New York

Including Adirondack Park, Buffalo – Niagara Falls

Erie Canal

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

N.Y. C.L.S. 2019 Corrections §§168

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

10 calendar days for initial reg., after “establishing residency” (not defined), and for updates. §§168-f, 168-k.  In-state workers required to register if present for more than 14 consecutive days or an aggregate period exceeding 30 days in a calendar year. §168-a.

Visitors: Per NY SOR office, 10 consecutive days or 14 per month. NOTE: Partial days count (except just passing through).  Procedure available for removal from registry after departure.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Certain laws may impose a 1,000 ft. residency restriction from schools and child care facilities for registrants on parole or probation.   

Duration & updates:

20 years to life.  Updates: L3 & “sexual predators” 90 days; all others annually.  §168-h.

Most recent visits: Adirondack Park - May 2025

I called the New York State SOR office in June 2020 (updated in August 2023) and here’s what they told me: visitors get 10 consecutive days or 14 per month before being required to register. Translation: like many other states, New York’s SOR office is simply applying their requirements for new residents and in-state workers to visitors too.  It also follows that if, like hundreds of thousands of others, you’re a New Jersey or Connecticut resident commuting daily to your job in New York, you’ll also have to register in New York.

The nice lady at the SOR office also said that partial days do count (except “just passing through”); e.g. if you’re staying in NJ or CT and making daily trips into NYC to see the sights or to work, each one of those trips will count toward your allowable total.

Care for a little bike-railing?

In late May 2025 I entered New York State from Massachusetts for a five day tour (including partial days), the main destinations of which were Adirondack Park and the Buffalo – Niagara Falls region.  On this trip the only clock that mattered was the 10 consecutive day clock, and even on this ambitious trip I would be spending only half the allowable time in New York.

On Day 1 I just found a hotel to stay at but that was a destination so it counted.  Day 2 I took a leisurely trip north through the east half of the park.  Instead f having park attractions, most are privately operated.  Examples:  Revolution Rail, where you can spend a few hours rail-biking (!); Natural Bridge and Caves Park (very nice); US Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid.  High Falls Gorge is part of the park.  That night I camped at Coles Creek State Park along the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Natural Bridge & Caves Park

Day 3 I cruised through the west half of Adirondack Park, south on Routes 56 & 30 and west on Route 28.  I had visited the Wild Center and Adirondack Experience Museum on a long ago previous visit so I just made note of them this time.  This region has many lakes and rivers with water sports and campgrounds.  I needed to get closer to the NY Thruway so I’d be closer to my next destination of Buffalo – Niagara Falls.

By the way: The weather totally sucked the whole time I was there.  Late May is too early to visit this part of the country!

Small Town Notes:

Gloversville – The infrastructure built to support the previous mining and logging economy is more than the current tourist and recreation economy can sustain.

Malone – Okay

Fort Covington – Wow, and not in a good way.  And does there have to be a pot shop on every corner?

Potsdam – Looking good, but not because of tourism.  It’s a college town.

Most recent visit: Buffalo – Niagara Falls, June 2024

Day 4:  The weather continued to totally suck the whole time I was in Buffalo – Niagara Falls.  Temperatures were in the 40’s and overcast and it was also Sunday, so as you can imagine the place was mostly a ghost town.  I admit that didn’t allow Buffalo to shine its best light – I can only tell you what I saw.

Niagara River Gorge

I decided to go to Niagara Falls first.  But because I’d already been there a few years ago I decided to go to Whirlpool State Park this time instead.  The bad news is that to get there you have to drive on the most inappropriately named road ever constructed – Niagara Scenic Parkway.  Wow is it ever in bad shape!  The good news is the Whirlpool and the gorge are pretty amazing.

My second stop was Martin House, Buffalo’s Frank Lloyd Wright designed building (you see them throughout the Midwest).  Because it was Sunday the last tour had been at 2:30 pm but the Barton House was open.  Unfortunately no indoor photography! 

Martin House

Next stop – Erie Canal Discovery Center, disappointing because the exhibit is small and the canal lock next door is still undergoing renovation which looks like it’s gonna take a while.  However on weekdays there are canal cruises, walking tours and nature trails.

As is my custom my final stop of the afternoon was Downtown Buffalo which like I said was a real ghost town.  Although, that made it easier for me to walk into the Anchor Bar without a reservation to have my required dinner of Buffalo Wings.  I rode Buffalo’s above & below ground subway and found it to be clean and had more people riding than I would have expected at that hour.  As I looked out the window at Buffalo’s main streets it seemed clean and well kept, but most of the storefronts were obviously empty.

Wings at the Anchor Bar

My last stop of the evening was Canalside, Buffalo’s attempt at a trendy waterfront district.  There is a Naval & Military Park next door.  The problem is twofold:  Despite the City’s best efforts it’s disconnected from downtown so it can’t help revitalize anything, and like so many American cities Buffalo’s interstate highway system barricades the city from its riverfront.

As I admit, I didn’t see Buffalo at its best.  The morning of Day 5 I was on my way to Pennsylvania.

Small Town Notes:

Ellicottville – A successful ski town.

Salamanca – Doing okay.  Seneca Nation headquarters.

Previous visits: Dec. 2023 & Apr. 2024

In May and December 2023 I made trips to the Northeast that illustrates how these counting rules work.  In December I traveled from Florida with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever to visit relatives and participate in a Wreaths Across America event on Long Island.  We first stopped in New Jersey to visit with my sister-in-law, but she lives so close to the New York state line that when we took her out for lunch the restaurant was in New York State. 

Arriving at Orient Point from CT on the Long Island Ferry

That was a destination, right? – so that lunch trip counted toward my allowable 14 days per month.  That may seem like an idiotic way to apply their registry rules, but it’s not my job here to defend any state’s rules.  Instead my job is to explain how I navigated those idiotic rules while in New York so you can do so too.  Still, that was just one day, so it didn’t make a big difference toward my 14 day total.  By the end of the day we were on our way to our reserved hotel room in Connecticut.

Two days later we returned to New York State, this time on the Long Island Ferry from Connecticut.  We spent the entire day visiting my BFF’s relatives, so that was a destination and that made this Day 2 of my allowable 14 days. 

I want to interject here that unlike many of my BFF’s friends and relatives, who hate me to the point where they aren’t even allowed to know we spend any time together, this particular group has a family member who has now served 10 years of a life sentence for what as you can imagine must be a very serious crime.  Although there are many differences between his offense and mine, including the fact that they all believe he’s innocent, an I’m not, still they now have a life experience that makes them more understanding of my situation and I was welcome in their home.

Also, news flash – between 12/23 and our most recent visit in 4/24 the police have arrested a second person in the same decade old crime spree that led to this family member’s arrest.  That second person has now pointed investigators at the same third person as the “real perpetrator,” giving new hope to my BFF’s relatives.

After our day-long visit my ex and I retired to our reserved hotel room.  Our intention was to participate in a Wreaths Across America event the next day at Long Island Cemetery where her father is buried. 

Frank & Sons - Everybody's favorite bakery in Mastic, LI

However, overnight my BFF became very seriously ill.  I had become similarly ill two days earlier – at the restaurant where we took my sister-in-law to lunch.  At the time I wondered if it was food poisoning, but now that my ex was also ill it was obviously some kind of 24 hour bug.  The bad news was that due to a pre-existing medical condition she became much more seriously ill than I had.  We were unable to attend the Wreaths Across America event which had been the primary purpose of our trip!  Instead she spent the entire day either in bed or running back and forth to the bathroom, and I spent my Day 3 of my allowable 14 days in New York caring for my best friend.

Here I would like to use this story of an unexpected major change to our travel plan to illustrate how such a change could affect you as a registered traveler.  The silver lining to our experience was that her illness happened on a day we were already intending to spend in New York State, at a hotel where we already had the next night reserved.  Although it took my ex several days to fully recover, she was feeling well enough to travel as planned by the following day.

Suppose that hadn’t been the case?  Suppose I had ended up having to take my BFF to a hospital for several days – as has happened in the past.  Not only would that have been super expensive, it would have extended our stay in New York State by several days AND extended my travel for several days beyond what I had reported in Florida. 

Suppose also that instead of New York we had been in a state with super-short grace periods for visiting registrants, where I had only hours to leave before an obligation to register would take affect?  Tennessee (48 hours), Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas (all 3 business days), Illinois and Florida (3 days aggregate per calendar year) come to mind.  My registry status could have been called into question just when my ex-wife needed me most.  This is why you must be very careful about the rules of your destination state while traveling.

Nevertheless, on the morning of Day 4 of my allowable 14 days in New York my BFF and I set off early – we had to be home in Tallahassee by the end of the next day because each one of us had family obligations starting the day after that.  And we made it! *Whew!* 

 Previous visit: May 2023

Fort William Henry near Lake Champlain

In May 2023 I was staying at my brother’s house in New Jersey for four consecutive days to attend his interment and celebration of life.  His house is so close to the New York state line that the closest town is in New York.  I was helping my sister-in-law out with the preparations and clean-up and that took me on daily trips into New York State, each with a destination e.g. the Shop Rite supermarket. 

Presumably every time I went with her to town to pick up food or gasoline that was a “partial day” trip that counted toward my allotted 10 consecutive days or 14 per month, because technically I wasn’t “just passing through.”  I had a specific destination in New York State.

On the fourth day it was time to say goodbye to my sister-in-law and travel north up the New York Thruway on my way to Vermont and Maine.  If I had done no sight-seeing in New York State that day it would have been considered “just passing through” and according to the SOR office would not have counted toward my total. But instead I stopped to see Fort William Henry, a French & Indian War site, and that meant I had a “destination” in New York State.

Not to worry – that’s a total of four consecutive partial days, well below my allowable total of ten consecutive days.  Fine.

 The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY

Then I returned to New York two days later to continue my journey.  Because I had spent one full day and two nights outside New York, that meant I was able to re-start the ten consecutive day clock.  The 14 day aggregate days per month clock, however, continued at Day 5.  Confused yet?

On this pass through New York I entered from Massachusetts, spent two leisurely days traveling across Upstate New York before exiting on I-90 into PA and Ohio.  That’s two days on the consecutive day clock and two additional days on the aggregate day clock for a total of six days.  Again, not to worry – it’s still well below the 14 aggregate days you and I are allowed to be in New York without triggering an obligation to register.

Among the stops I made on this second pass through New York State were: Erie Canal; Cherry Valley Museum, which wasn’t scheduled to open until Memorial Day but there were people getting the place ready who invited me in for a tour; Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame; Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, and if you don’t know who Gerrit Smith was you should look him up; Seneca Nations Onohsagweide Cultural Center; and two privately operated rock outcroppings – one called Rock City Park and the other called Panama Rocks.  Both really impressive.

Is this a dinosaur at the Museum of Natural History?

No! It's The Oculus across the street from Ground Zero!

On another previous trip to my brother’s house in New Jersey I wanted to spend a day visiting a few sights in Manhattan.  It had been years, meaning since before I got arrested and went to prison.  I commuted to Hoboken on one of New Jersey’s many rail lines and took a PATH train to Lower Manhattan.  After disembarking at the World Trade Center I visited Ground Zero.  Then took a subway uptown to Times Square, which I took in while having a chili dog and a pretzel for lunch.  Hey, what else would you have in New York, right? 

I spent most of that afternoon at the Museum of Natural History, but also had time to walk the length of Manhattan’s Hi Line linear park.  Then it was back to Hoboken, where I ate dinner at a Cuban restaurant (again, what else, right?).  Then boarded my commuter train back to my brother’s house.

All together a great day in New York City and only used up one partial day with destinations.

 Connecticut

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

Conn. Gen. Stat. 2019 §§54-250 through 54-261

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Registration for all is required “without undue delay,” but probably 3 days. 

Visitors who “travel in this state on a recurring basis for less than five days” shall “notify” law enforcement of “temporary residence.” §54-253(d). 

Per Conn. SOR Unit, FAX to “SOR” – 860-685-8349 – name, DOB, conviction info, state, cell #, dates in state, location of stay in Connecticut. Some municipalities in CT have presence restrictions for schools, public parks, libraries and even town halls(!). Several of these ordinances have been challenged and withdrawn. More challenges are underway. Updated Aug. 2024

Connecticut’s “travel in this state on a recurring basis” language is unique. CT SOR Unit says it means visitors staying less than 5 days should “notify” but need not register, even if such short term “traveling” occurs multiple occasions per month or year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

No state restrictions but watch out for local regulations.

Duration & updates:

10 years - life. §§54-251, 54-252. Confirm address quarterly by return of mailing from state. §54-257.

Most recent visit: May 2025

Connecticut’s SOR law states that visitors who “travel in this state on a recurring basis for less than five days” shall “notify” law enforcement of “temporary residence.” §54-253(d).  This statutory language is unique among the 50 states. Connecticut’s SOR Unit staff says it means visitors staying less than 5 days “should notify” but need not register, even if such short term “traveling” occurs on multiple occasions per month or year.

Mystic Harbor

In May 2025 I was coming and going from my visit with my brother and sister-in-law in Rhode Island.  Coming from New Jersey it was “just passing through” with no destinations and I don’t think even Connecticut cares about that.  Going from Rhode Island I wanted to stop for lunch with my able travel blog assistant Brian who lives in CT before heading for the Adirondacks.  So that’s a destination, right?  But it can’t possibly be “travel[ing] in this state on a recurring basis for less than five days” because, well, there’s no recurrence.

Mystic Seaport

I had all morning coming from Rhode Island and anyway my gps said the fastest route took me down I-95 all the way past New London before heading north to my lunch date, so I stopped to see Mystic. 

Connecticut law has no residency, presence or loitering restrictions for registrants, so I was able to go wherever I wanted with the only restriction being time.  The harbor and downtown are very quaint.  Yes there is a place called Mystic Pizza – at least now there is.  Mystic Seaport is a historic village with costumed staff.  There’s an aquarium but I didn’t have time to go there.  Non-pizza food is also plentiful but I couldn’t indulge because I had to head off for my lunch date.

Previous visit: December 2023

In December 2023 I traveled from Florida with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever to visit relatives and participate in a Wreaths Across America event on Long Island.  Because my siblings live in New Jersey and Rhode Island, while her cousins live on Long Island, we decided to visit my siblings first, then take an early morning Long Island Ferry from New London, CT. 

Leaving New London on the Long Island Ferry

This meant we’d be “travel[ing] in this state on a recurring basis for less than five days” (three partial days) but in my estimation never established a “temporary residence” (an undefined term in CT statutes) because we stayed at two different hotels in two different parts of the state (Hartford and New London) and spent most of Partial Day 2 in Rhode Island with my brother.  Therefore I decided no notification was necessary on this trip.  

Connecticut law has no residency, presence or loitering restrictions for registrants, so we could have visited any of its cities, historic sites or attractions.  Maybe we will on our next visit.  First thing in the morning of Day 3 my BFF and I boarded the Long Island Ferry and were off to Long Island.

 Massachusetts / Boston

Benjamin Franklin

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

A.L.M. G.L. 2019 Part I, Title II, Ch. 6, §§178C thru 178Q

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

2 days for initial registration by mail if moving to the state; 10 days for change of residence or employment address within the state. Those residing elsewhere but employed in the state must register w/in 2 days by mail. Those planning to work or attends college in the state must register 10 days before commencement by mail.

Visitors: Law requires registration of “secondary addresses,” defined as place of residence for 14 or more aggregate days in a calendar year, or a place routinely resided in for 4 or more consecutive or non-consecutive days per month. §178C.

Confirmed by Mass. SOR response letter (2020).

Per the MA SOR office this means you’re welcome to come for your vacation(s) of up to 14 days aggregate per year, but if you’re coming and going “routinely” then the 4 day per month rule applies.

Per Rolfe Survey, visiting registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.  However, Tier 1 registrants are not placed on the public website. §178D(e).

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

None. 

Duration & updates:

20 years to life.  §178G. Annual updates: Unclassified & Tier 1 – mail;

Tiers 2 & 3 – in person. Homeless & shelters – every 30 days. §178E;§178F1/2

Most recent visit: May 2025

There is, as they sometimes say, good and bad news about Massachusetts.  Let’s do the bad news first, because for a visitor at least it’s not all that bad.

If you must be in Massachusetts on a recurring basis, e.g. for business or to care for an aging relative, you can only visit for up to four consecutive or non-consecutive days per month.  More than that and you’ll have to register.  On the other hand, if you are coming to Massachusetts for our annual ski trip to the Berkshires you get up to 14 days for that.

Note that in both cases these numbers of days are per the MA SOR office.  The state law actually reads, “4 or more” days and “14 or more aggregate days” which implies that you should subtract one day to avoid a registry trigger.  Just something to keep in mind.

Furthermore, as noted above, if you do wind up on Massachusetts’ registry they won’t take you off when you leave the state and it’s 20 years to life.

So be mindful of your time in Massachusetts, and document your whereabouts to be able to prove you haven’t overstayed your welcome.

The good news is that at least at the state level there are no residency or presence restrictions to be concerned about (although I do not know about local restrictions). So presumably when you visit Boston as I did with my brother in late May 2025 you don’t constantly have to be looking over your shoulder to make sure you haven’t accidently walked into a park or library.

Two Pauls. One is Revered.

Here’s the problem with visiting Boston:  Your family is always going to want to walk the Freedom Trail.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s a great thing and everyone should do it, but whether your family tries it on their own or goes with a tour or on-off trolley it takes all day so you won’t see anything else.  In fact I have done this twice with my family and never gotten any further than the Old North Church. 

If you want to see any more of Boston than that it’ll take at least two days, probably three.  Now you need to ask yourself, am I staying this long as part of a one time vacation or as part of an on-going business or family commitment?  The answer to that question tells you which rule to follow.

USS Constitution

In May 2025 I invited my brother on a trip to Boston while my car was getting repaired in Rhode Island – “Just two old geezers, no wives or grandchildren, we don’t have to make anybody happy.”  Because he had accompanied my family on our previous Freedom Trail walk, I said, “And let’s skip that part of the Freedom Trail and see something else.”

We arrived in Boston by train and relied on transit while there.  Our first stop was the USS Constitution, which is on the part of the Freedom Trail you can never get to on the first day.  I’d never been there before and yes it’s great.  Then, however, I decided to walk to the Bunker Hill Monument and managed to go off-course by a few blocks.  It’s a monument, right? You’d think it would be easier to find but instead we wandered through Charlestown which I wanted to do anyway (maybe not my brother …).

Van Gogh self-portrait at the Museum of Fine Arts

Next stop Museum of Science.  It’s a must see museum but as with all science museums there a lot of school groups around and many of the exhibits are aimed at educating kids.  It’s a little too family friendly for me.  Then we took the subway to the Museum of Fine Arts which was having a Van Gogh exhibit.  By the end of that it was 5:00 and we two old geezers were beat.  We ate at the closest pizza joint and started our transit and train ride back to Rhode Island.

Which just goes to show – if the Freedom Trail is Day 1 and what we did was Day 2, there’s still a lot to see in Boston.  The harbor boat tour itself will take most of a day.  So plan your Boston vacation accordingly.

Previous visit: July 2022

I visited Boston with my family in July 2022.  On that morning my brother, whom I had stayed with overnight in Rhode Island, accompanied me to Boston, where we met up with the rest of my family and spent the day being tourists.  Boston is a great place to do that.

There is a parking garage underneath Boston Commons.  It’s expensive, true, but really convenient.  Instead of taking one of those expensive (up to $100 per person!) on-off tour trolleys I convinced my family to walk (most of) the Liberty Trail, which begins at the Boston Commons Visitor Center where we picked up a Liberty Trail guidebook.  Now we could just follow the red line and see every attraction any Boston tourist is supposed to see.

Italian pastry shop in Boston's North End

Quincy Market.  Faneuil Hall.  The Old North Church.  We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant in the North End as every tourist is supposed to, and bought cookies at an Italian pastry shop.  After lunch we all got on the Boston Subway at nearby Haymarket Station and went to see Harvard. 

My teenage granddaughters were especially excited to go see America’s oldest and most famous university.  It is a place with which, believe it or not, I am familiar, so I served as tour guide as we explored Harvard Yard and some of the educational buildings that surround it.  Then it was on to the Harvard Coop, which grandma had been talking up for days in advance.  She spent a fortune there on trinkets, T-shirts etc., and you will be as pleased as I was to know that the teens found books – yes books! – to suit their thirsty young minds.

Then it was back on the subway to return to Boston commons and our cars.  My brother continued on the subway to South Station where he got on a train to go back home to Rhode Island while the rest of us continued on to New Hampshire (my second time there, see my NH blog post).

 Rhode Island

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

R.I. Gen. Laws 2019  §§11-37.1-1 through 11-37.1-20

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

24 hours for initial reg. and updates for all registrants who are moving to state, working in state, or are students.  §11-37.1-4. 

Statutes make no specific provision for visitors.  However, RI SOR office states thatvisitors in state for not more that 10 bus. days or two weeks (whichever comes first) must “check in” at local police department within 24 hours for “temporary registration” which does not go on the registry. Return to “check out” when departing the state.Also, there appears to be no limit on number of repeat visits per year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Level 3 offenders barred from schools and parks. Level 3 also can’t reside within 1000 feet of a K-12 school. Note: this restriction was enjoined in 2015 pending a trial on the merits. Lawsuit still pending in 2020 & injunction still in place.

Other registrants including visitors – can’t reside within 300 feet of K-12 school.

Only Level 2&3 offenders are placed on the public website. §11-37.1-12.

Duration & updates:

10 years to life.  Updates: SVPs – quarterly.  All others – quarterly for first 2 years, then annual. §11-37.1-4.

Rhode Island - small but mighty cool to visit

Most recent visit: May 2025

Rhode Island has one of the shortest visitors grace periods of any state – just 24 hours!  However, when I conducted my first research for this travel blog in the summer of 2020 I called as many state SOR offices as would answer the phone to clarify what their policies actually were, and I found that Rhode Island is one of a handful of states that, by policy, claimed to treat a statutory very short visitor registration requirement as a “duty to check in” but holds registrant visitor information pending a commitment to depart within a specified time.

The friendly RI SOR office lady said 10 business days or two weeks, whichever comes first.  At departure she claimed it is discarded or filed without ever going on the registry.

The other states that have this type of “visitors’ registry” are Alaska, Nevada and South Dakota.  Aside from having a very short grace period these states also share another thing – their state laws compel the SOR office to remove people from their registries when they leave the state.  So the motivation for this visitors’ registry is work avoidance.  Why would the SOR bureaucrats want to go through the work of adding people to their registry, only to have to remove them a week later?

Dear friends: I agree with everyone who keeps cautioning me that you can’t take at face value anything that some random SOR office lady tells you on the phone.  I’m just reporting the news here.  And I can also tell you that when I called the RI SOR office back in the Spring of 2021 they gave me the same answer.

I can also now report that just a few days ago (in 2025) I spoke to a person who traveled to Rhode Island for about a week, went to the local sheriff’s department to register unaware of any visitors’ registry, but the sheriff’s department placed him on it anyway and told him, “No, you’re not going on our permanent registry.”  So folks, this must be a thing.

Although Rhode Island is a tiny state, the question of what their registration policy is concerns me more than it might the average registrant because I have a brother and sister-in-law living there.  I visit them once or twice per year but so far have kept my visits to less than 24 hours and never tested the visitors’ registry.

In May 2025 I was traveling in the Northeast and visited my brother and sister-in-law, crossing the Rhode Island state line from Connecticut at about 1:00 pm, visiting and staying the night.  Beforehand I had told my brother, “Hey, tell ya what.  Let’s you and me go to Boston the next day – just two old geezers, no wives or grandchildren, we don’t have to make anybody happy.” 

But you see, that meant we’d be leaving RI by mid-morning, thus stopping the RI clock several hours short of 24, only to be restarted at zero when we returned that evening because as noted above, there appears to be no limit on the number of repeat visits per year.  As long as I was out of Rhode Island sometime the following day it would again be less than 24 hours.

Interestingly, one of the things I wanted to get done while I was in Rhode Island was get my car’s wheel alignment worked on.  To do that we got up early on the day of our Boston trip, dropped the car off at a local Toyota service department and took a bus and train to Boston and back.  My brother dropped me off at Toyota the following morning, I picked up my car and left the state.

So my car was in Rhode Island for the entire time I was jumping in and out of the state.  That doesn’t count against me, right?

Previous visit: A walk through Downtown Providence – 2024

I haven’t posted about this trip before because it was part of the Epic Fail that was my 2024 Northeast US trip.  My car was in auto repair hell and I had to get it fixed and out of the state by noon the next day.

Providence's Canalscape

However, that evening my brother took me on a (way to long) walking tour of Downtown Providence, which is actually pretty nice.  They have an unpronounceable river/canal running through their downtown that they have canalscaped to great effect.

Now that I’ve promised to see more American cities I found some of the photos I took on that trip and here they are.  I told my brother that next time I come to Providence I’m going to see the sights and report on it like I have elsewhere.  Does he want to come with me?  Apparently not!

Previous visit: July 2022

In July 2022 my Rhode Island side trip was a little complicated but still didn’t test Rhode Island’s visitor registration policy. 

I was there to visit my brother & sister-in-law and to meet up with my own family who had spent the previous four days with my ex-inlaws on Long Island while I was having an epic fail trying to go whale watching in Maine.  We all met up at a very nice restaurant and had a family dinner and visited together.  Then I stayed the night at my brother’s house while the rest of the family stayed at a hotel (my ex-wife is allergic to cats).

The next morning my brother (but not my sister-in-law) accompanied me to Boston, where all of us met up again and spent the day being tourists (see my MA blog post).  Once that was over my brother got on a train to go back home to Rhode Island while the rest of us continued on to New Hampshire (my second time there, see my NH blog post).  As you can see, on this trip I spent less than 24 hours in Rhode Island. 

 New Jersey

Including Delaware Water Gap Nat. Rec. Area, NJ's Riverfront Cities

I love New Jersey's train system!

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

N.J. Stat. 2019 §§2C:7-1 through 2C:7-23

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

10 days for initial registration; updates to address due 10 days prior to move; updates to employment and school enrollment within 5 days.  Statute only applies to residents, students, and non-resident employees. 

Visitors: Residence is apparently established by presence in the state for 10 days. §2C:7-2c.(3).

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

None.

Duration & updates:

Life. Petition to remove – 15 years, exceptions. §2C:7-2f. Updates for “compulsive or repeat” offenders quarterly; others annually, §2C:7-2

Most recent visit: Delaware Water Gap Nat. Rec. Area - May 2025

For a registered visitor, New Jersey is a pretty easy state to get along with.  As with a number of other states, its statutes don’t specifically address visitors.  However, you should assume that the same ten day registration grace period that applies to new residents applies to visitors too.  There appears to be no limit on return visits per month or year. Beyond that there are no statewide residency separation or presence requirements, although you should be careful about any local rules that might apply to you. 

It so happens that I travel to New Jersey at least once per year because I was born and raised in the sprawling suburbs of the Garden State and still have family there. Most states’ registry procedures require your local sheriff’s department to report your “temporary address” and dates of travel to your own state’s SOR office, who will then send that info to the SOR office of the state you’re going to. 

Then it’s that state’s (in this case New Jersey) SOR office’s responsibility to pass the word along.  Whether any of that actually happens I have no idea.  I always adhere to my travel schedule and show up at the temporary address I have provided to my local sheriff’s department on the day I said I would, but I don’t go report to the local police, nor have they ever shown up anywhere I’ve ever gone to check on me.

Van Campen's Glen 

Now let me tell you about one of America’s truly great National Recreation Areas, a place mostly overlooked because it stands in the shadow of the New York metro area.  While growing up in northern New Jersey I hiked and camped all over the Kittatinny Mountains.  Most of my summer camps were there too.  It’s a joy to see it now as the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and I want you to know what it has to offer.

First there are the rugged and beautiful Kittatinny Mountains of my youth.  Points of interest include Millbrook Village, Blue Mountain Lakes, the Appalachian Trail, Crater Lake and Buttermilk Falls.  Nearby are Worthington and Stokes State Forests and High Point State Park, each with their own attractions.  On the Pennsylvania side there are Turn Farm, Pocono Environmental Center, Dingman’s Falls and Raymondskill Falls, and Cliff Park.

Then there is of course the mighty Delaware River, offering all manner of canoeing, kayaking, water sports, everything. On your trip down the river you’ll pass through the spectacular Delaware Water Gap.  And remember – these are two states where you’ll face no residency or presence restrictions. 

But wait, there's more ...

On my return trip after 50 years there was one place I wanted to see more than anywhere else – Van Campen’s Glen.  Park in the Upper Glen parking lot and follow the trail south less than a mile toward the waterfall.  On your way you will pass through The Most Amazing Place I Ever Saw Growing Up.  I wanted to make sure it was still there, safe under the protection of the US Parks Service.

Most recent visit: Same Old Newark – May 2025

On this trip to New Jersey I went to Newark where I spent my college years (Rutgers-Newark) just to see how it’s doing.  The answer is that Newark has come a ways since the dark days of the 1970’s, having ringed its downtown with a performing arts center, sports facilities and museums.  The Rutgers University campus just west of downtown has grown exponentially.  However …

Newark's downtown as seen from Bridge Street

I arrived by train that Memorial Day morning, with a plan to go for a walk from Penn Station, west on Market Street through Newark’s downtown “Four Corners,” continue up the hill to the Rutgers campus, then north through the Rutgers campus, and then if time permitted head for the Ironbound neighborhood.

But when I tried to take this midday walk I found it to be the Same Old Newark I remember from the 1970’s.  Four Corners was dirty, sleazy and filled with scary looking people hanging out.  That’s bad enough at the city’s main intersection, but as I looked westward up the Market Street hill it looked just as forbidding and I’d be in less public areas as I went. 

It would be one thing back in the old days when I knew my way around and what to stay away from, but now I was a stranger in a dangerous place.  Without a car I couldn’t safely get as far as the Rutgers Campus, and all the museums were closed for the holiday, so I turned north on Broad Street, saw how Military Park looks these days (no worse than ever), and crossed the Passaic River to go back to my old haunts in Harrison, Kearny and Ironbound (all on foot).

Harrison, Kearny and Ironbound are great places to experience, but they’re much more a part of New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities than part of Newark, so I will include them in that description below.

Previous visit: New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities – April 2024

Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, Union City, Secaucus, Kearny, Harrison & Ironbound (Newark)

I have been a visitor to New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities for as long as I can remember, but when I was studying city planning at Rutgers-Newark naturally we paid more attention to Battleground Newark and all I knew about the Riverfront Cities was that they were old industrial towns with decaying neighborhoods.

Well if you want to see a place that has completely re-invented itself in the past 50 years, come to New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities.  But DON’T drive because that’s a nightmare.  Park at any NJ Transit train station anywhere in the suburbs and get a train to Hoboken – the train ride is part of the fun!

Downtown Jersey City as seen from its waterfront

In April 2024 while traveling (by car this time) with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever, I enticed my bff to stop at Liberty State Park in Jersey City to see its commanding view of the Statue of Liberty and go to the Liberty Science Center (very nice!).  Then I managed to get her onto the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to see Jersey City’s fabulous new high rise downtown.  It’s an amazing place that has spectacular front row seat views of Lower Manhattan.  We got off the light rail at Exchange Place to take in that view.  My bff was so impressed she insisted on going for a walk along the riverfront to see more, especially the 9-11 memorials.  It was a sunny morning and there was a Latin Jazzercise class going on one of Jersey City’s riverfront boardwalk plazas.  My bff said, “I’m always glad I go with you to these places – This is great!”

Turn around and you see this

However, on that trip I was only able to scratch the surface with my bff.  All the other Riverfront Cities are easily accessible by light rail or PATH Train.  Jersey City’s high rises serve as the downtown for the remaining cities that have preserved and built upon their historic neighborhoods and main streets.  The easiest example to see is Hoboken – all you have to do is walk out of the train terminal and you’re right there on Washington Street!  Have a great time and enjoy all that ethnic cuisine.

Latin Jazzercise on the Jersey City riverfront.

But it’s the Hudson River waterfront that’s the star of the show.  The views of Lower Manhattan are incredible and you see them everywhere.

Two cities have taken different routes to their reinvention.  It turns out that lowly Secaucus, butt of so many jokes, was where the old Erie Main Line and Penn Central Railroads crossed.  When NJ Transit took over they put New Jersey’s busiest train transfer station there, instantly converting Secaucus into New York’s most desirable suburb with a lot of new construction.  I guarantee you and I could never afford to live there now.

The re-invention of Harrison, NJ

Then there is Harrison.  When I lived there in my college years most of the town’s land area was old decaying empty factories along the Passaic River.  There was no chance of any of those industries ever returning.  But even then I could see that unlike Newark there were a lot of new homes being built in Harrison, even on some of the empty industrial parking lots near my house.  Since then all the factories have been scraped and it looks like they are about halfway done with reinventing the entire place as upscale high density inner suburb.

Portuguese Bakery in Newark's Ironbound neighborhood. Yummmmmm!

Lastly, Ironbound, Newark’s vibrant Portuguese and Latino neighborhood.  Whenever I go to NJ’s Riverfront Cities I like to head for Ironbound (a.k.a. “Down Neck”) and have lunch at a Portuguese (or on this occasion Brazilian) restaurant, followed up by a drool-worthy stop at a Portuguese bakery. Yum! 

And remember – all this is in a state with no residency or presence restrictions, so you don’t have to keep looking over your shoulder, unless you stay more than 10 days.

Pennsylvania

including Pittsburg, Philadelphia

From the 50 state visitor guide :

42 Pa.C.S.2019 §§9799.10 through 9799.9

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Within 3 business days of establishing residence, becoming employed, or attending school.  3 business days for updates.  If fails to establish residence but nevertheless resides in state, shall register as transient. §9799.19.

Visitors: “Residence” means place where domiciled for 30 days or more w/in a calendar year.  “Transient” means no residence but nevertheless resides in state in a temporary place or dwelling, including a homeless shelter or park. §9799.12. Per the Lancaster State Police office, PA has no specific time limit for visiting registrants but staying more than 30 days per calendar year or becoming employed or attending school establishes residency and would trigger a requirement to register. Updated June 2021.

List of registration sites: www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us/VerificationSites

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

None.  Registry website supposedly only shows:  Sexually violent offenders, Sexually violent predators, Sexually violent delinquent children.

Duration & updates:

15 years to life.  Updates: T1 – annual, T2 – 6 mo., T3 & SVP – quarterly, Transient – monthly

A Pennsylvania Update: April 2025

In theory, Pennsylvania should be a pretty easy state to get along with as a registered visitor.  Their SOR statute states that “Residence” means a place where a registrant is domiciled for 30 days or more within a calendar year.  Also, there are no statewide or local residency or presence requirements.  Thank you to PARSOL for providing me with the citations for 2 court cases that ensure this - Fross v. County of Allegheny, 20 A.3d 1193 and Lake Naomi Club, Inc. v. Rosado, 285 A.3d 1 (Pa. Cmmw. Ct. 2022).  They also have pointed out that the state SOR office is back to answering the phone these days which is also a help.  These updates are significant enough – and Pennsylvania is a significant enough state – that I am updating and re-posting the 50 State Visitors Guide chart on this site to include them.

Unfortunately “Transient” means the registrant has no residence but nevertheless “resides in the state,” but while the word “residence” is defined, the word “resides” is not, so … if you’re traveling through Pennsylvania, how long do you have to be there before you “reside” without having a “residence” …?    To the average traveler this may seem like a ridiculous question, but as registered citizens you and I know it’s far from academic.  You can’t count on the state police officer who pulls you over for having a blown tail light to give you the interpretation you wanted.

I resolved to resolve this uncertainty on a trip I made to the Northeast May 2021. After staying overnight at a PA state park campground I visited the Lancaster State Police office (which is also a Registration Verification Site) and was referred there to speak to an officer who admitted he was “not the sex offender expert” (then why was he assigned to answer this question? Was the “expert” out of the office?). 

After going back to his office and reading the statute he nevertheless opined that PA has no specific time limit for visiting registrants but staying more than 30 days per calendar year or becoming employed or attending school establishes residency and would trigger a requirement to register. That confirmed the same conclusion I reached after reading the statute.

Most recent visit: Pittsburg, May 2025

See the sights, skip the downtown

Downtown Pittsburg as seen from the Duquesne Incline.  It looks good from a distance.

As part of my 2025 Northeast road trip I passed through Pennsylvania both coming and going from Iowa.  I had, as noted above, no fear of overstaying my visitor’s grace period or of violating any state or local restriction because there are none. 

It so happened I first entered from West Virginia on the morning of the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.  My goal for that day was to visit my first Big City – Pittsburg.  Should be pretty busy on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, right?  Answer – Nope!  Not unless you count all that traffic trying to get out of town on their way to someplace other than Pittsburg for a holiday weekend!

My plan was to see the sights during the day, then go downtown to see their famous riverfront and have dinner before retiring to my waiting motel room.  My first stop, however, was the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum near Washington, PA which was on my way to Pittsburg.  If you love train museums like I do you’ll love this one.

In Pittsburg, I rode the Duquesne Incline, visited the Andy Warhol Museum (Wow!) and it wasn’t until after 4 pm that I got to the Carnegie Museums, of which there are several, and which at least on that holiday Friday were closing at 5 pm so all I had time for was art – which was great art but now I know you have to set aside at least half a day for these museums.  Next time I’m in the region I’ll do that.

Andy Warhol Museum. Notice how his training as a commercial artist (left) influenced his later work.

I didn’t go see any sports facilities or events because I’m not interested and you couldn’t get tickets for Barry Manalow that night anyway.  Instead I went downtown to experience what I had always heard was a very successful riverfront and downtown renewal.

Wow what a disappointment!  Point State Park (at the confluence of Pittsburg’s “Three Rivers”) was still undergoing renovations and was lifeless on that unseasonably cold and grey afternoon.  The keynote downtown redevelopment project, Gateway Center, is a high-rise office complex that becomes a dark and scary place as soon as all the employees escape to the burbs at 5:00 pm, and that effect was accentuated by everyone having fled to the mountains that weekend.

Downtown Pittsburg

As for Pittsburg’s anemic little downtown strip, few people were there to party that evening but I did find a good little Mediterranean restaurant for dinner.

Most recent visit: Allegheny Mountains, May-June 2025

Saturday of Memorial Day weekend my goal was no more ambitious than to explore the Allegheny Mountains of western PA on my way to a waiting bungled reservation at a Motel 6 near Wilkes-Barre.  There are two big federal and state forests – Allegheny National Forest and a cluster of connected state forests – and it’s all quite beautiful.  The only problem is there aren’t many significant destinations, either natural or man-made, so I spent most of that day pleasure driving and looking at small towns.  The next morning I was on to New Jersey.

On the return leg of my Northeastern US road trip I entered Pennsylvania from New York State.  Again my goal was only to explore a different part of the Alleghenies on my way to a campground near Sharon, PA.  The next morning I was on my way to Cleveland.

Small Town Notes:

New Bethlehem – Good.  Local industry – Smuckers.

Ridgway – The whole downtown is a National Register District.  It’s not fair to the other towns.

Johnsonburg – Good.  Local industry – paper mill.

St. Mary’s – good.

Renovo – An old company town composed mainly of row houses.  The crumbling downtown runs alongside the old railroad.

Bradford – Nice downtown but otherwise just okay.

Kane – Good.  Had lunch at a “garbage cuisine” storefront.

Greenville – No judgement.  Has a lot of brick streets.  Growth over time has created small town sprawl without benefiting the town itself.

Previous visits: Philadelphia, 2023-24

In December 2023 I traveled from Florida with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever to visit relatives and participate in a Wreaths Across America event on Long Island.  We had decided ahead of time to reserve a hotel room one night in Philadelphia so we could take in a few sights the next morning before continuing on to New Jersey.

Independence Hall, Philadelphia

As with our previous stops in Virginia, my ex-wife had never been to Philadelphia’s historic sites before and she was very impressed with Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.  I was too even though I’d seen them before.  At lunchtime we asked one of the sales ladies at the Liberty Bell gift shop where to get a good Philly Cheesesteak and she suggested the Reading Terminal Marketplace.  Wow!  It’s like other downtown markets such as Faneuil Hall or Charleston Market, but even bigger with all kinds of stuff – including several Philly Cheesesteak options.  I also bought baked goods at one of the semi-authentic looking Amish stalls.

We spent a couple of hours just at the Reading Market but after that it was time to get moving – we had a hotel reservation that night in far northern New Jersey.

You MUST have a Philly cheese steak sub!

In April 2024 my bff & I were again traveling from New Jersey and decided to stop in Philadelphia again to see a few sites we had missed on the previous trip, specifically Betsey Ross’s house and Benjamin Franklin’s Museum.  Then we visited Valley Forge on our way to the same hotel in “downtown” Intercourse where she had stayed two years before (see below).  Although she enjoyed all the stops we made, she was disappointed that left no time for touring Pennsylvania Dutch country, neither that afternoon nor the next morning on the way out of state.

Previous visits: 2022-23

In July 2022 I traveled thru Pennsylvania while tagging along with my family on their trip to the Northeast.  My ex-wife likes Pennsylvania Dutch Country very much.  I find it to be hopelessly commercialized.  What must it be like to be an actual Amish or Mennonite person trying to go about your life surrounded by billboards and tacky trinket shops and fake buggy rides? You have my sympathy, folks.

So-called "historic train ride" in Strasburg, PA

Nevertheless she had reserved a hotel room right in “downtown” Intercourse.  I stayed at the very same state park I had the year before, about 40 miles away.  We spent way too much time at that tacky tourist village in Intercourse, but the upside to that place is that trapping all the tourists there keeps us away from the locals.

Later that day we were all rushing eastbound on I-78.  They spent the night at a hotel in Stroudsburg while I had reserved a campground in nearby Hickory Run State Park.  We were splitting up after that – they were on their way to Long Island to spend four days with my ex-inlaws, while I was headed for Maine to go whale watching. 

On the southbound leg of our Northeast trip we came back thru Pennsylvania, this time to visit Hershey’s Chocolate World and Hersheypark.  I was roped into this part of the trip because our granddaughter wanted more than anything to ride on some of the scariest rollercoasters in that theme park, and although Mom insisted that she be accompanied by an adult neither she nor Grandma were willing to do the accompanying.

American Antique Car Assn. Museum, Hershey PA

Wow, some of those rides were truly terrifying!  I told my granddaughter that going on them was something I would consider to be an item on my bucket list, but don’t expect me to do that again!

In May 2023 I again passed through Pennsylvania on my way from West Virginia to New Jersey.  This time I could skip Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and would have skipped Hershey too until I saw a sign for the American Antique Car Association Museum.  Wow – way cool!

From there it was on to Hickory Run State Park to stay the night before proceeding to New Jersey.  It also so happened that on the return leg of my journey, which took me through Upstate New York, I made a little side trip into Upstate PA to see the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  Yes there is such a thing and it’s really spectacular!

The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, in Leonard Harrison St. Pk.