I-81 South

Left Scranton PA on I-81 Tuesday morning the 16th of September driving south.  Pennsylvania Mountains of last night on I-84 behind and looking ahead to getting into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. PA went by and soon we were looking at Virginia. Maryland and West Virginia are afterthoughts on I-81 though West VA does have a welcome center. Optimists I reckon.  

Anyone who has traveled this road knows trucks on this route love the left lane and today was no exception.

We did enjoy the scenery and dramatic skies.

Patt did find time to put some of those trucks behind us as occasionally they would get into the right lane and scoot, we were gone.

No further evidence was needed that we had left the Maritimes of Canada or the farms of New England behind than taking VA Route 60 due south from I-81 south of Lynchburg headed toward Raleigh when we rounded the first curve and look out — our adopted first plant — kudzu.

Got home before dark - 4307 looked pretty good. Patt got some groceries, I did a little unloading and - well, time to start thinking about hitting the road again.

Newport and Newington

Monday, the 15th — our last day of actual touring, visiting, vacationing. We started out by visiting and taking a tour of Newport, Rhode Island.  Did the tourist thing and took the trolly bus tour around the mansions and historic part of town, past the harbor and so on.  Impressive. Makes you think progressive taxation is not a bad thing looking at all that incredible amount of wealth piled up in one place.  

And the history in the old colony is impressive. Rhode Island has been around a while. Below is the oldest Jewish synagogue in the United States, established in 1658. (the building is relative young though, 1763).  

And check out this house, not much on style.  I had been noting the historic markers on the houses. Some were older but this one continued the social conciousness of the original owner.  See next photo for placard- and note recycling bins. To compare though I think current occupant probably needs to step it up. Recycling alone will not compare.

The streets are very narrow.

As were the aisles in Trinity Episcopal Church. The "First" Church in town where the wealthy attended.  Patt and I had a wonderful tour by a member of the congregation who shared a lot of the church's history and current activities.

 It has the "boxes" or private pews.  They are quite well done and relics of "tradition" when people "owned" their pews and outfitted them accordingly.

I took this from the balcony just to get an overview of some of the variety.  I think I will share this with the finance committee back at Edenton Street Methodist as a way to raise a little extra cash. We may have a few folks who just might like the idea of fancying up a pew for themselves.  

Around the walls of the church ned to the windows were numerous memorials, some ornate.  This one was quite striking.   A memorial to a Vanderbilt should be.  Check the date of being "lost at sea"  It was not the Titanic.  It was the Lusitania.

The pews seen from the balcony.

Patt and I tried one out.  It sat pretty good too.  It should.  Others who have sat in that pew include Prince Andrew, Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II, and George Washington. Yes, that George Washington.  Little gold plaques were on the pew with names and dates of attendance of those so named.  I left the guide Patt's and my name so she could have another gold plaque made.

Outside view of the church.  It was a very nice day in Newport.

And we left Newport and drove to Newington to visit with John and Donna. Patt and I had a delightful afternoon and evening with them. Went to dinner and came back home and had dessert prior to our heading out — getting a jump on traffic around NYC.

Tomorrow is Interstate 81 south like way -way south.  like Mason-Dixon south.  (we avoid I-95)

Revolutionary War times in Lexington and Concord

Sunday morning we left Concord NH, headed toward Lexington and Concord Mass. As is, the basic weather man can tell the sky and weather is a bit different. The gray washed out looking sky we had been having the past day or so is just about gone. Sorta sky blue. A bit cold in the morning (low 40s)!! but it is nice.

The iconic statue was there to greet us upon arrival at the Lexington Green.  

We toured the old houses and taverns that played a role in the events of April 19, 1775. This one below is of Buckman's Tavern where the colonists assembled early on that morning before the fight. We also visited the home of John Hancock's grandfather (John Hancock of signing the Declaration fame), The John of signing fame was here in the early AM of the 19th and along with Sam Adams his arrest was ostensibly one of the objectives of the British forces that morning. This house we were in was that of his grandfather, the Congregationalist Minister in Lexington. (John's adopted father, his uncle, was a wealthy Boston merchant. John's father, the merchant's brother, died young).

Another house we visited was on Battle Road. Battle Road is the name the Park Service has given the route back to Lexington (in effort to reach Boston) where the British Soldiers had to fight their was back with Minutemen firing from the road sides. Approximately 4,000 colonists had joined the fight by the time the British began their march -return - retreat- to Boston.  The British suffered 295 killed or wounded along Battle Road while the Colonist suffered 98 that were recorded. This "event" was probably the most significant of Lexington, Concord, and the "Road" to the British on the 19th of April 1775.  

Patt in front of said Tavern.

Another of the iconic statutes, this one at the North Bridge in Concord, where the Colonists did organize and outnumber the British and upon firing, advanced on the British causing them to retreat.

And there was another re-enactor present in period dress complete with working rifle and gear.

and a British soldier was there as well. These guys are interesting to talk too. They either know a lot of history and would kill at trivia or just make up stuff and are good at fooling people.

Like according to the woman at Patt's left, George Washington sat in the chair to her left on his Presidential tour in 1789. This house/tavern also served as a British hospital during the fighting along Battle Road.

After spending most of the day in Massachusetts, we drove south to Providence, Rhode Island and are staying near Brown University.  We walked around the campus a bit after dinner — Go Bears.  They have at least two statutes on campus one a huge statute of Roman Marcus Aurelieus on a horse and in a another part of campus a very large statue of a bear.

Vermont and Ticonderoga

Left Littleton NH Friday morning and plans started changing, the weather continued not so good so in Vermont we did indoor stuff.  Visited a dairy cheese place.  Did you know New England and Vermont in particular had cows and lots of barns? Well, they do.  They also have maple syrup.  We went by one of those places too.  Had a tour, sampled syrup - you can do that. Neither place is terribly photogenic I thought so hence the blog is spared photos.  

We also stopped in Montpelier, the nation's smallest state capital. The Vermont State Senate looks like a fancy club - which it probably is.

Drove on to Middlebury, another of the small towns, where we stayed in a  B & B just outside of town (did not make it to Ticonderoga that day).

This is from the side yard of the Willow and Lotus B & B.  Note the grape vines in the foreground and the beginning of clearing skies.

Check out the Concord grapes.  And they were as good as they look too.  Man-oh-man did I ever enjoy them.

and check out the apples in the orchard in field behind the house.

 We think the name Willow and Lotus B & B came from the big Willow in the photo belowand the "Lotus"...

from the Vietnamese woman who with her husband, since deceased, who moved here 17 years ago after retirement to operate this B & B.  We liked her a lot.

On Saturday morning we left Middlebury and drove to Fort Ticonderoga stopping by a memorial to Samuel Champlain who in 1609 found Lake Champlain and fought with the Iroquois.  Named it too.

 And then on to Ticonderoga.  It looks just like it does in the paintings.

There were lots of re-enactors there on Saturday in period dress doing activities consistent with 1776, a year that we Americans occupied the fort and the lake, fought naval and land battles against the British in Champlain area.

The fort now has a large museum with a rather large collection of relics from the period including this uniform of a British Major Scheffling who was a loyalist from Detroit.

and these are two of the actual cannons that were at the fort when Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured the fort from the British in 1775. A young Henry Knox took these very cannons (along with many more) by sled in the dead of winter to Boston where General Washington used them to lift the siege of Boston in March of 1776.  Pretty neat, huh?  I thought so.  I am also taking their word for it.

Leaving the fort we took possibly our last ferry ride of the trip to cross from New York back into Vermont on our way to Concord NH for the evening.  Started raining while on the ferry and rained all the way to Concord. Loved the sign too. Did not have to pull the cord as the ferry was arriving.

little rain in New Hampshire

We were due.  A rainy cloudy day.  And in the White Mountains of New Hampshire on the Kancamagus Highway through the National Forest we saw at the most what you are seeing here  A little road and short line of sight. No hill tops and certainly no White Mountains. We did have a few, make that very few, moments when it was not raining.

We did stop once or twice to visit a few of the notable water falls, here the Sabbaday Falls - and they are very dramatic falling through a basalt fault that was quite striking.

The basalt has granite through it and there is a lot of very striking plant growth in the rocks along side of the eroded out area. Really nice place.

This was not one of the times when it was not rainy.  Double negative means positive.

 and from a senic overlook we saw a mountain!  Look there in the distance a mountain!

Fooled ya.  Gone — its gone— Cloud, fog rolled right in and covered that view right up.  

Actually it lifted and came back several times over several minutes before settling in again.

In Littleton, New Hampshire the Ammonoosuc River is a play space behind a row of restaurants and bars just off the main street. Looks like it would be fun in the summer as long as pronouncing it was not a requirement for playing in it. Can you find the guy fishing in this photo? I think his name is Waldo.

Tomorrow is on to Vermont and Fort Ticonderoga in New York — further west and south. Weather is supposed to improve a bit.

Couple of fine days in Edgecomb ME

We have spent the past two days in Edgecomb, Maine with Sue and husband George (Janet's cousin Sue) and with Janet, who arrived the same day we did. We have seen the sights along the shore like here near Booth Bay with its rugged coast line — (some photos courtesy of Janet, thanks)

and gray houses on the shore that are not on telephone poles. Just sit right on the ground like regular houses.  Expensive looking houses, but regular houses.

We also ate rather well.  Check that.  We ate extremely well at Booth Bay Wharf.  See below.  Clams and mussels were other side dishes. We did well as is obvious from photo below.

My barber has got to do something with my hair so the late afternoon sun does not make it disappear.

We can make a bucket of wine and plates of seafood disappear though.  And we do look good in bibs.

and the sun begins to set

and these photos are in sequence.

It was a beautiful evening and the food and times were terrific.

We also went by the Booth Bay Railway Village which has several working narrow gauge coal fired steam engines.  George and Sue are volunteers here and we got the VIP treatment.

whistle blowing, bellying soot, and smoke stack smoking train.

pulling passenger cars, here with Sue and Janet about to "all- aboard"

They also had quite the collection of antique automobiles, including one that they allowed at least one visitor a chance to sit behind the wheel and try out three left foot clutch, break, and reverse pedals.  The throttle was on the steering column.

The room was full of shinny cars.  Made me think Patt needed to wash ours.

George and Sue were great hosts and it was good to be here with Janet. Looking forward to a return visit.

Moving on a little further south.