Length 4 months 20 days
Miles 14,200
Gallons of Gasoline 800
Bags of Ice 43
Bags of Tostito Chips 8
Oil Changes 2
Set of Brakes 1
Bike Repairs 3
Bike Injuries 3 shin and one elbow
Times of Getting Lost 2
Border Crossing 4
Continental Divide Crossing 9
States 26
Countries 2
College Towns 8
Days of skiing 5
Mt bike trails 25
Bears 1
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Thnak You List
Roby and I wanted to recognize specially all the people who let us mooch off of them on for our radical sabbatical. Without you we would never have been able to make the journey and you all made the trip all the more special:
Missy Baldwin CA
Christine and Kendall Bond CA
Kelly Boudreau AZ
Trish and Scott Guirlani AZ
Gordy and Silka Printz CO
MK Kennedy and DR K CO
Kay and Herschel Scott WA
Bryan and Julie Baldwin WY/NYC
Ami and Richard Gerstein WI/IL
Marcia and Bruce Mielziner OH
Sue Waddell MA
Jill and Kirk Sooter MD
We love you all and cannot thank you enough for everything you all have done for us. We can only reciprocate once we figure out where we are going to land!!
Missy Baldwin CA
Christine and Kendall Bond CA
Kelly Boudreau AZ
Trish and Scott Guirlani AZ
Gordy and Silka Printz CO
MK Kennedy and DR K CO
Kay and Herschel Scott WA
Bryan and Julie Baldwin WY/NYC
Ami and Richard Gerstein WI/IL
Marcia and Bruce Mielziner OH
Sue Waddell MA
Jill and Kirk Sooter MD
We love you all and cannot thank you enough for everything you all have done for us. We can only reciprocate once we figure out where we are going to land!!
Saying Goodbye to the "Yota"
Washington DC
July 13th through 16th
After a quick stopover in Connecticut we headed down I-95 straight for the city. 7 hours later we were at the front door of my sister Jill’s house in Upper Marlboro MD just outside of DC. We were excited to see her and Kirk along with our nieces Claire and Aubrey. Not much planned just going to spend some time with them and get our packs ready because we were leaving the car with them for safekeeping while we are in Europe. We had last minute supply shopping to do and finalize our first leg of our trip.
Roby and I braved it and took the girls (ages 3 and 5) for an entire day by ourselves. After a brief episode because we were not able to work the DVD player in the car at first, the rest of the day went rather smoothly. We entertained them on the swings at the park, took them for ice cream and even braved a shopping trip to Walmart with him. The next day we were heading to NYC for the final stop on our 4 month journey through the United States. Kirk dropped us off at the metro station and we were off.
It was a quick two day stay but we had a great time hanging out and will catch up with them in Philly on our way back to pick up our car so we will get to spend more time with them.
July 13th through 16th
After a quick stopover in Connecticut we headed down I-95 straight for the city. 7 hours later we were at the front door of my sister Jill’s house in Upper Marlboro MD just outside of DC. We were excited to see her and Kirk along with our nieces Claire and Aubrey. Not much planned just going to spend some time with them and get our packs ready because we were leaving the car with them for safekeeping while we are in Europe. We had last minute supply shopping to do and finalize our first leg of our trip.
Roby and I braved it and took the girls (ages 3 and 5) for an entire day by ourselves. After a brief episode because we were not able to work the DVD player in the car at first, the rest of the day went rather smoothly. We entertained them on the swings at the park, took them for ice cream and even braved a shopping trip to Walmart with him. The next day we were heading to NYC for the final stop on our 4 month journey through the United States. Kirk dropped us off at the metro station and we were off.
It was a quick two day stay but we had a great time hanging out and will catch up with them in Philly on our way back to pick up our car so we will get to spend more time with them.
Let Them Eat Lobster
New England
July 5th through 12th
It would happen on the day we were to leave Lake Placid; the sun would come out . Instead of getting to enjoy the gorgeous day out on a trail or boating on the lake we would be cooped up in the car for 5 hours. We figured after 3 days out in the woods with only a 5 minute freezing cold shower in a filthiest excuse for a bathroom at the campground, we deserved a hotel room with modern amenities-like a bed and warm water. Our destination was Norwich Vermont. It was a medium sized name on the map so we figured it would have some cheap hotels we could stay. From Lake Placid we took the ferry to Burlington Vt. It is a 50 minute ride across and we had a front row view from the car windshield and we did not even have to use the wipers! Beautiful blue sky with lots of sail boats out on the St Lawrence Seaway. Burlington is the quintessential college town with great bike lanes, all pedestrian mall areas with every restaurant imaginable, street entertainment and the home of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream! We were so excited to walk around without rain jackets having to dodge for cover. We had a nice leisurely stroll through town soaking up the sun and grabbed a quick bit to eat. We were on our “freshman college tour” and decided since we were in the neighborhood we would venture down to Middlebury. Our friend Katie and our friend Marykay’s Dad had attended the school-granted in different eras but from the looks of the school, I am not sure much has changed. As Roby envisioned Middlebury along with the New England area in general, was lined with the big white buildings on the big green hillsides all making a statement. After a quick tour and daylight running out on us, we headed toward Norwich. As we rolled into town we were through it within a blink of an eye. The mapmaker’s definition of a medium sized town is a bit different than ours. Only one Inn existed and it looked pricey so we figured we would just hop over the border and check out Hanover NH. It was a college town. There had to be some cheap hotels. Well when the college is Dartmouth, the definition of cheap is a Hyatt. I think they outlawed the Motel 6 from their city limits. We starting getting a bit nervous because all the surrounding towns were “little” names on the map and we thought we were not going to find a place to stay. I got on my blackberry and started googling cheap hotels in Hanover. (none came up). I found a list of all the hotels and Roby began calling them. As we were sitting in the parking lot at the Marriott Suites he called them and played hardball and got us a reduced rate. So not to look obvious and walk right into the hotel from the car we went back into town and walked around looking for somewhere to eat. Again, nothing is cheap in Hanover, so we struck out with dinner and decided we would make supper in the room since we would have a small kitchenette.
We looked like vagabonds when we arrived and immediately high-tailed it to the shower and used up all the hot water. We cooked a hot meal and acted like “loads” on the couch. We could have hung out here for a few days but unfortunately we were on somewhat of a time schedule for this portion of the trip. We wanted to reach Mt. Washington in New Hampshire for a hike on a section of the Appalachian Trail.
Of course the weather was not cooperating with us since we had an outdoor activity planned. Dark grey/black clouds, rain and the temperature kept getting colder. We were determined to get in this hike regardless of the conditions. We figured the weather would only make us appreciate what the hikers experience when they do the entire 4-6 month hike.
We prepped ourselves and put on our rain gear and got out our hiking sticks because we knew the trail was going to be muddy and slippery and headed for the trailhead. Our itinerary was to take the Old Jackson Road section and then cutoff to the connector road to complete a loop. With the nasty weather and Mt. Washington’s reputation for having the worst and most unpredictable conditions, we bagged going to the summit. After reading Bill Bryson’s book “A Walk in the Woods” and his description of his experience on Mt. Washington we decided we wanted to live to finish our journey so we picked a lower trail. Little did we know!!!!
Immediately upon entering the trail the rain picked up so we decided to do the Appalachian section first in case we had to turn around due to weather and we wanted to be able to say we had done a section of the trail. I am not so sure I would call it a trail. It is basically a boulder farm through the woods with patches of dirt speckled along the way and of course these areas were now just mud puddles. Thankfully we had our hiking poles and we were able to strategically make it along the trail without getting our boots too wet. We reached the halfway mark and decided to try and find some cover from the rain because it was now pouring on us and we needed to take a break to eat. We looked at each other with that face of “why are we doing this and trying to figure out why any human being would want to walk for 4 months with the possibility of being completely soaked for days and sleeping in makeshift huts with other stinky hikers.” After lunch we pressed on because the rain was not letting up and my hiking pants were so wet they started to feel like they weighed 20 pounds and our raingear is only water resistant and they were reaching their limit. Not more than 10 minutes later as we are wiping away the rain from our eyes to make sure we were seeing what we were seeing, our biggest nightmare was staring us in the face. A 200 pound Black Bear with his nose to the ground was nonchalantly walking up the trail straight for us. We quickly turned and started heading back in the direction we came but he was not letting up and started gaining on us, so we stopped and decided we were going to implement the tactics they say you should do if you encounter a bear. We began making as much noise as we could by clanking our hiking poles and screaming at the top of our lungs. He was not buying into this. He was not reacting normally because black bears are supposed to be timid and shy away from people. Of course as we are fighting for our lives, Roby has to take a picture of the bear. After a few minutes which felt like an hour, the bear appears to be boring of us and leaves the trail and heads off into the woods. This is our signal to high tail it back the way we came. No more worrying about mud, rain or our condition, we just needed to get to the bottom to safety. We ran for at least 15 minutes and Roby realized he had dropped the camera while we were running. We had a decision to make-do we turn around and risk running into the bear again or just ditch the camera which still had quite a few of our pictures on it. No need to really make a choice because as we turned to head back to look for the camera we saw the bear now running down the trail at us. Knowing we were not going to outrun him, we tried again to scare him off. We thought we did it because he went back into the woods and as we were running he was not following us so we thought we were in the clear. For some reason, I looked out of the corner of my eye and I saw him flanking us and he was going to cut us off at the top of the hill we were running up. In fact he was within 10 yards of me. It was a much eerier feeling to have him above us looking down upon us than vice versa. He wanted our food and was not going to let up so Roby made me turn around and start running the way we initially were going and he was going to take out the sandwich we still had in our bag and leave it for the bear and hope that would appease him. We know you are not supposed to feed the bears but better our sandwich than us. If this did not work, we were screwed because we would have been trapped just running in circles. Roby was so thoughtful and even took the sandwich out of my eco-friendly wrapper and threw the sandwich on the trail and took off. He turned around and saw the bear grab it and run off into the woods. That was our clue to get the hell out of there. I felt like we were in a horror movie being chased by Jason as we were running through the mud, slipping on the boulders, tripping over fallen tree trunks, knowing at any moment we were going to be eaten by this bear. We did not know if he was going to be satisfied with just our turkey sandwich so we ran the entire 3 miles of which 2.5 of it was uphill. Our biggest concern was what if another bear was on the trail. Thankfully we did not encounter anymore but we did have another scare because we lost the trail near a waterfall and fast moving stream. Did we have to cross it or just follow it? Continually not knowing whether the bear was following us this stoppage in our movement trying to find the trail was not a very secure feeling. Finally we spotted a yellow marker on a tree and realized we had to cross the stream and because of all the rain the area had gotten in the last two weeks, it was moving rather quickly. Instead of trying to hop the rocks we just trudged through the water because at this point getting wet was not an issue. The last half of the trial was ahead of us and thankfully it was downhill because our legs were killing us from running uphill. 45 minutes later we reached the hiking lodge at the base and took a deep breathe. We were going to live.
After this little episode we figured we had experienced all there was to the Appalachian Trail-nasty weather, bears, and getting lost. No need to do anymore. As Bill Bryson said-”I did the Appalachian Trail.”
Obviously, we were not going to make it to Maine that afternoon. We were spent so we drove about an hour to find a much deserved shower and warm bed.
After a restless night with visions of bear attacks we headed to Maine. The weather was still not cooperating so we decided to forgo our plans to hit Arcadia National Park and just head toward Boston. We did take the scenic route 1 down the coast and ventured through the small towns like Kennebunk but we did not stop much other than we had to hit Portland Maine which is near the border with Massachusetts to have a lobster roll.
We reached Boston about 7:30 pm and arrived to an awesome home-cooked meal at our friend Sue’s house. She is a friend from our community Talasera in Phoenix and she moved back to Boston a few years ago. Lucky us. She lives in an awesome house which was built in the 1700’s and has the original wood floors and even the original water well which is now a cool detail in the kitchen with a glass casing over it so you are able to look down into it but not fall in. We recounted the bear story with her over dinner and a few glasses of wine. We spent the next two days in the city being tourists-hitting the North End for some excellent Italian food, having a beer at the Cheers Bar, walking through Mass Commons, and seeing all the historic buildings from the Revolutionary War time period, even the graveyards where Paul Revere, John Adams and John Hancock are buried. We even witnessed a car chase right in the middle of the city in the North End. It was right out of a movie scene-all we heard was a large crash and then saw this car immediately throw it in reverse on a one-way street and crashing into cars as he sped away backwards. He took out the side of a Porsche which was parked on the street along with several other cars. His front was completely demolished with his bumper dragging on the road. No one knew what initially triggered the incident but several theories were being thrown around that he had robbed the bank nearby and he was trying to get away. Thankfully he did not hit any of the pedestrians in the crosswalks. What a cool city!
We were fortunate to be in town the same week the Tall Ships were in Harbor so we took a cruise with Sue and her daughter to see them all. They are the old fashioned Sail Ships from all over the world. A pleasant surprise. The next day we decided to venture through a different section of the city on our bikes. We decided we needed to do a real urban ride. Roby found how to get to the Emerald Necklace area which is a section of Boston where 5 different parks are linked together and were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead-the father of landscape architecture and Roby’s idol. It was a beautiful day for a ride and after a bit of navigational problems we were able to get on track and follow the parks for about 10 miles. A portion of it went through the Arnold Arboretum, the oldest in the country (I think the oldest everything is in Mass.) and found a road which took us up to Peter’s Hill where we took a break to marvel at the wonderful view of the city.
Next on our list was the Cape so we got up early the next morning hoping we would miss traffic as we were warned by Sue that it would be a mess on the weekend. No such luck we hit it. After sitting in the traffic both directions, I am not sure why anyone goes out there. It is a mess. A ride that should only take 1 ½ hours takes at least 4 hours. The best part was our short diversion to Plymouth-aptly called “America’s hometown”. We walked along the oldest street in the US and saw the first wooden home built in this country and of course saw the Rock. It is a very cute town.
Not much to say about Cape Cod because due to the traffic jam we only got to enjoy a few hours on the beach before the sun went down. Unfortunately, we encountered another storm that night while we were camping. This time we were entertained with continuous thunder and lightning.
Time for some sunshine and humidity so we headed south to Washington DC.
July 5th through 12th
It would happen on the day we were to leave Lake Placid; the sun would come out . Instead of getting to enjoy the gorgeous day out on a trail or boating on the lake we would be cooped up in the car for 5 hours. We figured after 3 days out in the woods with only a 5 minute freezing cold shower in a filthiest excuse for a bathroom at the campground, we deserved a hotel room with modern amenities-like a bed and warm water. Our destination was Norwich Vermont. It was a medium sized name on the map so we figured it would have some cheap hotels we could stay. From Lake Placid we took the ferry to Burlington Vt. It is a 50 minute ride across and we had a front row view from the car windshield and we did not even have to use the wipers! Beautiful blue sky with lots of sail boats out on the St Lawrence Seaway. Burlington is the quintessential college town with great bike lanes, all pedestrian mall areas with every restaurant imaginable, street entertainment and the home of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream! We were so excited to walk around without rain jackets having to dodge for cover. We had a nice leisurely stroll through town soaking up the sun and grabbed a quick bit to eat. We were on our “freshman college tour” and decided since we were in the neighborhood we would venture down to Middlebury. Our friend Katie and our friend Marykay’s Dad had attended the school-granted in different eras but from the looks of the school, I am not sure much has changed. As Roby envisioned Middlebury along with the New England area in general, was lined with the big white buildings on the big green hillsides all making a statement. After a quick tour and daylight running out on us, we headed toward Norwich. As we rolled into town we were through it within a blink of an eye. The mapmaker’s definition of a medium sized town is a bit different than ours. Only one Inn existed and it looked pricey so we figured we would just hop over the border and check out Hanover NH. It was a college town. There had to be some cheap hotels. Well when the college is Dartmouth, the definition of cheap is a Hyatt. I think they outlawed the Motel 6 from their city limits. We starting getting a bit nervous because all the surrounding towns were “little” names on the map and we thought we were not going to find a place to stay. I got on my blackberry and started googling cheap hotels in Hanover. (none came up). I found a list of all the hotels and Roby began calling them. As we were sitting in the parking lot at the Marriott Suites he called them and played hardball and got us a reduced rate. So not to look obvious and walk right into the hotel from the car we went back into town and walked around looking for somewhere to eat. Again, nothing is cheap in Hanover, so we struck out with dinner and decided we would make supper in the room since we would have a small kitchenette.
We looked like vagabonds when we arrived and immediately high-tailed it to the shower and used up all the hot water. We cooked a hot meal and acted like “loads” on the couch. We could have hung out here for a few days but unfortunately we were on somewhat of a time schedule for this portion of the trip. We wanted to reach Mt. Washington in New Hampshire for a hike on a section of the Appalachian Trail.
Of course the weather was not cooperating with us since we had an outdoor activity planned. Dark grey/black clouds, rain and the temperature kept getting colder. We were determined to get in this hike regardless of the conditions. We figured the weather would only make us appreciate what the hikers experience when they do the entire 4-6 month hike.
We prepped ourselves and put on our rain gear and got out our hiking sticks because we knew the trail was going to be muddy and slippery and headed for the trailhead. Our itinerary was to take the Old Jackson Road section and then cutoff to the connector road to complete a loop. With the nasty weather and Mt. Washington’s reputation for having the worst and most unpredictable conditions, we bagged going to the summit. After reading Bill Bryson’s book “A Walk in the Woods” and his description of his experience on Mt. Washington we decided we wanted to live to finish our journey so we picked a lower trail. Little did we know!!!!
Immediately upon entering the trail the rain picked up so we decided to do the Appalachian section first in case we had to turn around due to weather and we wanted to be able to say we had done a section of the trail. I am not so sure I would call it a trail. It is basically a boulder farm through the woods with patches of dirt speckled along the way and of course these areas were now just mud puddles. Thankfully we had our hiking poles and we were able to strategically make it along the trail without getting our boots too wet. We reached the halfway mark and decided to try and find some cover from the rain because it was now pouring on us and we needed to take a break to eat. We looked at each other with that face of “why are we doing this and trying to figure out why any human being would want to walk for 4 months with the possibility of being completely soaked for days and sleeping in makeshift huts with other stinky hikers.” After lunch we pressed on because the rain was not letting up and my hiking pants were so wet they started to feel like they weighed 20 pounds and our raingear is only water resistant and they were reaching their limit. Not more than 10 minutes later as we are wiping away the rain from our eyes to make sure we were seeing what we were seeing, our biggest nightmare was staring us in the face. A 200 pound Black Bear with his nose to the ground was nonchalantly walking up the trail straight for us. We quickly turned and started heading back in the direction we came but he was not letting up and started gaining on us, so we stopped and decided we were going to implement the tactics they say you should do if you encounter a bear. We began making as much noise as we could by clanking our hiking poles and screaming at the top of our lungs. He was not buying into this. He was not reacting normally because black bears are supposed to be timid and shy away from people. Of course as we are fighting for our lives, Roby has to take a picture of the bear. After a few minutes which felt like an hour, the bear appears to be boring of us and leaves the trail and heads off into the woods. This is our signal to high tail it back the way we came. No more worrying about mud, rain or our condition, we just needed to get to the bottom to safety. We ran for at least 15 minutes and Roby realized he had dropped the camera while we were running. We had a decision to make-do we turn around and risk running into the bear again or just ditch the camera which still had quite a few of our pictures on it. No need to really make a choice because as we turned to head back to look for the camera we saw the bear now running down the trail at us. Knowing we were not going to outrun him, we tried again to scare him off. We thought we did it because he went back into the woods and as we were running he was not following us so we thought we were in the clear. For some reason, I looked out of the corner of my eye and I saw him flanking us and he was going to cut us off at the top of the hill we were running up. In fact he was within 10 yards of me. It was a much eerier feeling to have him above us looking down upon us than vice versa. He wanted our food and was not going to let up so Roby made me turn around and start running the way we initially were going and he was going to take out the sandwich we still had in our bag and leave it for the bear and hope that would appease him. We know you are not supposed to feed the bears but better our sandwich than us. If this did not work, we were screwed because we would have been trapped just running in circles. Roby was so thoughtful and even took the sandwich out of my eco-friendly wrapper and threw the sandwich on the trail and took off. He turned around and saw the bear grab it and run off into the woods. That was our clue to get the hell out of there. I felt like we were in a horror movie being chased by Jason as we were running through the mud, slipping on the boulders, tripping over fallen tree trunks, knowing at any moment we were going to be eaten by this bear. We did not know if he was going to be satisfied with just our turkey sandwich so we ran the entire 3 miles of which 2.5 of it was uphill. Our biggest concern was what if another bear was on the trail. Thankfully we did not encounter anymore but we did have another scare because we lost the trail near a waterfall and fast moving stream. Did we have to cross it or just follow it? Continually not knowing whether the bear was following us this stoppage in our movement trying to find the trail was not a very secure feeling. Finally we spotted a yellow marker on a tree and realized we had to cross the stream and because of all the rain the area had gotten in the last two weeks, it was moving rather quickly. Instead of trying to hop the rocks we just trudged through the water because at this point getting wet was not an issue. The last half of the trial was ahead of us and thankfully it was downhill because our legs were killing us from running uphill. 45 minutes later we reached the hiking lodge at the base and took a deep breathe. We were going to live.
After this little episode we figured we had experienced all there was to the Appalachian Trail-nasty weather, bears, and getting lost. No need to do anymore. As Bill Bryson said-”I did the Appalachian Trail.”
Obviously, we were not going to make it to Maine that afternoon. We were spent so we drove about an hour to find a much deserved shower and warm bed.
After a restless night with visions of bear attacks we headed to Maine. The weather was still not cooperating so we decided to forgo our plans to hit Arcadia National Park and just head toward Boston. We did take the scenic route 1 down the coast and ventured through the small towns like Kennebunk but we did not stop much other than we had to hit Portland Maine which is near the border with Massachusetts to have a lobster roll.
We reached Boston about 7:30 pm and arrived to an awesome home-cooked meal at our friend Sue’s house. She is a friend from our community Talasera in Phoenix and she moved back to Boston a few years ago. Lucky us. She lives in an awesome house which was built in the 1700’s and has the original wood floors and even the original water well which is now a cool detail in the kitchen with a glass casing over it so you are able to look down into it but not fall in. We recounted the bear story with her over dinner and a few glasses of wine. We spent the next two days in the city being tourists-hitting the North End for some excellent Italian food, having a beer at the Cheers Bar, walking through Mass Commons, and seeing all the historic buildings from the Revolutionary War time period, even the graveyards where Paul Revere, John Adams and John Hancock are buried. We even witnessed a car chase right in the middle of the city in the North End. It was right out of a movie scene-all we heard was a large crash and then saw this car immediately throw it in reverse on a one-way street and crashing into cars as he sped away backwards. He took out the side of a Porsche which was parked on the street along with several other cars. His front was completely demolished with his bumper dragging on the road. No one knew what initially triggered the incident but several theories were being thrown around that he had robbed the bank nearby and he was trying to get away. Thankfully he did not hit any of the pedestrians in the crosswalks. What a cool city!
We were fortunate to be in town the same week the Tall Ships were in Harbor so we took a cruise with Sue and her daughter to see them all. They are the old fashioned Sail Ships from all over the world. A pleasant surprise. The next day we decided to venture through a different section of the city on our bikes. We decided we needed to do a real urban ride. Roby found how to get to the Emerald Necklace area which is a section of Boston where 5 different parks are linked together and were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead-the father of landscape architecture and Roby’s idol. It was a beautiful day for a ride and after a bit of navigational problems we were able to get on track and follow the parks for about 10 miles. A portion of it went through the Arnold Arboretum, the oldest in the country (I think the oldest everything is in Mass.) and found a road which took us up to Peter’s Hill where we took a break to marvel at the wonderful view of the city.
Next on our list was the Cape so we got up early the next morning hoping we would miss traffic as we were warned by Sue that it would be a mess on the weekend. No such luck we hit it. After sitting in the traffic both directions, I am not sure why anyone goes out there. It is a mess. A ride that should only take 1 ½ hours takes at least 4 hours. The best part was our short diversion to Plymouth-aptly called “America’s hometown”. We walked along the oldest street in the US and saw the first wooden home built in this country and of course saw the Rock. It is a very cute town.
Not much to say about Cape Cod because due to the traffic jam we only got to enjoy a few hours on the beach before the sun went down. Unfortunately, we encountered another storm that night while we were camping. This time we were entertained with continuous thunder and lightning.
Time for some sunshine and humidity so we headed south to Washington DC.
Niagra and NY Mountains
Chautauqua/Niagra Falls/Lake Placid
June 29th through July 5th
The last leg of our journey through the Northeast was upon us. We were heading to Niagra Falls to meet up with our friends Trish and Scott from Phoenix who were on a motorcycle ride from Indiana to upstate NY. Enroute to the Falls we made a detour to a small quaint little town called Chatauqua which had a famous educational institute dated back to the early 1900’s. The institute itself is a little village perfectly designed and planned with Victorian style homes with big verandas and porches all positioned with a view of the Lake. Nestled amongst the homes were the open air amphitheaters, concert halls, lecture halls and restaurants and shops. The purpose of the Institute is to immerse the residents in the arts, and culture of the community. Many families spend the summer and the kids attend camps right in the village. It is a scene right out of Pleasantville. Everyone rides bicycles or walks no cars are really permitted in the village. Many artists, writers and performers attend the summer sessions and partake in the educational classes or seminars. As Roby and I were walking through the town, we turned and looked at each and said almost at the same time; “this would be a perfect place for our friend Nicole.” We wished we had had more time to just kick back and watch time pass sitting in a white wooden rocking chair on a spacious porch sipping lemonade with a cool breeze while reading a book. Ahhhhh! Unfortunately we only had a few hours to tour the village but made a mental note we would be back. Now we know why my sister Ami who spent many of summers up here fell in love with this place. Her home on Green Lake is a good consolation.
We had another two hours before we reached Niagra Falls so we high-tailed it the border. As we headed north the ominous cloud was following us and unfortunately did not leave us for almost 10 days. We planned on meeting Trish and Scott on the Canadian side of the Falls so we had to endure another round of questioning at the border. Each time the guards become more inquisitive and now they wanted to know what kind of jobs we had. It is a good thing we are cool under pressure and have concocted a good story. Within minutes of our arrival at our friends’ hotel, the motorcycle gang arrived. Six Harleys pulled up and the clerk’s face went pale white. Little did he know they were suburban professionals. They settled into their rooms, popped a beer and we set up the makeshift party in the parking lot of the high class two star hotel. The motorcycles were parked under cover on the sidewalk and all the neighbors immediately ran into their rooms and locked their doors. The Hells Angels were in town. We spent the next two days wondering around town and took the 2.5 mile stroll down to the Falls each day to marvel at the power and size of the park and of course enjoy an ice cream cone. I have found on the East Coast -ice cream is synonymous with summer. Everywhere we went the ice cream shops were packed and regardless of the time of day everyone was eating an ice cream cone. So when in Rome.
We decided to play the sag wagon for the motorcycles on the excursion up to Niagra on the Lake. Fortunately the weather cooperated and we only had a few sprinkles. We stopped at a winery and local fruit stand. The area is known for their ice wine and cherries. Both had to be tested.
The real adventure began as we headed toward Lake Placid. Drizzle became downpour and did not let up until for four days. The motorcycle gang was decked out in full on rain gear with some ingenious protective wear- latex surgical gloves and booties to cover their leather outerwear and boots. Unfortunately, Trish experienced a “blowout” in her rain gear pants which we helped duct tape back together. Even with all the protection, the rain still found its way in, dripping from the helmets, seeping through their jackets in every nook and cranny. Roby and I felt a bit guilty for being dry and comfortable in the car but they would get their revenge because they were at least staying in a hotel and we were camping the three nights.
We were a bit disappointed because we chose to take a different route to Lake Placid through the Finger Lakes region of New York but really only had a brief half hour without rain to enjoy a quick snack at the park near the “middle finger” lake. Thankfully we were “smart” and stopped at a local hardware store on our way into Lake Placid and purchased an extra tarp to protect our tent from the rain. It was a godsend. As we entered Lake Placid we coordinated a meeting spot with our friends and took a stroll through town. They headed to their hotel rather quickly to change into some dry clothes and we met up with them later for dinner. Plans were always made hoping to out-smart the rain. Fortunately, each morning we would get a little reprieve from the rain so we could do our morning business but we did not have the nifty screen shelters around our picnic table to enjoy our meals or relax and enjoy our surroundings. We were basically car to tent to bathroom back to tent or car. Each maneuver was carefully planned to limit our exposure to the rain. Unfortunately, this practice did not bode well while on our mountain bike excursions. We woke the first morning after 10 hours of tarp flapping, pitter patter of the rain and sticking to our sleeping bags to a glimmer of sunshine. We loaded up the bikes and headed to WhiteFace Mountain to find some trails. They had converted some of the maintenance routes on the ski hill into mountain bike trails. After talking with owner of the trail company we headed out to the car to have a quick bite to eat and grab our bikes. We could take the bus to the start of the trail and ride downhill as often as we wanted for $20 or do the cross-country trail for $10. Unfortunately our glorious day fizzled. As we ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwich the wind kicked up and the downpour was back. Even though the owner did his best sales job to ensure us that the trails were not saturated and completely impassable due to mud, we chose to bag the mountain ride and found a free ride on the Flume Trails which were nearby. We figured if we were going to get soaked we did not want to pay for it. We hopped on our bikes and headed through the labyrinth but ended up on a “black” run trail and I completed my first “endo” with precision and a perfect deep thigh bruise from the handlebars as I went over. Thankfully the ground was soft but I was covered in mud. No worries though because the storm rolled in again and it cleaned me off. Although we were shielded from the rain by the thick forest cover for most of the ride, once we hit the main trail back to the car it opened up and we were drenched. No need for a shower that night. Our predicament was however, we had no place to go and dry out. Once we reached the car, we just stripped, no time for modesty , and threw our bike gear in the back of the truck laid out strategically on the cooler, boxes and bags in an attempt to get them to dry out. We headed over to Trish and Scott’s hotel to get some shelter from the rain. The second night in the tent proved to be an even better “thunderstorm” show. Some how I always got lucky for my 3:00 am bathroom break the rain would temporarily stop.
July 4th arrived and we decided to be patriotic and took a ride out to Fort Ticonderoga following the motorcycles. The morning turned out to be beautiful and had a nice scenic ride. After visiting the Fort we broke off from the gang and went looking for another trail to ride. With the sun being out we wanted to take advantage. We chose the most gorgeous route down a curvy road along a lake and through several little towns. They were all getting ready for their 4th of July parades. It reminded you of Mayberry. Hopefully the rain would hold off. I found this trail called Santanoni which was really a road through a family estate called a “grand camp”. It was built in the 1800’s by a family from New York city as their summer retreat. It was on 10,0000 acres and had a farm, master house, boat house, and guest quarters and now is a historical preservation site for hiking and biking. What a find!! As expected our glorious day did not go without rain. As we were halfway to the master house the clouds opened up and blessed us with another shower. We took refuge for about 20 minutes inside the boathouse but knew we had a 5 mile ride back to the car so we reluctantly got back on our bikes and bombed it all the way home. Another strip-down in the parking lot and another set of soaking wet clothes. Our car was beginning to smell. We were in desperate need of finding a laundrymat. We stopped at an awesome BBQ restaurant called the Tail ol’ Pup and had an all American dinner-BBQ chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, and coleslaw with a cold refreshing beer. The clouds parted and we enjoyed some excellent fireworks sitting on the hill overlooking Mirror Lake in Lake Placid. A memorable Independence Day!
June 29th through July 5th
The last leg of our journey through the Northeast was upon us. We were heading to Niagra Falls to meet up with our friends Trish and Scott from Phoenix who were on a motorcycle ride from Indiana to upstate NY. Enroute to the Falls we made a detour to a small quaint little town called Chatauqua which had a famous educational institute dated back to the early 1900’s. The institute itself is a little village perfectly designed and planned with Victorian style homes with big verandas and porches all positioned with a view of the Lake. Nestled amongst the homes were the open air amphitheaters, concert halls, lecture halls and restaurants and shops. The purpose of the Institute is to immerse the residents in the arts, and culture of the community. Many families spend the summer and the kids attend camps right in the village. It is a scene right out of Pleasantville. Everyone rides bicycles or walks no cars are really permitted in the village. Many artists, writers and performers attend the summer sessions and partake in the educational classes or seminars. As Roby and I were walking through the town, we turned and looked at each and said almost at the same time; “this would be a perfect place for our friend Nicole.” We wished we had had more time to just kick back and watch time pass sitting in a white wooden rocking chair on a spacious porch sipping lemonade with a cool breeze while reading a book. Ahhhhh! Unfortunately we only had a few hours to tour the village but made a mental note we would be back. Now we know why my sister Ami who spent many of summers up here fell in love with this place. Her home on Green Lake is a good consolation.
We had another two hours before we reached Niagra Falls so we high-tailed it the border. As we headed north the ominous cloud was following us and unfortunately did not leave us for almost 10 days. We planned on meeting Trish and Scott on the Canadian side of the Falls so we had to endure another round of questioning at the border. Each time the guards become more inquisitive and now they wanted to know what kind of jobs we had. It is a good thing we are cool under pressure and have concocted a good story. Within minutes of our arrival at our friends’ hotel, the motorcycle gang arrived. Six Harleys pulled up and the clerk’s face went pale white. Little did he know they were suburban professionals. They settled into their rooms, popped a beer and we set up the makeshift party in the parking lot of the high class two star hotel. The motorcycles were parked under cover on the sidewalk and all the neighbors immediately ran into their rooms and locked their doors. The Hells Angels were in town. We spent the next two days wondering around town and took the 2.5 mile stroll down to the Falls each day to marvel at the power and size of the park and of course enjoy an ice cream cone. I have found on the East Coast -ice cream is synonymous with summer. Everywhere we went the ice cream shops were packed and regardless of the time of day everyone was eating an ice cream cone. So when in Rome.
We decided to play the sag wagon for the motorcycles on the excursion up to Niagra on the Lake. Fortunately the weather cooperated and we only had a few sprinkles. We stopped at a winery and local fruit stand. The area is known for their ice wine and cherries. Both had to be tested.
The real adventure began as we headed toward Lake Placid. Drizzle became downpour and did not let up until for four days. The motorcycle gang was decked out in full on rain gear with some ingenious protective wear- latex surgical gloves and booties to cover their leather outerwear and boots. Unfortunately, Trish experienced a “blowout” in her rain gear pants which we helped duct tape back together. Even with all the protection, the rain still found its way in, dripping from the helmets, seeping through their jackets in every nook and cranny. Roby and I felt a bit guilty for being dry and comfortable in the car but they would get their revenge because they were at least staying in a hotel and we were camping the three nights.
We were a bit disappointed because we chose to take a different route to Lake Placid through the Finger Lakes region of New York but really only had a brief half hour without rain to enjoy a quick snack at the park near the “middle finger” lake. Thankfully we were “smart” and stopped at a local hardware store on our way into Lake Placid and purchased an extra tarp to protect our tent from the rain. It was a godsend. As we entered Lake Placid we coordinated a meeting spot with our friends and took a stroll through town. They headed to their hotel rather quickly to change into some dry clothes and we met up with them later for dinner. Plans were always made hoping to out-smart the rain. Fortunately, each morning we would get a little reprieve from the rain so we could do our morning business but we did not have the nifty screen shelters around our picnic table to enjoy our meals or relax and enjoy our surroundings. We were basically car to tent to bathroom back to tent or car. Each maneuver was carefully planned to limit our exposure to the rain. Unfortunately, this practice did not bode well while on our mountain bike excursions. We woke the first morning after 10 hours of tarp flapping, pitter patter of the rain and sticking to our sleeping bags to a glimmer of sunshine. We loaded up the bikes and headed to WhiteFace Mountain to find some trails. They had converted some of the maintenance routes on the ski hill into mountain bike trails. After talking with owner of the trail company we headed out to the car to have a quick bite to eat and grab our bikes. We could take the bus to the start of the trail and ride downhill as often as we wanted for $20 or do the cross-country trail for $10. Unfortunately our glorious day fizzled. As we ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwich the wind kicked up and the downpour was back. Even though the owner did his best sales job to ensure us that the trails were not saturated and completely impassable due to mud, we chose to bag the mountain ride and found a free ride on the Flume Trails which were nearby. We figured if we were going to get soaked we did not want to pay for it. We hopped on our bikes and headed through the labyrinth but ended up on a “black” run trail and I completed my first “endo” with precision and a perfect deep thigh bruise from the handlebars as I went over. Thankfully the ground was soft but I was covered in mud. No worries though because the storm rolled in again and it cleaned me off. Although we were shielded from the rain by the thick forest cover for most of the ride, once we hit the main trail back to the car it opened up and we were drenched. No need for a shower that night. Our predicament was however, we had no place to go and dry out. Once we reached the car, we just stripped, no time for modesty , and threw our bike gear in the back of the truck laid out strategically on the cooler, boxes and bags in an attempt to get them to dry out. We headed over to Trish and Scott’s hotel to get some shelter from the rain. The second night in the tent proved to be an even better “thunderstorm” show. Some how I always got lucky for my 3:00 am bathroom break the rain would temporarily stop.
July 4th arrived and we decided to be patriotic and took a ride out to Fort Ticonderoga following the motorcycles. The morning turned out to be beautiful and had a nice scenic ride. After visiting the Fort we broke off from the gang and went looking for another trail to ride. With the sun being out we wanted to take advantage. We chose the most gorgeous route down a curvy road along a lake and through several little towns. They were all getting ready for their 4th of July parades. It reminded you of Mayberry. Hopefully the rain would hold off. I found this trail called Santanoni which was really a road through a family estate called a “grand camp”. It was built in the 1800’s by a family from New York city as their summer retreat. It was on 10,0000 acres and had a farm, master house, boat house, and guest quarters and now is a historical preservation site for hiking and biking. What a find!! As expected our glorious day did not go without rain. As we were halfway to the master house the clouds opened up and blessed us with another shower. We took refuge for about 20 minutes inside the boathouse but knew we had a 5 mile ride back to the car so we reluctantly got back on our bikes and bombed it all the way home. Another strip-down in the parking lot and another set of soaking wet clothes. Our car was beginning to smell. We were in desperate need of finding a laundrymat. We stopped at an awesome BBQ restaurant called the Tail ol’ Pup and had an all American dinner-BBQ chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, and coleslaw with a cold refreshing beer. The clouds parted and we enjoyed some excellent fireworks sitting on the hill overlooking Mirror Lake in Lake Placid. A memorable Independence Day!
No Longer the Mistake by the Lake
Cleveland
June 18th through June 29th
Although we are not fond of 7 hour car rides we were looking forward to getting off of our feet after the 25 miles we walked in our two day adventure through Chicago. No true scenic routes so we opted for the freeways and turnpikes on our way to Cleveland. We arrived at my parent’s home and were welcomed by the ear piercing bark from their 5 pound watchdog BAMBAM. Although it took him awhile to warm up to us, he became our best friend. I am not sure whether he or Roby will miss each other more.
After settling in we were just excited to relax and visit with family and friends. My parents spoiled us with excellent meals even a full lobster dinner on Father’s Day. It was probably the first Father’s day I got to spend with my Dad in over 20 years so it was very special and we had a great day at my sister’s pool enjoying the sunshine and an excellent dinner. A strange word to use-sunshine- especially in the same sentence with Cleveland, but somehow we were blessed with a beautiful week.
We did not have a lot on our agenda but we managed to find an excellent mountain bike trail. Okay so there are no mountains in Cleveland but it was a great 10 mile trail through a wooded area which ran along a lake. It was built by a mountain bike club so it was decked out with perfectly placed rock crops, bridges, drop offs and technical turns. Thankfully it was completely shaded because it was rather humid and we did not need the sun beating down on us. As we were admiring the view of the lake, Roby came to an abrupt stop. His mind was not playing tricks on him. He saw a log move-a big fat black one-oh no-it was a snake right on the trail. No chance of just rock hopping over this one. Although it looked menacing it probably was just a garter snake. After this great adventure we had nothing but problems with my bike. On our way home as we were driving on the freeway at 65 mph my bike decided it did not want to stay strapped in. Everyone was driving by screaming out his/her window trying to tell us that the bike was hanging off the rack. We felt like we were in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”. We found a clearing and stopped to fix it. It was hanging on by its last strap. Then the hydraulic brakes decided they did not want to work anymore. We had to go to three different shops to even find someone who was qualified to fix them. However, they would have to order the part which would take a week to get and oh by the way cost over $600. Well we did not have a week to give them nor was I going to pay $600 so we decided my bike would not know the difference so we put mechanical brakes on and it was ready to roll before we left.
Our other biking adventure took us along the Tow Path trail which is over 100 miles long and winds along the famed Cuyahoga River and used to be the route the horses would use to tow the barges down the river-hence the name. We went with my sister Alissa for about 20 miles enjoying the Cuyahoga National Park and stopped in the historical town of Boston Mills. We even caught the tail end of the Ranger’s story about the history of the Park and the Canal System which in its day made Cleveland one of the more sought after areas to live and produced some of the wealthiest people during its heyday-hard to believe!!!
Next on our list was to see our friends Chris and Jamie whom we had not seen in over 5 years. It is amazing even after so much time having passed we still felt like we had just been with them. I guess that is how easy it is with good friends. You just pick up where you left off. Their boys have grown into nice young men and we even got to go watch Jake race in a motorcross event. Roby spent a day with Chris and his boys flyfishing and we got to spend several evenings with them. We were glad to be able to spend so much time with them and hope that it is not another 5 years before we see them again. (hint-hint).
Everyone was giving us a hard time because we wanted to go to a baseball game. See, the Indians were in last place so no one could fathom why we would want to spend a perfectly nice Friday evening at the ballpark watching the Indians. We did and they won! My sister-in-law Frannie was able to get us free tickets and you could not have asked for a more perfect night for a game. My parents were willing to go with us and we had a Friday night date with them with dinner at my favorite pizza restaurant-Geraci’s and the game. I think Mari was a willing participant because she had 3 hours of uninterrupted time to work on her needlepoint.
Our final adventure was a sailing trip on Lake Erie with my dad’s law partner Jon Sobel and his wife Linda. They had come to Kauai a couple of years ago and we took them out on the outrigger canoes so they were reciprocating and took us out on their sailboat. I think we got the better end of the deal. I think the sun gods were on our side again because we could have not asked for a more beautiful day. Unfortunately we did not have anymore of our seasickness patches so we had to brave it out on the choppy waters. After about 30 minutes Linda noticed we were turning a bit blue in the face and she so politely asked us how we were doing. I think she was giving us an out to get back to calmer waters. Thank God-because once we got behind the break wall we were new people and actually got to enjoy the trip. I think next time we need to have some of that medical marijuana with us to ease the nausea.
It is always nice to go home. Everything is so easy and nothing feels like it can go wrong. We had a great time just hanging out with my parents and brother and sister and the nieces and nephews but unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. We needed to pack up and get moving.
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