Just ahead of Irene

Well, we left Acadia National Park and headed west on Thursday morning.  The weather has been perfect except for that one evening, our first night in Manhatten.  Maine is a very beautiful state, with it's tall, green, rolling hills and peaks.  New Hampshire is the same.  As we drove through New Hampshire, we came across this coffee house and decided we had to check it out.  By the way, there aren't a lot of restaurants in New Hampshire.

                                         That's Susan peeking around the front of the Vee Dub

Vermont is a lot like New Hampshire.  It's a bit more artsy and cultured.  Burlington is a college town with a lot of small shops.  It's where we picked up the ferry that goes across Lake Champlain into upstate New York.  We had time on the ferry to fish out Susan's cell phone that had fallen deep into the bowels of the Vee Dub dash.

                                                 "God, hear my prayers, find my cell phone"

                                           The master cell phone retriever sits atop his throne.

We drove through Lake Placid and the olympic villiage there.  The streets are a lot like what you might see in Door County.

Then it was off to Niagara Falls where we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast..  The falls are really a magnificent site.  We took The Maid of the Mist boat trip to the base of the falls.  The American Falls are great but the Horseshoe Falls close to the Canadian side are more spectacular.

                                           American Falls closer, Horseshoe Falls way back.

The right side of Horseshoe Falls.  There is so much mist that it's hard to take a picture of all of Horseshoe Falls.

Horseshoe Falls

                                                             From the American side

                                                                            Ditto

So we cross into Canada this morning.  We'll probably go for a bike ride on the Canadian side of the Falls.  Then it's back on the road and into Michigan north of Detroit late this afternoon.  We plan on camping next to Lake Huron this evening.  We will likely camp one more night before arriving back in Marshfield some time on Tuesday.

Hasta la Vista........baby

Pics from New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont

Lunch at a cafe in Little Italy, Manhatten

                                                  Susan had the Lasagna, I the Canneloni

                       Tom Seleck was filming on location near Chinatown when we happened by.

                                         One of the buildings that is replacing the Twin Towers

                                 Susan and one of the construction workers on break at the site.

Where's Waldo..ah..Susan at Penn Station in Manhatten

             Dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp near Time Square.  The view was better than the food.

                          The best meal so far was had here in Portland, Maine.  Thanks, Yelp!

Fresh Lobster Scampi............Heaven!

                                                            The Vee Dub in full dress

Thanks for viewing.  I'll post some more pics later tonight after Prime Rib and Lobster at the Seneca Casino in Niagara Falls, (two blocks from our Bed and Breakfast and the porch where I sit as I compose this blog.

Broadway, Time Square, the Twin Towers Site, Portland, Maine

It's been several days since the last post.  That's not because there hasn't been anything to say.  Rather, our internet connections have been really slow on the uploading end.

I think we left off in Cleveland.  That was last Saturday and it's now Wednesday morning.

We drove to Fort Lee, New Jersey on Sunday listening to Susan's tape of Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass.  We rode the subway and walked around Manhatten Sunday and Monday.  It rained the first day and we got a little wet near Times Square.  We went into the Carnegie Deli and had a couple of monstrous sandwiches, (see pic.)  We ended up eating those over the next two days.

Monday, we took one of those double decker bus tours that you get on and get off of.  It was a perfect day, (except for the really lame jokes of our tour guide.)  We stopped by the World Trade Center site and I was amazed at the progress that has been made there since I was there six or seven years ago.  Huge, glistening buildings, (that look similar to the Twin Towers,) are going up.  We talked to a construction worker while he was on break and he was obviously proud of the work that he was part of there.

After walking around Chinatown, we ate lunch at a streetside, outdoor cafe in Little Italy.  That was good.  We ate dinner at Bubba Gump's.  That was not good.

I saw Tom Selleck filming his show near Chinatown.  Susan says she would have gladly let the urine trickle down her leg in order to catch a glimpse but she was waiting in a line for the bathroom at Starbuck's.  He was gone by the time she came out.

Very early yesterday morning, (in order to beat East Coast traffic,) we headed out of the Big Apple and paid numerous tolls, (which we are finding is a very common event all the way from the Illinois border to our current location in Portland, Maine.)

We rode our bikes along a wonderful, paved path on Portland's Cascow Bay for a few miles.  Our best meal of the trip so far was had at a slightly hidden, smaller, seafood place near the water called J's Oyster.  Susan had Lobster Stew and Crab Salad and I had Lobster Scampi with huge chuncks of fresh Lobster, (again see pics.)

This morning, we are setting out for Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine.  There will no doubt be more fresh seafood on the menu.

STILL HAVING TROUBLE UPLOADING PICTURES!  When we get to a faster connection, I'll upload some pics, promise.

(By the way, we did not feel the earthquake yesterday.  It was felt as far north as Boston and we are a couple hours north of that.  We did check the Weather Channel several times yesterday since we had heard there was severe weather in Marshfield.  Hopefully, not much damage for any of you there.)

Irishfest and Rediscovering America

We made it to Milwaukee's lake front by five last night and met up with Tom and Pat at Irishfest.  Lots of grown men walking around in skirts....umm kilts.  We shared a lot of laughs and each had a great Reuben sandwich from McBob's.  Susan said it was the best she's ever had.  Believe me, the woman knows food and is usually extremely discriminating in her opinions on the subject.

We left Irishfest by 7:30 and drove to our campsite at Bong Recreation Area near the Illinois border.  Not much to say about that other than Susan's feet were very hot so she put them up against the inside of the window for an extended period to cool them off.

Today was the day of the trip that we planned to drive the farthest.  And we made it to Cleveland by mid afternoon.  We did indeed rediscover America.  Well, not northern Indiana or northern Ohio.  Not really anything to see there but...........you know......the 70's band.  Man, did they have some great songs!  The Vee Dub is from the audio cassette era so Susan dusted off a bunch of her old cassettes and brought them along.. 



Ventura Highway, in the sunshine
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger than moonshine
You're gonna go I know

Cause the free wind is blowin' through your hair
and the day surround your daylight there
Seasons cryin' no despair
Alligator lizards in the air

I can almost hear you singing it, "In the air"?

Went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here in Cleveland today.

It's off to NYC, Time Square, and at least a couple of Manhatten's delis tomorrow.

And So It Begins

The day has finally arrived.

We, (Susan and Gary,) leave at 1pm today for a 14 state, 3100+mile adventure to the Northeast.

Destinations include:

Bong Recreation area 8/19
Cleveland, (and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?) 8/20
Exploring Manhatten 8/21 and 22
Portland, Maine, (and fresh Lobster!) 8/23
Acadia National Park 8/24
New Hampshire and the White Mountains 8/25
Upstate New York somewhere west of Lake Placid 8/26
Niagara Falls 8/27 and 28
Indiana Dunes State Park 8/29
Back to Marshfield 8/30 or 31.

We'll be traveling in Gary's VW Eurovan Westfalia.  The old girl has just shy of 160,000 miles behind her.  But her engine is bulletproof and we don't worry....well, not much anyway.

So away we go.  We'll post pics along he way

Later,

Gary