Woodstock & Plattekill

We arrived in Woodstock with high hopes of reaching Wilson State Park - a nice campsite in the Catskill Mountains. We made it, and it was nice. However, there was also a population of 7000 black bears who also seem to think it is nice. After pitching the tent we made a few enquiries as to how we should cook and keep our food. Without a vehicle it was impossible to stay there without attracting the attention of all these bears whose sense of smell reaches over a mile! We promptly packed up and the kind park ranger dropped us back off in the hippy village of Woodstock where we booked into a guest house for the night. The same park ranger who assured us that they were not dangerous also admitted that they had recently destroyed a whole garage (the bears not the hippies).

However, we enjoyed our night in Woodstock and in the morning we made use of the local launderette and library to clean our clothes and search out a new campsite somewhere between Woodstock and New York City. We got on our way thanks to a lift from Debbie and Susan who kindly dropped us off at the bus terminal in Kingston so that we could make our way to New Paltz and then Plattekill.

We were lucky with transfers and arrived at a KOA Kampground in Plattekill in time to put the tent up and have a beer! We chilled out by the campsite pool for two days - good preparation for the hustle and bustle of New York City on Friday!

Having great time - be sure to comment and keep in touch.

Green Lakes nr. Syracuse

We took the train from Toronto to Syracuse hoping to find somewhere to camp for a few days. On arrival the enthusiasm drained as we felt like a fish out of water in the rough downtown area of Syracuse. After a few enquiries we decided to head for the Green Lakes State Park (which worryingly no one had heard of!) We took the bus to Fayetteville accompanied by what Jen described as a 'potential serial killer' who seemed intent on getting us on a cargo train to Chicago!

After a long long walk in the searing heat we finally reached the gates for the state park (they said it was only a mile along the highway!). We soon realised however that we had come to the wrong entrance and that we still had a half hour walk to the camping spot. Absolutely exhausted and feeling as though we could walk no further we hitched a ride. Luckily we were picked up by Kenn - the jeweller from Syracuse, who as an enthusiastic backpacker himself got us checked in and dropped us right at our camping site. The friendly families next to us sorted us out with camp wood and some lovely corn on the cob, we soon felt at home.

We spent 4 days at the state park and had a great time! As the name suggests the state park centers around two gorgeous green lakes, so most of our time was spent sunbathing on the beach, swimming in the lake and walking the trails around the park. Each night we built a camp fire by the tent and we spent the evenings roasting marshmallows, watching the stars and chatting to our neighbours.

We are ten days into the trip now so we are down to the last of our clean clothes, next destination...anywhere with a washing machine!

Toronto

After a 24 hour day of travelling from Kent-Heathrow-Toronto-Campsite we finally settled for the night in our ridiculously small tent! We woke up in the morning wet through with condensation and with cricks in our necks and backs - first mission, buy a new tent!

After 5 days in Toronto we had grown to really like the place, we visited the CN Tower, Downtown, Chinatown and Lakeshore which were all brilliant. The people were very accommodating and the atmosphere very relaxed.

A few of the highlights...

Niagara Falls - the falls were spectacular and we rode the Maid of the Mist boat right under the falls. The sheer power was unbelievable and the falls can only really be appreciated by actually being right in them.

Toronto Bluejays Vs. NY Yankees - Baseball - We had to go to the Rogers Stadium as soon as we heard there was a game on. The stadium was impressive and the American razzmattazz was an experience in itself! Really enjoyed our first taste of live American sport.

Campsite Yocals - Our welcome was made all the more amusing when a funny Indian bloke on an electric scooter with beer in hand and a cycle helmet on over his baseball hat warned us of the raccoons and likened them to bunny rabbits (the only thing he was missing was a spatula aka Run Fatboy Run)!! Our neighbour the lumberjack also amused us with tales of coyotes and near death experiences.

Bon Voyage

Hey Everyone,

Before we start writing our blog we would like to say thank you for the terrific send off you all gave us before we left; especially all our uni mates who made the long journey down to Kent, and our workmates and friends from home who all gave a great send off. Most of all thanks to our families for making sure we were well fed before we left!

The journey begins...