We may have been a little tired, or hungry, or agitated... or all of the above, but either way, due to miscommunication we made the trek across the bridge one too many times because we missed a left turn! The second border agent took a lot longer and and asked a lot more questions before letting back into the US, suspicious characters we are.
We made our way through Buffalo (no, we didn't get buffalo wings). Buffalo had an amazing art deco city hall with an observation deck on the 28th floor. The interior was so beautiful, lots of gold, carvings and murals.
The rain didn't seem to stop for more than 24 hours from the time we left Michigan until October 2. When we were in Albany, the NY Capitol region had flood warnings! Crazy torrential downpours, the likes of which we had never witnessed! We almost gave in and got a motel (we found one for $40), but by the time we made our way there it was midnight and their gas line had just been knocked down. There was emergency vehicles on scene and we got the brushoff from a firefighter. There's no way we were going to pay to stay in a place with no hot water because of a broken gas pipe--defeats the purpose of staying in a hotel. So we sucked it up, drove back to wal-mart and didn't bother with the bikes and the bed, just slept in the front seat of the truck. It got a little cold, but hey, we stayed dry.
We spent two and a half rainy days at the New York State Museum. It was huge! And free! It has an incredible 9/11 section, beautiful birds of NY water paintings, natural history and a whole lot of other stuff.
The rain stopped on the evening of the 1st, our last night in Albany. Where we spent yet another night at Wal-Mart and hung our wet bedding and other stuff in tree and on poles to dry. If only we had remembered to take a picture.
Saratoga Springs, was another picturesque beautiful place with a great farmer's market (nabbed some fresh hamburger & a loaf of bread) and is also the home of Olde Saratoga Brewery, sister brewery to Mendocino Brewing Co--Red Tail Ales. That night A made a delicious dinner at a park on the banks of Lake George.
The next day we pushed on to Ticonderoga, where we checked out the outside of the fort (it was $15 a pop to go inside!) and the old Pell Hotel and gardens. Afterward we caught the ferry across the Connecticut River to Vermont. Fifteen minutes into Vermont we stopped at a farm and picked up a half peck of delicious honey crisp apples--it really is unfortunate that they don't sell them on the west coast. They are by far the best apples we have ever had.Vermont is beautiful. Everything you hear about the fall foliage is more than true. The houses, for the most part, are all large farm house style and have porches with rocking chairs, adirondack chairs, or hammocks.
We finally made it back to the National forests, after many nights in Wal-Mart parking lots. The Green Mountain National Forest is beautiful but most of the campgrounds were closed, it turns out in Vermont before mud season is construction season. Most of the roads in the national forest have houses on them, it took us at least 45 minutes to find a camp spot.
On the 4th we went to the Vermont Sun health club, to get a work out and a much needed shower, after the gym time we crossed the street to Otter Creek Brewing Company (brewers of Wolaver's beer)--awesome oatmeal stout and pumpkin beer! What better post workout drink than free beers?
This morning, back in the Wal-Mart parking lot, we met a super nice traveling family of 3+2 yorkies. They just started their trip and invited us to their trailer where we shared travel tips and stories over delicious coffee and zucchini bread.
Today, coffee, Ben & Jerry's and possibly Cabot Creamery (Cheese!) if we have time after this post.
Update: we didn't make it to Cabot. Time to search for New England and Philly couches to surf for when we meet up with Amber.
1 comment:
It's so wonderful to travel the country with you two!
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