We spent the next three days
visiting with Alan and Valerie. Monday night it rained, and Tuesday was
overcast changing to scattered clouds, but it didn’t rain. We took a trip up
the islands north of Burlington. That is always a pleasant trip. Our family
doctor grew up on a farm in that area.
Alan and Valerie flip houses for
a living. Their specialty is acquiring houses in bad shape and putting in a lot
of work to make them beautiful and desirable. They are both very good at
remodeling and landscaping (he remodels and she landscapes).
We drove to a place on the
islands called Grand Isle. They showed us a cottage there that they have a lien
on. It comes complete with a membership in a club (not really a yacht club) on
the lake.
Jean is always charmed by
Vermont, and would love to have a place there. But for us it would have to be a
summer place only. We are no longer interested in the nine months of winter in
Vermont. Seems like a good idea but a bit beyond our limited means.
We went to a country store,
where we actually bought something. These little country stores often have
things you don’t see in the big box stores. Then a little further down the road
to the only restaurant in Grand Isle for some lunch. Finally, back to
Burlington. I took a nap while everyone else had errands they wanted to run.
Wednesday cleared to become a
beautiful day. It seemed like a good day to drive up into the mountains. First,
Alan drove us by some of the places they had worked on. Then we went up to
Stowe. Along the way we stopped in a small town on a running stream.
The leaves are getting along in turning to
their beautiful fall colors.
We went to the Trapp Family Bierhall for
lunch. We had delicious food in the German style in a dining area with big
windows on a green hillside. All it needed were a few cows in the field.
The day was yet young, so we
decided to go up to Smuggler’s Notch. This is a rugged high gap in the mountains.
We passed several signs warning trucks not to attempt it (sometimes they do
anyway). The road is so twisty and the curves so close together it is
questionable whether even the Roadtrek could make it.
Then back home for another
gourmet meal prepared by Valerie and Alan. We feel like we are in the most
expensive resort in Vermont.
Thursday was stay in Burlington
day. Jean and Valerie went shopping and Alan had some work to do, so I finally
sat down and put together the blog (below) for the trip so far and posted it.
Alan and I worked on putting up some floating shelves in the kitchen. Things
went well until it was time to drill the deep holes for the shelves themselves.
The large, deep holes kept stopping the drills he had available. Perhaps it
could be done with a large drill press, but he doesn’t have one. A problem to
be solved another day.
Alan had a class. When he got
back, we had another great meal, followed by a birthday cake that Valerie had
made. My birthday is actually the next day, but they had commitments, and we
were scheduled to leave. So my birthday lasted for two days.
When we left, we had some
errands of our own to run. We went to a grocery to pick up some supplies, then
down to the Burlington waterfront in search of the Lois McClure, a reproduction canal schooner. She wasn’t there, nor
was the little museum I thought I remembered. So it was off to find the Lake
Champlain Maritime Museum. This is all so I could try to sell a couple copies
of my new book. When we got there, the man I talked to last year, who is the
boatswain of the McClure was not in.
He may not show up any more this year, since it turns out the McClure is hauled out for the season in
Shelburne. The clerk in the gift shop was interested in the book, and took a
hand-out for it to show to his buyer. We’ll see if that produces anything.
We spent some time looking
around the museum. Down at the waterfront, we found a reproduction of a
Revolutionary War gunboat.
There was a costumed interpreter
on board, and we had an interesting chat.
Our last night in Vermont, we
stayed in a campground outside Leicester. It was also the last night the
campground was open for the season. We may start running into that situation.
Jean studied the map and found a route that took us about 100 miles through the
southern part of Adirondack Park, so next day we headed west. We crossed into
New York on a little cable ferry.
We were the first ones on, so we
were parked at the very front. It looked like the Roadtrek had morphed into a
boat.
Leaving the ferry, we drove
through the town of Ticonderoga (we didn’t stop to see the fort) and plunged
into Adirondack Park. At first we followed the shore of Lake George, but soon
turned west and began to climb. Mostly we drove through deep forest, though
there were a couple of lakes. As in New Hampshire, the higher we got, the more
colorful leaves we saw. It was a glorious afternoon.
We crossed the summit, though I didn’t
get a chance to see the elevation. By the time we got out of the park we were
on low, level ground. We stopped for a couple of nights at a New York State
Park campground to relax and catch up.
Our next big point of interest
is a concert by one of our favorite music groups, Jay Unger and Molly Mason
(Jay Unger wrote Ashoken Farewell). That will be in a week at Middleburgh,
NY. In the meantime, we plan on exploring the Finger Lakes area. The first
night we scored a site at a NY State Park, but they only had a site with no
utilities (mainly tent campers). This is
where we tested our ability to be completely self-contained. To save some on
battery power, we went to bed a bit earlier than usual. At about 6:00am it got
cold enough to require the furnace. Morning dawned and we were warm and still
had plenty of battery left. The Roadtrek passed the test.
The next morning, we went back
to the office and they assigned us a full-hookup site on another loop. This
section is much nicer, with paved parking places. We took a lay day to catch up
with a few things. Jean spent a long, frustrating time trying to pay a bill
online and finally gave up and did it by telephone. I spent a while catching up
with the blog (but not posting it yet). Otherwise we took a walk around the
campground and just relaxed. That night we looked at a movie we had bought at
our favorite old-music place in Montpelier.
Next day, Monday, was overcast
with sprinkles. We topped up fuel and bought supplies, and headed for the
Finger Lakes. We stopped at another state park campground at Lake Owasco, but weren’t
impressed, so we headed north to Cayuga Lakes State Park. We arrived after the
office closed (at 3:00pm) so we just picked an empty site and dropped our
registration off on the way to dinner.
We had dinner in Seneca Falls.
The city looked interesting, but the dinner was mediocre. We prefer to eat at
local places rather than chain restaurants as much as practical. Sometimes you
find a gem, sometimes not so much. Got back to the site and set up before
sunset.
We signed up for two nights at
the campground, so we left our "flag" at the site and headed in to Seneca Falls. It
was a warm, sunny day; a perfect day to tour around. First thing, Jean went in
to the Women Made Products store (while I sat in the rig and read a book).
Seneca Falls (which does not have a waterfall) was the heart and source of the
women’s suffrage movement. There is a women’s rights museum and homes of some
of the important people from the movement.
After she shopped a little, we
went next door to the Visitor Center. We got some literature, and spent some
time going through the well-done museum. We were surprised by this sculpture.
It seems Seneca Falls was a
transportation hub from the eighteenth century. First a road hub (they even had
a plank highway), then an important canal town (there is a canal between Lakes Cayuga
and Seneca that connects with the Erie Canal), then an important railroad line
came through. The falls of the Seneca River (basically rapids) provided water
power for industry, and for a while Seneca Falls was the richest city in New
York. You can see this in the many interesting old mansions in the historic
district. Gene was fascinated and took lots of pictures, the houses are
beautiful, but seem to be wrapped in wires.
Also a large Presbyterian church
As we finished taking pictures,
it began to cloud over a little. We headed out of town for the Montezuma NWR. The
visitor center was closed (does everyone around here close at 3:00pm?) but they
have a driving tour through the refuge. It seems to consist mostly of
freshwater marsh. Before we began, we saw a huge flock of Canada geese suddenly
take off and fly away. Later, on the drive, we saw many geese, two egrets, a
heron, and a few ducks.
There is a dramatic eagle
sculpture. We didn’t see any eagles at the refuge, but there are several big
eagle nests on the high-tension poles outside of it.
Back at the campground, someone
had set up a trailer on our site. The wife said she noticed the flag, but didn’t
think it meant anything. It was a good, level site (and I thought we might be
able to refill our water tank there, wrongly it turns out) so I pressed my
rights and they had to move.
It turns out that was the last
day of good weather we had in the Finger Lakes area. Wednesday we continued
west in heavy overcast and mist. We stopped at an attractive Visitor Center in
Geneva, at the head of Seneca Lake. Consulting the large map on the floor, we
decided to drive down the west side of the lake to Watkin’s Glen at the bottom,
then half way back up the east side to another state park campground. We only
got occasional sights of the lake between heavy stands of trees. This area has
many large vineyards and wineries. Watkins Glen, is famous for its road racing
track. We saw this mural on the edge of downtown,
We got some groceries, then
headed back up the east side. This road has more and better views of the lake,
and just as many wineries.
We got a site in the state park
there. It was an unconventional set up, and I had to run an extension. But I
managed to get set up between the rainstorms, and we settled in for the night.
Cold and rainy, we decided just
to head east toward our next destination a little earlier than planned. We
stopped for an hour or so in Skaneateles and walked the street along the lake
for a while. We went into a couple of shops, as much to get out of the weather
as to look at the goods. When we left town, we felt finished with the Finger
Lakes. Even though there is still another scheduled event, from now on we are
in a homeward bound mood, eager to turn south toward warmer weather.
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