Computer fixed, the catch up begins

 

Dead computer notwithstanding the road trip must go on.  Travelled directly north via the western side of Lake Seneca to Lake Ontario.  I’m guessing you’ve heard of at least one of these lakes.  Followed the lake around to Sackets Harbor where we stopped off for afternoon tea.  True story – all the cafes were closed so we had to go to a brewery.  Can’t say we were disappointed, even less so when we got samples of their brews.  Sue, being the responsible driver that she is, stuck to a nice amber ale while Jean & Dan tried all 8 of their ales on offer.

Afternoon tea at Sackets Harbor

Making our way along the coast we stopped at Tibbets Point Lighthouse where Lake Ontario meets the St Lawrence River and Seaway before making our way to Alexandria Bay.  We boarded a ferry (with minutes to spare) that took us for a cruise through the Thousand Islands before dropping us off at Boldt Castle.  There are some amazing holiday homes (read: mansions) on these islands.  Some of the islands are just large enough for one house.  Some of the islands are all house.  One of the islands barely meets the minimum requirement to be called an island and has no house.  The tour guide did a lot of name dropping of rich and richer people who own properties but I can’t remember (or care that much about) any of them.

One of the many summer home on Millionaires Row

This island is all house

It is permanently above the water line and can support at least
one tree so it is an island - the smallest one in the
Thousand Islands

One I did care about was George Boldt who started building the castle on Heart Island.  George made his millions in the hotel business and wanted to build the castle for his beloved wife, Louise.  He brought Hart Island, changed its name to Heart and had it reformed into a heart shape. 

Castle Interior

Building of the castle began in 1900 and stopped immediately in 1904 when Louise died suddenly.  George was heartbroken and never set foot on the island again and the buildings on the island were left to the mercy of the elements and vandalism.  The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority purchased the island and set about restoring all the buildings.  They have done a magnificent job to date and would love to come back in the future and marvel all over again.

Heart Island with Childrens Playhouse (left), Boldt Castle (centre) and Power House (right)

Sue found a computer shop to repair her computer.  The guy came recommended but with a disclaimer.  Not one to be judgmental she let the chain-smoking, long-haired greying hippy-type dude named Butch take her precious computer where he worked all hours getting it working again.  Thanks Butch, love ya work.  Now the fun part, catching up with diary writing, photo downloading, trip planning and blog updating to name but a few.

Driving through Adirondack Park

Took a scenic route across the Adirondack Mountains passing by Lake

Ausable Chasm

Placid (of the movie and not one, but two, winter Olympics fame – I know which one I would have preferred watching) and stopped at Ausable Chasm to check out … Ausable Chasm.  The chasm was pretty neat but the best bit was meeting Jerry and his wife from Louisiana.  Jerry asked where we were going in Louisiana.  I said “his place … and we’re bringing the RV”.  He said “bring it on” so we just might.

Next day we crossed into Vermont.  We were within coo-ee of the Canadian border and parked up so that Dan could walk across to Canada and get a stamp in her passport.  Of course parking a huge RV that close to an international border didn’t go down too well with the border guards but all was well when they discovered we were just crazy tourists.  Needless to say, drinks were on Dan that night.

Continuing our scenic journey – New England in the fall/autumn is as gorgeous as everyone who has been here says it is – we drove down some of the islands in Lake Champlain with such names as North Hero and South Hero (bit more romantic sounding than North Island and South Island) before connecting up with the mainland just north of Burlington. 

There is a huge collection of
retired and restored carousel
animals and artwork on display

Just south of Burlington is Shelburne, home to the Shelburne Museum.  It was established by Electra Havemeyer Webb in 1947 and houses a number of 18^th and 19^th century buildings from New York and New England.  The buildings themselves hold over 150,000 pieces of, predominantly, American artwork.  We were there just over 2 hours – got a good overview but barely scratched the surface.  Definitely a place to come back to, that list is sure growing.

Dan & Jean ride the vintage carousel

Shelburne Railroad Station

Museum comes with full-sized paddle steamer



These buildings hold, among other things, antique toys - could've
stayed in here for hours

Not Bay View #1 but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise

On our way to our overnight accommodation in Barre we stopped in at Ben

& Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory.  Previously we had heard of Ben & Jerry’s but never tasted it.  That oversight has now been remedied.  Rush Munro, Kapiti Ice Cream and Junction Ice Creamery – you have some serious competition.  Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is delicious and the flavour range is quite eclectic – check them out at this address: www.benjerry.com/flavors.  Also loved the Ice Cream Flavor Graveyard that has been created for flavours that don’t make the grade. 

Visiting the Flavor Graveyard ... in the dark ... we're not scared

Vermonty Python didn't make the grade

 

Our freezer now contains Chubby Hubby, Phish Food and Chunky Monkey.

 

... but not for long

 

 

While at Barre we visited Hope Cemetery. 

While we don’t usually go touristing through cemeteries we made an exception here due to the craftsmanship of the granite tombstones.  Barre has one of the world’s largest granite quarries and in the late 1800’s was full of artisans from around the world to work the stone.  The town of Barre encourages peope to walk or drive through (there was plenty of room for the RV) and we could see why.  Here’s some examples:

 

 

We required some sustenance after walking through the cemetery so

Not your everyday bigger block
coming down the line - can't remember
exactly but these blocks were
about 50 kilos

stopped in at Cabot to visit their cheese factory.  Their tour wasn’t a patch on Ben & Jerry’s (honestly, how can cheese compete with ice cream) but their samples were equally delicious.  Yeah, our fridge is now full.

Our whistle-stop tour through Vermont was a full-length excursion compared to the 36 miles we were in New Hampshire before crossing into Maine.  Time was getting on and cheese samples aren’t enough to sustain full grown women so we stopped at Roosters Roadhouse in Bethel for one last dinner before Dan headed back to New Zealand.  We had already decided we liked the place on entry – even more so when the owner gave us the okay to park out back for the night.  That meant we could all over-indulgence with impunity.  Good thing we are responsible adults though and just had a couple of brews with dinner.  The cocktails after dinner in the bar upstairs … well, that’s another story.

Enjoying a beer before the meal - note the flash mason jars - they come with handles

After dinner we headed upstairs for cocktails and that's all I'll say about that

The next day it was with great sadness that we drove down to Portland in Maine to put Dan on a plane back to New Zealand.  Hope you enjoyed your holiday sis.  It’s been great travelling with you.

We are three again

Had a nice relaxing morning in Hershey after getting in at 2.00am before making our way to Middleton to meet the Amtrak train and sister Danny.  The train duly arrived and off jumped a little old lady.  Then another little old lady.  Then finally a normal sized young one and that was our sister.  Big hugs all round then straight to the pub for lunch.  You may not believe this but the pub wasn’t planned – we stopped some locals and asked them if they knew a good place to eat nearby.  They did, it was the pub and there you have it.  I love locals who think like me.

A sign of things to come

Had a great time at JD’s Junction and the host, Todd, was fantastic.  Gave us samples of brews to try, samples of new and interesting food to try and a list of all the micro and macro breweries in the area.  Somehow I think he got the idea that we liked to drink beer.  Not quite sure how that came about.  He has made us promise to return when we come back at Christmas and, even if he’s not working, to get the staff to give him a call and he’ll be right down.  Meeting people like him are one of the things that I really love about this trip.

Woo hoo!  Another tourist trolley bus tour.

Back in Hershey we visited Chocolate World.  They have a tourist trolley bus that takes you round the town of Hershey pointing out buildings pertaining to Hershey history – both the chocolate and the philanthropic

The street lights are
Hershey Kisses

sides to Mr & Mrs Hershey.  They set up a residential school originally for orphaned boys which,

Chocolate World, Hershey

today is one of the wealthiest schools in the world.  Back at Chocolate World we took the free tour that shows chocolate making from go to whoa.  Still making our way through all the free samples.

 

Enjoyed a final dinner in Hershey with our hosts, Sue, Jim and Lily before heading off the next morning. 

Hibachi dinner with Sue, Jim and Lily

Arrived in Mt Joy and Bube’s Brewery in time for lunch and were very 

Brewers home, brewery and tavern
all side by side

kindly given a tour of the brewery after we had eaten.  Bube’s was established in the 1800’s and has a tavern attached to it along with catacombs.  These days the catacombs are used for dining but rumour has it they came in handy during the days of Prohibition.   Especially as there was a 

Dining in the catacombs

tunnel connecting to the house across the street.  Nice meal, nice brews. 

 

After the protracted lunch at Bube’s we continued south east to Lancaster, one of the largest Amish communities in North America.  Had a guided tour around Lancaster seeing a lot of Amish farms and farmers.  Stopped in a couple of stores and saw some lovely quilts and wooden toys but restricted our purchases to fruit, vegetables and ice creams.  The Amish must hate the tourists coming round and staring at them – must admit, it did feel a little strange.

 

You can have the pretend one

Or you can have the real one

Working the fields the old way

Sue fell in love with this quilt

I’ve had a soft spot for pretzels ever since an old penpal from Pennsylvania sent me some back when most New Zealanders had never heard of them (yep, back when the world was black and white) so we made a stop at Lititz to tour an old pretzel factory.  Got to make our own pretzel as part of the tour – not bad efforts if I say so myself.  They still make soft pretzels here although not in the original wood ovens that only stopped being used in recent times when a newer, larger factory was built in Shillington. 

Official pretzel makers (we have certificates to prove it)

Mills sisters and the giant pretzel - sounds like a book title

Great views of Reading
from The Pagoda

A quick lunch stop at The Pagoda overlooking Reading then headed to a town called Shartlesville where we got to see a huge miniature railway (for those who have seen Lilliput in Napier, multiply that by 20).  Had to go round twice to take it all in although could probably have gone round 10 times and seen new things each time.  The time and effort some people put into their hobbies is simply astounding.  It was getting a bit late in the day to stop at Yeunglings

Just one small section of the
Roadside America attraction

brewery, one of, if not the, oldest breweries in USA but we went for a drive past to check out the old building.  That turned out to be a bit of a challenge in itself as driving in Pottsville is a bit like driving in Wellington – hilly with winding, narrow roads.  We survived – as did the RV on tow. 

Carving a centerpiece
for a wedding

Took a detour out east of Scranton and visited an ice museum at Lakeview.  Got to see some ice carving from the warmth and comfort of the viewing area.  The carver came out to see us at one stage but, don’t get excited, it was just to get some circulation in his hands.  At the Ice Works they predominantly make their own crystal clear ice and either sell to others for carving or make their own.  A lot of people have centrepieces made for weddings and presentations which is what we got to see carved today.  They can also make free-standing bars for that special occasion or, basically, anything your imagination can come up with.

Continuing north we crossed into New York state and headed towards the Finger Lakes.  Since we missed it last time we were in the area and were so close this time, we decided to call in at the Corning Museum of Glass.  What a fantastic place.  Watched some practical demonstrations and wandered through the galleries just amazed at the skill of some artisans.  Could easily have spent another day here.

Glass blowing demonstration - making a pumpkin

Chess set

Dan having fun at the Corning Museum of Glass

Making a glass goat

Jean and the glass pumpkins

Montour Falls at the
end of the main street

Did a day trip through the Finger Lakes and initially didn’t think we’d get much past Montour Falls.  We arrived just as they were setting up for a Harvest Fair.  Had a wander round and partook of some of their wares (by that I mean food, not alcohol) then headed up the side of Lake Seneca.  We got as far as a winery and partook of some of their wares (by that I mean alcohol, not food).  We weren’t getting very far on this scenic tour at all.

Sue & Jean sampling the wares of the fair

The view from Chateau Lafayette Reneau (no wine, we'd already drunk them)

Eventually we were on our way.  Had an interesting stop in Waterloo.  During the Civil War a farm worker lodged his scythe in the fork of a tree telling people he’ll be back after the war to pick it up.  Sadly he didn’t survive the war and the scythe was left in the tree.  During World War I two brothers did the same, leaving their scythes in the tree as they went off to do battle.  They did survive however they left their scythes in the tree (I guess they had a better offer than life down on the farm).  The tree meanwhile, has grown up around the scythes – apparently the wooden handles have long gone but the blades are still embedded.  I couldn’t spot them.  If you have any joy please let me know.

Can anyone spot a scythe?
Does anyone know what a scythe looks like?
(apart from Grandad/Ian who used one as a boy)
No, it's not that steel bar sticking out on the right.

 

After having dinner in Syracuse we headed back to the campground where Sue was struck by a disaster – her computer had stopped working.  Oh no!  So now you know why there hasn’t been a blog update for a while.