Jul 24 -- Drove to Lake George and hiked up to Prospect Mountain Summit. This hike was tough - 4 miles round trip. It was rough going up and coming down as it was rocky and pretty steep. A lot of it was walking in a creek bed that was pretty wet due to 3 inches of rain on Sat. Once again the view was worth the effort!
Jul 25 -- Started the project of installing a radio antenna on our car. Of course it just led to more work as most of our projects do!!!! (the paint peeled off part of the fender so now we are dealing with that).
Jul 26 -- Attended ‘Opening Day’ at the Saratoga Race Track. This is the oldest horse racing track in the country! We were just 2 of the 27,000 people that attended. Of course we lost more than we won! For the 9th race we watched from the fence right on the track -- unfortunately a horse went down right in front of us (just yards away from the finish line). The jockey went head first to the ground while the horse just collapsed in mid step. The horse was able to get up after a few minutes and we later found out that it was due to the heat! We certainly found out that horse racing it a ‘big deal’ in this part of the country!
Jul 27 -- Traveling to a park near Schenectady, NY today, just 60 miles down the road. We will stay there for 3 nights. Plan to drive to Cooperstown tomorrow to tour the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Sunday, July 23, 2006
On to upstate New York!
Jul 18 -- Staying at Adirondack Adventure Resorts, about 10 miles north of Saratoga Springs. Drove north to Glens Falls, Lake George & Bolton Landing. Very pretty area! Scoped out some hiking trails.
Jul 19 -- Drove to Saratoga Springs & checked out the area. A friend of ours that’s working a contract job in this area come over for dinner.
Jul 20 -- Drove to Lake Placid, home of the 1932 & 1980 Winter Olympics (about 90 miles from here). We were very impressed with this area. This area is still very busy with Olympic training! We went on a tour of the Olympic Center (was just the 2 of us & the guide, who was a brakeman for a bobsled team in the 1976 Olympics). The tour was full of info - saw several of the ice rinks and even saw some of the short track Olympic skaters practicing. Also saw the rink where in 1980 the USA Hockey team beat the Russians (Miracle on Ice). Our guide showed us a video of the last 2 minutes of the game & gave us a play by play account. We also went to the Olympic Museum which was full of items - specifically interesting were the torches from the different Olympics, the medals from Lake Placid, & a current $100,000 Bobsled. We saw the 2 ski jumps that are used for training in the summer. It has tiles & some type of rubber/plastic on it that gives the same effect as snow. The skiers land in a 750,000 gallon pool. Drove to Whiteface Mountain & hiked the last ¼ mile to the summit ( 4,867 ft). What a view from the top! Ended the day at a Bar-B-Q place called “Tail of the Pup” (recommended by some people we met in NH). All the tables are outside under a large, large tent! The food was excellent (that’s saying something since we are used to good bar-b-que in Texas). They even had a band playing! Lake Placid is an area we would like to come back to someday!
Jul 21 -- Had a first today……we went to a Polo Match in Saratoga Springs! If was a bit hot & humid outside but we did enjoy it. It’s pretty amazing how they can hit a small ball with a small mallet, all while riding a horse (sometimes at a very fast speed). There are 6 ‘chukkers’ in a match & at the end of each the spectators are asked to go out onto the field & stomp the divits! The ground was kinda wet so the horses really tore up the grass!
Jul 22 -- Rained all day….Hung around the motor home. Went into Saratoga Springs to our friends hotel suite where he fixed us dinner!
Jul 23 -- Church in Saratoga Springs & lunched out with our friend Bob from TX.
Jul 19 -- Drove to Saratoga Springs & checked out the area. A friend of ours that’s working a contract job in this area come over for dinner.
Jul 20 -- Drove to Lake Placid, home of the 1932 & 1980 Winter Olympics (about 90 miles from here). We were very impressed with this area. This area is still very busy with Olympic training! We went on a tour of the Olympic Center (was just the 2 of us & the guide, who was a brakeman for a bobsled team in the 1976 Olympics). The tour was full of info - saw several of the ice rinks and even saw some of the short track Olympic skaters practicing. Also saw the rink where in 1980 the USA Hockey team beat the Russians (Miracle on Ice). Our guide showed us a video of the last 2 minutes of the game & gave us a play by play account. We also went to the Olympic Museum which was full of items - specifically interesting were the torches from the different Olympics, the medals from Lake Placid, & a current $100,000 Bobsled. We saw the 2 ski jumps that are used for training in the summer. It has tiles & some type of rubber/plastic on it that gives the same effect as snow. The skiers land in a 750,000 gallon pool. Drove to Whiteface Mountain & hiked the last ¼ mile to the summit ( 4,867 ft). What a view from the top! Ended the day at a Bar-B-Q place called “Tail of the Pup” (recommended by some people we met in NH). All the tables are outside under a large, large tent! The food was excellent (that’s saying something since we are used to good bar-b-que in Texas). They even had a band playing! Lake Placid is an area we would like to come back to someday!
Jul 21 -- Had a first today……we went to a Polo Match in Saratoga Springs! If was a bit hot & humid outside but we did enjoy it. It’s pretty amazing how they can hit a small ball with a small mallet, all while riding a horse (sometimes at a very fast speed). There are 6 ‘chukkers’ in a match & at the end of each the spectators are asked to go out onto the field & stomp the divits! The ground was kinda wet so the horses really tore up the grass!
Jul 22 -- Rained all day….Hung around the motor home. Went into Saratoga Springs to our friends hotel suite where he fixed us dinner!
Jul 23 -- Church in Saratoga Springs & lunched out with our friend Bob from TX.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Vermont!
Jul 13 -- Problems with the RV park we went to in Graniteville, VT…the electrical voltage was too low! Decided to find another park. Ended up out of Marshfield about 23 miles from Montpelier. We get satellite TV but no cell or internet service! Can’t have everything.
Jul 14 -- Drove to Montpelier.to see the capital & find internet café shop! Toured Rock of Ages Rock Quarry that started in 1880. Geologist say that the granite goes 10 miles deep-- enough to last another 4500 yrs. Manufacturing plant is one of the largest in the world. Tour showed the quarry & the plant. Watched them bring up blocks of granite weighing several tons & also the final product (mostly tombstones). Very interesting tour. Drove up the road to Waterbury & toured the Ben & Jerry’s factory (of course sampled the ice cream). Next stop was the Trapp Family Lodge (the Von Trapp’s from the ‘ Sound of Music’) & the Stowe area - beautiful view of the Vermont mountains.
Jul 15 -- Toured a local Maple Sugerhouse. Learned how they make Maple Syrup (the real stuff). Of course got to sample and buy some of it. Drove the backroads and saw 3 covered bridges & a ‘floating bridge’ (that was interesting driving over). Toured the Cabot Creamery & learned how they make their award winning Cheddar Cheese…..had lots of samples there & of course more purchases!
Jul 16 -- Hiked in the Groton State Forest. Two hikes - Hosam Brook Trail & Owl Mt - a total of 4 miles. The view from Owl Mt. Was pretty awesome.. Kettle Pond, Lake Groton & the Green Mountains. Then a drive east on highway 2 to St. Johnsbury.
Jul 17 -- Leaving Vermont & headed to upstate New York.
Jul 14 -- Drove to Montpelier.to see the capital & find internet café shop! Toured Rock of Ages Rock Quarry that started in 1880. Geologist say that the granite goes 10 miles deep-- enough to last another 4500 yrs. Manufacturing plant is one of the largest in the world. Tour showed the quarry & the plant. Watched them bring up blocks of granite weighing several tons & also the final product (mostly tombstones). Very interesting tour. Drove up the road to Waterbury & toured the Ben & Jerry’s factory (of course sampled the ice cream). Next stop was the Trapp Family Lodge (the Von Trapp’s from the ‘ Sound of Music’) & the Stowe area - beautiful view of the Vermont mountains.
Jul 15 -- Toured a local Maple Sugerhouse. Learned how they make Maple Syrup (the real stuff). Of course got to sample and buy some of it. Drove the backroads and saw 3 covered bridges & a ‘floating bridge’ (that was interesting driving over). Toured the Cabot Creamery & learned how they make their award winning Cheddar Cheese…..had lots of samples there & of course more purchases!
Jul 16 -- Hiked in the Groton State Forest. Two hikes - Hosam Brook Trail & Owl Mt - a total of 4 miles. The view from Owl Mt. Was pretty awesome.. Kettle Pond, Lake Groton & the Green Mountains. Then a drive east on highway 2 to St. Johnsbury.
Jul 17 -- Leaving Vermont & headed to upstate New York.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
The White Mountains of New Hampshire
Jul 8 -- Began exploring the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Staying in the little town of Bethlehem. Old Man in the Mountain - was a natural formation of a man’s head in a mountains… it doesn’t really exist anymore as in May 2003 it crumbled & he lost his nose, forehead and chin! Went on Gondola to top of Loon Mountain & hiked around there. Drove the Kancamagus Highway & hiked a mile to Sabbaday Falls. Continued our drive through North Conway & onto scenic highway 302.
Jul 9 -- Hiked 1.5 miles to the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park. The hike & Avalanche Falls were very impressive. Also saw a couple of the ‘famous’ covered bridges. Then on to another hike, this one to Bald Mountain & Artists Bluff. This hike was a 1.75 mile tough hike - pretty much straight up with the last part up solid rock (felt more like rock climbing). It truly was a bald mtn - we could see for miles all around - the ski runs of Cannon Mtn, Echo Lake, Vermont…. Drove to the town of Littleton to find an internet connection.
Jul 10 -- Drove the “Mt. Washington Auto Road”. Private road that took us to the 6288 ft summit (tallest peak in the east). The road was over a 4000 ft climb in 8 miles - it was a ‘white knuckle’ road for me the last 3 miles up & then back down. That part was a dirt narrow road that dropped offffffff! Lucky for me Mike does not have a fear of heights - I could never have driven it. It was pretty cloudy at the top so our visibility was limited. There is a large weather observatory (highest clocked wind of 231 mph) there as well as an old 12 room hotel that was used after the first road was completed in 1861. They actually went up in horse & buggy! The temp at the top was 54 degrees and 83 at the bottom - highest . We didn’t get enough mountain so we headed for another hike. This one was a 3 mile hike to Arethusa Falls. This was one of the toughest - it was rocky and a steep incline for 1.4 miles to the falls. The site was worth the effort - the falls were 200ft and the largest in NH.
Jul 11 -- Rain in the AM. Drove to Littleton to visit the 8th wonder of the world to Rver’s -- Walmart!
Jul 12 -- Stopped at the Mt Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods. This is a huge hotel built in 1902 - it looks out to Mt. Washington & all of the White Mountains. Hiked the 3 mile trail to Mt. Willard. This one was another steady incline up a narrow forested rocky path. Once at the top it was a “oh WOW’ view!
Tomorrow we leave for Graniteville, VT just south of Montpellier.
Jul 9 -- Hiked 1.5 miles to the Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park. The hike & Avalanche Falls were very impressive. Also saw a couple of the ‘famous’ covered bridges. Then on to another hike, this one to Bald Mountain & Artists Bluff. This hike was a 1.75 mile tough hike - pretty much straight up with the last part up solid rock (felt more like rock climbing). It truly was a bald mtn - we could see for miles all around - the ski runs of Cannon Mtn, Echo Lake, Vermont…. Drove to the town of Littleton to find an internet connection.
Jul 10 -- Drove the “Mt. Washington Auto Road”. Private road that took us to the 6288 ft summit (tallest peak in the east). The road was over a 4000 ft climb in 8 miles - it was a ‘white knuckle’ road for me the last 3 miles up & then back down. That part was a dirt narrow road that dropped offffffff! Lucky for me Mike does not have a fear of heights - I could never have driven it. It was pretty cloudy at the top so our visibility was limited. There is a large weather observatory (highest clocked wind of 231 mph) there as well as an old 12 room hotel that was used after the first road was completed in 1861. They actually went up in horse & buggy! The temp at the top was 54 degrees and 83 at the bottom - highest . We didn’t get enough mountain so we headed for another hike. This one was a 3 mile hike to Arethusa Falls. This was one of the toughest - it was rocky and a steep incline for 1.4 miles to the falls. The site was worth the effort - the falls were 200ft and the largest in NH.
Jul 11 -- Rain in the AM. Drove to Littleton to visit the 8th wonder of the world to Rver’s -- Walmart!
Jul 12 -- Stopped at the Mt Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods. This is a huge hotel built in 1902 - it looks out to Mt. Washington & all of the White Mountains. Hiked the 3 mile trail to Mt. Willard. This one was another steady incline up a narrow forested rocky path. Once at the top it was a “oh WOW’ view!
Tomorrow we leave for Graniteville, VT just south of Montpellier.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
