If I had to rate this trip, the best thing we did was the cruise on the schooner American Eagle. This rates as one of the best things we have ever done. Sleeping on the Great Wall and the Tibet trip are still number one, but this was close. I would do this again. The ship and the crew really helped to make this something special. If we do something in this area again, we may book another cruise on the American Eagle. The Lizzie Borden house and the Selkirk Lighthouse were probably the next best experiences. The Cog Railroad, Acadia, the Mansions at Newport, Hammond Castle, and the Hopewell Rocks were also good.
The food was also great on this trip. Our cook on the American Eagle, Donna, created some of the best meals we had. Sam the Clam, Bove’s Restaurant, Red’s Eats, and Terra Nostra, the Portuguese restaurant, were the best restaurants. The popovers at Jordan Pond in Acadia were also good.
The best beer (Kim’s picks) was the IPA from American Flatbread. The smoked porter from the Great Adirondack Brewing Company was next best. The other breweries were good and had some beers that were very good. Kim says “How can any beer be bad.” Obviously, she has ever tasted PBR or Milwaukee’s Best!
The trip to the Magic Hat Brewing Company was another experience that helped to make this trip special. It was like going to the Guinness Brewery in Dublin. It is my favorite brewery. Getting an impromptu tour through the new construction was a great addition. The sampling was an added bonus. Next time we are in Burlington, we need to find a hotel within stumbling distance of the brewery!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Day 19 - Homeward Bound
This is the last day of the trip. We got up early. We were anxious to get home. We took a few dawn pictures of the lighthouse and got underway.
We stopped at Towne Mini to see my new car. I would have taken it now, but we would never get all of our stuff in the Mini. I cannot wait until tomorrow to get it. I expect that the Escape is not as happy as I am.
We ate a delicious lunch at Teds. Since our first meal of the trip was here, it seemed fitting that our last should be here too.
When we got home, the lawn has grown a lot while we were gone. There are three big bags of laundry to do. We will be busy for the next few days to recover from this trip.
We stopped at Towne Mini to see my new car. I would have taken it now, but we would never get all of our stuff in the Mini. I cannot wait until tomorrow to get it. I expect that the Escape is not as happy as I am.
We ate a delicious lunch at Teds. Since our first meal of the trip was here, it seemed fitting that our last should be here too.
When we got home, the lawn has grown a lot while we were gone. There are three big bags of laundry to do. We will be busy for the next few days to recover from this trip.
Day 18 - Selkirk Lighthouse
We slept in later today. I think we are getting tired of constant touring. Breakfast was eaten out on the sidewalk café.
We were supposed to hike in a gorge, but somehow Garmie skipped over it. Instead, Garmie sent us straight to the lighthouse. During the trip, we hit our first real rain storm. It rained for a couple of hours.
We arrived at the lighthouse just as the rain was starting to let up. We had the entire lighthouse to ourselves for the night. It is the Selkirk Lighthouse. There are only three or four lighthouses in the north east US that you can stay in like a hotel. It was built in 1838 on the mouth of the Salmon River. The harbor was upgraded and there was talk of linking the harbor to the Erie Canal. However, the plans fell through and the popularity of the harbor died. In 1858, the lighthouse was deactivated. This was good for the lighthouse. The lantern room was designed in the birdcage style. Had the lighthouse remained active for a few more years, it would have been modernized.
We decided we were going to take a quick tour. We went floor by floor. The first floor is the most restored. It looks like a summer lake cottage. It smelled a bit like some of the buildings that we toured at the Shelburne Museum. The second floor was not as nice. There were two bedrooms and a common room. Since it was not dark, we were allowed to go up into the light. On the way to the top, we saw the attic and workroom. These rooms were not restored and contained lots of bird poop. Apparently, there are several holes where they can come in. Hopefully we will not hear them tonight. The light was in a small glass housing. It was barely big enough to stand up and move around. While I ws up there, some tourists were walking around and saw me. At first they said there was a ghost in the light. Then they started to look for an entrance because they wanted to go up.
We were told that the lighthouse is haunted. However, there are no stories. In lieu of a real story, I will provide one for your enjoyment. Back in July of 1867, the light keeper was in need of a repair on the roof. The last storm that came through had damaged a few shingles and caused a leak. Having sprained his leg a week before, he sent his twelve year old son out on the steep roof to make the repairs. The son was scared and did not want to go on the roof. After a heated argument, the son went out to do the repair. A sudden storm approached. Before the son could get back to the ladder, a gust of wind knocked him off of the roof and to his death. The father was so distraught that he committed suicide. Both were buried behind the lighthouse. It is said that anyone who stays overnight after a rainstorm will hear the son running across the roof and the wailing of the inconsolable father.
We were supposed to hike in a gorge, but somehow Garmie skipped over it. Instead, Garmie sent us straight to the lighthouse. During the trip, we hit our first real rain storm. It rained for a couple of hours.
We arrived at the lighthouse just as the rain was starting to let up. We had the entire lighthouse to ourselves for the night. It is the Selkirk Lighthouse. There are only three or four lighthouses in the north east US that you can stay in like a hotel. It was built in 1838 on the mouth of the Salmon River. The harbor was upgraded and there was talk of linking the harbor to the Erie Canal. However, the plans fell through and the popularity of the harbor died. In 1858, the lighthouse was deactivated. This was good for the lighthouse. The lantern room was designed in the birdcage style. Had the lighthouse remained active for a few more years, it would have been modernized.
We decided we were going to take a quick tour. We went floor by floor. The first floor is the most restored. It looks like a summer lake cottage. It smelled a bit like some of the buildings that we toured at the Shelburne Museum. The second floor was not as nice. There were two bedrooms and a common room. Since it was not dark, we were allowed to go up into the light. On the way to the top, we saw the attic and workroom. These rooms were not restored and contained lots of bird poop. Apparently, there are several holes where they can come in. Hopefully we will not hear them tonight. The light was in a small glass housing. It was barely big enough to stand up and move around. While I ws up there, some tourists were walking around and saw me. At first they said there was a ghost in the light. Then they started to look for an entrance because they wanted to go up.
We were told that the lighthouse is haunted. However, there are no stories. In lieu of a real story, I will provide one for your enjoyment. Back in July of 1867, the light keeper was in need of a repair on the roof. The last storm that came through had damaged a few shingles and caused a leak. Having sprained his leg a week before, he sent his twelve year old son out on the steep roof to make the repairs. The son was scared and did not want to go on the roof. After a heated argument, the son went out to do the repair. A sudden storm approached. Before the son could get back to the ladder, a gust of wind knocked him off of the roof and to his death. The father was so distraught that he committed suicide. Both were buried behind the lighthouse. It is said that anyone who stays overnight after a rainstorm will hear the son running across the roof and the wailing of the inconsolable father.
Day 17 - Ticonderoga
Last night, our waitress told us about a farmer’s market in the park on Saturdays. Her parents were going to bring produce from their farm. We wanted to see what was being sold. There were lots of organic vegetables, meat, and cheese. We knew we couldn’t get the produce or meat home, so we sampled some cheese and bought a few pieces. Vermont’s farms have started some craft cheese houses. The cheeses were very good. We wanted to buy more, but we felt we had enough.
We need to really check out the directions that Garmie gives us. We passed two bridges to New York. Following Garmies directions, we ended up at a ferry. Lucily we didn’t wait too long and the cost was low. The ferry was very similar to the Bemus - Stow ferry.
We arrived at Fort Ticonderoga. It is at the junction of the lakes George and Champlain. It is considered the key to the Hudson Valley. The French originally built the fort before the French & Indian War. British forces tried to take it from the French, but took heavy casualties and were forced to withdraw. Later, the French abandoned the fort when they felt they could no longer hold it. The British quickly took the fort over. During the Revolutionary War, Ethan Allen and a handful of men took the fort from the British with firing a shot. The canon and guns were hauled to Boston just in time to be used at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
The fort was not as big as I thought it would be. We toured the barracks pretty quickly. The best part of the experience was the Fife and Drum Corps. They would come out every half hour or so and perform. Our favorite was a skit showing the punishment of a thief who stole some food from the company stores. When they were just putting on a show, they would march around the parade ground.
We also went to the King’s Garden that was next to the fort. About a hundred and fifty years ago, the fort was purchased by a private owner. They wanted to fix up the fort and create a hotel to bring visitors to the fort and its history. The hotel is in disrepair and will be restored in the future.
Up to this point, I still had a lot of faith in Garmie. She has put us on some of the gnarliest roads on a map. Now, we are on some of the twistiest roads in New York. The Escape is really getting a workout. Kim was getting very car sick as I was taking the Escape through the corners.
We arrived at the Northwoods Inn in Lake Placid, NY. Tonight I’m going to do something I have never done before. Visit two brewpubs in one night. I don’t think it is possible, but Kim is really pushing me. She even wants me to go alone while she shops! It just doesn’t seem fair that I don’t get to shop with her, but I’m going to man it up and do it.
The first stop was the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery. They had three very good beers; the IPA, Ubu (and English strong ale), and a Scottish Wee-Heavy. The second was the Great Adirondack Brewing Company. There beer was good with one standout. It was the smoked porter. It was the second best of the trip.
We need to really check out the directions that Garmie gives us. We passed two bridges to New York. Following Garmies directions, we ended up at a ferry. Lucily we didn’t wait too long and the cost was low. The ferry was very similar to the Bemus - Stow ferry.
We arrived at Fort Ticonderoga. It is at the junction of the lakes George and Champlain. It is considered the key to the Hudson Valley. The French originally built the fort before the French & Indian War. British forces tried to take it from the French, but took heavy casualties and were forced to withdraw. Later, the French abandoned the fort when they felt they could no longer hold it. The British quickly took the fort over. During the Revolutionary War, Ethan Allen and a handful of men took the fort from the British with firing a shot. The canon and guns were hauled to Boston just in time to be used at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
The fort was not as big as I thought it would be. We toured the barracks pretty quickly. The best part of the experience was the Fife and Drum Corps. They would come out every half hour or so and perform. Our favorite was a skit showing the punishment of a thief who stole some food from the company stores. When they were just putting on a show, they would march around the parade ground.
We also went to the King’s Garden that was next to the fort. About a hundred and fifty years ago, the fort was purchased by a private owner. They wanted to fix up the fort and create a hotel to bring visitors to the fort and its history. The hotel is in disrepair and will be restored in the future.
Up to this point, I still had a lot of faith in Garmie. She has put us on some of the gnarliest roads on a map. Now, we are on some of the twistiest roads in New York. The Escape is really getting a workout. Kim was getting very car sick as I was taking the Escape through the corners.
We arrived at the Northwoods Inn in Lake Placid, NY. Tonight I’m going to do something I have never done before. Visit two brewpubs in one night. I don’t think it is possible, but Kim is really pushing me. She even wants me to go alone while she shops! It just doesn’t seem fair that I don’t get to shop with her, but I’m going to man it up and do it.
The first stop was the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery. They had three very good beers; the IPA, Ubu (and English strong ale), and a Scottish Wee-Heavy. The second was the Great Adirondack Brewing Company. There beer was good with one standout. It was the smoked porter. It was the second best of the trip.
Day 16 - Shelbourne Museum
We got to sleep in today. After 15 days of hard touring, we are starting to tire. This is the biggest day of the trip. I have been waiting for this day for months, maybe years. However, I had to wait until late in the afternoon for the biggest event of this trip.
Our first stop was the Shelburne Museum. It was started in 1947 by Electra Havemeyer Webb. She was an avid collector of European art and Americana. She started collecting buildings from all over New England and New York and reassembling them on her property. She modified the interiors to hold the art works she had acquired. The collection is extremely varied. There is everything from Impressionist paintings to tools. Each building houses a different collection.
One of my favorites was the Ticonderoga, a side wheel steam ship that worked the Lake Champlain waters. It is the only remaining side wheel steam ship in America. When it left service in the 1950’s, she was pulled out of the water and moved two miles to the museum. It was fully restored once it was permanently housed at the museum.
There were staterooms on the steamer, but it never went on any overnight trips. The “bridal suite” cost $3.00. It was a way to get some privacy during a long trip. The dining room was extremely elegant. I loved the woodwork throughout the ship, some of it still showed the gold guild. It was the large walking beam steam engine that was amazing to see. It stuck out of the top of the ship.
Kim’s favorite exhibit was the Beach Lodge. It was full of stuffed animals gathered from many hunting expeditions. She has started asking me to get a bearskin rug, complete with a head and claws. I will have to look into it when we get home.
Her second favorite thing was to put me in jail. When we got to the restored school house, she automatically started to teach. Old habits seem to die hard.
Electra’s mother was a close friend of Mary Cassatt. She and her mother had collected several of Mary Cassatt’s paintings. The museum was able to get several pieces in on loan to supplement their holdings. One of the rooms focused on her friendship with Degas.
After Electra died, her children built a special building on the grounds. They removed the interiors from Electra’s New York City apartment and reassembled them in this building. They put her artwork in here as well. Our favorite room was the one with the Monet’s.
The last building we went through was the 1950’s home. It was decorated with 1950’s style furnishings. Kim and I found several things that we could recognize from our own familiy and friends’ homes as we grew up.
As always, when we are ready to leave a museum, we had to stop in the museum shop. Kim spent many minutes looking for things to decorate the home. I was getting antsy; I knew what was coming next. I could feel the vibes or magic emanating from our next stop.
Finally we arrived at the holy land, the Magic Hat Brewery in South Burlington, VT. It has been my favorite brewery for many years. One time when I was on a ski trip through Vermont, I was looking for some beer for the night. The unique labeling and name is what drew me to the product. It was the awesome product hidden inside the brown bottle that made me come back for more. My favorite beer was Blind Faith. I found out that it was discontinued last year. It was the only beer that Magic Hat retired that received a funeral.
When we sampled our first beer, I asked about a tour. The brewery is undergoing an expansion and construction is not complete. I was informed that there are no tours. However, one of the employees popped into the tent and said she could give an informal tour. She was a bit rusty on the tour since she hadn’t given one in a few years. She also informed us she had finished working for the day an hour ago and had sampled some of the beer since quitting time. She still did a good job. She told us that Magic Hat is the fastest growing brewery in America right now. In the last three years, they have tripled their output and are running at maximum capacity right now. Their goal is to be able to supply all of the states east of the Mississippi River after the expansion is complete.
After the tour, there were several more beers to try. I was going to buy some cases of beer to take home, but they had run out of the styles I wanted. So I left with a growler of their new experimental brew. It was a little sour and they had put grapefruit in during the brewing. It was a little different and I took to it immediately. I am hoping that it will make it home safely. I could not sample too much. Kim has yet to get a handle on driving a manual transmission and the traffic was heavy.
Kim wanted to go back to Boves for dinner again. I tried their signature dish, lasagna. It was very good. We were going to buy some of their sauce to take home, but we were informed that we could buy it at Wegmans. We will look for it when we go home.
Kim has an obsession with brewpubs and took me there again tonight. It was by far the best of the trip. It is American Flatbread. They had nine beers on tap and did not have samplers. We didn’t want to stay out long, so that meant that I was only going to get to taste a few. Luckily the waitress brought out three samples to go with my IPA. The IPA was by far the best of the trip, so far. The stout was extremely smooth. I would go back here in a heartbeat.
Our first stop was the Shelburne Museum. It was started in 1947 by Electra Havemeyer Webb. She was an avid collector of European art and Americana. She started collecting buildings from all over New England and New York and reassembling them on her property. She modified the interiors to hold the art works she had acquired. The collection is extremely varied. There is everything from Impressionist paintings to tools. Each building houses a different collection.
One of my favorites was the Ticonderoga, a side wheel steam ship that worked the Lake Champlain waters. It is the only remaining side wheel steam ship in America. When it left service in the 1950’s, she was pulled out of the water and moved two miles to the museum. It was fully restored once it was permanently housed at the museum.
There were staterooms on the steamer, but it never went on any overnight trips. The “bridal suite” cost $3.00. It was a way to get some privacy during a long trip. The dining room was extremely elegant. I loved the woodwork throughout the ship, some of it still showed the gold guild. It was the large walking beam steam engine that was amazing to see. It stuck out of the top of the ship.
Kim’s favorite exhibit was the Beach Lodge. It was full of stuffed animals gathered from many hunting expeditions. She has started asking me to get a bearskin rug, complete with a head and claws. I will have to look into it when we get home.
Her second favorite thing was to put me in jail. When we got to the restored school house, she automatically started to teach. Old habits seem to die hard.
Electra’s mother was a close friend of Mary Cassatt. She and her mother had collected several of Mary Cassatt’s paintings. The museum was able to get several pieces in on loan to supplement their holdings. One of the rooms focused on her friendship with Degas.
After Electra died, her children built a special building on the grounds. They removed the interiors from Electra’s New York City apartment and reassembled them in this building. They put her artwork in here as well. Our favorite room was the one with the Monet’s.
The last building we went through was the 1950’s home. It was decorated with 1950’s style furnishings. Kim and I found several things that we could recognize from our own familiy and friends’ homes as we grew up.
As always, when we are ready to leave a museum, we had to stop in the museum shop. Kim spent many minutes looking for things to decorate the home. I was getting antsy; I knew what was coming next. I could feel the vibes or magic emanating from our next stop.
Finally we arrived at the holy land, the Magic Hat Brewery in South Burlington, VT. It has been my favorite brewery for many years. One time when I was on a ski trip through Vermont, I was looking for some beer for the night. The unique labeling and name is what drew me to the product. It was the awesome product hidden inside the brown bottle that made me come back for more. My favorite beer was Blind Faith. I found out that it was discontinued last year. It was the only beer that Magic Hat retired that received a funeral.
When we sampled our first beer, I asked about a tour. The brewery is undergoing an expansion and construction is not complete. I was informed that there are no tours. However, one of the employees popped into the tent and said she could give an informal tour. She was a bit rusty on the tour since she hadn’t given one in a few years. She also informed us she had finished working for the day an hour ago and had sampled some of the beer since quitting time. She still did a good job. She told us that Magic Hat is the fastest growing brewery in America right now. In the last three years, they have tripled their output and are running at maximum capacity right now. Their goal is to be able to supply all of the states east of the Mississippi River after the expansion is complete.
After the tour, there were several more beers to try. I was going to buy some cases of beer to take home, but they had run out of the styles I wanted. So I left with a growler of their new experimental brew. It was a little sour and they had put grapefruit in during the brewing. It was a little different and I took to it immediately. I am hoping that it will make it home safely. I could not sample too much. Kim has yet to get a handle on driving a manual transmission and the traffic was heavy.
Kim wanted to go back to Boves for dinner again. I tried their signature dish, lasagna. It was very good. We were going to buy some of their sauce to take home, but we were informed that we could buy it at Wegmans. We will look for it when we go home.
Kim has an obsession with brewpubs and took me there again tonight. It was by far the best of the trip. It is American Flatbread. They had nine beers on tap and did not have samplers. We didn’t want to stay out long, so that meant that I was only going to get to taste a few. Luckily the waitress brought out three samples to go with my IPA. The IPA was by far the best of the trip, so far. The stout was extremely smooth. I would go back here in a heartbeat.
Day 15 - Mt Washington
We made a mad dash across the mountains to get to the Mount Washington Cog Railroad. We stopped several times to take picture of the mountains on the way. At one stop, there was a neat waterfall. I wanted to hike up a little closer to get a better view. Kim could only go half way. She forgot to put on her climbing flops and could not scale the rocky trail.
Garmie was way off today. She took us 12 miles in the wrong direction. Luckily we saw signs pointing where to turn. I wish we would have followed the signs instead of Garmie. We had to turn around and go back once we saw that Garmie took us the wrong way. We arrived just in time to board the Cog Railroad. I could only get a few pictures before they called for “All Aboard.” The engine was the oldest working engine at Mount Washington. The Cog Railway has been in operation since 1869. It took a team of a hundred men working for three years to build the track. The first locomotive, Peppersass, was hauled in pieces to the site and put together. The cog center track was the first of its kind in the world. It is the second steepest railway in the world. As we started up the tracks, I got to look out the door. The tracks were not straight. It reminded me of a rickety old wooden roller coaster. I wasn’t sure the cars were even going to stay on the tracks. We were only traveling at three miles per hour, so there probably was no chance we were going to derail.
One third of the way to the top is where they get water for the train. It was our first stop. Each trip up takes one thousand pounds of coal and one thousand gallons of water. They have a building that is built level next to the track. When we go by, it looks like it is crooked. This is because we are at an angle. At one point, the front of the car is 14 feet higher than the rear of the car. This occurs at Jacob’s Ladder. It is the steepest part of the trip.
During the trip, we made a few unscheduled stops. There was a linkage on one of the steam cylinders that kept breaking. At one point, another locomotive stopped to help and radioed down to the shops to fabricate a new one.
We passed an earlier train bringing passengers down from the mountain. It was a diesel locomotive. I had hoped that we would not be on one of those. I like the steam engines. We were told that the diesel was built in their shops and ran on bio-diesel. It was hoped that these new diesels would be powering the majority of trips with some steam power used as support.
At the top it was foggy. It was a common sight this trip. It was also very cold. Kim immediately went into the lodge to get warm. It was about 80 degrees at the base of the mountain and only about 40 at the peak with a steady 30-40 mph wind. I wanted a few pictures and braved the cold for a while. We were only at the top for twenty minutes before they called us back to the train.
During the decent, we had to back into a siding to allow two other trains to go by. We had been told during the accent that we could not be on the balcony of the car. However, that did not seem to apply to the siding. Several other photographers and I hung out on the balcony while we were moving.
When we arrived in Burlington, VT, we checked into our next B&B, the Sunset B&B. This seemed more like a home than one of the themed B&B’s we had stayed in before. It was nice, but different from the other ones. Our hostess said several times not to let anyone in without a key. Sure enough, when we came back from our evening out, we let someone in. This woman assured us that she had a key. It seemed suspicious, but we were reassured later by the hostess that she was OK. I don’t think Kim appreciates how hard it was to find a hotel that was central to several brewpubs!
When we were still planning this trip, Kim saw a program on the Food Network about famous restaurants across America. One of them was in Burlington called Boves. They are famous for Italian food. This is where we had dinner tonight. It was defiantly worth the visit.
Kim dragged me to another brewpub for drinks. I’m getting pretty tired of drinking beer every night! It was a get together with a few alumni that are working at Husky. It was good to see them again and relive old memories. The beer was the best I’ve had so far on the trip.
Garmie was way off today. She took us 12 miles in the wrong direction. Luckily we saw signs pointing where to turn. I wish we would have followed the signs instead of Garmie. We had to turn around and go back once we saw that Garmie took us the wrong way. We arrived just in time to board the Cog Railroad. I could only get a few pictures before they called for “All Aboard.” The engine was the oldest working engine at Mount Washington. The Cog Railway has been in operation since 1869. It took a team of a hundred men working for three years to build the track. The first locomotive, Peppersass, was hauled in pieces to the site and put together. The cog center track was the first of its kind in the world. It is the second steepest railway in the world. As we started up the tracks, I got to look out the door. The tracks were not straight. It reminded me of a rickety old wooden roller coaster. I wasn’t sure the cars were even going to stay on the tracks. We were only traveling at three miles per hour, so there probably was no chance we were going to derail.
One third of the way to the top is where they get water for the train. It was our first stop. Each trip up takes one thousand pounds of coal and one thousand gallons of water. They have a building that is built level next to the track. When we go by, it looks like it is crooked. This is because we are at an angle. At one point, the front of the car is 14 feet higher than the rear of the car. This occurs at Jacob’s Ladder. It is the steepest part of the trip.
During the trip, we made a few unscheduled stops. There was a linkage on one of the steam cylinders that kept breaking. At one point, another locomotive stopped to help and radioed down to the shops to fabricate a new one.
We passed an earlier train bringing passengers down from the mountain. It was a diesel locomotive. I had hoped that we would not be on one of those. I like the steam engines. We were told that the diesel was built in their shops and ran on bio-diesel. It was hoped that these new diesels would be powering the majority of trips with some steam power used as support.
At the top it was foggy. It was a common sight this trip. It was also very cold. Kim immediately went into the lodge to get warm. It was about 80 degrees at the base of the mountain and only about 40 at the peak with a steady 30-40 mph wind. I wanted a few pictures and braved the cold for a while. We were only at the top for twenty minutes before they called us back to the train.
During the decent, we had to back into a siding to allow two other trains to go by. We had been told during the accent that we could not be on the balcony of the car. However, that did not seem to apply to the siding. Several other photographers and I hung out on the balcony while we were moving.
When we arrived in Burlington, VT, we checked into our next B&B, the Sunset B&B. This seemed more like a home than one of the themed B&B’s we had stayed in before. It was nice, but different from the other ones. Our hostess said several times not to let anyone in without a key. Sure enough, when we came back from our evening out, we let someone in. This woman assured us that she had a key. It seemed suspicious, but we were reassured later by the hostess that she was OK. I don’t think Kim appreciates how hard it was to find a hotel that was central to several brewpubs!
When we were still planning this trip, Kim saw a program on the Food Network about famous restaurants across America. One of them was in Burlington called Boves. They are famous for Italian food. This is where we had dinner tonight. It was defiantly worth the visit.
Kim dragged me to another brewpub for drinks. I’m getting pretty tired of drinking beer every night! It was a get together with a few alumni that are working at Husky. It was good to see them again and relive old memories. The beer was the best I’ve had so far on the trip.
Day 14 - Back to the USA
We had decided to make a last minute addition to the trip. We were close to Campobello Island. In fact, we had passed by the exit two days before. We wanted to see FDR’s summer retreat and the East Quoddy lighthouse. We had a 6.5 hour drive to get to our dinner reservations. This created a tight schedule, but we felt we could do it.
Garmie got us close. She was only off by 0.2 miles. We were the first people in the door at FDR’s summer retreat. There was a guide in each of the main rooms. They talked a little about FDR’s life and what he and his family did in these rooms. Most of the homes we had toured on this trip did not have their original furnishings. They were either sold or willed to the descendants. All but four furnishings are original. The owner after FDR had bought most of the furniture at sales and returned them to the cottage. He gave the property to both the Canadian and US governments when he could not sell it. They now both administer the property.
The East Quoddy lighthouse was at the far tip of the island. We really knew nothing about it except that it was the most photographed lighthouse in New Brunswick. We were informed that we had to be back from the lighthouse in three hours. We were not sure why we had the time constraint until we started on the path. Only at low tide, you can walk to the lighthouse. We had to do a lot of hiking in between three sets of stairs. It was a good thing I had brought my hiking flops!
After a search of our car, we were let back into the US of A. We had a long hard drive through the Main countryside to get to New Hampshire. On any trip in rural New York or Pennsylvania you will see houses with one or two junk cars sitting in the yard. Here you see one or two junk fishing boats in the yard.
On the way to North Conway, NH, we encountered our first rain storm. It thundered and lightning for about half an hour. We were afraid that it would rain all night and ruin our evening plans, but it didn’t last long. By the time we got into town, you could not really tell it rained. The Escape was happy to get the bath. It still had the dust from the off-roading experience in New Brunswick.
It was a big change to go from the relatively flat sea coast into the mountains. We were used to seeing boats on both sea and land. We now cars up on blocks instead of fishing boats!
Our goal was to get to the Conway Scenic Railway to catch a dinner train. We made it with a few minutes to spare. I took a quick tour to grab some pictures before the train departed. We had a good dinner. I was afraid I was going to be sober at dinner when she started to rattle off the beer selection. Her last selection was Sam Adams. It made me happy.
Garmie got us close. She was only off by 0.2 miles. We were the first people in the door at FDR’s summer retreat. There was a guide in each of the main rooms. They talked a little about FDR’s life and what he and his family did in these rooms. Most of the homes we had toured on this trip did not have their original furnishings. They were either sold or willed to the descendants. All but four furnishings are original. The owner after FDR had bought most of the furniture at sales and returned them to the cottage. He gave the property to both the Canadian and US governments when he could not sell it. They now both administer the property.
The East Quoddy lighthouse was at the far tip of the island. We really knew nothing about it except that it was the most photographed lighthouse in New Brunswick. We were informed that we had to be back from the lighthouse in three hours. We were not sure why we had the time constraint until we started on the path. Only at low tide, you can walk to the lighthouse. We had to do a lot of hiking in between three sets of stairs. It was a good thing I had brought my hiking flops!
After a search of our car, we were let back into the US of A. We had a long hard drive through the Main countryside to get to New Hampshire. On any trip in rural New York or Pennsylvania you will see houses with one or two junk cars sitting in the yard. Here you see one or two junk fishing boats in the yard.
On the way to North Conway, NH, we encountered our first rain storm. It thundered and lightning for about half an hour. We were afraid that it would rain all night and ruin our evening plans, but it didn’t last long. By the time we got into town, you could not really tell it rained. The Escape was happy to get the bath. It still had the dust from the off-roading experience in New Brunswick.
It was a big change to go from the relatively flat sea coast into the mountains. We were used to seeing boats on both sea and land. We now cars up on blocks instead of fishing boats!
Our goal was to get to the Conway Scenic Railway to catch a dinner train. We made it with a few minutes to spare. I took a quick tour to grab some pictures before the train departed. We had a good dinner. I was afraid I was going to be sober at dinner when she started to rattle off the beer selection. Her last selection was Sam Adams. It made me happy.
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