Lady Liberty

Guess what we did yesterday? Yup, took the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. A hot and humid day but clear views. Touring Ellis Island was so interesting - hard to imagine how terrifying the experience must have been for those who immigrated here. We had tickets to go inside the statue but after discovering how long and slow the line was we decided not to wait 2 hrs and gave our tickets away! Tickets to actually climb the 356 steps to the crown are sold out until November 2009. People on the ferry said the steps are steep, narrow and it was soooo hot! Seeing her from afar was plenty for us.
The tour of New York City on Tuesday was great - saw it all. We went to the Top of the Rock last night and saw the city from 68 stories up. Always a great way to get the "lay of the land." We are pretty proud of ourselves for figuring out the PATH, the subway, and the ferry systems and getting around OK. We have been pleasantly surprised at how many New Yorkers see us with a map and stop and ask if they can help.
They are not so nice when driving their cars!!! Would love to bike in Central Park and they say we can take our bikes on the subway but we are not that brave. Will check out bike rentals. Going shopping today but it looks like we'll be dodging rain storms!!!
People next to us in the RV park are from Austin - small world!

The Big Apple

We flew to Michigan on Friday and returned yesterday. Thank you, Megan and Southwest Airlines! Spent Saturday with Mom and my family and Sunday with Roger's. Dave & Marion's 50th wedding anniversary party was so nice and it was great to see family and friends for a happy occassion.
We drove to New York City today. We were like Dora & Boots when we arrived - "We did it, we did it!" Driving in this city traffic is definitely a challenge but Roger did well. Two different people we met, at other campgrounds, told us to take the Palisades Parkway, from CT to NY, and not the highway the GPS was suggesting, so we planned our directions accordingly. We got to the turn off and the sign says "Car traffic only" - we had to pull off the road and make a major navigational change!
The "campground" (cement parking lot with water & electric) is at a marina on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. The ferry dock is just across the parking lot and we can see the Statue of Liberty from the motorhome. We are sitting here watching commuters get off the ferry and head for home. We are taking an all day tour of the city tomorrow. Supposed to be warm but raining - beats cold and raining!
Did you see Heather's blog? Emily is crawling!!

Thompson, CT

We moved to West Thompson Lake campground in Connecticut on Sunday. It is a Corp of Engineers Park not far from the airport in Providence, RI. We are flying to Michigan on Friday and returning on Monday - going to attend Dave & Marion's 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration and see Mom. Not much to see and do here and yesterday was another rainy day so we went to the movies. We split up - I cried through "My Sister's Keeper" and Roger saw "Star Trek." I didn't have to sit through sci-fi and he didn't have to endure a chick flick. Plus we didn't have to share popcorn - worked out well! Have been planning our trip to New York city next week - what to see & do and making reservations for tours.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly:
The Good: Polly's Pancakes - advertised the best pancakes in the country and after 6 oatmeal buttermilk with pure maple syrup I have to agree! They serve them 3 at a time so they are warm to eat!
The Bad: We specifically asked if we could leave the motorhome unattended at this campground and were told yes - now the ranger says no way - so we have to move again tomorrow before we fly to Michigan.
The Ugly: The mosquitos remain #1 on the ugly list! Heather says they are horrible in Malaysia too. We talked to Samantha on SKYPE this morning (which is her bedtime, 12 hours later than us) and she had on her Christmas snowflake PJ's with long sleeves and legs with the Cinderella nightgown Judy found for her over the top! She loves her nightgown but has to wear the PJ's so the mosquitos can't bite her arms & legs at night! Sounds like a reason to come home to me!!!

Cascade Brook - Appalachian Trail

We are more adventuresome now, in our "old" age, then we were when we were "young."
We hiked about 3-4 miles on a trail with elevation changes around 500 feet today. The trail follows Cascade Brook, up to Kinsman Falls, and Rocky Glen Falls, joins the Appalachian trail for a distance and then intersects the "Pemi" trail along the Pemigewasset River. We walked, climbed and literally crawled up and over tree trunks/roots, boulders and mud holes as the rivers cascaded beside us. We lost count of how many brooks, streams and rivers we crossed - not on bridges - but by using boulders as stepping stones. The scenery is amazing - there is a beautiful waterfall around every turn. We met two single guys on the trail - other than them it was just us and the woods. Wondered about bears! Took us about 3 hours but it was invigorating. We were so proud of ourselves! Held down a lawn chair most of the afternoon and probably won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow! If you want to see our web album with pictures of our trek just email me and I will send it to you. Figured we should document the hike or no one would believe we did it!

Kancamagus Pass

"Sunshine on my shoulders, makes me happy...." We played golf yesterday - the course beat our butts! Don't know why we expected to do well when we haven't played in ages!
We hiked 1.5 miles up to Artists Bluff in the afternoon. It's about 200 feet high - known as a popular place for artists to go to paint the mountains. More beautiful views.
Today we packed another picnic lunch and drove the Kancamagus Scenic Byway. A gorgeous drive through the mountains with numerous stops at scenic overlooks and 3 hikes to gorges and falls. Streams tumbling over rocks & boulders all along the way.
We ended up at Mt. Washington. At 6,288 feet, it is the highest peak in the northeast. We decided to drive to the summit on the Mt. Washington Auto Road - an 8 mile, 12 degree grade two-way road. There is a sign that says something like "if you are afraid of heights you might not enjoy this trip as much as others." Now, I'm a little hesitant about high places - never would I go to the edge and look down! - but, I don't panic either, so I didn't think much about it. The lower part of the road was lovely but then we got to the part where there are no guard rails and a sheer cliff is right next to the car - I mean, if you stopped the car you could not open the door and step out without falling off the edge! We finally got within a mile of the summit and a cloud rolled in and we couldn't see a thing in front of us -luckily there was a service road that Roger could pull over on. We waited for awhile, the cloud finally blew away and we ascended to the top. There is an observation tower & museum there - by the time we parked and got ready to go tour it - it was gone! Another cloud came in and we truly could not see it! The temperature at the base of the mountain was about 67 degrees - at the summit it was 55 degrees and so windy you could hardly stand up. In fact, the highest winds ever recorded were on Mt. Washington, in 1934, at 231 miles/hour! By that time I was really worried about how we were going to see to get down! We waited for the cloud to move on and seized the moment to begin our descent. My footprint is embedded in the floor board of the passenger side as I applied "my brake" all the way! Forget the panoramic views - our eyes were staring at the road! I literally started to do the relaxation breathing they taught me at Lamaze Classes - 35 yrs ago! - "in through your nose and out through your mouth - slowly, slowly!!!" Forget any pictures - I was too afraid to let go of the door handle! Thank you Roger, for driving us safely. We came home, kissed the ground, and slurped down margaritas on the "patio!"

Franconia Notch

We had a great 8 mile bike ride this morning - in & out of the woods, past cascading streams, mirror surfaced lakes and mountain vistas - but were glad the car was waiting at the end of the trail. Would not have been as much fun coming back up - there is a 700 foot downhill elevation change! Franconia Notch is actually a "pass" where the road goes over the mountains - hardly visible in the landscape unless you are on the road. The park attendant told us there are a couple of bear families with cubs living in the mountains behind the campground and sometimes they can be seen on the ski slopes this summer. Says she has one behind her house that visits so frequently that she is afraid to swim in her pond. We said "You swim in this weather?!!" - we haven't had our sweatshirts off! We stopped by to tell her thanks for helping with the car positioning and that we had a great ride - she told us last year there was a guy jogging on the same path and he saw a baby moose - he was so busy watching it that he ran right into the mother moose and dislocated his shoulder! No bears or moose for us! We have seen plenty of ravens - like crows only bigger and they make a really annoying sound. The ranger says to be aware when you are eating outside - they swoop down and grab your food! It rained again this afternoon so instead of hiking we went exploring in the car. They predict sunshine tomorrow - maybe we can play some golf!

White Mountains

We travelled to the White Mountains in New Hampshire on Sunday. Our campground is right at the base of Cannon Mountain and on the edge of Echo Lake. More gorgeous country! Texas is going to look "bare" when we return - we are so used to trees everywhere up here. We hiked the "Flume Gorge" this morning - another lovely area where the glaciers carved a chasm and water falling over thousands of years has sculpted unbelievable scenery. They say it was discovered by a 93 year old woman who went out trout fishing and came across it on her way home - her family thought she was crazy because they had never seen it before! We have been packing picnic lunches when we go exploring - ate at the "Basin" today - another mountain stream falling over rocks and pools. A cable car ride to the top of the mountain this afternoon, a walk around the "Rim Trail" with panoramic views of the White Mountains topped off the day. Sunny but cool - wore our sweatshirts most of the day.
Going biking tomorrow. Roger has made arrangements for one of the park workers to pick him up at the parking lot at the end of the 8 mile trail - he'll leave the car there so we can enjoy the ride "down" and not have to endure the ride back "up!"

Penobscot Bay Bridge

We are beating the odds - 2 days of sunshine in a row! Went exploring in the car and saw Penobscot Bay Bridge. There is an observation room in one of the towers - could see for miles in all directions. Notice the old bridge is still there next to the new one - how technology has changed. There are many old, humongous (is that a real word?)Victorian looking homes in the harbor towns and along the coastline with "widows walks" on top. Guess the sea captains made good money. The coastline is so rugged you can not have a dock or a boat (at least at the house)and you certainly can't swim - so it must be the ocean view. Going to Bar Harbor for dinner and shopping tonight. Roger is excited - about dinner, not the shopping!
PS - Elvis is alive! He was at the campground last night and sang all his "oldies but goodies" - even gave me a neck scarf as a memento!

Acadia National Park

Wednesday - We took the scenic loop road around Acadia National Park today. The scenery is so beautiful that it even looks pretty in 50 degree weather, rain & fog! A good day for a car tour. I jokingly told Roger that we should come back some time in the summer! Roger called an RV repairman to come out and help him fix a leak in the passenger side window. He can not seem to figure out what is wrong and is afraid they will need to take the window out to diagnose/fix the problem. We've never been in this much rain! Hope he can work us into his schedule - kinda' hard to take your house in for repairs! Ate lobster for dinner again - can't get my fill of it!
Thursday - We were like excited kids at Christmas when we woke up today - the sky was blue and the sun was shining!!! We packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the bikes and went exploring on the carriage trails. Rode around Witches Hole and then climbed Cadillac Mountain (in the car!) and ate our lunch while basking in the sunshine and enjoying the most incredible view of Eagle Lake and Bar Harbour. Met someone that said they have been in the area for 14 days and this is the second day of sunshine! We are so fortunate!

Whale Watching

We took a whale watching charter out of Gloucester yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful day and we saw 5 different humpback whales several times. The naturalist that narrated the tour was really educational and called the whales by name. They can be identified by markings on the bottom of their fins and often feed in groups. They migrate to the area to feed during the summer months and then go to warmer waters to breed in the winter. Three of them surfaced on one side of the boat and then swam under the boat and surfaced again on the other side - very unusual. They dive and surface about every 4-6 minutes. It was pretty awesome to see them in the wild!
We went to Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier for dinner - a unique restaurant on the picturesque harbor in Kittery, Maine that Kyle told us about. They specialize in seafood - primarily lobster - and allow patrons to bring in anything that they do not sell. That includes beer & wine and all sorts of food. We saw people come in with picnic baskets, table clothes, wine glasses and toss their own salads while they waited for their lobsters to be steamed! It was fun and delicious!
Today, we took a lobster boat out in Portland Harbor. Another beautiful day and there are many gorgeous homes, sailboats & yachts along the coastline. We learned how to throw and harvest lobster traps - a tough way to make a living - no high tech ways to do it! Got a bunch of crabs but no lobster big enough to keep. Enjoyed shrimp, fried clams and a cold beer on the pier before leaving. On to Bar Harbor tomorrow.
We talked with Heather & Samantha on Skype the other day and Samantha asked Roger if there was a playground at "our park" - Roger told her there was and she said "Do you need a little girl to come play with you?" Hard to keep the tears from coming!
Emily is now using sign language to "say" MILK. Heather said Wendell assembled her crib in their new house and when he put her in it she giggled and got all excited - poor thing has been sleeping in her "pack 'n play" for ages!
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly:
The Good: The rain has stopped! The locals say they were growing webbed feet!
The Bad: The State of New Hampshire controls liquor sales and they have huge stores and sell liquor at all N.H. rest stops along the highways. Doesn't make sense to us -
to sell booze on the interstates!
The Ugly: the MOSQUITOES!!

July 4th

Happy Birthday America, Missy & Joel!
The rain stopped, the sun came out and we had a glorious 4th of July week-end. We drove to the small town of Ayer, near the campground, on Saturday afternoon, sat on the sidewalk and watched the "July 4th Parade." Mostly kids on their decorated bikes, firetrucks from all the surrounding towns and anyone that has on old car! Reminded us of Hanover, imagine the same scene was played out in small towns across the country.
The Community Boating party (we had tickets) started at 4pm so we rode the subway to Boston (no more $40 parking for us!) and made our way to the shores of the Charles River. Community Boating is an organization that promotes sailing - many sailboats of all sizes are available for lessons. They sell tickets to a catered dinner on July 4th and everyone sits on their docks, or in one of the boats - they have a DJ until the Boston Pops start playing and then a local radio station broadcasts it so we heard the concert too. The Esplanade and Hatch Shell, where the Pops perform, was right next door to Community Boating. We were surprised at how small the park is - no wonder people wait in line all night to get in for the annual event. Actually, there were people waiting in line to get into the dress rehearsal on Friday night! Neil Diamond was the guest performer and the concert was wonderful. Four F-15's from the Air National Guard did a "fly by" just as the concert started. They play the
"1812 Overture" right before intermission, fire the cannons and give a small fireworks display - just to give you a hint of what is coming! The fireworks were indescribable and awesome! Would you believe the family next to us on the dock were from San Antonio! We had such a great time - a once in a lifetime experience we will always remember. The trip home was also memorable! Thousands of people trying to leave the city at the same time, but the police and transportation employees did an excellent job of managing the crowd and getting people on the subways. The biggest problem was getting out of the parking garage at the end of the line! Got home at 2am - way, way past our bedtime!!

Boston Walking Tour

We had a wonderful dinner with the Frazier's last night - Ray & Cindy with his daughter Gale, her husband Casey, Caroline (almost 4 yrs) and Samuel (4 mns.) They were gracious enough to invite us to their home in Framingham while Ray & Cindy were visiting from San Antonio. They were leaving this morning to vacation in Stowe, VT this week-end. Hope the weather cooperates for them.
The sun was out today! The first time in 3 days! We rode the subway into Boston this afternoon (no more $40 parking tickets for us!) and walked along the Charles River, through the "Back Bay" area, down Newbury Street (shopping!) and around Boston Commons. We went up to the Observation floor in the Prudential Tower and enjoyed panoramic views of the city and the harbor.
It was a "dry run" so we could find the Community Boat Dock - we have tickets for a July 4th celebration there tomorrow. It is located right on the river just below the bridge in the picture. Looking forward to a fun 4th with the Boston Pops!

Boston Tour

We took a bus tour of Boston all day yesterday. A good way to see many of the historic sights or at least drive by the attractions. We saw: the Bunker Hill Monument; the Old North Church; Fenway Park; Boston Harbor; Quincy Market & Faneuil Hall; the Old State House; Boston Common; Beacon Hill; Newbury Street (have to go back there and shop!) the North End; Cambridge & Harvard and Boston University where Kyle went to college. We were disappointed because the USS Constitution is undergoing renovations and will not sail this 4th of July. They usually sail out into the harbor and fire a 21 gun salute every July 4th. It has rained all day today so we stayed home, paid bills, balanced accounts, did laundry and got groceries. Now we are free to play when the weather clears. The locals say it has rained 21 out of the last 24 days! About time it stopped! Wish we could send some to Texas!
Yesterday was Mom's 86th birthday. She went out to dinner with Judy & Mel and had a good day.