FIELD NOTES #2

NIAGARA,

NEW YORK

A World-Class Wonder, But Not A MCAS Safe Location

Dates

Jun 25 – Jun 28, 2026

Miles Driven

216

Weather

78-88

Sunny w/ Storms

Symptom Score

25

(baseline: 23)

WOuld we return

No

Where We Stayed

Niagara Woodland Family Campground – Ransomville, NY

  • Easy to back into full hookup site
  • Campground had several older activities, but the boys still enjoyed them
  • Pools were out of order, but they were working on them
  • 45 min drive to Buffalo and Niagara Falls
  • Campground looks nothing like the website
  • Poor drainage, our campsite was soaked the entire time. Took 4 wheel drive to leave
Overall Rating

How I Felt

During our stay my average score was 25, which is about the same as the average I experienced in Montague, but I had a very high symptom day of 30.

What We Did

We packed a lot into our couple of days in Niagara New York. We started by taking what turned out to be a easy drive to downtown Buffalo and going to the Explore and More hands on museum and the Sullivans Navel museum.

The Explore and More museum was awesome, but Finn and Gabe were just a bit too old for it. There were a few exhibits that they were interested in, especially on the science floor, but mostly they struggled to find things they were interested in.

The Sullivans on the other hand held there attention way longer than I thought it would. The Sullivans, along with the USS Little Rock (another WWII Destroyer) and USS Croaker (a WWII Sub) were really something to walk through. Seeing how they were designed to make use of tight spaces (especially the USS Croaker) and to see the differences between them, was really cool. The boys loved seeing where sailors would sleep, eat and of course because they are 8 and 11 year old boys…..where they went to the bathroom. I had to literally drag them out of the bathrooms because they were so interested in them.

The second day we were able to have Meg join us on a trip to Canada to check out Niagara Falls. It was fun to experience the boys slowly wrap their minds around just how big the falls would be. At first they asked questions like “how long is the hike to it?” and “can we swim there?”. When we told them the fall were bigger than an elementary school we watched it finally click for them.

Seeing the boys experience even just the insane amount of mist coming off the falls was really neat. I would say the boys enjoyed the falls about 10 minutes before they were ready to go on though.

The only other thing we did in Niagara Falls was go to Fun Zone and go glow in the dark mini golfing. The boys enjoyed it, but the course left a ton to be desired. The holes were very short and simple.

Our Favorite Moment

A chill evening hanging out at a small Pier on Lake Ontario with a perfect sunset.

The Journey Continues

We are visiting 45 campgrounds in 300 days to find a place where our family thrives and my symptoms improve. Follow along as we share what we learn along the way

Graham Simplified

Scorecard

  • Symptom Relief

2 / 10

  • Campground

4 / 10

  • Connectivity

10 / 10

  • Sightseeing

6 / 10

  • Food

5 / 10

  • Cost

3 / 10

  • Come Again?

Maybe

Overall

5

/ 10
  • Quick Insights
  • Starlink worked ok, and when it didn’t we could rely on our Calyx unlimited data connection.
  • The Explore and More hands one museum was really nice, my kids were just too old for it.
  • Seeing the falls from the Canada side was the way to go. If we did it again we would park on the USA side and walk the rainbow bridge over.
  • Remi did really well staying in the trailer solo, we are very glad had a chance to get her accumulated to it before we left.
  • Niagara was a must see, but didn’t hold the boys attention as much as we thought it might
  • Next Stop

Next we are headed to:

Jeffersonville, Vermont

This will be the first real test to see if location can significantly impact MCAS symptoms

Related Reflections

  • Field Notes #9 – Rockport Maine

    The boys and I started our week in the Rockport/Rockland/Camden area with a hike up Mount Battie in the Camden State Park. The climb was short, rock, steep and technical – just how the boys like it. At the top we were rewarded with a great view of the ocean and an opportunity to climb the WW1 monument tower which sits on top of the mountain.

  • Field Notes #8: Part 1 – Southwest Harbor, ME

    This leg of the journey was supposed to be our “vacation time.” No homeschool for the kids, just a chance to enjoy everything Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island have to offer.

    It started great. We spent lots of time exploring tide pools, found several new hikes, and after even more repairs (this time replacing the bike’s shifter cable), we were finally able to get some bike rides in as well.

  • Field Notes #7 – Unplanned Stop

    For those of you who have been following along with our journey across the United States to find a location where my MCAS symptoms are better, you might notice that this post looks a bit different than the previous ones. This was on purpose, because we didn’t plan on making this stop. Our truck decided to.

    We were planning to spend the morning driving through New Hampshire’s White Mountains before continuing east into Maine—a drive of about five and a half hours to Sebasticook Lake Campground. We were going to stay there for a couple of days while Meg had important meetings and then continue on to Southwest Harbor, Maine. Once again…our truck had other plans.

  • Field Notes #6 – Goshen, NH

    We didn’t do as much while camping in Goshen due a lot to the three days of storms and because we had already been here for almost three weeks. We spent a lot of time enjoying the beautiful campground beach and Rand’s Pond. We got the boys each a tube, which they had a blast using in the pond and to get out to the floating dive platform.

    We did sneak a few hikes in between the rain and homeschool time. We hiked the Sawyer Trail (which a name like Sawyer how could we not!!) which was an easy 1 mile hike through a mature forest. One morning we also to the short drive to the Ruth LeClair Memorial Trail, which is a 3 mile hike around a beautiful man-made lake.

  • Field Notes #5 – Newport, NH

    We didn’t struggle to find things to do in the Sunapee Lake area. We managed to find everything from full day trips to the Quechee Gorge area to nice evenings out picking blueberries at a U-pick farm down the road.

    Probably our most eventual day was a trip to the Quechee Gorge hike, the amazing Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences (VIMS) Raptor Center and the King Arthur Bakery, Café, Store & School. It was incredible how well the Raptor Center at VIMS held the boys attention.

One Comment

  1. What a great experience for you all.
    I pray you will find many places that you can be healthy.
    Love all the inventions you all designed.
    Safe travels and thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *