Boat & Train Rides

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New England in the spring & summer​

Planning a trip up along the Maine coast this spring or summer? Maybe a trip to Arcadia National Park? There are lots of exciting things to do in that area. During one of our visits, we went to Bar Harbor and went out on the large New England ground swells to do some whale watching. The seas were calm that day and the local seal population was mostly all basking along the shores as we entered the Atlantic Ocean in our quest to watch the Humpbacks dive for food.​

Our guide was a seasoned whale watcher with graduate degrees in Marine Sciences. She had been following the Humpbacks along the Maine coast for more than seven years and knew the names of all that we saw that day. She had pictures and drawings that identified them individually.

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Just about every traveling RVer will spend some time at Rapid City, SD. There are too many attractions to view during a two week stop. Normally we stay at the Ellsworth AFB FAMCAMP. The base MWR has a small fleet of tour vans that go to nearly all attractions. They pick-up and return to the FAMCAMP. We have found that most of the drivers (mostly retired military) are very knowledgeable about the areas they take us.

The 1880s train ride takes about all day. It leaves Keystone, SD and travels to Hill City, SD where there are shops and places to have lunch while the train is readied for the return trip. It’s a beautiful ride on a clear warm day with lots of wildlife to view along the way. On our trip, there was a wild horse round-up taking place near Hill City and we had a good view of those that had already been stabled.

 

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Yuma, AZ

We have wintered twice at Yuma. Both times we stayed at the same seniors (55+) RV Park. There is so much to do there it never got boring.

On this particular side trip, we drove up to Martinez Lake on the Colorado River where we could take an old paddle wheel boat ride on the river. The weather was clear and calm, and we saw wild mountain goats and bald eagles on our boat ride.

The federal lands in AZ & CA are popular boon docking places along sections of our river boat ride. Because the waters are slow running and deep with vegetation along the shorelines in this section of the river between dams the fishing is great.

The Marine Corps Air Station has a smallish RV park on the river in the Martinez River area. Most sites are W/E only and there are a few rental cabins. There is a small marina there where you can rent powered Jon boats. They can be used for some great fishing or rubbernecking.

 

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During our full-time traveling years, we wintered at Yuma, AZ twice. It’s a wonderful place to spend a few months and it has all sorts of things to do and many of them are side trips to well-known attractions.

On our last trip there we left early and moved to Camp Verde for a couple of weeks. Trips to Sedona were on our schedule. We also took the Verde Canyon train ride. It was on a clear warm day and the ride was spectacular. We were traveling with another couple. They are longtime friends from our Navy years. We got 1st class tickets with a table for four and direct access to an open car for picture taking.

At the far end of our ride there was a wild horse roundup. The area was fenced, and green grass was growing.

 

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Sault Ste. Marie, MI


During this trip to northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula we had reservations at the Mill Creek CG right on Lake Huron. It was a very busy 10 days as there is so much to see there and each side trip took-up a whole day.

On this side trip we went all the way to the northern tip of Michigan for a tour of Sault Ste. Marie where the famous Soo Locks are located. The town is basically a tourist town with trinket shops and cafes everywhere.

When we drove out to the locks to get our tour boat tickets, there was ample parking close to the ticket office and no waiting line. I took a picture of the large aerial view of the locks located in the ticket office.

I took a lot of pictures of the locks ad boats/ships that use them. There is one picture of an RV park on the CDN side of the river.

We were very lucky to transit up through the CDN lock and come back through a USA lock. It’s a very enjoyable trip with great views of the huge iron ore storage areas where the ore is staged to be loaded onto ships that are sized especially for the locks.

Here are some of my pictures. I’m also providing a link that explains much about the locks and their use.

Soo Locks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org