Sunday, June 29, 2014

Ogdensburg, NY- Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sleeping was actually better last night because it was a very warm night.  We think it was in the 70s, but that also means its going to be a warm one today.  We had camp broken down and packed up by 8:30 and were off again.  We don't think we'd stay here again.  If we try a state park next time, we might be around more campers and fewer permanent residents.  Although, with their large screen TVs and all, we figure most of them had plumbing too, which meant shorter lines at the bathrooms and showers for us.  Still even though the park wasn't that big, it's hard to see how we could have been much further from the bathrooms.

It's warm today-- in the mid-80s, but the walk seemed much more manageable today.  We started at the visitor center to get the directions.  We could see a fort quite plainly, opposite us on the Canadian shore of the St. Lawrence.  The walk took us across the Oswegatchie River to the site of the old French fort, Fort Presentation, which would become the British Fort Oswegatchie during the French & Indian War.  There's only a large stone obelisk there now marking the site, but Americans were still occupying the site during the War of 1812.  The British led a sneak attack on the town, crossing the frozen river's ice, on Washington's Birthday, 1813.  The town was raided, but not much else came of this attack.  We saw the large customs house from 1809 that they claim still shows damage from the war.  On the whole, this walk was pleasant, in spite of the heat, but there weren't as many cute old houses on this one.

Completing this tour means that we've done all nine walks in this program and Scott has all of the pins that are available.  Our favorite walk of all of them may have been yesterday's at Sackets Harbor, in spite of our tiredness and the heat and its seeming extra length.  Lewiston's was also nice.  Our least favorite is probably the one in Erie PA.  Still, we wonder how many people can say they've done them all.  

We finished the walk shortly before 1:00 and found a McDonalds for lunch.  There we discussed our options.  Tomorrow, storms are supposed to be rolling in, so we decided to head for home.

Emma's been tearing through the Harry Potter books... literally after she dropped one at lunch today and the middle pages came out.   She started about two weeks ago, and will finish book 3 on this trip.