We left our home at 7:40am on July 2 with 110,903 miles on Acey. We drove thru Kentucky and into Ohio.
We arrived at Thousand Trails Wilmington, in Wilmington OH at 3:30 for an overnight stay. In the morning we left at 8:45 with 111,260 miles on Acey. We pulled into Thousand Trails Kenisee Lake in Jefferson, OH at 2pm for a 5-night stay.
July 4 was the Semi quincentennial for our country – marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence; our country’s 250th birthday!. We rode our bikes south on the Western Reserve Greenway Trail; a paved and well-maintained rail trail. It was a warm day (79°), and we rode just over 15 miles.
Later we headed to “downtown” Jefferson for a 4th of July celebration. They had several signs about the history of Ashtabula County and America.
At 9pm, we came back for the celebratory fireworks!
On the 5th, we drove over to Lakeside, OH where Jim’s family had a cottage in the 60’s and 70’s. It was raining as we arrived.
We parked Thor (the car) and got a bit wet as we walked to The Patio restaurant for lunch. As a teen, Jim worked there one summer as relief – taking everyone’s day off; cooked 2 days, dishwasher 2 days, made donuts one day and “salad girl” one day. We found out that the restaurant had closed for several years and reopened in 1991.
The Northeaster, formerly owned by the Compsons, had a special place in their hearts and we have 2 renderings of the cottage in our home! A painting on slate and a pen and ink drawing.
You can see it had not changed very much on the outside.
But we could see it now has an A/C unit!
Walking down the sidewalk along the shore of Lake Erie, the gardens were beautiful! We wondered what kind of flowers were so bright blue and found out they were spray painted! 😊
We walked down the pier and Jim noticed there was now a sand beach beside it.
The pier had been extended several feet as well.
Back to Thor, we drove over to Marblehead and walked around there. At the pier, we could see a freighter, the Dorothy Ann, was docked at Marblehead.
Some interesting information about Lake Erie.
Lighthouses are always fun to check out!
We climbed the 77 steps to the top of the Marblehead lighthouse!
From the top, we could see nearby Cedar Point – just 3.3 miles away.
We had a fun family weekend trip to Cedar Point in 2005 and here’s one of our favorite photos!
The Dorothy Ann was leaving port with another load of limestone.
Being tall has its advantages; Jim took a photo of the LED marine beacons!
And the Keeper’s house was below – now a museum and gift shop.
The museum had some interesting stuff…
The next day we toured several covered bridges nearby. The first one we saw was the Riverdale Road Covered Bridge.
Next was the Windsor Bridge.
These photos showing the bridge in winter were worth sharing!
The Netcher Road Covered Bridge, built in 1998, was the newest of the bridges we saw.
The Caine Road Covered Bridge, was next.
The State Road Bridge was the longest covered bridge that we saw – 157 feet in length.
The annual Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival is held the second weekend of October – 19 unique covered bridges can be seen.
On July 7, we went for a 20-mile bike ride on Western Reserve Greenway Trail and went north this time.
We left Jefferson, OH on July 8 at 8:40 with 111,516.7 miles on Acey and 144,738 on Thor. We drove thru Pennsylvania and into New York; with an overnight stay at The Villages RV Park at Turning Stone in Verona, NY.
This was different! There were very few Rest Areas along our route, but a few Parking Areas also referred to as Text Stops.
We left Verona at 10am on July 9 with 111,835.4 miles on Acey and still had144,738 on Thor. We arrived at Sylvan Lake Beach Park in Hopewell Junction, NY for a 2-night stay. That afternoon we visited our friend Barb at the lake house that has been in her family since the 1920’s!
There IS a lake down there!
Barb intended to grill burgers outside, but the grill ran out of propane. A real first world problem!
We brought a pasta salad to go with the burgers (cooked inside on the stove) and chips and had a tasty meal on the back porch. Barb told us about some of her family heritage; her great great grandparents owned a brewery in Union City, NJ – Daniel Bermes Boulevard Brewery – but it had to shut down during prohibition.
A deer peeked thru the woods to see what was going on at the house…
It was great to see Barb again – we had a good visit and look forward to seeing her again before too long!
The next day we rode our bikes 22 miles on the Duchess Rail Trail; a beautiful trail that is part of the larger 750-mile Empire State Trail Network.
With all the work that went into building the rail lines, its really quite wonderful that so many of the former railroad beds have been made into bike trails! We have enjoyed riding rail trails all over the country!
The trailhead near our campground at Hopewell Junction was pretty cool – there was an old train station, caboose and signal tower. We checked them out as we finished our ride
We left Sylvan Lake at 10am on July 11th with 112,052 miles on Acey and 144,800 on Thor. We stopped for fuel at the TA in Kingsville, OH. The truck ahead of us had several cartons of Vermont White Cheddar Mac & Broccoli Bowls that the trucker had to get rid of because they were not included on the order he delivered. Seemed sketchy but they were still frozen solid and we had room in our freezer for a few packages!
We drove through Connecticut and Massachusetts and into Vermont where we arrived at Kampfires Campground in Dummerston, VT at 2:30 for 4-night stay.
We met up with Jim’s cousin David and Robin for dinner at a Bastille Day celebration at Burdick’s Restaurant & Chocolate Shop – just over the state line in Walpole, NH.
Robin and Linda checked out the chocolate shop.
Lots of interesting handmade chocolates!
A band played most of the evening and had us join in on the chorus as they sang Les Champs-Elysées – a famous song about the most beautiful and well-known avenue in Paris. A friend of David and Robin’s played bass.
On the 12th, Robin picked up Linda to go to the Putney Pool for a water aerobics class. Jim was picked up by David and we all met up to go on a Garden Tour in Westminster, VT where we had lunch.
The next day, Robin had an English class to teach, but we met David at the new house they are building in Brattleboro, VT – close to downtown. Their present home is way off the beaten path, so they decided to move closer to town.
We hiked in the nearby woods to a stone tower that was built in1887 by patients of the Brattleboro Retreat (a mental health hospital) as part of an innovative therapeutic program.
Then we went with David on a train ride to Northampton, MA.
A skeleton key is used to open the door!
We had lunch at the Northampton Brewery
and took the train back again to Brattleboro.
We met up with Robin at Acey where she brought dinner – an Afghan woman fixes meals twice a month to earn some extra money. Robin brought a tossed salad and a delicious cake for dessert. And do you think we got a photo of the meal? Of course not!
On Tuesday morning, we rode bikes on the Ashuelot Rail Trail . It started out paved and soon turned to finely crushed gravel, then dirt and then grass.
2 detours took us off the trail and onto the highway with no shoulder… then the trail was hard to follow and we saw equipment up ahead cutting the brush along the side of the trail.
So, after riding 7 ½ miles, we turned back. Not an enjoyable ride, but good exercise anyway…
That day, July 17, was actually Bastille Day – and unfortunately the French team lost to Spain in the World Cup match – Spain was to face either England or Argentina in the Final game.
We got back to Acey for lunch and a shower and later met up with David and Robin for dinner at Snow Republic Brewery in Brattleboro, VT – Robin had another class to teach and left us after dinner – we went for a mile and a half walk on the West River Trail nearby. David was part of a group that helped get this trail going –a narrow gage railway had run there but was abandoned long ago after the quarry no longer operated in the area. A beautiful bridge carries Interstate 91 overhead.
In the morning, we met up for a farewell breakfast at the Putney Diner on the 15th.
Back to Acey to finish packing up to move on; at 9:45 with 112,258.4 miles on Acey and 144,936 on Thor, we left Dummerston, VT and arrived at TT Moody Beach in Wells, ME at 1:00 for a 2 night stay.
It rained quite a bit and we were unable to go for a bike ride during our stay at Moody Beach.
We left Wells, ME on July 17 at 9:15 with 112,401.6 miles on Acey and 145,024 on Thor; arrived at Narrows Too Camping Resort in Trenton, ME at 1:30 for a 3-night stay. The campground is right by a small bay off the Gulf of Maine.
Acadia National Park was close by and we spent most of the 18th at the park. First, we went to the visitor center for information. Last week, Jim had made a reservation to drive up Cadillac Mountain at 1:00 but were able to change it to 10:30 which worked out great. A park ranger said that Cadillac Mountain, at 1,530 feet, is the tallest coastal mountain until you get to Rio De Janeiro! The area surrounding the park is called Mount Desert Island.
We stopped along the way at a pull out to see what the signs said…
We got to the top of Cadillac Mountain and took in the views!
From Cadillac Mountain we could see Bar Harbor below – and the long island to the left, Bar Island. The island is accessible by foot, for 1½ hours either side of low tide, via the sandbar that connects the island to the town.
We drove back down the mountain and continued exploring the park.
Jim got some good shots of Egg Rock and a house out on a rocky point!
Our next stop was a sandy beach – and some folks were actually in the water! Brrrrrr!
The rocky coast was beautiful!
Jim spotted a whale out in the water!
We finished our day at Jordan Pond.
What a beautiful day to be outside!
On the 19th, we met up with our Fantasy RV Tour group to begin a 27-day adventure “The Best of the Canadian Maritimes”! We look forward to a guided tour with the route planned and all the campgrounds reserved for us, and many meals and adventures with new friends as we explore more of God’s wonderful creation.
Dear Husband and I enjoyed driving up Cadillac Mountain and having lunch at Bar Harbor when in Maine ages ago for our godson’s wedding. Such beauty the LORD our GOD made!
Beautiful scenery that brought back memories of when I lived in Ohio, NY, & PA and traveled a bit around New England … Thank you for sharing!
Really enjoying following your trip. A lot of neat places. We visited the northeast about 25 years ago taking our daughter to visit colleges. We barely got into Maine at Portland for a night or two. Enjoyed fresh lobster on the dock. Then we headed back to TN. Maine and up into Canada is on our wish list of places to visit. Looking forward to hearing about your adventures ahead.
Currently in Montreal, we’ve been in this Northeastern kingdom area of VT and the St Lawrence Seaway – beautiful. People everywhere seem to be getting healthifer and trying leave anxiety in the background. What a pleasure that America 250 has been the greatest gift for the year.
Summer brings out the best (gifts of the) fruits and fresh veggies (tales about life). The many small church buildings are repurposing their communities again. What we’ve noticed is that many offer a simple weeknight “Community Meal”. Food truck , potluck, whatever works. Summer rambles on, so glad you all had some wonderful adventures that inspire us all!
Great “Travel log”! I’ve never seen most of these places but I have some great memories of Cedar Point from my high school years in Michigan. Thanks for sharing with me!