Finger Lakes: 1st to 5th October

We left New York with temperatures in the high 70’s. Our destination was the State Parks Department campground at Taughannock Falls, about 250 miles north west of New York, in the Finger Lakes area. Passing through the small town of Ithaca just before reaching our destination, we noticed one of those electronic signs that display the time and temperature alternately. It was mid afternoon, warmest part of the day, and showing only 43 degrees. We knew it was getting gradually colder, but this cold! Once on pitch, we couldn’t seem to get warm inside the rv.

This was the heating system’s first proper run . It makes an immense amount of noise as the fan blows out the warm air, so you feel it must be generating an effective supply of heat. The heating controls describe it as a “furnace” which reinforces this illusion. What it actually does is produce a reasonable amount of heat in a small area that then quickly shoots up to the ceiling. The local Walmart were clean out of human fly suckers so we were unable to take advantage of this available heat by adhering to the ceiling. Instead, we sat in the rv with big coats and thick socks on.

So this is why we’re wearing winter gear in the photo. The falls were really beautiful and, with a 230 foot drop, actually higher than Niagara. The river leading from the falls tumbles through a steep tree-lined gorge of about a mile and then into the 40-mile long Cayuga Lake. All of the 7 or 8 Finger Lakes are long, slim and slightly bent like fingers, hence the name. I suppose they could have been less romantically called the Banana Lakes.

Here is the gorge, and we followed a splendid path to the falls along the bottom of the gorge, ending at the spot where we had our picture above taken. All it needed was a tribe of Mohican Indians paddling past in their birch-bark canoes to make you feel like an old-time settler.

And more waterfalls nearby, this one is Buttermilk Falls where the water cascades down the side of a steep hill. It‘s not just the few hundred yards you can see in the photo, it actually roars down in this way, on and off, for several miles. We ascended the steep path alongside and checked it out. Quite spectacular.

This is our pitch on the State Park campground. I’m sure you will have spotted our neighbours’ tiny caravan on the left. It is a caravan, but just for sleeping in. The two gazebo tents are where the neighbours spent their days- and evenings, too- happily sitting outside while we shivered in our rv! They are made of sterner stuff, clearly descended from original pioneer stock.

Chipmunks were darting around everywhere, so this is a cute pic to finish

Manhattan: Sept 29th & 30th

We took a hop-on hop-off bus tour just to get orientated. In quick succession we saw the landmarks: Flatiron Building, Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, Times Square etc. Most awe-inspiring and wonderful architecture, but brilliant photos are available in any guidebook or on the internet. Let’s look at Ground Zero:

Several massive buildings are rising up on the cleared site. It’s all very chaotic, with construction works and memorial areas generating conflicting flows of traffic. Perhaps this turmoil represents the chaos of the tragedy itself so is keeping the memory current. When it’s all finished, and the memorials and the structures are in place, when it’s all neat and tidy, the incident will recede into history. You get the impression that New Yorkers don’t want to let go of it just yet, it’s still raw 10 years on.

New York is razmataz. In Times Square this lady is promoting something or other, maybe herself, and happily posed for me. Also, in amongst the bustle of people in the Square, there was a live choir, the Nasdaq Choir, performing.

Within all busyness of Manhattan, the City has created some ingenious breathing spaces, in the first example out of an old high-level railway line, which looks like this from the street:

It’s a walkway now, completely away from traffic and planted with shrubs. Loads of people were using it, as the photo shows.

The main leisure space has to be Central Park, a surprisingly varied, undulating and large area. It’s the countryside with a skyline. It looks like a photoshop merge of two separate photos.

About half way up the park is a landscaped area called Strawberry Fields, a memorial to John Lennon who lived in an apartment block nearby and where he was shot dead. Yoko was instrumental in getting this area created and also paying for it, and she still lives in that same apartment that she and John Lennon shared.

There were all sorts of activities going on in Central Park as well as the more obvious ones of walking and jogging. There were good sports facilities, being well used, and a few eccentrics like the artist with the giant canvas below whom Jane watched for a good 10 minutes. She was a small old lady who never looked up from under her wide straw hat, so we didn’t see her face. Could it indeed have been Yoko? I could have tied my wishes to her hat instead of her tree in Washington.

Nice view of the Hudson River? Nothing remarkable, maybe, but I waited here for ages hoping for a plane to land, just as it did at about this point in Jan 2009. It was one of the best feats of airmanship ever, and all 155 passengers survived. Despite the potential as a tourist event, it’s difficult to see how you’d stage a re-enactment.

Liberty and Ellis Islands: 28th Sept

Liberty Park is where we walked on our first evening, and is so called because it overlooks Liberty Island and the Statue of. Conveniently for us, the boat for Liberty Island leaves from Liberty Park and takes only 15 minutes. Here we are below, nearing landing.

The ticket includes entry into the statue, the base of which is full of exhibits and history of the project. It was a gift from France to the United States, dedicated in 1886. Close-up, the statue is huge and a great feat of design and engineering that involved the skills of Gustav Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame. It is made of copper so needs elaborate support and strengthening. An exact replica of Liberty’s face, next photo, about 10 feet tall, is shown in the exhibition hall.

In every party of tourists who snapped the face, one of the group posed with his/her fingers or hands shoved up Liberty’s nose. It’s a shame that the nose couldn’t be electronically programmed to sneeze just as the photoflash went off. The strong face is supposed to be that of the statue designer Bertholdi’s mother.

It had a major refurb in 1966 due to corrosion and many bits were replaced with more durable modern parts. This is the original torch, obviously replaced by one with longer-life batteries

The boat calls at Ellis Island on the way back. Ellis Island was the check-in point for most immigrants to the US between 1892 and 1924 when the open door policy changed. Steerage passengers only, the poorest but most numerous, were processed here: first and second class were dealt with at other venues in New York. 12 million immigrants were landed on the island between these dates, and each one was vetted for health, financial and political suitability before being permitted to enter. About 2% were rejected and repatriated.

This is the building through which all hopefuls needed to pass, viewed from the landing stage.

The registration hall was on the first floor with the officials’ desks at the far end. The old photo next is of this same hall in working order.

The building is full of memorabilia and photos showing the vast spectrum of prospective settlers from all corners the globe and revealing the desperate poverty many sought to escape from. There was some light relief, however, as in the plaque below:

It is said that 40% of Americans can trace at least one ancestor from their immigration acceptance at Ellis Island, so the facility is an important part of US history, and presumably that is why it has been so well restored. It also houses the immigration records that can be accessed on site or by internet.

Arrival at The Big Apple: 27th Sept

This is us at the campsite in Jersey City, just across the Hudson river from Manhattan. “Looks like a car park”, you might say. In fact, that’s what it is. Ambience is sacrificed in order to stay in the closest campground to New York City. Actually, it was very quiet, with 24-hour security and excellent transport links to all the attractions by train or boat.

We arrived early enough to take a stroll in Liberty Park near the campsite. It’s a large, flat, well-tended greenspace, running back from the waterfront. And what a view of Manhattan! The park itself is similar to nice parks everywhere but what is unique is the New York skyline, so that’s what we’ll feature in the following shots, with a brief description.

Empire State Building, a bit further away in mid-town Manhattan, just as the light’s fading.

Brooklyn Bridge with schooner sailing past.

Nightshot of Manhattan, atmospherically shaky (unintentional).

We also came upon this memorial in the park to 9/11. The two stainless steel columns point across the Hudson river to the precise location of the Twin Towers in the World Trade Center. The twisted girders in front are from the wreckage of the Towers. The name of each person who perished is engraved on the insides of the two steel columns, to which there is full public access. It was powerfully simple and moving.

The National Civil War Museum

The museum is in Harrisburg, the state capital of Pennsylvania. We’d heard of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, but not the capital Harrisburg. Maybe that’s because it’s never featured in a popular song or been a product (Philadelphia cheese). But it was in the news in 1979 when Three Mile Island nuclear power station caused America’s worst radiation contamination leak. Three Mile Island is 3 miles downstream from Harrisburg, hence the name. We drove past it on our way to the museum and it seemed to be fully operational. Nothing to see now, of course, apart from prize luminous vegetables in all the gardens.

Back to the museum. It was built in 2001, a handsome building in parkland overlooking the city. It sets out to explain the origins of the war, the conflict, and the aftermath. It begins with an examination of slavery and how it was fundamental to the southern way of life. The slave auction poster below shows how negros were traded like any other commodity. Difficult for us to imagine how this was a part of everyday life.

War came in 1861 following the declaration of separation from the Union by South Carolina, followed initially by 6 other states, and then others after the war had started. Their reasons for taking this extreme step went beyond the slavery issue and was really to avoid domination by the economically stronger and more industrialised north. In its early stages, the war paralleled the First World War and was seen as something of an adventure, as reflected by the recruitment posters.

Again, as with the First World War, the reality was anything but romantic. The war was fought with increasingly modernised weapons that could, and did, decimate troops charging at one another. An example of this weapon development was the rifle, photo underneath, with a modern copper-cased cartridge and good rate of fire.. The war had started with muzzle-loaders that could have come from Cromwell’s army two hundred years earlier.

To give some idea of scale: more American died in the Civil War, some 700,000 of them, than in all other conflicts added together. More than half fell to disease, but were still deaths equally attributable to the war.

And how did we rate the museum? Well, it could have been better. Sound effects are great in proportion, but these weren’t. Simulated cannon fire from the battle of Gettysburg drowned out the soundtrack of a southern lady describing the slave plantations, all to a further loud background of songs of the day (e.g. John Brown’s body). It sounded like pub kickout time on Saturday night in Huntingdon. Much too distracting when trying to absorb the text alongside each exhibit. No café or fast food either, very un-American, and a lost opportunity for marketing Gettysburgers

Amish Country: 22-26 September

We’re heading north towards New York. Our halfway pause is here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This is an area settled by the Amish religious sect in the early 18th century to escape persecution in Europe. Their belief is broadly Lutheran and they keep modern society at arms length by living a lifestyle of yesteryear, so no motorised equipment or electronic gismos. The majority are farmers and work only with hands and horsepower. They travel around by buggy, as per photo below, even on main roads used by juggernauts (and rv’s!). Scary stuff.

They also use bikes- or is it a bike? Where’s the saddle and the pedals? Can’t get too close to take photos as it’s against their beliefs- photos of people are deemed to be worshipping graven images. Must let them know that my snaps aren’t really of worshipping quality.

Later, I see one of these “bikes” parked up against a fence, and find it’s actually an adult scooter. They seem to travel as fast as bikes.

The Amish also work in and run a few shops, although these are mostly operated by their parallel, but less strict, brethren, the Mennonites. Both of these sects are famous for their beautiful quilting and this is mainly what the shops sell, together with other traditional craft products. The next photo shows such a shop, with literally hundreds of exquisite quilts on offer, every one different. Not cheap, but considering the craftsmanship, they are good value at an average of around £600 each.

Now what could blight these idyllic religious settlements? Are we looking at the evidence below of such a virus- an explosion of houses of ill-repute in the area? So many of them, in fact, that a publication is necessary to keep potential clients abreast of the many and various options available.

Don't panic. It’s actually the newspaper of a nearby small town of that name: a pretty little Amish settlement a few miles from our campsite, and which we visited. It is full of quaint shops, as per example in the next picture, and, of course, also full of tourists snapping the signs.

It’s been called Intercourse since 1814, before which it was known as Cross Keys after the village inn of that name. One theory is that the new name reflected the fact that the village was at a crossroads. All very innocent stuff, but you’ve still got to be careful. You wouldn’t propose a trip there in the same way as you might a trip to, say, Washington, where you might enthusiastically suggest, ”Darling, let’s do Washington tomorrow!”

Washington DC: Monday 19th Feb

All visits to Washington must include a photo of the Capitol and the White House. So that’s the Capitol above, and a very beautiful, large, impressive building it is. The cornerstone was laid in 1793 by George Washington, and the original structure has been modified and extended several times since, also surviving a British attempt to burn it down in 1814 that was foiled by a rainstorm. And here’s the White House:

Our pal Barack wasn’t available, so you’ll have to make do with us in the foreground. Unusually for notable buildings, we didn’t find it that impressive. It looked like a slightly down-market version of Joe Bugner the boxer’s house opposite Hartford Marina. In fact, we couldn’t find it until we spotted a group of Japanese tourists snapping away at something just out of our line of sight.

The Lincoln Memorial above holds a statue of Abraham Lincoln and the text of two of his famous addresses. It is an elegant structure in its own right, but it’s usually remembered as the focal point for anti-Vietnam war protests in the 60’s and as the venue for Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech in 1963. It’s always a moving experience to be at a spot where significant events actually took place.
Now for something a bit more cookie- a message inspired by Yoko…

The buildings so far described, and many others, lay in or on either side of a quarter mile by two-mile parkland: grass, gardens and ornamental lakes. The whole thing is known as the National Mall. It includes memorials, monuments, museums and art galleries, and this is where Yoko comes in. Yoko’s Wish Tree is outside the Hirshhorn Museum, an art gallery. Of course, you’ll want to see the wish tree itself.

The wish tree appears to be gripping the chap on the left in a headlock. No prizes for guessing what his wife put on the wish label! It would be wonderful to think that somewhere these wishes were being processed, evaluated and actioned. However, me being me, I could imagine writing a wish, and then going back some months later and writing another one. This second wish would be wishing that I hadn’t wasted my time making the first wish, because nothing had happened. Anyway, we wish Yoko every success with the project.