10/26/17 to 10/28/17 Delaware Water Gap / Pocono Mountain KOA Holiday.
Contemplated the drive from Suagerties NY - fastest: I-87 (NY Thruway) to I-84, or grab Rt 209 near Kingston, NY all the way to Port Jervis. Worried about navigating all the small towns and if there would be pull offs. Glad we chose 209. Beautiful ride - lots of farms and cute towns. Mostly 40 MPH and little traffic. More often alone.
Travel app had us going around downtown Port Jervis. Took the turn and faced a sign that said 9’ height restriction ahead. Oops. Did an immediate turnaround in a Chinese (?) movie studio lot. No kidding.
The center of Port Jervis was tight. At one light for left turn in what seemed to be the town center, there was not enough room for me and the traffic on the right. I took some of their lane rather than hit the curb on the turn.
A hundred or so yards down the road, there was a fork with no signs. The two cars in front of us went right and we did too. Wrong!!!. I saw the other lane go into a tunnel headed to cross the river as I swung around 90 degrees and started down a road of warehouses and derelict buildings along the river. Thank you GPS for showing we could go that way too. Did not want to re-navigate that center of town.
I had told Sandy many times of how I loved the ride down 209 in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWGNRA) on my way to my old company headquarters in SE PA. Stopped for lunch at a turn off I’ve passed many times with rock cliffs on one side and river valley fields of some kind of grain on the other. These fields were full of bird hunters as we drove down the road.
The KOA was tight navigating, had lots of things for the kids to do, some kind of weird chicken (guinea hen?). BR’s clean. Good cable and wifi signals. The place was empty when we pulled in on Thursday. Friday morning we left for some hikes in the DWGNRA. When we returned, the park was completely full. People had their halloween decorations out and the wifi signal was toast. Had some things to do on line so waited till the morning when I figured the kids would be sleeping late and not streaming. Sure enough wifi worked good in the AM. This place was more expensive than the previous one and while had more things for kids I didn’t like it as much. Would only go back if we had to.
Our hikes in the DWGNRA were great. I’ve seen and photographed so many waterfalls in the White Mountains that I didn’t think I could be impressed. Without much guidance we went to Dingman’s Falls because it was clearly marked. 0.4 mile walk on boardwalk to amazing waterfall. Pictures tell the story.
Later drove to George W. Childs park where there were three main falls and a few cascades, all if it beautiful. We walked downhill from the parking area. Each falls had a bridge below it to walk across and viewing areas on each side. A path with stairs encircled both banks. Factory Falls was where an old grist mill stood, Fulmer Falls and Deer Leap Falls at the bottom.
