June 08, 2016

RV Vacation

Prompted by years of lusting after a sexy 1970s boat-of-an-RV parked near my East Village apartment, I finally decided to take on an RV Adventure in a more-practical fashion by renting one! This was a dream of mine for a long time! Really glad I did it and can see myself doing another longer trip westward in the future! Here are my pics from my 8 days wandering the northeast in an RV!

Wednesday, June 8th

Woke up early on Wednesday to perfect weather and walked over to...

grant — ...meet Grant for a bon voyage breakfast at Odessa.

maddy, me — After we ate, I grabbed the hound and hopped into an Uber I'd hired to drive me all the out to northwestern NJ to pick up...

...my RV rental! I'd reserved and paid for a much smaller 16' truck - but they didn't have any left in their fleet. So they "upgraded" me to this 24' monster!

The guys on the lot gave me a walkthrough of the vehicle...

...and showed me how to use everything...

maddy — ...and a little after 3pm, we were ready to hit the road!

The feeling of getting used to driving a huge bus for the first time on narrow, windy country back-roads.

maddy — Maddy loves a road trip! But after tiring of two hours in this position...

maddy, me — ...she finally relented to my lap.

Made it to the throughway and it was much easier driving!

maddy, me — RV vacation begins now!

A little after 7pm I'd reached the Lake George area and found a cute little RV friendly place to stay the evening.

Parked the RV and balanced it out for the first time...

...took the dog for a walk, did some grocery shopping in the RV park grocery store and then it was time to...

...whip up the first of many grilled-cheese-centered meals!

maddy — Wiener dog waiting for bedtime. Lol.

Thursday, June 9th

maddy — Woke up the next morning and took Maddy to explore the campgrounds.

Funny to be in a summer camp-like space with no people around!

Had the giant dog park to ourselves.

Came home and had nice outdoor breakfast.

No summer roadtrip vacation breakfast is complete without a tiny box of cereal that's not good for you.

Spend the afternoon enjoying my RV living room!

Exploring the grounds I found this game room! Brings me back to the days of going to ski places in the Poconos with my parents in the 80s.

Friday, June 10th

maddy — After eating and breaking camp Friday morning, it was time to head to a new destination! Maddy wasn't taking any chances of being left behind and waited for me all morning in the driver's seat.

Drove across NY...

...and into Vermont on my way to visit Katie in NH!

maddy, me — This little dum dum resting her chin on the windowsill makes me laugh every time.

maddy, me — My fave picture of the two of us! <3

...a little before 5pm...

...I made it!

kate c, me — We caught up and I got the grand tour of Dave's amazing place!

Super cool foyer filled with desert plants!

All-glass ceiling!

Workshop windows!

maddy — Maddy on the loose!

Saturday, June 11th

Spent some time enjoying the garden...

...and learning about all the plants...

...before we drove into Portsmouth!

Lunch at Petey's Summertime Seafood

Lobster doober (or "doo-bah" as they'd say in NH) menu vibes.

dave p, kate c, kathy steinmuller, me — Where we got to see Kate's dad, Alan and her aunt, Kathy! I grew up seeing them every summer!

Back at the house that evening...

...I enjoyed Dave's incredible plant heaven while I took some trip notes in my diary!

dave p — Dave cooking us up some dinner!

dave p, maddy — We stayed up late night talking...

kate c, maddy — ..and taking turns holding Maddy in her Russian Princess coat!

Sunday, June 12th

maddy — Sunday morning Maddy was hanging out with her Mexican ceramic counterpart.

maddy — Such majestic beasts!

After lunch, Kate drove us to the water's edge...

...in Rye, NH!

Met this derpy chocolate lab!

kate c — Kate took me on a tour of a house Dave was restoring.

Love these weird clouds.

kate c, me — Bow Lake buds.

Awesome views.

The NH beach totally reminds me of the opening scene of Jaws.

After heading back....

kate c, maddy — ...Kate helped us pack the RV up and saw us off! Thanks so much for having us! <3

On the road again! My original plan was to drive up to Acadia National Park in Maine...

...but after realizing that driving an RV is WAY more tiring than driving a car, I decided to scrap the plan for Acadia (which was still a really far drive) and just drive around and get lost.

Drove until I started to get tired and started to look for camp grounds!

Made it to the White Mountains and found a camping spot!

Fabulously golden-brown grilled cheese for dinner...

maddy — ...and an early night's sleep!

Monday, June 13th

It's really nice to wake up in a sunny RV bedroom when your camper is parked deep in the woods near a running stream!

Up at 830am...

...to take the hound for a river walk through the woods!

Came back home and made pancakes one at a time until I was full.

Checked in on my moustache growth. Impressive!

After breakfast, I broke camp, got the RV into travel mode...

...and left the campgrounds to drive over to the White Mountain National Forest trailhead!

maddy — This was the beginning of discovering that Maddy LOVES TO HIKE! At first I kept her on-lease everywhere....

...but over time, I let her roam wild! Swamp dog!

Bad photo, good sign. "Beaver Brook Trail: This trail is extremely tough. If you lack experience please use another trail. Take special care at the cascades to avoid tragic results."

maddy — No matter how rough the terrain gets, this little dingus is always trying to pull me up the trail.

maddy — About to take the slippery-rock path all the way back down.

Headed back to camp!

maddy — Picked up some firewood...

maddy — ...and started a nice fire!

With camp settled and a cozy fire going, it was time for this GOURMAND to prepare...

....a dinner fit for a (camping) king!

Stayed up late watching the fire!

Tuesday, June 14th

maddy — The next morning, I packed up camp and did some last minute exploring before checking out.

Something so nostalgic about campsites!

Loved this "Ping Pong Pavillion" and the Lost River Message Board.

By 11am, I was on the road again! Driving south from Woodstock, NH down to southwestern VT!

Saw a beautiful lake and decided to pull over and explore a bit.

Admired this old school bus / RV conversion!

So nice to just randomly fine lovely places you didn't mean to. See that rock out there in the water?

We walked all the way around and out onto it!

maddy — Such exploring!

maddy

On the road again.

A few hours later...

maddy, me — Littlest co-pilot.

...I'd made it to the KOA outside of Brattleboro, VT.

Spent some time checking out this cool re-issue.

Hung out with the KOA manager and met his goats.

Got my little honey leveled...

...and hooked up the cables for water, electricity and to dump my tanks in the sewer! (Just like Uncle Eddie, Ellen!)

Caught up on some email and civilization stuff. (But just a little!)

When you don't have a toaster, you gotta pan-fry your breads.

Mmmm.

If only my other tinder game were this strong.

One match or go home.

maddy — Survey my camp kingdom! (Maddy on the table in her dog bed!)

Mac & Pancake dinner? Suuuuure.

Sat outside by the fire...

...and watched Game of Thrones. (I also spent a ton of this trip listening to the audiobook of Dune and all of these photos make me think about Dune weirdness!)

Wednesday, June 15th

Keep that pancake train rolling.

Pancakes really helping the facial hair come in!

Did my weird yoga stretching stuff.

Turned on the water heater to do the dishes and take a quick shower!

Bid the goats farewell!

maddy — Then it was time to roll out

Started heading back to NY state around 11. Taking it slow for the moose!

About 3 hours later, I'd made it to North South Lake Campground in Hunter, NY. Got settled into my spot...

...and hit the woods with Maddy to do some exploring.

Cool intergrown roots from overturned trees.

We followed a stream until we came to...

...South Lake!

Hung out by the water's edge.

maddy — Enjoys hiking so much!

maddy — Headed back to the RV...

...to make dinner.

maddy — Ate outside while this one kept watch! Haha.

Thursday, June 16th

Woke up early for our last day and got a nice long forest exploration session in.

Made a "try to finish all your groceries" omelet!

Put it on the toast!

Wash it down with some muffins!

Broke camp and hit the road around 11!

On the way back from the campgrounds, I stopped off to explore Kaaterskill Falls!

You hike up for 15 minutes, but when you reach the top it's worth it!

Nothing like sunbathing with a waterfall mist!

The hike back down to the RV!

Stopped for a bite to eat at Mike's Diner.

About 90 minutes south of the diner, I saw signs for the Mayahana Buddhist Temple and decided to take a detour to check it out.

The gates to the temple were open.

I drove along a lovely, winding road and eventually came to a huge empty parking lot.

I parked the RV and set out on foot to see if any of the buildings were open.

It's a neat feeling to be in such a huge, well-kept complex of temples and NO ONE ELSE IS AROUND.

Burned a few for my homeys...

...and then headed into the temple to sit for a bit. (It was like a Chinese future spaceship made out of wood inside!)

Left the main hall and set out to see if any of the other buildings were open.

The next building I tried turned out to be...

...the 500 Arhat Hall!

Three sides of the large hall were filled with statues of 500 different arhats

Each different Arhat has a wooden name-plaque and a dish for coin offerings.

I spent a good thirty minutes alone in the room feeling not alone.

The next temple I went into, was the opposite of the last; totally empty except for a single, intricate statue of Avalokitesvara, the buddha of loving kindness, who they might call Guanyin (because I think it's a Chinese place)

There are so many depictions! This variation is called "Sahasrabhuja Sahasranetra," which means "Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed" Avalokitesvara

Before heading out, I hiked all the way up to the top of this lovely Seven Story Pagoda!

View from the top!

Hit the road so that I'd have the RV back...

...at the rental place in time!

While I waited for Scott to come pick me up, I worked on the last of my groceries!

erika, liam, michael, scott — Spent the evening with Scott, Erika and their kids before Scott gave me a ride back home to NYC!