We’re kind of at a loose end until our housesit starts on Friday. Everything by the coast is so busy. Camping grounds are packed tight, it’s still stinking hot. Mike is not supposed to be getting too much sun.

So today we tiki toured. First stop was Portland, Maine. We went down the esplanade where food trucks we’re getting ready for the day. We took a walk along the esplanade, amazed by how much it reminded me of Poole with the harbour and the boats. A big boat even had a helicopter on it.

Next stop was the Portland lighthouse, another dinky little thing. The USA doesn’t do everything bigger! There were too many peoples there, so we took a couple of photos and left, continuing our way south following the coast as much as we could. There’s not a coastal drive as such and we occasionally got glimpses of the sea. There weren’t a lot of places to stop, and if there were the car parks were full, or cost $30 for the day. Not my idea of a nice day at the seaside.

So we continued our tiki tour and it was quite relaxing, no aim in mind, just driving and looking.

We arrived in a scenic seaside town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The carpark was packed but someone was leaving as we arrived so we were lucky. And we can park here for free for 72 hours! So we’ll stay the night.

It was bustling for a Sunday afternoon. We sat and listened to a busker for a while, watched a few people quietly protesting on the footpath. One man was complaining about rich billionaires. Another about Black Lives Matter and a gay flag.

We wandered around the town with its many bars and restaurants and the town had a real English look about it. it was really cool town and we had a lovely relaxing afternoon.

We decided on Thai for dinner which was delicious. Then we went back to our carpark to sleep and the carpark was still packed tight at 9pm. We had a good nights sleep. And it cost nothing!

To

As we discovered yesterday, coastal Maine is very busy, especially on a weekend. So today we were up at 5.30am, and away by 6.30am to go exploring before all the masses got out on the roads.

First stop, Owls head to see a lighthouse. But when we got there, we couldn’t find the lighthouse. But this is Maine, there are lighthouses everywhere.

So we drove further on down the coast to another one. But when we got there it was a private road. Strike two for lighthouses. So we asked a couple of guys and they said there was one back where we came from.

So backtrack we did. It was about a mile walk on a granite jetty to see the lighthouse at the end. It was a very quaint lighthouse, basically just a light on top of a house. But it was a nice walk. It was 9.30am by this time and getting hot already.

I’d heard things about A lobster shack called Reds Eats and it’s supposed to be the best lobster rolls in the world. But I’ve also heard of people queuing for two hours to eat there. Crazy I know!

We stopped there just before opening time and a small queue had already formed. I thought it wouldn’t take long, but an hour later I’m still standing there, in the hot sun, baking like a lobster. They did hand our umbrellas and some fried prawns while we waited.

Anyway, I’m not sure why it took so long, but we only ordered one lobster roll to share. At $34, that was all we were willing to pay.

The roll was packed with lobster, easily $70 worth back home. It was juicy and tender, but lacked a little flavour. I would have expected the salty sweet taste like crayfish, but it didn’t really taste like anything.

But… the sauce they served with it was delicious. It was a butter sauce and tasted like butter scotch. We just dipped the lobster in and it was delicious. But they got the lobster to bread ratio way off. You could not pick it up and eat it like a roll as the roll had gone all soggy. They could easily have make three rolls from that amount of lobster.

Was it worth $34? I think so. Was it worth a 1 hour wait? NO!

After that we were so hot and bothered and sick of all the peoples that we got the heck out of there.

I found us a free place to camp in a nice little town called freeport. They had free camping in a carpark for RVs and it was so much nicer than the cramped camp from the previous night.

Friday:

I decided I would drive for a bit this morning to get used ro the van. It’s not the easiest thing to drive with its sloppy steering, and spongy drum brakes.

I started out on a dual carriageway, taking my time getting used to the quirks. When you drive on the other side of the road, it’s not instinctive where to position yourself. So I was constantly checking my mirrors to see where I was on the road, trying to keep in a straight line with sloppy steering, watching my speed and the other cars around me, all the while with Mike yelling at me to stay on the road!

After 30 mins I let Mike drive again.

As we crossed into Maine, we passed about 4 cannabis shops. Of course we had to stop and see how it all worked. You need ID to enter but of course they couldn’t scan our NZ drivers licence. But they let us in anyway.

They have so much stuff for sale. Gummy bears, cookies, oils, pre rolled joints, drinks. It was very overwhelming.

I was heading for a town in Wiscasset because the have the best lobster rolls in Maine. We stopped off at the visitor centre to find out what to do here and she gave us a few ideas and also somewhere to camp. She also said there was a food cart around the corner that did good lobster rolls, so we went there first.

We balked at the price. $24 for a single lobster roll! In New York we’d paid $32 for two, including fries! So we just bought one to share. And just as well we did. I thought it tasted bitter and didn’t like it, so Mike ate it all.

Then we headed for the camping ground. There was a long line of RVs waiting, so Mike parked behind them an I got out and joined the queue.

I must have waited 30 mins before finally it was my turn. but the lady said that I had to go elsewhere for reservations, the queue I had joined was for checking in only.

So we managed to reserve a spot but when we got there someone was parked in it. As well as that, it was a cramped spot between two RVs, one with a barking dog. So we went back to reservations and got allocated a different spot, which was much nicer. But it still cost us $60 to camp in a horrible busy campground!

But it had sewer, electricity and water on site.

Well, that tick threw a spanner in the works.

We had planned to spend a few days hiking in the Catskills mountains, but Mike developed a rash. So we went to the doctor and he is now on 3 weeks of antibiotics to try and kill whatever tick borne disease is in his system. After 4 weeks, he then needs to get tested to see if any disease remains.

Apparently the first doctor we saw should have treated him immediately.

While Mike is on these antibiotics he needs to keep out of the sun. So we’ve bought him a long sleeve shirt and a floppy hat.

So we have a change of plan. We’re going to drive up to Maine in search of lobster.

It was another great day in NYC.

This morning we took our bikes on the 8.45am ferry, but this time to midtown Manhattan.

We made our way the the start of the Highline, an old above ground railway which has been converted to a walkway. But bikes are not allowed up there.

We locked our bikes up under the stairwell in a dubious location. A dark spot, very little foot traffic, grafitti etc.

As we walked up the steps, an unusual looking homeless person of an unidentified gender walked down. I just knew I didn’t want to mess with them.

They wandered off, not even looking at our bikes. We looked around some of the Highline, then looked down to double check on our bikes. The homeless person was back, now standing near our bikes.

They took a pee, smoked a cigarette and had a drink, then moved on. We deemed it safe to leave our bikes there and continued on.

At the next lot of stairs, there looked to be a better place to park our bikes, surrounded by cafes and more pedestrians walking by, so we went back to get our bikes to move them.

Two guys were standing by our bikes smoking a joint, but they weren’t interested in our bikes. But, we moved them anyway feeling better that they weren’t parked in a tramps toilet.

It was cool walking along the high line, away from all the traffic and hustle and bustle. Plants lined the edge of the walkway, nestled between old railway tracks, while skyscrapers towered above us.

We stopped and had some tacos at a food cart and they were yummy.

After we’d finished the Highline, we checked on our bikes then found a bagel place for lunch.

We both opted for the cream cheese bagel and it was soooooo delicious. They bake their own bagels on site and it was the best one I’ve ever had.

After our bagels we were both so exhausted from the heat. We cycled along the Hudson greenway to the downtown ferry and the 5 min trip back to Jersey.

We cranked up the air conditioning in the van and had an afternoon nap.

We both felt so much better after our break. We went out for lobster rolls again, then walked to the waterfront to watch the lights come on in Manhattan. I didn’t want to stay too late, unsure about walking back in the dark, but when the lights started coming in, it was so beautiful I didn’t want to leave.

We walked back in the dark, and I commented how dark it was, the streets not very well lit. it felt like a safe area but I put my dog spray in my pocket just in case.

Little did we know, danger lay ahead…

‘Walk like you have a purpose,’ I kept saying to Mike, something I’d learned to do while living in London.

Up ahead we saw a man lurking. Why was he just standing there, what was he going to do? Both of us were on high alert, we knew he was about to say something and I was getting ready to run.

I’d read Jersey was a dangerous city on the drive here, and a turn off the wrong street could have you in a bad area. I didn’t think that was the case here though, we’d walked this way, it was a nice area. But that was in daylight.

We continued walking towards the man, refusing to be afraid.

The man stepped towards us and held up his hand. ‘Watch out!,’ he said.

Why we didn’t just cross the street when we first saw him, I’m not sure, but it all happened so fast.

‘Watch out,’ he repeated to someone coming from the other direction.

And then we saw it, sauntering along the street towards us, tail in the air, getting ready to attack us if threatened.

Can you guess what it was?

It was a skunk! I’d never seen one before, but we’d run over a dead one on our car a few weeks back and the smell was disgusting. Apparent you do not want to get sprayed by a skunk, you’ll never get the smell out.

The man was amazed it was in such an urban environment. I managed to get a short video of it without getting too close. But if you didn’t know, you would have thought it was a cat!

We are just amazed at all the wildlife we’ve seen since being here. Skunks, alligators. Armadillos, turtles, raccoons, snakes, a bear, chipmunks, elk, squirrels and a tick!

We leave NYC tomorrow and head for the Catskills mountains.

We had a fantastic day celebrating my birthday in NYC.

We caught to ferry with our bikes in the morning from Jersey city and it took about 5 minutes to get to NYC and arrived about 10am.

We cycled along the Hudson River greenway which is a dedicated cycle route alongside the Hudson River and we followed it all the way to Central Park.

We spent a while cycling around Central Park. There were loads of turtles hanging around one of the lakes probably hoping to be fed.

Then came the exciting bit. Cycling through Times Square! We were glad we did as there was actually less traffic on the roads than the footpaths!

We then went to Grand central station, forgot to see the Chrysler building, saw the Empire State Building and decided we’d had enough.

We cycled back to the Hudson Greenway and caught the 4.15pm ferry back.

For dinner we went back to Surf city and had their lobster rolls, which were delicious. We sat on the waterfront enjoying our meal overlooking the NYC skyline. Perfect!

We booked another day here, so tomorrow we’ll do the High line , ground zero, and whatever else we find to do along the way.

Today we drove to New York City. It was a 4 hour drive from where we camped, and all went well until the last 25 minutes.

We were on the interstate when the car started making a rattling noise. At first we thought it might be a stone in the tyre but the rattling got worse.

We pulled over on the side of the freeway to see if there was anything obvious wrong. Even while it was idling the rattled continued. I thought oh no, I don’t want to break down in a dodgy part of Jersey city.

Mike decided to carry on driving to our destination, an RV park in Jersey city. It’s basically a big carpark with water and electricity on site. There are also showers, toilets and a laundry here. We’ll be making use of all of them.

We took a walk to the waterfront where there was a clear view over Manhattan, with regular ferries to take out there.

We were both pretty tired so we spent the afternoon soaking up the atmosphere. The part of Jersey city we’re in is all new and modern. There is a marina and many apartment blocks. You can even rent kayaks and jet skis.

After our walk, Mike looked at the car engine to see if anything had come loose in there to cause the rattle. Sure enough, one of the belts was missing. But which belt? Mike’s first thought was alternated, but thankfully it wasn’t that. We looked up to part number and it’s apparently the smog pump that lost its belt . Apparently that’s not a problem, we can drive it like that and get it fixed at our next service which is due soon.

We went to dinner at surf city which is next door to the campground. It was a bustling bar area right on the marina with many options of food to choose from. We both fancied pizza and chose a pepperoni one and sat down, overlooking the harbour. It was the most delicious pizza I’ve ever had, cut into squares rather than rectangles. They also had lobster rolls which I’m keen to try.

It was really cool seeing another side to New York, away from the tourists. Locals hanging out together, yachts coming and going from the marina. I’d never thought of New York as somewhere to go sailing!

We are going to explore Manhattan tomorrow by bike.

We spent the day exploring the Finger Lakes and some of the hikes were exceptional.

We started with the Taughannock falls which was a flat walk to the 215 foot falls.

Next we visited the Buttermilk Falls which was as delicious as it sounded. The walk was up a steep rocky path following the buttermilk creek which cascaded over rocks on the way down. It was such a picturesque walk and not too many people considering it was a Saturday.

Our next stop was the Robert h Treman state park which we made a mistake at. There was the choice of a 1.8 km walk, or a 7.7 km walk. We accidentally started on the longer walk which took us a a steep, never ending hill. It was supposedly a gorge trail but it was all in a wooded area.

We had walked for about 45 mins before we decided we’d had enough forest walking over the last few weeks so we turned around. We had to drive to another carpark to find the other walk, and we were glad we did.

It was a magnificent gorge trail with towering cliffs next to waterfalls. It was so much more beautiful than Watkins Glen and only a fraction of the people. We wondered why nobody had recommended this walk. We almost didn’t do it as we’d never heard of it.

There was one more glen we were going to do, but we were so tired we decided to go back to camp. Mike decided to go on a trail at the camp wearing his jandals. I told him he was silly and should put on his trainers and long socks as the path was overgrown.

We headed back to camp and did a tick check, and sure enough, Mike had a small tick the size of a poppy seed. I tried to remove it with tweezers but the head remained. This is apparently the worst thing that can happen.

We went to the camp office to see if they knew what to do. She looked at it and confirmed the head was stuck in his skin. She said we needed to go to the medical centre, which was luckily open until 7pm.

The one good thing about not having a public health system, is there was no queue on a Saturday afternoon. We got in straight away, the nurse did her bits, taking blood pressure etc. Then the doctor came in to look at Mike’s leg.

Then it got a bit embarrassing. There was no evidence of a tick head. We couldn’t even remember where it but him. But all we can think of, was it fell out. The doctor said they don’t tend to do anything anyway, as it can cause bigger problems.

But, she was very nice and gave us a special tool for removing ticks and sent us on our way.

We’d heard how emergency care can cost 1000s of dollars just for a consultation, but they didn’t take any money from us. I think they took pity on us. Either that or we’ll get a whopping bill from our travel insurance.

Tomorrow we are going to New York City and are staying in a RV park in Jersey City, just a short ferry ride from Manhattan. I think we’re going to explore the city on our bikes.

It was weird staying in a hotel last night, I really missed Rodger. But it might have been a little uncomfortable sitting in him in the rain and thunderstorms when it was still warm and sticky.

This morning we went to Canada! It was just a short walk across a bridge and we were there! There was no queue at the border and we showed our passports and were in.

We were pleased we hadn’t driven as there were queues of cars heading into the USA.

I was very excited, never having been to Canada before. And the Niagara Falls were amazing. There weren’t too many people out and there were many viewpoints of the falls from the top.

We did think about doing the boat trip into the mist at the base of the falls, but decided against it. the falls were impressive enough from the top.

We spent about an hour in Canada, then headed back to the USA. As we left Canada a big queue of people were waiting to get in so we timed that right!

On our way back to our car, we passed a lot of Indian food trucks, so we had a masala dosa and it was delicious.

We are now back in the Finger lakes region and tomorrow we will do some hikes in the area.

On Sunday, we start spreading the news.

Today was not my favourite day.

We left camp at 7.30am and it was the most beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. I felt good for getting up and leaving early, despite Mike’s protests. Everyone we met said we must to to Watkins Glen, so we figured it was really popular, so an early start was a must.

I thought it was only 1.5 hours drive which would have got is there by 9am, but that somehow turned into a 2 hour drive by the time we filled up with petrol and a few other stops. There is a store here called the Dollar General, and it sells $1 chocolate which is yummy, so we stopped and bought a few packets.

We finally arrived at Watkins Glen and parked up and were on the trail by 10.30am. But we weren’t the only ones. There must have been a couple of tours arrive as it was heaving with people.

Watkins Glen is a natural wonder located in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. The glen is a series of 19 waterfalls that cascade over a 2.3 km stretch of the Genesee River. The waterfalls range in height from 15 to 60 feet (4.6 to 18 m), and they flow through a series of gorges, ravines, and potholes.

It was about an hours walk though the gorge, cliffs of layered strata towering over us, waterfalls gushing and swirling their way down. It would have been very beautiful, but it felt really touristy. The path was paved and there were formed steps, not like the lovely bush walk we had in Ricketts Glen the day before.

There were too many people to make it enjoyable, so we’d obviously picked the wrong time. At the end of the walk, most people turn around and go back, but we decided to walk up the 180 steps and walk back via the north rim trail, which was much more pleasant. We met another couple at the top from Pennsylvania, and they were blown away by all the people too. We walked back to our cars together, and they have given us some good information of things to do on the way to Connecticut.

We couldn’t wait to get out of the busy town of Watkins Glen, and head to the even busier town of Niagra Falls. We didn’t arrive until after 5pm, and there was nowhere to camp. I’d read that there were some 24 hour carparks we could camp in, but alas, we couldn’t find them.

We went to go explore by foot rather than driving around, but a guy stopped us and told us thunderstorms were imminent, within 30 minutes.

I asked at a hotel if we could pay to park overnight and they said no. We didn’t want to have to drive in the thunderstorms to find camping, so we ended up booking a very expensive room over looking the skyline in Canada and the spray of the falls. It was an awesome view and we even had premium seats for the fireworks display at 10pm.

Tomorrow, we are going to Canada!