Visiting Cabot, Ben and Jerry’s and Montpelier VT…

Morning came and our next planned stop would be in Barre, Vermont. After turning off  Interstate 89 our route took us for a climb on a pretty steep hill (it was not marked but we think it was 10% grade or more!). Atop the hill is Lazy Lions Campgrounds, our home for the Labor Day weekend. It is a cozy, well-appointed park. Although their rate is more than I like to spend we were happy to find availability to hide out for the busy holiday.

We knew some weather was coming in and it was going to be chilly a few nights then raining on Sunday so Saturday we headed out for a long (over 100 mile) loop drive to cram in all things we wanted to see and do in the area in one day. Then we could simply sit around on the rainy Sunday and not feel as if we were missing anything.

Our first stop on Saturday was the Hope Cemetery. We don't often visit cemeteries but we read that some of the headstones are quite unique. Descriptive words won't be needed as the photos best illustrate the uniqueness.

The next stop was a bit further down the road as we drove to Cabot, VT to visit the Cabot Cheese Factory. This is the east coast’s version of Tillamook out west in Oregon. There were lots and lots of cheese samples to try with our favorites being the Habanero Cheese and the Orne Meadows Cheddar, so of course we bought one of each to take with us.

After Cabot we continued on our loop through the scenic hills of Vermont. There were lots of trees giving us sneak previews of the Fall colors to come as some trees are already bright red while others were just beginning to change. We passed by an old railroad track covered bridge we had to stop at to admire and photograph as we love seeing the old covered bridges in this state.

As we approached the ski basin between Burlington and Montpelier we entered Smuggler’s Gap. This is notorious for eating semi trucks even though there are ample signs warning them not to take this road. There is about a five stretch that is very narrow with boulders on each side and tight turns. Compound that with the loads of cars parked alongside the road on Labor Day weekend it was even tough for us to get through it in our CRV. Very scenic though…

As we approached Montpelier, Vermont’s state capitol, we stopped at the famed Ben and Jerry’s for a tour. We stood in line for a bit but since the line was immensely long we opted to buy a pint from the gift shop. As we tried to eat it we found it was too frozen and needed to soften a bit so we left and headed on into the city of Montpelier.

We had hoped to tour the State’s Capitol building but it was closed for the holiday so we did the second best thing. We sat on the capitol steps to eat our Ben and Jerry’s Peanut Butter Chocolate fudge ice cream. What a perfect ending to our perfect day in Vermont!

NOTE: With Labor Day behind us we moved on over to Northwood New Hampshire and then possibly into Maine. Plans will be made now based on where Hurricane Irma decides to cause havoc…

Small NE Colleges, Urban Hiking and a Little Disc Golf…

Before leaving Lisbon Beach Campground we took one last walk along the scenic St. Lawrence Seaway. After our walk we packed up, ate lunch and hit the road. It would be a longer drive this day of around 150 miles and after about three hours we pulled into Twin Ells Campground in West Chazy New York.

We have a nice pull through site with full hookups and all for only $20.00 per night, thanks to Passport America. Oddly they do charge extra for electricity even at the daily rate which we will have to go back and pay prior to departure. Our first excursion was over to Plattsburg New York to check out the town and the college there.

The town is a nice town with historic buildings many of which have been renovated and the whole town seems to be undergoing some revitalization. It appears to be a mostly blue collar downtown area with a nice mix of stores, restaurants and bars. Nearby is the State University of New York at Plattsburgh founded in 1889. It is a small school of 6350 students with a few notable buildings.

Another day we decided to drive around Lake Champlain, a huge lake by any standard. Why this lake isn’t included in the USA Great Lakes is a bit puzzling. Especially puzzling since it was named the nation’s sixth great lake in 1998 when then President Clinton signed a bill however after a public uproar of the naming it was rescinded 18 days later. So we did have a sixth great lake for 18 days.

On the other side of the lake from our camp site is Burlington Vermont home to the University of Vermont which was founded in 1791. We parked in Visitor Parking near the athletic fields and walked around campus. We happened to arrive between classes and it appears there is one major walkway from the dorms near the athletic fields to the core campus. We know this because we were walking amongst many of the nearly 12,000 students as they were hustling and bustling across campus. We felt as if we were ants in a large colony merely following the ants in front of us…

The University has many cool buildings on campus including Williams Hall and the Old Mill building. Also interesting is the Colonial styled Ira Allen Chapel. There is also an amazing green space in the middle of campus with beautiful stately trees under which many students were sitting under while taking time to relax or study.

We did learn something new as the Vermont University mascot is called a catamount. I always knew there were many different colloquial names for a cougar such as mountain lion, puma and panther but now I know they are also called catamounts! I never knew that! Researching the new word revealed it originated as late Middle English from the word catamountain derived from the phrase cat of the mountain. Interesting…

We also found a nice Disc Golf Course in nearby Cadyville NY and a nice Happy Hour at Olive Ridley's in downtown Plattsburg so that is where we ended most days enjoying cold pints of Beaver Bite IPAs brewed by Paradox Brewery from Schroon Lake, NY. 

NOTE: We are currently in West Chazy NY and then we will move on over to Graniteville Vermont through the Labor Day weekend.

The Calm Green Mountains….

With Irene hovering off the Atlantic coast and us with the cautious watchful eye to see what ultimate path she will take we decided that Friday was a good day for a nice hike. The plan was to travel over to Pinkham Notch in the Green Mountains which serves as a central trailhead for this National Forest. The Appalachian Trail also come through here.

We had originally planned on hiking the trail to the top of Mt Washington while we were here but with the weather taking away a couple of days of sunshine we had to modify our hiking plans. Mt Washington is the tallest peak in New Hampshire and has the reputation of being "Home of the world's worst weather."

At 6,288 feet this mountain is one of the few in the east that will make you think you are out west. So Friday morning we woke up and looked up the weather on top of Mt. Washington. Can you believe the winds on top were blowing at 40+ miles per hour with a wind chill of 37.4 F? So we decided to hike only half the trial to the top to a hut with a lake nearby.

The trail we chose is called Tuckerman’s Ravine trail. The trail goes all the way to the top of the mountain and is about 8.4 miles round trip and you will gain 4,300 feet, a fairly difficult hike. Estimated to take 6.5 hours we planned to only hike about half of it. The hike starts off at fairly gentle climb with good trail conditions but this doesn’t last too long. Before long the trail goes from nice to tortuous with large round loose rocks scattered along the trail. The trail resembles a riverbed more than a trail…

The combination of loose rock, wet conditions and the slope of the trail itself make for very strenuous climbing. Along the way we came across a nicely constructed spur to a gorgeous 100 foot or more waterfall. This majestic falls would be the highlight of the trip up the mountain this day.

We hike along the trail at a slow pace and the trail began to take a toll on us as we were ill prepared for this type of trail. Our tennis shoes were not what was called for for this type of hiking and without walking sticks it was fairly hazardous. So after a couple of miles we decided it best to turn back.

We were probably within a half mile of our target anyhow and the trail was getting worse not better. Shortly after we decided to turn back Sharon slipped and fell… fortunately she only sprained her thumb but it could have been worse. We take note of this and will be more prepared with better footwear before tackling this sort of trial in the future.

So a slow steep two mile decent and we were back at the car. Later that evening we went out in search of the elusive great Northern Moose. There is a road here in northern New Hampshire where sightings of moose are fairly common so we decided to give it a try. After driving about 50 miles along the Androscoggin River on Route 16 we were treated to many scenic vistas and a nice sun set but we saw no moose. We did however, get to see a bald eagle, common loon, osprey and a falcon along with some beautiful country side.

This day was filled with many failures… failure to complete our planned hike and failure to see a  moose and failure to stay healthy. But as has been said by many others before us…

…a bad day of RV’ing is still better than a good day of work!!! Hopefully we will have the same to say after Irene passes…

From the Green to the White Mountains…

After the hectic day we had leaving New York and arriving in Vermont we finally had a nice peaceful day. Rain pittered and pattered throughout the night but by day break it seemed to have dissipated and left us with a nice crisp pre-autumn day. So after a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs and a slice of homemade toast we made plans to drive out into the Vermont countryside.

The plan was to take a nice 72 mile loop that would take us into the heart of the Green Mountains and then loop us around through a couple of small towns before heading back to our camp. This loop included some dirt roads into the Green Mountains and which really gave us a feel for how wild the state of Vermont still is. The first stop was a pick your own blueberry farm near Putney, VT where Sharon went in to the store and described it as so in her own words…

“…gorgeous apples, peaches and blueberries. You're encouraged to pick your own. Inside the barn there were two restored model T trucks with baskets of fresh fruit, just-baked pies and muffins as well as Vermont maple syrup, kitchen wares and linens. The farm owner was beautiful in her stained apron, big farm boots, hair falling from her ponytail with the warmest smile and laughter in her eyes. Her contentment made me feel happy the whole rest of the day “

After absorbing the Green Mountain vistas and sights we found ourselves in the town of Wilmington, VT. A nice little town composed of shops, coffee houses, and restaurants but not as interesting as the next town we drove into, Brattleboro VT. This funky little town has a very noticeable youth movement in town however, the buildings and feel of the town makes you wonder where John Dillinger is hiding out… I swear we felt like we were went back in time and were in the 1930’s as we walked around town.

The next morning we awoke early and prepared to depart Hidden Acres… By the way I would only recommend Hidden Acres for a one or two night stay as it is considerably lacking in the wow factor. An uneventful 172 miles later we ended up in a nice park in New Hampshire,  Timberland Campground area. It has been recently purchased by a fairly enthusiastic couple who seem to have the right attitude to make it work.

We will stay put for about 5 days and enjoy the serenity of the White Mountains as we camp beneath the tallest peak in the Northeast. Reaching some 6,288 feet above sea level we should be able to find some nice hikes in the area…

The leaves in the area are warning us of the impending colder months as they begin their transition from their brilliant greens to a variety of reds, yellows and oranges. We have reservations for the coastline of Maine but with Irene sneaking up the coast we may have to alter those plans… we shall see.  In any event it is definitely time for us to prepare our upcoming plans for the winter months and decide where we will hunker down during the colder months…

A not so good day in the life of a fulltimer…

We got up early to leave Camp K and planned to be on the road by 9:30 am. So we had coffee and packed up and got the motorhome ready for travel. We planned to hook up the toad at the end of the bumpy dirt road before leaving New York.

Well here is where the day began to go a bit south… our break buddy for the toad would not adjust right and after about 5-6 failed attempts at getting it to work right I finally figured out that we were pointing down hill and it wouldn’t set up correctly without throwing an error. So we moved to a flatter location and it finally set up correctly.

Next up was that none of our GPS enabled devices wanted to work this day, no satellites would connect. I must have had a premonition about this event as the night before I had hand written the route down for us just in case we had troubles with the GPS when traveling through Saratoga Springs, NY. So with hand written route in hand off we went… Now we were about 30 minutes behind schedule.. no big deal right? Wrong!

We still had to drive through Saratoga Springs where Sundays horse race began at 1:00 pm. With 20,000 extra cars going to town the road to Saratoga was slow with lots of stop and go traffic. Congestion in and around the race track was everywhere… tight roads, tight turns but we finally passed the horse track and everything got better…

The drive through the Green Mountains was the highlight of the day as the quaint little Vermont towns were scattered along the route through the lush green mountains and valleys. We were really looking forward to getting to our campsite so we could do a bit of exploring.

Then the rain started to lightly fall. We had gotten to Hidden Acres Camping Resort and were driving over to our assigned site when we noticed there was a truck and some stuff still on the site. So back to the office and we were told to take any site that was open and come back and let them know. By the time we pulled into a site the severe thunderstorms that we were unaware of had hit… So we sat in our motorhome while the strong gusty winds and heavy rain pelted our home on wheels. After the rains and wind subsided we set up camp only to find out all the power was out in our area… We also had no water since the water was using an electric pump to provide service to the campsites.

So with no power and no water we set up anyhow and we decided to go into town and stock up with groceries and just check out the surrounding area with the remaining daylight. We swung by the office to report which site we had taken only to find out that they had made a mistake and the site we set up on was already taken… You have got to be kidding right? No, so it was back to the site and we broke down our camp and moved to yet another site and re-set up.

While moving the RV and setting up we had noticed that our ABS warning indicator would not go out. I knew the brakes had gotten a bit hot as we rode down the 8 and 9 percent grades in the mountains and hoped that it would go out after they cooled off (oh please, oh please, oh please go out). It finally did but will require monitoring in our future.

After all this turmoil in our day we finally got to head out of the campsite in search of groceries… Off to a nearby town in New Hampshire and with groceries in hand all that was left in our day was to take a scenic drive back through the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont. We returned to camp and hoped we had lights and water and as you may well have guessed the way this day was going… no lights… no water…

By about 7:00 pm the lights came back on (YAY!!!) and the rain began to fall again (Booo) but little mattered now as we settled back into our home and had a happy hour and a quiet dinner…

Just another uneventful day in the life of a fulltimer…

Goodbye friends… Hello Vermont!!!

Our last few days at Camp K were spent visiting with our friends from Texas who had come up for the week. A drive through the mountains of the Adirondack Park and a drive around the Great Sacandaga lake were on the agenda the last few days. We also drove over to Lake George which is a stark contrast from the Great Sacandaga lake. Lake George has all the hustle and bustle of a very active town whose livelihood is based upon tourism whereas the Great Sacandaga lake is a sleepy and very quiet lake retreat for those wanting to get away form the hustle and bustle on the weekends.

Yesterday I played golf for the first time in nearly a year with my friends and was rusty at first but on the back nine I actually made a birdie and several pars. I used to play a lot of golf when I was in graduate school but that was many years ago. I attribute my golfing success yesterday to forgetting all my bad golfing habits. It was a fun and enjoyable day.

Today we head further east and bid farewell to my friends at Camp K. We will make a short drive but it will be mostly on two lane roads meandering through the mountains. We plan to make it to Hidden Acres Camping Resort another Passport America Park for a few days before heading further east with our final destination of this northerly trek to Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor. Just a few more weekends before are the kids go back to school and maybe it will be easier to get weekend camp sites.