Lake George, NY

Rain, Rain go away…… Its been raining on and off for the last three days, part of the problem being that its not very warm out so it’s the kind of rain that makes everything feel really cold and damp. We spent one night on the road, and got to Lake George Village a couple of days ago. The day we got here was really a wash out so we sat down and did a lot of planning for where we want to go in the next three months and what’s really important to us. Even after narrowing it down to where we really want to go, we had to knock off some places due to lack of time. Sounds silly, yes, but its getting pretty cold up here and we really can’t chance snow or temps below freezing for an extended period. We already had a couple of nights that got into the low 30s. The first night it happened our little electric heater died, so we bought a new one. We really don’t need one, since we have regular heat that runs on propane, but since the electric is included in the site fee, and the propane comes out of our pocket, unless its cold for prolonged periods, the electric is enough. Our basic, revised itinerary includes Muncie IN (to see Jess); Mammoth Caves KY; Nashville TN, New Orleans; Houston, San Antonio, El Paso for Thanksgiving, Phoenix AZ; Yuma AZ, and San Diego CA for Christmas. I just finished booking Jess’s flights for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which was exciting, since I miss her a lot and I’m looking forward to spending time with her! Yesterday the weather was unpredictable so we kept our plans simple and walked around downtown Lake George Village. We ate lunch outside, overlooking the lake, but it started raining again half way through lunch. We spent the afternoon shopping- we finally found some outdoor chairs we like, so we have something comfortable to sit in now. Today it rained again but since we are only here for 2 more days, we decided to ignore it and go see Fort William Henry. What made this fort interesting is that they (“redcoats”) give tours and explain some of the things we saw and the history of them. Among other things, I found out that grenadiers were the biggest and tallest soldiers (and the only ones allowed to handle grenades) and wore tall hats to make them appear even bigger, so that the enemy would be very afraid when they saw them. Paul and I both had to think through and put this information in perpective, timewise. It took me a bit to remember that the timeframe for this fort is pre-revolutionary war, and WE are the redcoats in this scenario. Being from Massachusetts, I have had the revolutionary war drilled into me for a looooong time. It drizzled most of the day so by the time we were done with the fort, we headed back home to get warm and dry out. Tomorrow our plan is to drive all the way around the lake and check out Fort Ticonderoga.

Lake Champlain-Burlington, VT

We headed across Vermont in the rain, but luckily it didn't last all day. We landed at Apple Island Resort, a nice campground, right on Lake Champlain, complete with a marina. We are here for 3 nights- we added a night when we found out they accept Passport America, which is our "Club", like AAA, that cuts our price for the campground by 50%. We did some food shopping and in general just got our bearings and tried to get a sense of what we want to do while we are here. We thought that putting the dinghy in the water might be fun, but as it turns out, not with the wind and/or cold we have had.

We back tracked a bit to see a quarry that Paul was very interested in seeing. It was an hour drive but it actually was very interesting and worth the trip. We went to Rock of Ages granite quarry, the deepest quarry operating in the world, 610 feet deep. the granite is actually 6 miles deep and about 10 miles long, enough to keep the quarriers working for 4500 years. The pieces they pull out weigh 23 tons each-they don't look that heavy at all, but granite weighs 100+ lbs per cubic foot. From there we went to the local cemetery, called Hope Cemetery, which has some very different and unique headstones. Many people in this area design and build their own family headstones. We had a very late lunch in Barre, VT.

A trip to Vermont wouldn't be complete (I guess) without a trip to Ben and Jerry's. We stopped there on our way back home. The tour is ok, and they do give you a sample of whatever ice cream they are making that day- it happened to be Chocolate chip cookie dough, and Paul asked for seconds. After then buying a cone of a different flavor, we both decided that we had just had dinner. Just as fun as the tour was the graveyard of ice cream flavors.

This morning we got a slow start, then decided that we can't spend EVERY day running around, so we "allowed" ourselves to relax and go window shopping in downtown Burlington. We still feel like we are moving at too fast of a pace, but plan on slowing down and spending a week in each location(eventually).

Burlington is on Lake Champlain and it's downtown is kind of different. Usually in this type of town we have found the action is near the water. In Burlington, they do have the boat tours of course, but the harbor area has a marina, a park and has lots of "regular" businesses, as well as restaurants. We ate at a mexican restaurant (La Madera) that was actually really good. They featured Hatch chiles, a favorite of Paul's, in their sauce. In addition to park benches, there were also swings that seat 2-3 people. Fun and different! The shops are further up the street, and pretty spread out.

Tomorrow we head to New York again, still near Lake Champlain for a night, then on to Lake George for 5 nights.

White Mountains NH

We’ve seen a lot of waterfalls the last 3 days. Paul’s favorite was Diana’s Baths. It had numerous waterfalls with small pools in between. If the weather had been warmer, we could have gone swimming in the pools, which would be a lot of fun. I think my favorite was Arethusa Falls, which happens to be the highest waterfall in New Hampshire. I swear though, the hike to it was 2 miles each way, and it felt like it was uphill both ways(see picture). It was all hill, and rough terrain. The others were fun to get to, but in the autumn there isn’t much water running. It would be more dramatic in the spring. We moved from Gorham to Twin Mountain so that we could more easily access different areas of the mountains. We explored the Crawford Notch area one day, including the Willey House historic site, which I have been to several times. We drove all the way down to North Conway, had ice cream, as usual, and just stopped along the way if something looked interesting. At one point we stopped to take a picture of Mt. Washington, and a fox was meandering around the pull-off, looking for handouts from people. I took a lot of pictures, but it was kind of sad to see. Especially since a little girl did feed him, while her parents watched. Duhhhhhh. The campground we stayed at apparently has a resident bear that hangs around, although we didn’t get to see her, nor did we see a moose while we were here, which was very disappointing. We could have gone on a Moose Tour, but elected not to do it. We did meet Debby and Ken at the campground and immediately hit it off with them- conversation never lagged, that’s for sure. Sometimes we had multiple conversations going as we sat around the campfire trading life stories. They are also full timing and just starting out, although they are headed for FL for the next 6 months, and then they will be on the road- their passion is flyfishing. Yesterday was Franconia Notch exploration day. We did the Gorge tour, which was good, quite a walk, but expensive at $12 per person. We drove down to Clarks Trading Post, but there was no bear show that day. We did see the bears though. In the afternoon we explored the “Lost River”, which is a gorge with caves that you can go in and out of. The main reason we went there is because I remember going there as a kid and I wanted to see if it was how I remembered it. Paul had never been there. It was a fun afternoon. Left NH behind this morning, headed to Lake Champlain, VT. On the way we stopped at Cabot Creamery and took a tour of the facility. It was really interesting. Cabot is a farmers’ cooperative- it has grown from local farmers to hundreds of farmers all over New England. There are signs in several places that make people aware that ALL the profits of everything go back to the farmers. There was an amazing amount of sample cheeses, dips etc set out for people to help themselves. We ate quite a bit, but we also bought some great cheese. I tried something slightly different. It was cinnamon pear jam mixed with cream cheese- VERY good! I bought the jam so I could make it sometime.

White Mountains (Gorham) NH

As we drove along, leaving Maine for New Hampshire, I realized I will really miss the ocean. One of the things I loved about Acadia was walking in the woods and being able to smell the ocean as well as the pine trees. There is a very distinct smell to salt water that I really love. Lakes just aren't the same. I am looking forward to seeing other parts of the country, and discovering all the differences that make each area special and unique, but I think the Atlantic Ocean will always feel like home.

Paul has a fascination for forts, and Fort Knox was pretty much on our way to NH, so we detoured just a bit to be able to check it out. One of the things we have discovered after seeing quite a few forts on the east coast, is that most of them either never saw action, or saw very little action. It always seems to take so long to build them (25 years for this one) that by the time they get built, the technology has changed so much that they are obsolete. By the time they were ready for the cannons at this fort, cannons were obsolete because ships were made of steel.

Our ticket to the Fort also included a bonus feature for Paul. We drove across the Penobscot Bridge, which has a huge tower, that looked like an observation tower to Paul. Our ticket to the fort included a ticket to the top of what actually in fact is an observation tower. That was a fun and unique experience.

We arrived in Shelburne/Gorham NH after spending a night "on the road," at a campground along the route. We also made a stop at the visitors center in NH. We have learned to make that stop as soon as we enter a new state. There is so much information we can get there about what the state has to offer. We hadn't made a reservation at a campground so we beelined for the one we wanted. Most of the campgrounds around here are not very full right now, so we are only making reservations if we want a specific campground for some reason. After setting up, we took a ride around the area to check it out, and make some plans for the next few days. Once we did that, the weather changed everything anyway!

Saturday the idea was to go hiking , check out some waterfalls and investigate anything else that looked interesting. When we got up, it was cloudy, VERY windy, and not exactly warm. An executive decision was made to "trade days". We usually do our errands and laundry on Sundays, but with the lousy weather it made more sense to do it Saturday. We were really glad we did, when we saw today's weather. Beautiful! Warm, beautiful blue skies, and just as importantly, no wind. We took off to explore and stopped for a picnic lunch along the way (we usually pack a lunch every day and eat wherever we happen to be).

It was never really in our plan to go to the top of Mt Washington. We have both been there, and for whatever reason, didn't really feel the need to do it again. Until we saw it. And by that I mean, we could see the whole thing. Usually its in the clouds.

As we drove up the mountain in the van, the driver commented that there are really only about 12 days a year that are this fabulous on the mountain. The air temperature was 49, toasty warm for the mountain (yesterday:35 degrees), visibility was 130 miles, (yesterday:1/16 mile in freezing fog) and the wind was only 30mph (yesterday: gusting to 90 mph).

The views were absolutely amazing.

Acadia National Park, ME

this video is one that I took from the top of Acadia Mountain...the view was incredible!
I must say, at the risk of jinxing things, our weather has held for quite a long time. Since we've been in Maine its been great during the day, sunny or partly sunny, and in the 60s or 70s. At night it gets cold, sometimes in the 40s, but who cares....
Bar Island was different from what we thought it would be...we brought water shoes and a towel, expecting that to cross over to the island at low tide, we would be slogging through watery sand, and would get wet. When we got there it turns out that it is more like a gravel road, and trucks actually drive out there at low tide.. we didn't get at all wet. We did walk the island, which had great views of the mainland. No pictures, since I actually forgot to bring the camera. Our plan was to grab a piece of pizza for lunch at a place we passed by the other day. It smelled soooo good! Unfortunately, it was closed and instead we ate a restaurant called Rte 66. It had great 50s memorabilia, and awful food. it was the biggest waste of money, and the worst food we have had in a long time. That afternoon, there was actually a cruise ship in port, which was funny because there were so many people downtown, they were swarming the place.
We knew that Wednesday would be our last day here so anything that was really important for us to see was put on the agenda for the day. In the morning we went to the Gardens and Museum in the National Park. The Nature Center was really interesting, but the rest of it we probably could have passed on. From there we went hiking a trail along the ocean and met a really cool older couple. They were right behind us starting out on the trail so we chatted with them. A short time later they realized it was a more difficult trail than they had anticipated, and it was really too late for them to turn back. They said they'd just take it slow and steady. We met up with them again a few minutes later when we paused to look at the view. Turns out he is 79 and she is 80. Amazing what they were doing! Again we went ahead, but the trail got more vertical and challenging, so we kind of hung around waiting to see if they were ok...we joked with them, telling stories about people who push their spouse over a cliff and claim they fell. This time I asked them if they wanted company on the trail, but they said they were fine. Still, we saw them about 4 more times. That was not an easy trail! Their agility was amazing...!
After continuing on the "Loop Road" that winds through the area, we then made our way over to the smaller, non-touristy towns. Paul found a store that sells his new favorite treat- its called a Harbor Bar and its vanilla ice cream between two incredibly good chocolate chip cookies, and the whole thing is covered in chocolate. He had one a few days ago and has been on the hunt to find them again. What makes it great is the quality of the cookies. They taste like homemade...
It was approaching sunset when we reached the light house at Bass Harbor. Great timing! We had about 2 minutes to look around before I had to start taking pictures. There were about 20 other people there doing the same thing, and about 1200 mosquitos per person. I think we left before the sun had even completely set!
Today was a travel day- we are still in Maine but tomorrow we will move on to NH. We may take the time in the morning to get the oil changed on Paul's baby...um, I mean, truck..
We spent tonight trying to make some decisions on how long we want to stay in NH and VT. Our original idea was to head to Lancaster PA and the amish area before we see Jess in mid October, but, Joe and Judy Rizzo, the people who bought our boat, have invited us to join them for a couple of days of hiking the Adirondacks. It sounds like fun so we are trying to move our schedule around to be able to do that. I think Lancaster will have to wait.

Acadia National Park, ME

Saturday Sept 12- Our plan today is to hike Acadia Mountain, which is about 670 feet, but what makes it different from the Beehive is that it isn’t straight up. We had in mind to go up the side of Acadia, down the other side and walk/stoll along Valley Gorge trail which follows Somes Sound Fjord. That’s supposed to be the best place around here to spot eagles, which I would definitely love to do! After that little break, we would cut over St. Sauveur Mtn and back down to the parking lot. Going up Acadia was great. Just enough challenge without tiring us too much. The woods and rocks here remind me so much of the area where I grew up. We used to pack up a lunch and rock climb near my house, where there were acres of woods and rocks. Intermingled with the boulders were blueberry bushes, and we would pick them when it was the right time of year. This area is very similar to that, with the same type of rocks and scrubby bushes…. So, up Acadia we go. The views at the top were incredible. I have a video, but don’t think I have the bandwith to upload it. We ate lunch when we got to the top. Once we went down the other side, our plan started to fall apart a little. Instead of a path to stroll along the fjord, the Valley Gorge trail was just as much work as it was going up Acadia. So much for our little break before climbing St. Sauveur. We did take our time, stopping frequently to scan for eagles. We never did see one, but I did get a picture of an Osprey. When we got home I googled to find out what an eagle sounds like so I will be able to recognize the call better next time. St. Sauveur is about 750 ft, so in all we ascended and descended about 1500 ft, about 5 miles ….doesn’t seem like much but we were tired- it took us about 5 hours in all. I think next time we will buy the detailed hiking trails map so we’ll have a better idea of the terrain. I was glad we went up Acadia, since the view at the top of St. Sauveur was nonexistent. It was tree covered, with no view at all. Sunday we spent regrouping- did some shopping and laundry and in general took it easy. Today we felt ready for another challenge, so we biked some of the carriage roads in the park. We noticed today that the colors on the trees seem to be changing daily. I would say that everything was pretty green when we got here, and now you can definitely see that some of the leaves have started to turn. It made for very pretty scenery while we rode. In all we biked about 12 miles- and since I haven’t been on a bike in about 15 years or more, I felt pretty good about it. We’ll see what we feel like tomorrow! We stopped to eat along the way, and stopped to chat with other bikers several times. There is a restaurant on the water called the Jordon Pond House. They are known for their popovers. Of course we had to stop in- Paul had the popover, I had a brownie sundae. He said the peach ice cream was some of the best he has ever had, I say the hot fudge was some of the best I have ever had. It was worth the calories, for sure. We dropped the bikes off in Bar Harbor and walked the shore a bit looking for sea glass, without much luck. There is an island right off the coast that you can walk to at low tide. Our plan is to do that tomorrow, if the weather holds.

Acadia National Park, ME

September 10, Traveling from Portland ME to Acadia, we decided to take the scenic route- Rte 1, which pretty much follows along the ocean. Along the coast of Maine there are a lot of small, picturesque towns with small harbors. They were too small to accommodate the Everest, so we didn’t stop. Instead, we stopped at Moose Point State Park, which is right on the water, walked around for a bit, and had lunch. We stopped later at Fort Point State park just to stop for a bit. If I had had my camera out I would have been able to get a picture of a fox. September 11th, we started the day by watching a history channel special about Sept 11. After an hour or so we shut it off. I was feeling sucked in- it’s the type of show that once you start watching, it goes on all day. Very interesting information, but too much. We had read literature about Acadia last night, and I had made a preliminary list of what looked interesting to us, but we decided to start off by heading to the visitor center to get oriented. I am glad we did. We got the map of hiking trails and general information about the park. More importantly, we watched one of those short videos that showcases the park. Ordinarily I don’t like those videos but the Ranger suggested we watch it, so we did. Interesting to find out that Acadia is the only National Park that is solely made up of donated lands. In the early 1900s, several wealthy individuals started buying up land in order to turn it over to the government. John Rockefeller Jr. donated and built miles of carriage roads in the park, with the stipulation that no motorized vehicles be allowed on them. We plan to rent bikes for a day to tour some of the carriage roads- I want to rent a bicycle built for two, but when I suggested it, Paul looked at me sideways…. The most important thing the movie pointed out is that Acadia is not a park of “superlatives”. There is nothing here that is the “best, biggest, loudest….” or anything “est”. Its pointless to run around looking for “the” thing to do. This is more of a place to be absorbed and experienced. My friend Sue said it too…the park looks like all of the rest of the Maine coast, its all beautiful. That realigned my thinking back to where it needed to be. The whole point of this trip is to absorb and experience things, not to run from one thing to another. After spending the last week eating, sitting and eating, I was anxious to get moving again, so I picked a trail to hike that was in the “strenuous” section of the trail guide. We drove up Cadillac Mountain first, which is the highest point on the east coast. The View was AMAZING. Impossible to capture it in a picture. Maybe someday I will learn how to stitch pictures together to form a panoramic, but not now. There was a Hawk Watch set up, so we talked to the ranger for a bit, but he said the wind was wrong to see hawks that day. It needs to be a Northwest wind. Maybe we’ll go back another day, but I am more interested in going through the fiord where eagles are routinely spotted. So, it’s on to Beehive trail. Now, had I thought about the shape of a beehive, or actually looked up at Beehive trail, I would not have climbed it. I am really glad I didn’t look because right now I really feel like I accomplished something! The pictures will give an idea of what it was like…but it was, at times, straight up. No guardrail, only rocks, an iron handhold, or a pathway about 3 feet wide, sometimes less. Twice I had to stop and regroup mentally. I was ok looking down if I looked off into the distance, but not if I looked straight down. Once we got to the top, the view was worth it!! When we got to the bottom and looked around, Paul pointed out a "hill" and I said there was no way I would climb that one-the one we had just done was high enough. He laughed because he was pointing out Beehive and I had already climbed it... Today my muscles want something that isn’t a hill- so we’ll see whats out there!

The end of Gloucester, the beginning of Maine

Sadly we have left Gloucester and our friends and family. We did spend Saturday on Misery Island, with our friends, and had a fabulous time. We got there before lunch, took the inflatable over to the island and walked around the island for a couple of hours. The weather was perfect- warm enough to actually go in for a quick dip several times, which was a treat, since I haven't been in the ocean all summer, and I love the salt water. We collected a fair amount of sea glass, but you can never have enough! Mark, Roseann and Jack are great friends to spend time with. It felt like old times except we didn't have our own boat (Paul doesn't see the downside in that!!). After barbequing dinner, more friends showed up- the Coults family. We haven't seen them in years, so their teenage daughters had changed dramatically! We finished the day in a very traditional way for us. When we lived in MA, we would spend many summer weekends at Misery Island. After dinner on Saturday it was our custom to take the inflatables and go in to the town of Manchester, about a half hour ride, and get an Ice cream at the local ice cream store. A great finish to a great day. Sunday was a "regrouping day" for us- we did our laundry and errands and some cleaning. Monday we had more friends come for the afternoon and we spent the evening getting ready so we could leave early in the AM. On to Portland ME..... Yesterday we met up with an old friend that I used to work with, and his wife. We had lunch at Demillo's, a floating restaurant in Portland, and were lucky enough with the weather that we could sit outside and watch the boats... Portland is a beautiful city with a lot of history, shopping and great restaurants. My friend Pete has a cottage on nearby Peaks Island, (winter population:1000, summer population: 6000 or more). We took a 20 minute ferry ride over there, and walked up the hill to the cottage. Both Pete and his wife's family have had cottages on the island for generations. It reminded me a lot of my grandmothers house; its on a cute, dirt road, its an older house, and creaky and has so many antiques and so much character! Of course, Pete is most proud of the updates, but I really enjoyed the feeling I had of a connection with the past. As is typical for this coast, there was a military presence on the island at one time, and some of the structures are still standing, or have been incorporated into houses. There are so many deer on the island that people have been allowed to hunt them to bring the number down to something reasonable. We walked most of the island this morning and then left Pete and Cathy this afternoon to head back to the "ranch" to check on the cat. Tomorrow we head to Acadia!

Gloucester....so far.....

The last week has been a flurry of activity, even though it really hasn't been. I mean, overall its been busy, making plans, calling people, driving around, shopping, etc. , but really its been all about relaxing with friends so although it seems busy, the days were spent relaxing. We have been to my favorite town, Rockport, several times , and may go once more. We used to go to Rockport when we had the boat here. Its a great destination. Its a small harbor town, known for its granite. It has a small, beautiful harbor (several pictures in my slideshow) a lot of trails winding around the shore, several beaches, lots of little shops and restaurants, and of course, Motif #1. Motif # 1 is a small shack, with colorful lobster pot buoys decorating the outside walls. It is one of the most painted scenes in this area. We used to tie our boat to it for the weekend, which was really cool. You could walk over to Ray Moore's Lobster, order what lobsters you want for dinner, then come back and get them at the appropriate time- and eat them in the comfort of your own boat. But I don't like lobster, so I usually get clam chowder there. we haven't spent much time in Gloucester yet, since most visitors prefer to head to Rockport. However we did spend two afternoons with Stephen, in the inflatable, floating down the river to the beach. It brought back a lot of memories and was a lot of fun. Stephen was here for 4 days, which was awesome (and part of the reason I haven't written anything before now). He went back home last night, after we all had dinner with my brother and sister in law. We have visited with quite a few friends, but our time seems really short here. I would love to come back next year for longer, so I wouldnt feel so much like I have to make "appointments" to be able to see everyone. Tomorrow we are going out on our friends' boat for the day. They have the same boat we had, but a year older, and we bought them at the same time. They are what we refer to as "boating friends" - people we are really close to because we spent weekends with them all summer long, for years. We are headed to Misery Island for the day- an Island we used to frequent by boat, when we lived here. In the early 1900s it was inhabited by cottages and a resort, but in the 1930s a fire burned most of the buildings down, and the island was pretty much abandoned. The foundations are still there and the island is interesting to walk around. Plus, there is a lot of sea glass there, and I want to get some! Tuesday we leave for Maine- two days in Portland, with an old friend- he has a cottage on an island, and we've never been there so we are looking forward to that. From there its on to Acadia National Park for a week. In the meantime, we are staying inside to avoid the ferocious mosquitos, and we still can't drink the water, so we bought gallons of bottled water. There is no end in sight to the water problem, which was annoying to deal with all week, but at least no one got sick!