Well it's been an adventure filled season! After putting some miles in we ended up in Vermont to rest from our travels. Pretty funny it was not too restful but sure was adventurous. Can't say we ever were evacuated from a campground in the 32 years we have had RV's. Hope to not experience that again anytime soon! Winhall Brook, our favorite place in Vermont, was closed for the season after the devastating flooding in July. We were scheduled to go back the second week of September so we needed to find a replacement. Earlier in the year, we made the decision to stay closer to home after August due to Tom's mom living with us while her foundation is being replaced. Shout out to our son, Mike, who has been holding down the fort with grandma while we are out in Evvie our 5th wheel in August and September.
Winhall was annilated!
West Thompson Lake, an Army Corps campground in Connecticut, is a very small campground we went to a few times when the kids were little. We became a little snobbish over the years and decided we didn't want to camp in Connecticut. Well family and flooding and our new love of Army Corps campgrounds brought us back to Connecticut! We stayed at West Thompson Lake August 7th to August 21st. What a nice place. It was very wooded and quiet and we lucked out with a great site that we booked 6 months earlier because we knew we would need to stay close to home. This campground is pretty popular so if you don't book well in advance you are out of luck.
We rode our ebikes around the lake. Such fun to explore. They don't call this part of Connecticut the Quiet Corner for nothing.
We had fun exploring Woodstock Creamery and bought some of their delicious yogurt. Found a farm stand too! Oh and sheep!
We came home for about three weeks to get ready to throw Tom's mom a surprise 90th Birthday Party. All of her children came, some had to fly a distance, and some of her grandchildren came too. A real nice contingent of her St. Edward's friends attended and one of my favorite cousins catered the event. It was a great weekend of family!
Next stop: A real gem of Connecticut! Nickerson Park Family Campground in Chaplin! Two weeks and we are sold on it! Great campground and great part of Connecticut. I learned a lot these last few months and that is after living in this state for 65 years, there is still more to learn. We have a site right on the Natchaug River and next to Natchaug State Forest. Lots of places to ride our ebikes! Great find.
We rode on the airline trail for a bit. Never knew it existed! It's a former rail system built in the 1800's that ran from Boston to New York. It runs through at least 7 towns in eastern CT. You can see miles of stone fences that were built by trail workers. The trail exists in two sections: South - from East Hampton to Windham, and North - from Windham to Pomfret with the Thompson addition out beyond. Some of the sections are a bit rocky toward Thompson. We found it when we were at West Thompson Lake. We were told in some places the trail is on the main drag. The part we rode in Chaplin was pretty good.
A scenic farm we encountered while on the Airline Trail and came to a crossing.
On our bike ride we stumbled on Hampton Reservoir. So pretty and we saw a large Blue Heron in flight as we came upon the water. Could not get a picture though.
Natchaug River is part of the The Last Green Valley and is stocked with trout so the campground lodge has many photos of fishermen with their trophies. The river in the early years provided power for mills. The watershed of the Natchaug also provides drinking water for Willimantic and parts of Mansfield. The Natchaug State Forest has hiking trails and several horse camps.
Our kind of campground. And there were 3 other Alliance Paradigm 5th wheels here!
Good Night! Signing off for 2023. See you next season for more Tom and Deb Travel Adventures! Thanks for following us.
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