August 17, 2013

I got up at 6:30 this morning to have a little breakfast and get ready for the swim. The kids also got up and played on the beach while I swam. The water didn't seem quite as cold today as it was yesterday. I had a good swim. I didn't finish as fast as I wanted but I did place 3rd in my age  group and I am happy to have competed in my first national masters event. It was a good experience although I probably wouldn't choose to do one while on vacation again. 

We waited around for the medals and then headed out of Lake Placid for Saratoga National Historical Park. We were later arriving there than we had hoped and has less time in the park than we wanted but upstate New York is complete for parks. We drove until about 11 o'clock, making it to Pennsylvania where we stopped at a truck stop to sleep. 

August 16, 2013

We drove from about 6:45 until just after 2 o'clock. To get from Niagara Falls to Lake Placid, NY. We have been plagued with a squeaky fan belt since Acadia and in the back roads of the Adirondacks, we have added the check engine light to the mix. Obviously the FunV needs some work.  Despite those problems, the drive into Lake Placid was very nice. 

We checked into a hotel in Lake Placid to be close to the lake and so that I would be able to take a shower after my swim on Saturday. The kids were thrilled to have cable TV and a pool. 

Around 3 o'clock I did a half mile swim in the lake. I have been worried about the temperature dropping for the last week and when I got in it was take your breath away cold. Immediately, you want to pull your face out of the water to breathe. I managed to work through it, swam the cable and get comfortable with the swim. Then we checked out the 1980 Olympic Center, home of the Miracle on Ice. 

Afterwards we returned to the hotel where we ordered a fabulous pizza and calzone and watched movies. The kids went for a swim but I did not join them. Then we had an early bedtime. 

August 15, 2013

We wanted to be down by the falls to get a good parking spot early this morning and jump on the first Maid of the Mist boat.  We ended up parking a little further out than we wanted and had to walk quite a ways but we made it on the first boat which ended up being a awesome because we had enough room to move about and still be close to the water when we wanted.  The experience was pretty cool and we were all happy we had those silly rain ponchos.

Afterward, we stopped into Tim Horton's for doughnuts.  They weren't as good as the kids remembered but Scott and I enjoyed them.  We then headed out to have an unhurried look at the falls.  We laid in the grass, played Simon Says and did a lot of people watching.  We then got word that the Anderson's were almost to the Falls and we started making our way up to meet them.  Rachelle and I have known each other for years, her cousin is my best friend and our kids were instant friends when we visited Canada 3 years ago.  If we lived closer, we would likely spend a lot of time with each other.  As it is, the 13 hours between limits our time together and I was looking forward to a visit even if it was quick.  We met up with Rachelle, Steve, Ella, Lily, Chloe and Sophie and walked to the falls, did a little shopping, played in the ponds and fountains of Queen Victoria Park and enjoyed dinner at Rainforest Cafe.  As always, the visit was too short but it was one of my favorite days of the trip, spending it in the company of excellent people.  

After parting, we headed back to the campground where the kids played a little in the playground and bounce pillow and then we took showers and watched a movie before heading to bed.

August 14, 2013

We got up around 6:45 to get an early start towards Fort Stanwix.  We arrived about 9:15 and went in to tour the Fort.  We have been in a lot of forts in our visits to the national parks.  Most of the ones from the American Revolution are essentially mounds or have been rebuilt for the Civil War and later but this complete reconstruction was one of the best we have seen.  It was a cool fort and we spent about two hours there touring and completing the junior ranger program.

We made a quick stop into a Walmart where I bought a point and shoot camera.  My Nikon has died and I am terribly disappointed.  I just didn't think I would be happy with pictures from Niagara without being able to take some with zoom or a few functions.

Next we drove about 90 miles to the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY.  This marks the first place that women got together to discuss the beginnings of securing their right to vote, go to college and hold property among other things.  The kids found it hard to believe things that we now take for granted.

A few more hours and we were very close to crossing the Rainbow Bridge into Canada.  Traffic was quite heavy and after two hours and dinner in the camper on the bridge, we arrived at the border.  The Canadian police asked if we had any alcohol or plants or firewood.  No to all of those except the firewood.  Oh, you can't take firewood into Canada from America.  You will have to turn around, go back to America, get rid of it and come back across.  This was devastating but we did it and after 3 hours in traffic we arrived in Ontario around 1AM.

August 13, 2013

Up at 6 am again for some time in the pool. This time Scott and the kids joined me at the aquatic center and played in the warm pool while I did laps. We disturbed the old ladies routines by being there at seven in the morning but the kids enjoyed themselves. Next, we made a stopover at the King Arthur Flour Bakery and Cafe for breakfast and a look in the gift shop and then were on the road to Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site which was the home and studio for a famous American sculptor.  We had never heard of him but had seen some of his work. Junior Rangers were completed and despite the rain, we enjoyed ourselves. 

A two hour drive and we arrived in Springfield, MA at the Springfield Armory site. This was an impressive campus and Scott enjoyed looking at all of the guns. This was a quick junior ranger program and we were on the road again. 

We headed 90 miles west to Albany where it poured rain right as we were parking the FunV and we took our first picture at a Capitol with umbrellas. It was a very impressive building and I wished we had been able to tour it. Another 90 miles to our campground for this night as we begin to make our way across New York State. 

August 12, 2013

A 6 AM wake up time today to get 4000 yards in the pool. After my swim, we had a quick breakfast and then headed north to Montpelier to visit the Capitol city. The state house was unlike any we have seen before with a setting on a hill and a mountain behind. The town itself was very quaint and the buildings were all very old. 

Next we stopped in to the Ben and Jerry's factory tour. The tour was very basic but the ice cream was awesome. 

A quick lunch after the ice cream tasting and we drove to Woodstock, VT. Not the hippie Woodstock, but a place where conservation of trees was born. In the 1860's Vermont had cut down most of the trees that were such a valuable American resource and these three families recognized this and began replanting and managing their forest. The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller house was a very interesting look into history. 

We finished up there about 4:30 and returned to the campground for some dinner and downtime. Heading on toward New York tomorrow. 

August 11, 2013

We managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 4:30 to start the 30 minute drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain. It is the highest mountain on the east coast at 1530 feet. The kids told us the night before that they wanted to get up to see it too so around 5:20 we woke them up and walked about 3 minutes from where we were parked to see the sun come up at 5:32. 

After that we jumped in the FunV to head away from Acadia. We had a lot of driving to get in. We turned east and drove to St. Croix Island Historic Site which was the first French settlement. We played on the edge of the St Croix River where the tides are 20 feet, walked the trail and did the junior ranger program. A little stop for lunch and then a long drive back east to Freeport, ME for a stop into the LL Bean flagship store for a little shopping. 

Dinner in the camper on the road to Concord, NH for a peak at the Capitol right as the sun was setting and then another hours drive to White River Junction, VT where we will spend two nights. 

August 10, 2013

We tried to get up at 4:30 to go to the top of Cadillac Mountain to watch the sun rise but when the alarm went off we couldn't make ourselves get up. 

I woke up at 7:15 and the kids weren't far behind. We drove over to Hull's Cove visitor center ate some breakfast and got our bikes ready. We went into the visitor center to turn in our junior ranger books for patches. Afterwards, we started off on a bicycle ride around Witch's Hole. We hit the water and their were tons of lily pads with big and small frogs. Luke said that's probably why they named it Witch's Hole. It was a nice but hilly ride. We got to see lots of sights along the way and 5.2 miles later we were happy to sit down to lunch in the camper.

Afterwards we drove south to the Jordan Pond House parking lot and hiked along the shore and then up a steep cliff to Bubble Rock and back. About a 3 mile hike all together. 

Next we went for a swim at the YMCA and the drove the park road to Sand Beach and Thunder Hole and then headed back to the campground to cook hamburgers and enjoy a campfire and s'mores while singing songs. Everyone was tired and we needed to get up early so we were in bed by 9 pm. 

August 9, 2013

I woke this morning to the sound of thunder, how far off I sat and wondered. But instead of strumming a song from 1963 I laid in bed until 8 o'clock which is the latest we have slept the whole trip. Everyone else started waking up soon after and we made biscuits and eggs and grits for breakfast. 

Once we were sufficiently fed, we packed up and walked over to the bus stop to take the Island Explorer up to the YMCA for a swim.  Scott and the kids played while I did laps and afterward we were ready to explore Bar Harbor and Acadia. We stopped to eat and had lobster rolls and whoopie pies which are apparently Maine specialties. 

With full bellies, we walked around the shops in Bar Harbor and then took the bus up to the Acadia visitor center. It was quite possibly one of the most crowded ones we have ever been in. We grabbed our junior ranger books, watched a movie and made a plan for exploring the park. Next we took the bus back to the RV because we wanted to see a lighthouse on the other side of the island. We enjoyed the drive out and it was a good opportunity to be out of the rain which has been with us all day. The kids completed all of the written activities. It was nearly 7 o'clock after we saw the Bass Harbor Lighthouse so we stopped at a parking lot and cooked dinner of rice and chicken and salad. Then we hurried back to the campground for the 8:30 ranger talk on Acadia's rocks so that the kids could complete their junior ranger badges. There were only about 10 people at the program because it was still raining. We ended the night around 10 PM.  

August 8, 2013

We only pack enough clothes for one week when we travel and considering that we were heading into Acadia with no Internet, coin operated showers and no laundry facilities, that meant this morning was laundry day. Up at 6 am, we did laundry, updated pictures and the blog and took showers before leaving the campground to head to Adams National Historic park. This was the birthplace of both John and John Quincy Adams. We were the first people there and took the 9:15 tour with two other people. It was a good tour and once the kids were finished with their junior ranger badges, we stopped in to Walmart, made lunch in the camper and then went grocery shopping. All of that took longer than I expected, just like everything else in Boston and we ended up two hours behind schedule on our drive to Maine. We stopped in at Augusta to see the state Capitol. A much more modest building than Providence and Hartford. A dinner stop and a long drive through fog and drizzle into Bar Harbor and Acadia. It's very quiet in the campground and I am looking forward to lots of stars once the clouds clear.

August 7, 2013

We made the decision to sleep in this morning.  We knew it was going to be a long day and I wanted us to be agreeable instead of tired and cranky by the end of it.

Sleeping in meant getting up at 6 for Scott and I to shower and eat before all of us had to be on the 7:20 train into Boston. The kids really enjoy riding the train and I love that they already know how to get around on public transportation without feeling overwhelmed by it.

We rode to Brookline which is a suburb of Boston and walked .6 of a mile to Frederick Law Olmsted's house and business offices. This is where he designed landscape projects like Boston's Emerald Necklace (their parks system) and Biltmore House. His sons eventually took over the offices and eventually it came to the NPS. They had over 65,000 photographs, over 135,000 drawings, plot layouts and design plans that they repaired and restored for other urban planners and landscape architects to come and research. It not only serves as a museum but also research archives which is really cool.

Next we walked back to the 'T' and caught another train to JFK's boyhood home. We stopped at pizza place across from Boston University that is the same age as me. We love eating where the locals eat and there were multiple groups of BPD in there. The pizza was good.  The JFK site is where he was born and lived for his first 3 years.  It was a private residence at the time of his death but people turned out by hundreds on the street to mourn him here and it was later bought back by the family and given to the parks service. It was a modest house by today's standards but at the time, you could tell they had money.

Again we boarded the T and took it to Harvard Square. We walked about .7 of a mile to the Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters site.  The kids were over ranger led tours.  Most of the parks we have been to have been self guided but in Boston they really want you to get the history so the only way to see some things is to do the ranger led tours.  I wanted to do it and we made it in for the last tour of the day at 4:00.  We were probably two hours behind my original schedule.  I obviously did not lag enough time for Boston but I also think we could spend two weeks here and still not see everything.  But we are picking up all of the national parks which for me, are the things that count.  The house is from 1759 and had several owner but since Longfellow lived there is has only been in his family and then on to the parks service.  His daughter and grandson preserved the house just as he had it and I was particularly struck by the value of the historical items in the house.  Paintings of famous people, marble busts, and books.  I mean a LOT of books; complete collections of various authors.  Not to mention the amazing pieces of furniture.  Sometimes tours are boring but I found the personal stories really moving.  One famous poem that Longfellow wrote was called The Village Blacksmith about a blacksmith neighbor that lived down the street.  It talks about a Chestnut tree.  Some years later, that tree was cut down by the city of Cambridge and Longfellow was very saddened by it.  Some children in the neighborhood got together and had some of the wood saved and had a chair made out of the wood with intricate carvings and some of his poems engraved on it and gave it to him as a gift.  Then he wrote another poem about the chair and would give the kids in the neighborhood copies when they came to visit.  The stories that were told made me instantly like the person that he was.  This house was also the headquarters for Washington during 1775 when he first took command of the American army and the British were surrounded in Boston.  From this point he could see the comings and goings on the river.  The kids completed their junior rangers and I bought to books and we headed over to Harvard.  We walked in the yard, joked about being accepted and possibly planted a seed that even Harvard is possible for college then took pictures at the buildings and headed to the tshirt shop.  I had a sweatshirt in high school that I loved and held onto for too many years.  I have been looking for one as comfortable for years and found it at Harvard.  

We hopped the 'T' back to the commuter train station, grabbed some dinner and boarded the train back to the FunV.  Boston has been good to us but we are headed towards relaxation in Acadia.

August 6, 2013

Up again at 4:30 for a swim in the pool before starting the day.  It was cold, 48 degrees, this morning.  We drove a little over an hour to Lowell, MA.  Here is the site of the Lowell National Historic Park.  This site marks the beginning of America's Industrial Revolution.  This town was the highlight of cloth production in America, using the power of the river to produce enough energy to run seven huge cotton mills.  Women worked in these factories in the 1800's, moving from farms all over the northeast.  Unfortunately by the time the great depression rolled around this town and it's mills had gone downhill.  The parks service has created some resurgence by making it a tourist stop and the town itself seems to be growing.  Once we finished the junior ranger program, we realized we were ahead of schedule and rolled east to Salem.

We made it into Salem and managed to find a parking spot on the street, right at a corner.  We walked a lot more in Salem than we planned to but we were enjoying the shops, wacky tourist traps related to witches and the people watching.  We stopped into the Salem Maritime visitor center to get our park stamps and junior ranger books.  Then we walked down to the waterfront to see the historic buildings and have some lunch.  We missed the house of seven gables, which I have heard of but don't know why it is famous.  I'll have to google that later.  Then we walked back to the camper, all of that over about 4 hours.

Our next stop, was Saugus Iron Works.  We were already a little behind our very tight schedule but we managed to do the junior ranger program, even though they ran out of badges the day before.  This was  a very cool recreation of the first iron works in the colonies in 1646.  The puritans wanted their own so that they could be self sustaining and grow their area in the new world.  There were even artifacts that they found when they dug at the site that came from the 17th century.

We only had an hour before the visitor at the Minute Man National Historic Site closed and we were getting close to quitting time for people working today.  Traffic was heavy but we managed to make it in time to complete a junior ranger and see a couple of the buildings.  Of course, that put us in traffic on the hour drive back to the campground right at rush hour.  I cooked pizza on the way and we had a nice meal right after pulling in.  A quick dip in the pool then showers and bedtime to head into Boston and Harvard tomorrow.

August 5, 2013

This morning started at 4:30.  I have signed up for a 2 mile open water swim in Lake Placid, NY that I incorporated into our vacation so instead of not worrying about exercising, we got up this morning and went over to the Middleboro YMCA so I could swim and Scott could workout.  I was in the pool by 5:30 and managed to get about 3500 yards in.  Afterwards, we had breakfast in the camper and then headed to the train station to catch a train into Boston.  Lorelei was pleased to have a double decker train, we sat on top, and the ride was nice and smooth the whole way in.

We were in Boston by 9:30 and headed through Boston Common over to the Massachusetts State House.  It was massive building and was one of the best decorated we have been in.  They had a cool room with all of the flags in Massachusetts that was called, surprisingly, the Hall of Flags.  The dome was also a great piece of stained glass and represented the 13 original colonies.  After our tour, we strolled through downtown and followed a lot of the Freedom Trail even though we didn't realize we were on it until we got to Faneuil Hall which is the National Park visitor center.  We looked at the junior ranger books but when we realized int was going to be about 3 more hours of retracing things we had already seen, we decided that the badge was simply not worth it.  Lorelei is on this quest to get all of them but when they stop being fun, it is time to reassess.

So we decided to take a lunch break at a Panera Cares, which is just like a regular Panera in the food but works to provide food to underprivileged and the price is a suggested donation instead of a required amount.  We paid for our food and gave a little extra and had a much needed break from the walking.  Next, we walked down to Long Wharf to catch the ferry out to the Boston Harbor Islands - Georges Island.  Fort Warren, which guarded the harbor during the Civil War, WWI and WWII is here.  We explored the fort and managed to complete the junior ranger books.

The 3:30 ferry back to Boston returned us to Long Wharf and then after a little souvenir browsing and finding nothing appealing, we headed back to the train station to get a ride back to the FunV.  We figure we walked about 4 miles today which doesn't sound like a lot but all of us are tired and sore.  The best part is no one really complained until the very end.  And those complaints were alleviated when we grabbed sweet tea and ice cream at McDonald's.  The kids were happy to get back to the campground with daylight to play in and enjoyed the bouncy pillow while Scott and I cleaned and setup camp for the night.  A nice family dinner, showers and our beds never felt so good.  Driving day tomorrow visiting parks on the outskirts of Boston.  

August 4, 2013

I was the first person up this morning and after the rest of the family was up, we hit the road at 8:15 for an hours drive to Providence, RI.  We stopped in to the Capitol which has been one of the prettiest we've seen so far.  Next we headed over to park on the water front where we hit the Providence flea which happens every Sunday.  We walked through but didn't find anything we had to have.  We walked up the hill to Main Street and followed the green line trail through the city to the Roger Williams Memorial.  The green line is literally a green line of paint that goes through the downtown area and passes 30 or so historical buildings and locations.  We didn't follow it completely but we did see some cool old buildings and interesting architecture.  After we completed the junior ranger program at Roger Williams, we walked back to the camper drive back into Massachusetts to New Bedford.

I made lunch while Scott drive us the 45 or so minutes to New Bedford.  We sat in the camper and had a nice lunch laughing and talking.  New Bedford was the whaling capitol of the world back in the 1800's and is famously depicted in Moby Dick (although I must confess I have never read it).  The historic district is contained within the National Park property.  It still has cobblestone streets and most of the buildings are well preserved.  We again did the junior ranger program, walking all of the area to do the scavenger hunt and explored the whaling museum.  Everyone was tired of walking and we all looked forward to our next stop on the beach at Cape Cod.

Cape Cod was about a two hour drive with traffic.  Lorelei took a nap and I made Luke have FOB time  with no video games for an hour, which he would say nearly killed him.  We arrived at the visitor center around 4 o'clock.  This was about 2 hours later than I had originally planned and really left no time for the junior ranger program because the visitor center closed at 5.  The ranger told us we could go sit through the hour long ranger talk at 5 o'clock at the Nauset Lighthouse but when we told him that we were in a camper he said we would never even get in the parking lot because all of the beach areas were full.  We decided to watch the park movie about how glaciers formed the cape.  Usually a park movie will count as a ranger led program (at least in the 59 others that we have done) but this ranger said it didn't.  We told Lorelei if she did every other activity in the book researching the stuff she couldn't answer online, we would just mail it in and say we didn't have time for the ranger talk.  We'll see.  Scott and I weren't very impressed with this guy so we decided after the movie to try our luck at the closest beach parking lot anyway.  Luckily, we got there and managed to park the FunV in a spot that was just for us (technically it wasn't a spot but we made one anyway).  We gave Lorelei the option of going to the beach or doing the ranger thing and she picked the beach.  Smart girl.

The water was 61 degrees.  Cold!!!  But our crazy kids went out and jumped the waves anyway.  Knee deep was as far as I got.  At NC and SC beaches you are very likely to find a layer of shells that hurt to walk over right where the waves crash.  On Cape Cod, the shells are replaced by rocks, and they hurt.  As we were watching the kids play, I noticed something in the water which Scott tried to tell me was a shark.  "They filmed Jaws here you know" was what I got from him.  Turns out, it was harbor seals swimming about 200 yards off the shore.  They were so close.  They swam out there back and forth in the area for well over an hour while the kids and others played in the surf.  We have never seen anything like that down south and when we saw seals in California, they had taken over the entire beach and you couldn't even get in the water.  That was by far the best part of Cape Cod.  After a rinse in the cold showers at the restrooms, we headed back to the camper for a change of clothes and walked over to take a picture of the lighthouse.  There was a line to climb it.  Scott asked if we wanted to but once you have climbed NC lighthouses and the Statue of Liberty, a 3 story one is small potatoes.  I made dinner while we drove off the Cape and into Plymouth so we could stop at Pilgrim's Park and see the rock with 1620 inscribed on it.  Really cool to know that's where they came in but the fact that the rock was in a cage with a building around it somehow made it seem fake or cheap.  But we had a really pretty sunset and then we went back to the campground for showers and bed time.

Personal notes about the area.  There are trees everywhere, which I love.  But somehow they seem oppressive; in the mountains of NC or along the coast, there are breaks in the trees that provide views.  Here there are no breaks, just endless stretches of trees.  Should be interesting to head into Maine and New Hampshire since the trees are supposed to be really thick there.  Tomorrow we are riding the train into Boston.

August 3, 2013

Today was a very long driving day.  We got up at 4:30 and were on the road by 5:15.  We were already in need of a stop at the grocery store so we found a Walmart and I stopped in at 6:15.  Definitely the time to shop.  By this time we had made enough noise that the kids were awake and so we continued our drive up 95.  For the first time ever, we made it through DC with no traffic stops and quickly passed Baltimore.  In New Jersey and New York we started to hit more traffic and by the time we got over the George Washington Bridge, I couldn't wait to see less cars.  We held our breath going under a bridge on a road we shouldn't have been on in New Rochelle and were relieved to get out of the FunV by the time we hit Weir Farm in Wilton, CT.  I read online that their parking lot could not accommodate RV's and so we thought we would bicycle the two miles from the closest grocery store.  However once we were there, we realized the road was too hilly and unsafe for the kids but luckily there was room in the lot.   We parked, stamped our National Park passports and started to ask for junior ranger books when one of the rangers told us we couldn't park there.  Of course he didn't offer any options and said it was a safety thing in the event more people showed up.  So Scott went to the grocery store and took a nap while the kids and I did the park.  Here's the thing.  If you have been to 113 National Parks, Historic sites, battlefields, etc, you know that if the parking lot isn't full by 2:00, it isn't likely to get full.  The kids and I finished their junior rangers (only to find that there was a parking lot on the property used for NP staff that we could have parked in) and called Scott for a ride.  I gave the guy a hard time about the parking situation because when we left, there were less cars than when we started and after all, these parks are this American's backyard.

An hour or so later we arrived in Hartford, CT to stop into see the capitol.  I can really appreciate the age of these older cities with buildings from 1851 and this city has a beautiful capitol building.  But there was no one downtown at 5 PM on a Saturday night.  Another 2 hours and we are finally in Middleboro, MA.  This kids got to play outside a little before we ate a late dinner.  It was a long day but you have to drive those hours to get to the fun stuff and we all survived.  A little jaunt to Rhode Island and Cape Cod tomorrow.

August 2, 2013

August 2, 2013

Finally we are on our road trip through New England. Scott was able to cut out of work about a hour early which puts us at a campground just north of Richmond, VA just before 10 PM.  The kids were so excited to be on vacation and entertained themselves by designing dream wedding dresses and a tux, playing Indians, belly dancing and playing superheroes/secret agents. In between those games we have already spotted 24 license plates on our states game and stopped at a Sonic for burgers and milkshakes. Tomorrow we have a long driving day and I won't be surprised if the electronics come out. No pictures to share yet although I do have a video of the kids "running 65 miles an hour".