Uncategorized

OF PRECIPICES AND PORCUPINES

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

We have arrived at our big destination for this trip, Acadia National Park in Maine.  After our arrival day, driving through Bar Harbor and dodging the tour buses and cruise ship tourists, we set camp in Blackwoods Campground.  Nice wooded spot in the spruce woods, dry camping but we have a full tank of water and plenty of propane. Of course we had rain overnight, so the chairs and footstools we set out got wet once again, but they will dry.  Cold and dreary morning, but we set out anyway to explore.

Our first stop on the loop road, some of which is one-way only, was at Jordan Pond.  It has the only restaurant in the park and the pond (more the size of a lake) has two mountains as the backdrop known as the bubbles.  This morning it was pretty socked in, so we really couldn’t see much. Nice gift shop where we might end up buying some long-sleeved tee shirts.

As we drove further on and upward along the roadway to Cadillac Mountain’s summit, the air started to clear and by the time we reached the top it was clear blue skies east toward Bar Harbor, but still low clouds on the west side.  Wisps of mist and cloud would roll over the summit from time to time. We had a gorgeous view of the harbor, the cruise ship in port and the out islands. The pictures will tell you how awesome it was. We walked around the summit trail, down along the rocks for a better view of the harbor and back to the car.  We continued along the loop road to the visitor’s center, watched the short film and then continued on the loop road until we got back to the motorhome to eat lunch and let Kodi out.

Since it had turned out to be a much nicer, sunny afternoon, I thought we should try one of the hiking trails.  Our book listed the Precipice Trail as challenging but about 1.7 miles and I thought it sounded like fun. When we reached the start of the trail, Jackie was very cautious, in fact she really didn’t think we were up for it, but I was a bit stubborn about it and said we should try.  Well, I might have been wrong on this one. It was definitely a challenge, mostly because it was way longer than it should have been. I am certain it was closer to 3 miles before we were done.

 

So what was it like?  Well definitely more of a rock climb than a hike.  We climbed our way up a boulder field, over some big rock faces using iron rungs and grips, along other sheer rock slabs, under boulders, up stone steps and down stone steps … it really was a workout for us both.  We reached an intersection where the trail either continued further up the mountain (ohhh, no) or down to the roadway. But that trail back to the road still went up! It was a long way back. But we did have one cool moment that ALMOST made it worthwhile.  While chatting for a break with some other hikers headed the other way, we spotted a porcupine ambling along. Seriously. He seemed as curious as we were and we quickly snapped pictures. Further along we saw another porcupine, or perhaps the same one. He might have made faster progress than we did.

Ok, once back in the car and headed back to camp, I was told firmly to listen to the advice of my partner in these adventures and if it was a “no way” then that is what it should be.  But we both kind of admitted it was a huge personal challenge to have done it. We both took showers and hit the sack pretty early.

Day 3 in Acadia was a rare sunny day that got rather warm – upper 60’s.  We heard it was to be nice, so we packed a lunch and hit the loop road along the shoreline to see some of the rocky coast.  

Sand Beach was just that, a nice sandy cove. Thunder Hole was rather tame, but loaded with the tour bus crowd. It is a spot where the surf roars into a slot in the cliff and makes a big splash and a lot of noise.  But not if the water is calm like today.

 

The coast has lots of cool vistas and the rocky shore is very picturesque with the clear, dark water. We circled back to Jordan Pond and got to see just how scenic it is. But crowded, with parking spots at a premium.

One cool bit of architecture is the gatehouse beside the gated carriage roads put in by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.  

We had lunch at the edge of the ocean in one of the coves, then drove around to the town of Bar Harbor to play tourists.  Just as crowded as the first day we drove through, but the harbor is a pretty sight. A different ship was in port today and if you were careful, you could spot many of the crew around town on shore leave (seemed like the hospitality and entertainment group).  After buying some long-sleeved t-shirts we found our way to a wifi spot that served beer. Yes, we found yet another brewery: Atlantic Brewing. Actually, their beer was darn good. We loved all their ales, but particularly the Weiss and Scottish Ales. Blueberry Amber Ale was a close second.  We met some folks from Michigan and had a chat about beer and some of the places we saw and that was fun.

Since we have yet to find a laundromat, Jackie washed some essentials back in camp and we hope they will dry by morning.  What started as shorts and t-shirt weather today has quickly turned to much colder air and we expect 50’s and rain for the next few days,  Who knows, maybe it will change. It was a good day all around.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

VERMONT TO MAINE

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

Woke to another chilly, drizzly morning in the 40’s and set about hitching the tow dolly to the motorhome and ramping the car up onto it.  We will need to fill the gas tank on the drive today, something that you need to plan out in this area, since gas stations are pretty sparse.  Rolling through Groton one last time and across the pastures and hillsides, we marveled at the houses, barns, churches and cemeteries that made for such gorgeous scenery.  And the turkeys. We have seen lots of them along the roadsides and in the pastures, groups of six to twelve. All is fine, until you stop to snap a picture and then … off they scurry.  Guess they know their days may be numbered this fall.

 

Our route took us across New Hampshire again, just north of the White Mountains and Franconia Notch.  But today is an overcast day with intermittent rain and low clouds that obscure the tops of the hills and mountains.  But the leaf colors were just vivid orange, red and yellow interspersed with dark green spruce. We did fill the gas tank and found our campground, the Troll Valley Resort.  This was kind of a weak link in our reservations, since it seemed a little iffy online. Right location for a mid-point in the drive to Acadia with full hookups, but as we found out — “resort” was stretching it.  Jackie asked if the spot was a pull-through. “It can be,” was the reply, and the owner showed us how to just drive across the spot to reach the hookups yet make a drive out without unhitching the car. OK then.

I don’t know why I was complaining, the lounge area had a camper’s library (see the picture and note the lovely bird’s nest), dank bathrooms and showers in the converted garage/basement AND a very well maintained disc golf course.  Oh, and I spotted a possibility for our next camper — downsized VW camper that needs just a bit of work.

Well, we did get to dump, take a nice hot shower in the van and fill the water tank prior to our 6 day dry camping at Acadia National Park.  No rain overnight, either. We pulled out and headed east under cloudy skies, but by Bangor it cleared to a blue sky sunny day. Yippee! Timing was great, since we got to Bangor just after noon and found a perfect free parking spot along the curb next to Sea Dog Brewpub.  Ahhh, a flight of beer with lunch, how novel. Some nice choices, but we agreed that the Pumpkin Ale and Brown Ale were the best. We split a barbecue chicken flatbread and hit-the-spot cups of butternut squash bisque. It truly feels like fall with temps in the 50’s and all the associated flavors of the season.  I even succumbed to the Pumpkin Spice craze with a box of PS mini shredded wheat. I must be nuts.

So we stopped at the information center just before crossing to Mount Desert Isle (where Acadia NP is located) and was asked by the staff how tall our vehicle was. “Twelve feet, 3 inches.”  “Oh, that may be a problem. The entrance road has a low bridge of 12’ 2” … “ Hmm, that was a surprise and a head scratcher.

It took a little time to look over the roadway options, but we finally figured a route that took us through Bar Harbor and OVER the bridge in question and on to the campground.  Not out of it yet, though, since the roadway was under construction, limited to one lane of traffic going east (as we were, thank goodness) and pretty much gravel. Oh but it gets better. The traffic, human and auto, in Bar Harbor was crazy. A cruise ship was in town, so it was flooded with tourists (as if we are NOT), and cars were parked on both sides of very narrow streets.  I had a sharp right hand turn to make and then some squeeze plays to make it without stripping the paint off. We found the campground in short order, unhitched the car and slipped into a really nice wooded spot. Jackie began to breathe again and her knuckles returned to normal color.

 

Next morning our plan was to drive the 27 mile loop road around the park to get a sense of what it was like.  Cadillac Mountain is supposed to be a great spot to see all around the coast from 1,500 feet, so that will definitely be a stop if it is clear weather (and it better be).

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Hampshire and Hiking

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

It is now Friday, Day 13 of our leaf peeping adventure and we finally have sun and blue skies!  That’s great, because we have a short drive east across the rest of Vermont, over the Connecticut River and into New Hampshire.  We are heading toward the White Mountains and Franconia Notch State Park. The colors of the leaves are pretty much near their peak, with oranges, yellows, and reds interspersed with dark green triangles of spruce and fir.  White trunks of paper birch pop out and in many spots there is a bright green carpet of pasture to set it off. With the blue sky and wispy white clouds, this is our best day yet for viewing.

 

 

A spot along the way, Beaver Pond, is just the perfect mix of water, sky and fall colors.  Actually, the AT crosses our path here and we took a moment to walk maybe 100 feet of it, just to tell our nephew Adam that we did it.

Further on, the town of Lincoln, New Hampshire also sits along the AT, with several hiker friendly trail stops, and a little bit of crazy with the Hobo Railroad and Clark’s Trading Post featuring bear shows.  

Just beyond that is the start of the state park and we pull off to hike the Flume Gorge. It is a pretty popular spot with the bus tour crowd, but once we got through the gift shop and started uphill it was fine.  I remember coming to this area with my family as a youngster and hiking up through the flume, a cool, damp hike up stairways and ramps. I was not disappointed with this return visit at all.

The gorge is a split in the granite outcropping through which the Pemigewasset River flows.  The entire hike is about 2 miles round trip, but the actual gorge is less than half a mile. I will let the pictures tell the story of the catwalk through the gorge (which is removed in winter and rebuilt each spring).

20181007_192719

It was a great hike up and back, not too strenuous at all, and we were soon on our way back to Vermont and camp at Ricker’s Pond.  Since it was such a nice night, we bought some firewood and sat outside around our first campfire (really?) until it got too darn cold.  Mid 40’s is winter for us Georgians!

It is now Day 14 and our last one in Vermont.  Dry camping in Vermont means we are being conservative with our water supply and careful with our propane for heat.  We fire up the generator a bit in the morning and evening to heat food, water and charge devices. We have both been hauling water in a gallon jug from the spigot down the hill to keep the tanks at two-thirds.  One reason is the shower house is metered (feed quarters) and we aren’t certain there is hot water. There certainly isn’t heat in the cement-floored building, so that isn’t an option. That means a very quick shower onboard.  This will be much the same situation in Maine for 5 days – and it’s not a problem, just a shift in how you do things.

 

 

20181007_192852

Ok, then, on with our day.  We opted to stay close today and take Kodi along for some hiking.  As you can see by the pictures, the colors are even more vivid. We walked the Cross Vermont trail a bit – an old railroad line that actually goes through our campground along Ricker’s Pond.  Then we hiked up a bit more hill to reach Owl’s Head overlook and were glad we did. What a spectacular view of the mountains to the east. Just breathtaking.

   

   

   

We made a loop drive that took us to Danville, where we stopped for lunch at the only place in town that was open: Bentley’s Bakery & Cafe.  Sandwiches were huge and delicious (pastrami panini and grilled chicken with cranberries and walnuts) on fresh made breads. Washed down with maple iced coffee and we were set.  

IMG952018100695132539

Actually, we took half the meal back for dinner. The liquor shop next door had some Vermont beer from 14th State brewing that I just had to buy: “Maple Breakfast Stout” made with coffee and maple syrup.  The heck with breakfast, that was going to go great with dinner!

    

 

The route back took us up and over rolling hills and bright green pastures, dotted with barns and silos.  One of the cutest towns, and not a tourist stop at all, was Peacham, dating to 1776. Oh my goodness, the houses were charming and everything just looked postcard perfect.  We soon arrived in Groton (pronounced like “rotten”) just as their fall festival parade ended and the town was jammed with people and cars. Just yesterday it was empty. But since there was no traffic light in town, just the Constable directing traffic, it didn’t take too long to pass through and back to the campsite.

Kodi was pretty quiet back in the camper, falling asleep in the passenger seat while Jackie took a power nap and I tried to burn off the last of the firewood.  Tomorrow is going to be a hitch-up and get-outta-town day. Destination: Farmington, Maine (with full hook-ups!).

 

 

 

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Vermont Leafing

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

 

Well, once again it rained overnight and we woke to a cold and dreary day.  That’s ok, we hitched up the car and drove a few hours to Groton. This was to be a base for a few days, camping at Ricker’s Pond State Park (also dry camping) and exploring places like Franconia Notch in New Hampshire and Thetford to visit with old family friends and down to Windsor to Harpoon Brewing.  Along the way we noticed a lot more color and finally found ourselves in the midst of yellow, orange and reds … finally the colors of fall! Once we were set in camp, we drove to the small town of Groton to sample at Artesano Meadery. Boy were we pleasantly surprised. The honey-based drinks were more like crisp wines than the meades we were used to from our beer festivals back home.  It was tough deciding between blueberry, cranberry, apple and pepper flavors, but we settled on a traditional honey meade that seemed just right.

 

Winding through the wooded hills we kept expecting our New England Moose encounter, but no luck yet.  We did spot several turkey along the roadside and in side yards. Also some colorful pastures with cows grazing.  Last stop was a maple sugaring stop at Goodrich’s Maple Farm. Super friendly family operation and some delicious maple syrup.  It was a good day, even though it was overcast. All was well back in camp as we made it an early evening.

 

It seems that the cloudy, rainy weather just won’t give us a break.  Our next full day at Ricker’s Pond State Park was cool and cloudy, but with hints that the sun and blue sky might break through.  Today was our day to venture out to Thetford and on to Windsor. As we drove south of the Groton area, the leaf color returned to mostly green.

Even though it was cloudy, the grass pastures were bright green and the countryside dotted with dairy barns. We saw several more groups of turkeys in fields and roadsides and more than a few skunks in the road, plus our second porcupine roadkill.  I think maybe in Vermont the riddle should be “why did the skunk cross the road? Well, he didn’t really, he only made it halfway.”

We met up with our good family friends just outside Thetford center and had a wonderful visit sharing family memories and catching up a bit.  Quite impressed that Barb was also a craft beer fan and had some local suggestions, knowing that we were headed to Windsor. We were told to stop at King Arthur’s Bakery for some pastries and what a good suggestion that was.  A darn big operation, the bakery had some delicious looking chocolate croissants, danish and hard rolls calling our name. A few bags in hand, we drove on to Windsor.

So naturally we made it to Harpoon Brewing in time for a hearty lunch.  Another delicious bratwurst on a bun with kraut and some flights of beer.  I think we both loved everything they had: UFO White, UFO Raspberry,UFO Pineapple, UFO Pumpkin, Octoberfest, and the Dunkin Donuts Porter.  

But the star of the show was Moose and Rocco, a delicious amber lager somehow brewed with elements of Moose Tracks and Rocky Road flavors (and a hefty 8+ alcohol content).  Great spot to visit and good timing – in two days they will host a big Octoberfest celebration, with thousands expected. The tents and bandstands they were setting up looked like fun, but we were just as happy not to be fighting the crowds.  Heading back, we drove through White River Junction to stop at River Roost Brewing, another small brewery that has earned local awards for their beer.

Back in camp we took those great hard rolls, some leftover steak and had ourselves a tasty dinner.  Finished things off with a chocolate croissant after a few rounds of gin rummy and plans for tomorrow (the Flume Gorge in New Hampshire’s Franconia Notch).

 

 

 

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Back in the USA

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

We left Quebec and the Montreal area after yet again another night of rain.  This makes only one night without rain so far. But at least it has been partly sunny most afternoons when we arrive at our destinations.  And the temperatures are upper 40’s at night and upper 50’s daytime. I keep wondering why I packed a swimsuit… what was I thinking?

Ok then, crossing through mostly farmland, once we peeled away from the outskirts of Montreal.  The road is good and drivers seem to keep to the right, except to pass and pretty much stick to the speed limit.  Imagine that. So it isn’t long before we reach the border crossing into New York. Just a few questions and concerns about fresh fruits, particularly citrus, and we are back in the US.  Not in New York long before we cross over Lake Champlain into Vermont. We stop at a welcome center for some local information and meander down the islands until we reach Grand Isle State Park.  Nice spot for two nights, but dry camping (no electric or water hook-ups).

  

Since it is just after noon, we head out to explore nearby Burlington.  A popular spot downtown is Church Street, converted to pedestrian only and lined with very trendy shops, outfitters, restaurants, coffee spots and bars.  There are four colleges in town, so the crowd was young and apparently better off than we were in college, judging from the pricey shops. We found our spot at the Vermont Pub and Brewery and, twist my arm, we ordered a flight.  Probably the Octoberfest was our fave and a raspberry wheat sour.

Further down the road was another spot on our list: Magic Hat Artifactory.  It was quite an eclectic brewery and tap room, with a sort of mardi gras meets carnival theme to it.  Sampling the beer we found the Circus Boy Hefeweisen and Fancy Grade Maple Doppelbok and Heart of Darkness Stout to be the tastiest.  We met another couple also doing the craft beer circuit and learned they were from Maine, so we learned a few tips about the Bar Harbor and Portland area.  Ordered a pizza and headed back to camp.

Next morning’s task was to gas up the motorhome at a station around the corner.  Everything in the motorhome is working just fine, but the generator won’t run if the gas in the tank is below ¼ – so we got maybe 5 minutes out of it last night before it quit.  We usually try to have a nearly full tank before stopping for the night, but we didn’t find a suitable station the day before.  After filling the tank and backing into the campsite again, we were set to head to Waterbury Vermont, home of Ben & Jerry’s, Smuggler’s Notch Distillery and Cabot Cheese.

Of course it had rained overnight, but this was our first day of rain all day.  Good thing we were just doing the tourist route, not searching for wildlife (no sightings so far).  The drive past Burlington and into Waterbury was nice, but still pretty green with only a few pops of color.  We found Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory, along with the several busloads of others. We didn’t take the tour, but did have a hot fudge sundae in the chilly rain.  Next stop was a “made for the tour buses” spot with Cabot’s Cheese (lotta sampling) and SN Distillery (bourbon, vodka sampling). Not as good as the Kentucky Bourbon sampling, sorry.  But we did stop at a cider mill that had amazing cider donuts … yum.  That was also the spot where a winery had samples and the cider mill had hard cider samplings.  Yum.  I should note that most of these samplings come with a minor sampling fee, which is ok, since we are happy to support the local farmers.

 

Further along was the town of Stowe, you know the one — Christmas cards and puzzles are filled with pictures of this town. With all the gold-leaf on the signs, I knew it was probably the Jackson Hole of the East.  We hung a left and wound into the hills … is that music? Not exactly, but our destination was the von Trapp Family Bierhall, yes the one made famous by the family from “Sound of Music” and run by the family (Maria’s grandson).  It was a perfect spot to warm up with some beer cheese soup, bratwurst and apple sauerkraut. The beer was great with the meal – the Vienna Lager tasted crisp and fresh and the Dunkel was a smooth brown lager.

A final stop in Waterbury was a visit to the Green Mountain Coffee Cafe.  The darn “maps” directions dropped us at a very corporate style building with Keurig/Dr. Pepper on the doors and “Welcome” banners out front, so we walked in, went up a floor in the elevator and looked around.  Ummm, don’t think so. And we sure didn’t look the part. Back in the car we saw a cool railroad station across the parking lot and discovered THAT was the cafe. Guess we slipped into the headquarters by mistake.  Good coffee stop.

Now it was time to head back to camp, but we had one last stop at the Zero Gravity brewery, both for a beer and for wifi.  The beer was refreshing, but honestly it did not have the strong flavor profiles of some of our favorites. It was just OK, but the tap room was a really nice spot.  Back in camp, run the generator, fix a dinner salad and head to bed. Tomorrow is another big day.

Thanks for following along.  More New England adventures to come.

 

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ottawa and Montreal

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

It was nice not to have to get up early, break camp and head out early in the morning.  We have two nights here in Ottawa, giving us a full day to explore the city.  It is a Saturday, so it is even better.  Of course we had rain overnight, but it wasn’t raining yet, even though the temperature was in the 40’s.  We quickly got to town, in fact we almost missed the exit, it was so close.  First task was to get free tickets for a tour of parliament, then we walked around parliament hill.  There is currently a 10-year restoration in progress for the main historic buildings, so you could see some of the restored changes and compare to the weathered look of some of the older buildings.

 

 

After taking some photos of the Peace Tower we walked to the riverfront and then to Rideau Canal to watch some boats go through the locks.  Further along was the Museum of Art and this wild spider sculpture (reminded me of one mentioned in Dan Brown’s Origin, but that one was in Bilbao, Spain.)  Not much farther along was the very cool Byward Market –  several blocks of restaurants, bars, shops and lots of farmer’s market stalls.  Since it was Saturday, it got increasingly busy.  We did manage to grab some delicious pastries and farther along opted for a sandwich and mocha at Starbucks.  It was still chilly and partly cloudy, so the coffee was good.

  

  

Back to the Peace Tower for our tour of parliament.  We got to see the Canadian version of the House and Senate and the Library of Parliament and learned a lot about the constitutional monarchy and the role that Queen Elizabeth still plays in this country, part of the UK.  Interesting contrast to the government buildings we saw on our trip to Washington (Capital and Library of Congress).

  

  

 

 

Lots of photos of stone buildings (gallery below), but it was all so very interesting.  We finished the day with a search for the special Christmas yarn at our second Wal-Mart stop, but no luck.  Wal-Mart 2, Jackie 0.  I also stopped off at the Small Pony Barrelworks for just two more tastes of the sours while working on the blog.  A nice grilled steak finished off the evening as we awaited yet another night of rain (?).  Up early tomorrow for a short drive to Montreal, making camp and heading into the city all in one day.  Should be fun.

MONTREAL

Indeed, it only took us just over 2 hours to reach our KOA outside Montreal, a nice clean spot with many open sites.  We got Kodi and Merlin situated, unhitched the car yet again and drove in to Montreal.  Let me warn you if you are traveling to this city, there is major road construction on the way in and on many of the city streets.  Allow yourself plenty of time.  Fortunately it was Sunday.

We kind of felt like we were in an episode of the Amazing Race, since everything in Quebec is in French.  At least in Ontario you had both English and French on signs.  Not that we find the directional signs exactly plentiful here in Canada.  So we are quickly translating the English approximation for scenic drive, detour, stop, no turn on red, yield … that sort of then, plus still trying to see what 100 kph translates to (maybe 62 mph?)  Closer to the city we were on a wide detour that dropped us in downtown, but there were police lights flashing all around us.  What the heck?   Get this … a motorcycle rally was riding through. – exactly where we wanted to be Lots of police, closed streets and, well, you know our luck and motorcycle rallies.  We scooted around it and found a parking spot and started off on foot in Old Montreal.

The first “must see” building is the Basilica Notre-Dame de Montreal.  Once through the line, we were treated with a beautiful sanctuary.  Impressive design.

  

   

We continued on along the cobbled streets, heading downhill toward the waterfront.  Montreal is along the St. Lawrence River and there is quite a lot of shopping, restaurants, museums and recreation along the waterfront.  While the flowers and artists and shops were colorful and inviting, we were on a mission to find some sort of pub to get something good to eat and drink.  Aha!  Jackie found a spot hidden under one of the old stone waterfront buildings called “Pub BreWskey”  Sounds like our kinda place.  Well it was perfect.  Intimate, warm (it was a chilly day for sure) and lots of beer on tap.  We ordered two flights from sours to ambers to lagers and a peanut butter stout.  They added a special “weekend-only” variant of one of the beers, complimentary, which was cool.

IMG_20180930_161628

IMG_20180930_155145

Food-wise this was a treat.  We ordered two cups of beer cheese soup and split a grilled cheese with skirt steak sandwich, and as you can see by the picture, it was a pretty big portion.  The cheese soup was the best we have ever tasted and the sandwich — yum.  Melted cheese and steak on a crusty French bread, plus smashed potatoes that were really more like home fries soaked in bacon grease and then fried.  Perfect with the beer.

After that meal it was time to walk the several blocks back to the car and find our way home.  This direction we didn’t hit the construction detours, so we made better time.  Wait…. there is a Wal-Mart.  Must stop and check for the special yarn.  Ooops.  Wal-Mart: 3, Jackie: 0, since the store was closed (early on Sundays!)  Darn.  Back in camp we took the dog for a walk, listened to Merlin complain and put our feet up.  Tomorrow is another short run, as we cross the border back into the US and find our way to Grand Isle, Vermont.  We have to dump and fill with fresh water, as we are going to be without electric and water for a week now.

Thanks for following along.  More to come on the journey, as we cross back into the US.

Doug

 

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Crossing Ontario, Canada

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

An early sunrise greeted us as we showered and pulled up to head into Canada.  Crossing over the bridge at Sault Saint Marie (oh and it’s Soo, not salt), we looked down on the locks, the rapids and the power canals.  And then we were at the border crossing, handing over our passports. A few questions about where we were headed, firearms and did we have alcohol (yes, just two bottles) and we were waved through.  Wow a lot easier than we thought. Shoulda bought that Kentucky Bourbon after all.

The day was a long drive across the upper shore of Lake Huron and the North Channel, but the scenery was spectacular.  There is so much water: ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, bogs all of which look like they would be perfect for wildlife, especially moose.  We even saw several moose crossing signs, but alas no moose. Plenty of beaver lodges though. We are also seeing the first signs of fall color among the spruces, firs, aspens and birch.  Just some pops of color among the dark evergreens and white trunks.

The first part of the drive had small towns and farmland.  We saw some more sandhill cranes in the cornfields and plenty of geese.  One flock might have had some snow geese mixed in. In some of the farming areas we saw horse and buggy warning signs and we weren’t sure why until we passed a horse and carriage trotting along the wide shoulder.  Neither of us knew if there were Quakers or Mennonites locally, but it seems so. As we got closer to our destination, Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, the terrain was more rocky, with outcrops along the road covered in reindeer moss and spruce.  Canadians must love stacking rocks, as there were many rock cairns (or totems or hoodoos) on the outcroppings. Some were rather artistic creations, one even had a yellow cape.

The campground was a very nice wooded spot, but the entrance road was way too bumpy – we were pitching left and right and up and down and… well everything seemed to be rattling.  Our site was just across from a stream that ran from a nice lake to the Matawa River, with a nice overlook down 50 feet or so to the water. Once settled in and after a walk with Kodi to find bear or moose (no luck) we sat with our drinks at a table on the edge of the stream.  As we reviewed the day’s travel, we watched several mergansers swimming along. It was really cool.

 

Of course it rained again overnight and the fabric footstools we left outside to dry (from our plumbing adventure) got soaked once again.  But since it was a pull-through site we didn’t have to disconnect the car and it was easy to leave in the moring for our final leg to Ottawa.  The road we travel goes along the Mattawa River, the northern border of Ontario. Lots of water again, ponds, lakes, the river, bogs, several beaver lodges, but no wildlife.  It was an easier day of driving and we got to Wesley Clover Campground, just outside Ottawa and right off the interstate just after noon. Disconnected the car and set up in camp. 

One fun thing in camp are these oversized picnic tables with carved animals on the ends.  It seems that Kodi was quite taken with one.

Jackie discovered (somewhere along the trip in Ohio) that Bernat yarn had come out with special color blends for Christmas, but would only be available in Wal-Marts in Canada.  Well isn’t that lucky for us? So a mission, once we got into Canada, was to find a Wal-Mart and get that yarn. Of course no stores until Ottawa, so once here we hopped in the car to get to a Wal-Mart close by.  Alas, all out. Ah well, guess we will do the brew tour instead.

IMG_20180928_153702

IMG_20180928_160229

Three breweries within 4 miles (er kilometers), so we sampled a little at each.  Covered Bridge brewing had a nice raspberry wheat; Big Rig was a very cool set-up and pretty big, with a delicious pumpkin porter, grapefruit shandy and a porter Jackie liked.  Last stop was Small Pony Barrelworks. All they brewed was barrel-aged sours, so Jackie was kinda out of luck, but I loved it. Sampled all sorts of blueberry, raspberry, sour cherry, elderberry, hibiscus sours, each with a different color and flavor.  What fun. 

Back in camp now, after grilling a nice dinner of boneless chops and brussel sprouts.  Our footstools finally dried so I put them away – which was a good thing because it is now raining once again as I write this blog.  Ah well, at least it really hasn’t rained in the afternoons when we arrive at destinations. Tomorrow is a full day in Ottawa seeing the city and then we pick up and head east just a bit to stay outside Montreal.  Looking forward to a nice Saturday in Ottawa.  

Check back as we post more pictures and stories of our trek to Maine.  Thanks for following along so far.

Doug

 

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sleeping Bear to Soo Locks

Posted on September 29, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

Sleeping Bear Dunes is pretty amazing. Once we made camp in a nicely wooded spot (meaning acorns hit the roof regularly), we had time to unhitch the car and drive to spots along Lake Michigan (this was a back-in site anyway).  The first stop was the Dune Climb.  From the parking lot it didn’t look too bad, just a big pile of sand in front of us, so up we went. Yep, just like walking in soft sand at the beach, except not carrying the chairs, umbrella, towels, etc.  Well, puff puff, maybe a steep beach. Ok then, we made it to the crest … oh but not really. It flattened out a bit and we reached the one mile marker. But it continued onward and upward. We asked another couple coming back down if the next crest gave you a view of Lake Michigan, and they said “no, just the next hill.”  Ok, that was enough. Back down we went. Good thing, cause my toes were cramping in my shoes from all the added sand. It was very fine and had this nasty habit of filling your shoes and socks.

 

Back in the car we drove on another scenic drive that had some overlooks of the dunes area and then we found the best overlook for the lake.  Lots of sand and a pretty steep slope down to the shoreline. You got a great view of the lake and dune from the overlook, but some folks insist on sliding down the sand and then trekking back up the steep slope, despite warning signs.  It would have been nicer if it was not overcast and windy, but it was still a wild view.

Overnight it rained again and in the morning we drove around the corner to hitch up the car in the picnic area along the Platte River.  Once connected, we walked to the river’s edge to watch some morning canoeists heading downstream. The water was clear enough to watch some of the salmon heading upstream to spawn.  How cool.

The drive east took us through Traverse City (darn, too early to sample breweries) along the lake.  One block back from the waterfront is a river that runs through town like a canal, filled with powerboats and waterfront homes.  That seemed really cool for the summer. We headed northeast toward 1-75, across farmland, and I asked Jackie to scout out a place for lunch.  She found Petoskey Brewing along our route. They had ample parking for the motorhome, so naturally that meant we were in for lunch and a flight.  What a great choice it turned out to be! Jackie ordered a Reuben sandwich and I chose a black and blue bacon burger, both with beer batter fries. Totally delicious food.  And our flights (one each this time) were some of the best beers so far. Two favorites for me were Beach Slapped (pineapple, coconut blonde ale – awesome flavor) and grapefruit shandy.  Jackie thought the brown ale was the best. Good pit stop.

 

As we continued north, the day changed from drizzle to sunny/partly cloudy, but the temperature dropped into the mid 50’s.  What a nice change. Pretty soon we could see the Mackinaw Bridge ahead of us and we were driving up and over the connection between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.  Cross winds were strong, so we kept it at 25 mph.

Crossing into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the rain started up again. However the scenery of farmland, barns, wineries and orchards continued until we reached Sault Ste. Marie and the Soo Locks.  Our campground was just along the waterway, where we could watch the tankers moving to and from the locks. Actually, the waterway is a rapids downhill between Lake Superior and Lake Huron with several locks for boat traffic. A large canal runs through town and joins Lake Huron through a hydroelectric power plant.  

Since there were supposed to be two breweries in town and we didn’t want to disconnect the car, I decided to walk the 2 miles or so to town after dinner to check them out.  It was a straight shot to downtown that crossed over the canal at the power plant, but otherwise a pretty grassy wharf area. Kinda chilly, so I had a jacket over my hoodie and long pants on.  First stop was Soo Brewing – located in a storefront, tanks and all. They only had three beers on tap, so I had their summer wheat. Not bad, but not a particularly “mature” brew. Next stop was Lockside Brewing and Winery, which was really more restaurant and bar, with only 2 beers on tap and no brewing tanks that I could see.  Their Goldilocks blonde was a clever name, but nothing special. Time to head back to camp.

About the time I reached the halfway point over the canal I noticed a large cat running across the road in the streetlight.  Out for a prowl no doubt and headed for the grassy areas. Further along, I looked left to see the same animal running my direction under the lights.  That was no cat – it was a fox. Around the next building I hustled to catch up, then waited, but it started to drizzle. As I turned away, I saw the fox headed back, bushy tail straight out and trotting along.  What a cool sight. Ah, but the drizzle became real rain and I had to trot my way back to camp before I got soaked. But it was worth it.

In the morning we plan to head out early, what with the crossing into Canada and a long stretch of driving ahead of us.  Still a bit leery of what the crossing will be like, but we have all the paperwork and not much alcohol to declare. Next stop, Canada.

Thanks for following us on our journey to the fall colors of New England.

Doug

Platte River Campground

 

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Moving along in Michigan

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

Fort Custer State Rec Area

With a nod to Jimmy Buffet, our changes in lattitude have changed our attitude for sure.  It dropped the temperature considerably – we left the low 90s and are now in the upper 60’s.  We will take that for sure.  We are about to head out, continuing our trip north to Michigan.

But I need to share another “oops” moment.  In Wapakoneta we actually did not have rain overnight, but Jackie woke me in the middle of the night saying she heard water running.  Under the kitchen sink water was spraying all over — I hopped out the door, squish, and ran around to shut off the the water supply.  Well it seems we must have had a pressure burst overnight, which dislodged the plug under the sink water filter, so water was streaming out of the bottom storage bin, which fortunately had only the outside chairs and tables.  But it was a pretty good puddle and some mopping up to do under the sink.  Never a dull moment.

On the road in the morning, again with drizzle and clouds, headed up and across Indiana, bypassing Fort Wayne and into Michigan.  We made it to Kalamazoo area rather early in the afternoon and set up at Fort Custer State Recreation Area. It was a really nice site in a pretty empty campground.  We had filled our water tank in Wapakoneta, since this was electric only. Since the weather cleared, we took Kodi for a walk around the trails and nearby lake. We were surprised to see trumpeter swans in the lake, feeding among the pond grasses.  Kinda cool. The fields were filled with purple asters and milkweed stems that were releasing their silky seeds. Not much fall color yet, but we are hopeful.

Of course the highlight of this stop was going to be a visit to Bell’s brewery – in this case their Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo.  But before we got as far as Bell’s we found Arcadia Ale Brewing and pulled in to see what they had on tap. What a great spot! The tap room opened up to a wide garden area with outdoor seating along the Kalamazoo River.  Although it was still cloudy and a bit drizzly, it was still a wonderful afternoon sampling a flight of their scotch ale, stouts and a very tasty Michigan raspberry and blueberry witt.

Just across the river was Bell’s – not much from the outside but a very cool tap room inside.  We ordered a flight each and a food order. Jackie had mostly stouts, I had some of their tap-room-only brews and liked a saison they featured from a local homebrewer.  The Imperial Octoberfest was great with the meal, but Jackie loved their Brown Ale. Doug paired his beer with a grilled Michigan trout sandwich, Jackie had a burger with cherry jam and bacon.  Good stuff all around.

Next day was another travel day further up the “mitten.”  Another overcast start to the day as we headed up toward Grand Rapids.  Unfortunately it was too early to stop at Founder’s Brewery – we just had to watch as we drove by.  But as we rolled over the hills and farmland, we spotted a harvested cornfield that naturally had plenty of Canada geese.  But in the midst of them was a pair of Sandhill cranes . Rrrrrrppp. Stop the van. Get the shot. Get back in and keep going.  

We were taking a 2-lane road through the country that had some really nice farms along the way. One was a field of gourds and pumpkins being harvested, others had self-serve farmstands at the end of the driveway.  Nice. We also realized we would have time to stop in Frankfort just before checking in at our campground. Frankfort is a lovely town on Lake Michigan that looks like it would be very busy in the summer. The wide main street had plenty of room for the motorhome to park, so it was quite easy to stop and check out yet another brewery for a flight.  Stormcloud Brewing had a nice patio and we had some nice beer. Oddly, our favorite was their Georgia brew with peaches and pecans. Actually better than similar ones we have had back home.

We pulled in to the Platte River Campground in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and set up.  Plenty of time to head up to see the dunes and shoreline of Lake Michigan.  But more on that in the next post.

Platte River Campground

Thanks for keeping up with us as we head to New England and the coast of Maine in search of fall colors.  Stay tuned for more.

Doug

 

Platte River Campground

 

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kentucky headed to Michigan

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Doug and Jackie

Off to a good start here – once we made it through Knoxville on a football Saturday with half of Tennessee headed for the game.  Our first night was a nicely wooded KOA in Corbin, Kentucky.  Got all hooked up just in time for the rain to start.  It continued well into the next day as we made our way to Cincinnati, Ohio.  Showers stopped just in time for us to get caught in a construction delay and we kinda got turned around in search of a distillery on the Kentucky side of the river from Cincinnati, but once we found New Riff Distilling we knew the brew tour had begun.

We had a nice sampling of their newly released bourbon and an amazing Wild Gin, which was locally sourced and bourbon barrel aged.  Truly an amazing flavor, unfortunately we are on liquor purchase restrictions.  You see, we will be crossing into Canada by the end of the week and you can only bring one bottle per person of alcohol across.  Kinda crimps our style, since we packed for a month’s trip and gosh, here we were in Kentucky Bourbon territory!

However, this was a special afternoon after all, with a huge liquor store in the same parking lot that had a brewery attached: Braxton Labs.  We had a small flight with a cream ale, tropical stout, New England raspberry milkshake IPA and blueberry strudel.  What a wild assortment.

Before we left, Jackie noticed the growler fill station and got herself a 32 oz. of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, one of her personal favorites.  Lunch in the motorhome with some iced tea, then back on the road.  Rest assured, we don’t drive impaired.  Most of these flights are about 16 – 20 ounces total, and we split them.  So don’t worry.

 

 

 

We arrived at Wapakoneta KOA just off 1-75 and celebrated the cool temperatures (low 70’s) with the crowler of beer Jackie bought.  A good day was capped off by a gorgeous sunset.  Off to Michigan tomorrow.

Thanks for following along – hope to have more posted soon.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.