Sunday, Sept 30, Travel day to Woodstock, New Hampshire

Pulled out of a rain-soaked campground at 9:05, heading back north to Burlington. Trying  not to tip over! Rain was falling lightly.

After turning south-east past Burlington, we stopped at a full service rest area - there was a family set up there with bagels, butter, cream cheese, doughnuts, fruits, muffins,  coffee & much more - all for a donation. They are raising money to help with the costs of their daughter's skating equipment.
The skies appear to be clearing.......

We went through Montpelier, which is the Vermont state capitol and passed by the State Capitol building, complete with the gold-domed roof.


There were  beautiful colours going through Marshfield at 1200 ft elevation. The photo doesn't do it justice. A sunny day would have been nice!













We stopped at the small town of Joe's Pond, where there is a covered footbridge. It started raining while we were there.









We saw some vibrant colours on the hillsides, but it was hard to take a picture when moving at 60 mph!
At 12:47 we entered New Hampshire.
We passed by Cannon Mountain Ski Hill which has an aerial tramway that ascends to the 4100 ft summit (which we couldn't see due to the low clouds!)






Around the corner to the backside of the mountain was sheer rock!



Arrived at the KOA Woodstock under light rain, got set up & went in to town for fuel & groceries.

Saturday, Sept 29, Touring to Stowe

It is cloudy and 12C this morning as we head off to Stowe. Apparently, the leaves are at their peak there this weekend.
Along the way, we stopped at a Farmers' Market in Shelburne, under drizzly skies.

Next, we came across "Ben & Jerry's" Ice cream factory in Waterbury. www.benjerry.com  Of course, we took the factory tour, but there is no production on weekends and no photography allowed during the tour.
However, it was interesting to hear the story of how Ben & Jerry's came about.


At the end of the tour, we got to sample the newest flavour - Chocolate Nougat Crunch.


On the way out, bought 2 cones, which came to $8.99!!!










 

Then we continued on to Stowe, with showers off & on. The leaves were beautiful, but the cloudy weather didn't help. Stopped at Stowe Mountain Lodge, which is HUGE!










The next stop was at Mount Mansfield, which is Vermont's highest peak at 4395ft. The gondolas were running, but we felt $25.00 per person was a bit much since 3/4 of the mountain is shrouded in clouds!

We headed back south & stopped at Lake Champlain Chocolates, which was an Outlet store, not a production place. Bought some chocolate anyway!

Drove the scenic route back to the campground and arrived at 4:30, just in time for Happy Hour.
On the move tomorrow.

Friday, Sept 28, Burlington, Vermont

Woke up to a cloudy, damp morning. 9C.
Drove north to Burlington and the skies cleared - for a short while.

We found a place to park near the Church Street Marketplace (similar to Sparks St in Ottawa). As we wandered along the street, we came across this interesting-looking bicycle. The owner was nowhere in sight.

There are many decorated Teddy Bears along the street, sponsored by companies. Remember Toronto's moose?

After enjoying a pub lunch at Ri Ra Irish Pub, we came across a side street which had the entire wall covered with beautiful murals depicting a parade.

The next stop was Ethan Allen Park where we walked up a trail amongst towering trees to reach the Ethan Allen Tower, erected in 1905 to honour Vermont's revolutionary war hero.

We climbed the tower which offers good views of Green Mountain, the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain. Unfortunately, the day was cloudy, which limited the visibility. This area is in the "Banana Belt", so the leaves haven't turned much yet.






On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, where we took a guided tour. It offered a glimpse of the step-by-step creative process required to hand craft these jointed teddy bears.

A bear is created in 12 minutes, from start to finish, and they produce almost 500,000 bears a year, which are shipped all over the world!





That was enough for one day, as we headed back to the campground.

Thursday, Sept 27, moving on

By 10:00 we were packed up & ready to move on. It was sunny and 9C.

After a couple of delays due to construction, we crossed the new bridge into Vermont. There had been a ferry running until the bridge was opened last November.








At 11.40, we arrived at 10 Acres Campground, and after some shuffling around got set up. There had been a lot of rain last night and the ground was very soft.
After lunch, we went back across the bridge to look at Crown Pointe State Historic Site. It contains preserved ruins of the fortifications used during the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars.

Then it was off to find Fort Ticonderoga National Historic Landmark. Originally built by the French in 1755 to control the narrow shipping point on Lake Champlain, it was captured by the British in 1759. In 1775, Ethan Allen, and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Benedict Arnold, took the fort from the British in a bloodless surprise attack in 1775. www.fortticonderoga.org
 

Wednesday, Sept 26, Lake Placid Railway

We packed up a picnic lunch & drove to the Lake Placid Railroad Station to take the Adirondack Scenic Railway trip between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. www.adirondackrr.com
While waiting for the train departure, we toured the interesting Lake Placid Historical Museum, which has many exhibits depicting the rich history of the area.

The train departed at 11:00, starting the 20 mile round trip through Adirondack wilderness.

Along the way, there is a large beaver pond created by this masterpiece of beaver engineering - the locals call it the "Beaver Hoover Dam" because of its convex shape, holding the water back! The beavers know instincively to build the dam that shape so it won't be washed away!






We had a 1 1/2 hour layover in Saranac Lake, a small town, which in the late 1800's and early 1900's was a major tuberculosis treatment centre.

Recently opened is a beautiful wooden carousel created by local artists. Each animal was hand-carved and painted and has a ladybug hidden somewhere on it. This makes for a fun scavenger hunt!

Following that, we walked to the Robert Louis Stevenson Cottage, which was the author's home during the winter of 1887-1888. The cottage and original furniture have been preserved & the cottage houses a large, interesting collection of Stevenson memorabilia.

Then it was back on the train for the return trip. The fall colours are not at their peak yet, but there are some brilliant red trees.

Tuesday, Sept 25, Lake Placid

Went for a short hike on a campground trail. It was hard to follow as we walked alongside the Ausable River.

After breakfast, we drove to the Olympic Centre, which houses the 1932 & 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics Museum as well as the ice rinks where hockey & figure skating events were held. We took a guided tour which was excellent. Our informative guide recounted the action of the US - Russia game of 1980 with much enthusiasm.
The museum displays & exhibits bring to life the memories and accounts of Olympic achievements. There are torches, medals, skates, bobsleighs, and historical memorabilia from the Olympic Games.

Our next stop was the Olympic Jumping Complex, which is a year-round training and event facility. First, we watched members of the Russian team practicing aerial freestyle skiing, landing in the pool!

There are also 90 and 120 metre ski jumps, which were built for the 1980 Olympics.

Then it was a ride up in the chairlift which took us to the base of the 120 metre tower followed by an elevator ride up 26 stories to the skydeck!










                                                                       What beautiful views! The leaves are starting to change.











Our next stop was the Olympic Sports Complex, which offers more than 50 miles of groomed trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, a biathlon course, a combined bobsled/luge/skeleton track and the 1980 Winter Games bobsled track. We were actually able to walk on the bobsled track.

That concludes a busy day!

Monday, Sept 24, Lake Placid

We drove to Whiteface mountain to take the "Cloudsplitter" Gondola ride from the base lodge to the summit of Little Whiteface. Unfortunately, it is only running Friday to Sunday.

We decided to drive the 5 mile long Veterans' Memorial Highway almost to the summit, which affords grand views of the Adirondack High Peaks, Lake Champlain, and on a clear day, Canada! The highway ends at the Whiteface castle, just below the actual summit.
At the summit, at 4610 ft., is a castle built from native stone.

There is an unusual electric elevator deep inside the cone of the mountain, which goes to the summit, or you can hike the .2 mile hiking trail to the summit (which we did!) It is a steep climb over boulders, but features incredible views.

The alternative route is totally unique and features an elevator reached by a 426 foot long tunnel bored into the mountain, then the elevator climbs 276 feet up to the Stone Summit House. Clouds drifted over and dissipated while we were at the summit. We did take the elevator down to the outside world. 

After driving back down, we went for lunch at Saranac Sourdough - great sandwiches!

 

Then it was off to |Lake Placid Boat Tour, an hour-long narrated tour that travels 16 miles on one of the world's most beautiful lakes (a matter of opinion!)  Many stately manors are situated along the shores. It was a chilly, but intereating tour.

                                      

 

Whiteface Mountain

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Grenville Park campground is within walking distance of the International bridge, so it only took us 5 minutes to reach it and drive across to New York under sunny skies. Then the drive slowed down. After a 15 minute wait in line, we were told that we were "randomly selected by the computer" for a random check. Pull over, go into the building, fill out a form and hand the keys to the agent. After a brief check, we were given the all clear & were on our way.
Next, we encountered a detour, which took us out of our way. However, it was a lovely day & the road was good.
After a lunch/shopping stop at a Walmart, we arrived at the KOA Lake Placid in Wilmington, NY, 5 hours after starting out on a short 200 km trip. Got set up and Terry & Sharon arrived 2 hours later. Let the adventures begin!

Saturday, Sept 22

Good drive across Hwy 17/417 to Hwy 416, then south to Prescott, Ontario. Relaxing afternoon & evening. Short drive (3 hours) to Lake Placid tomorrow.

Heading East

Ready to start our tour of the New England states. I will update/post when possible.