We had a week to fill between Letchworth SP and our next destination – northern Vermont. And, a choice whether to go north or south around the obstacles of the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain. After talking with our NY guides Mike and Betty, we decided to head north and visit the Thousand Islands Region of NY. We stayed at two separate campgrounds in the area. First, we spent the weekend at Wellesley Island State Park just across a toll bridge from the river towns of Alexandria Bay and Clayton. While the rest of the park was beautiful, the campground was a bit…challenging. The sites were directly across from each other…

The next stop on our tour of NY state was Letchworth State Park. Known as the “Grand Canyon of the East” and earning a #1 spot on one list of top state parks in the country, we figured that we needed to visit. We continue to be very impressed with NY State Parks and this one almost feels like a National Park. Also, in addition to all the usual amenities, you can white water raft or take a hot air balloon ride inside the park. Letchworth is located amidst western NY farmland about an hour east of Buffalo and an hour south of Rochester. The canyon is 17 miles long…

We spent a hot and hazy week in July at Four Mile Creek State Park on Lake Ontario, which we chose because it has the closest state park camping to Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls ranked high on our list of must-visit sites on our “more than just a city” tour of New York. New York has protected the US side of the falls by the creation of Niagara Falls State Park in 1885, the first state park in the country. We were just 20 minutes north of the falls and ended up visiting 4 times! The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Along the way, 750,000…

I can remember feeling overwhelmed with trip planning when I first looked at a map of New York in satellite view. There was a large wrinkled dome that filled nearly a quarter of the state. It contained a lot of small lakes and no major roads or towns. The Adirondack Mountains. Even though mountains are our favorite, cell service and route planning can be tricky, so I decided to skip over them, thinking we could just visit another year when we are more experienced. But then, our friends told us they booked a week of camping at a small campground in Indian Lake. Off to google I went and saw…

This will be my first blog in a series that I’m calling New York: more than just a city. The mountains, lakes, and gorges with waterfalls are beautiful. And there are so many state parks. 215! The only state with more is California. Originally, our plans for this summer were to leisurely explore western New York state while ‘living’ at and taking care of our fellow RVing friends Mike and Betty’s home for two months while they traveled themselves. When their trip got canceled, we modified our own plans a bit. We still visited them and used their driveway as a home base to see the Finger Lakes Region for…