Association Island May 21-24

We spent 4 days at Association Island Resort near Henderson Harbor NY. When we arrived we were blown away by the beauty of the place.

View of Association Island from the causeway

Our campsite was right on the water (see above),

geese were everywhere,

and the sunsets (as seen from our campsite) were spectacular.


Of course every place has its drawbacks. In this case, the drawback was an abundance of mayflies.

One picture is worth a thousand words.

I now know how Pharaoh must have felt about locusts.
(Note: Mayflies do not bite, but clouds of them are not pleasant--unless you are fascinated by the phenomenon like Ray.)

Four camp sites visted, # Five in progress

So far we’ve had enjoyable stays at four different campgrounds:

Secluded Acres in Lakeville PA

KOA Newburgh in Plattekill NY

Bonnie Brae Pittsfield MA

and KOA Lake Placid in Wilmington NY

While in Lakeville, we visited Mary Wessmiller, a feisty 96 year old distant relative of Ray's. We also went to Claws and Paws, an animal farm in Hamlin PA

Giraffes have long tongues!

Highlights of our stay in Plattekill included a tour of West Point and a trek on the largest footbridge in the world, the Walkway across the Hudson. (It’s a former railway bridge that spans the Hudson between Highland and Poughkeepsie.)

This is the footbridge from our picnic stop.

In Pittsfield we met Ray’s brother Tony and his wife Lois for 6 days of camping and touring. We visited the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, (Juan Munoz sculpts some strange stuff), the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge (amazing detail), Ventfort Hall in Lenox (featuring the Little Ladies of Fashion), and the Shaker Village in Hancock (baby pigs!). Although not on the normal tourist circuit, we also decided to get close to a windmill. We met some maintenance men at a country store who brought us to the windmill via ATVs and actually let us enter one. Great fun. I also got to see my close friend Jane who drove to Pittsfield to visit. It was wonderful to see her, but the visit included being rear-ended at a stoplight on the way to lunch and having her Yorkshire Terrier Jack attacked by a golden lab—truly terrifying.

From Wilmington we visited Lake Placid (touring the Luge Training Center), High Falls Gorge (a pretty waterfall just 1.8 miles away) and the Ausable Chasm (a two mile hike with lots of stairs and gorgeous scenery). Wherever we drove, the next corner held a quaint river scene with white water circling rough boulders. There was hardly anyone on the roads (except a few people fly fishing in the river).

High Falls Gorge

Ausable Chasm

We’ve met and enjoyed quite a few people in the local bars, including two different restaurant owners (who earlier in life were a Rockette and a coal miner), a fly fisherman, and an elderly gentlemen who was a member of a men’s dining club.

Right now we are in the Thousand Island area of New York and our next stop will be near Niagara Falls. If anyone has any suggestions for must-sees as we travel west, please let us know. I’m not sure when my next post will be, but I’ll try not to wait three weeks!

The beginning of a blog

J set this blog up for me for Mother's Day and this is my first entry. Thanks J!