We visited Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut.
Mystic Aquarium had some fond memories for Jenn:
Map:
Beluga:
Sea lions:
Seals:
Belugas:
Fish:
Touch tank:
Sharks:
Stingrays:
Fish:
Coral:
Jellyfish:
GIF
Acadia National Park: east loop
We drove around the main park loop in Acadia National Park in Maine, including the main visitor center, a nature center, Thunder Hole, and Jordan Pond.
Here’s an interactive map of our route:
The Wild Gardens of Acadia:
Thunder Hole Gift Shop:
Thunder Hole:
We went to Jordan Pond House for dinner:
Jordan Pond:
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
We visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Ichiro exhibit:
More exhibits:
Bobbleheads on shaking shelves:
Women in baseball:
Baseball art:
The Baseball Hall of Fame:
Placeholders for the 2025 inductees, including Ichiro:
Media exhibits:
Baseball movies:
Who’s On First?
Good stuff.
Travel from Youngstown to Richfield Springs, New York
We drove our coach 254 miles, about five hours of driving, from Youngstown to Richfield Springs, New York.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Not heading to Canada:
Bridge:
Tolls:
Bridge:
Exit to I-290 East:
Exit to I-90 East:
Rest area:
BK for lunch:
Roadworks:
Another rest area:
Yet another rest area:
Paladin on the dash:
Rainy:
Arriving at KOA:
Our site:
Baseball: Toronto Blue Jays vs Philadelphia Phillies
We attended a game of the Toronto Blue Jays vs Philadelphia Phillies, playing at the Blue Jay’s ballpark, Rogers Centre, the only MLB team in Canada.
Jenn’s game summary:
Our first domed stadium. They can open the roof, but it was closed due to drizzle and maybe wildfire smoke. A lovely park with excellent food and a vibrant atmosphere. The Blue Jays came out for four runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings each to make total cream cheese of the Phillies, who only scraped together one run. Bassitt recorded his 1100th career strikeout, and Bo Bichette hit his 8th home run of the year. It was a fun game with a bit of local color—they sang a song called “OK Blue Jays” before “Take Me Out To the Ballgame,” and everyone knew the words and gestures, creating a great community vibe.
An interactive map of the ballpark environs:
This ballpark was a little more difficult to get to, as we had to cross an international border into Canada:
Toronto:
CN Tower:
Toronto Blue Jays:
Team store:
Mary Brown’s Chicken:
Poutine (of course) and chicken tenders:
Selfie from our seats in Section 119, Row 12, Seats 13 & 14:
Closed dome:
Ace, the Blue Jays mascot:
Cheerleaders:
Play ball:
Hotel rooms overlooking the field:
A run scores:
Two more runs:
The mascot “helping” the grounds crew:
Exploring the ballpark:
Chungchun rice hot dogs:
Gamsung hot dog covered in potato, and half mozzarella hot dog:
Cheerleader:
Blue Jays win:
Niagara Falls: viewpoints
Some viewpoints on the American side of Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls State Park map:
American Falls:
Horseshoe Falls:
Maid of the Mist viewing tower:
View from the tower platform:
Maid of the Mist boat and access:
Nice!
Niagara Falls: Maid of the Mist
We had a boat ride below Niagara Falls on Maid of the Mist, which goes up close to both the American and Horseshoe falls.
Boarding the boat via the floating loading platform:
A viewing platform tower, included as part of the package, which also serves as an elevator down to the boat:
A view of the Rainbow Bridge to Canada from the top deck of the boat:
The American Falls:
Cave of the Winds platforms:
Horseshoe Falls:
Canadian boat:
Back to the American Falls:
A super fun (and damp!) experience.
Niagara Falls: Cave of the Winds
We visited Cave of the Winds in Niagara Falls, where one can walk below the American Falls.
A fun experience.
Four Mile Creek State Park
We stayed at Four Mile Creek State Park in Youngstown, New York. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice lakefront state park.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-06-01
- Check out: 2025-06-10
- 9 nights
- We were only supposed to be here 7 nights, but were stuck when we couldn’t get our slides in!
Weather:
- Partly sunny, some rain
- High temps 55-73°F, lows 47-62°F
- Some wind, gusts to 26 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- Some neighbor noise (kids and dogs)
Site:
- #47, back-in, grass with embedded gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
- Somewhat level site; high in front; used hydraulic leveling
- Grass site about 90 feet long by 50 feet wide
- No neighbor on driver side
- Just grass between sites
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Tall trees on driver side
- Clean site
- Elevation 270 feet, front facing SE
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- No water or sewer
- Water available a few sites down; dump station by entrance
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 105-242 Mbps down, 20-30 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- RoamLink: 6-9 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 130 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
- AT&T: 6-14 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 70 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Gorgeous lakefront campground with stellar staff
All the sites are grassy back-ins. About half the park has no hookups, half has 30A, and one row has 50A. We managed to secure a 50A site with a view of Lake Ontario from our windows, which was a nice perk. The location is ideal for accessing Niagara Falls and Old Fort Niagara. It’s also convenient if you want to take a daytrip up to Toronto, with multiple border crossings to choose from.
The staff here were the best, however. Not only were they invaluable in pointing out things to do in the area, but we had a mechanical failure on the day of our departure, and it took a couple of days to get up and running again. The office staff were great to work with and very understanding of our situation. At one point, we needed some “muscle,” so several park employees and one or two locals joined in to help us out, and it helped restore some of my faith in humanity.
The only downside of this campground was the lack of full hookups. Due to our unexpectedly longer stay, we did use the bathroom blocks for once, and the showers were hit and miss (one I tried had a very weak spray and no hot water, but the one I tried on a subsequent day was much better). All in all, I would stay here again. We camped at Four Mile Creek State Park in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities… just electric:
There were a number of water stations dotted around the campground (marked on the map):
I used the nearby one (you can see our coach in the background) to fill our water bladder:
Then pumped the water from the bladder to the coach:
Then filled the waste tote in the back of the truck via the macerator:
And dumped the tote at the dump station:
My beard blowing in the wind while adding stickers to our coach:
Added the New York state sticker:
Just a few left:
Watching the sunset over Lake Ontario:
Very hazy due to wildfire smoke from Canada:
Lake Ontario:
Bathrooms:
We actually used the bathrooms once or twice:
Including the shower, due to filling tanks after our slide issue:
The playground behind our site:
Other sites:
A nice state park. We’d be happy to stay here again.
Travel from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York
We drove our coach 213 miles, about four hours of driving, from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northeast:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Rain pouring off slide topper:
Needed to return the laminated parking pass:
Road near Newbury, Ohio:
I-90 East:
Fuel stop:
BK for lunch:
Paladin on the dash when we returned to our coach:
Toe beans:
Paladin on the dash when underway:
Welcome to Pennsylvania:
A truck took the curve too fast, and rolled over; that’s going to take a while to clean up:
Welcome to New York:
New York Tollway:
Service plaza parking:
Not something you see on a trailer every day:
Text stop parking area; a good idea:
Buffalo:
Tonawanda bridge:
Welcome to the City of Niagara Falls; we avoided the Niagara Scenic Parkway due to the 12’ 0” height restriction (we are 11’ 7”, rather close):
And definitely avoided accidentally heading to Canada:
Arriving at Four Mile Creek State Park:
Our site:
Our coach:
Little did we know we’d be here a little longer than expected….