Category Archives: Travel

The 2nd Roger Williams Park

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It doesn’t take all that long to see The Roger Williams National Memorial so since I was in Providence anyway I decided to take a ride over to the Roger Williams Park and Zoo.

This was just a little side trip and I didn’t plan to go into the Zoo. I just wanted to drive around the park and see if the Carousel was open.

　

It was such a beautiful day. The park was lovely even if nothing was blooming yet. Squirrels were busy running around looking for forgotten nuts, swans and geese and ducks were swimming in the river. Everything was very clean except the waterline.

That was the one jarring note, the trash that was floating up against the river bank. Soft drink cups, papers, plastic straws, bottles, cans, the list goes on. I hope this is just because the staff hasn’t had time to clean this up and not neglect. It’s such a pretty park and I am concerned for the birds that make the river their home.

I spotted some Pussy Willows and 2 pairs of Mallard Ducks, their bright green heads shining in the sun.

Continuing around the park I came to Carousel Village. I really didn’t expect it to be open but it was. It might have been a private birthday party but no one challenged me when I came in and stood taking pictures of the brightly lit carousel.

By the time I left the Carousel Village clouds were beginning to gather. It was still nice out but it was time to head home.

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All I can say is “What a nice day!.”

Another Challenge~ New England Passport

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I was mentioning to one of my co-workers that I would love to have an Irish post for St. Patrick’s day next year and she said she knew someone who was going to Ireland.  She said one of our co-workers from another department was going over for about 2 weeks. I asked if she thought he’d let me get an interview to post and she said if she spoke to him, she’d ask.

Well, she got back to me and said his exact words were…Bring it on! So we’ll have a real Irish adventure to look forward to!

The title for today’s post is Another Challenge. When I was at the AAA Marketplace I stopped by the National Parks booth. I am a great fan of the National Parks. I’ve mentioned before that I collect the stamps in the National Parks Passport. Well they have a regional Passport. So I accepted one.  I just got around to reading it and it covers National Parks in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts , Connecticut and Rhode Island. Altogether there are 23 parks listed in the New England Passport. The challenge is that to complete the book you have to visit all of them before December 31, 2011. If I succeed I will get the 25th Anniversary Passport.

Well, I love a challenge and some of these parks are close together so I may be able to go to more than one in a day but Acadia National Park in Maine is a hike. I’ve had it on my list for a couple of years now. I really think it deserves more that a “quick hit” so I’m going to have to do some planning to get there before the end of this year.

 I wonder what the weather is going to be like on Wednesday. If this snow clears I might just head down to the Cape. I love Cape Cod and that’s where I can collect the stamp for the Cape Cod National Seashore.

www.nps.gov

But for now I will sign off. I need to check airfares so Sandy and I can book our flight to Phoenix.

WOW Another Monday!

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I dropped the ball today. I usually take time on Sunday to prepare a post for today but instead I went “gallivanting” out to Plymouth Harbor to take pictures. Apparently while out there I caught a cold that has settled into my lower back..OUCH***..But enough excuses..Let me ramble on a little and you can comment with your cheers and jeers .

First Plymouth Harbor is  a pretty little harbor. The Mayflower isn’t out of winter dry dock yet so it was pretty quiet. I like their sea wall. It isn’t just this cement wall rather it’s made of stone and cement. There are rocks set in the top row that kind of point up. It reminds me of a moat on a medieval castle. I think it’s mostly decorative.

 I got a couple of nice sunset pictures. The sunsets this time of year seem to be more pastel than red.

 

When I got home I was reading one of my travel magazines that came Saturday. There was an article about Arizona ...Arizona for all seasons… so I checked that out. It covered the whole state and since we won’t have time for the southern end , south of Phoenix, that section was merely interesting but not useful for our upcoming trip. The northern recommendations involved mostly road trips and did hit some of the high points we have planned. One place that came up in the article and in an article in Popular Photography was Canyon de Chelly. I wish we had time for that but I think this trip is going to be packed to overflowing. We’ll have to see.

 

And the last but not the least thing I want to mention was an article in the same Travel Magazine about The Black Hills and Badlands of South Dakota. Sandy and I were there last June and had a wonderful time. In the article this family was there for  2 days…1 weekend….48 hours and they saw, according to the article, everything we saw in a week!

There are pictures with the article too. They even went to Crazy Horse Memorial.

 Like us they used Rapid City as their base but they didn’t mention much more about the city than that. They went to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial (We only drove by Crazy Horse) Wall Drug, The Badlands (can I assume they mean they drove the Badlands Loop?)and Custer State park. They mention seeing buffalo, antelope, big horn sheep, the Beggin’ Burros and prairie dogs…Ok I got all those with my camera too and I bet they didn’t get a prairie dog with a flower either!

Scout

 But to do it all in 48 hours? I like the way we did it much better. Even if the authors think we were slow it seemed like we had full days so I wouldn’t do anything different.

Well, that about wraps up my travel thoughts for the day.

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Not much to say about the spring trip until we start booking and that’s going to be soon. I’ve started exploring options for the 2012 trip but that’s still in the early, early stages..not ready for publication so I’m not sure what we’ll talk about tomorrow but I’ll think of something. Toss out some suggestions if you like. Maybe they will get my creative juices flowing. Maybe Scout has some tips up his furry sleeve.

Lake George, NY

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I think I mentioned that I saw the booth for Lake George at the AAA Marketplace and even when I told them I was from the area, they pressed the brochures and materials into my hands. I wouldn’t want their gift to go to waste so I decided to go through the information and see what I thought of the area if I looked at it through a tourist’s eyes. By the time I finished I was ready to book my next vacation in the Adirondacks!

Let me go over some of the points that caught my attention and that would make me plan a vacation in my old stomping grounds.

First of all, Lake George is beautiful no matter what time of year you go. Having spent approximately 1/3 of my life in the area I can attest to that. So the first thing the brochures addressed was the lake. 32 miles long it is always sparkling, clear and clean , a spring -fed lake. In the summer cruise boats ply the lake. In the winter there’s ice skating and ice fishing and a Winter Carnival.

When I was growing up the Ticonderoga was the largest boat and sailed the whole length of the lake. As I recall it was a full day trip. The Mohican was a smaller boat and only cruised the southern portion from the piers in Lake George Village to just north of Bolton Landing, stopping at the Sagamore/ Green Island after it’s turn around. That’s certainly changed. The original “Ti “ & Mohican have long since retired but there are new boats including a paddlewheeler. The last I knew the Mohican II, listed on the National Register of Historic Places ,was still conducting narrated tours along the shoreline.

One of the things that I don’t remember doing as a “kid” is white water rafting on the Hudson River. That and slow-tubing or lazy river tubing are new offerings, or at least new to me…not that I never went “tubing”. I seem to remember “tubing” on the Schroon River and Trout Lake. We always seemed to have a big old patched inner tube around somewhere. Now there are commercial Tubing companies Like Adirondack Tubing Adventures and Tubby Tubes.

Another attraction that sounds familiar but I can’t picture is Natural Stone Bridge and Caves. Located in neighboring Pottersville. The brochure describes it as ranging from easy walking tours to challenging cave crawls. I would definitely go there again. I’m sure I went as a child but like I said, I just can’t visualize it. Be nice to refresh my childhood memory or see it through adult eyes.

The Hot Air Balloon Festival in September is something that is has been added since I lived in the area. It’s been over 30 years since I lived there so I would expect that things would change! Now, I am not a “ballooner”, I’ve never been up in one but I would love to attend this event just for the opportunities to take pictures of the colorful balloons.

History buffs or maybe even ghost hunters can’t skip the forts. There are forts everywhere in the area. The Syfi channel’s Ghost Hunters Series has even done a couple of shows there. One in Fort Ticonderoga and I believe one in Fort William Henry. In fact there’s a tour called Spirits of History Ghost Tours that runs from Memorial Day to Mid-October. Even Fort Edward on the Hudson River get’s into the act. There you can find the Old Fort House Museum, one of the oldest frame buildings in upstate New York.

There are trails and mountains everywhere for the hikers or if you prefer the water sports, boating, water skiing, freshwater scuba diving, para-sailing or just hanging on the Million Dollar Beach at the end of the lake. If you do decide to hike, be sure to summit Prospect Mountain. Not a hiker? No problem as you can reach the top by taking a 10 minute drive up the Prospect Mountain Veteran’s Memorial Highway. Once on top you can experience the 100-mile-view of the surrounding mountains.

The Great Escape was called Storytown when I was a kid but it’s grown up and now is a Six-Flags Theme Park.

And the places to stay…well, everything from rustic campgrounds to RV parks to cabins or motels to a hotel on an island reminiscent of the great hotels of the 50’s & 60’s like was featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing”. I worked with the photographer at the Sagamore as a teenager. I remember them announcing cha cha lessons on the veranda! I know there have been many renovations done to the Sagamore but I expect it is still the showcase Hotel on the Lake.

I mustn’t forget to mention that Lake George becomes the motorcycle capital of the east for a weekend every summer when the Americade, the world’s largest motorcycle rally, comes to town.

　There’s so much more I could tell you about the area but I think you might enjoy finding out for yourself.

Grand Canyon Railroad and the AAA Travel Show

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As I wandered on to the 2nd half of the show floor I seemed to be moving into the more local booths, local as in states. I stopped at The Hershey, PA booth and right next to it was Lancaster County, PA, Amish country. And then I saw a big sign…Lake George and I had to stop there. I have to laugh because even after I told them I was from the area, they pressed the brochures into my hands. One of the reps was a young lady who has a store on Main St in Bolton. She knows my mother and brother so I told her to tell them she had seen me.

More local was the Concord Booth manned by reps in colonial dress.

 There was a National Parks booth too where I stopped for a chat.

As I was preparing to leave…if I could find an exit…I saw a booth that I has somehow missed. The Grand Canyon Railroad! There were 2 young ladies manning that booth and it wasn’t crowded so I had a chance to have a nice visit. I told them we had a trip planned in May and would be taking the train and include the Rim tour. They said that was absolutely the way to do it (of course ) but then we discussed some of the other tours in the area. They had both been on the Bottom of the Canyon tour but with another tour company. They had heard of Native American Journey’s but didn’t know it well. They said that going with them would give us more of the perspective of the Native Americans. They also said that some areas of places like Monument Valley are closed unless you have a Native American Guide. I had heard that but it was nice to have confirmation. As I was getting ready to leave they handed me 2 wooden train whistles as a gift. I had mentioned my sister was going on the trip with me and they remembered saying, “here’s one for you and one for your sister.” Very good. I am impressed by things like that. Shows they were really listening to what I was saying.

I left the Grand Canyon booth and went to the third floor so I could get a look out over the show floor.

 Then I headed back down to leave. Easier said than done. I walked around and around and couldn’t find the exit. Finally I asked one of the security guards.

By the way, security was tight. We didn’t have to pass through any screening but the guards all had the little wires in their ears and seemed to be a higher level than the normal “rent -a-cop”. Anyway, they gave me directions that could have been from Peter Pan…First Star on the right etc J they told me to go to Hershey and take a right then a left at New York etc…Pretty funny. Finally I saw a small exit sign.

But you still had to get past all the AAA displays by the exit. I skipped the survey and headed out. I’d had enough of crowds and “hawkers” for one day. All together I was in the show for around 3 hours. You could easily spend all day but I had what I came for and was glad to drive off into the sunset.

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