Final day in New York

Before leaving Oswego, we went to tour Fort Ontario. Fort Ontario was erected by Britain in 1755 to protect the east end of Lake Ontario. It was destroyed twice and then rebuilt - the first time was during the French and Indian War, the second was during the American Revolution. I have been to the fort many times as a child and Jim has also been in the past, but it was fun to go again. We were able to go through many of the buildings and walk much of the grounds. We both felt that major upgrades had been made to the displays and presentations.

Fort Ontario

We needed to be back in Buffalo the following day for our flight home, but chose to take a meandering route back to Buffalo that would allow us to drive by my grandma’s cottage on Seneca Lake where I spent lots of time as a child.

The front yard of the cottage on Seneca Lake

The pilings out in front of the cottage where I often swam

Another pic of the yard of my grandma's cottage

Before leaving the Seneca Lake area we drove past Hollowell Farms which was established in 1879 and owned by my Great Grandparents and where my grandmother grew up. I have memories of visiting the farm as a child.

 

Hollowell Farm

The farm  is currently rented to an Amish family who are taking meticulous care of the property.

Oswego, New York

After leaving Buffalo, we arrived in Oswego just in time to have lunch on the shore of Lake Ontario at the iconic Rudy’s. My Texas Hot hotdog was just as tasty as I remember it being!

A Texas Hot from Rudy's!!

Of course we had to drive by my childhood home on Brown Drive. I was pleased to see that it looks well taken care of.

No visit to Oswego is complete without a stop at Ontario Orchards - too bad it's the wrong time of year to enjoy their freshly pressed apple cider!

Can you see me amongst the flowers?

Niagara Falls - New York

Jim had an appointment with one of his distributors in Buffalo, New York set for the morning of June 21st.   I decided to tag along on this trip so that we could do a little sightseeing after his meeting was over. Even though we live in California, this area of the country holds a special place in my heart as I was born in upstate New York and lived there until the age of 15 when my family moved to California. Much of the purpose of this trip was to revisit some of my old stomping grounds.

We had the afternoon free to explore, so we headed straight to Niagara Falls. We had been here together in the late 90’s, but enjoyed it this time just as much as we did back then. We parked the car on the US side and spent some time at the viewing spots along the water before walking across the bridge to the Canadian side. In our opinion, the best view of the falls is from Canada!  We did lots of walking and picture taking before boarding the Hornblower cruise (just like the Maid of the Mist tour on the US side) which takes you up close and personal with the falls. It’s amazing how cool, wet, and windy it gets as you get close to the falls - it’s a good thing we were wearing rain ponchos! 

The bridge we walked across to get from the US to Canada

On the Hornblower cruise

After dinner, we made our way back to our car on the US side and headed to our hotel. Tomorrow we head to Oswego, New York - my hometown.

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

We hadn't planned to include Colonial Williamsburg on this trip, but after realizing that we had done everything that we wanted to do on the Outer Banks, we decided we would spend the last day of our trip here. We were up early and on the road, getting to Williamsburg by mid-morning. We enjoyed our day walking through the restored shops/homes and watching the period costumed employees working on their crafts. For some reason, we only took two pictures the entire day!

Unfortunately our trip has come to an end and we have to fly back home tomorrow!

Outer Banks, North Carolina

The next stop on our trip was the Outer Banks of North Carolina. After leaving Beaufort, we drove northward to Cedar Island where we caught a ferry to Ocracoke. From Ocracoke, a second ferry took us to Hatteras. It’s not an easy place to get to, but the Outer Banks are worth the trouble!

For our first full day on the Outer Banks we had a busy itinerary planned. We started in Kitty Hawk with the Wright Brothers National Monument. We arrived just as a ranger was starting a presentation at the hangar and small cabin where the Wright brothers lived while at Kitty Hawk. We were glad we joined the ranger’s talk as it was a good introduction to what we would be seeing at the site. Afterwards, we spent time walking around the area where large granite stones signify the distance traveled for each of the 1st three Wright brother flights. Next we made our way to the top of the nearby hill which holds the Wright Brother Monument.

The Wright Brothers Monument

Making our way south, we next came to the Jockey Ridge State Park. This state park has two of the highest sand dunes on the east coast. It provides an excellent take off point for hang gliders, however when we arrived at the state park, we heard thunder rumbling in the distance and rain was threatening - not great hang gliding conditions. Jim and I had the dunes almost to ourselves as we walked from the visitor center up and over the dunes to the Roanoke Sound. We were glad it was overcast as we imagine it would be a very hot walk on a sunny summers day.

Jim and I at Jockey Ridge State Park

Jim on the dunes

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was our last stop of the day. We explored the light keepers house first before climbing the 257 steps to the top. It was interesting to learn that the entire lighthouse was moved back in 1999 when shoreline erosion made the original location unstable. It took 23 days for the lighthouse to be hydraulically lifted and then rolled on a series of rails 2900 feet to its present location.

At the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Beaufort, North Carolina

The drive from Charleston to our next stop, Beaufort, North Carolina took us about 5 hours. We arrived at The Peach Tree Inn (our bed & breakfast for the night) by mid afternoon. After getting settled in our room and getting some direction from the b&b owner, we set out to explore this cute little town. Beaufort has a charming waterfront area with stores and restaurants. We checked out this part of town before renting bikes to see a little more of Beaufort. We pedaled our way past many homes that had earned historic plaques for being at least 100 years old. But the oldest homes had plaques dating back to the late 1700s!

Starting the bike ride by the waterfront

The Peach Tree Inn Bed & Breakfast where we stayed

After returning the bicycles, we found a restaurant for dinner along the water. We wrapped up the evening with a sunset cruise that took us past some of the wild horses that inhabit the islands near Beaufort.

One of the locals

A sunset cruise - a perfect way to end our stay in Beaufort!