Day 75 – Drive fromTwin Mountain, New Hampshire to Keeseville, New York
September 11, 2008
We now have had a night, a day and another night without rain, and the sun welcomed us again when we woke up, but the temperature had dropped to 3 degrees Celsius during the night so it was pretty cold. This is something we were not used to any longer as the advantage to being on the coast is that the night temperatures are not much different from the day temperatures. So out came the long pants and our sweaters to keep us warm. We would have liked to linger a bit at this site but we were going to move on so we would get closer to home (or was it because Leo wanted to take some train pictures at Willsboro in New York State?). Whatever the reason we packed up and left to travel west. We were going through the mountains and guess what . . . we ended up in low clouds and it was like being back in the fog. But these clouds were moving up and down and at times just gave us beautiful views of the mountains and the landscape around it. This was on some superhighways we took where you are not allowed to stop unless it is an emergency, so we did not capture this in the pictures, but later we switched to normal road and then out came the camera to capture some of this for all to enjoy.
Around 2 o’clock we came to Lake Champlain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Champlain) around Burlington, Vermont (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington,_Vermont) and from there we took a ferry across the lake to Willsboro, New York (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willsboro,_New_York) . This lake is a large, very popular recreation area with lots of things to do, like biking, hiking, boating, swimming, fishing, skiing and much more. It also has many historical venues to visit so a person could stay here for a couple of weeks and still not have taken it all in. Unfortunately we are only here for 2 nights so that Leo can take these `fabulous` train pictures and then we will be moving on again, as yes . . . our holiday is coming to an end.
We had a bit of a hard time finding a campground as the visitor centre we stopped at did not have a campground booklet for us and the only campground the lady at the centre knew was just west of the town of Keeseville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeseville,_New_York) . When we got to this campground we were pleasantly surprised as it is located next to the Ausable Chasm, a 2 mile long chasm of the Ausable River sitting on 1000 acres of natural history. There is a hike along this chasm but it takes about 2 hours to do, so we were too late for it today but hope to do it tomorrow afternoon after Leo comes back from his picture-taking in the morning. That is, if the weather cooperates, as clouds and showers have been forecast again for the next 3 days. I know I can hear you say do the walk first and then the pictures, but Leo needs the morning light for this spot if it sunny and he did drive 18,000km to get here just to take these shots!
After we set up our trailer Leo went to ‘explore’ this fabulous train photographing spot and I stayed behind to play on the computer by myself, finally. Unfortunately there was no Internet at this campground which limited me to what I could do on the PC.
Pictures from today are combined with Day 76 – Keeseville.
Day 76 – Keeseville, New York
September 12, 2008
Yes the weather forecasters here know what they are talking about. It was cloudy this morning and rained somewhat later on in the morning. But still we did have 3 nights and 2 days without rain, something we have not had for a long time.
Leo still left to take his pictures but as I mentioned yesterday, driving 18,000km and not taking these pictures would not go over with his train buddies (Alex, Samantha and Jayla) very well.
This gives me some time to give you a little more information about this area. Here at the Ausable Chasm (http://www.ausablechasm.com/) we are just on the northeastern tip of the Adirondack Mountains, which houses Lake Placid in the middle of it. To the west is Lake Champlain (http://www.lakechamplainregion.com/), a very long water highway which used to connect the Saint Lawrence River to the north with the Hudson River to the south. Indian and French traders traveled these waters. French and British soldiers enlisted Indian allies to join their battles for control of the land, harvest the timber and mine the mountains’ rich deposits of iron. A generation later, rebel Americans fought again to control the resources and their destiny, or so the marketers for the area tell us. Now it is a large recreation destination with lots of history to see and explore.
We will not be here that long but it certainly is worth another visit and longer stay.
As you have figured by now we did not take the walk along the Ausable Chasm but went for a drive around the ‘neighbourhood’ instead. We checked out the towns of Keeseville and Willsboro, had afternoon tea at the ferry terminal at Port Kent and waited for the Amtrak train to come by and hopefully stop at the modern and imposing train station there. We were in luck: after we waited for about an hour the train came finally, stopped, let off 2 passengers and moved on again some 90 minutes late. The passengers walked to the ferry terminal and we went back to our trailer to have supper.
The evening was spent reading for me and photo editing for Leo so that when we have Internet again we can post, amongst others, the wonderful train picture which can be found here.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Day 73 & 74 - Acadia National Park, Maine &Drive from Ellsworth, Maine to Twin Mountain, New Hampshire
Day 73 – Acadia National Park, Maine (http://www.acadia.net/anp/)
September 09, 2008
After we had a rainless night the sun came up shining again as we woke up so we decided to make an early start on the day as the forecast called for clouds and 70% chance of showers for the afternoon. The owners of the campground told us to drive up Cadillac Mountain (http://www.acadiamagic.com/CadillacMountain.html) first before the clouds moved in. This mountain is 1530 feet high and the road is nicely paved without potholes or bumps. On top of the mountain is a fair size parking lot which was 75% full by the time we got there. But the view was beautiful as the pictures will show. However, it was But also very windy and unless you had yourself roped to your car you could have been picked up by the wind and been deposited along the coast below in Bar Harbour, the local Banff of Acadia Park.
We were also told to take the one-way loop around the island as it is a most scenic drive. It took us 3 tries to find ‘the loop’. We are now quite familiar with the road to the visitor centre and to Cadillac Mountain, having passed it that many times. By the time we had found ‘the loop’ it had started to rain but we took it anyway. It was indeed a very nice drive with at times a nice view of the coast and the ocean on the left and the beautiful forests on the right. A very few of the trees had begun to turn colour but overall we are here just to soon to see the fall colours for which New England is famous. At the end we drove to the town of Bar Harbour to have a gawk at the boats and such in the harbour. And boats they are: some of them are pretty pricey and that is true not just for this harbour but also for the other small harbours around here. The vessels today were nothing like we have been seeing in Nova Scotia where the harbours are ‘working’ harbours with primarily fishing boats. Only fancy-dancy recreational boats need apply here.
I do not know much about the coast of Maine but it seems that there is a lot of money here and there are lots and lots of tourists in this resort section of the state. I think that on the Tuesday after the Labour Day weekend all the seniors (62 years is considered a senior here) go on holidays. It was pretty busy in Acadia National Park and the roads leading to them and we were the youngest couple here it felt like. But any way we enjoyed our day, in the rain, at Acadia National Park.
Pictures for today can be found here.
Day 74 – Drive from Ellsworth, Maine to Twin Mountain, New Hampshire
September 10, 2008
We had decided the previous evening to move inland to get away from the rainy coast. I guess the mist, fog and rain was getting to us after 2 months of it. This also means we will not be moving to the coast after all even if there is one of those old, charming big houses for sale within our price range. (As if there was much chance of that!)
But before we went west Leo wanted to go up Cadillac Mountain again (and use our $20 pass one more day, which was only good for this one state park) to take a few more pictures but this time with sunshine instead of clouds. While he did so I worked on catching up on some writing of our blogs. Hence we had a bit of a slow start to our day.
Going west and inland took us through some really nice scenery again and the sun stayed with us all day. Again we were treated to these big, big old houses from the turn of the 19th century or earlier. They look so romantic and I can picture life around them. Some of them are really well kept while others are, unfortunately, left unattended. These are houses you find in the small towns and cities. The big, big houses you find outside the cities and towns are new and do not have the romantic look to them. I mentioned to Leo that in the olden days the rich people lived in town and now the rich live just outside town. Times have changed.
We drove out of Maine and into New Hampshire. By 4 o’clock it was time to look for a campsite and we ended up in the White Mountains Region (http://www.visitwhitemountains.com/) of New Hampshire. We found a really nice campground close to Twin Mountain called Ammonoosuc Campground (www.ucampnh.com/ammonoosuc) and besides 2 other campers and 2 seasonal campers we were the only ones there. We were told to just pick a spot we liked and so we did: close to the wash and laundry room so I could do a wash while we ate supper. I have to say I am feeling ‘at home’ again with this campground as it is laid out like the campgrounds in our parks with a large area to set up your tent or trailer and trees all around you to give some privacy (which we did not really need as we were the only ones in this part of the campground). Another thing that made us feel at home was the bear warning signs posted in the bathroom and at the shelters for the tenting spots. I could have used the bathroom 7 times before I had to use a toilet twice or taken 4 showers and not used the same one twice. And all this luxury was just for the two of us. But we were only to camp here for the one night so there was not much time to really enjoy it all.
Sorry, but there are no pictures for today as the roads were again narrow. The ones from Cadillac Mountain Leo took in the morning were included in yesterday’s pictures.
September 09, 2008
After we had a rainless night the sun came up shining again as we woke up so we decided to make an early start on the day as the forecast called for clouds and 70% chance of showers for the afternoon. The owners of the campground told us to drive up Cadillac Mountain (http://www.acadiamagic.com/CadillacMountain.html) first before the clouds moved in. This mountain is 1530 feet high and the road is nicely paved without potholes or bumps. On top of the mountain is a fair size parking lot which was 75% full by the time we got there. But the view was beautiful as the pictures will show. However, it was But also very windy and unless you had yourself roped to your car you could have been picked up by the wind and been deposited along the coast below in Bar Harbour, the local Banff of Acadia Park.
We were also told to take the one-way loop around the island as it is a most scenic drive. It took us 3 tries to find ‘the loop’. We are now quite familiar with the road to the visitor centre and to Cadillac Mountain, having passed it that many times. By the time we had found ‘the loop’ it had started to rain but we took it anyway. It was indeed a very nice drive with at times a nice view of the coast and the ocean on the left and the beautiful forests on the right. A very few of the trees had begun to turn colour but overall we are here just to soon to see the fall colours for which New England is famous. At the end we drove to the town of Bar Harbour to have a gawk at the boats and such in the harbour. And boats they are: some of them are pretty pricey and that is true not just for this harbour but also for the other small harbours around here. The vessels today were nothing like we have been seeing in Nova Scotia where the harbours are ‘working’ harbours with primarily fishing boats. Only fancy-dancy recreational boats need apply here.
I do not know much about the coast of Maine but it seems that there is a lot of money here and there are lots and lots of tourists in this resort section of the state. I think that on the Tuesday after the Labour Day weekend all the seniors (62 years is considered a senior here) go on holidays. It was pretty busy in Acadia National Park and the roads leading to them and we were the youngest couple here it felt like. But any way we enjoyed our day, in the rain, at Acadia National Park.
Pictures for today can be found here.
Day 74 – Drive from Ellsworth, Maine to Twin Mountain, New Hampshire
September 10, 2008
We had decided the previous evening to move inland to get away from the rainy coast. I guess the mist, fog and rain was getting to us after 2 months of it. This also means we will not be moving to the coast after all even if there is one of those old, charming big houses for sale within our price range. (As if there was much chance of that!)
But before we went west Leo wanted to go up Cadillac Mountain again (and use our $20 pass one more day, which was only good for this one state park) to take a few more pictures but this time with sunshine instead of clouds. While he did so I worked on catching up on some writing of our blogs. Hence we had a bit of a slow start to our day.
Going west and inland took us through some really nice scenery again and the sun stayed with us all day. Again we were treated to these big, big old houses from the turn of the 19th century or earlier. They look so romantic and I can picture life around them. Some of them are really well kept while others are, unfortunately, left unattended. These are houses you find in the small towns and cities. The big, big houses you find outside the cities and towns are new and do not have the romantic look to them. I mentioned to Leo that in the olden days the rich people lived in town and now the rich live just outside town. Times have changed.
We drove out of Maine and into New Hampshire. By 4 o’clock it was time to look for a campsite and we ended up in the White Mountains Region (http://www.visitwhitemountains.com/) of New Hampshire. We found a really nice campground close to Twin Mountain called Ammonoosuc Campground (www.ucampnh.com/ammonoosuc) and besides 2 other campers and 2 seasonal campers we were the only ones there. We were told to just pick a spot we liked and so we did: close to the wash and laundry room so I could do a wash while we ate supper. I have to say I am feeling ‘at home’ again with this campground as it is laid out like the campgrounds in our parks with a large area to set up your tent or trailer and trees all around you to give some privacy (which we did not really need as we were the only ones in this part of the campground). Another thing that made us feel at home was the bear warning signs posted in the bathroom and at the shelters for the tenting spots. I could have used the bathroom 7 times before I had to use a toilet twice or taken 4 showers and not used the same one twice. And all this luxury was just for the two of us. But we were only to camp here for the one night so there was not much time to really enjoy it all.
Sorry, but there are no pictures for today as the roads were again narrow. The ones from Cadillac Mountain Leo took in the morning were included in yesterday’s pictures.
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