NY Camping Trip Recap, Day 2
{catch up on part 1 here!}
If you guessed 4:15 AM.... dingdingdingding!!! You're correct!!!
M was still asleep so I managed to keep the girls quiet until about 5, and when they started to get rowdy we took an all-girls field trip to the bathroom. After we walked back to the campsite, I resigned myself to the two-ish hours of sleep I had gotten, and began getting out the breakfast things. The first order of business was fully caffeinated coffee in our french press, which reaaaallly hit the spot.
Our other breakfast options (that I don't have pictures of, at least not from that morning, because I was too much of a zombie) included instant oatmeal, instant grits, pre-measured packets of cereal packed in snack-size ziplock bags (so we didn't have to bring the whole box, a space-saver) with milk from the cooler, and blueberry and corn muffins that I had baked ahead of time. Oh, and no vacation is complete without Pop Tarts! Easy camping breakfast!
All of these breakfast options were easily prepared-- all we had to do was boil some water on the camping stove to add to the oatmeal or grits (or, obviously, the french press for coffee). Oh, and I also managed to find some Starbucks hot cocoa mix that was dairy-free, so we mixed that with about 1/2 cup of boiling water from the stove, and then added milk (dairy or non-dairy) to make it creamy. The girls enjoyed that a lot of the chilly mornings.
Anyway, once M and I had had some coffee and were semi-coherent, we discussed a plan... rain/thunder was predicted for mid-day around lunch time, so our thought was to get to Niagara Falls as soon as possible (no hurry, actually, considering it still was before 7 AM when we had this discussion). We would see what we wanted to see, then head back to the campsite for a cold lunch and (hopefully!!!!) naps for all.
So, after washing the dishes (Miss J in charge, of course)
...and packing up all the food, we were off on the 25-ish minute drive to Niagara Falls State Park, which is where you view the Falls from the American side.
Side note-- when you camp at a state park, you get to park for free at the Falls (it's normally $10 for parking). Bonus!!!
The weather was perfect when we arrived at the Falls around 9:30 AM. Most of the usual attractions were closed due to Covid-19 (Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, the entire Visitor's Center, and the Observation Tower were all closed), but the walkways and viewpoints were all open and so we were still able to take in the beauty at our own pace. I'm guessing there were probably less crowds due to all the touristy things being closed, so perhaps it was a good thing.
I've seen the Falls several times in my life, but they never cease to amaze!!
After seeing everything there was to see, we happened upon an ice cream window that was open near the park exit, and since the sun was feeling pretty hot at that point, we figured, when in Rome...
That's a (dairy-free) Bomb Pop you see in the hands of Miss C, which pretty much made her day.
The arch behind us is the original entrance to the power plant built here in 1895 to harness hydroelectric power from the Falls. Nikola Tesla was behind the engineering and so there's a statue of him in the state park too. It's a really interesting story; we looked it up after we were home... you should too if you're interested!
Despite the sugar injection of ice cream we were all dragging by that point (it was close to 11) so we loaded up the car. After a quick stop at the grocery store for a few things I had forgotten (like a dish towel... plus we picked up some firewood) we made our way back to camp.
The rain started as we were driving back, and so upon arrival at the campsite we stayed in the car and simply popped open the cooler to enjoy some pre-made breakfast sandwiches and dippin stix for lunch. We put on a movie for the girls to pass the time as the rain continued for about an hour. A doe crossed the field in front of us, too!
After we had lunched, we discussed what to do, and although I was pretty ready for a nap, three out of four girls wanted to walk down to the lake again. I asked if they were sure several times, reminding them of how little sleep we had all gotten, but they assured me they were up for it. So, N and M opted to stay at the tent and lay down while the rest of us set out with a frisbee, hoping to make it to the lake shore and play a game. I'm pretty sure M took a nap while we were gone. Lucky!!!
It was slow going and we weren't halfway there before people were asking to be carried. We were cheerful enough for this picture, anyway...
(we had our umbrellas, just in case)
We did end up making it to the lake, but the big girls were too exhausted for Frisbee by the time we had walked the distance, and J was pretty much in tears. So, we enjoyed the lake view for a few minutes and then turned around to head back. I carried J a little bit and then asked her to walk for a while. She did so valiantly for about five minutes, and then sat down in the middle of the road, began to cry, declaring her legs would carry her no further. Well, she was absolutely right, because the moment I picked her up to carry her she fell asleep on my shoulder and stayed that way for the next hour at least.
The rain had begun again by the time we got back from our walk, and so I just slipped right back into my seat in the car, reclined a bit, and enjoyed this snoozy moment with my baby girl. I think I even managed a 10-15 minute power nap myself. The big girls quietly read books in the back of the car.
Around dinner time the rain was letting up, and so we opened the tailgate and had sort of a tailgate picnic for supper of cold leftover hot dogs for the youngest girls and salmon pasta salad that I had made ahead of time for the two big girls, myself and M. Then after the rain had really stopped for good, we got a fire going and had some quick s'mores before everyone was ready for bed, much earlier than last night. We did one last trip to the bathroom around 7:30 and all the girls got right into pjs and went in the tent after that. M and I sat by the campfire and had some nice alone time discussing our plans for the next day. When I checked on everyone at about 8:45 they were 100% asleep.
It wasn't long after that when I put on my own pjs, took one last trip to the bathroom, and joined the girls. M did too after he put the fire out. I was certain I would sleep a lot better that night, but sadly, the wind started to whip up and blew steadily for most of the night. Sleeping in a tent surrounded by tall trees when there is a steady 20-30 mph wind with stronger gusts does not make for very restful sleep. I was in bed before 10 but I'm pretty sure it was close to midnight again when I was finally able to convince myself that the wind wasn't quite strong enough to topple those trees on top of us. So I eventually did sleep. I vaguely remember little J coming closer and snuggling herself into my sleeping bag in the wee hours-- I think she heard the wind too.
In the morning, we would wake up and break camp to head to our next destination! Stay tuned...
{move on to part 3 here}
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