Craig's blog

Today we drove from Lake George to Letchworth state park which means we drove from the east end of New York to close to the west end. It was more interstate driving than we've had the rest of the trip which made it easier - it was roughly 350 miles. 

We got to the park around 3:15 and explored some.  It's an unusual (which doesn't mean bad) park. It's long and skinny, has grass growing and mowed along its entire length (or at least the 15 miles we drove), has a giant community swimming pool at one end, etc. We hiked to the lower falls which were nice but the girls weren't impressed partly because they were comparing to Niagara falls and partly because they wanted to swim in the pool, which we did after that.

Tonight we grilled hamburgers, sang campfire songs around the fire, discussed our favorite parts of the trip and made s'mores for the last time.

We've been trying to consume what's left of the food we bought. We're also trying to figure out where to donate all the gear we had to buy ,  pots and pans, cooking equipment, bbq equipment, silverware, broom, etc. If you have any ideas for a place between here and East Aurora, I'm all ears.

Tomorrow we donate the stuff, return the motorhome, catch a shuttle to the airport and fly home.

Yesterday we made a couple of scheduled stops along our route. First, we stopped at the Morse maple syrup farm in Montpelier, VT. It was small and quaint with a DVD made by the owner describing how they make real maple syrup.

Then we continued on to the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory, which we all enjoyed. I was especially impressed by the good things the company and the founders do for the environment and the world. Their ice cream isn't bad either. We were also amazed by how much ice cream they produce in such a small factory.

Another fun sight was the ferry we took to cross Lake Champlain. We didn't realize we were going to take a ferry, highway 74 just stopped and the ferry that continually runs came and got us and took us across. It was a cool experience.

Today we spent the day boating and tubing on the lake. We all enjoyed it as usual when we rent a speed boat.  Everything was perfect - the air just above 90 and the water a comfy 80 degrees. When we weren't actually motoring around we were swimming in the lake

Tomorrow is our last full day.  Monday we return the motorhome and fly home.

We also enjoyed docking at lunch time at the public metered docks and walking up to the various deli's for lunch.

Thursday we drove from Acadia, across Maine and in to New Hampshire to Franconia State Park.  It was a beautiful drive.  Toward the end we were driving through the "mountains" of New Hampshire, which are pretty, wooded, but not very tall. :)

Franconia was pretty. I had selected it because of a hike to some falls that had been recommended to me. It was about 95 degrees when we arrived around 4:00. We got ourselves together and set off on the 2 mile walk to the falls. It seemed like we were walking through a tropical rainforest, particularly the way it smelled. The walk was along a small creek that grew as we walked downstream. The pools and falls were great.  The water was crystal clear, but we were surprised by how cold the water was. I'd guess it was 40 degrees. Very few of the folks that were there got in, but 4 out of the 6 of us did (very briefly and without breathing).

By the way, Franconia is the only place we've stayed so far where there was absolutely no cell coverage.

So much to do and so little time. Feels like the story of my life, but also of our days here in Acadia.

Today we left at 7:45 in the morning, drove to Bar Harbor and then caught a park shuttle for one of the coastal sections of the park. We got off at "sand beach" where we played for about 20 minutes before beginning to walk along the coast. We got to scramble over lots of granite which everyone loved and we visited "thunder hole" where the surf crashes into a hole with a boom. We caught the shuttle back to Bar Harbor where we got some sandwiches and ate sitting in the park overlooking the harbor.

Next we boarded a large boat for a lighthouse and park tour. The boat itself was very impressive - a catamaran with dual 1300 hp diesel engines driving jets. At times the seas were rough, but the boat was incredibly steady (it held 90 people) and was incredibly nimble. We visited 5 lighthouses and learned a lot about the islands of the area.  I took lots of photos which I'll upload when I find some time with some wi-fi somewhere.

We did a little more shopping in Bar Harbor and then came back to the campground where we finally made a home cooked dinner. I cooked chicken over an open fire which was yummy with rice and caesar salad. Now we're enjoying a roaring fire.

Tomorrow it's off to New Hampshire.

We had another excellent day today. We had pancakes and melon for breakfast, cleaned up and then headed off to Bar Harbor (about a 50 minute drive from our campsite). We rented 6 bikes to ride around on the "carriage roads". We road 4 miles on the dirt road (with some significant climbing and descending) to Jordan Pond house which is a beautiful building in a beautiful setting (you can see the setting in the attached photo). Everyone loved their meals - the restaurant is famous for popovers which is something we make at home often so everyone was eager to try them.  Then we rode about 7 miles back to town and returned the bikes. It was a beautiful ride in a picturesque setting.

Then we wondered around town where the girls did a bunch of shopping and we got ice cream comes from an amazing fudge and ice cream shop. I have a fun video from the shop that I'll push up whenever we can find time with some wi-fi.

We eventually had dinner outdoors overlooking Bar Harbor bay which was spectacular. On the way home we stopped at long pond (where we kayaked yesterday) to go for a sunset swim which we all enjoyed.

We have another full day at Acadia tomorrow, but there is so much to see and do, so I need to work on our exact plans now.

Today we got up early and drove off with the kids all still in bed to get to Acadia early and hopefully find a campsite. We got here at 10:00 and got a great site at the end of a row which means we mostly have forest around us.

Before lunch we walked out to Seawall (the beach near the campground) and had rock throwing contests. That's where this picture was taken.

We ate lunch in our campsite and then drove around the southern tip of the western piece of Mount Desert island. We walked around the tiny town of Southwest Harbor and bought a few groceries in a tiny store.
We came back to camp, relaxed for a few minutes and then grilled hamburgers and corn on a make shift grill. It was a delicious meal, that we had to get through quickly because we had reserved kayaks for a sunset paddle at Long Pond. We drove the 25 minute drive up there and went out on two tandems and two singles.  Kelli and Maddie started in the singles. After about 20 minutes all the girls wanted to jump in the lake so Patty and I floated while they frolicked in the warm water. It's a big "pond" - 4 miles long! We paddled from 6:30 to 8:00 and then the girls swam while I got the boats back up to the rental place. We stopped for ice cream on the way home. :)

Tonight's the first night we're dry camping and we learned another problem with the motorhome - the 12V battery has no capacity left. I think I'll try to replace it tomorrow.

This blogger app on my phone seems pretty good...

Today was great. We had a relatively relaxing start to the day with a home cooked meal of melon, eggs, bacon and hashbrowns. Then we took the relatively short drive to the harbor (~7 miles).  We did some souvenir shopping in the quaint town, had a good lunch with a great view of the harbor and then went to a kayak rental shop and rented 3 tandem kayaks.

We paired Patty and Katie, Kelli and Maddie, and Jessie and me. We paddled out for about an hour into the wind and arrived at our destination - Burnt island lighthouse. We spent about an hour on the island exploring and swimming and then headed back with the wind at our backs. I've always loved kayaking, and this was a great trip that the whole family could enjoy. It even got Jessie asking if we could get some kayaks of our own. :)

After the kayaking we all got some ice cream and then bought some food for dinner.

We came back to camp and cooked some lobsta and chowda along with green beans. The (hopefully) attached photo is of us enjoying our lobster.

We got the girls to do the dishes (I discovered last night that I could ask them to do them) and I'm sitting by the fire looking at the beautiful view of the water and trying to write my blog on my phone using an app I downloaded. We'll see how well it works...  We don't have wi-fi here and won't for the rest of the trip, so I thought I'd see what my phone could do.

Tomorrow we depart early for Acadia National Park. It's the only place we don't have reservations, so we're trying to get there early to get a spot.