Milepost 6,433 (Albany, NY)

We had a very busy day today.  It started quite early as we wanted to catch the 7:30 ferry boat across Lake Champlain from Burlington, VT, to Port Kent, NY.  We weren't sure how busy the ferry would be so we got there at 6:45 to get in line.  We ended up being the first in line of only six cars making the crossing.  But it was a very pretty ride.  It took about an hour and was a very nice trip, though a bit on the nippy side.

From there, we drove to Adirondack National Park.  Among other things, the park is home to Lake Placid, site of the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980.  Of course, the 1980 Olympics are famous for the so-called Miracle on Ice, which featured the U.S hockey team beating the Russians on the way to the gold medal.  Many, including me, consider it the greatest sports event of the 20th century.

We went on a tour of the Olympic facility in Lake Placid.  On the left is the Herb Brooks Arena.  Named after the coach of the U.S. team that year, this is where the the Americans beat the Russians in the semi-final game and then beat Finland to win the gold medal.  It's such an amazing place that I half expected Al Michaels to walk up and ask if we believed in miracles.

But that wasn't the only amazing feat of the 1980 Winter games.  There was also Eric Heiden, the speed skater who won five gold medals.  This photo shows the outdoor oval track (next to Lake Placid High School) where he won all those medals.  And if you look in the background, you can also see the ski jumps.

We left Lake Placid and the Adirondacks for one more visit to a Revolutionary War site.  This time it was the Saratoga National Historical Park.  This battle in 1777 represented an important win for the Americans.  This photo was taken at a British fortification called the Belcarres Redoubt.  This photo was taken from the perspective of the British with the Americans coming toward them.  The Americans forced the British to retreat, which was a turning point of the battle and the war.

We are now in Albany, NY.  We're going to be here the next five nights and make day-trips to various sites.

Milepost 6,234 (Colchester/Burlington, VT)

We spent the day criss-crossing Vermont.  Once you start driving them, you really get a sense of how small some of these New England states are.  And we didn't even get to Rhode Island!  Vermont looks very much like New Hampshire, which is to say it's another very beautiful state.  This photo was taken somewhere in the central part of the state.

But enough about scenic beauty.  Let's go to a far more important topic -- ice cream.  Having lived in Pullman, WA, the last eleven years, we were able to have the best ice cream we've ever had.  It's at Ferdinand's, which is on the campus of Washington State University.  We know that lots of people swear by Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  We've had it a few times, and it was never as good as Ferdinand's.  But it wasn't a fair comparison.  At Ferdinand's, we were buying the ice cream right where it was made, so freshness was assured.  Could Ben and Jerry's compete if we bought the ice cream where it's made?  Today, we had a chance to find out.

This is the Ben and Jerry's factory in Waterbury, VT.  So, of course, we had to go.  Purely in the interest of scientific discovery.  Could Ben and Jerry's match Ferdinand's?  In a word, no.  Not even close.  Don't get me wrong, the ice cream was quite good, and we enjoyed the treat.  But compared to Ferdinand's, the ice cream wasn't as good, the scoops were smaller and the cost was higher.

From there, we went to Stowe, which is a resort area best known for skiing.  We decided to take one of those alpine slide rides down the mountain.  This is a photo of Steph at the end of the ride.  I don't mean to imply that Steph was slow coming down the hill, but....  We left the top of the mountain at the same time.  Even though I didn't go that fast, I arrived at the bottom far enough ahead of her to casually pick up my cart, return to its proper place, get out my camera, wait for her to appear around the final curve and then snap two photos.  Don't look for her in the luge competition at the next Winter Olympics.

Milepost 5,988 (Lebanon, NH)

Unlike yesterday, today we could actually see what a beautiful state New Hampshire is.  Today was a mix of sun and clouds with temperatures in the 70's and low humidity.  A very nice today, and I believe tomorrow is supposed to be nicer.

We started this morning by going through New Hampshire's lakes region.  The is Lake Winnipesaukee (more photos here).  It's by far the largest lake in New Hampshire.  It kind of reminds me of the lakes in Minnesota, though the hills around it are much higher.  We were hoping to take a train ride that runs along the lake but that would have meant waiting another two hours, and we decided to drive on.

Next, we drove through the White Mountain National Forest on the Kancamagus Scenic Byway.  Lots of scenic stops along the way. 

Our last stop today was at the Flume Gorge.  It's a natural gorge where you walk along a stream with high granite walls on either side of you.  We had never seen anything quite like this.  If you're interested in seeing more photos, click here.

Tomorrow, we get to Vermont and then it's on to New York.  We've shortened this latter part of our trip as we're kind of anxious to get home.  So we're skipping going to back into Canada and spending a little less time in New England.  We expect to be back in Tacoma somewhere around September 16.

Milepost 5,763 (Tilton, NH)

They say that into every life, some rain must fall.  But enough is enough!  We've had four straight days of rain, often heavy and accompanied by heavy wind.  I read that as of early yesterday afternoon, it was the 8th heaviest August rainfall (3.54 inches) in Boston since 1955, and I'm sure we've had another inch or two since then.  (WEDNESDAY NIGHT UPDATE:  The latest four-day total is 7.3 inches of rain.)  But it sounds as though this "nor-easter" is running out of steam.  Tomorrow is supposed to be better and Friday much better.  That will be nice as we drive through New Hampshire and Vermont.

Despite the weather, we continued on with our journey, though it was curtailed a bit yesterday.  We drove first to Plymouth, home of -- you guessed it -- Plymouth Rock.  This is where the Pilgrims were said to have first stepped foot on land, though there is some doubt about that.

After Plymouth, we drove down to Hyannus on Cape Cod.  But we didn't spend a lot of time there.  The weather, including a lot of fog at that time, made it difficult to see much of anything.  I'm sure it's very beautiful, but on this day, the beauty was pretty much obliterated.

Today, we went to the sites of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, where the Revolution begin on April 19, 1775.  The first shot of the day was fired early in the morning at Lexington Common (above).  No one knows who fired that first shot, but it did spark a brief gun battle that resulted in the deaths of eight militiamen, the first to die in the war. 

Later that morning, the next confrontation occurred at North Bridge near Concord.  Ralph Waldo Emerson described the first shot of this battle as "the shot heard around the world," even though it was not the first shot of the war.  But it was the first time militiamen were ordered to fire at the British, killing two of them.

While Concord and Lexington are the best known battle sites of that day, the heaviest fighting took place along Battle Road, as the British troops were trying to escape back to Boston, which was still under British control.

Milepost 5,360 (Braintree, MA)

Greetings from windy and rainy Massachusetts. We're going through the first extended rainy period of our trip. Yesterday, it rained pretty much the whole way from Middletown, NY, where we had stayed the night before and Braintree, MA, where we're staying for three days. Today, it just poured and the winds were often quite strong. The next two days are expected to a little better, but still wet. Tomorrow, we're heading down to Cape Cod, and on Wednesday, we'll visit Lexington and Concord.

Yesterday,we stopped in Springfield, MA, for the Basketball Hall of Fame. It includes a wealth of information about basketball at all levels, including professional, college and high school. You can learn about all 293 members of the hall of fame, which includes former WSU/UW/PLU coach Marv Harshman. And, of course, there was the obligatory shrine to Michael Jordon. On the bottom level there's a basketball court where you can actually take some shots. Which I did, not that I made very many.

There is a lot of memorabilia from the past. For example, this is a jersey worn by Elgin Baylor when he played for Seattle University and led them to the Final Four in 1958, losing to Kentucky in the championship game.

Today, we turned our attention to earlier and more serious times in American history.  We visited the Adams National Historical Park, which includes the birthplace homes of Presidents John and John Quincy Adams.  It also includes the Old House at Peacefield, home to the four Adams generations from 1788 to 1927.  It was also the home where John Adams died on July 4, 1826, the same day Thomas Jefferson died and the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

This photo is the home in which John Adams was born in 1735.  It was also was where Adams first practiced law after graduating from Harvard. 

In 1764, Adams married Abigail Smith, and the couple moved into the farmhouse (below) that was just a few feet away.  This is where John Quincy Adams was born. 

While our group was in this house, we were paid a brief visit by John Adams.  At least he claimed to be John Adams.  Unfortunately, I have no photographic evidence since photos were not permitted inside the houses.  But he was there, though somehow, I expected him to look a little more like Paul Giamatti. 

The last photo is of the Old House at Peacefield.  The Adams acquired this house after living in luxurious homes in France and England.  After those experiences, they did not want to return to the more mundane house pictured above.

Cruise Update (Days 4-9)

Our cruise is over.


:~(

But we had a wonderful time. And it was a very nice break from all the driving. The following is a day-by-day chronology of the final six days of the cruise. If you missed it, scroll down for a description of the first three days.

Cruise: Day 4 (Sunday)

This was our day in Bar Harbor…excuse me, that’s Bah Hahbah, Maine.

We did an excursion into Acadia National Park. It’s one of the nation’s oldest and most visited national parks, and the scenery is spectacular. We were fortunate to have a beautiful day for our visit. We were told that fog and low clouds are common this time of year. Our bus tour took us along the coastline, where the top photo was taken.
   

From there, we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain, which is the highest point (some 1,500 feet) on the east coast, making it the first place in the U.S. to see the sun rise each morning. The area reminded me of the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound. After our tour, we walked around Bar Harbor, which is a quaint and very busy community. It was also an opportunity to have perhaps the best blueberry muffin I’ve ever had. It was right out of the oven and had that crunchy kind of muffin top that is soooo good. 
 
 
 
Cruise: Day 5 (Monday)
 

On this day, we reached the Canadian portion of our travel, docking in Saint John, New Brunswick. Saint John is the home of the Reversing Falls in the Saint John River. That’s actually a misnomer; it’s really a rapids – not a waterfall – that reverses direction. This area of New Brunswick has a very high tide. During high tide, the water from the ocean pushes into the river, actually causing the river – and the rapids – to flow backward. Unfortunately, we were there during low tide, so this photo shows the river flowing in the normal direction. So, to summarize – you’re looking at a photo of a river flowing in the direction it usually flows. Pretty exciting, huh?  OK, I guess you had to be there.
 
Cruise: Day 6 (Tuesday)
 

Halifax, Nova Scotia, was our fourth port in four days. We took a bus trip to see Peggy’s Cove, which is an old fishing village about an hour away from Halifax. Here we are standing in front of the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove. It was a very beautiful trip, though it would have been nicer without the clouds, rain and fog. 
 
 

By the time we returned to Halifax early in the afternoon, the sun was out, and we decided to walk to the Halifax Public Gardens, which we had driven past that morning on the bus. This photo shows just a few of the thousands of flowers in the garden.


Cruise: Day 7 (Wednesday)

After four straight days of port visits, this was a day at sea (on our way to Boston), so we kind of took it easy. Since I have no photos from a port to show you, I’ll share a couple of our cabin. 
We booked just a basic, inside cabin. While it would have been nice to have a window or, even better, a balcony, we couldn’t justify the additional cost. As I recall, upgrading to a balcony (and a slightly larger cabin) would have cost us an extra thousand dollars, if not more. We figured there were better ways to spend that money.

The first photo looks into the cabin from the doorway. Yup, it’s small, though I think this photo may make it look smaller than it actually was. I think it was around 175 square feet.

The second photo is from the bed looking back toward the entrance. The bathroom is on the right, and you can see the closet, desk and TV on the left. Even though it’s small, it’s usually fine. But we did end up stepping over each other when we’re getting ready to go to dinner.


Cruise: Day 8 (Thursday)
We had our final port of call today – Boston. The problem with such a stop is that Boston requires far more time than the few hours available on a cruise excursion. Still, we were able to see some significant historical sites. And have a very good slice of pizza at the Quincy Market.

One of our stops was to see the USS Constitution, (above) perhaps better known as "Old Ironsides."  It's actually possible to board the ship and walk around the main deck.  There are also guided tours that take you below, but the limited amount of time we had in Boston precluded that.

The second photo shows the Old North Church in the background and a statue of Paul Revere in the foreground. If you remember your high school American history, you’ll know that’s the church where lanterns were hung to signal whether the British were coming by land or by sea, sending Paul Revere on his famous “midnight ride.”
 

This was a special day for us as we celebrated our 38th anniversary! In the photo on the left, we’re being serenaded by the cruise staff with their version of “Happy Anniversary.” That’s the head waiter on the left, the waiter for our table in the middle and the assistant waiter on the right. What they lacked in singing ability, they made up for with enthusiasm.


Cruise: Day 9 (Friday)
When we began this cruise, we were wondering whether a nine-day cruise would be too long. We can say without any hesitation that it is not!  We enjoyed a relaxing day at sea on this, our final day of the cruise.

Probably our favorite part of each day on the cruise was in the evening, beginning with dinner. Of course, the food was part of it, but so was the good company at our table and our excellent wait staff. We were assigned to a table with three other couples, and they made our cruise even more delightful than it otherwise would have been. This photo was taken at our table on the final night of the cruise. From left to right (standing next to me): Our assistant waiter, Damaciano from India, our waiter Ashton from Guyana, and Ed and Kathie from Virginia. Seated next to Steph are Clare and Kevin from Toronto. The fourth couple was not with us on the final night of the cruise.

Each night when we’d return from dinner to our cabin, we were greeted with an animal that our cabin attendant (Patricia from the Bahamas) had shaped from a bath towel. We had a swan, a dog, an elephant and others. But our favorite was this monkey hanging from a clothes hangar and wearing my sunglasses.


We would then head to the Orpheum Theatre for that night’s entertainment. Two of the nights featured productions by the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers, and the other seven nights featured “headliners,” including comedians, singers, a magician and a juggler. While there was only one act we had actually heard of, all of the performers were excellent.

As for the group we had heard of, if you were a teenager in the late 60’s as we were, you’ll probably remember songs like See You in September, I’ve Got Rhythm, and Go Away Little Girl. The group was The Happenings, and they performed on the next to last night of the cruise.

Well, that concludes the update on our cruise. We’re sorry to see it end, but we’re looking forward to the rest of our trip and to getting to our new home in Tacoma about a month from now.


We’ll close with a photo of ourgranddaughter, Chloe, who we have not seen for about a month and a half.  Which is MUCH too long!  She's cheering on the Tacoma Raniers baseball team.

Update From the Cruise

Just a quick update from Deck 5 on our cruise ship.  We're docked in Portland, Maine, and I'm using wi-fi from a nearby hotel.  This will likely be the only update while on our cruise as Internet access on the ship is slow and expensive.


Cruise: Day 1 (Thursday)

This was our departure day. We woke up in our hotel to a very strong thunderstorm that rolled through the Baltimore area. Fortunately, it had no effect on our cruise plans. We went to the cruise terminal about noon. The process went quite smoothly, but we did quickly discover one problem. We were supposed to be scheduled for the early dinner seating (5:30) but the cards we were issued had us at the late dinner seating (8:00). That is SO not us. However, we were able to get it changed, so it all worked out.

We went to our cabin and waited for our luggage to arrive so we could unpack. As is the case on cruise ships (unless you can afford the really expensive cabins), the cabin is small but is adequate. The biggest challenge is the small bathroom, especially the really small shower. But that’s part of being on a cruise.
After unpacking and changing clothes, we went to dinner (at 5:30…not 8:00!). We are at a table with three other couples, two from Virginia and one from Toronto. All very nice people, and we really enjoyed their company.

Our ship, Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas, has a very nice theatre that has entertainment each evening. On this night, it was a comedian named Carl Banks. He’s been in a number of sitcoms, though mostly in smaller roles. We enjoyed him.

Cruise: Day 2 (Friday the 13th!)

This was a day at sea as we made our way toward our first stop in Portland, Maine. We’re trying to keep up our exercise routine, so we started the day in the fitness center. And we’ve spent quite a bit of time outside on Deck 5, where you can walk almost the entire circumference of the ship. It was a beautiful, sunny day, though quite windy for walking outside. And the winds made for a somewhat bumpy ride.


The evening entertainment was a pianist/singer named (I think) Glenn Smith. I guess he’s done a lot of performing in Las Vegas. We were a little skeptical about this one, so we found seats that would make for an easy exit. As it turned out, I wish we would have been closer to the stage, because the guy put on a great show.

Cruise: Day 3 (Saturday)

The winds had died down by the time we arrived in Portland about 10:00 this morning. We watched from an outside deck as the ship docked. It’s amazing how slow it goes. It is literally inching along as it gets into the right position along the dock.
It is a beautiful, sunny day. The humidity is low and the temperature is around 80 degrees, which is a welcome relief for us. None of the excursions sounded interesting to us, so we decided to just walk around downtown. It was a very short walk from where the ship was docked. Portland has a very interesting downtown with lots of very nice shops.

That's it for now.  We're going to do some walking a get ready for the evening.  Tomorrow, we'll be in Bar Harbor, Maine.  We'll have a further report and more photos at the end of the cruise.

Milepost 5,043 (Baltimore)

Not much to report.  We've spent most of our time in Baltimore getting ready for the cruise, attending to some personal business that came up and trying to avoid the heat.  Last night, we went to the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore and ate at The Cheesecake Factory.

Tomorrow, we head over to the cruise terminal around noon.  Our cruise leaves at 4:00.  We are most anxious to get underway.

Blog updates will be less frequent during the nine-day cruise, but I hope to post at least a couple of them.  Thanks to everyone who is following along.

Milepost 4,955 (Exton/Philadelphia)

We're about to conclude our visit to the Philadelphia area.  Yesterday, we drove to downtown Philadelphia to see some of the great historical sites there, especially Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

We weren't entirely sure we'd be able to get into Independence Hall.  We didn't know -- and consider this a tip if you ever plan to visit there -- that you're supposed to get your tickets for Independence Hall in advance.  Fortunately, they had some left-over tickets that were handed out first thing in the morning. 

It was amazing to be in the actual room where the nation's founders wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  That's the room on the left.  The photo includes our tour guide, who was the best tour guide we've had of any of the places we've visited.  I believe his name was Tom, and he made our visit much more meaningful.

Of course, you also have to see the Liberty Bell.  Here's something neither of us knew -- the bell got its name from abolitionists in 1830, long after the revolutionary war was over.  Before that, it was just the Pennsylvania Statehouse Bell. 

Our plan today was to see the Brandywine Battle Historical Site.  Unfortunately, it was closed.  So we did a little shopping and a lot of loafing.  Which, actually, was just fine.

Tomorrow morning, we drive to Annapolis Baltimore.

Milepost 4,836 (Exton/Philadelphia)

We drove from Gettysburg to the Philadelphia area today.  We'll be here until Tuesday morning.  The drive took us through Dutch Country, but we didn't find much that interested us there.

This afternoon, we went to Valley Forge, which is where the Continental Army, under the leadership of General George Washington, spent the 1777-78 winter.  The top photo shows replicas of the log huts that housed the soldiers.  Little know fact:  as the photo shows, soldiers were permitted to have their own bicycles.  Who knew?

General Washington   had somewhat better quarters.  He and his staff lived in the Isaac Potts House, which was the focal point of camp activities. Martha joined him for four months.  This is the original house, which has been restored to look as much as possible the way it did back in 1777-78.

Lastly, as the final photo shows, General Washington himself made an appearance.  Seemed like a nice guy.

Tomorrow, on to the Liberty Bell.