We woke very early today and were on the road by 5 a.m. First stop McDonalds for coffee and a biscuit. Finally found a new room saver coupon book for the areas were are in. We picked up some gas in Champlain at $2.83 a gallon. We could see the Adirondaks in the distance.
We were just minutes from Canada and decided to go into Quebec for two geocaches. The border guard was very hard for Jim to understand and she asked him twice if he was sure he spoke English. After I helped answer a few of the questions, she stamped our Passports and let us in. Everything is in French and not translated into English, very different than Ontario. We only stayed there an hour, just grabbing two caches. One was in a park and the other by an old church. We quickly crossed back into the states where we met the friendliest border guard so far. He thought it was great that we had traveled so far, and seemed to enjoy hearing about geocaching.
We immediately got on U.S. HWY 2, the same one that goes near us at home. We went right through the middle of Lake Champlain crossing bridges from island to island. We were in Vermont, the sky was blue and the temps in the 60's. We could see the Green Mountains in the distance but we eventually meandered into them. We stayed right on HWY 2 the rest of the day, zig zagging under, over and along Interstate HWY 89. The clouds started rolling in and I snapped many photos.
Stopping in Concord Vermont for gas at $2.59 a gallon, we were able to pick up a jar of homemade pickled fiddle head ferns and some post cards. We are saving the fiddle heads for when we get home so they can go in the fridge.
We saw numerous signs warning us of the dangers of moose in the area, but we did not see any.
We stopped at a mountain wayside for lunch and by 1:00 we were crossing the border into New Hampshire. Hwy 2 is called Jefferson Highway there and the mountains are called the White Mountains even though they look the same as the Green Mountains.
It pretty much rained after that so we did not get out and walk on the Appalachian Trail. We watched the elevation changes on the GPSr unit and were amazed to see us drop down to 300 feet and then quickly climb to 1700 feet, then back to 300, numerous times. Every valley had a town, most were established in the 1700's and had some wonderful achitecture.
We laughed when we entered another town called Mexico, this time in the state of Maine. When we neared Bangor, Maine we had to stop at 4 motels before finding one that had a washer and dryer for our use. We are at the Holiday Inn, which has a restaurant too, so we ate right here.
Today we traveled 361 miles and found 14 geocaches.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
June 13 Day 6 of our trip
Today we traveled 314 miles on the back roads of New York. We knew that NY was the melting pot but did not realize we would travel through, Mexico, Philadelphia and Bangor without leaving the state. The temps were in the high 60's and the sky was sometimes overcast and other times blue, but it did not rain.
We crossed over the Erie Canal first thing in the morning. Our first stop was 25 miles west of Oswego at a bird and wildlife sanctuary for a geocache. Later we stopped for a coffee at Mc D's and before Jim had a few swallows a turkey ran out in front of us, causing Jim to slam on the brakes. It's feathers still grazed the hood and headlights, while Jim's coffee went to his feet, splashing all over. No one was harmed in the process.
We made a quick stop in Mexico for a loaf bread at the local grocery store.
Our next stop was at Southwick Beach State Park, in the Thousand Islands Region so we could get a photo of me in Lake Ontario. The ranger let us in for free, as long as we signed the board and stayed less than 15 minutes.
We grabbed gas in Watertown, it was a prepay pump so we just got 10 gallons at $2.79 per gallon.
We stoppped in Richville for a few caches, one at a Welsh Society Church, then a wayside with a historic sign about the St. Lawrence Plain as we continued our travels on the "Seaway Trail".
We saw some wildlife today, a few white tail deer, a fox, a couple baby raccoons, and a baby porcupine, I did not photograph any of them.
There were many Amish families along the route. Many were set up at corners with an awning hanging off their carriage shading the baked goods or baskets they had for sale.
Dinner was at one of those tiny take out places called Gino's. There were only 7 tables and a local told us that everything on the menu was wickedly wonderful!! We can vouch for the wraps and salads, they were terrific. I was curious what "Poutine" was so I had to ask... french fries with cheese and gravy. Not my cup of tea, glad I asked with out ordering.
Tonight we are at a little mom and pop fisherman's motel in Rouses Point, NY right on Lake Champlain. It is called the Anchorage Motel and if we travel a few miles north we are in Canada and if we go across the bridge to the east we will be in Vermont. We will head north in the morning to spend a few hours in Quebec.
We crossed over the Erie Canal first thing in the morning. Our first stop was 25 miles west of Oswego at a bird and wildlife sanctuary for a geocache. Later we stopped for a coffee at Mc D's and before Jim had a few swallows a turkey ran out in front of us, causing Jim to slam on the brakes. It's feathers still grazed the hood and headlights, while Jim's coffee went to his feet, splashing all over. No one was harmed in the process.
We made a quick stop in Mexico for a loaf bread at the local grocery store.
Our next stop was at Southwick Beach State Park, in the Thousand Islands Region so we could get a photo of me in Lake Ontario. The ranger let us in for free, as long as we signed the board and stayed less than 15 minutes.
We grabbed gas in Watertown, it was a prepay pump so we just got 10 gallons at $2.79 per gallon.
We stoppped in Richville for a few caches, one at a Welsh Society Church, then a wayside with a historic sign about the St. Lawrence Plain as we continued our travels on the "Seaway Trail".
We saw some wildlife today, a few white tail deer, a fox, a couple baby raccoons, and a baby porcupine, I did not photograph any of them.
There were many Amish families along the route. Many were set up at corners with an awning hanging off their carriage shading the baked goods or baskets they had for sale.
Dinner was at one of those tiny take out places called Gino's. There were only 7 tables and a local told us that everything on the menu was wickedly wonderful!! We can vouch for the wraps and salads, they were terrific. I was curious what "Poutine" was so I had to ask... french fries with cheese and gravy. Not my cup of tea, glad I asked with out ordering.
Tonight we are at a little mom and pop fisherman's motel in Rouses Point, NY right on Lake Champlain. It is called the Anchorage Motel and if we travel a few miles north we are in Canada and if we go across the bridge to the east we will be in Vermont. We will head north in the morning to spend a few hours in Quebec.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Days 4 and 5
Day 4
We traveled 400 miles today starting in Saut Ste. Marie and ending up in Collingwood, ON. Today may not have been as spectacular as yesterday but we still had a great time. The weather was gorgeous, blue sky and mild temperatures in the 60's. The terrain was mostly rolling hills and farmlands, with many rivers and lakes between. There were some very scenic gorges and some neat cliffs and rock outcroppings too. We had many glimpses of Lake Huron, before eventually pulling over at Wasaga Beach to put my feet in for a quick photo. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express for the night. We decided earlier in the day that it would be fun to check out the different food chains in Canada. We had seen so many "Tim Hortons" that we just had to stop. It is similar to Wendy's, and are often found sharing a building with Wendys. They had sandwiches, coffees, teas, tea biscuts, etc. I had a "hot smoothie" which was essentially a whipped hot milk steamer with a shot of caramel. Very good but on the sweet side for me. We went to Montana's Cookhouse for supper. It is also a chain but more like a Perkins with a Joe's Crab Shack feel. Everything was decorated in northwoods theme. Timbers, old canoes, moose, bear, caribou and snow shoes were everywhere. There was even an old pickup truck mounted up high with Montana license plates. Gas is running around $.95 per liter. We found 11 geocaches along the way.
Day 5
We woke up a little early this morning in Collingwood, ON so we decided to get a few caches in the area. The first one took us to an Aboretum and boardwalk along the shores of Lake Huron. We saw a pair of nesting swans and the usual plants and birds that are in our area. If you didn't look at the ski hills on one side of the town, you would have thought we were in Wisconsin. As we traveled south we encountered rolling hills, and small farms growing soybeans or corn, one field even had a few wild turkeys. As we got closer to the Niagra Escarpment the hills began to gain greater elevations. The farms turned to orchards and vineyards and the cities became larger. Burlington and then Hamilton with a population 505,000. Good thing we had the Nuvi to help us find the Queen's Express Way, QEW. It ran along Lake Ontario, through industrial areas with locks and gigantic ore ships that were dwarfed in the scheme of things. The QEW eventually brought us to Niagra Falls. After a few turns past huge buildings, casinos and shopping malls we found a place to park near the mid point of the falls on the Canadian side. The sound of the falls, the mist in the air and the screams of sea gulls was almost surreal.First we walked to the edge to over look the falls and try to grasp it's immensity. Snapping a few photos we decided to head down to one end and find the virtual cache first. Stopping to take photos for strangers and they reciprocating with our camera.Next we back tracked along the top and eventually made it to the store. As most tourist traps it had numerous things with "Niagra Falls" stamped on it. We bought a few things, looked at both sets of falls one more time and headed back to the car. By this time it was nearly 2:00 and we realized we had not had lunch. The temperature had gone up to 77 so first I changed into shorts, then I made our sandwiches.It took one more spin around the block to get the right exit to the "Rainbow Bridge" taking us back to the USA. Even though there were over a dozen entry ways open the lines were long. We waited as each vehicle drove to the border, on a platform that tipped the vehicle to the right. You had to stay a good 50 feet behind the car going in and wait to be waved in. Then the officer needed to see the passports, asked questions on how long we had been there, what we had purchased and why we were coming into the USA. He made me remove my sunglasses and he had Jim roll the backseat window down to see what we had back there. Then he let us pass.Our first stop was for a New York Cache. A little ice cream stand a few blocks from the border. After a few more caches we filled up with petro at $2.77 a gallon and started heading east. We did get to see the escarpment from the state side too, we just did not get up real close.We are now at a LaQuinta just out of Rochester, NY, 257 miles from where we were last night. We ate at a nice family restaurant called "Stonies" where we had baked halabit for dinner.
We traveled 400 miles today starting in Saut Ste. Marie and ending up in Collingwood, ON. Today may not have been as spectacular as yesterday but we still had a great time. The weather was gorgeous, blue sky and mild temperatures in the 60's. The terrain was mostly rolling hills and farmlands, with many rivers and lakes between. There were some very scenic gorges and some neat cliffs and rock outcroppings too. We had many glimpses of Lake Huron, before eventually pulling over at Wasaga Beach to put my feet in for a quick photo. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express for the night. We decided earlier in the day that it would be fun to check out the different food chains in Canada. We had seen so many "Tim Hortons" that we just had to stop. It is similar to Wendy's, and are often found sharing a building with Wendys. They had sandwiches, coffees, teas, tea biscuts, etc. I had a "hot smoothie" which was essentially a whipped hot milk steamer with a shot of caramel. Very good but on the sweet side for me. We went to Montana's Cookhouse for supper. It is also a chain but more like a Perkins with a Joe's Crab Shack feel. Everything was decorated in northwoods theme. Timbers, old canoes, moose, bear, caribou and snow shoes were everywhere. There was even an old pickup truck mounted up high with Montana license plates. Gas is running around $.95 per liter. We found 11 geocaches along the way.
Day 5
We woke up a little early this morning in Collingwood, ON so we decided to get a few caches in the area. The first one took us to an Aboretum and boardwalk along the shores of Lake Huron. We saw a pair of nesting swans and the usual plants and birds that are in our area. If you didn't look at the ski hills on one side of the town, you would have thought we were in Wisconsin. As we traveled south we encountered rolling hills, and small farms growing soybeans or corn, one field even had a few wild turkeys. As we got closer to the Niagra Escarpment the hills began to gain greater elevations. The farms turned to orchards and vineyards and the cities became larger. Burlington and then Hamilton with a population 505,000. Good thing we had the Nuvi to help us find the Queen's Express Way, QEW. It ran along Lake Ontario, through industrial areas with locks and gigantic ore ships that were dwarfed in the scheme of things. The QEW eventually brought us to Niagra Falls. After a few turns past huge buildings, casinos and shopping malls we found a place to park near the mid point of the falls on the Canadian side. The sound of the falls, the mist in the air and the screams of sea gulls was almost surreal.First we walked to the edge to over look the falls and try to grasp it's immensity. Snapping a few photos we decided to head down to one end and find the virtual cache first. Stopping to take photos for strangers and they reciprocating with our camera.Next we back tracked along the top and eventually made it to the store. As most tourist traps it had numerous things with "Niagra Falls" stamped on it. We bought a few things, looked at both sets of falls one more time and headed back to the car. By this time it was nearly 2:00 and we realized we had not had lunch. The temperature had gone up to 77 so first I changed into shorts, then I made our sandwiches.It took one more spin around the block to get the right exit to the "Rainbow Bridge" taking us back to the USA. Even though there were over a dozen entry ways open the lines were long. We waited as each vehicle drove to the border, on a platform that tipped the vehicle to the right. You had to stay a good 50 feet behind the car going in and wait to be waved in. Then the officer needed to see the passports, asked questions on how long we had been there, what we had purchased and why we were coming into the USA. He made me remove my sunglasses and he had Jim roll the backseat window down to see what we had back there. Then he let us pass.Our first stop was for a New York Cache. A little ice cream stand a few blocks from the border. After a few more caches we filled up with petro at $2.77 a gallon and started heading east. We did get to see the escarpment from the state side too, we just did not get up real close.We are now at a LaQuinta just out of Rochester, NY, 257 miles from where we were last night. We ate at a nice family restaurant called "Stonies" where we had baked halabit for dinner.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Days one and two
Okay I thought this got posted yesterday but it seems to have gone into cyber space so here it a copy and paste of the first two days.
Today, we did a few caches as we meandered west going to Ashland and Superior, WI so we can eventually make a full circle around Lake Superior. The weather was in the high 40's and overcast but no rain.
We picked up a few caches in Ashland, Cornucopia and Port Wing getting many great photos of the Gitche Gumie. We found 7 Wisconsin caches.
After getting gas in Superior ($2.75 per gallon) and passing some familiar places we stopped for a picnic lunch at Brighton Beach just north of Duluth. The lake shore was gorgeous. Taking the north shore scenic drive up to Grand Portage we watched the fog slowly creep in and out, as we grabbed a few caches along the way. I had been to Gooseberry Falls back in 1986, so it was neat seeing that place again. We located 4 Minnesota caches.
Stopping to get gas in Grand Portage ($2.71 per gallon) and making sure our passports were ready, we crossed the border at 4:35, CST. The young lady with the bullet proof jacket had to ask us many questions about where we were from, where we were heading and what we had with us. After answering satisfactorily, she let us know we needed to sign our passports to make them valid and granted us permission to enter.
We laughed at the billboards that inform where things are located by the number of stop lights, not the street names. We adjusted our knowledge that 90 KM per hour is the same as 55 MPH. The hills were magnificant and reminded us of the Copper Harbor area. After passing 3 signs warning us that at night there are dangerous moose crossings, we stopped for our first Geocache out of the USA. At the edge of Thunder Bay, a city with a population of 110,000, we stopped at Norway's monument which commerates Norwegian Canadians who pioneered ski jumping. There was a ski jump on the side of the hill not far from that spot.
We grabbed one more quick cache before getting a room at the Comfort Inn. We ate our dinner at "Joe's on Arthur", then headed back to our room to get settled in.
Today, we did a few caches as we meandered west going to Ashland and Superior, WI so we can eventually make a full circle around Lake Superior. The weather was in the high 40's and overcast but no rain.
We picked up a few caches in Ashland, Cornucopia and Port Wing getting many great photos of the Gitche Gumie. We found 7 Wisconsin caches.
After getting gas in Superior ($2.75 per gallon) and passing some familiar places we stopped for a picnic lunch at Brighton Beach just north of Duluth. The lake shore was gorgeous. Taking the north shore scenic drive up to Grand Portage we watched the fog slowly creep in and out, as we grabbed a few caches along the way. I had been to Gooseberry Falls back in 1986, so it was neat seeing that place again. We located 4 Minnesota caches.
Stopping to get gas in Grand Portage ($2.71 per gallon) and making sure our passports were ready, we crossed the border at 4:35, CST. The young lady with the bullet proof jacket had to ask us many questions about where we were from, where we were heading and what we had with us. After answering satisfactorily, she let us know we needed to sign our passports to make them valid and granted us permission to enter.
We laughed at the billboards that inform where things are located by the number of stop lights, not the street names. We adjusted our knowledge that 90 KM per hour is the same as 55 MPH. The hills were magnificant and reminded us of the Copper Harbor area. After passing 3 signs warning us that at night there are dangerous moose crossings, we stopped for our first Geocache out of the USA. At the edge of Thunder Bay, a city with a population of 110,000, we stopped at Norway's monument which commerates Norwegian Canadians who pioneered ski jumping. There was a ski jump on the side of the hill not far from that spot.
We grabbed one more quick cache before getting a room at the Comfort Inn. We ate our dinner at "Joe's on Arthur", then headed back to our room to get settled in.
The third day of our trip
Yesterday's miles were 348 before I get started on today.WOW! The word that we used so many times today that we may have worn it out! We were on the road by 7:20, it was raining lightly but that did not stop us from enjoying all the new blossoms. The cherry blossoms, lilacs, and marsh marigolds are not quite full, most of the trees have their leaves about half out.Our first stop was at an information center with a 9 foot bronze statue of Terry Fox. He was the young man who ran across Canada, all 3339 miles with one leg. He had lost his leg to cancer and his life ended in 1981 from that disease. We cruised many miles down the Courage Highway named after Mr. Fox. The cliffs, vistas, bluffs, mesas and glimpses of Lake Superior are spectacular! We were happy to stop at a few caches in the pull- overs and take some photos.Around noon we saw a car pulled over and Jim jokingly said "what are they looking at a moose?" I screamed, "YES!" He whipped the car around and I snapped 3 photos of a bull moose. A life long dream of mine come true! We watched him for a short time and then a semi came barreling by and he went running deeper into the forest. The moose warning signs are up every 1 -3 kilometers.We stopped atop a huge hill at a picnic spot with spectacular views in every direction. We had to stop for gas, which we need to convert to American yet for our books. We just know it is $1.10 a liter. The lady at the gas station told us that she saw a cub and mama bear on her way into work today. We talked about the moose, which are about as common as white tail deer by us. She said the wolf population is terrible and that a few years ago a sick wolf, grabbed her 3 year old grand daughter right out of her hands. She fought the wolf and it eventually let go, her G-D had to be taken to the hospital to get the bite wounds taken care of. She also needed counseling for a month. The wolf was killed by the authorities that night.Heading toward Sault Ste Marie, admiring the views we came upon a young bear on the side of the road eating what looked like grass. Jim was able to stop and I snapped a few photos. We drove nearly 25 more miles and there was another bear on the side of the road, this one was eating plants too. Not sure if they ate too many marsh marigolds and they were trying to take care of a tummy ache, or they are so hungry they are eating anything. From one of the geocaching logs we read, it sounds like they had quite a few snow squalls in the area less than 2 weeks ago so this may be the first chance the critters are having to get the tender grass near the highways.We made two more stops before getting a room at the Super 8. A gorgeous beach near Pancake Beach called Sawpit Bay. I collected a few rocks for souveniers. The next stop was a very nice waterfall at a wayside. The name of the falls was not posted but the cache was called Chippewa Surprize so that may be its name.We grabbed a sandwich at Arbys and are getting our e-mails taken care of before turning in.We traveled 442 miles and found 11 geocaches. It rained most of the morning but the blue sky and sunshine came out in the afternoon.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
We are home
Although we are home after a 3 week trip I am going to start posting my journal entries a few days at a time.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
On Vacation
We are having a wonderful journey but do not have the time to post all about it here. I will do that when we get back home.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Oodles of doodles
It is June so I figure I should get a post on here. I have been creating oodles of doodles and have posted them all at my site http://catherinemariecalvetti.com
I may just keep the notes from out vacation on here. Time will tell.
I may just keep the notes from out vacation on here. Time will tell.
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