We left Maine and found a campground in Vermont for two nights. We stayed in Ascutney, VT which lies along the Western New Hampshire border. We had another beautiful drive through New Hampshire, colored trees and small towns to get here.
Oct. 18
Today we traveled North along the Green Mountains. Lots of ski areas in these mountains and a pretty drive. In the little town we came across a place along the road that sold Vermont maple syrup. Dick stopped and the farmer was nearby. He saw our licence plate from Washington and came over to talk. He was raised in the house across the street. He once had a dairy farm but is semi retired so just raises beef and makes syrup. He told us he has over 2000 maple trees and it takes 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. They tap the trees when the snow is still on the ground and run lines from tree to tree. Further up the road we saw our first covered bridge with a date of 1879. I took a picture of Dick driving over the bridge. We continued up to the little town of Stow, known for its skiing, and had lunch. On the way out of town we saw a sign to the Von Trapp Family Lodge so we drove up the mountain to the lodge. The original lodge burnt down in 1980 and a hotel was built on the original lot. Some of the children live around the area and the youngest son, who was born after they moved to America, manages the hotel. The view from the hotel was of the valley below. In the town of Waterbury we stopped at the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory and had ice cream cones.
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| Dick driving Jeep through 1879 covered bridge |
Oct. 19
We moved down to Sturbridge Massachusetts which is about 50 miles from Boston and staying for 4 days.
Oct. 20
Today we are going to Cape Cod. It's a long ways so we left at 8 in the morning. We drove to the end to the Cape Cod National Seashore. At the visitors center, at the end of the Cape, there was a two story observation platform. We could see all around the cape and the town of Provincetown just down the road. We stopped in the town to do some shopping. It was a busy town with lots of people in the shops. We had fish and chips again in town. There were lots of drag queens walking around the town.
On the way home we went up to Plymouth to see Plymouth Rock. We found out the history books are wrong. The Pilgrims first landed in Provincetown on Nov. 20, 1620. They landed at Plymouth Rock Christmas Day, 1620. They were looking for Jamestown. We drove over 300 miles in the Jeep today.
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| Plymouth Rock |
Oct. 21
After breakfast we drove down through Connecticut and over to Rhode Island. We drove South to New London which sits by the Atlantic Ocean. We drove on secondary roads and saw the countryside. We drove East to Providence Rhode Island and ended up by the Brown University campus. We ate lunch at a little restaurant called Louis that was on Dinners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Channel. The food was very good.
Oct. 22
Found out my nephew, David and his wife Makeba, has the yacht he captains parked in Boston Harbor until tomorrow morning. We last left David in Chicago and can't believe we have met up with them again. He is moving the Yacht from Lake Michigan to Florida and been on the sea for 23 days. We drove into Boston and were able to park our Jeep in the marina for the day. Went on the boat and with them to get fuel across the harbor. It was a short ride but fun. Dick and I took off walking and did part of the Freedom Trail. We found the visitors center for the Boston National Historical Park and picked up a map of the Trail. We walked to the Old North Church where Paul Revere and William Dawes lit the lantern from the steeple. Stopped at a farmers market along the way where there were vegetables and fish for sale. Boston is a beautiful city and very historic. We had a fantastic dinner on the boat cooked by a chef. We had a great day in Boston.
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| Perseverance II, yacht David is the captain |
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| Boston Harbor skyline |
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| Inside Old North Church |
Today we moved to Accord New York. It's located at the base of the Catskill Mountains. Again the leaves are in full color and everywhere you look the hills are covered with trees. I researched the best way to go into New York City on the Internet. We decided to go into the city for the day on Sunday by driving to the town of Poughkeepsie and getting on a commuter train. It's takes an hour and a half to get into New York by train and it goes to Grand Central Station. We will do the Statue of Liberty on Tuesday from the New Jersey side. That is the first time I could get to go into the pedestal.
Oct. 24
We caught the 9:40 train into the city. The train was not crowded because it is Sunday. There is a little rain this morning but it looks like it will clear up. When we get into Grand Central we sign-up for a double Decker bus tour. It goes uptown and downtown and we can get off and back on at stops along the way. What a great way to see the city and with a guide pointing out buildings and telling some history along the way. We went downtown first because Dick wanted to eat lunch at a well known pizza restaurant in Soho that he had seen on the food channel called Lombardi's. The place was busy and the pizza was great. We got back on the bus and got off again at Rockerfeller Center. We walked to Times Square and got onto the uptown bus were we went around Central Park on Central Park West and 5th Ave. We got off at the Cathedral of St. John to look inside the ornate church. On our trip around the city we saw all the different areas of New York from Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Financial District, China Town, Harlem, Garment District, Theater District and Upper East Side. We would never have been able to walk to all these areas and had a great view from the top of the bus. As night fell on the city and the lights came on, we got great view of New York after dark. The crowd of people in Times Square increased and it was pretty much wall to wall people. We walked back to Grand Central and got on the train for home.
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| Rockerfeller Center skating rink |
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| Times Square |
Oct. 25
We were tired from our long day in the city so we did little projects around the motor home. I did a weeks worth of laundry, not my favorite thing to do, but it has to be done. Later in the afternoon we took a ride in the Jeep into the Catskill Mountains. The colored trees formed a canopy over the road and we followed a wide creek with waterfalls flowing out of the rocks and into the creek. It was again a beautiful drive.
Oct. 26
Today we are going to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We are driving the Jeep to Jersey City and catching the ferry to the two islands. We have reservations to go into the pedestal which is 10 stories high. If you don't have reservations you can't go into the pedestal, you can only walk around outside. Inside the pedestal there is a museum showing how the statue was constructed and the story behind it. You can also look up into the interior of the statue and see the internal structure. It was a beautiful sunny day and the views of the New York Harbor, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey were fantastic. My dad's parents immigrated to the US through Ellis Island in the early 1900's. They came from the Volga region in Russia but were Germans. I have always wanted to visit Ellis Island. The Immigration station opens at Ellis Island in 1892 and that original wooden immigration station was destroyed by fire in 1897. This present building was built in 1900 and between 1901 and 1910, 6 million immigrants arrived and were processed at Ellis. The stories of how these people left everything, including family and friends, to come to America to start a new life is very emotional. Defitinely happy travels, Barb
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| Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty |
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| Statue of Liberty |
Our next stop in into Pennsylvania for the next 8 days.
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