Saturday - September 23 – I woke up during the night to heavy rain so was not surprised this morning when we were stuck in our spot and couldn’t get traction. Fortunately the fellow beside us had a tow line and 4x4 so gave us a pull out to solid ground.
We took the back roads to Lewiston and the bridge to Canada and it was a nice drive although not very sunny. I remember that when I was about 10 or so my grandparents, who lived on a yacht in Daytona, brought their home north for the summer and my parents, brother and I met them in Medina, NY and my mom, brother and I stayed on the boat till probably Lockport, where my father was waiting for us. I have a vague recollection of steering the boat through the Erie Canal but thought this might all be a figment of my imagination, but no, we went through Medina today and the canal is there so I was right in my rememberings. Art, do you remember this?
Anyways, we got back to Kincardine late this afternoon and are now installed in our seasonal home. Tonight it is pouring rain but hopefully tomorrow won’t be too bad as we have lots of cleaning to do. Being on the road is hard on the trailer, both inside and out. Once John downloads his pictures I hope to have some good ones to post on my blog, otherwise I will sign off until we are on the road again,
Friday – September 22 – Another nice warm, sunny day. We got away about 9:30 a.m. and the traffic was pretty heavy on 91 until we got to the Mass turnpike then the traffic wasn’t too bad and there was some nice scenery. We stopped about 5 at Byron, NY and just as we got here it started to spit rain. Fortunately it didn’t last so John was able to bbq.
Janet, you would love this spot – trains about every 15 minutes!! Not too interesting a day being on the road but we will be back in Kincardine tomorrow.
Janet, you would love this spot – trains about every 15 minutes!! Not too interesting a day being on the road but we will be back in Kincardine tomorrow.
Thursday – September 21 – Another beautiful day but a bit cooler with a high in the high 60’s – still that is quite pleasant and I actually like that better than real hot.
Today was kind of a lazy day, we did a short ride to see the countryside south of here but it sure is hard to see much of the ocean. We came back, got groceries to do us till we get home, I did a bit of laundry, we got hooked up and just basically chilled out.
Derrick, today we saw a banner for the Old Lyme first Robotics Competition. Have you ever heard of them? At least now I know what it is all about thanks to you and your participation in the Port Perry Robotics team. Hope you beat em!!
Today was kind of a lazy day, we did a short ride to see the countryside south of here but it sure is hard to see much of the ocean. We came back, got groceries to do us till we get home, I did a bit of laundry, we got hooked up and just basically chilled out.
Derrick, today we saw a banner for the Old Lyme first Robotics Competition. Have you ever heard of them? At least now I know what it is all about thanks to you and your participation in the Port Perry Robotics team. Hope you beat em!!
Wedesday – September 20 – Today we woke up to brilliant sunshine and it was a gorgeous day, in the low 80’s and low humidity. We decided that we would go to Rhode Island and tour a couple of the mansions in Newport. As navigator I suggested that we take the scenic route, 1A and then got us off on the wrong exit. We take 1A but not in the direction we wanted, but man did we see some awesome houses with wonderful views of the ocean,
We did get straightened out and got to Rhode Island and found the mansions, which were actually the summer homes of the rich, and were only used for two months of the year. There were 2 cruise ships in the harbour, one being the Queen Elizabeth II, and we heard one tour guide say that they had over 20 bus tours scheduled for the day, so Newport was a very busy place.
The first mansion we toured was The Breakers which was built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II in the late 1890’s and is a Renaissance Revival structure. The house was built here but all the interior work was done in Italy and then transferred to Newport and put in the house. The architect for the house was Richard Morris Hunt, who also designed the Biltmore House for Cornelius’s brother George. I just can’t begin to describe the opulence of the house and it is just mind boggling that such a place would have been built as a summer home – sure wonder what their winter home in New York was like! The dining room in this place is larger than our condo!!
The second place we toured was The Elms which was finished in 1901 and is an early 20th century copy of the chateau d’Asnieres, a few miles from Paris. This home was built for coal magnate Edward J. Berwind and his wife, who never had children. After their deaths Edward’s sister Julia summered in the home until her death in 1961 at the age of 96. This home was not as lavish or opulent as the Breakers but was never the less very impressive. Both homes had both electric and gas lighting and both had very large bathrooms with marble tubs, dressing tables etc. in the bathroom – very lavish. The pantries in both homes were amazing with all the different sets of dishes, all the crystal etc. Both homes had the pantries on two levels and both had large safes for the silver, which was taken back and forth each year from their permanent home to their summer home. At The Elms we were told that it cost the Berwind’s about $300,000/year to entertain during their stay at The Elms.
We left Newport and again picked up 1A along the coast to Narangasset. It was a very pretty drive with beautiful beaches. We stopped at a state park which was really nice with sites looking out over the ocean but got totally turned off when we got the pricing - $20/night for full hookups for R.I. residents and $35/night for anyone else. I guess they don’t want the tourist trade!!
All in all it was a great day and there were lots of gorgeous homes and beautiful views of the sea.
We did get straightened out and got to Rhode Island and found the mansions, which were actually the summer homes of the rich, and were only used for two months of the year. There were 2 cruise ships in the harbour, one being the Queen Elizabeth II, and we heard one tour guide say that they had over 20 bus tours scheduled for the day, so Newport was a very busy place.
The first mansion we toured was The Breakers which was built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II in the late 1890’s and is a Renaissance Revival structure. The house was built here but all the interior work was done in Italy and then transferred to Newport and put in the house. The architect for the house was Richard Morris Hunt, who also designed the Biltmore House for Cornelius’s brother George. I just can’t begin to describe the opulence of the house and it is just mind boggling that such a place would have been built as a summer home – sure wonder what their winter home in New York was like! The dining room in this place is larger than our condo!!
The second place we toured was The Elms which was finished in 1901 and is an early 20th century copy of the chateau d’Asnieres, a few miles from Paris. This home was built for coal magnate Edward J. Berwind and his wife, who never had children. After their deaths Edward’s sister Julia summered in the home until her death in 1961 at the age of 96. This home was not as lavish or opulent as the Breakers but was never the less very impressive. Both homes had both electric and gas lighting and both had very large bathrooms with marble tubs, dressing tables etc. in the bathroom – very lavish. The pantries in both homes were amazing with all the different sets of dishes, all the crystal etc. Both homes had the pantries on two levels and both had large safes for the silver, which was taken back and forth each year from their permanent home to their summer home. At The Elms we were told that it cost the Berwind’s about $300,000/year to entertain during their stay at The Elms.
We left Newport and again picked up 1A along the coast to Narangasset. It was a very pretty drive with beautiful beaches. We stopped at a state park which was really nice with sites looking out over the ocean but got totally turned off when we got the pricing - $20/night for full hookups for R.I. residents and $35/night for anyone else. I guess they don’t want the tourist trade!!
All in all it was a great day and there were lots of gorgeous homes and beautiful views of the sea.
Tuesday – September 19 – Today was quite a nice day, sunny by late morning and in the 80’s. We decided to do Mystic Seaport and what an interesting place it is. – a recreated 19th century seafaring village. There are the general store, drug store, bank, church, schoolhouse, cooperage, print shop, shipcarver’s shop, houses, tavern etc. There is a boatbuilding shop where they actually build boats and there were many excellent exhibit buildings – one was ship's figureheads which was really interesting. They also have a special exhibit on blacks at sea which was interesting.
There are historic vessels which can be toured and one was the Charles W. Morgan which is an 1841 wooden whaleship. It was interesting to tour it and we had seen a video on whaling and I just couldn’t imagine being on a ship like this for up to 5 years while whaling – not an easy life! The video showed how they stripped the blubber and boiled it for the oil and harvested the semen but other than the outside skin for the blubber and the semen they just threw the rest away.
There was also the L. A. Dunton which is a 1921 fishing schooner and although it wouldn’t be great to be on a fishing boat at least they weren’t gone for up to 5 years at a time! All in all, it was a great day and very interesting and informative.
We got back just as it started to rain so we sat out under the awning for a bit then made dinner. It rained off and on all evening but better in the evening than during the day.
There are historic vessels which can be toured and one was the Charles W. Morgan which is an 1841 wooden whaleship. It was interesting to tour it and we had seen a video on whaling and I just couldn’t imagine being on a ship like this for up to 5 years while whaling – not an easy life! The video showed how they stripped the blubber and boiled it for the oil and harvested the semen but other than the outside skin for the blubber and the semen they just threw the rest away.
There was also the L. A. Dunton which is a 1921 fishing schooner and although it wouldn’t be great to be on a fishing boat at least they weren’t gone for up to 5 years at a time! All in all, it was a great day and very interesting and informative.
We got back just as it started to rain so we sat out under the awning for a bit then made dinner. It rained off and on all evening but better in the evening than during the day.
Monday – September 18 – Well, today was from the mountains to the seashore. We left Twin Mountain, NH and had a good drive to East Lyme, CT and our park is probably about 5 miles from the ocean.
It was a gorgeous day, mainly sunny with highs of about 80 and the traffic wasn’t too bad on the drive and the scenery was gorgeous. We arrived at Aces High RV Park about 3:00 and got set up then I went and did laundry. This is a beautiful park, but the prices for camping in this area are exorbitant, we’re glad we weren’t planning on spending more than 3 or 4 nights here. We now have internet, have to pay for it, but at least we have it and it seems to be good. The weather was nice we sat out till about 7:30 – a real bonus!
Tomorrow we will explore Mystic Seaport, there appears to be lots to see and do there so should be an interesting day.
It was a gorgeous day, mainly sunny with highs of about 80 and the traffic wasn’t too bad on the drive and the scenery was gorgeous. We arrived at Aces High RV Park about 3:00 and got set up then I went and did laundry. This is a beautiful park, but the prices for camping in this area are exorbitant, we’re glad we weren’t planning on spending more than 3 or 4 nights here. We now have internet, have to pay for it, but at least we have it and it seems to be good. The weather was nice we sat out till about 7:30 – a real bonus!
Tomorrow we will explore Mystic Seaport, there appears to be lots to see and do there so should be an interesting day.
Sunday – September 17 – What a funny morning this was, it was nice and sunny when we got up but then by 9:30 it was all overcast with low clouds. Fortunately about noon it cleared off so we decided to take our chance with Mt. Washington. We took the Cog Railway up, which is the world’s first, and oldest, mountain climbing cog railway with the first trip to the summit on July 3, 1869. The railway has vintage steam engines and replica coaches and is quite an experience.
The round trip was 3 hours with about ½ hour at the summit. The train at one point goes up a part that is called Jacob’s Ladder and the incline is 37.1% and the brakeman/tour guide said that the front of the car is 15’ higher than the rear of the car when on the 37.1% incline. Going up the steam engine pushes the coach and going down the engine pulls the coach. Going up we were on the inside seats so didn’t have the greatest view but coming down we got the outside seats and the view was fantastic. It was interesting when another train was passing, on the way up we got the right-of-way and on the way down we had to pull off into a siding and wait for the other train to pass. Each return trip requires a ton of coal and 1000 gallons of water - I wouldn’t want to be the fireman shoveling all that coal into the boiler!! On the way up the windows were open for a while but there were so many cinders blowing in that they got shut to try to keep the dirt out – a wasted effort. On the return trip the windows stayed closed!!
When we got to the summit it was very windy and cool, the view was pretty good but we couldn’t see the ocean or into Quebec, there were too many clouds in the distance. There were lots of hikers on the summit and it looked like it was a good day for hiking. On the way down we saw a hang glider, but with a difference, this one appeared to be hooked up to a motorcycle – go figure!!! At the summit we could just see a bit of the road which you would take if you do the drive up and that was enough for me as it looked very twisty and Kelly had said that it was pretty scary. By taking the railway John could enjoy the scenery and not have to worry about driving.
On the way home we stopped at the Mt. Washington Hotel, what a beautiful place – all white with red trim. The ivy on the building had turned to bright red so was really pretty. We walked around the terrace to see how the other half lives then returned to our home on wheels, which is quite sufficient for us. By the time we got back and hooked up to leave tomorrow it was another late, but good dinner – chicken wings.
The round trip was 3 hours with about ½ hour at the summit. The train at one point goes up a part that is called Jacob’s Ladder and the incline is 37.1% and the brakeman/tour guide said that the front of the car is 15’ higher than the rear of the car when on the 37.1% incline. Going up the steam engine pushes the coach and going down the engine pulls the coach. Going up we were on the inside seats so didn’t have the greatest view but coming down we got the outside seats and the view was fantastic. It was interesting when another train was passing, on the way up we got the right-of-way and on the way down we had to pull off into a siding and wait for the other train to pass. Each return trip requires a ton of coal and 1000 gallons of water - I wouldn’t want to be the fireman shoveling all that coal into the boiler!! On the way up the windows were open for a while but there were so many cinders blowing in that they got shut to try to keep the dirt out – a wasted effort. On the return trip the windows stayed closed!!
When we got to the summit it was very windy and cool, the view was pretty good but we couldn’t see the ocean or into Quebec, there were too many clouds in the distance. There were lots of hikers on the summit and it looked like it was a good day for hiking. On the way down we saw a hang glider, but with a difference, this one appeared to be hooked up to a motorcycle – go figure!!! At the summit we could just see a bit of the road which you would take if you do the drive up and that was enough for me as it looked very twisty and Kelly had said that it was pretty scary. By taking the railway John could enjoy the scenery and not have to worry about driving.
On the way home we stopped at the Mt. Washington Hotel, what a beautiful place – all white with red trim. The ivy on the building had turned to bright red so was really pretty. We walked around the terrace to see how the other half lives then returned to our home on wheels, which is quite sufficient for us. By the time we got back and hooked up to leave tomorrow it was another late, but good dinner – chicken wings.
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