Adirondykes - Hee Hee

Cold Brook, NY  July 23 - 26, 2013

In addition to discovering we had a 400+ mile drive ahead of us we woke up to pouring rain - UGH.  We packed up and headed out to our stop in the Adirondack Mtns.  It took us 8 hours most of which was in the rain.  We arrived at the Adirondack Gateway Campground safe and sound and without rain.  It is a beautiful property with trees all around and backs up to the Adirondack state park.  We loved our campsite so much we used the day to do some housekeeping and to hike a trail right out the back of the campground.  It was a beautiful hour through the trees, around several ponds and up to a bluff overlooking the state park.  Calcite was a crazy dog, leaping and running off into the forest chasing critter smells.  She disappeared several times only to reappear a few minutes later from a completely direction.

View from our front door.

Such a beautiful spot

 The next day we drove the scenic drive through the central Adirondack State Park.  It was fabulous.  Rolling hills, with tons of lakes and several great little towns.  I had chosen a hiking trail on the website called Bald Mountain Trail, but wanted to get more detailed information on it so we wouldn't get lost again, we went the Adirondack Museum to see about a detailed map.  The museum was a huge facility which we didn't want to take the time to go through since the dogs were in the car.  We did go into the store and found a book that detailed the hike, but instead of buying the entire book I took a picture of the pages describing it.  We found the trail easily and it was a perfect hike up a granite ridge overlooking the Fulton Lakes.  It had great views.

Nature always finds a way

Fourth Lake in the Fulton chain

Looking down from the top of the restored fire tower.  Peg dog sat while I climbed.

Gorgeous view from the top of the tower

Granite Ridge

A very tired Zoe... what a hike

It was a great stay and one of our favorite parks ever.

Coming soon... Niagara Falls, then a beeline to Missouri to see the Nex's and Adams woo hoo.

The Little State of New Hampshire

Shelburne, NH   July 19 - 23, 2013

We were sad to leave the Acadia area, but ready to visit the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  The drive was easy and uneventful – yeah!  When we arrived at the White Birches Campground I had to jump out of the truck on the highway to move a traffic cone so that we could make the turn into the entrance.  There was a big dip and the bike rack has a little asphalt souvenir, but no permanent damage.  The park had an interesting layout in that the big rig area was terraced down a hill with nice big pull-thru sites with great views of the mountains.  It was 100 degrees again and we set up in a hurry in order to get inside with the a/c.  There was also another side to the campground with heavily wooded tent sites and a great place to walk the dogs. 

Beautiful view from our living room

We used our first day for housekeeping and grocery shopping.  The closest area for shopping was Gorham, NH and the only store was a Wal-Mart, but it was a pretty nice one.  We filled up on supplies and planned our next couple of days of sight-seeing.  We headed out the next morning to take the 100 mile loop drive through the central White Mountains.  This area is made up of the White Mountain National Forest, Franconia Notch State Park, Crawford Notch State Park, Mt Washington State Park and Echo Lake State Park.  The interesting thing is the state parks charge a fee to see some of their more popular sights.  For example it cost $36 to drive your own car to the top of Mt Washington!  The driving loop took us through all of the state parks and some cute little towns.  It is a very green and lush area, but honestly kind of boring.  I guess we are really getting spoiled with the beautiful places we have been.  We stopped at a spot where we could see the Old Man in the Mountain.  I could see it no problem, but Peg just couldn't.  We finally found a sign that tells us the Old Man's face fell off the mountain years ago.  I guess my imagination is better than I thought.  There were lots of trailheads along the route, but all of the parking areas were packed with cars.  We did find one path that was labeled dog walk area and it turned out to be a nice quiet hike that we all enjoyed.  This time the visitor center was of no value.  The hiking information was lacking so I decided that I would spend some time researching the area on the inter-webs.  We ended our drive by going on a moose hunt.  This area is supposed to have moose everywhere and we picked up a map at the office of the places where they hang out.  We drove and drove and drove.  We are absolutely convinced there are no bears or moose left anywhere in the country.

Check out those dog goggles

The Old Man who isn't there anymore

 

I found a hike for the next day called Falling Waters Trail located in Franconia Notch State Park which sounded nice.  It was a further drive than I realized, but boy was it worth it.  It was labeled as three mile round trip of moderate difficulty with three different waterfalls along the trail.  When we arrived at the trailhead the parking lot was again packed, but not full and we decided to face our crowd fears and press on.  We leashed up the poochers, turned their new Citronella anti-barking collars on and headed in.  Not too far in we ran into a couple coming out with their Golden off-leash and everyone else we ran into was super dog friendly so we unleashed and continued on.  Calcite has become quite the trail guide and can follow the blue trail markers better than either of us.  And we can’t believe Zoe is 91 years old putting us to shame as she is always in the lead.  It was about 1.5 miles to the top where the largest waterfall was located and of course it was all up-hill.  This was a truly gorgeous hike.  It followed the large creek all of the way up.  We relaxed at the top and enjoyed the beautiful waterfall before heading back down.  It was a great day.

 

 

 

When we returned home for our last evening I performed my ritualistic duty of programming our next stop into Nadine (our GPS).  I was completely shocked to find that she said it was going to take us 6 ½ hrs. to make the drive to Cold Brook, NY!  That was not what I expected at all.
 

 Coming soon… Cold Brook, NY for the Adirondacks and Akron, NY for Niagara Falls           

Mainely Beautiful

Ellsworth, Maine   July 15 - 19, 2013

We arrived at the Forest Ridge Campground in Ellsworth, Maine in 100 degree temperatures.  WHAT?  I thought we left Texas to get away from the heat.  Oh well at least we are on a beautiful coastline like no other we have seen.  Ellsworth is a little town just north of Acadia National Park and we were very much looking forward to exploring the national park acres surrounded by water.  We pulled into our nice long pull-thru site and quickly set up in the heat.  The campground had lots of open space for the dogs which is always a bonus.  Peg set about researching and planning our stay.

 

 

Mapping out our adventures.  Pay attention to those contour lines!

We drove to Acadia NP and started our day at the very crowded visitor center.  It is definitely summertime here in Maine.  We decided to use the day to drive Park Loop Road around the east section of the park to see Cadillac Mtn. which is the highest peak in the park at 1530 ft. with a beautiful view.  The park is surrounded by ocean, filled with fresh water ponds and very lush.  We then drove around to the west side of the park which is a less crowded section with two harbors, a lighthouse and a seawall.  We bought some fresh steamer clams at the side of the road from a fisherman to have for dinner!  YUM.  We also drove through Bar Harbor a bustling town on the water filled with restaurants, shops, and yes a harbor filled with some beautiful vessels.

View from Cadillac Mtn.

Northeast Harbor

What can I say - I love lighthouses

We drove back to Acadia the next day with our bikes to ride on one of the many old carriage roads that are throughout the park.  After John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated much of the land to the National Park system he was afraid the beautiful land was going to be ruined by the automobile so he restricted use on the carriage roads to only horses and horse drawn carriages which is great for us as now they are strictly for hiking and biking.  Peg picked out a 13 miles route around Eagle Lake and Witch Hole Pond which left from the visitor center parking lot.  It felt great to be back on our bikes in the great outdoors until we left the parking lot and faced the first of many "uphill begins".  Peg performed amazingly as always and left me behind sucking wind big time.  I have often wondered why every time I get on my bike the entire route is uphill.... how is that possible?  We finally figured out that everyone was traveling in the other direction and we picked the hardest way to ride the route.  Oh well, it was a beautiful ride and it felt really good to be active again.  I don't think my quads agree, but they are going to have to shape up!

Carriage Roads - notice the uphill

Bike Ride views were fantastic

Our last day was for hiking with the dogs and Peg planned a "moderate" 3.4 mile route along Somes Sound which is the body of water between the east and west side of the park and is a Fjord; a U shaped valley carved out by a glacier then filled with water.  Yes, Peg told me that.  We headed out with our two bottles of water, a compass and a map looking forward to a nice 2 hour hike along the water.  A 1/2 mile in,  the "trail" becomes a cliff of boulders with a 45 degree and greater grade,  thankfully painted with blue directional markers.  Calcite is the only one leaping from boulder to boulder with ease.... Peg and I crept along as best we could and poor little Zoe is looking at us like "what the @#$%".  I had to carry her up and over most of it which she absolutely hates.  It was beautiful, but I was so worried that Zoe was going to slide down a huge boulder face so I couldn't take any pictures.  This went on for an entire mile!  And this was the mile of the trail that we were supposed to return on.  Luckily we had the map so we changed our route back to avoid the boulders - it only added a mile and a half :).  The lesson learned today is.... look at the damn contour lines before deciding what is "moderate" by Maine standards. Shouldn't Peg as a damn science teacher know that?  When I asked her she said "well, I did but the contour interval is only 25 feet and that makes it hard to evaluate".  Peg said "well, now that I'm here those close contour lines even at a 25 foot interval should have told me something."  5 years of retirement, if you don't use it you lose it! So four hours later we made it back to the truck, bent and spent!!!.  On the upside we changed our route to include St. Sauveur Mtn. which had a breathtaking view from its 679 ft. peak.  Take that quads!

Super Zoe! See the blue mark?  Calcite is already at the top.

Yep that's the "trail"

The view was worth it

Somes Sound and Peg's Fjord 

We could have spent a lot more time here but other states await!

On a completely different note; that evening we received word that our dear friend Sharon Davis passed away on Wednesday, July 17th.  We are both completely blown away and over-wrought with sadness.  She was an amazing woman filled with light and love and we still can't believe she is gone.  We love you Sharon and you will forever live in our hearts.

Cherish your loved ones every day.  And if you haven't heard from us in a while... We love you!

Coming soon... Shelburne, NH; Adirondack Mtns; and Niagara Falls

Maine at Lahst

Portland, ME  July 10 - 15, 2013

We made the drive from Plainville, MA into Meadowbrook, Maine with much trepidation.  The weather cooperated only bringing us fog to deal with.  The drive was uneventful thank God!  We arrived at the Meadowbrook Campground after driving 6 miles off the highway on a winding, two lane residential road.  We did get a large pull-thru site which was unfortunately right next to the "Snack Shack" and rec hall.  As Peg was pulling the rig uphill onto the site the BAT started slipping in the mud; she didn't even flinch just threw her into 4 wheel drive and pulled in like a pro!  We were all set up in a matter of minutes and glad that we hadn't lost our knack.  We spent the afternoon putting our house back together after being homeless for 40 days.  It felt really good to be in our own space once again.

The next full day was spent doing laundry and grocery shopping to restock the fridge.  We decided to use the next day to take a "Lighthouse Lover's" cruise around Casco Bay from Portland's waterfront area.  It is a great little city with a beautiful waterfront and downtown area.  Feels a lot like Austin probably felt 50 years ago.  The city's population is less than the total number of people attending and working at UT!  The 90 minute cruise was beautiful all around the bay including four different lighthouses, a few forts, many islands and even a dozen sunbathing seals.  It felt great to be on the water and the weather was perfect.  The tour guide was full of fun facts about Portland; i.e. there used to be so many lobsters that they fed them to the local prisoners until they protested and a law was passed that the inmates could only be fed lobster two times a week!  Peg's favorite fun fact was..on a clear day you can only see 26 miles out toward the horizon at sea due to the curvature of the Earth.  Who knew!  There are still a ton of lobsters in the area as shown by the hundreds of lobster traps throughout the bay.  On our way home we stopped at the L.L. Bean Supercenter.  This place is like a city all by itself.  We wandered around aimlessly for an hour looking at all of the cool outdoor gear and even picked up a couple of much needed items. 

Lobstah's are King of the area

Bug Light - Cute as a bug

Portland Head Light

Peak's Island

Seals sunbathing

 

This is the city's attitude.

We took our required trolley tour the next day which was just as wonderful as the cruise.  We saw the entire waterfront, downtown, and the east and west end neighborhoods.  We felt like we got a really good feel for the city.

 

Waterfront for only 2.4 Million

We used our last day to go to the beach.  Maine has 3500 miles of coastline, but only 100 miles of sandy beaches.  One of the most popular is Popham Beach State Park which was only 8 miles from our campground so we headed over there.  As it was Sunday the traffic was pretty heavy by Maine standards and we drove all of the way into the town of Popham Beach looking for parking.  On the return trip we were able to get a spot in the parking lot!  Woo Hoo.  It is a fantastic beach with tons of sand and a nice easy slope into the water with little waves.  We never dreamed we would be able to swim because we assumed the water would be too cold, but Peg went in right away.  I took a little longer and had to give myself a talking to, but I took the plunge as well.  It was invigorating.  Fox Island is just off the beach and accessible only during low tide so we took a walk on the beach and over to the island through a few feet of water.  On the way back we had to carry our bag in the air as the tide was coming in fast.  It was a beautiful day at the beach.  We finished off our last day with a lobster feast.  The park has a lobster pound on site so you just pick out the lobsters you want and tell them what time you want to pick them up.  We picked out two 2 pound lobsters along with corn on the cob and baked potato... Yummy!  We feasted on the most delicious lobster until we were stuffed.

Very refreshing

I did it!

Fox Island

View of Popham beach from top of Fox Island

 

Look at them lobbies.  Fresh out of the water and full of meat.

Coming soon.... Bar Harbor, ME and Shelburne, NH

40 Days and 40 Nights

Massachusetts  June 11 - July 10, 2013

We arrived at Mom and JT's home with our menagerie happy to see the Vineyard and their smiling faces.  We had a fabulous time visiting and were lucky to be able to be with them for mom's birthday, Father's Day and the 4th of July.  Here are the highlights from our time there....

Midnight so comfortable at Grammy's house

 

Lunch with Marion, mom's friend and the JP that married us.

Father's day brunch with JT's daughters Connie and Anya. Mom the Eggs Benedict were delicious.



Father's Day JT ,Mom, Anya, Connie and Peg

Sharing Calcite and Zoe with Richard, Peg's step-brother.  A bigger dog lover does not exist.

JT has a huge tracking telescope and he set it up on the back porch so we could take a look at the Perigee moon through the telescope.  This is when the moon is closest to Earth so the moon appears much larger than on a normal full moon at the usual distance. 

We took the ferry over to Chappaquidick to see Dike Bridge, the bridge Ted Kennedy never forgot.  We also drove around the entire island which only takes about 20 min.  It is beautiful with many ocean beaches.  Each beach charged for parking, swimming and did not allow dogs.  Calcite was with us so luckily we had a reason not to challenge ourselves to get into the 60 degree water.

Edgartown from the Chappy Ferry

JT has a group of friends we called "The Boys" and they come over every Saturday for beer and Mom's snacks.  We sat out with them Saturday afternoon and loved hearing all the stories involving sailing, lobstering and Bernie's shenanigans.  He is an older gentleman, hard of hearing, and has been around the world at least twice working on different boats.  You have not met an authentic New Englander until you have heard Bernie tell one of his stories.

We took our driving island tour seeing our favorite vista's, farms, gardens, towns and fabulous houses. 

Peg's grandmothers lagoon

Aquinnah Cliffs and Lighthouse. 

This is where we had lunch but this picture was taken on a different day

 

                                    

Menemsha

 

We spent the first part of the trip helping Mom out in the yard.  Trimming trees, cutting down oak saplings, weeding etc. After working in the yard it was always wonderful to be able to go to the beach and cool off.  Mom is always the first one in, but Peggy has to follow her!  It is all worth it once you get your breath back from the first plunge under.

Peggy spent a lot of time in the kitchen with Mom throughout the time we were there.  Mom taught her how to use a wet stone and how to cut up and use every part of a whole chicken!  Thanks mom.

This event was not a highlight but must be included and that is both dogs got sprayed by a skunk.  First Zoe then a few nights later Calcite got hit.  Calcite still does smell a bit skunky and Peg has washed her with all kinds of soaps, detergents and kitchen cleansers.  Yes, we tried vinegar too and didn't bother with the tomato juice as we were told by a vet that tomato juice is an old wives tale.   

We were able to join Mom and JT for their weekly Friday night date at the PA club. Cocktails at the PA and then home for JT's famous fresh swordfish sandwiches. Delicious and even better topped with JT's homemade relish.  Everything is better with JT's relish.  We put it on everything!

After Zoe was sprayed by the skunk she became lethargic and stopped eating.  We took her to the vet and low and behold the blood work showed she had pancreatitis.  Only our dog could end up with pancreatitis!  So, she was in the hospital on IV antibiotics for 3 days.  That dog has 9 lives.  She is now back to her perky self.

On her way back to the vet

We enjoyed lunch with Peg's Uncle Bobby who works on a boat bringing tourists to the island from the mainland.  He is on the island for about 2 hours before they have to return the tourists.  We have not seen him in a couple of years so it was nice to be able to catch up.  He is 68 and still diving for clams which we enjoyed the fruits of while at Mom and JT's.

The town of Oak Bluff's has a fun festival to kick off the summer season.  All kinds of local artisans display their wares right on the boardwalk at the marina.  We went and really enjoyed looking at all the people and boats.  We had lunch on the water feasting on mussels and island home brew.

Our favorite boat reminding us of one of our favorite friends.  This one is for you Rum.

For the 4th of July we had a hot dog feast with Richard, the only fireworks we saw lasted 2 minutes and were in the yard next door.  I would like to give a shout out to Richard who went to the Island's tennis academy to pick up some tennis balls for Calcite as we were "ball-less" (yeah, I know what you all are thinking).  Thanks for the special delivery Richard! :)

Peg, Richard and Calcite wanting to know why Richard stopped petting her!

Our last day on the Vineyard Mom took us out to lunch at one of our favorite locations.  It is a restaurant at the top of the cliffs at Gay Head now called Aquinnah.  It was a foggy, windy day but we didn't care.  We were the first ones to sit outside on the porch overlooking the water.  You could still see and hear the waves as they came ashore and you could still smell that fantastic sea air.  We all ordered our favorite sea foods and enjoyed each others company.  Thanks for lunch Mom.


Lunch in the fog

 Confident that the trailer was to be all fixed sometime the first week of July we set about trying to get ferry reservations off the island.  I had no idea how hard that would be now that summer is in full swing.  The only opening was for July 5th at 6:00 a.m. and that includes the entire 2nd week of July too.  We feel so blessed to have been able to spend so much time with mom and JT and we left them with a heavy heart, but anxious to get on with our adventures.  We went straight from the ferry to the RV to check on Suni's progress.  Everything was fixed except the final problem with the bedroom slide-out.  They had ordered a new motor that was due to arrive at 10:30, so we decided to go back to Scott and Cathy's house for the weekend and pick up the trailer on Monday to get an early start to Maine.  Well the motor arrived damaged and had to be re-ordered!  We pushed our Maine reservations out a few days and hoped for the best.  Scott and Cathy were spending the holiday weekend at their beach club in Rhode Island, so we drove down on Saturday to Narragansett for a lovely day at the beach. 

Pete the Carrier Pigeon who showed up at Scott and Cathy's and stayed. 

Very tame and friendly.

Feeling like we had burdened Scott and Cathy enough, we took our dear friends Marianne and Janet up on their offer to let us crash at their Hamilton house while they were working and staying in Boston for the week.  It was a beautiful safe-haven and so nice to have some time alone without feeling like such an imposition.  They have a beautiful home and we would like to thank them for sharing it with us.

Since Gloucester is only 20 minutes away from Marianne's and Janet's we decided to spend Tuesday with our favorite baby Lillypad - oh yeah it was also nice to see her parents and Omi too.  We love those Ginsburg's.  It was a great day ending with Lilly's first crawl!  I was playing with her on the floor and she decided she wanted to love on Zoe sleeping a few feet away.  The motivation worked and she just crawled on over!  It was so exciting. I screamed "Lilly's crawling".  Everyone rushed over, I picked her up, brought her back and off she went again making her way to Zoe.

We finally got word that the trailer was ready so we headed to pick it up at last!  She looks beautiful.  We loaded everything up and headed to Maine - finally!

Coming soon.... Portland and Acadia, Maine