8/26 & 8/27/08 Huge Lawns and Sacket’s Harbor

8/26/08 Huge Lawns and Haircuts
Of course huge lawns and haircuts don’t go together, but each need attention once in a while. The huge lawns of this area continue to amaze us as even the most modest homes have huge yards and all are very neatly trimmed and very green. The locals tell us they have had a wet summer so they are mowing more than usual and, no, it isn’t a special grass. We asked the fruit stand gentleman if their grass was a special kind since it was so green and we had seen neither a sprinkler nor a lawn mower. Laughing, he said “no, it’s just grass.” They have had a wet summer and some years by this time the grass is brown because they don’t water it. The flowers are beautiful too. So much of New York has been pretty green lawns and lots of flowers growing near the house and in hanging planters. Very different from Wisconsin, Minnesota and the other states where it was more brown and less color.

We followed the Seaway Trail along the shores of Lake Ontario although, like in Wisconsin, we rarely saw the lake. We stopped in Hilton and both of us got a haircut. Matty could have used one too, but we passed on her for the time being. People are always so fascinated by our trip story and always wish us well on our travels.

As the shoreline bent more northward we stayed at Selkirk Shores State Park on Lake Ontario. Again, like last night, the entire camping area was mowed and neat as a pin. This is a huge place and we still didn’t see anyone mowing the lawns. I’m glad we have Erika, our neighbor, who is mowing our lawn at home while we wonder about other people’s lawns. Makes us feel good to know it is done. I refuse to worry about the weeds that are having a grand time in the flowerbeds, although I will admit that some summers when I was home I didn’t do a very good job of weeding and everything was very forgiving of me. We’ll be home in time to do the fall clean up so when spring comes, I won’t be kicking myself (as has also happened some years). Tonight we are camped way above the lake with the cliff that is fenced off so people can’t get too close. The sunset through the trees over the lake was just indescribable. Makes me wish I was doing more painting along the way. When we don’t stop until 8 pm, there isn’t time to paint when I need to cook dinner.

8/27/08 Sacket’s Harbor and War of 1812
Sacket’s Landing is in Sacket’s Harbor that was a strategic harbor on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. It was the place ships were made to supply the water battleships necessary to carry out the war. The tour of the grounds and shipbuilding areas were fascinating. Another war that we have learned more about on this trip. Tomorrow we may leave Lake Ontario for the Adirondacks in northeastern New York and I will be sorry to see the water go. On the other hand we may go south to the New York State Fair or north to the St. Lawrence Seaway. After Terry has his port flushed in Watertown, he’ll decide and off we will go.

In Watertown we arranged for Terry to have his chest port flushed tomorrow. That will be a nice thing to have out of the way until we get home. Back down the lake we went to camp at a little fishing marina. On first glance it looked very nice (again all nicely mown lawn), but the bathrooms were the worst of the trip. Walking down to the lake, we watched a blue heron fly so close it seemed like we could see all of his feathers. What a treat as the sun was setting through broken clouds over the lake.