Fall Break Camping at Ryan's

Our camping weekend at Fairy Stone State Park got washed out over Ryan's October home leave.  Instead, we camped in Claire n Easton's driveway and played lots of Settlers and Life!

Our hike and picnic on Sabbath was cold and wet, up in the clouds up on Skyline Drive. (Carrie's picture)

The kids were wearing out on this second climb - the trail to Mary's Rock that we climbed with our kids when we lived there.  The cloud we hiked in obscured any views - we didn't go to the top.

Does anybody know the crazy lady beside me!?   ;)

Or the crazy guy beside Randy???!!!

We got in a walk and playground visit Fri. morning before the rain started that lasted the rest of the day.  It made us glad we decided NOT to camp.  (Carrie's picture)

Dollywood and Elkmont Camping

On Tues., Oct. 23, we went to DW to hear Ernie Haas and Signature Sound.  We enjoyed the fall decorations and carved pumpkins.

Gatlinburg Trail bridge - we saw a bear across from the Gatlinburg end of the trail!

We camped beside the creek in Elkmont, loop J-8, our nicest campsite there ever.  The weather was perfect.

It was crystal clear on Wednesday for our hiking and ride up to Clingman's Dome. The line-up to get a parking place up there was unreal.  Everybody wanted to climb to the observation tower on such a crystal clear day it seemed.

Last Week of Trip, Oct. 4-12

We spent two days with Mom on our way back and visited Coleman.

Olive Garden together is always a good idea!

Birthday celebration for Easton's 4th

Sunday morning fun before we left -when I came out of our trailer, Easton asked me,"Did you bring that because you don't have anyplace to live?"  :) 

Good times together at Dollywood's Fall Harvest and Gospel Celebration for two days, Oct. 8-9, - the Collingsworths were there!

Wednesday we finally caught up to these two for awhile - we heard a new family that we like, the Hyssongs from Maine.

Our neighborhood in Elkmont, sites F 11 and 12.  We had great weather.

Jo-Anne camped in Ruthie's tent on our campsite.

We camped at Hungry Mother State Park Wed. and Thurs. night, Oct. 10-11, with Shawnda.

It finally quit raining for us to bike the top part of the VA Creeper with her Fri., Oct. 12.

It was a great day to bike - high in low 60's eventually

There was a lot of water in the river and coming down these falls from the rain all day on Thursday.

Other Favorite Places in MA, RI and CT

Rose Island Light, Newport, RI.  This was built in the style of the French Second Empire in 1870.  It was decommissioned but is now a museum and guest house.  The light has been re-lit and it's now a private guide to navigation.

Newport Harbor Light on Goat Island, Newport, RI

We followed our GPS to the Castle Hill Inn parking lot and couldn't see the lighthouse and couldn't park to go find it since it was valet parking only.  The next morning we went back before the restaurant opened and parked and walked past this sign to find the Castle Hill Lighthouse finally.  

We drove Ocean View Drive in Newport, RI and saw a lot of beautiful homes.

Some of the scenery reminded me of James Herriot country in England.

We saw Easton's beach where we parked to walk the Cliff Walk.

Easton's Beach from the Cliff Walk

See the lighthouse on the little island in the water over my head?  It was tricky to find this one - we finally pulled into a condo parking lot to see it through a clearing in the trees down over the hill. It was such a cool-looking one too.

Here it is up close - Pomham Rocks Light, Providence, RI,  now decommissioned and owned by an oil refinery.

Gloucester, RI - impressive!  Scarborough Beach was just down the road where I came on a family vacation as a kid.

 Point Judith Lighthouse, RI near Scarborough Beach

This classic car pulled in to watch a couple of surfers we'd been watching. A couple climbed out of the rumble seat.  I've always wanted to ride in a rumble seat!

Mystic Seaport Light, Mystic, CT. It's a replica of the Brant Pt. light on Nantucket Island that we did not see since we didn't want to pay the price for the ferry over.

Morgan Point Light, Noank, CT (decommissioned in 1919 and now a private residence).  We had to walk past another "private" sign to see this one.  Nobody was around fortunately.

Avery Point lighthouse at Univ. of CT campus - we got there after sunset and it was raining.  Randy took this picture under a huge tree to protect the camera.  I like the green light!  We saw the beams of 4 other lighthouses from the point.  So we got permission to sleep in our trailer in their parking lot so we could see the other lighthouses and this one better in the morning. 

It's an unusual looking, classy lighthouse - glad I got to see it after daybreak.

This is one we saw the next morning out in the harbor - New London Ledge Light, New London, CT.  It's modeled after the French Empire style.

So our last camping in New England was right here at Univ. of CT, next to the harbor, and it was free.  

We scouted out a couple more CT lighthouses and found this one at a miniature golf course that we'll call the Putt Putt Light

Saybrook Breakwater Light, Old Saybrook, CT - the last lighthouse we saw on the trip - kind of a disappointment, but it is an active one.  We drove through a cool neighborhood in the middle of a golf course to spot it, pulling our trailer.  We got some very strange looks from men in their golf carts going down the road.

We had a few fires along the way, when it was cool enough to enjoy one.  I had private classical guitar concerts that our neighbors often complimented Randy on the next morning.

We thoroughly enjoyed  the "thrill of the chase" looking for lighthouses.  Two books we have we used a lot (thank you Amy n Jeremy) and of course the GPS that took us on some goose chases, where we never found the light (sometimes thanks to "private property" signs with locked gates behind them).  We identified 58 total  - Maine (7), Mass.(29),  Rhode Island (13), and Connecticut (9).  Of those, 13 are no longer active. 

A lot of lighthouse analogies came to mind along the way and I journaled some that I may polish and share on this blog eventually.