The plan for New York City worked out perfect. Easy train ride to Grand Central Station, a few block walk to Times Square, hop on a double decker tour bus, see all the famous sites, hop off at Battery Park, ferry around the Statue of Liberty, hop back on the bus, see more famous sites, take the train back, back at the camper 10:30. It was fun to see all the things you read and see about New York City - what a lot of people though. We are in New Jersey near Philadelphia. Now that we're pros - we are taking the train into Philly tomorrow. Hope that is as successul!

Comments from Eldon: I enjoyed New York much better than L.A. It is a walkable, enjoyable city. I wouldn't say I LOVE New York, but I LIKED it.

Comments from Larry: I think these guys are seeing how long I can stay alone in a container. At least the campsites are nice. Last night I was in New Jersey black bear country - lucky for the bears, we didn't run into each other.

Yesterday we spent most of the day at Old Mystic. It is a reproduction of 1800's fishing & whaling area. My main impression was the whaling men were a brave bunch - those whaling boats that went out with the harpoons from the bigger ship were tiny. We are now near New Haven, Connecticut. Rainy, windy weather so we took our first whole day off and stayed in today. Tomorrow we are taking the train into New York City. The campground owners assured us it is pretty simple. It's a nearly 2 hour ride in; the train will drop us at Grand Central Station. Will let you know tomorrow night or Sunday how it goes!

Comments from Eldon: Just hoping we pull this New York City thing off - as Missy said, I need to wear my tennis shoes because people will be walking all over me........

Comments from Larry: Glad for a day of NO travel. I'm in a woods by a trout stream - too bad it's raining.

Staying at a KOA tonight in Mystic, Connecticut. KOA's always have Internet, so I'm all set. Plymouth Rock was not that big........it is more symbolic than anything. It wasn't even the first place the Pilgrims landed and they didn't engrave the 1620 into the rock until 1800. The National Monument of the Forefathers was totally cool - we never heard of it before, they don't advertise it much. Why they didn't put it by Plymouth Rock, we don't know, but it is a cool statue. It was done by the same guy who did the Statue of Liberty. We went to Cape Cod next. It is a peninsula - the whole boot that sticks out of Massachusetts. Provincetown in the very tip is where we spent the night. It was the whaling center in the 1700 and 1800's - now a popular whale watching place and tourist mecca. The National Seashore takes up most of the peninsula. Today we went to Newport, Rhode Island. We toured the Breakers - the Vanderbilt mansion. Wow----talk about wealth. More than 70 rooms and they had 40 servants. The tour was cool and glad it was saved in the 1940's from destruction. It is maintained now from tourist dollars and some of the Vanderbilts still vacation in part of it. We did the Cliff Walk. On one side is the Atlantic Ocean and the other the Newport mansions.

Comments from Eldon: Plymouth Rock was not real impressive. I thought the Pilgrims would have found a bigger rock to land on. The Mayflower tour was interesting; I can't believe 102 people with animals crossed the Atlantic in that little boat. Cape Cod reminded me a bit of the U.P. - beautiful driving. Newport was the epitome of foofoo. The opulence of the rich is unbelievable. Between the marble mansions, the America Cup races and the polo -give me a break.

Comments from Larry: Things are better since we left the Haunted Campground. Provincetown was relaxing and Mystic is just as good. What is it with humans and Halloween, anyway? Black cats are THAT scary.

On Friday we traveled to Gloucester, Massachusetts. This is fishing village where the Perfect Storm was filmed. It is working, fishing community - they don't really try to capitalize on the movie. We didn't do New Hampshire justice - we just drove along the coast and New Hampshire doesn't have much coast. Yesterday went to Boston. We were smart tourists and took the ferry from Salem to Boston. In Boston, we walked the Freedom Trail and took the trolley. It worked out fine and we didn't have to do any city driving. We stayed in Gloucester 2 nights. Today we planned to go the Witch Museum and the Maritime National Historic Landmark in Salem. Salem was absolutely packed. Guess October is a great time for a city that capitalizes on the witch theme. The line was down the street to get in the Witch Museum and we couldn't find any where to park for the Maritime. So we ditched Salem and traveled to Plymouth via the Boston Grand Prix Route, as Eldon calls it. It was time to do mega laundry and clean house (boy is that easy!) We have to include pictures of our campsite - this family friendly campground is really in to Halloween. These pictures show the campsite next to us. Tomorrow is Plymouth Rock and Cape Cod. Comments from Eldon: Gloucester was exactly what I expected - a very cool old fishing port. I saw many boats similar to the Andrea Gail and the Hannah Boden. These were the boats in Perfect Storm and also went to the Crows Nest which was the sailors bar in the Perfect Storm. Since I'm a fan of the book and the movie, this made my day. Boston was interesting. Paul Revere's home is the only remaining wood house in historic Boston.Comments from Larry: Cindy & Eldon promised me a wooded campsite; they failed to mention it was haunted. This campground is spooky! Tomorrow I see Plymouth Rock where the first cat landed in America (so Eldon says).

Looks like we can't do pictures tonight - maybe tomorrow.

Eldon took this shore picture from the couch in the camper.