NY - Corning area - Camp Bell Campground

It was my turn this year to run the Wineglass Half Marathon, so off we went to Corning, NY.  Beautiful drive on the way out - the leaves were spectacular, not quite peak but beautiful!

Look at this happy driver ;)

Last year we stayed at a campground in Bath, about 25 miles west of Corning - nice campground but a little far for convenience of back and forth to Corning.  So this year we tried Camp Bell Campground in Campbell, which is around 10 miles west of Corning.  It was much more convenient for hopping back and forth!  Nice little campground that is at least half seasonal and really packed in, but we weren't there to sit around and relax.  We had a pull through site right near the entrance and facing the playground:

And someone is still not too old to enjoy a playground: 

There was also a great little hiking trail on site.  A lot of times when a small private campground says it has a "hiking trail" or "nature trail" it is maybe a 1/4 mile tops...I think this one is a good mile loop :)

Corning is such an great little town:

Trying to get a nice picture by the clock tower with my goofball proved to be pretty fruitless, but funny. 

There is a great pedestrian bridge that just (re?) opened from the Corning Museum of Glass area to the downtown Market Street/Gaffer District - it has a maze on it and I think we maybe saw only one or two people NOT do the maze on the several times we walked over it!

And Theo made a glass sculpture at Corning Museum of Glass: 

Check out this race swag: 

Theo and Kevin volunteered at the finish line - they got assigned the mylar blankets like T and I did last year: 

And I had a great race, a little chilly, but a great course and a great day!

I finished before the boys finished their shift, so I went back to the Winnie that was parked in the ample parking at CMOG and took my shower and walked the puppy boys - so nice to have the Winnie and be able to have the boys along on trips like this with us...and nice to have a nice hot shower waiting after the race!

PA - Hershey Thousand Trails

We aren't Thousand Trails members, but have received plenty of marketing for this membership camping club over the years, so it is a familiar name.  When we decided to go to Hershey for the RV show, the Hershey campground was full and Thousand Trails seemed like the next closest campground, so we booked it on a cash basis.

The first thing that struck us was that you check in and just drive around to find yourself an open spot.  Kind of odd for folks like us who are used to booking specific sites, or at the very least booking a certain level of site.  We had booked for my parents as well and they arrived before us - and happened to get a full hook up site, but ours was just W&E.  Just kinda odd that it is the same price and no guarantee of a site with certain services.  And at $50+ a night we had anticipated cable and wifi, but no such luck.  Not a huge deal, but we don't have cable at home, so when we go "fancy camping" at camp resorts it is kind of a treat with HGTV, Food Network, and the Disney Channel :)

Anyway, the property is a lovely piece of land and is pretty well kept, though we both thought there could be a little more TLC here and there given the members pay dues.

I didn't take many pics, but they had a really nice camp store and a decent arcade (according to Theo's approval scale).  Too late in the season for swimming and too much rain to try the mini golf course!  Very hilly area that was, um, great for morning runs...some really good hill work (not that we had a lot of choice!)  But those hills make the property really pretty :)

So off we went to the show and had a great time poking around new rigs big and small, looking at accoutraments (!), and having snacks.  The good news (to the old pocketbook) is that we didn't see anything that we slobbered over.  Honestly, the quality of our older Winnie just feels more sturdy than the new rigs, even much higher end!  And the ones that we were impressed on quality (Nexus RV) had really small kitchen areas, and since we truly cook and prepare food in our RV, that's a big deal to us.  However, we did buy what we went for....a big awning mat!  Here are the boys modeling it:

Of course it wasn't all RV show...there is CHOCOLATE in Hershey!!!  We had been to Hershey last year for the Half Marathon (stayed in a hotel, thus not blogged), so we knew that we wanted to make our own chocolate bars again, and this time drag Grandma and Grandpa into the mix!

And we also did a chocolate tasting class - we even got diplomas after we were done!

Mod: Ceramic Bowl Toilet

Yes!  A "real" potty :)  I just have never been nuts about the plastic toilets and our valve was sticking on the OEM one, so we took the opportunity to get a ceramic bowl.  The base is still plastic to save weight, but the bowl is ceramic and the seat is residential style.  Since we are on a riser, it is a short model - Dometic model 321  (302321781 ) with a sprayer.

Old potty:

First new potty as delivered: 

As Kevin said "how many pieces should your new toilet come in???"

And the second new potty, after installation:

Kevin had a tricky time with some of the plumbing, including making sure that the vacuum breaker valve was perfectly level and pressurized.  The first few flushes it spittled a little bit.  Other than that, installation was easy.  In that small space it is a one person job though!  No team effort, other than moral support from outside of the bathroom!

So far so good, we like it a lot :)

VT - Emerald Lake State Park

Another great weekend in Vermont!  This time at Emerald Lake State Park near Manchester, VT.  We chose it to be near to Manchester for the Maple Leaf Half Marathon that I ran on September 6th.  We've come to expect nothing but a beautiful setting and a well kept park when staying at Vermont State Parks, and Emerald Lake held up that expectation!

We were on site 38.  Not a very busy weekend, so we were able to switch from the site I had chosen from the map (20) that didn't seem as easy for in and out since we were driving the Winnie to the race.

The name Emerald Lake is totally true, the lake is beautiful, clear, and emerald green when you look at it from above!  It was warm enough on Saturday after the race to hit the beach (not good for running, but good for swimming!)

Theo has been honing his fire building skills.

This one is 100% Theo built, including splitting the larger logs to make kindling.  A pretty proud boy!

And a couple of pics from the race: 

And my glass medal, cool huh?

Mod: Magnetic Storage Strip

When we remodeled our kitchen 4 years ago, I bought a few magnetic strips thinking that they are so cool and handy, but we just never could think of a good place or use for them.  So when shopping the basement work room earlier for something to make feet for the cooler mod, I came across them an decided they might be a handy way to store the s'mores forks in the back hatch!  I also added a couple of the storage tins I bought to go with them, in case we come up for a use for them.

Mod: 12v outlet for the Coleman thermoelectric cooler

...or our cheap way to add our most coveted portion of an outdoor kitchen.  So after an online thread about thermoelectric coolers for tenting or pop-up camping, I recalled that we had one sitting in our basement not seeing any use since we installed a fridge in our Aliner.  So the lightbulb went off and I thought why not add a 12v outlet to our big storage hatch in the back and use our cooler like a mini fridge accessible from outside?  The whole thing cost us all of $4 for the outlet, sweet!

It was wicket easy to tap into the 12v line to the light in the hatch:

Probably the most labor intensive part of this project was making little feet so the door will swing open fridge-style and clear the hatch frame.  I just cut some hunks of 2x4 then used both adhesive and some decking screws we had around, the screws aren't super long, thus the belt and suspenders of the adhesive:

Voila!  Our "new" mini fridge for beverages and condiments!:

And here's how I think it will ride when we are in transit to avoid toppling over: 

I'm thinking we won't use it when dry camping because of the draw on our batteries.  We do have a pair of 6v golf cart batteries, so we have quite a bit of juice...but I'll have to do the math on how long this would hold up, not too long before frying them I would think and it obviously isn't a necessity.

Mod: Bathroom Light Switch

Since I am not terribly tall, and Theo isn't yet either, I've been wishing for a switch for the light in the bathroom.  So I ordered up the switch and Kevin did the installation.  He was able to fish the wire through the ceiling, but we decided to use surface mounted wire molding for the wall portion.  It turned out great and works like a charm!

Notable Sight: Phineas Gage Monument

A throwback to high school psychology: we learned that the Phineas Gage accident happened in Vermont, not so very far off of our planned travel route, so we decided to go have a look at the monument:

I would have liked to have taken a little hike along the train tracks to try to find the actual site of the accident, but Theo was a bit grossed out by the whole story so we just went along on our merry way.

VT - Button Bay State Park

Right on the shore of Lake Champlain is Button Bay State Park, what a beautiful park!

We were on site 52, right on the water - and yes, I booked this site months and months in advance :)

The only negative was that there had been days and days of heavy rain before our arrival and the site was really soggy.  It was also right next to the access to the water, so not the most private of spots by any means...but that's the tradeoff for the million dollar view.

We did lots of paddling and swimming, mostly in the lake (it is reeeeeally shallow in the bay) but some swimming in the pool at the park as well.  It even has a little waterslide.

We also did a little island exploring: 

And some dog walking: 

And wore them out: 

And there is a small air strip nearby.  I don't know if there was something special going on or if Sundays are just the time to fly in for lunch or something, but it was cool to be right under the approach!  We saw some really cool planes, many of them while we were out paddling without my phone, but we saw a cool float plane and a Steerman biplane among others.

No pictures from Theo's favorite part of the weekend - stargazing on Saturday night.  Without light pollution or tree cover we could see the Milky Way and billions and billions of stars (ok, well maybe we didn't see THAT many Carl...) but it was just brilliant.  We actually had a hard time identifying some of the standard constellations that we know well since there were so many additional stars around them!

Oh, and this is the first time we've seen this - a charging room at the comfort station: