The Ray Adventures: Newport Naval Station, Mystic Ct., West Point, Jersey City and Ft. Dix

We have been on the go since my last blog, four different states in 10 days. Yes, I do wake up in the morning wondering what state I am in. Since we left Texas last January we have been in 19 states (some of them twice) and one province putting over 6,600 miles on the coach. Our travels have taken us to 38 states, only 10 to go. Yea!!! football season has finally started, it's been a long 6 months.

Wednesday, August 5 We were supposed to leave Newport Naval Station today but one of our neighbors left a day early so we were able to move to their space. Gary worked on the coach and I worked on the blog. After lunch we drove back to Newport to visit Fort Adams and a closer look at the mansions on the 10 Mile Ocean Drive. Ft. Adams was built in 1824, remaining active through WWII, it was one of the largest fortifications in US, designed for both land and sea defense. Gary took the 90 minute while Luci and I walked the Bay Walk, viewing Newport, the harbor and the waterfronts of some of the mansions. Gary made dinner, WAH HOO!!!!

Thursday, August 6, Another beautiful day, sunny with a light breeze off the Bay. We had a leisurely morning since we had another short drive, only 70 miles to Niantic. Ct. near Mystic.(Think pizza) We hated to leave but we have many other places to go and see. We got to Niantic Campground about 2:00, it's kind of "cruddy", after a short discussion we decided it would be easier to stay there than search for another place. Most of the spaces are full but empty, most of the spaces are seasonal weekenders. We are roughing it again, no sewer, only 30 amp and no satellite TV, plus our big slide is still in the closed position. After getting settled we drove to nearby Rocky Neck State Park, we almost didn't go in, the charge for non residents is $15.00, Gary sweet talked the girls in the booth, they let us in for no charge. (See why I married him) We picked up a few caches in the park, we couldn't go to one of them, we would have had to walk on the beach, no dogs allowed. Bummer, Luci would have loved to roll in the sand. It is a beautiful state park right on Long Island Sound, lots of hiking trails, picnic areas and of course the beach.

Friday, August 7, Today is my baby sister's 54th birthday, now I'm younger than she is. We took Luci to Tippin Rock Doggie Day Care so we could see the USS Nautilus and Museum. The USS Nautilus, the first nuclear powered submarine was built and launched in 1954 in the Groton, Ct. area. One of her accomplishments was reaching the North Pole. It would not be anything I'd want to do, traveling under ice with no place to surface. No way! In 1986 the Nautilus was opened to the public as part of the submarine museum. Gary was disappointed, for reasons unknown, visitors were only allowed in the front half of the sub. The sailors quarters were pretty close, even the Captains area was tight. The officers dining room table was set with silver and china, I wonder if they still are using fancy place settings on ships today. Gary said the last leg of sea duty is coming into port, the slow ride into the pier and docking. Across the river is New London , founded in 1646 is the home of the Coast Guard Academy. We had lunch on a second story patio, we watched the ferries to Long Island and Block Island, from what we could see, cars either had to back in our back out, the front had a bow like a ship. We chose to come to this area to see Mystic, a picturesque coastal town on the Mystic River, made famous by one of Julia Robert's first films, Mystic Pizza. Mystic Seaport is a re-creation of a seafaring village, the 19 acres include 50 historic houses, shops, galleries and trade buildings that help you understand the life in a seaport during the mid 1800's. We boarded the Charles W. Morgan, a 1882 wooden whaling schooner. While on board we watched crew members take the sails down. It took about 8 (young) people scaling the rope ladders to unfurl the sails and secure them. Another job that's not for me. After touring the village we needed a beverage, we went to Mystic Pizza, Gary had a beer, I had a delicious glass of cold water, and of course we had to try a slice of their pie, it was good but we've had better.

Saturday, August 8, We found a trail head just across from our RV park, we discovered it was part of the Rocky Neck State Park we had visited Thursday. We hiked down (that also means you have to hike back up) a hill to the Four Mile River picking up several geo caches. After showering and prettying up we drove back to Groton to see a monument we spotted from New London. Ft. Griswald, the scene of the 1781 massacre led by Benedict Arnold, who took the fort and ultimately burned down New London across the river. The monument, dedicated in 1830 is a 135 foot obelisk. Gary decided to walk up the 190 steps to the top, ( I skipped that) halfway to the top he quit, it got too close and hot, claustrophobia set in. The brother of one of the ladies in the park has cancer, she put together a fundraiser BBQ chicken dinner and raffle with a bonfire and dancing after. The food was pretty tasty and we won a 12 pack of Bud Light in a bucket. We were baffled, we didn't put any tickets in that drawing cup. We gave 3 bottles away and took our winnings home. Shortly after, a knock came at the door. Trish, one of the office girls was at the door, she had a bottle of Pimms liqueur complete with ginger ale and high ball glasses. The tickets got mixed up, she'd won the Pimms but wanted the Bud Light, we traded, made us both happy even if we didn't know what tasted like. In a word, strange, but surprisingly good.

Sunday, August 9 This morning we took a different trail down to the state park picking up several more G.C's. On our way to do laundry and revisit Mystic Seaport Village we stopped in Groton National Submarine Memorial, the centerpiece of the memorial is the conning tower of the USS Flasher surrounded by plaques of all the ships lost at sea and dates of sinking, one of them was just a month short of the end of the war. On the way back to the coach we stopped at Antientest Burial Grounds, dating back to 1653 and where Benedict Arnold watched New London burn.   There is a HUGE Weeping European Beech tree in the cemetery. It reminded me of the tree at EPCOT Center. The oldest gravestone marker we found was from the 1700's but a lot of stone markers had worn off. The cost to wash 4 loads of laundry in Mystic Ct. was $20., I opted to dry them in the coach even though it took all night. We rented the movie Run All Night, Liam Neeson is becoming one of my favorite actors.

Monday, Aug. 10 We left Niantic CG for another short hop, this time to West Point Round Pond Fam Camp, as the crow flies only about 3 miles from the Academy. A successful journey, we only made on misstep along the way, the road up to Fam Camp was quite narrow with sharp curves. It's a picturesque park, again no sewer, but we did have satellite TV. It seems most of the RV camps on the east coast are without sewer hook ups. After we returned Run all night we picked up the movie Danny Collins, an Al Pacino movie we recommend highly.

Tuesday, August 11 We drove to West Point Academy to,#1 pickup our mail (it's been 3 weeks) and tour the academy, originally a fort along Hudson River during the Revolutionary war in the late 1700's , Thomas Jefferson established the Academy in 1802. The Academy and grounds are not open to the public, you either need a military or DOD ID, but narrated tours can be taken from the Visitor Center off base. We were able to stroll through the West Point Cemetery where graves date from the Revolutionary War. Some of the famous buried there include Custer, Schwarzkopf, Westmoreland, several astronauts and even some athletes. We grabbed a quick bite at Subway before heading to the Museum, West Point was declared the permanent depository of war trophies. Displays of weapons, from handmade guns to heavy artillery and battle dioramas date back to early wars in Europe. It had been threatening rain all afternoon and of course we left our raincoats in the car while we went to the museum. Guess what! It was pouring when we were ready to leave, since it was a bit of walk to the car we waited the cloud burst out. For dinner we had homemade turkey, vegetable barley soup from the turkey I had BBQ'd earlier in the week. Pretty tasty.

Wednesday, August 12 We drove north along Hwy 9 to Hyde Park, home to President Roosevelt's Presidential Library and home, the Vanderbilt Mansion and Val-Kill, Eleanor's home after the death of FDR. The only president to open his library while still in office in 1941. The president was an avid collector, most notable are his ship models, he featured his many collections and displays of gifts he's received from countries and individuals. The library is well done, chronicling his 3 terms in office. The library is right next to the Home of FDR National Historic Site.  It overlooks the Hudson River on more than 700 acres, it was his birthplace and lifelong home. The 1826 home remains almost exactly as it was at the time of his death in 1945. Both FDR and Eleanor are buried in the Rose Garden with a plain marble monument. Another quick bite at Subway before our tour of the Vanderbilt Mansion just a 2 miles up the road. Built in 1898 it was essentially a "cottage" used in late spring and early fall. They summered in Newport. The elegant 54 room mansion , built in the "gilded age" is surrounded by over 200 acres with views of the Hudson River. Val Kill was Eleanor's place to be with friends and family away from the main house and away from the domineering mother-in-law. She lived at Val-Kill from 1945 until she died in 1962. We missed the tour of the inside of the house, we did see a 20 minute film about the life of Eleanor and her humanitarian works. Poor Luci was stuck in the coach all day, she did her best to guilt trip us.

Thursday, August 13 Happy birthday Chris, not only am I younger than my sister I'm also younger than my daughter.  It was only 63 miles into Jersey City, NJ today BUT on a scale of stress it was about 300 miles. As we got closer to the city traffic became heavier and due to road construction very narrow and rough. It was certainly time for an adult beverage by the time we got to Liberty Harbor Marina and RV Park. We were getting concerned, all the highway signs said "to Holland Tunnel", well we wouldn't fit in the tunnel, what do we do if Miss Sally has pulled another fast one on us.  We turned on the last street just before the tunnel. WHEW! As we drove down the street we were still concerned, it didn't look like there was room for a RV park in the neighborhood, as it turns out it's right on the harbor with 70 spaces squeezed on a parking lot. Our blood pressure must have been sky high by then. Advertised as the closest RV park to NYC, we have a view of the Statue of Liberty out our window, it's also very expensive $90 a night. Yikes!  Location, Location, Location, anywhere else it would have been 1/3 the price. The good news, we only have to walk about 3 blocks to the ferry that takes us across the Hudson to within 3 blocks of the 911 Memorial. In our quest for visiting NFL stadiums we took the light rail to Hoboken, catching the train to Secacous for another train ride out to Meadowlands. Well, that train only runs on game and event days. We caught a cab for a 10 minute ride out to Met Life Stadium. Gary took some pictures before we headed back to the train station. A little expensive but on the bright side we didn't have to pay for parking. The Seahawks won their only Super Bowl there in 2014. We got off the train at the Harborside stop to enjoy NYC across the river for the sunset. Beautiful the way the sun reflected off all the glass and steel. After a bite to eat we jumped back on the train to the RV park.

Friday, August 14th, We took the Warren Street Ferry across the Hudson River to the 911 Memorial. The crowds weren't too bad at 9:00, we took the 9:15 elevator to the top of the 1,776 tall One World Trade Center in 48 seconds, now the tallest building in the US. The observatory floor just opened last spring giving you 360 degree views that were breathtaking, it was a little hazy but Gary was able to get some good photos. The 8 acre memorial's design, "Reflecting Absence" features 2 -1 acre pools of water with 30 foot waterfalls that disappear into a center abyss. The surrounding bronze panels are engraved with the names of the 2,983 people who died of terrorism that day and also the bombing in 1993. We found our way to the subway to take to mid-town to see the Intrepid at Pier 83. The line proved too much for us in the hot sun, it would have taken at least an hour to buy a ticket. Gary has seen aircraft carriers before so we bailed, deciding to take the Circle Line Tour, I should call it the Semi-Circle tour since we chose the shorter ride of an hour, down past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, along the east side up as far as the Williamsburg Bridge and back.  Gary's grandparents and aunts and uncle's came through Ellis Island before his Mother was born. Then the hike back to the subway, about 5 New York blocks in the hot sun. We got back on the ferry, home to Luci who had been cooped up for 9 hours.

Saturday, August 15th, Departure day, we hope getting out of the city won't be as stressful as when we drove in. As it turns out it was a piece of cake. No snafu's, we made the 80 mile drive to Fort Dix, NJ in about 2 hours. We had our usual struggles finding fam camp on base, this time it wasn't our fault, the road we needed to take was closed due to construction. After making a call and talking to people we settled in. We are taking the coach in for repair starting Tuesday, we hope it will be simple and fast. The weather is hot, hot, hot with no relief until next week.  We picked up our first New Jersey cache then stopped at RedBox to pick up a movie. We watched Focus with Will Smith, it had some fun twists and turns again, I'd recommend this movie.

Sunday, August 16 Rest day! I worked on the blog while Gary took Luci to a park. I took a break to help Gary give Luci a bath with a hose outside, it's so warm I didn't feel bad about the cold water.

That's it for this week, I hope you stayed awake. Enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam