Bed Battles

I have finally arrived in Maine. I have tried several times to make it to Maine and each time I have been foiled by too many things to see and too many places to go that are on the way to Maine. But I have finally made it. The very first item on my to-do list was to find me a lobster roll. I had heard about them, I knew that they were a must-do and I had never had one in my life. So I looked up in Yelp and found a little storefront type place just down the road from where I was staying. OMG – this is the most incredible food ever. This was huge chunks of lobster, soaked in butter, with a few spices thrown in on an incredible piece of bread. I can tell that during my time here in Maine, I am going to have to up my food budget. I am going to have lobster roll every day I'm here. 

This is what Heaven looks like

I am staying at a campground called Wild Duck Adult Only Campground. I was sort of wondering what kind of risque things went on in an Adult Only Campground. Turns out that it is just a very quiet, peaceful campground without loud and raucous children running around. I liked it. Wild Duck Campground is right next to the Scarborough Marsh which is Maine's largest salt water marsh. Salt marshes filter pollution from the water. Back in the 1800s, they thought that draining the marshes would stop the spread of mosquitoes. The draining actually had the opposite effect because it destroyed the habitat of the other species who ate mosquitoes. 

The marsh

More marsh

This is probably why they call the campground Wild Duck Campground

Miko and I went to the beach while we were here. We not only went to the ocean, it just so happened that it was a leash free beach. Miko could be unchained. I was a little nervous about lettng her off leash. Last time I took Miko to the ocean, down in Georgia, she ingested so much salt water that she was sick. She must have learned her lesson though because she was definitely not interested in catching waves here.  We were there during low tide and there was all this red algae on the beach.  I haven't seen that before.

This is one happy dog

This is one tired dog

We have had a little drama in the camper since we added Jogger to the camping mix.

This is where Jogger normally sleeps when he isn't taking over my bed.

Jogger decides he likes Miko's bed better and starts making his move.

As usual, Jogger gets his way.  Poor Miko.

They seem to have worked it out but I'm not sure Miko is really thrilled about her new reality

Farewell Hudson River Valley

Poor Martin Van Buren. He gets no respect. Historians and political scientists rank him as an average or below-average U.S. President. He was a member of the New York Senate, Attorney General of New York, US Senator, Governor of New York, US Secretary of State, US Minister to the United Kingdom, Vice President under Andrew Jackson and the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. I guess we could probably call him a career politician, although he said he was happiest being a farmer. According to Ranger Andrew, Van Buren was responsible for establishing both the Democratic AND Republican party.

Van Buren grew up in Kinderhook, a small village about an hour north of Hyde Park. After his term as president, he bought a house in Kinderhook which he called Lindenwood. 

Lindenwood

Van Buren was the first president born under the U.S flag (previous presidents were born British subjects). 

 He also was the first and only president where English was a second language.  He grew up speaking Dutch.

Looking up into the tower

The Hudson River Valley was a very productive Junior Ranger area for me.

Check out the badge on the right

Down in Poughkeepsie, New York is an old railroad bridge which has been re-purposed as a pedestrian bridge called Walkway Over The Hudson. At a length of 6,768 feet, it is the longest pedestrian footbridge in the World. Of course Miko and I had to walk across it. I was a little worried because it is 213 feet tall and I have this height issue but we persevered and made it across. Actually, it wasn't too bad when we were over the river. What bothered me the most was at the beginning of the bridge when we were many feet above houses and roads. 

The Hudson River is a mighty, mighty river

I stayed at Interlake RV Park.  It was the closest park to the sights and it was a pleasant park.  It had sort of a retro feel to it, sort of what I imagine old time camping was like with a lot of area between sites, lots of trees and very laid back. I actually stayed here for a week which is so unusual for me.  I think I'm beginning to get into this slowing down thing.

See what I mean about Retro?  An actual phone booth with a working phone.  

The Roosevelts of Hyde Park

Time to move on to the Roosevelts.

Any Greatest Presidential List will always include Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He is the only president to have been elected four times. His leadership got us out of the Great Depression. He gave us Social Security. He established a national minimum wage. He played a major role in establishing the United Nations. He took the first federal action to prohibit employment discrimination. In my travels I am personally enjoying all of the works that the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) created during the Great Depression to put young men to work. Yes, he was responsible for all that. I could go on, but as great as FDR was, my heart belongs to his wife Eleanor.  She was an amazing woman.  I highly suggest that you read up on Eleanor.  You will be fascinated.  Myself,  I try to live by one of her quotes - 'Do Something Every Day That Scares You'.  Get out of your comfort zone.  Just go for it.

I visited Val-Kill, a cottage ( a real cottage, not a Vanderbilt cottage) that FDR built for Eleanor in 1924. Eleanor wanted a place of her own to get away from it all. Can we say Sarah, FDR's mother who might have been a little overbearing. Eleanor moved into Val-Kill with two other women friends. They established Val-Kill Industries, a furniture making business which helped with the unemployment issues during the Depression. After FDR's death, she split her time between Val-Kill and NYC. Many famous people came to pay homage to Eleanor at Val-Kill including JFK. JFK came seeking Eleanor's endorsement when he was running for president. 

This was the room where she would receive her famous guests.

She wasn't much of a cook, so when the King and Queen of England visited, she fed them hot dogs.

As part of my Junior Ranger tasks, I had to identify a maple leaf.  

Thank God for the Canadian flag.  Because of that flag I was able to identify the maple leaf.

FDR came from old money. He lived in a Big house which they called Springwood. The household included his mother Sarah and the Roosevelt's six children. FDR fancied himself an amateur architect and designed and built two huge wings onto the existing house. 

The view off of the south lawn overlooking the Hudson River.

FDR was an avid tree planter.  All these trees eventually blocked his view of the Hudson.

Springwood

Eleanor and Franklin's grave.  Also buried here is one of their sons who died in infancy and their dog Fala.

There is also FDR's Presidential Library and Museum located on the grounds. FDR establishedthe precedent for public ownership of presidential papers. His library became the model for the nation's presidential library system.  It was a mighty fine museum.

Frederick Vanderbilt's Little Hovel

After leaving the great state of Pennsylvania, I ended up in the Hudson River Valley in New York. The land of Vanderbilts and Roosevelts -new money vs. old money. As far as I'm concerned, money is money. Who cares how long you have had it? Evidently it was a big deal back in the day. Sarah Roosevelt, FDR's mother seemed to look down quite a bit on her neighbors, the Vanderbilts, and their ostentatious wealth displays.

Frederick Vanderbilt, grandson of the Commodore who started building the Vanderbilt fortune , bought the land which was called Hyde Park and built the Vanderbilt Mansion in 1895. This house was meant to be a spring and fall cottage where the Vanderbilts would come to play.  I guess this particular Vanderbilt house is rather understated when you compare the house to the Vanderbilt summer cottages in Newport, Rhode Island. It only took 26 months to build which is rather impressive. As the tour Ranger pointed out, though, is that the construction workers worked twelve hour days with no coffee breaks or days off.  

When the Vanderbilts were in court, they had upward of 60 staff to help take care of them 

Can we say Downton Abbey?

The formal gardens predate Vanderbilt ownership. Frederick redesigned the gardens and planted hundreds of trees and shrubs.  On weekends Frederick and his wife Louise liked to walk through the gardens twice a day.  Today the gardens have been restored to its 1930s appearance.  The gardens encompass five acres.

Steamtown

I am now going to leave Pittsburgh and travel almost all the way across the state of Pennsylvania to Scranton. Pennsylvania is a beautiful state and I can only imagine how great it must look when the leaves all turn. Huge rolling hills and deep valleys give great pleasure as you travel down the road. That said, even though Pennsylvania is a beautiful state, I just don't feel the joy, the connection that I have felt in other states. That is ok, there are 49 other states to find that ever elusive connection.

I know I've mentioned it before but my favorite Eleanor Franklin quote is “Do something everyday that scares you” which I have always interpreted as 'get outside of your comfort zone. Don't settle'. Today I am going to do my best to follow this adage. I am going to take this big honkin' fifth wheel into a Pennsylvania state park and back into a site. I do really good going forward with this FW. I do pretty good backing up in a straight line, but this is going to be backing up at an angle. As I approach my site, the nerves are beginning to get to me. I start sounding like Thomas The Train. I think I can, I think I can. I round a curve, see my camping site and start pulling past it. What do I see in the road, but the corner of a boat, sticking out. The picture doesn't look like much, but it is going to be just enough to cause intense worry because my truck is going to swing out in that direction. Ok, though, I can do this, I am woman, I am strong. I start my backward attack and get past the boat with a mere inch to spare. I even missed the motor. All of a sudden, as I start backing in, I am surrounded by people who are all going to help me. I find I don't need them (well, the guy in the very back telling me when to stop backing was helpful) because I've got it. Yay Me!!!! I am now officially state park ready.

It may not look like it is all that far into the road.  

Keep in mind that a lot of times when I'm backing, the truck ends up in the weeds on the right side of the road.

And I'm in.  I may be a tad too far to the left but I didn't hit anything which is the important part.

I have come to the Scranton area to go to a National Historic Site called Steamtown. It was developed to tell us all about steam railroading and it's people. I am not particular excited about this – railroading just doesn't seem all that interesting. Boy, was I wrong. Fascinating. Steamtown is the old Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (D,L&W) train yard. There are two roundhouses where they are working on restoring old steam locomotives. The History building told the story of steam railroading, in particular the D.L&W line. The Technology building was interesting and very interactive. You could watch how the steam powered these huge machines. There was place where you could blow steam engines horns – it is like a secret language.  Ex. Four blasts mean you are approaching a crossing. One blast means you have stopped and set the brake. There was even a Turntable that they would drive the locomotives on. It would turn to the appropriate roundhouse track where that locomotive would be getting maintenance. 

The turntable. See the little house in the center.  

Somebody would sit in there and make the turntable go around and around.  

I guess it would be like his own little merry-go-around.

I even got to take a steam locomotive train ride which basically just went up a hill and then back down for a total of 45 minutes. It was just pleasant to hear the whistles, the chugging along because it was a most beautiful day. 

The mighty engine that dragged me up the hill

You need to burn coal to make steam.  I guess this is not the most ecologically correct form of transportation

And the passenger car

I was a little disappointed though that there was no mention of the legendary Casey Jones.  I'm not talking the Casey Jones whose dramatic death happened while trying to stop his train and save the lives of his passengers.  Nosiree Bob.  I'm talking about Casey Jones of Lunch With Casey fame.  I spent almost every day as a little kid watching tv and having lunch with Casey Jones and his buddy Roundhouse Rodney.

JoggerCat seems to have found 'his' spot

The Steel City - Pittsburgh

I'm heading to the Hudson River Valley.  Where I want to go is only two hours north of New York City so I figured that I should, dare I say, make reservations. We all know what a commitment phobe I am so it was tough. I just didn't want to have all those hordes of New Yorkers wrecking my camping plans. Turns out that the campground I had picked was unavailable for several days after I needed it so I had to make some filler plans. I looked at a map and saw that Pittsburgh was only an inch or so away. So, off to Pittsburgh I go.

I found this campground called Mountain Top RV Park. It was actually on top of a mountain - go figure. My campsite was right on the edge, overlooking a valley. Very very nice. The park also has live bluegrass music on Saturdays. I was going to miss that, but I am definitely putting this campground on places to return to. As I said, the view was wonderful and I faced west so I could watch for sunsets.

My daytime view

My sunset view

I did venture off the Mountain Top into Pittsburgh. I'm now driving a ¾ ton pickup and this thing is a monster. Pittsburgh is an old town with many narrow streets, some even with cobblestones. It was a challenge driving around. I liked Pittsburgh, it had a nice vibe. But then, I was driving around perhaps the more upscale parts of Pittsburgh.

I had heard about Randyland, a place on the north side of town. Randy Gilson bought Randyland on a credit card in 1995. Every day after waiting tables, he came home to paint and bring happiness to his neighborhood. He even started painting his neighbors' houses. Randyland had such a nice vibe – outsider art at it's best.

Randy's House

And here is Randy.  He had various cardboard cutouts of himself in different poses scattered around

Randy's neighbor's house

There was even a huge sandpit that kids could play in

No visit to Pittsburgh is complete without going to see the Andy Warhol Museum. As a child of the sixties, Andy was a household name to me. Everybody knew Andy Warhol. I have to admit, I was/am not much of a fan of his art. Again, my definition of art is 'if I can do it, it ain't art'. While I may not have the technical expertise to paint a soup can, at least I could visualize it. Of course, Andy's genius was that he not only visualized it, he put it out there for everybody to see. He was not only into the painting, but he also worked on film and graphic design. One interesting note is that he designed the cover for the Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers' album, the one with the jeans with the working zipper. That was a very cool album cover, if I do say so myself.

Art critic that I am (not), I just don't get it

But I love Pepper Pot soup, the best soup ever. Alas, they no longer make it.  I mourn.

from the sublime to the ????

And here is the Oxidation Picture (sorry folks)