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Monday, September 7th, 2009
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11:06 am - Happy Labor Day
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This morning, Cypar and I woke up early and went downtown to participate in the annual Labor Day "Grand Crossings" bridge walk. See, the Governor and several tens of thousands of people walk (or jog) over the Mackinac Bridge every Labor Day - it's the only day of the year a person can do that - so here in Grand Rapids we walk the same distance over the six main bridges that span the Grand River downtown. The route starts at Ab-Nah-Awen park in front of the Ford Museum and loops around on both banks of the river before returning to the starting place. The official starting time is eight o'clock in the morning and today it was only 14 degrees C when we joined the throng. The Mayor is always there to give a little speech and lead the walkers, but this year Cypar and I were too far back to hear anything. We did the first mile in 26 minutes, largely because we were stuck in the pack. After that we speeded up as the crush of people spread out. The second mile took 16 minutes. The next two miles were about 18 minutes each, and the final mile took 21 minutes. For the math-averse, that's just under 20 minutes per mile, on average. The day warmed up to 20 degrees while we were walking and the morning sun came up over the skyline. So that was fun.
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| Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
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9:13 am - Painting Finished!
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Just in time for hot weather, we've finally finished painting the bedroom. Thursday and Saturday we painted the trim white, then a second coat of white on Sunday evening after Cypar nailed the floorboards back on to the walls. He did a little touching up on Monday morning and then last night we moved all the furniture back in.
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| Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
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5:17 pm - News Next Door
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Cypar observed the Boat Neighbors loading both of their cars with household goods this afternoon. He says he saw a clothes washing machine, a microwave, and many cardboard boxes. Yesterday evening I saw them backing one car into the driveway (which is unusual) but I didn't notice what they were doing. We wonder if they are moving out. Have they sold their house?
Meanwhile, we put a second coat of green on the bedroom walls last night. It looks very similar to the previous photo. Next we'll be working on the trim.
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| Sunday, July 26th, 2009
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2:21 pm - Painting While It's Cool
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More progress on the bedroom this week. We applied a second coat of primer Thursday evening:
The dark splotches from the old glue are almost invisible.
Today we applied the first coat of actual paint. I think the color is great. It is called "Peaceful Leaf."
If you know where to look, the glue spots are still detectable (barely), but the red stripes that used to be in all the corners are gone and I hope they stay gone.
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| Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
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6:22 pm - One coat of primer...
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Progress on the bedroom. Monday, we applied the first coat of primer and the walls now look like this:
We planned to apply a second coat tonight, but it's rainy and humid so we decided to wait. Meanwhile, here's the latest finished knitting project:
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| Sunday, July 19th, 2009
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12:50 pm - More At Home
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This week no one traveled anywhere glamorous. The lilies and hosta at the front of the house are blooming beautifully, and the tomatoes and squash are making lots of flowers too. Cypar pulled all the foot-tall weeds out of the cracks in the driveway. We are getting a lot of Canadian air this month, keeping the weather cool and cloudy. I don't mind; it's better than being hot.
We finally got back to work on the bedroom yesterday. Cypar had already filled all the holes, so the next step was to sand the patches down. We decided to move all the furniture out of the room, which means we'll be sleeping upstairs until this project is done, since there is no other space to set up the other bed. The book room is totally full of bedroom furniture, clothes, and painting supplies (the part that isn't full of books, I mean). We are hoping to finish the sanding this afternoon and clean the walls after that. Here's what the walls look like now:
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| Monday, July 6th, 2009
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10:49 pm - Police At The Door
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We drove a total of 2222 miles on our vacation this year. We visited parts of four states and one Canadian province. We went to ten yarn stores and one game store.
Last night, just before we went to bed, the police knocked on our door. The officer had questions about our neighbors, the Boat Neighbors. Had we seen the neighbors with a child's playhouse today? We had, as a matter of fact. I saw the man out on his driveway in the afternoon, doing something to one large plastic piece, and there were three others laying around the lawn. The officer took my name and information and went away. About an hour later, Cypar heard a noise and got up to find a police truck in the neighbor's driveway. They took the playhouse pieces and went away. We have no idea what was going on, only speculation.
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| Saturday, July 4th, 2009
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9:55 pm - A Long Day That Ends At Home
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Our last day was not very exciting. We left Albany about 8:30 a.m. and drove west all day. No unnecessary stops were made and traffic was not bad on the Thru-way. The weather started cloudy and cool in New York, but became sunny and hot by the time we reached Niagara Falls. We crossed into Ontario at the northernmost bridge, which is much less spectacular than crossing at the Rainbow Bridge. Tonight we arrived at home around 9:30 p.m. The fireworks have just begun downtown, but we are going to sleep.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. muskrats
2. at least two dozen deer - including several fawns
3. lots of birds of many kinds
4. a rabbit
The Prius count today was 38, over twelve hours of driving, across two states and one province.
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| Friday, July 3rd, 2009
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8:59 pm - Vermont Is Difficult To Leave Behind
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We were up at the usual time today and hitting the road facing west. It wasn't raining, but it was cool, only 17C. We headed over to Plymouth, the birthplace of Calvin Coolidge, that we failed to reach yesterday. Today the road had been cleared and the guard rails repaired, and we got through without a problem. Plymouth consists of a handful of houses, a couple of barns, a general store and post office, and a visitor center. We were the first visitors of the day and had to wait a few minutes for the first tour. We watched a silent film of President Coolidge vacationing at his father's house in Plymouth in 1924. The Wheelers were our tour guides today, long time residents of the area. Mrs. Wheeler showed us through the birthplace in the back of the general store as well as the "homestead" across the street. All the furnishings are the original Coolidge items, so it was very interesting to see that Mr. Coolidge was exactly as we'd heard. Tomorrow is his birthday, and the town is having its annual celebration: a quiet march down to the cemetery where he is buried. "He never wanted anything more," said Mrs. Wheeler.
After our visit to Plymouth, we drove over the mountains to Rutland, where we had stayed several days ago. We had lunch in town and then stopped at Green Mountain Fibers, which had been closed during our previous time in town. Following the yarn break, we again headed west, crossing over into New York at Fair Haven and continuing southwest along the Hudson River. It became a bright, sunny afternoon and the temperature reached 25C.
We next stopped at Saratoga National Historical Park. We looked around the visitors center first, watched the film about the decisive battle as well as the narrated battlefield display (with little colored lights on a model of the battlefield). We were able to collect three passport stamps: for the park, the Erie Canalway, and the Hudson River Valley NHA. That brings the total to ten for this vacation (and we were hoping for one)!
We spent the next two hours or so driving the battlefield loop road at the park. There are ten stopping points and we stopped at all of them. The story of the battles of September 19 and October 7, 1777, are described on the informational signs. The defensive positions are marked with color-coded posts. We walked all over each, except the final location which was a one-mile loop trail with very steep grades. We were getting pretty tired by then, and I had a sore calf from yesterday. It was still a warm day, but as we wandered through the fields, we watched a big thunderstorm roll over the landscape. It didn't rain on us, but the eastern side of the river must have gotten soaked.
It was getting late when we left the park, so we decided to stop for the night at Albany. There was some rain as we drove south, especially once we were traveling on I-87. Everyone slowed down to about 45 mph because visibility was so bad. But, the rain was soon past. We found a hotel near I-87, checked in, and had some dinner nearby. Tomorrow we'll have one more long day of driving to get home.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. several deer, including a fawn at Saratoga
2. bluebirds
3. Eastern goldfinch
4. snakes: two green with yellow longitudinal stripe on each side, one brown with mottled yellow splotches
5. a buzzard on the side of the road
6. a chipmunk
7. a rabbit
Finally, the Prius count was only 17 today, with all but three of those seen in Vermont.
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| Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
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6:55 pm - The Last Day of Vermont
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For our last full day in Vermont, we headed west toward Plymouth Notch and the Calvin Coolidge Birthplace. Our route took us through Quechee, Vermont, and over the Quechee Gorge - the Grand Canyon of Vermont.
Just past Woodstock, however, a truck had tipped over and blocked the road. There were firefighters directing traffic and they advised us to go another way, which would have been a lot farther. So we put off the Coolidge site until tomorrow. Instead we went back to Woodstock and stopped at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. Did I mention that it was raining? It rained all day, almost nonstop.
The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller park contains the mansion and grounds formerly owned by the George Perkins Marsh family (he wrote Man and Nature, one of the first books on conservation) and then the Billings family (Frederick Billings was an attorney and railroad industrialist - Billings, Montana is named for him). One of the Billings granddaughters married Laurance Rockefeller, and they donated the property to the park service in the 1990s. It has only been open for visitors since 1998. Normally, people can walk all over the mountain and see the results of one hundred years of reforestation and conservation work. We took the tour and we had a terrific, enthusiastic ranger named Rebecca who showed us all around the house, and told us more about the history of the farm. Afterward, we walked around the gardens a little, but it was just too rainy to stay outside. We did get our passport stamp for this park unit, so we now have seven in the region.
We did not spend time at the farm adjacent to the National Park site.
 This is open to the public for a separate fee and has demonstrations and animals and lots of stuff about agriculture. We returned to downtown Woodstock to visit a yarn store (Whippletree) and have lunch at the Mountain Creamery.
Next we went back through White River Junction (stopped at a second yarn store: White River Yarns) in order to get on the interstate and drive to Norwich. Norwich is the home of King Arthur Flour. They have a visitor center and store, so we went in and looked around. Everything a baker could possibly want, including ingredients from flour to flavorings, as well as packaged mixes for things like muffins, scones, and breads. Cypar bought some demarara sugar. There is also a great yarn store in Norwich (Northern Nights) so we stopped in while we were there.
Then we went to Strafford for the Justin Smith Morrill Homestead. You will remember Justin Smith Morrill, of course, as the sponsor of the Land Grand Acts of the mid-1800s which set up the system of public state universities in the United States. All those Morrill Halls on university campuses are named for him. The house is only open on weekends, so we could only view it from the outside and walk around the grounds. It was still raining, but we went up the hill to the ice pond (which was full to the brim) and walked along the roaring little mountain stream. All the buildings are painted a Victorian rosy-pink.
After that we headed back to White River Junction. There's a national park unit about 20 miles south on the New Hampshire side, but we would not have arrived there before it closed for the day, so we checked out some potential game stores in Lebanon, New Hampshire, across the Connecticut River from our hotel. Two of those were closed already, and the third only had comics, so we struck out there. We settled for dinner at Seven Barrel Brewery, and then went back to the hotel for the night. I think it may have stopped raining, at last.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. Jersey cows, lots of them
2. a red-tailed hawk
3. a toad
Also, we counted 37 Priuses today, a much-more representative count than yesterday's.
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| Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
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8:15 pm - You And Me And The Guide Makes Three
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Today's adventure began with a short drive into downtown Montpelier. It was cool and drizzly again, so we parked at the entrance to Hubbard Park and walked for half an hour or so in the forest. This park is on the mountain behind the city, and there is an observation tower at the top, made of stone, that normally offers a spectacular view. However, the tower is closed for reconstruction right now, so we could only look up at it. There were a few morning dog-walkers on the paths, and loose dogs running everywhere.
After our refreshing walk, we went into the city itself to visit the Vermont State House. We arrived just in time for the first free tour of the day, after climbing the many, many steps up to the massive front doors.
Our tour guide, David, was a retired history teacher and the three of us made up the tour group. We saw the lobby and heard about the history of the three State Houses built on this spot since the late 1700s. Because the second building burned down after only twenty years, the people of Vermont built the next one out of marble, granite, and cast iron, and they placed the building's furnace across the street. Upstairs, we saw the Senate chamber, which is decorated with luscious green carpet and upholstery. It is an intimate room, with only thirty chairs. The largest district, Burlington, has six senators, while the smallest encompasses two counties in northeast Vermont. Down the hall is the other chamber, for 150 representatives, decorated in red. There are thirty chairs in the front for the senators during joint sessions. Then we saw the Governor's office (he wasn't in today) and the Cedar Creek room, a formal room with paintings commemorating Vermont's contributions to the Civil War. The dome on the roof is only visible from outside - Vermonters didn't want to spend extra money to have a rotunda on the inside - but it's covered in 23.7 carat gold and is very striking. This was a fantastic tour. It's actually difficult to believe that anyone is allowed to move to Vermont; they don't even have an application process.
Downstairs in the gift shop, we discovered a little book The Capitol Collection with a page of information about each of the fifty state capitols and spaces for the corresponding stamps! Of course we had to buy the book and march straight over to the Sergeant-At-Arms Office to get our Vermont stamp. Only two states are not participating (Tennessee and another I don't remember), so for National Parks stampers like us, this is big fun! Bruce has been to the Iowa capitol, and we've both been to the one in Texas, but we don't think we've been to any others. That may need to change as soon as possible, now that we have the book.
We walked down Main Street next, past the State Office Building, the Vermont Supreme Court, and the Historical Society. We went into a yarn store and I bought some Shetland yarn made in Vermont. One of the women in the store turned out to be from Grand Rapids, and a Calvin graduate, and she was very excited to talk to us. I know it seems like we've been to every yarn store in the state, but in reality there are a lot more than this. Plus, I'm only buying Vermont yarn, not mass-produced yarn or yarn imported from Europe. It rained pretty hard while we were in the store. We had lunch across the street at a Mexican cafe called Julio's which was outstanding.
Next we left Montpelier and went to Rock of Ages, outside of Barre. First, we went into the visitor center and watched the short film about the history of the company. Then we got on a shuttle bus for the guided tour of the granite quarry. Besides the tour guide and the driver, it was just us. We went up to the top of the mountain and looked down into the quarry. It is 650 feet deep and about 20 men work in the quarry at a time. There's actually a waiting list of people who want to work there, but they have to wait until someone retires and a spot opens up. They have big derricks on the edge of the hole that bring people up and down in boxes, and machinery, and also the big blocks of granite once they are free of the walls.
It was amazing. After the tour we walked through the factory, where we saw men cutting stone, polishing stone, etching stone, and sandblasting stone to make memorials and other items. There was a collection of mausoleums outside, as well as a granite bowling lane. We bowled a little.
They even had a little skip full of granite chips (pieces up to a pound or two) for visitors to take as free samples. A terrific place, and all the employees were amazingly cheerful and friendly!
We could have gotten back on the interstate, but we decided to use the scenic route south to Sharon. It was a very exciting road: lots of curves and ups and downs, following a river the whole way, and almost no guard rails. This road took us through North Randolph, East Randolph, and South Randolph, but only close to Randolph and Randolph Center. Also, we didn't see North Tunbridge, Tunbridge, or South Tunbridge on this route. However, we did pass through both Royalton and South Royalton.
Our next stop was just north of Sharon, at the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial. We were a little nervous going there, not knowing what sort of religious experience to expect, but it turned out to be a very nice visit. There is a visitor center, and a guide met us at the door and showed us through the displays, which followed the events of Joseph Smith's life. Again it was just the two of us and the guide, and she was very good. The LDS church bought the property where the Smiths lived from about 1805 to 1808. They marked the spot of the old cottage and built a tall granite monument to Joseph Smith's memory.
Well, after that, we decided to head for White River Junction for the night. After checking in to the hotel, we drove downtown for dinner. It turned out that the only place open tonight was the Tip Top Cafe. The food was delicious: Cypar had Warmed Curried Chick Peas and I had tonight's special, which was a pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, fresh spinach, chicken, and a lime-thyme cream sauce. We walked around a few blocks after we ate. There isn't much going on downtown, other than the train station, where both Amtrak and the Green Mountain Railway stop, but it seemed like a nice enough place. There's a Riverwalk and the Vermont Transportation Museum and an opera house. I had no idea that Dartmouth College was near here, but it's basically just across the river in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. a muskrat
2. a donkey
3. a flock of woollies
We've seen so many Toyota Priuses in Vermont that we we're starting to think that Vermonters are required to have at least one per household. Today I decided to count the ones we saw on our travels. Today's Prius count is nine.
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| Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
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8:30 pm - A Big Loop For Food
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Today's journey began with a drive north on I-89, the first interstate driving we've done since leaving the New York Thruway on Friday. At St. Albans, we turned off to the east and headed for Fairfield, the birthplace of President Chester A. Arthur. We knew that the house/museum would not be open today, but wanted to stop anyway. We were the only people there, on a hillside surrounded by farms and fields. There is a large stone monument, a flagpole, and the reconstructed house. We looked through the windows to read some of the displays inside.
This morning was bright and sunny, no sign of yesterday's rain. We decided not to return to Fairfield the same way we had come, but to go over the mountain a different way, which involved about two miles of unpaved road. So, we've had the extremes of roadways today from four-lane interstate to narrow, twisty gravel.
Passing through Morrisville, we stopped at a yarn store inside a vegetable market and greenhouse. I bought some alpaca. A few miles east of there, along the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, we stopped at a roadside park next to the Fisher Covered Railroad Bridge, one of only two remaining covered railroad bridges in Vermont. We had our lunch at the picnic shelter.
Our next stop was at the Cabot Creamery Visitor Center in Cabot.
The Cabot Creamery is known especially for its cheddar cheese, but also makes many other dairy products. The tour consists of a short film reviewing the history of the Co-op, then a walk through the cheese plant. We were able to see a batch of Monterey Jack cheese being made. At the end is a tasting room where we sampled many different cheeses. I liked the Seriously Sharp Cheddar best.
We continued through Montpelier on our way to Waterbury, getting stuck in some construction traffic for a while. In Waterbury we visited the Green Mountain Coffee Visitor Center. There was a short introductory video, a virtual tour of the plant, and some interactive displays. No free samples, but a cafe on site. The whole thing is inside the railroad station, which still gets Amtrak service.
On the other side of Waterbury, there is the most famous Vermont attraction in the world: Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. It was pretty crowded when we arrived, but there were friendly young people with long, striped sticks directing traffic in the parking lots. The tour started with a film covering the history of the company, continued to a glassed-in room overlooking the factory floor, and finished with a free sample of the flavor of the day, which was Orange and Cream today. Too bad they were not producing any ice cream, so we didn't get to see the factory in operation, but it was still fun. We bought some more ice cream at the scoop shop and ate it while walking around the grounds. We visited the Flavor Graveyard and sat in the outdoor chairs on the hill, watching the people and relaxing in the warm afternoon sun.
Waterbury is only about 30 miles from Burlington, where we stayed last night, so today we essentially made a big loop around northwestern Vermont. We returned to Montpelier (actually we're staying in Berlin tonight, just outside the capital city) to check in to our hotel and find dinner. The sky clouded up and as we were leaving the restaurant, it started to rain. Our hotel has a very nice lobby, with free cookies and beverages set out, so we sat out there and played some cribbage before retiring for the night.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. several "moose crossing" signs, but no moose
2. a large bird in a nest on top of a telephone pole, we're guessing some type of hawk or buzzard
3. domestic ducks, chickens, and geese
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| Monday, June 29th, 2009
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6:42 pm - A Little Pear-Shaped
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Starting off from Ticonderoga this morning, we took the little ferry back to the Vermont side of the lake. Traffic was a lot lighter at nine o'clock in the morning. We were alone on the deck with the two-person crew. Rain clouds were slowly approaching from the north, hiding the mountains as well as the sun. The crew said they cross in almost all weather, but when the wind is really strong, the barge starts rocking and they will stop in the lake until it settles down. On shore, the rain began falling as we climbed out of the lake valley.
Our first stop today was in Middlebury, a very cute college town. The Vermont Soap Works is there, and we visited the company store. They sell bar soap by the pound, in dozens of scents. Most of the soaps are certified organic as well. It was packed full of scent in the building and I had the smell of the soap with me for a couple of hours afterwards. We also went to a yarn store, Vermont Beads and Fibers, on Main Street. It was cute and I bought some more Vermont yarn. On our way back to the car, we went into Otter Creek Used Books, which was a lovely store packed full of delicious old books, but managed not to buy anything.
Next, we drove north again to a crossroads near New Haven and stopped at Knits and Bolts, a yarn and quilt store where I bought a little more Vermont yarn. It was tough to not buy more: they were having a great sale!
After all that, we finally landed in Ferrisburgh to visit Honey Gardens. Cypar was interested in this for the advertised honey and mead. The store turned out to be a corner of the packing and shipping room of the warehouse, but the two staff people were very nice in pointing out the items for sale as well as the tasting station. We did get some honey and some mead.
The roads kept getting bigger and busier as we continued north. Our next planned stop was the National Museum of the Morgan Horse in Shelburne. It was still drizzly and so we ate lunch in the car in the parking lot. The information I had from planning the trip at home was that the museum was only open from one to four o'clock on weekdays, but a brochure I picked up somewhere in Vermont gave nine to three o'clock as the hours of operation. Unfortunately, both were incorrect. The museum is closed all day on Mondays (as well as Sundays and Tuesdays), so we were not able to visit it.
Well, after that, we had to adjust the plan for the day. We continued into Burlington, which looks like almost any other largish city (maybe a little more hippie than most) and found a place to park downtown (first two hours free in all garages - that's pretty nice!). The drizzle was turning into actual rain now and Cypar was becoming a little stressed out by the traffic. We never did figure out what was going on today but the parking garages all had lines out the door and there were crowds of people everywhere. Is it always like this at midday? Leaving the car, we navigated on foot to Quarterstaff Games, the only game store we knew about in Vermont. Honestly, before we came out here, we really tried to locate game stores to visit, not just yarn stores and historic sites. This is the only one. It has a nice selection of board games, role-playing games, Magic cards, and associated supplies. They also have a game room and host themed game nights during the week. Too bad that board game night is on Tuesday, or we might have been able to play!
I thought it would be a shame if we didn't see the lake, so we walked down to the waterfront in the rain. The big ferry was just being loaded, so we got to see that. We went into the souvenir shop for the Vermont Lake Monsters. Mainly, I wanted a better map of downtown, so that I could find our next stop. There is a bike and recreation path along the waterfront for at least four miles that we walked on a little before heading back up to the car.
We've been hearing about Ethan Allen the whole time we've been in Vermont. Big Revolutionary hero, founder of Vermont, and so on. Earlier, we drove on the Ethan Allen Highway. So it seemed like a good idea to visit the Ethan Allen Homestead. I knew that the museum is not open on Mondays, but the website told me that visitors can still see the reconstructed house and gardens, and walk the trails. Therefore, we went there, just north of Burlington near the lake shore. There wasn't much to see, but we did go to the house (in the rain) and read the information posted outdoors. We passed on the hiking.
We decided to head for the hotel, but by a scenic loop up to Mallets Bay and back. This was interesting, and got us out of the city traffic for awhile. We checked in to our hotel and tried to figure out where to eat dinner. The first place we tried turned out to be closed on Mondays after four p.m., so we made that trip for nothing. The second place, Al's French Frys, turned out to be a popular local diner, specializing in fried foods. It was quite an experience, and fun! The most expensive thing on the menu was the $5.35 four-piece chicken meal, but we had corn dogs, hamburgers, with frys, of course.
I guess we were tired after our long, rainy, not-entirely successful day out. We are going to relax back at the hotel tonight and try to rest up for another long exciting day tomorrow.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. a rabbit
2. many, many cows
3. a woodchuck, behind the hotel in Burlington
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| Sunday, June 28th, 2009
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7:20 pm - Two State Sunday
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Today after breakfast we headed north out of Rutland. Our first stop was the New England Maple Museum near Pittsford. This little place has a museum with displays covering the history of maple syrup and sugar making in Vermont, going back to the Native Americans. Lots of old artifacts such as pails, spouts, and barrels for sap show how the technology changed over the years. The self-guided tour includes an automated evaporator demonstration and a cute slide show. It was well worth the price of admission ($2.50). At the end of the museum there is a small tasting room where one can try different grades of maple syrup as well as other products made in Vermont, like jams. At the front of the museum is a large gift shop with Vermont products, including all grades of syrup from tiny souvenir bottles up to gallon jugs.
We drove through the countryside to visit several covered bridges between Pittsford and Proctor. The three bridges were all constructed around 1840 and used similar designs. Only one of the bridges cannot be driven through anymore, but we parked the car and walked through it instead.
Our next stop was at the Vermont Marble Museum at the old headquarters of the Vermont Marble Company. This was an extensive museum of all things related to marble quarrying. There was a short film about the history of the company, and displays about the geologic process by which marble is made. The hall of presidents contains bas-relief marble sculptures of each U.S. President (up to G. H. W. Bush). There is a sculpture gallery and an artists' studio, and a Marbles of the World collection. Vermont Marble provided the marble for many buildings and monuments around the world, such as the U. S. Supreme Court building and the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials in Washington, D. C. We spent some time in the gift shop last.
Today's lunch of sandwiches and fruit was eaten at the town park next to the Marble Museum. We watched two young boys using a metal detector in the lawn. They found a quarter while we were there. It was cloudy all morning, but warm enough.
Leaving Proctor by way of the marble bridge (the whole thing made of pretty white Vermon marble), we continued on to the Hubbardton Battle Monument, on the other side of the mountain. This monument marks the spot of the only battle of the American Revolution fought in Vermont. The battle was really only a delaying action by the Continental read guard, as the American forces escaped east from New York. The hilltop has a little museum building with some displays about the battle and a few artifacts found on the site. The best part was a scale model of the area with coordinated lights and narrative recording which illustrated the battle. We also hiked the short loop around the hill to view the interpretive signs and see the terrain for ourselves. The second weekend in July, up to a thousand visitors are expected for the annual reenactment of the battle; today only a few people were there.
From Hubbardton, we drove west again through the mountains and farmlands. The roads were twisty and narrow, and some places were very steep (9 and 14 % grades). We went to a place called Larrabee's Point, near the southern end of Lake Champlain, to catch the ferry to the other side of the lake. This ferry has been here a long time, but is now a little barge pushed across by a tugboat. We had to wait for the ferry about ten minutes with about six other cars. On board the ferry, passengers can get out of their cars and walk about, so we did. It was a smooth crossing and took only a few minutes. Our first car ferry experience!
On the New York side, we visited the historic site of Fort Ticonderoga, which is right on the peninsula between Lakes Champlain and George. The original fort is gone, but someone bought the land and reconstructed the fort in 1909. When we got there, we found the place crowded with people because today was one of the two days during the year when there is a major encampment of reenactors there. We had just missed the big performance (the French and Indian War period), so most of the guests were leaving, allowing us to park right outside the entrance rather than a mile or more down the road in the auxiliary lots. We had more than an hour to wander around the fort and look at the displays inside. Fort Ticonderoga was first named Carillon by the French. It had a similar star-shaped design as Fort Stanwix that we saw a few days ago in Rome, New York. The walls were massive and once had up to 100 large cannon to guard the lake passage. Apparently, Ticonderoga is also known as "Gibraltar of the North." On the New York side, the sun was hot and all the clouds were gone, but we could see low grey clouds covering the mountaintops in Vermont across the water.
We are staying in Historic Ticonderoga tonight, going back to Vermont tomorrow.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. one deer
2. many cattle - Holsteins, and brown ones, and some with horns
3. a goat
4. bobolinks (nesting in the fields at the Hubbardton monument)
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| Saturday, June 27th, 2009
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7:02 pm - First Full Day In Vermont
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Today was our first entire day in Vermont. We had breakfast at the hotel and then walked next door to buy sandwiches and fruit for lunch at a local grocery store. The weather was cool and partly cloudy, and it stayed that way most of the day.
Our first attraction of the day was the Bennington Battle Monument, in Old Bennington. This is a tall stone tower built in 1891 on the highest point in the town to commemorate the Battle of Bennington. The battle was fought in 1777 to protect a warehouse full of weapons and supplies for the Continental army. The tower is similar to the Washington Monument in shape, but the blocks of stone are not smooth on the outside and they contain lots of spiral fossils. Inside there is an elevator to the observation floor. A person can see all around from there. On a clear day, one can see Massachusetts in one direction and New York in another. We saw New York but the clouds were too low for us to see Massachusetts. We had the guide all to ourselves and he told us all about the battle, the buildings we could see from the top, as well as the construction of the tower. It was absolutely worth the $2 charge.
Next we stopped at the Bennington Potters yard. This is a shop of beautiful pottery and other home furnishings. Pottery seems to be a popular occupation in Vermont as we have passed so many little pottery shops along the roads. Heading north from Bennington, we visited the Stone House, one of poet Robert Frost's homes. It was a working farm when he lived here. Apparently he liked to mow hay and keep cows and so on because it helped him write. The quaint stone farmhouse is now a little Frost museum, with displays about his life, his family, and his poems. One whole room is devoted to "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening," including some parodies by other authors and the infamous "commas" debate.
When we finished at the Frost museum, we drove up the road to Arlington and had a picnic lunch at the local park. There was a flea market taking place, people swimming in the pond, golfing, and playing softball. It seemed like a popular place. Our table was near the last hole of the golf course ($5 a round per player) and one ball nearly hit us. The man responsible came over and apologized afterward, but we were really in no danger.
The road then took us to Hildene on the southern edge of Manchester. Hildene is a mansion built by Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln, after he made his fortune. Although there are no living descendants anymore, the house and 500 acres stayed in the family until 1975, and it was taken over by a local group in 1978. We toured the mansion, which was set up as it would have been when Robert lived there. There is a pipe organ in the front hall, which the guides played for the guests every so often. It works on recorded rolls, like a player piano, although I think an organist could also play it. When the music was playing, one can hear it all over the house, and it vibrated the floors. Out back, there is a formal garden as well as flower and vegetable gardens.
The little town of Manchester has a collection of outlet stores, all in quaint country Vermont style along the streets. We stopped in town to visit a yarn store called Yarns for Your Soul. The town reminded us of Breckenridge, Colorado. It was very touristy in a snooty way, although I'm sure regular people live there too, behind the glitzy main streets. The yarn store was fun; I always want to buy everything I see, so I rarely visit yarn stores at home.
Because it was still early in the afternoon when we left Manchester, we decided to take a little detour to Dorset in order to visit Black Sheep Yarns, another yarn store. It was in the next valley over. Exiting the car in the bright, hot sun we were surprised to hear loud, rolling thunder. The rains were high up in the mountain behind us. I bought some locally hand-painted yarns. Cypar was a good sport at both stores. He sat in the comfortable "husband chair" and made conversation with the shopkeeper while I went around touching everything.
Next we drove through the countryside to Rutland, which turned out to be the biggest town we have seen so far in Vermont. The state fairgrounds are here. The drive was beautiful. Up and down the sides of the mountains, while the sky went from clear and sunny to grey and wet and then back again. All farms on both sides, verdant and glistening with rain, weathered old buildings sagging picturesquely, and cute farmhouses bright with new paint.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. a chipmunk
2. a flock of sheep, grey ones and white ones
3. goats
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| Friday, June 26th, 2009
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9:43 pm - A Day In New York
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Today we were awake surprisingly early, considering yesterday's adventures. We had breakfast at the hotel and then we were away. Crossed the Rainbow Bridge back into the U.S. and then drove east all day, mostly on I-90 the New York Thruway. It was about 24C and partly cloudy during the early part of our drive.
We stopped in Seneca Falls to visit the Women's Rights National Historical Park. The Visitor's Center had exhibits and a short film that we watched. Next door was the Methodist church that hosted the first meeting on women's rights anywhere in the world in 1848. The church is not much more than two decaying brick walls and a wooden roof, but the park service has covered it and plans to build an enclosure to keep it safe from the elements. It was here that Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, and others signed the Declaration of Sentiments after it was read by Stanton. We obtained two passport stamps here: for Women's Rights NHP and the Erie Canalway NHC. These are our first brown "North Atlantic Region" stamps.
We next visited Waterloo, the next town over, for lunch at Connie's Diner. We sat at the counter and had iced tea and sandwiches. This was a real local place; the man next to us was known to all the staff by his first name. He had a half portion of baked macaroni and cheese. I had a grilled cheese sandwich (made with white cheese) that came with potato chips. Cypar had a bacon cheeseburger and fries. In Waterloo is the McClintock house, which used to be owned by a family of Quakers who were part of the Underground Railroad. We obtained a third passport stamp here: for Women's Rights NHP - Underground Railroad Freedom Network. A few small displays are set up in the house, but we enjoyed talking to the friendly young park ranger best. Her name was Jessica and she was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her parents were both working at the public library there when they met.
Leaving Seneca Falls, we continued east on the Thruway and we met some light rain. We next turned off at Rome to visit Fort Stanwix National Monument. Seemingly in the center of town, the fort has been reconstructed on its original eighteenth-century site. There is a Visitor's Center with some interpretive displays and two short films (one of which was not working) that explain the background of the Fort, especially its role in the Revolutionary War. The Fort was held by the American militia and besieged by the British forces in 1777. We also walked around the fort buildings and battlements, in a light rain. We obtained three more stamps: Fort Stanwix National Monument, Erie Canalway NHC, and North Country National Scenic Trail.
After seeing the fort, we returned to the Thruway and continued east. We left the Thruway at Albany and traveled smaller highways into the north until we finally reached Vermont. Our stop for tonight is Bennington. After checking in to the hotel, we went downtown for a late supper at the Madison Brewery. We had the local beer and fish (I had pan-seared sea bass with baby asparagus and Cypar had the fish and chips). It was pleasant to sit in the restaurant and relax. At the next table were five young men who are hiking the Appalachian Trail together. Out on the deck two guys played live music. We are so tired tonight, I think we'll sleep well.
Today's wildlife highlights:
1. At least two deer.
2. A heron.
3. Some Canada geese (not in Canada).
4. Several woodchucks.
5. A gopher.
6. A chipmunk.
7. Two flocks of wild turkeys.
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| Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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7:47 pm - O, Canada!
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Today we packed up our Airryn and drove into the sunrise. The drive through Michigan was absolutely uneventful. Just before noon, we crossed the Blue Water Bridge and entered Ontario, Canada - our first foreign country. We used our passports, but no stamp at this border.
Ontario looked totally different from Michigan. The most obvious change was the road signs in kilometers. It was fun to drive 100 kph and feel like we were going fast. But the speedometer in the car only has marks for multiples of 20 kph, so we have to guess where 50 and 70 are. The highways are marked with signs shaped like crowns; they are cute. The land was relatively flat and it was mostly farmland on the west side, with fields of hay and corn and also a short broad-leafed plant with yellow or white flowers that we did not recognize. We didn't see much of Sarnia before we were out in the country. We stopped for lunch just west of London, in a small town called Komoka. We parked at the local library/community center/railway museum and ate our sandwiches and chips at a picnic table. It was sunny and about 30C outside. After lunch we continued to the east, reaching Niagara Falls a few minutes past three o'clock. The temperature dropped all the way, ending up at around 20C, and it was raining when we arrived. Did you know that this area has wineries? We did not, so it was a huge surprise to see the grape vines growing on both sides of the highway.
After checking in to the hotel, we walked two blocks over to see Niagara Falls. There are lots of helpful signs all over this place, directing people to all the attractions (as if one could fail to see them). The falls are even more spectacular than we were expecting. The American falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls are neighbors and can both be viewed from the Canadian side of the river. The white water thunders down, sending up clouds of spray that generates rainbows over the water. At one point, we saw a double rainbow. We walked along the parkway for a few miles, enjoying the cool, moist breeze from the water. There were crowds, but not large ones, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Below the cliffs, the Maids of the Mist boats took loads of tourists in blue plastic rain gear up close to the rocks. On the American side, it must be more difficult to get a good view of the falls, although the observation deck on the Honeymoon Bridge seemed popular. When tired from walking, we rode the SkyWheel, an air-conditioned Ferris wheel with views of the falls.
After all that, we were both tired and hungry, so we stopped at a restaurant for supper and then returned to the hotel. Cypar is now relaxing with the in-room jacuzzi tub (an unexpected surprise) while watching TV. Tomorrow will be another long travel day, so we'll need to sleep well.
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| Saturday, June 20th, 2009
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1:27 pm - What's Happening Here?
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Cypar pointed out to me this week that I have not updated the blog for awhile. True. Sorry.
It has been relatively cool in Michigan so far this spring. We've had quite a bit of rain, including strong thunderstorms Thursday night and again last night. Today is the warmest it has been - mid or high 70s.
This year in the garden we have planted squash, watermelon, peas, tomatoes, and peppers. None of the watermelon survived, but the others look OK. Some of the squash plants have blossoms this morning. We put in chives last fall and those came up just fine this spring. The ornamental grasses we planted in the front of the house were slow coming back, and only one of the three looks good now. Our iris and lilies are fine, one of the iris bloomed this week, but only one hosta showed up.
This week we finally bought paint for the bedroom painting project. We've been meaning to do this since we moved in. The bedroom had fake wood panels on the walls which had been covered with light blue paint and then given a sponge effect with darker blue paint. I always disliked it, but I was afraid of what might be hiding underneath so I waited until I had a lot of free time to start. So, anyway, on Sunday we bought paint (it's green) and other stuff one needs to paint with. Then a few days later Cypar took off the trim boards and figured out how to remove the panels. Removal of the first piece revealed that they had been both nailed and glued into place. The walls were a dirty light yellow color, with brown spots and lines of glue all over and plenty of nail holes. Under the yellow paint, one can see a light blue-green layer, and at the edges there is a line of rusty red for some reason. Today we worked together to remove the rest of the panels.
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| Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
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2:18 pm - Happy New Year 2009
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Our railroad journey to Texas went very well. It was very comfortable to ride the train and two days did not seem very long at all. We had a cozy little roomette in the sleeper car. We played board games together and read books and looked out the windows when it was light. I knitted a pair of socks too.
We were delayed on the way out to Texas. We got up at five o'clock on December 23 and had something to eat and then we had to shovel the driveway. It snowed a lot that week in Michigan and the piles were as high as my head around the driveway. We had cleared everything the day before, but the plow went by in the night and blocked the driveway with 18 inches of hard, icy, snow which had to be moved before we could get the car out. We made an opening just wide enough and then drove down to the station.
Our train was scheduled to leave at 7:30 a.m., but a conductor came in just before seven o'clock to say that it would be a little late. The CSX railyard was holding the Pere Marquette for some reason. The tiny waiting room was packed full of people and luggage. I was sitting in a chair and I got a chilly breeze whenever the door opened. Cypar was standing and he said it was unbearably hot and smelly. Finally the train arrived, not too late, and we boarded one of the last coach cars.
At first, we seemed to be making good time to Chicago. It was snowing a little. At a crossing, a car slid through the barrier and was struck by our train, so we had to stop and back up to assess the damage. When the train got back to the crossing, the car had already gone. We also had to wait a few times for the conductor to manually move some switches for the train, and once for a CSX worker to manually operate a crossing signal. Then we were delayed again when we changed from CSX track to Norfolk Southern track. On the other hand, Amtrak gave everyone aboard a free breakfast to apologize for the problems. At last, we did arrive in Chicago, about two hours later than expected.
Union Station in Chicago was full of unhappy people. Lots of trains were delayed or canceled that day. Luckily, we were able to use the Metropolitan Lounge for first-class passengers. It has a separate restroom, comfortable chairs, and television. Soda and coffee are free, too. We were not there long. Pretty soon, we were directed out the back door and hustled to the next train. The conductors were in a hurry to go and we got mixed in with the coach passengers by mistake. As the train left the station, Cypar and I were in a crowded coach car trying to figure out how to get to the right place. A nice attendant directed us to the front of the train, and we were grateful to go there.
In the sleeper car, we had room #19. It was about 6 feet long and 3 feet wide. There was a big window on the outside and a door with thick curtains on the inside. Two large, comfortable seats faced each other. A bunk folded down from the ceiling at night. With the sliding door closed, it was very quiet and private, but even with the door open it was quite peaceful.
The train got about a mile from the station and then stopped because a switch was frozen. We stayed out there more than two hours while the railroad people tried to thaw the switch. The train went backwards and forwards. The sleeping car passengers went to supper in the dining car and then back to their rooms and the train was still stuck. At last, we did somehow get out of Chicago and on our way.
Cypar and I went to bed somewhere in Illinois. The last station I remember was Alton. I think I woke up when the train stopped in St. Louis, but it was dark and I couldn't see anything. In the morning, we were already in Arkansas. All that day the train traveled south through Arkansas and Texas. We made up a lot of time and arrived in Austin only two hours late.
The journey back was the same, in reverse, except that we did not have any delays. It was light through most of Texas after we left Austin at 9:30 a.m. We went to sleep after reaching Texarkana and slept until Missouri. It was light out when we went through St. Louis, so we were able to see a bit of the city and the Gateway Arch. We arrived in Chicago on time and stayed in the Metropolitan Lounge for a couple of hours before catching the Pere Marquette to Grand Rapids.
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| Sunday, December 14th, 2008
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8:21 pm - The Christmas Tree 2008
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Cypar put up our tiny tree this week. Here it is with our tiny presents.
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