From Atlanta to the Northeast: Part 3 Visiting New York

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Last week I wrote about our adventures while touring Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. After leaving Vermont, we headed to fabulous New York.

Visiting New York

In New York, we stayed in the gorgeous Adirondack Mountains near Lake George. The campground had a few narrow roads and was not easy to maneuver. At one point, I was less than an inch from a tree when backing the camper into the campsite. This was my ultimate test of camper driving, and I barely passed! We quickly set up shop and headed to our first destination, La Ronde, in Montreal, Quebec.

Adventures in Montreal, Quebec

La Ronde is a Six Flags Park. We were able to use our season passes from our park in Atlanta to gain entry for free. However, we had no clue how adventurous arriving at La Ronde and returning to New York would be.

We had never traveled to Montreal. After crossing the Canadian border, English ceases to exist. We had navigation, but we were trying not to use it in Canada because our cellphone plan at that point was not international. All the directions were in French, and we were crossed between disbelief and fascination of how our world changed so quickly just by crossing a border.

When we arrived at La Ronde, the written and spoken language was French. It was fun navigating the park, acting as a true tourist where our language was the minority. Oh, and let’s not forget our southern drawl. The employees in La Ronde thought we were speaking a different language!

One of my favorite parts of our Quebec excursion was tasting regional food. I ate a traditional French-Canadian dish called Poutine, which consisted of French fries with a protein (I had chicken), covered with cheese curds and brown gravy. I was very nervous to try Poutine, but it was fabulous. Lucy chose traditional French crepes with Nutella, strawberries, and bananas. The rides were unique but not half as impressive as our surroundings.

On the way home from Montreal, I missed a turn, and we became very lost. The streets of downtown Montreal were bustling, and we may have completed a few circles around the same roads and highways.

Getting lost in another country was a big lesson for us. We did not want to use our data package for navigation, but we were seriously lost. Finally, with all the French signs, we bit the bullet and turned on the data roaming to use the navigation. We learned at this point to always have access to an international data package for our cellular plan. It was fun watching the hustle and bustle of Montreal, but without navigation, we may still be there now.

Visiting New York at Lake George

Since we were on a Six Flags streak, we also decided to visit Six Flags New York in Lake George. Although it poured rain at the park, we had a wonderful time. A neat note about visiting Six Flags New York… a Great Wolf Lodge resides across the street if you need a place to lodge.

Across the street from Six Flags was one of the neatest restaurants on our trip, Martha Dandee’s Ice Cream Shop. If you ever look for the best ice cream dives in the United States, Martha’s is always in the top 10. It has been in Lake George since 1947 and was featured on the Today Show.

Visiting New York in Saratoga

After leaving Lake George, we headed for Saratoga. Saratoga was the location of what is considered the turning point of the American Revolution. Although the British had the Patriots outnumbered, the Patriot militia knew the Saratoga terrain well. This knowledge of the land eventually led to our victory in the war. We paid tribute at the Saratoga National Battlefield.

Our family visited President Martin Van Buren’s home.

Visiting New York in Hyde Park

We also stayed and visited Hyde Park, the full-time home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hyde Park is also the site of his national library. Roosevelt is my favorite president, and it was so awesome visiting the places he lived.

Visiting New York at Ellis Island

On one of our days while visiting New York, we crossed over to New Jersey and visited Liberty State Park. From the park, we caught a ferry to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

When I first saw Lady Liberty, I thought she looked short and stumpy, but by the time we climbed to her pedestal, Lady Liberty looked large and magnificent. Here’s a travel tip… if you decide to visit the statue in the summer, think twice about hiking to her crown. The stairs are numerous, crowded, and narrow. You can visit the pedestal instead and still get amazing views.

Adventures in Hoboken, New Jersey

While in New Jersey, we had to visit Hoboken, home of Cake Boss and Carlo’s Bakery. Lucy and I loved seeing where the show was filmed, and we all had to try the bakery’s signature goods… cannolis and lobster tails. After that, we walked down to the 7-11 (we wished we had them in Atlanta) and celebrated July 11^th (7-11) with free Slurpees!

About halfway through visiting New York, we hit the ever-present moment of “we have over-planned and are exhausted. Let’s cancel our plans for today and rest.” That was unfortunate because we had some great activities planned, but we did not schedule enough time in our travels to take care of ourselves. We have learned to work on this throughout the years.

Visiting New York in Cooperstown

We checked off our list one of Jackson and Sean’s greatest anticipations of our trip, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Sean and Jackson spent three hours touring the museum. Lucy and I toured but left after a while and shopped in the town of Cooperstown. A neat aspect of our visit, for the price of general admission tickets to the Hall of Fame, for an additional $5, we purchased a family season’s pass. The pass gave us all kinds of magazines, pendants, and baseball card freebies.

It also gave us access to member-only events, one of which was occurring that evening. The Hall of Fame was hosting an All-Star Viewing Gala. Our membership included all the hot dogs, chips, cola, cracker jacks, peanuts, and baseball food we could ever want. We also won prizes and participated in all types of fun games.

Adventures in Stockbridge, Massachusetts

We partook in another border crossing while in New York, this time over the line in Massachusetts. Just as Sean and Jackson love baseball and Lucy loves American Girl, I love Norman Rockwell. We visited his museum in Massachusetts, and all of his works just enamored me!

Adventures in Springfield and Agawam, Mass.

We visited the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, where the country made all of its guns for the Armed Forces until 1967. From there, we drove to enjoy Six Flags New England. Six Flags New England is spectacular and has an extra-large water park. To this date, it ties with Six Flags San Antonio as being my favorite.

Visiting New York in Seneca Falls

We drove up to the Finger Lakes region of New York to enjoy its beauty. Sean’s aunt and uncle also live in this area, and we were able to spend some quality time with them. They lived extremely close to Seneca Falls, so we had to take a visit. Seneca Falls is where the Women’s Rights Movement began in the United States. A lesser-known draw to the town is that Seneca Falls is the town that Bedford Falls was based upon in my favorite Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.

Visiting New York at Sodus Point

Sean’s aunt, uncle, and cousin took us to one of my most beloved destinations on our trip, Sodus Point on Lake Ontario. It is my favorite ocean ever (that is not an ocean). There are no sharks, snakes, alligators, or jellyfish! However, Sodus Point does have waves (from the watercraft) and a beach… There was no way besides tasting the water that you would not believe that you were on the ocean.

Visiting New York at Niagara Falls

If you are in upstate New York and haven’t visited Niagara Falls, it is a must-see! However, it can be packed. The United States side had so many visitors that we began by visiting the Canadian side first. It is a good travel tip to arrive at Niagara Falls as early as possible to beat the crowds.

We ate at the Hardrock Cafe in Ontario, but they have one on both sides of the falls. After the crowds lingered from 100 million people to 20 million people (not really, but that is what it felt like), we toured the falls on the Maid of the Mist. This trip was magnificent and completely worth the visit.

Visiting New York in Java

The night before we were scheduled to leave, we were caught in a lightning storm in Java, New York. All we lost was a trash can, but we learned about lightning safety in the RV that night!

All in all, New York was fabulous. As a smaller state, it has so many unique regions. New York is worth a vacation all unto itself!

Click here to read as we visit the Amish, the Louisville Sluggers, and head home!

What is your favorite state to travel to on vacation? We would love to hear from you. Drop us a line in the comment section below!

Are you interested in visiting New York? Check out Trip Advisor for fantastic lodging deals throughout the state!

Please read all about our 33-day adventure to New England and beyond!

Check out Part 1, where we adventured through Virginia, DC, and Massachusetts.

Part 2 tells of our journey through Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Part 4 describes our last stops on the journey with the Amish and the Sluggers.