Two nights of music

For the most part Bob and I have not been doing anything after dinner except be in the trailer or sit around the campfire. We read, play games, or watch DVDs. Earlier this week I saw that one of the nearby restaurants was having a jazz band last night. It was a small trio. We went and had wine and tasty finger food and listened for about an hour. They weren't great. It was the kind of music that tends to be in the background and there were a lot of people talking over it. But it was an enjoyable evening.

Most campgrounds have bulletin boards in the laundry area. I guess that they figure you will read the stuff while you are waiting for the machines. I do read the notices. Up until now the events being described are never while we are in the area. Today I noticed a flyer for a group called "O'Challah." They were billed as a combination of Jewish klezmer music (hence the challah) and Irish music (hence the O') It was free and at the National Seashore info center about a mile from here. So we went. It was excellent. What a great combination. Hebrew, Irish, Yiddish, Serbian, American, and Macedonian music. Some sing-a-long - especially the Hebrew stuff (Shalom Havarim to start off). I got the info on the group. There is apparently a CD available and I will look for it.

What is an interesting twist is that as Bob and I were sitting watching the violin, guitar, clarinet, mandolin, and flute, both of us were thinking that we want to make sure that our grandson learns to play a musical instrument. He is already showing great interest in music. It is such a great way to express yourself. I will figure out a way.

Another interesting thing is how Jewish music is the same everywhere and Jewish people. I connected with the Jewish woman of the group (who played the violin) immediately and we had a great conversation after the show. It reminds me of how my daughter said that the Passover seders in Rome were the same as the seders in Portland. How does that happen?

The rest of the day was quiet. I Skyped with daughter and grandson this morning. (He is getting cuter every day.) The sun was out and the temperature was perfect. We had planned to go on a bike ride, but we were both reading interesting books. We just sat in the shade and read and laughed and watched the world go by. We need to do this more often. As one of my sisters keeps reminding me, my husband is 81. I do have to give him some time to recover. I think that he is feeling much better after almost two days of just relaxing. Good. (Cause I am ready to roll again.)

Provincetown and such

We drove along the cape into Provincetown. I have to say that I was not overwhelmed. The drive was pretty and you could see the ocean and the bay at the end. But the parking was nonexistent or very expensive. We tried to find a place to stop and really didn't see anything that made it worthwhile to pay the exhorbitant parking rates. So we kept driving and started back. It was less than 30 miles and we can come back if we want to see something.

We wanted to find a restaurant to stop and have lunch. There were many restaurants that had take out only. There were lots of pizza places - not what we had in mind. The one restaurant we found in Truro said that they did not start serving lunch until noon and it was only 11:35. We could walk around the very tiny downtown or we could sit there and wait. We decided to move on. Another restaurant which billed itself as a bakery and bistro had no place to sit down inside and all of the outside tables were full. They only had sandwiches anyway. We finally found a small Thai restaurant. Let me say that Thai food (Asian food actually) is not the same on the east coast as it is in Portland. Disappointing.

We decided that since it was a warm day that we would go back to the beach. That was lovely. We watched the tide go out pretty dramatically and you could see the vary large expanse of sand with grass. We sat in the sun and watched the many children playing in the shallow water and having a great time. We listened to teenage girls on a blanket nearby discuss things that they knew nothing about. (Was I ever really that young and silly?)

I realized that we were watching the west and that the sun would be going down right over the bay. So I suggested that we come back and watch the sunset. Bob insisted that we were looking north not west. It didn't matter what map I showed him or what logic I used-he insisted that he was right. But he agreed that after dinner we would come back and watch and see who was right.

Guess who? We did watch a really pretty sunset. I do like the sunsets that are absolutely clear and you can watch the sun slip into the ocean. This was not one of those. This was one with a few clouds at the horizon and it was also very lovely. While we were sitting and holding each other (it was pretty cold) we would cuddle and kiss every once in a while. I heard a camera click behind me and turned to the young man and wanted to know if we should get out of his way. He replied that we were actually the subject of his picture. He got some of us just being together and promised to email them to me. All in all a very pleasant way to end a day.

This morning Bob and I both felt lazy and like we did not want to do much. I really wanted to clean the trailer. It gets pretty dirty. So I dusted, swept, mopped, and scrubbed and it feels much better. I doubt that we will do much today but enjoy being here and the pleasant weather. The campground is not nearly as full as I thought it would be. Apparently it is still very early in the season. They do have a very short season. We do need lazy days like this regularly.

Enjoying Cape Cod

It was a busy day today. It rained last night and was a little damp and chilly this morning so it seemed a good day to get some repairs done. Always something. Do not go trekking without your mechanic. The repairs went pretty quickly and we were done early. The sun started to come out and it had all of the beginnings of a beautiful day.

We biked a quarter mile down the road to a seafood place that had been recommended. I wanted fried clams and Bob wanted a salad. They didn't have any salads today. They wouldn't take credit cards. Bob got very irritated. I decided to get my clams to go and we would go back to the trailer and Bob could make himself a good lunch. That worked out well. (The clams were scrumptious.)

We then got back on the bikes and started down the bike path. It is 22 miles long and our campsite is located at about mile 17. We headed towards Orleans, the nearest town. It was about 4.5 miles. The path was well paved and fairly scenic. There were parts that were simply boring. Other parts were along ponds and very nice. When we got to Orleans Bob was pretty tired, so we went for coffee, did a little shopping (Bob got some great new sandals), and then headed back. Unfortunately about one half mile before the campground the path goes under the road and there is a steep uphill coming out of the tunnel. Bob decided that he wanted to see if he could do the uphill without the aid of his battery. He did it, but it almost did him in. He almost lost his balance and his lunch. The good news is that we were really close to the campground so we could get back and he could rest. He promised me that he would not do that again.

We then drove back to Orleans and we both got pedicures. This is the only way that I have found for Bob to keep his toenails cut short. (Very important because otherwise he stabs me with those things in the middle of the night.) This was a brand new nail shop that had only been open for a month and was being run by two brothers and a sister. They did a nice job.

It is chilly tonight. We thought about a campfire, but decided that we would rather not.

The weekend campers are starting to arrive. I understand that this place will be packed - not only the campground but the entire cape. Glad we have a spot and do not have to drive around much - except to the beach and Provincetown, but without the trailer. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

A day at the beach

It was really warm when we woke up today - 60 degrees. We had a late breakfast outside. This is the first breakfast we have had outside in a long time. It was very nice. Did I say nice? It was very nice. We really took our time getting moving and just enjoyed being out there.

We decided that it would be better to drive our bikes to the bike repair place than to bike there and wait. Good idea. They said that they would have them by the end of the day. So no biking today.

We tried to go to the recommended place for lunch but we walked in and the smell of fish was overpowering. Bob absolutely could not handle it. So we decided to try another recommended fish place and it was closed on Wednesdays. (Bob had joked on the way that it was going to be closed. He was right and felt guilty for jinxing it.) We had lunch at an Italian place. They had puttanesca but it was not as good as Bob's. The waitress spent a lot of time with us and told us that she is pregnant. She told us a lot about the area and we enjoyed talking to her. There is a jazz band playing there on Saturday night. I told Bob I was going and he could go or not go, it was up to him.

We got our stuff together and headed for the beach. It seemed sunny and warm and we couldn't bike so beaching seemed like a good idea. As we were gathering our stuff the manager of the campground told us to bring jackets because it is often cool at the beach. Wrong. It was sunny and very warm. I put on a bathing suit but Bob just sat in his shorts. We stayed for about two hours and felt toasty. I wandered into the water and cooled off. We were on the Cape side so it was very calm and very warm and there were almost no waves. The kids were playing in the water and having a grand time. The parents were getting hot and irritable. Interesting.

There is so much that I want to do here. The manager of the campground tells me that it will be full this weekend and very busy. I can only assume that the whole place will be packed. So we are trying to decide what to do when there are not many folks and what will be good when the place is packed. Amazingly the beach was almost empty. That was fine with me.

Picked up the bikes and they are repaired and ready to go. We were both so tired out from the sun that we just sat at the site. The breezes started up in a short time and I thought that I had died and gone to heaven. Bob keeps saying that this is what he has been looking forward to doing. I hope that the weather stays this nice. (They are predicting some thundershowers tonight but sun in the afternoon.) Tomorrow will be a biking day in the afternoon I think.

Oh what a beautiful morning

Oh what a beautiful day.

I understand that the weather in Cape Cod at Memorial Day is not usually very good. For a change we have lucked into good weather that was not expected.

We knew we had a very short ride so we really took our time getting started this morning. Usually when we travel from one site to another we are up and going and leave by 9 am. But because we had such a short ride and our campsite was so nice we really took our time getting started. That was actually very nice. We should do that more often. The ride was easy and fairly short. I was very surprised to realize that we did not see the ocean on any part of the ride. We drove right down the middle of the cape and there were trees on both sides and no ocean to be seen.

Along the ride Bob and I started to laugh at town names again. There was Sandwich (north, south, and east Sandwich), At Sandwich the exit also took you to Mushpee. (didn't sound like a very good Sandwich) But the next exit was Chase. Bob starting laughing and said that we were going to Chase the Sandwich to Mushpee. Where do they come up with the names of these towns?

The drivers continue to be extremely aggressive. Libbi I really loved your comment about your son in first grade. I am worried that Bob will continue using those bad names and our grandson will pick it up. We already had that issue come up with our daughter about 38 years ago. What is it about drivers that they are so impatient. They don't get there any faster. It has really been a joy to be traveling at such a leisurely pace and have nowhere to be in a hurry. It gives me a whole new perspective.

We are at a campground that is right inside the National Seashore. There is a bike path that goes right behind the camground for many(?) miles in each direction. I will tell you more about it when we take some rides on it. This campground is not as well maintained as the last one, but it is nice and well situated. The weather was in the mid 80's and we will be here for a week, so we put up the stove on the outside of Honey. We drove to the nearest grocery store and bought some ribs and we barbequed ribs for dinner - and actually ate them outside. We have had some outside lunches, but we have not had outside dinners since St. Augustine. It was very pleasant.

The closest town is Orleans - about 4 miles away. While we were there we found a bike repair shop - the bikes do need some work on them (my fifth gear won't work and Bob's odometer is kaput) We stopped in and they were very nice. A bike ride and lunch while waiting for repairs sounds like a good way to spend the day. We also found a hardward store and Bob got some lumber needed to make some repairs on the shelves that he made for our clothes (which keep falling down - the shelves and the clothes.) Also very nice. Lots of motels and cottages here for rent. We have gotten directions on things to see and beaches that look good. It will probably be very busy here this weekend and I am glad that we are staying put.

Salem Massachusetts

The weather is absolutely perfect. I must admit that I never thought I would say that on this trip. But it was in the low 80's today and very pleasant.

Bob has continued to be very tired and I think it may be that he has not been sleeping well. We don't know what to do about it. He slept better last night and felt less tired today. I am thinking that maybe he has what my little sister has - she reports being very tired. It is probably just going around. But that has not stopped us from enjoying the trek. We just go slower.

Today we drove about 40 miles to Salem. The ride itself was interesting. First, all of the houses are bigger than I am used to seeing. That is probably because they have to spend all winter locked up in their houses, huh? There is, of course, a lot of traffic. The drivers are pretty aggressive. Bob starts to call them bad names. When I call him on it we begin to notice how little good it does any of them. But they continue to be aggressive and act as if they are getting somewhere faster.

We had been warned that Salem is pretty touristy and that the tours and the Witch Museum are not worth the money. But we understood that the Witch Dungeon was a good sight. So we found a lucky parking place - Bob really does have great parking karma- and went into the Witch Dungeon. There was a short play taken from the actual transcript of the trials and then there was a tour of some recreated jails. The actual jails had been torn down in the 50's to make way for a mall. Apparently at that time there was not much effort being made to preserve historical spaces. The play was scary in that it was so easy for the girls to make the outrageous accusations. Anyone who was accused of witchcraft lost their property. Some folks obviously got very rich off this. Those who pled guilty were allowed to go free. Those who maintained their innocence were hung. Scary right?

The jails were also scary. Prisoners had to pay for their own upkeep. If they did not have money, they did not eat. If you had lots of money you could get a bigger cell. Some of the cells were no wider than the human body was round. In other words, if you were in one of those small cells you could not lie down. You could only stand. Apparently some prisoners who had been accused and claimed innocence died before they even got to trial. The whole thing only ended when the girls accused the wife of the governor of the state of being a witch. Then suddenly it stopped. Could that happen today?

I then went into a museum about Lizzie Bordon. (She was accused of killing her mother and father with an axe.) Bob did not want to go in so I went by myself. The museum presented information on all the players, the facts that had been learned before trial, the opening and closing statements at trial as well as summaries of the witness testimony. There were also diagrams of the house. She was acquitted, but the question that the museum asked was whether she really did it. I came out not sure, but leaning toward believing that she did. Interesting.

The rest of Salem was pretty touristy, or too far to walk, so we went back to the car - stopping for a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cone. Yummy. I am being careful on my diet, but you cannot give up everything.

We had campfires at our site both last night and tonight. Very relaxing. There are enough trees that I could actually sense that there was more oxygen - maybe it is just that I miss the people to tree ratio that we have in Oregon. Tomorrow on to Cape Cod. It turns out that the campground that we have reserved for our visit in Cape Cod is owned by the brother of the people who own the one that we are currently staying in. That bodes well. I hope it is as nice.

Boston

We got up early yesterday and drove to a nearby motel where we got picked up by a little tour bus. The driver was clearly from Boston and sounded a little like the guys on Car Talk. We then drove into Boston (after picking up others) and began the tour. The tour lasted for 6 1/2 hours and was filled from one end to the next with information on Boston from the historical stuff to bits of our driver's youth. We visited the Old North Church and learned that Paul Revere hadn't actually lit the lamps. We saw downtown, uptown, Havard and MIT, and the Longfellow house. We saw the USS Constitution. We saw very old graveyards and very narrow streets. We saw lots of amazing architecture, both old and new. We had a great lunch - Bob had shepherd's pie and Boston cream pie (two of his favorites) and I had a great lobster something. I cannot begin to recount all that we saw. There was so much that I cannot remember where we were.

Although the traffic in Boston is terrible, they have done a good job of building tunnels and subways to move it around the city without affecting the city. I was very impressed with the public spaces and the sense that the city is for the people even though the entire city is an historical monument. I had no idea what the Freedom Trail was. For those of you who also are in the dark, it is a path that goes from one historical place to another. It is either painted red or is red bricks. Many people walked it. We walked part of it, but generally bussed from spot to spot with some short popouts and some longer stops. It was overwhelming. I am very glad that we decided to come here.

Bob was feeling very tired when we started the trip so he sat in the bus when we stopped. But I jumped out at every opportunity. By the time we started back I was exhausted. I actually fell asleep for a few minutes on the bus trip home. We had a very quick dinner and went to bed early. (I would up with a pretty good size headache. I think that I did not drink enough water. But the headache is gone now so that is good.)

We spent the day in the campground just taking it easy and enjoying the green and the quiet. There is a small animal that looks like a minature squirrel that is running all over the place. I have fun just watching them chase each other.

We talked about whether to go back to Boston and walk around on our own and decided against it. There is so much to see in this area. I really want to see Salem so that is where we are going tomorrow.

Now outside of Boston

What an incredibly beautiful ride from Burlington Vermont to here. The green mountains were indeed very very green. Spring is here and everything was covered in a blanket of green. The views were spectacular.

Comments on the day. Green seems to be the color here. The Vermont license plates are green with white lettering and the New Hampshire plates are white with green lettering. My favorite laugh of the day was the town of Contoocook. Bob looked at the sign and said Can Too Cook? Good laugh. For some reason both Vermont and New Hampshire do not post signs telling you what restaurants are at the next off ramp. They do tell you if there is food, but you have no idea what kind. For those of us who are not particularly interested in McDonald's it means you have to get off at the exit and drive up and down and see what is there. We gave up and went to a rest area and made lunch in Honey.

That being said, I do understand why people would like to live in Vermont. I did not realize how small the state is and that it is 49th in population. (I then spent some time figuring out which was 50th by going through my maps alphabetically. Guess which one - Wyoming). But there is a real pride here in the state and I really do like the priorities.

Bob was just amazed at how quickly we went through Vermont and New Hampshire and got to Massachusetts. He keeps thinking of states in terms of the size out west. He is amazed when we go through a state in little more than an hour.

We are at a very rural campground about 30 miles from Boston. It is interesting how we wound up here. I really did not intend to go to any big cities. It is too hard to camp. So I spent quite a bit of time going through all of the various routes to get to Cape Cod and the various campgrounds and state parks. There is a web site called RV Parks Review.com. I always check it to see what others have found at various campgrounds. For the msot part we have found that the recommendations are pretty accurate. We could not find a spot with good recommendations between Burlington and Cape Cod except here outside of Boston. So, rather than drive a while and stay two nights and then drive some more - we are spending four days here outside of Boston.

I am surprised at the amount of trees and at how rural it is here. We were set up by 2 pm even though we had the fun of the trailer coming off the stack of wood to hold it up and we had to start all over again. We have a lovely spot that feels like a campground in rural Oregon. I spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and changing the sheets on the bed (that is quite a chore). After dinner I drove to the nearest grocery store and realized after I had picked up all of the groceries that I did not have my wallet. I called Bob and he could not find it. I drove back to the campsite and he called right before I got here and said that he had found it. Scary. I was so tired by the time that I drove back again and put the groceries away. I need a good night's sleep. (Bob does too - he did not sleep well last night.)

Tomorrow we take a tour of Boston - it will be a long day.

I like Burlington Vermont

If it were not for the horrible winters here I could live in Vermont. I see the same kind of lifestyle that I like. The people here are very active and physical. There is obviously a real appreciation of the outdoors. The government appears to be trying to serve the people. The people here feel real to me. This park that we are staying in is just wonderful. We have this marvelous view of the lake. We are just steps away from an awesome bike path that can go into the downtown or for miles around the lake. The park is well taken care of. Wow. But alas, they have really horrible winters here so I guess that I will stay in Oregon.

Today was another day in which we got up late and took our time. We got some chores done. We went on the scooters to get some groceries. We took a long bike ride. The weather was partly cloudy with temps in the upper 70's. We had a very few spinkles of rain but clear most of the time. We had a great campfire. It doesn't get much better than this. I am surpirised at how often we have days like this. We are just enjoying being in Vermont (or wherever we are at the moment).

One thing that Bob and I have noticed is that we are getting much better at taking down and putting up the scooters. That makes it much easier to think about using them. The folks in this campground are amazed when they see us ride by. One of the women asked me how long it took for me to learn to ride the scooter. When I told her less than two hours she did not believe me. I offered to let her try but she was not at all interested although she said that she would love to ride one. Hmm.

I am sitting here right now with the windows open in the trailer and listening to the symphony of crickets in the background. Bob is doing a crossword puzzle. I will read my book when I get this posted. Sometimes the simple life is the best.

You must see the Shelburne Museum

We have been to quite a few museums on this trip, but none is like the Shelburne. In most museums you go into buildings to see the exhibits. In this museum the buildings are the exhibits. We had no idea what we would be seeing when we started off this morning. We only knew that everyone we talked to said it was an amazing place and that when you bought the ticket it was good for two days.

When we got there we got a map of the various buildings with a short description of what was in each building. It was overwhelming. There is a little trolley that goes around the place and will take you from one site to another if you don't want to walk. At the recommendation of the staff person we took the trolley all the way around so that we had an overview of the area and some idea of what we might want to see. Good idea. There is just too much to see in one day. So I identified a few things, we got off the trolley and started to walk. We first saw the special exhibit of quilts made by people who are touched by Alzheimer's. Interesting, but not riveting. We then walked to the next building which was an exhibit about the circus. There were carved figures representing all the participants in the circus set up as a parade (it was 500 feet long and the figures were scaled one inch to a foot). There were also posters and pictures and general info about circuses. The building itself was a horshoe on a hill with a walk through underneath in the middle. (I don't know if the picture shows it well, but it was unusual.)

We then went to the train station. They had actually taken a train station and moved it to the site. There was an old train - you can see how huge - and an old luxury car - and all the stuff that you would see in the depot.

Next we saw an old paddle wheel steamer (the Ticonderoga) that used to go on Lake Champlain. I think this was Bob's favorite.

I can't keep track of all we saw. We saw several old houses that had been moved from their sites to the museum and filled with period furniture. We saw a print shop, a weaver's shop, a toy shop. There was an old barn that was filled with carriages - both private and public conveyance types. There was a general store with an apothecary, a barber shop and a doctor's office. There was an old school house. There was a pioneer cabin, a covered bridge, and an old saw mill. There was the most interesting lighthouse I had ever seen. (All of these buildings had been dismantled from where they were and then brought to this site.) There were beautiful gardens, some with things that would have been in the gardens during the period of the house, some with relevant flowers, like the fragrant ones outside of the perfumery. There were lilacs everywhere in full bloom and smelling just delicious - especially to a lilac lover like me. There was also a home of the future built out of steel containers. We missed the various art exhibits - just too much for one day.

In every building there was a staff person to tell you about the building and its history and information about the various artifacts or displays of how the printing presses or weaving looms worked. We thought that they were volunteers, but they were not. They were paid staff and they were responsible for knowing what was in their particular building and making you welcome.

The day was drizzley so there were not too many people in the museum. When we walked into each buildling we had what amounted to a private tour. I understand that on weekends or when the weather is better it is so crowded that you can barely see everything, much less get the tour. So we picked a good day and were very lucky.

There were many more buildings, but we had been there the whole day and just got too tired to stay and see more. We are now back in Honey, the rain has stopped, the sun is out, and tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful (bicycle) day.

Burlington Vermont

Yesterday we spent the entire day doing nothing. We sat at the beach and read and enjoyed the sun. We drove around town a little - enough to know that there was not much there. It felt good to sit and take a break. Bob is still a little tired. I hope that this is not too much for him. The good news is that both of us slept really well last night. Our life is pretty simple when all I can say about a day is that we slept well.

We got up late this morning and really took our time. We were just going across Lake Champlain and thought about taking a ferry, but they charge you by the foot. It would have been a little expensive and the ride did not look all that long. Before we left another camper came over to ask about the scooters. Now that we do not have the tiny trailer, people are always asking about the scooters. They had a really small trailer - about the size of Fanny. It certainly is more convenient for getting in and out of small places and is easier to level. But we have gotten used to the conveniences of Honey. Maybe we will have two trailers at some point?

We drove really close to Canada, just a mile or two away. I did not realize how close we would be to Montreal. But we went across the top of the US and into Vermont. Interesting comment. The bridge that took us to Vermont from New York - all the signs said "Bridge to Vermont." The bridge apparently doesn't have a name. I wondered what they said on the Vermont side but could not see any signs.

We then drove through a series of islands - which were beautiful. Living here would be very isolated. No wonder Vermonters think of themselves as very self reliant. I can't imagine what they do in the winter. We stopped at the information center and this was one of the better and most informative ones. I think the woman had very few people come in and she really wanted to talk. I came away with a huge stack of brochures and more info than I could possible use.

We wanted to stay in Burlington because we got it on very good authority that the Shelburne Museum here is a must see. Burlington is a very cute little town. This campground is right behind a school and in front of the beach. Although this is the same lake as we saw in Plattsburgh, it is hard to see that. On this side the beach is much more developed and user friendly. There is a bike path that runs right behind the campground along the beach. It is a mile in one direction to the city. Then it goes for many miles all the way up to Canada. We took down the bikes and rode for about 8 or 9 miles. Great fun. Then we took down the scooters and used them to go grocery shopping. More fun.

We are here for three nights and there is much to see and do. The bike path will be great for my morning walks. We have a wonderful camp site. (Apparently Vermont is not closing its public campgrounds like NY is. Smart.) Burlington looks like it has some nice easily accessible restaurants. This should be a nice few days.

Through the Adirondacks

We left Cooperstown and really had no idea where we were going next. We simply headed for the Adirondacks. We took the most direct route that did not involve a freeway and just started driving. (On the way we passed the towns of Sloanville and Lawyerville. I had to laugh at both.) The weather was beautiful. The sky was blue with "designer clouds." As we got into the mountainous area I could feel the joy and the relaxation. I guess that I am becoming more of a wilderness person than I realized.

As we were driving it felt more like Oregon than anywhere else that we had been. It was beautiful. But I could not help comparing the two areas. The mountains here were much lower and the trees were much smaller than in Oregon. There were many fewer pines and more deciduous trees. In the lower elevations the trees were full green. As we got higher they were just starting to bud. But there were many many more lakes. These lakes are gorgeous. They are big and deep and blue. We wanted to camp there, but all of the state campgrounds in the mountains were still closed - some are closed for the whole year because of finances. Even the Adirondack Museum had not yet opened for the season. There were no private campgrounds. So we just kept driving.

One big difference that I noticed between here and Oregon was private property. I am used to Oregon where the mountains are federal forests and there is no private land. Here the Adirondacks are a state park and there is lots of private property - there are some summer homes and many motels, hotels, and lodges of one sort or another. It did not feel like a park.

We lucked into a wonderful place for lunch. It was a rustic cabin in the middle of the forest. We asked about the soup of the day. I made a face when she said "split pea." I have never liked split pea. She told me that she did not like it either, but that she did like this and she offered a taste. That was wonderful split pea soup. Yummy. What a find.

We drove straight through the middle of the park and wound up at the eastern edge in Plattsburgh New York. The city is on the edge of Lake Champlain - another big, deep, blue lake. (I wonder why the lakes are so much more beautiful here than in Oregon.) We found a state campground and after some finangling are finally in the spot. (The first spot they gave us was too steep and we could not level Honey.) The temperature is in the 70's and we are planning to have a campfire. Tomorrow, if it is sunny as the weather predicts, we may just sit in the sun at the beach. We may even take out the bicycles and the scooters. so much of what we do now depends on the weather.

I am reminded of what someone once told me about the proper people to tree ratio. This park has the proper people to tree ratio. I feel comfortable and Bob is relaxed and happy. Yeah!

Quiet days in upstate New York

Bob and I decided to just take it easy yesterday. I wanted to see if he felt better and it seemed that too much touristing was making him overly tired. So we just stayed here in the campground. As you can see it is beautiful. Yesterday was a good day to do this because the sun came out at about noon and it really warmed up. We even were able to sit outside for a while and enjoy the sun and the warmth. Bob used the time to do the prep on dinner for last night as well as for tonight. He really enjoyed that. So we had wonderful pot pies for dinner last night and will have chili tonight. This is good because the numbers on the scale were starting to creep up and we had to get back to eating good home made low fat low calorie food. The numbers this morning were better, but we still have a pound or two to go before I get back to where I want to be.

We also spent some time yesterday thinking and planning about where to go next. I finally have a plan. Lake Placid, then north across the top of the state to Vermont and down to the Shelburne museum (Have to go there because it was so highly recommended.) Then back down south through Vermont and into Massachsetts and across the state to Cape Cod. The rumors are that the weather is going to get somewhat better in about two weeks. So I made reservations for a week in Cape Cod at a campground right next to the National Seashore (I never knew that we had things like national seashores). Having a plan makes Bob feel much better. We are a couple of weeks behind where we thought we would be in the beginning of June but that is fine.

Today is chore day. I am doing laundry and Bob did his books. It always feels good to get the chores done. Then I want to go to one of the farmer's markets around here. Bob asked what I wanted at a farmer's market. I said that I just wanted to see people other than tourists for a change. Hopefully that will be true.

Cooperstown NY

The drive from Watkins Glen to Cooperstown was beautiful. Even though we were mostly on the interstate, it was countryside with a gorgeous view. I did not realize that there were so many areas in New York state that were unpopulated. Our camping information book identified many campgrounds in the area, so I did not worry about finding a place to stay. As we got closer, I read the fine print. Most of the campgrounds do not open for at least another week. Oops. I tried calling a few in case there really was someone there. No answer and no response to voice messages. The only one that the book said was open was the KOA. But when we got there the sign on the door said that they were closed and would not be back for several hours. The campground was completely empty. I tried calling. This time - success. The owner had to run errands and left because the campground was empty and they had no reservations. He sent us to a nice campsite and we took care of the money later. Apparently this weekend if you stay at a KOA on Friday, then Saturday is free. So we are staying here for four days.

We are about 10 miles from Cooperstown in an area that is very rural with many farms. The weather here has been even worse than we had seen before. Apparently they had several inches of snow last weekend on Mother's Day. It rained pretty hard last night, but this morning it was just foggy and misty. I went for a good walk this morning along the country roads. It was very peaceful, but a little eerie because I could not see more than a few feet ahead of me for the entire walk. But it did feel good and I felt safe.

Today we went into Cooperstown and went to the baseball hall of fame. It is another museum that is very well done. We stopped in the middle and had a great lunch at a restaurant that had been recommended by one of the owners of the wineries in Watkins Glen. The food was GREAT. But I am eating too well and have to back off and get back to eating just enough. It is hard when the food is so good.

Tonight we are really taking it easy. I think Bob has a little bit of a temperature and I want him to stay warm and dry. We may just stay here tomorrow and do nothing if he continues to feel a little off. Hopefully nothing is really wrong. I can't help but worry. If he is feeling good then there are two other museums in Cooperstown (who knew?) One is the Farm Museum - a museum of American farms. The other is the Fenimore (as in James Fenimore Cooper) Art Museum. There is also a revolutionary war battle site and a diamond mine. Wow.

I have decided that my standard for whether we do or do not do something is whether or not I will regret not having done it when we return to Portland. For example, if we are trying to decide whether to go several hundred miles out of our way to see Lake Placid, the question is - will I regret it if I don't do it. In this case, probably. So we will probably go way out of our way when we leave here.

Watkins Glen

The weather is still not great. The manager of this rv park actually apologized to me this morning. But - it is what it is and we are still having a good time, just a different time than we had imagined. Both last night and the night before it was down to 32 degrees. There was no moisture so there was no snow, but there would have been. It is supposed to rain for the next few days and then it may (MAY) turn nice. I hope.

Yesterday it was windy and chilly, but the sky was clear and the sun was out. We decided to drive around the lake and stop at a few wineries. There are about 50 wineries just around this one Finger Lake (Seneca Lake). They are all fairly new. Some are huge with restaurants and even hotels. Others are so small that the tasting room is right off the family's living room. The picture above is from the first one we went to which had a small tasting room and beautiful landscaping. The owner was very knowledgeable and informative. We learned a lot about wine making in the finger lakes. Apparently there are a number of new grapes that have been created by the Cornell University test farms. They add a few new flavors. Most of the wineries here specialize in white wines. I am not a big fan of white wines and could not tell from the brochure which ones had the best red wines. So I went to the liquor store (this is another state that does not allow the sale of wine in the grocery store). I bought a few bottles of wine (we drink enough so that I had no qualms about doing that) and asked the manager which of the wineries would be best for red wines. She gave me a list of five - so that is where we went. We had a great drive around the lake and bought a few bottles in each of the wineries we visited and learned a little more about wine making at each stop. We wound up with a case of wine and had to get pretty creative to find a place to keep it. But we were successful.

The communities around the lake range from towns that are absolutely dead (not just dying but already dead with streets full of empty storefronts) to very prosperous beautiful towns. It makes me wonder what it takes for a town to be so prosperous. It is more than just jobs because the towns were close enough together that there would have been work from one town to the next. No idea.

When we returned last night I had the same problem with my computer that I had had several weeks ago. I tried to fix it myself and wound up calling HP. Three hours later I had finally downloaded all the fixes that they said that I needed. (I had a discussion with Ruffie from India about how I appreciated his help and he was very nice, but this was not how I wanted to spend my vacation.) It is amazing that there were so many fixes necessary since I have only had this computer for 6 months. But it is wonderful that HP is so helpful in getting these things fixed.

This morning we got an early start because rain is predicted by early afternoon. We packed lunches and went to the Watkins Glen state park. The park contains a mile and a half walk along a beautiful gorge carved out of the slate by years of a fast moving river. The natural part was amazing. It was also fascinating about the man made part. I stood looking at that bridge, in the picture above, for quite some time trying to figure out how they got it built. The walk along the river and the falls is pretty steep and someone actually counted the number of stairs it took to get to the top. It is over 300. Bob and I thought we would walk for half an hour and then come back. But in half an hour we had not even walked one fourth of the walk. So we kept going. The steps were hard for Bob, but the scenery was well worth it. (At least that is what he said. It is different for me because the walk is not so hard. I just loved the scenery.) We just had to rest a lot. There were many many waterfalls. We even walked under two of them. (Reminded me a little of Silver Falls State Park in Oregon, but without the gorge.) Some of the views were spectacular. It took us one and one half hours to get to the One Mile Bridge. Bob was tired and hungry. We climbed to the trail at the top of the ridge which is straighter and more gradual. It took only one half hour to get back. I took so many pictures. It was hard to decide which ones to include. Maybe I will add some more in my next blog.

The walk was strenuous enough that Bob is done for the day. We are back in Honey. Glad to have Honey and the room to rest and relax. Leaving Watkins Glen tomorrow morning to go further east.