Day 81 – The Pied Piper of Webster Park.
Up at 6:30 a.m., still raining, 56 degrees. We packed up & headed out at 8:45 after dumping & getting fresh water for the next campground. Still not many people camping & we’re sure all the rain had something to do with it!
We went North, then East, leaving Ohio & entering Pennsylvania. Up near Lake Erie, there’s only a short stretch of PA when headed East on I-90 and then you are in New York. The rain worsened and visibility was not good, especially when large trucks went by (which was often). Temperatures were dropping, rather than rising throughout the day. After we went past the Niagara Falls & Buffalo off-ramps, we started getting flood warnings, particularly for the area where we’d be camping – they were called Lakeshore Flood Warnings – and they were to last until 2 a.m. Saturday because evidently it’d been raining here for days, also. They warned of severe erosion and large waves on Lake Ontario. We wondered what kind of flooding we’d encounter at our campground. Driving conditions were terrible and we were ready to settle in. 48 degrees and heavy rain.
Arrived at Webster Park Campground at 2:00 p.m., checked in & headed for our previosly reserved site, #23. As we approached our site, we passed flooded campsites and some that were very muddy with deep car tracks where people had struggled to get their vehicles in or out. Maybe 15 sites were occupied total. Site #23 was the only one that actually had a running stream going through it and the picnic table & fire ring were located within a pond.
Our original site (23) was a running stream! Webster Park Campground, Webster, NY
Back to the ranger’s office with a request for a different campsite. After a drive around to look at other sites that had not already been reserved for the next 2 nights, we were assigned Site #37 on higher ground. It was a great site with a long entry, nestled amongst tall, beautiful trees. 30 amp electric, no other hook-ups. There were sites next to it & close but no problem; even though it was the weekend, we weren’t worried about other campers coming in unless they were camping in a boat, LOL, because the other campsites were so flooded.
This is a small campground within a large park system across the highway from Lake Ontario. There are only 46 campsites. It’s a beautiful campground, lots of great trees with a large, grassy lawn in the middle. Rustic, just gorgeous. There are parklands all around the campground & separate from it, some for day use with playgrounds & picnic areas, some right on Lake Ontario, and one that’s almost a botanical garden with paths & a rushing stream going thru it. We hope to go back and get some pictures tomorrow if & when it stops raining.
It was 3:30 by the time we unpacked and settled in. The girls did well during the journey with very little complaining; they immediately found spots to relax once we found our site. The rain had let up to a drizzle & it was starting to get dark when we heard some music coming from a campsite a little distance away from us. Is that bagpipes? Hauntingly beautiful, we opened a window & Rob pressed the cell phone to the screen to record the music. From between the trees and thru the haze a man stepped out into the campground road, playing the bagpipes. People began leaving the confinement of their campers to stroll closer, following the sound. It was truly incredible and in such a lovely setting, this gentleman continued playing Scotch-Irish music, including “Amazing Grace”, as people stood around in awe.
Our incredibly talented campground neighbor, Webster Park Campground, Webster, NY
Our incredibly talented campground neighbor, Webster Park Campground, Webster, NY
Turns out that he & his wife were on a trip, his wife plays the tenor drum but she was inside the trailer with the visiting grandkids, and he’s been playing bagpipes for around ten years. We felt blessed to be experiencing this. He said that they’d been at a campground where a man came out and “read him the riot act” for playing- what a shame; we’re glad this didn’t make him stop playing his music outside! A wonderful way to end a long day……