Cathy & Jan's Travels: July 2011

Crown Point Lighthouse on Lake Champlain – A memorial to the French Explorer Samuel Champlain. Side note: This lighthouse/memorial has a sculpture by world famous A. Rodin on display out in the open in a public campground (instead of being in a museum under lock and key).

We are now taking a break in our travels along the St. Lawrence River in the Canadian Province of Quebec. We are definitely in French speaking country where most of the people speak French with some speaking bilingually with basic English. It makes shopping interesting with the use of hand language and pointing to things. Quebec province requires that children with French parents go to French school with only 1 hour of English required per week. The road signs are only in French, but we can figure out most of them. We do appreciate those people who try to communicate to us in English. We wish that more emphasis had been placed on our taking foreign languages when we were going to school.

We have had a really great last 2 months in continuing our quest of National Park Service Sites, seeing lighthouses, and a week flying back to Texas for our eldest grandson’s high school graduation. We have had a couple of problems (but nothing that has slowed us down). The main one was to replace the brake actuator for our trailer hydraulic brakes in New Jersey. The company that had made ours went bankrupt and so we had to have one made by a different company shipped to us. I installed it and it worked the first time!

Here are some of the highlights of our travels:

We started by crossing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. This 20 mile long complex consists mainly of long causeway-like bridges and 2 tunnels under the shipping lanes (note: The toll was $28 for our truck and fifth wheel).
We then traveled along the Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware coastlines on the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay seeing numerous lighthouses. We then crossed into New Jersey where we stopped at a campground which served as our base for our trip to Texas and then sightseeing in the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas.
Our trip back to Texas got off to a slow start when our flight out of Philadelphia was delayed for about 4 1/2 hours. This was the day after a big hail storm hit DFW airport and over 80 planes had to be inspected before they could fly. Since DFW is an American Airlines hub and our flight was with American, many flights were delayed or cancelled. After we got under way, the rest of our trip was great - going to the graduation, great visits with family and friends, and the flight back went without a problem.
Once back in New Jersey, we rented a car and traveled all the way around the coastline of New Jersey seeing almost all of the lighthouses there. The ones we skipped are in the middle of Delaware Bay and require a special lighthouse boat tour to see these (something that we have added to our bucket list for in the future). Our path took us to Cape May (the most SE part of New Jersey), Atlantic City, and Sandy Hook (the most NE corner of NJ – where we could see New York City across the bay). On the way back to our campsite, we visited Thomas Edison’s National Historic Park which included his laboratory and Glenmont home in West Orange.
On another day, we drove into Philadelphia area to take photos of a couple of lighthouses (on the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers), visit Edgar Allen Poe’s home, and visit Valley Forge. School kids did not get out for the summer here until the end of June and multiple busloads of noisy kids must have had an outing the day we went to Valley Forge. This was not one our most peaceful and enjoyable park visits.
On another trip, we rode the train into Philadelphia and visited the Independence National Historical Park where we saw the Liberty Bell, toured Independence Hall, and Congress Hall (where the Congress met thru the 1790’s), went by the Betsy Ross house, and visited multiple Ben Franklin sites (including the first Fire Department and Post Office stated by him). Quite a popular place with waiting lines etc.
After traveling close to New York City on our big New Jersey loop, we decided to take a more westerly course and see the SE part of Pennsylvania. While there, we saw the beautiful Delaware Gap Scenic River, Hopewell Furnace Historic Site (where they made iron stoves in the forge there in the 1800’s), and Steamtown Historic Site (which of course was all about trains – steam engines, a large turntable, and cabooses).
Then it was up thru New York state on our way to Canada. Along the way, we visited the Vanderbilt mansion, FDR’s Springwood home, the FDR Presidential Library and museum (the first of its kind), and Eleanor Roosevelt’s Val-Kill retreat home in Hyde Park, NY. Note: This is Dutch country up here and you see a lot of ‘kills’ – which is the Dutch word for a body of water (literal translation is riverbed).
We then stopped at Saratoga where the turning point battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. It was here that the British-led forces surrendered for the first time in British history (the only other two times were at Yorktown, Maryland at the end of the Revolutionary war, and in the Battle of Singapore in WWII).
Then it was on up the Hudson River to Lake Champlain. Along the way we took photos of 4 lighthouses along the Hudson River. We then rented a car and drove around Lake Champlain taking photos of the lighthouses there. This lake played an important part in shipping and trade since you could sail from New York to Montreal by going up the Hudson River, thru a canal, across Lake Champlain, thru another canal, and then down the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence. Special note: In 1998, in Senate bill 927, Lake Champlain was named one of the Great Lakes – so to the geography buffs out there, there are now 6 Great Lakes.
Then it was time to cross over into Canada. We crossed at a small crossing (not one of the main ones) and we didn’t zip thru this time - our truck and fifth wheel were searched – but, as expected, they found nothing. We stayed in the Montreal area where we again rented a car and drove up and down the St. Lawrence River from about 40 miles SW of Montreal up thru Montreal and then to Quebec City – of course taking photos of lighthouses.
Then it was on to Levis, QC where we visited the Levis Forts National Historic site. The place was almost deserted and we had a very peaceful visit. Just 2 days before, this place had been packed with people when Will and Kate dropped by for a visit. It might have been fun to be there, but parking really would have been a problem for us since the fort is in a residential area with no street parking.
Finally, we made it to Riviere-du-Loup where we are camping for a week. It might be hard for a lot of you to imagine cool weather, but the highs lately here have been in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. Hope you are not suffering too much from this year’s intense heat.
Along the way, we enjoyed great visits with friends in New Jersey, New York state, and Vermont. Cathy even got to go to the Vermont Quilt Festival (the largest in the northeast). Trivial note: Diesel fuel cost the equivalent of $5.19 per gallon this week.

In summary, in the last 2 months, we have sailed past the 700 lighthouse mark and added over 75 for a total of 740. In addition, we visited 6 National Wildlife Refuges, and 17 National Park Service Sites. We think that it is about time to slow down a bit since we have reached cooler weather, and so our pace thru the rest of Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and then back to Texas in November (via Florida) will not be quite as hectic.

Hope you all are doing well.

'Red Spotted Purple' Butterfly seen in Delaware Gap Scenic River area

Dingmans Falls in Delaware Water Gap Scenic River Recreation Area

Wild horses roaming near our campsite in Assateague National Seashore Park. Earlier, they had come thru our campsite.

Washington's Headquarters in Valley Forge

Isle La Motte Lighthouse on Lake Champlain

Roebling Aqueduct over Upper Delaware River - This used to be a canal filled with water and operated from 1828 to 1898 - now it is a vehicle bridge.

Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse - off the coast of Lewes, DE

Twin Lights (Navesink) Lighthouse - Two lights in one building - Located in New Jersey near New York City - used 2 lights so it could be distinguished from other lighthouses in the area.

Liberty Bell in Philadelphia

Sandy Hook lighhouse - The oldest lighthouse that is still standing in the United States - Put in service in 1764 - Located n New Jersey near entrance to New York City.