Europe, get ready for us! We're coming back like a bad sequel - bigger, bolder, and with more questionable fashion choices than ever before! It's been too long since we graced your cobblestone streets with our presence, but fear not, the countdown to our return has begun! 🌍✈️
Viking River Cruise ship
Spoiler alert! This is a long blog post so maybe get a coffee, tea or adult beverage to sip, enjoy and get caught up on recent adventures!
Alright, buckle up folks! It's been 2 months since we introduced you to Cosmo, the Chevy Silverado EV pickup truck. Let's see if Cosmo has been behaving like a good electric cowboy or if he's been causing some electrifying drama!
Little George our first couples trailer.
Hey there! Big news alert! We decided to upgrade from little George our 20 foot couples trailer to his bigger brother, George - our new Gulfstream Amerilite couples travel trailer. It's a whopping 28 feet long, so George is really stretching his legs now! And guess what? We've got a fancy couch and a separate bedroom - we're moving up in the world! Woohoo! 🎉
Despite being 8 feet longer, the "new" George is just as easy to tow with 'Cosmo' aka Kramer our Chevy Silverado EV.
The couch which I have claimed as my own for reading! Our kitchen has a large sink on the peninsula and this kitchen is way more functional to work in when preparing meals.
Our Queen size bed with an upgraded brand new 'Endy' memory foam mattress. We each have our own closet on either side of the bed which allows us to hang our golf clothing and jackets.
After camping for 10 days in little George at the end of July and the beginning of August in Ottawa and Meaford, Ontario we knew we had to bite the bullet and get something a bit bigger if we wanted to spend longer trips in the RV. I was looking online and kept seeing this layout that we liked but the dealership was in Listowel, Ontario, which is 2.5 hours away. Richard decided to text the dealership to see what little George would fetch on a trade in. We were able to negotiate what we thought was a very fair deal given new George was a brand new 2022 model and the dealership did not want to be stuck with a 3 year old NEW RV on their lot until the spring selling season of 2025.
Richard drove old George up one day, did the trade in and brought home new George and the very next day we left for a 3 day, 35km or 22 mile, very short trip to Evangola State Park in New York State.
The beach at Evangola State Park, NY along the shores of Lake Erie.
Evangola State Park had amazing cliff formations along the beach and nice trails to hike with some amazing views.
We quickly learned the capacity of our fresh grey and black water tanks at Evangola State Park as we did not have sewer hook ups at this State Park. Richard had filled our fresh water tank up at home, but we did have water hook ups so we did not need to ration our water by taking 'navy showers'. Evangola has beautiful clean bath houses too which also has a laundry area if we had needed it.
Being so close to friends in New York, they decided to come and visit for the evening!
Jackie enjoying a sunset walk at Evangola State Park.
A feast of a meal with Gary and Jackie!
Our friends Gary and Jackie who we did the Alaskan cruise with on Norwegian last October came to visit us at Evangola State Park and brought with them delicious steaks, a wonderful bottle of red wine and dry campfire wood. We had an amazing cookout at our campsite with appetizers, steak, baked potatoes and Caesar salad and a homemade cake that I had made before we left home. Spending time with friends around the bonfire was a ton of fun and we are so glad they took the time to come and visit us!
Evangola Beach State Park, N.Y.
While we stayed at Evangola over the Labour Day weekend and into the following week, we played golf at a couple of local golf courses which while not rated by the USGA (so we couldn't post our scores) were fun to try out. We also spent some time visiting the town of Hamburg, N.Y. where Richard was able to find the hard cover books he is reading in a series by Ken Follett for $4 each! There really wasn't much going on downtown Hamburg, but it was nice to walk around the quaint downtown and have an ice cream after our walk.
Our campsite set up at Evangola State Park. A little more open than we liked, but we will know for next time which sites are more secluded and have more shade.
We were happy with how new George performed at Evangola State Park which gave us confidence for a longer RV trip that we had planned with our very good friends Doug and Heather Kurtin a few days later in September. I had asked Heather earlier in the summer if they were interested in doing an RV trip after the kids went back to school and I planned the trip for us going to 3 different locations in New York State.
Sodus Bay to Southwick Beach State Park to Letchworth State Park.
Our September 2024 RV trip route with Doug & Heather. Not too far but nice areas to explore.
We set off on the RV trip a little bit ahead of Doug & Heather as we knew we would have to stop for EV charging along the way. We like charging at the GM Energy location at the Flying J gas station off the Pembroke 48a exit off the New York I-90 East as the charging station accommodates trailers. Not having to unhook the trailer while we charge, is always a big bonus!
After we topped up to 100% which took about 20 minutes at the GM Energy station, Doug and Heather arrived and we started our drive to Trader Joe's in Rochester to stock up on food and essentials for the week. Since we cannot bring any meat, dairy or fruits and vegetables into the USA when we travel, a stop to Trader Joe's was perfect for us to not only explore what was new at Trader Joe's, but it was an easy place for us to park George & Kramer and the Kurtin's big Newmar Mountainaire and the Mini Cooper that they tow.
You know you're almost at Rochester when you see this sign!
Our campsite at Sodus Bay KOA on the south shore of Lake Ontario.
We arrived at the Sodus Bay KOA campground to blustery cool conditions. We did not want to put our screen tent up because we were afraid it might blow away. Doug and Heather had a campsite which was more sheltered and further away from Lake Ontario. The rain, thunder and lightening storm overnight the night we arrived was unbelievable with the rain pounding on our metal roof keeping us awake!
The plan had been to stay 2 nights at Sodus Bay and golf at "The Links at Greystone" the day after we arrived, but after the storm overnight and with very strong winds, we decided to cancel golf and instead do some touring around the local towns and villages to see what we could find.
I wanted Doug and Heather to see the Sodus Bay Lighthouse and what a day to go and visit the Lighthouse!
You can see why we chose NOT to golf today! The surf on Lake Ontario was crazy crashing against the pier at Sodus Bay! We actually couldn't walk the pier to the Lighthouse unfortunately!
Looking over to Sodus Bay Heights Golf Course. We were not able to get a tee time reservation this year for Sodus Bay, but as it turned out, it was for the best with the weather.
We had found a tourist flyer at the farm stand across from the campground which had lots of attractions in the local area and decided instead of golf to make a day of touring around to a few places mentioned in the flyer. Our first stop was to "Evolve for the Home" a Christmas store in the small town of Lyons, New York. www.evolveforthehomeonline.com
It was amazing to see the many different rooms of Christmas décor and Christmas decorations and we spent quite a bit of time in this store exploring and adding to our baskets for the checkout counter!
Our next stop was to visit 'L W Emporium Co-op' in Ontario, NY. Heather was able to find a gorgeous new, hand made, king size quilt for $40 and I got a Christmas dish for Florida for $4. All in all a good stop and an interesting place to visit on a cool Sunday in September.
Burnap's Farm Market & Garden Cafe
We were getting a bit peckish and rather than eat at a local fast food chain or sit down restaurant we found a farm stand offering lunch not too far from our campground. We had the most delicious homemade soups and sandwiches and also bought the best apple caramel pie we have ever eaten! Sorry no pie photos! www.burnapsfarm.com
After two nights at Sodus Bay KOA we were off on our next adventure and spent most of the morning packing up our campsite, driving and then setting up our next campsite after 3pm at Southwick Beach State Park. Unfortunately we were not allowed to get to our campsite before 3pm, so Heather and I took the opportunity to drive into Watertown, NY to do some shopping while the guys waited for 3pm to get onto our sites.
We had a great shopping trip in Watertown, N.Y. but the heavens opened on us driving back to Southwick Beach. Heather is a very good driver but the rain was coming down so hard that it was very difficult to see where we were going on the two lane road. At one point I had to put on the hazards in the Mini Cooper to make sure other people knew we were going slow because of the rain.
We had a communal dinner at Doug & Heather's and after dinner Heather and I played cribbage. Its fun to be able to relax with friends and not have to do much of anything to enjoy spending time with each other!
On Tuesday morning we decided to explore Southwick Beach and walk the sandy, well groomed beach along the shores of Lake Ontario. We walked for miles and miles along the beach enjoying the early September deserted beach!
There was still a chill in the air so we had to dress for the weather.
If there is water I need to go in!
Well groomed Southwick Beach.
Cooking up bacon for BLTs on our Blackstone griddle which we used at Doug & Heather's campsite. We had this griddle for 2 years and had never used it. I'm a believer now on why so many people have Blackstone's that camp. I love it and we will bring it with us every time we go camping in the future!
Our campsite was in the woods beyond the trailer you can see in the photo above. I would not book campsite site 141 again at Southwick Beach State Park because we rarely saw any sun and had tons of mosquitoes whenever we opened the door to get into George! We were lucky I guess that we were able to get in the same Loop F as Doug and Heather, as originally we were in a different campground loop within Southwick Beach.
We were able to watch the U.S. Presidential Debate in Doug & Heather's as their tv antenna was working in their motorhome. We are finding little things that are wrong with George and one of them is that our tv antenna is not hooked up, so while we are in the U.S. (which still has tv service available by antenna), we cannot watch it. Oh well, glad our friends let us stay to watch the debate.
We got in a quick 9 holes of golf at Bedford Creek Golf club in Sackett's Harbour, N.Y. the next day. The greens were super crazy crowned, upside down bowls, and furry too, but we still had fun getting out to golf finally!
After golf beverages in Sackett's Harbour.
A gorgeous spot to have a drink overlooking Lake Ontario after golf.
The next day we played 9 holes at The Elms golf club. The course was not in good shape and they were aerating the greens on the back 9, so we decided to just play the front nine and relax for the rest of the day.
Heather and I played Scrabble after dinner to mix it up a bit instead of playing cribbage. Richard and Doug are not big games guys so its nice that I have someone to play games with when we camp!
On Thursday we packed up to drive to Letchworth State Park, N.Y. our last stop in our 8 day camping adventure. We had booked to stay for 3 nights at Letchworth with camp sites that were side by side.
We had a great location in Letchworth which allowed us to be able to share the space between our 2 campsites. Doug's RV was too big for his site, so we swapped sites and it worked out perfectly for all of us. The only issue we had was I hadn't realized when I booked that we didn't have water or sewage - only electric. Doug filled up his freshwater tank from the spiggot at the end of our site and went to dump his grey and black tanks at the campground entrance before setting up camp. Richard had filled our freshwater tank before we left home and he had also dumped our tanks before leaving Southwick Beach.
Communal meals. Trader Joe's chicken teriyaki and Trader Joes chicken fried rice. I also cooked up some broccoli with garlic, ginger and soya on the grill. What a feast! We ate in our screen tent which we finally had the chance to set up as it was now finally warm enough sit outside!
We had golf booked for Friday at 'The Club at Silver Lake' in Perry, N.Y. The course played very different from the front to the back nine. The back nine was like a Donald Ross, Pinehurst design with upside down bowls for greens. I much preferred the front nine design, and my score reflected my design preference!
About to start our round.
Finally warm enough for sleeveless golf shirts!
After golf we went our separate ways and we decided to explore the small village of Perry. There really was not much to see, so we headed back to camp after Richard had an ice cream.
On Saturday it was time to explore Letchworth State Park, the 'Grand Canyon of the East'!" And boy, oh boy, Saturday was the happening day to go because the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and everyone and their grandma were there to soak up the beauty of this ginormous 14,427-acre, 17-mile-long park along the Genesee River. Talk about a hot spot with all those stunning overlooks and waterfalls! WOW!!! I had camped at Letchworth when I was a kid with my parents but I didn't remember how beautiful this park was until we started to explore it with Doug and Heather.
Lower falls in the background.
Doug and Heather at one of the many places we stopped at on our exploring day in Letchworth.
What a view Heather was enjoying!
I bet this vista will be absolutely stunning in a few weeks when the fall colours are at their best!
Glen Iris Inn at Letchworth State Park, N.Y. People actually stay at the Inn and explore the park, enjoying their meals at the Inn during their stay. Letchworth has cabins for rent as well, so not everyone has to camp to visit the park.
Doug and Heather enjoying adult beverages. I believe the concoction was blueberries, lemonade and vodka!
Richard had a delightful salad with polenta croutons.
Caroline's Courtyard at the Glen Iris Inn, Letchworth State Park where we enjoyed a fabulous meal listening to the waterfalls from the Upper Falls.
After a late lunch at the Glen Iris Inn no one was really hungry for dinner, so we made a pizza in our oven and sat by our last campfire enjoying our time with our friends outdoors. Summer is too short and these special days are precious!
We arrived home on Sunday morning before lunch time. Its nice to do an RV trip and not spend tons of time in the truck going from place to place! I completely emptied George while Richard completely emptied Kramer. I boxed everything that belonged in George for the basement so that next summer we could easily reload him. Richard will be taking George back to Listowel for some warranty repairs before we head out on our European vacation.
I think I've left you in suspense long enough on what we are doing in October/November. You're also probably trying to figure out what the reference to Dolly Parton is right?
"Here you Come Again"....her famous song that has the chorus "Here I go and here I go and Here you Come Again"! Back to France for us!
Last Christmas while we were onboard the Viking Grand European 15 day Christmas Market's cruise, we booked this 15 day "Lyon, Provence and the Rhineland" cruise. Viking was offering bigger discounts to book while onboard than normal and also provided us with our loyalty discount for being past Viking cruisers, plus we also enjoyed immediate shipboard credits, which we then applied against our gratuities owing for the Grand European Cruise.
Our thought process is this: Europe is lovely in the fall; we cannot go to Florida until November because we have to watch how many days we spend in the USA each year; we are both a bit tired of golf by October and October can be grey, gloomy and wet in Canada. So why not visit Europe when the tourists are not as prevalent and the kids are back to school? Why not indeed??!!!!
When we booked this Viking River Cruise departing Avignon, France on October 20th we thought we would go a few weeks early and spend time in Paris as well as Nice, and then take the train over to Avignon from Nice to board our River Cruise. We decided to spend no time in Europe after the cruise since we disembark in Amsterdam and we've explored Amsterdam as much as we would like. We agreed on our air dates for our flights and then it came time to figure out where to stay before the cruise.
We knew the Paris Olympics were happening in the Summer of 2024 and that prices of accommodation would be high during the Olympics, but we never imagined that the prices would still be so high in October! After looking at accommodations in Paris vs what we could get in Nice, we decided to change our flights and fly from JFK directly to Nice and bypass Paris on this trip. Maybe the next time we want to visit Paris they will not have the hangover pricing on accommodations from the Olympics!
I was able to find a spacious one bedroom apartment on VRBO near the train station in Nice with a balcony, washer/dryer and a very modern kitchen. Everything that we need will be walkable from our apartment in Nice and we are so looking forward to exploring NIce as well as other small towns in the French Riviera that we can either Uber to, or take the train for the day.
We have our tickets booked for the train from Nice to Avignon on September 20th which is the day we embark the Viking Hermod for the Rhone portion of our cruise. We will also be on the Rhine with a transfer in between to another Viking river cruise ship.
And now its back to figuring out what to pack for this trip! The weather is supposed to be pleasant (20C or 68F) in the daytime but cooler (13C or 55F) in the evenings which means bringing warm layers. The further north we go on the cruise, the cooler the weather will get and as we return on November 3rd, we need to be prepared for rain and cool weather on our return. Luckily we will not be in Canada very long after we return as we will head to Florida for the winter to enjoy warmer temperatures and no snow!
We are absolutely thrilled to embark on another adventure in Europe! Delving into the rich history of the destinations through the River Cruise and Viking walking tours, capturing breathtaking landscapes and unique architecture - I simply can't wait! And let's not forget indulging in a delicious pan au chocolat or almond croissant from a charming local patisserie - it's definitely a must-do on my list! Let the excitement begin!
And in the meantime we'll just keep singing Dolly Parton..."Here we come again!"
I will start blogging once our trip starts on October 7th so watch for the daily blog on www.checkthisoffourbucketlist.com or on Facebook!
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