Niagara Falls: Maid of the Mist

We had a boat ride below Niagara Falls on Maid of the Mist, which goes up close to both the American and Horseshoe falls.

Boarding the boat via the floating loading platform:

Boarding boat

A viewing platform tower, included as part of the package, which also serves as an elevator down to the boat:

Viewing tower

A view of the Rainbow Bridge to Canada from the top deck of the boat:

View of Rainbow Bridge from boat

The American Falls:

Falls

Selfie

American Falls

American Falls

Cave of the Winds platforms:

Cave of the Winds platforms

Ponchos

Horseshoe Falls:

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Canadian boat:

Canadian boat

Canadian boat

Back to the American Falls:

American Falls

Tower and falls

A super fun (and damp!) experience.

Four Mile Creek State Park

We stayed at Four Mile Creek State Park in Youngstown, New York. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice lakefront state park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-06-01
  • Check out: 2025-06-10
  • 9 nights
  • We were only supposed to be here 7 nights, but were stuck when we couldn’t get our slides in!

Weather:

  • Partly sunny, some rain
  • High temps 55-73°F, lows 47-62°F
  • Some wind, gusts to 26 MPH

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Some neighbor noise (kids and dogs)

Site:

  • #47, back-in, grass with embedded gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Somewhat level site; high in front; used hydraulic leveling
  • Grass site about 90 feet long by 50 feet wide
  • No neighbor on driver side
  • Just grass between sites
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • Tall trees on driver side
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 270 feet, front facing SE

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • No water or sewer
  • Water available a few sites down; dump station by entrance

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 105-242 Mbps down, 20-30 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • RoamLink: 6-9 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 130 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
  • AT&T: 6-14 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 70 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Gorgeous lakefront campground with stellar staff

All the sites are grassy back-ins. About half the park has no hookups, half has 30A, and one row has 50A. We managed to secure a 50A site with a view of Lake Ontario from our windows, which was a nice perk. The location is ideal for accessing Niagara Falls and Old Fort Niagara. It’s also convenient if you want to take a daytrip up to Toronto, with multiple border crossings to choose from.

The staff here were the best, however. Not only were they invaluable in pointing out things to do in the area, but we had a mechanical failure on the day of our departure, and it took a couple of days to get up and running again. The office staff were great to work with and very understanding of our situation. At one point, we needed some “muscle,” so several park employees and one or two locals joined in to help us out, and it helped restore some of my faith in humanity.

The only downside of this campground was the lack of full hookups. Due to our unexpectedly longer stay, we did use the bathroom blocks for once, and the showers were hit and miss (one I tried had a very weak spray and no hot water, but the one I tried on a subsequent day was much better). All in all, I would stay here again. We camped at Four Mile Creek State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Utilities… just electric:

Utilities

There were a number of water stations dotted around the campground (marked on the map):

Water station

I used the nearby one (you can see our coach in the background) to fill our water bladder:

Filling water bladder

Then pumped the water from the bladder to the coach:

Pumping from bladder to coach

Pumping from bladder to coach

Then filled the waste tote in the back of the truck via the macerator:

Filling tote via macerator

And dumped the tote at the dump station:

Dumping tote

My beard blowing in the wind while adding stickers to our coach:

David with beard blowing in wind

Added the New York state sticker:

Added New York state sticker

Just a few left:

Added New York state sticker

Watching the sunset over Lake Ontario:

Sunset

Sunset

Very hazy due to wildfire smoke from Canada:

Sunset

Lake Ontario:

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

We actually used the bathrooms once or twice:

Bathroom

Including the shower, due to filling tanks after our slide issue:

Shower

The playground behind our site:

Playground behind our site

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

A nice state park. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York

We drove our coach 213 miles, about four hours of driving, from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northeast:

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Rain pouring off slide topper:

Rain pouring off slide topper

Needed to return the laminated parking pass:

Needed to return the parking pass

Road near Newbury, Ohio:

Road near Newbury, Ohio

I-90 East:

I-90 East

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

BK for lunch:

BK for lunch

Paladin on the dash when we returned to our coach:

Paladin on the dash when we return to our coach

Toe beans:

Toe beans

Paladin on the dash when underway:

Paladin on the dash when underway

Welcome to Pennsylvania:

Welcome to Pennsylvania

A truck took the curve too fast, and rolled over; that’s going to take a while to clean up:

Truck took the curve to fast

Truck took the curve to fast

Welcome to New York:

Welcome to New York

New York Tollway:

New York Tollway

Service plaza parking:

Service plaza parking

Not something you see on a trailer every day:

Not something you see on a trailer every day

Text stop parking area; a good idea:

Text stop parking area; a good idea

Buffalo:

Buffalo

Tonawanda bridge:

Tonawanda bridge

Welcome to the City of Niagara Falls; we avoided the Niagara Scenic Parkway due to the 12’ 0” height restriction (we are 11’ 7”, rather close):

Welcome to City of Niagara Falls

And definitely avoided accidentally heading to Canada:

Exit

Arriving at Four Mile Creek State Park:

Arriving at Four Mile Creek State Park

Our site:

Our site

Our coach:

Our coach

Little did we know we’d be here a little longer than expected….

Exploded AC squirrel cage

We recently replaced the front and mid AC units on the roof of our coach, but the rear one was working fine. That is, until one day it exploded. Or to be more precise, the blower fan, aka squirrel cage, self-destructed. 

A rather disconcerting loud bang. I’ve heard that this is a common failure, but this was the first one we’d experienced.

I looked on RV Help for a nearby tech to fix this for me; I was in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the time. The first tech I contacted never replied, but the second one did, and was able to get the part for me. I didn’t know that the squirrel cage was the issue, but I was pretty confident that it was, so he brought the part with him. Spoiler: I was right.

Mike’s Mobile RV came to the rescue:

Mike's Mobile RV

Three people, in fact: Mike himself, his wife, and an apprentice:

Mike's Mobile RV

(I would have preferred some padding on the ladder, though.)

Here’s the broken squirrel cage:

Broken squirrel cage

A quick fix.

Baseball: Cleveland Guardians vs Los Angeles Angels

We attended a game of the Cleveland Guardians vs the Los Angeles Angels, playing at the Guardians’ ballpark, Progressive Field.

Jenn’s game summary:

A fun game with some interesting scoring stuff I’d never seen before, including a single that was also an E7 and then an “OAD 3-6-5” with the batter thrown out at third. Also, a delayed HBP call on a final out, so guys were back in the dugout and had to get back out to continue. The Angels struck first with back-to-back homers in the third (just after the above wacky play). Mike Trout got a couple singles and an RBI double, but the Guardians got three homers of their own (José Ramirez, Steven Kwan, and Carlos Santana) with some other hits mixed in to eventually win it 7-5. The food was pretty terrible (dogs were both soggy & burnt?!) but really good nachos and ice cream saved the day.

An interactive map of the ballpark:

Progressive Field:

Progressive Field

Progressive Field

Long line for the team store:

Long line for the team store

Team store

Pretzel, gross hot dog, soda, and water:

Pretzel, gross hot dog, soda, and water

More edible mozzarella sticks and tots:

More edible mozzarella sticks and tots

Angels vs Guardians:

Angels vs Guardians

Cheerleader:

Cheerleader

Seat selfie:

Seat selfie

The view from our seats in Section 136, Row Y, Seats 1 & 2:

View from our seats

Play ball:

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

This guy a few seats down from us caught a foul ball:

This guy a few seats down from us caught a foul ball

Heritage park:

Heritage park

Heritage park

Heritage park

Heritage park

Bullpens:

Bullpens

Exploring the ballpark:

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Exploring the ballpark

Nice nachos:

Nachos

Nachos

Home run:

Home run

Perry’s ice cream:

Perry's ice cream

Churro sundae:

Churro sundae

Play under review:

Play under review

Baseball

Scores:

Scores

Guardians win:

Guardians win

Mangia! Mangia!

We had dinner at Mangia! Mangia!, self-described as “A Really Good Italian Restaurant”… and we have to admit, they weren’t lying.

The large parking lot was packed, but we managed to snag one of a couple empty spots. We were worried that they’d be too busy, but were seated straight away.

The menu:

Menu

Menu

Menu

Jenn’s veal parmigana & noodles:

Veal parmigana & noodles

My lasagna:

Lasagna

I also had a baked spud side:

Also baked spud side

Dessert menu:

Dessert menu

We shared a cannoli:

Cannoli

Everything was delicious. We can see why it’s a popular place.

Punderson State Park Campground

We stayed at Punderson State Park Campground in Newbury, Ohio. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-05-27
  • Check out: 2025-06-01
  • 5 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly cloudy, some rain
  • High temps 57-67°F, lows 41-54°F
  • Some wind, gusts to 22 MPH

Noise:

  • Some road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Little neighbor noise
  • Construction noise; building new facilities right next to our site

Site:

  • #26, back-in, concrete
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Unlevel site; high in front; used hydraulic leveling
  • Concrete driveway about 40 feet long by 10 feet wide
  • About 75 feet to neighbor on driver side
  • No neighbor on passenger side
  • Trees between sites
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • Tall trees
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 1,140 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 65 PSI water, very conveniently located
  • Unthreaded sewer connection (just a hole, without any room for the sewer pipe elbow), very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • RoamLink: 18-25 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 80 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
  • AT&T: 60-75 Mbps down, 0.5-1.5 Mbps up, 45 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely park, working on expansion

Beautiful park with something for everyone. They’re currently working on expanding and improving the campsites, and we were located right next to the construction site, which wasn’t ideal during the day, but it was relatively quiet at night. Our back-in site was not very level, even if it was a new concrete pad. I don’t think the state of Ohio knows how to hire contractors who know how to use a level, because we had the same problem at West Branch State Park with a very sloped site. Otherwise, it was a nice site with good hookups and a lakefront setting. We camped at Punderson State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Mangia! Mangia! Italian restaurant was excellent and very popular with the locals. It’s a good sign when it’s hard to get a parking spot.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

 

Our site

Our site

Our site

Lakeside

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Sewer hole:

Sewer hole

Construction near our site:

Construction near our site

Construction near our site

Construction near our site

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Tent site up a hill:

Tent site up a hill

Cabin:

Cabin

Pool by manor house:

Pool by manor house

Historic manor house:

Historic manor house

A nice enough state park, other than the nearby construction, and not entirely level.