this year and place on two of the main streets.

Look at this:
Movie Cat:
Sun Cat
Red Cat

Chef Cat:

Farmer Cat:
Co-Cat:
Top Cat:
Ameri-Cat:


Kat and Kittens:

Santa Cat:
Red, White, and Blue Cat:
We were able to talk with a very nice woman from the Chamber of Commerce of Catskill about the cats, the show and the auction. She told us that some of these cats go for $750 to $7000 depending on the artist. Plus it is a great way to get exposure for new artists. How wonderful.


Our next visit was to Round Top for their Bavarian Festival. Great food, Great Music, and Great People! We stayed for quite a while watching the dancers, listening to the music, talking with our table mates, and eating and drinking (just Andy, I was driving).

A picture of the band (notice the outfit of the couple to the left):

And I just loved this guy and his outfit:

Some of the people there go to Germany every year for the big Bavarian Fest and they were all dressed up in ethnic clothes. What fun!

Back at camp, another great campfire evening….

June 20, 2008 – Another Hang-Out Day

And that is all we are doing/did!

Andy and I first decided to try out our portable Direct TV Dish – still no luck. There is a field right outside the camping loops so next week when we go to the dump station, we may try again...

Right now (mid-afternoon), Andy is setting up another antenna (between the rain drops) and I am on the computer (of course).

It looks like we may have intermittent rain the rest of the day so we will continue to hang out.

Our plans tomorrow are to go to the Bavarian fest!

Until then…

June 19, 2008 – The World’s Largest Kaleidoscope and Ashokan Reservoir

Another beautiful day here in the Catskills! We did our morning walk around the campground and then headed to Mt. Tremper to see the world’s largest Kaleidoscope.

Since we were the only ones there for the show, we were able to lay on the floor and watch. WOW!! Kaleidoscopes always fascinated me – maybe because they are such a treat to the eye – the colors, the designs, etc.

After the show, we went into their shop where there were hand made kaleidoscopes. How unique. (No, we did not buy any!!). And there on display was the world’s smallest kaleidoscope. (Two extremes in one day!)

From there, we took a ride to the Ashokan Reservoir. This reservoir, built 1912-1915, along with the Schoharie (also in the Catskills) provides almost 40 percent of New York City’s daily water needs which is 1.3 billion gallons of water.

Some views:

It looks like they have a great hiking/biking path so we may return.

And on our way back to the car:

And another great campfire night!

June 18, 2008 – More Household Stuff

Today was laundry day. We first went into Woodstock this morning and found that we would not be able to get a machine until around noon (must have been everyone’s laundry day too.) so off we went to Kingston. (Not that I wanted to go that far but I did not want to wait a few hours.)

Later this afternoon, we did go to the farmer’s market in Woodstock – prices were a little higher than I wanted to spend but I did buy some blue (yes they are blue) potatoes. I will let you know how they taste.

And then the rain started again so we decided to go back to Kingston for our grocery order and other items that we needed.

So back home, we are all set for another week…

June 17, 2008 – Overlook Mountain Trail

We awoke to a beautiful, cool morning and decided to do the Overlook Mountain Trail. The trail starts about 2 miles outside of Woodstock and is on a forest service road.
It was 2.5 miles up (1400’ elevation change in 2.0 miles) but so rewarding when we got to the top.

This is the ruins of the Overlook Mountain House about 1.8 miles up the trail. There were three attempts to create a luxury hotel at this site. The first one was built in 1873 and burned in 1875. Another hotel was built in 1878 and operated sporadically until 1917. In 1940, this hotel was built but due to the health of the owner closed down.

From the front:

Inside the lobby:


This incredible fireplace – it was actually about 7-8’ high. Can you imagine being here for a visit with this fire going?

Another home behind the hotel: (We are not sure about this building – we could not find any information.)

From there we walked to the summit. There were two trails – one to the fire tower and the other to another overlook. We first went to the overlook and this is the end of that trail (it looks like you would walk out into the clouds, doesn't it?):

And the views – just awesome! This would be the views from the hotel when it was operating!

Andy and I enjoying the views:


There were some carvings on the stone some dating back to 1899!

The fire tower was next:

The views from the tower:



We lingered for quite a while at the top until we saw the clouds moving in. We did get some rain on the way down but it was intermittent. So 5.0 miles total. A little strenuous for us but we would do it again on a clear day (and cool too).

On our way back, a doe and fawn crossed the road – how beautiful. Sorry, no pictures…

Back home, we did some maintenance: I cleaned the inside of the motorhome and Andy finished splitting more wood (hey, Bill, it is our wood) and cleaned up around the site.

And more rain in the late afternoon/evening.

I did do some work on the blog and there is a new addition. If you would like to have it emailed to you every time I update, there is an area to sign up on the right side about 1/3 of the way down. If you have any problems, please let me know.

June 16, 2008 – Just Hanging Out

And that is what we did today – just hang out. It is raining off and on with some scattered thundershowers.

So Andy did some more chopping when the sun came out and played with the ham radio when it rained. I got caught up with bills, email, etc. I have been having some problems with my telephoto lens so after talking with Nikon, it will be sent to one of their repair facilities.

It is nice just to sit back and enjoy our surroundings.

June 15, 2008 – Walking and Driving

Our morning started with a metered walk around the campground/day area (just in case we need some extra exercise with the bikes or walking) and found that it is a 2 mile roundabout.

And this afternoon, we took a ride into Kingston for a few items and a new ax for Andy. He has been making our wood pile higher and higher and we are very blessed to have a really nice supply for now.

And that supply provides us with some really nice evening campfires - :-)

June 14, 2008 – Woodstock and the Animal Sanctuary

Woodstock! I will bet it brings back memories for some of you. (This is the town, not where they had the concert.)

As we walked around, I couldn’t help but smile with the memories. Most of the stores were a flashback to the 1960’s and 1970’s with the music playing, incense burning, selling tie die clothing, vintage clothing, vintage jewelry (even mood rings, remember them), posters, album covers, organic foods, and are you ready – even bongs! What a treat down memory lane!! I may be prejudiced but the music from that time is still the best!

One of the stores:
There is a great bead store in town that will be having classes. I am going to check further and may take a few.

There was also a flea market that we walked thru – lots of jewelry, handmade furniture, and, of course, the usual yard sale items. We did find out that they have this every Saturday and Sunday during the summer so we may stop back. On Wednesday’s, there is a farmer’s market in the same area so we will be checking that out.

From there we went to the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary for the annual festival. The Sanctuary is a nonprofit organization that provides care, rehabilitation, and shelter to neglected, abused and discarded farm animals.

This guy got a new leg:

How about these fellows - look at the colors:


You want a picture of me???

Ahhhh! Life is good!!

What an interesting place. We did get to hear some of the background on these animals and some of the stories are really sad. It is great that there are places like this.

We arrived back home just before the thunderstorms and rain – off and on. It has cooled down quite a bit but we were able to have a small fire between the storms.

And a tribute to my father who would have been 83 years old today - We miss you, Dad!

Until tomorrow..

June 13, 2008 – Kayaking in the Park

What a beautiful day – blue skies and sunshine – warm but not humid – very nice.

We spent the morning in the kayak on the pond. We were the only ones there. The pond is about ½ mile long and about 500’ across (at its widest).

We could hear the frogs and see the geese and deer as we passed by. And the water lilies are just starting to bloom. Sorry, no pictures (we forgot the small camera). It was so peaceful just gliding along.

We spent the rest of the day, relaxing and going thru all our brochures. There are lots of things to do within a 50 mile radius – hiking, kayaking, biking, museums, railroads, historic sites, flea markets and farmers markets. We won’t be doing all of them but we have lots of choices.

This trip is so different than last year. Last year we moved every few days but this year we have decided to stay put longer and explore the area. Plus it is a lot cheaper to run the Tracker than the motor home - :-). So at this rate we may not get to Nova Scotia (before the winter) but that is okay!

June 12, 2008 – The Park and the Area

This morning we decided to get familiar with the area and see what was available so we made our trek to Phoenicia and then to Woodstock. In Phoenicia, we visited the local grocery store, the general store (very quaint) and then had lunch at a local café – really nice.

In Woodstock, we visited the local store and just acquainted ourselves with the town. We have decided to visit there on Saturday – they have a farmers/flea market so we hope to get some good fresh veggies and fruit.

Back at camp, we visited the campground caretakers. We decided we wanted to stay here until July 7 and found out that it is possible so that is our current plans.

After supper (over the campfire!), we explored more of the park.

Our site:

Our woodpile (notice our view beyond):

Scenes around the park:

Andy chasing the geese:

What is real and what is reflection:




Have a great night! (Just love this internet availability!).