Our Last Camp

Finger lakes sits pretty much in the middle of New York State and was created when several glaciers melted and filled with water. We ventured to this area as there was a state park called Watkins Glen, which we had been told was worth seeing. It was about four hours east of Fredonia so we set off about mid morning and we are again full of mixed emotions as this would be our very last time to sleep and live in our trailer.

Our first trip was north to the town of Waterloo to visit the outlet centre, we both needed clothes for work be it a size bigger for me, so we spent the day shopping and sight seeing on the way back home. One of the towns we stopped at was a true college town with "frat" houses and some of the best views of the lake on offer. To say this area is wine country is under stating it, I have never seen so many small wineries and I mean there are hundreds of them dotting the road on both sides of Seneca Lake.

Frat Houses








College Views


The next day we headed into the state park just a mile from the RV Park. Watkins Glen is a long canyon with several waterfalls down its length so we walked the trail which followed the creek. There were plenty of photo opportunities so the competition for the best photo was on!

The Entrance to the Falls


Several of the Waterfalls









Lucky for me (and unlucky for her) I had an edge in the competition as Rose's camera battery died!





Our appetites sharpened by all the walking we decided to stop at one of the local restaurants for lunch. The location and prices were right, lots of menu choices, but we lucked out when it came to the waitress. Not sure if it was our accents that unnerved her but it was disastrous from the beginning. She started telling us what the daily specials were and lost her train of thought half way through, she delivered us the wrong orders and then to top it all off she spilled an entire glass of red wine all over Rose. It was certainly not a good day for her. She was obviously very apologetic and compensated us by not charging us for our entrees.

Our park was right across the road from Seneca lake and as with every body of water in the USA there was a marina with plenty of luxury boats.

In addition to the boats there was of all things a salt factory sitting right on the shores of the lake. The Watkins Glen Refinery of US Salt has been in business for over 100 years and is built over one of the area’s unseen natural assets - a rich underground supply of salt.

Wells at the Watkins Glen Refinery extend into the earth’s crust more than a half mile to tap a sprawling deposit of underground salt which was created by the evaporation of sea water more than 300 million years ago. Amazing!

The Watkins Glen Salt Factory




The Marina





It Was About 10c and Windy



We were also lucky to catch up with a lovely couple Sherry and Bob who we met at Big Bend National Park in Texas back in February. Sherry and Bob live in a tiny town called Alfred and they very kindly drove 90 minutes up to visit us. We had a wonderful afternoon sharing many of our travel stories with them - what a privilege and joy it was to be able to see them again.

Sherry and Bob



We celebrated our last night in our 'American holiday home' having a few drinks, listening to music and reminiscing about the adventures, places and wonderful people we have met over the past 11 months. We have certainly been very lucky to have had such a wonderful experience.

Tomorrow we return to Chuck and Ceils to begin the pack up.


Posted by RnR on their IPad

Location:Finger Lakes, New York State