USA – We Love New York

Enroute Upstate New York

Leaving Long Point Provincial Park was hard to do. There were still many things to explore, however we once again, needed to head east to be at a family function in Boston.

Instead of driving back through Niagara Falls, we decided to drive through the Buffalo, New York border back into the United States.

Once we got through all of the traffic in Buffalo, the drive was pretty nice going through New York State. 

We decided to become members at a RV friendly site called Harvest Hosts. Harvest Hosts sets RV’ers up with companies like wineries, farms, museums and other facilities that have enough room to allow RVs stay overnight in their parking lot. For a one time yearly fee, we can stay overnight at as many destinations as we can, providing that the area has enough room for us and we purchase something small as a token of appreciation. 

Our first Harvest Hosts location was at the White Springs Winery.  We had to call 24 hours in advance (sometimes up to a week in advance for some places) to ensure they have space available. 

Geneva, New York

Once we parked and set up our rig, we went in and introduced ourselves. The staff was extremely helpful and gave us a lot of local knowledge and gave us some ideas on what to do with our time. They suggested we ride our bikes through the beautiful town of Geneva, New York. It was the perfect thing.

We rode our bikes about 2 miles into town and rode around the lake. Since there were a few large storms that came through a few days prior to us being there, giant trees had been toppled and there were broken branches everywhere.  Work crews were slowly cleaning up the mess. 

We slowly rode our bikes up and down the streets of Geneva and loved the towns history and beautiful buildings. 

Of course, we ended up back at the winery and decided to go in and do some wine and cider tastings. The staff said they were just about to close and if we wanted to enjoy our wine outside on the deck, it would be no problem.  We enjoyed a bottle of wine overlooking the beautiful Finger Lakes and it was a first experience we will never forget. 

The next day we decided to go to Taughannock Falls State Park on our way to our next Harvest Hosts location. 

We parked up the road from the falls where there was ample parking for an RV and we saw the falls from above and then hiked down to the mouth of the river and hiked back up to see the falls firsthand.  

We left the Finger Lakes region and headed more inland into the Catskill Mountains. 

The Beautiful Catskills

Our next HH location was Hanford Mills Museum. They had a large offsite parking area just down the road from the actual museum. We settled in and then walked the grounds of the museum and took pictures and video since nobody was there.

The next morning we went to the museum and took a tour. The staff again was friendly and knowledgeable and we are really glad we took the tour.  We may never have gone to this museum, if it was not for the free overnight RV parking provided by HH and the museum. 

After our tour, we once again went around and took videos.  As Melissa was editing her videos, a local a woman walked by and commented to Melissa that her and her husband were going to go RVing soon.  

She introduced herself as Joan and invited both Melissa and I to dinner at her house that was just up the street.  Once again, we were blown away by the kindness of strangers.  

We arrived at their house at 5 o’clock as requested and Tony showed me his amazing man cave. The small building off the back of their home had a kegerator, a 65 inch flatscreen TV, numerous Red Sox memorabilia and it was just a cool place to hang out.  

We settled in on their back patio dining area and had fresh beer from the tap and wine and they went all out and provided steaks hot off the grill, potatoes, and a whole bunch of other amazing foods. They even topped it off with a little mini ice cream cone. 

We immediately became Facebook friends and they told us where they were going to be staying in Florida for the winter and they invited us to meet up with them later on this year. We will do everything we can to meet up with them. 

The kindness of strangers and the beauty of the small towns and businesses in the United States will ensure that Melissa and I can stay on the road for as long as we can.  

Check out our Next Blog Post USA – Boston – Family time