During our downtime between trips, there was a nice cool day and Mark decided to tackle a project – installing a roof vent on RoVer. There are three roof vents in the RV (living room, bedroom, bathroom) that we can open for fresh air (plus, of course, several windows that open). But, you can’t safely drive with any of the vents open unless they have a vent cover on them. Plus, the covers help keep the elements off the vent – rain, hail, extreme sun. And while the RV is in storage, you can keep the vent open without worrying about critters finding their way in. The bedroom vent comes with a cover, but the other two are naked. So, we had purchased a cover for the living room a few weeks ago and it was a good day to climb up on the roof and install it. Fortunately, the installation went smoothly. And, we like it so much, we’ll buy another one for the bathroom soon.

This is another short-drive camping trip, but we decided not to bring the MINI along. Instead, we packed the e-bikes into the RV, figuring we could get around the park on foot or on bikes. They fit really well in front of the couch and because they’re so heavy, they didn’t move around at all (plus, of course, Mark had secured them well!).

The drive to Green Lakes State Park was about 90 minutes total. We love traveling on weekdays – there is so little traffic!

We did make it take a little longer by stopping at Onondaga Lake Park when we arrived in Syracuse – timing was perfect for lunch, and then an after-lunch nap for Mark and walk for me.

The state parks have a check-in time of 3pm, so you can’t arrive TOO early. I’m not really sure I understand this whole check-in/check-out time…you have to leave by 11am, but the next people can’t arrive until 3pm. I get it with a hotel – they have to clean the room and get it ready. What do they do to a campsite? Maybe they drive by in a golf cart and confirm there’s no trash or any issues, and I’ve seen them rake/smooth the gravel at some campgrounds, but I’m not sure why they need four full hours in between, especially at a smaller campground. Anyway, we arrived at 2pm and checked in without any issue. Our campsite, #6, is beautiful. It’s on the outer ring of the Pinewoods area, so we back up to trees, and the entire side of the site is treed – we can’t see the people at the next site over. And we have tons of greenspace behind the RV – perfect for the Solo Stove and some cornhole or bocce!

We also love how level the site is. First time we haven’t had to do any leveling at all – Mark backed it in beautifully and it was level right from the start. But, we realized the sewer connection might be a little too far away (he has an extension hose, but would rather not use it unless necessary!), so he backed up another couple feet. Still perfectly level. YAY! Got everything connected (this is so luxurious after last week – we have FULL hookups here!), and I said to Mark, “is there enough room here to extend the bumpout?” Uh oh. We were pretty close to the water and electrical poles on that side and weren’t sure if it would open fully. So we crossed our fingers and Mark watched it while I pushed the ‘extend’ button on the control panel. Phew. Made it with a few inches to spare.

Last week, I had mentioned to Mark that we’ve never opened the couch up into a bed and we have no idea how it works (or if it works). Plus, we were curious if there is any storage space under there, since we’re always looking for places to stash all our gear! So, we figured this was a good time to open it up. One key benefit to opening it up is that we were able to bury the three seat belts that have constantly been in our way…now they live on the floor under the bed, and they’ll stay there until we have a passenger who needs to buckle up! And, we realized that the seat back cushions are removable (they form the top section of the bed once removed) and it might actually be more comfortable to take them off when we’re watching TV since the couch seat isn’t very deep and this gives us a few extra inches to kick back. We’ll try it and see how we like it. Bed is reasonably comfortable – but using it would really be inconvenient, as it completely blocks the walkway and use of the kitchen. And, we did find some storage space along the front edge – good for extra linens maybe. Someday, we may remove the couch out and replace with recliners…it wouldn’t be hard to do, and we’d be WAY more comfortable watching TV (and yes, we watch TV when we camp. Remember, we glamp.) Something to put on the list…

It was a chilly evening so our campfire felt especially good – that Solo Stove generates massive amounts of heat! We enjoyed watching a groundhog and bunny chase each other around in between snacking on the grass (them, not us).

Thursday morning, we headed out on our bikes to get to the lake trails. It was a short, mostly downhill ride (good test of the bikes’ brakes!). While we were locking them up at a bike rack, a woman came over asking us about them – she said she and her husband have regular bikes but they’re so bulky to travel with, she was fascinated by our compact bikes. Mark showed her how they fold up and she took some pictures to show her husband. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled that she saw us and the bikes!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous for our 2.4 mile walk along the north side of Green Lake and then connecting over to Round Lake (in case you’re wondering, it is NOT square). Lots of people out on the trails enjoying the scenery and the weather! Both Green Lake and Round Lake are “meromictic” lakes, which means the layers of water do not intermix…they are fairly rare, with only about 17 of them in the US (and two of those right here in this state park!). The water is so clear and has such beautiful shades of blue, green, and aqua!

We knew there were some decent hills here at Green Lakes from our visit last year (pre-RV days!), so we figured they’d be a good test for the bikes, and they handled the climb back to the campground beautifully. I hardly peddled at all – just let the battery take over, and had no issue at all getting up the hills.

After lunch, we hopped back on our bikes and headed over to the beach area of Green Lake to continue our walk. The beach was really crowded – a bit surprising for a Thursday afternoon. We walked another two miles along the south side of the lake. So beautiful! The photo in the middle shows the largest reef in Green Lake, Deadman’s Point.

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After our walk, the snack bar was open and calling to us to get some yummy ice cream treats! From there, we rode our bikes around the full campground – there’s another section that’s really shady, with just electric hookups. Nice, but I still like our site best!