Over the River and Through the Woods

Continuing on our buggy ride through Pennsylvania we scurry across the state to make our way to New York.  We are using a mix of GPS and large paper (yes they still make them) atlas to navigate since the "getting lost" part doesn't count on the highway because we don't want to incur the $25 toll through Pennsylvania and $40 toll to travel through Indiana again. Finally I get to turn the page of the atlas to New York! Turning the pages to a new state in the atlas is kinda like turning the pages in the Sears Christmas Wishbook (circa 1970's).  It was always thrilling to see page after page of cool new toys that might potentially be yours from Santa, who happens to have a direct line with Sears.

Yes, there he is, bottom left, Hugo: Man of a Thousand Faces! My prized Christmas gift, one that we would torment our dog Tramp with for the rest of his life (terrorizing directions: with puppet on hand shake Hugo vigorously say in a ghostly voice, "Ttttrrraaammmppp", which would elicit aggressive pit bull snarls and growls from our normally docile Cairn Terrier).  Doug had the creepy ventriloquist doll with sport coat, complete with vinyl "how to" album. But you really can't even call this a doll, it's something more akin to a horror accessory.  Nobody even wants these "dolls" in their basement storage room, not even if they are buried at the bottom of a Rubbermaid container under Beanie Babies and stuffed kittens, with duct tape sealing the entire perimeter, and really heavy old stereo speakers on top. The benefits of moving and downsizing is that you can talk said husband into getting rid of horror accessory.  

So I digress to the good old days of playing with objects instead of electronic screens.  And through my new "screen" as we travel across the northern part of New York, we see the outskirts of Buffalo and Rochester and then spy our next stop on the map to take a break: Geneva, NY. We take an hour long break to bike along Lake Seneca on the lakefront trail and through the little quaint town with an abundance of "for rent" signs in storefront windows.  The town tried to be hip and thriving, there was a comedy club, a brew pub, and clothing store, but they've all gone the way of Elvis, ten toes up, with dusty windows and shards of curled up philodendron leaves. 

We made our best attempt at a "group shot"...yes, Doug has grown another 12 inches and is now a giant...

Once again it's back on the road to find another Walmart in Utica, NY. But better yet, hey we are moving up in the world, we get to sleep overnight in the Applebee's (albeit, a renovated franchise) parking lot next to the Walmart.

 Of course being very tired and that late, we take advantage of the bland food (someone needs to tell Applebee's not to put spinach artichoke dip in everything) and watch the Packer game. You know you're not in WI anymore when you are in a bar with the Pack game on and NO ONE is reacting to fumbles and touchdowns. And I also realized you know you're NOT in WI when:

The number of churches outnumber the taverns.

There is no drinking (gasp) at the State Park...true story, happened to us in Holland, MI!

There isn't a brat sale in front of the local supermarket.

The bartender thinks Leinenkugels is an ailment.

You can't find a fish fry on Friday night.

You do not see one bathtub virgin Mary!

And you know you're NOT in Baraboo when:

It takes longer than 5 minutes to read the paper.

Drivers use their turn signals.

Stores referred to with "corner" actually are on the corner.

No one knows you at the local festival.

It's a derogatory term to refer to The Big Top!

But I digress again...I have that syndrome.  We arise on Friday morning to the sound of trucks rumbling on the highway and continue on up the road by way of Hwy 8 through the Adirondack Mountains.  About this time, we really start to realize we're not in cheese head country anymore.

Max does a gallant job as we traverse the narrow winding mountain roads, passing through tiny run down towns with porches carpeted by multiple Golden Retrievers and plastic children's toys strewn about the yard like landscaping.  Nearing the Lake George area we challenge Max to his first real hill climb, but like a true "Wisconsinite" he has no problem and we pull over at a wayside to congratulate him and take the photo below of the lovely meandering stream. 

Just before I get to turn the page again in the atlas we take a lunch break in Tigonderoga. I immediately thought of the pencils, of which I have no idea if there is a relationship, but I did learn that Fort Ticonderoga was a prominent setting in the French & Indian War and the Revolutionary War because it provided the portage between Lake George and Lake Champlain.  It proved to be a great backdrop for our lunch.

Ticonderoga, NY

We also needed to stretch our legs so we walked through the park and discovered a little fitness trail intersecting the falls, and wandering into town past a cute little bakery with great atmosphere and chocolate eclairs. Should have done the fitness trail AFTER the chocolate eclair.  

Whadya think the squirrels do with this fitness equipment at night, when people aren't around, and they've just had a few too many fermented acorns? I just wondered if anyone ever really uses it, except tourists, and squirrels?  

Regardless of the lovely weather, we needed to press on to arrive at our campsite in Burlington, VT.  Around 4 pm we made it to Burlington and found a lovely spot at the North Beach Campground, the state run campground right along Lake Champlain. And we can drink!  We set up camp, changed our clothes, and headed out to Church St., the pedestrian mall downtown Burlington.  Holy COW, what an awesome downtown.  Even at 7pm Church St was filled with people of all ages. The shops and galleries and restaurants were open and it happened to be "First Fridays" with all the art galleries around town open late.  Of course I couldn't pass up the art galleries so we bopped in and out of a few but we were slowly loosing steam and stopped in at the RiRa Irish Pub for some Woodchuck cider (VT made), chocolate stout and Cottage Pie!

Ready for bed with a full belly and libations!  Can't wait to explore some more....