Finally Heading West!

I am saying goodbye to Vermont and to the beautiful fall colors and heading towards home! 

I had my first long driving day in a month across part of New York to the Finger Lakes region and camped in Waterloo, New York. I learned that my friend Sandy's husband died and I was too far away to support her. It feels like it's time to get home.

Golden Hills State Park lighthouse 

The next day was a drive through Rochester NY on my way to Golden Hill State Park in Barker, New York, on Lake Ontario. Rain was coming and the wind whipped up the waves and the lake looked much like the ocean. It was very different from the mild weather and people swimming during the summer when I camped on Lake Ontario.

The next day the rain was gone and I took a cruise on the Erie Canal at Lockport. We went through two locks and a change of height of 50 feet. It was an interesting tour and I learned about the canal system and the transport of goods from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. The canal was completed in 1825.

After the lock cruise, I drove to Erie Pennsylvania and stayed there for the night. The next day I drove through Presque Isle State Park in Erie. The park is on a peninsula which forms a protected Bay for Erie, Pennsylvania's only lake port. 

Then I headed south to Alum Creek state Park in Delaware, Ohio, outside of Columbus. It was a pretty park on a reservoir and I had a nice walk after a day of driving. 

Colors are pretty but not as vivid as Vermont!

Then it was on to Louisville. I think of the Kentucky Derby when I think of Louisville so I toured the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs racetrack. It was fun to hear about the races and the culture around it.

I was close to President Lincoln's birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky, so I stopped for a tour. He was born in 1809 in a one room log cabin similar to this one. The actual cabin disappeared in the Civil War and this was a neighbor's.

The cabin is surrounded by a marble building, which is is stark contrast to the humble log cabin.

Then I was on the road again heading to Nashville. I stayed in a rv park near the Grand old Opry. I took a backstage tour of the Grand Old Opry and heard about its origins in 1925. It was fun! There is lots of country music on the radio, especially in the south!

Next stop will be to visit family in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.