Vermont Country Roads

1. Covered bridge outside of Brandon
2. Different bridge leaning just a little
3. Marble firehouse in Proctor
4. View from Lakeview Pub where we had lunch on the deck




August 22, Friday: Woke to beautiful blue skies. Nice day for our drive. We stopped in Brandon just another cute town on our journey. Oh look! A craft fair in their square so we helped out the locals by buying some things. They had very different items for sale. We ended up buying a small homemade raspberry pie. One booth was selling some unusual jellies which we bought an apple/horseradish combination. Sooooooo good. Also learned that there are four grades of maple syrup. We are now soooo enlighten! Picked up some fresh vegetables as we were leaving. Back to our country roads............we saw several covered bridges. On down the road we came to the town of Proctor. It is known for its marble manufacturing plant. The church, bank, bridge, and firehouse are just a few of the buildings made of marble. Larry very very impressed. Our next stop was to see the little college town of Castleton. Castleton is about 5-6 blocks long. In the middle of town just two blocks for Main is the campus of Castleton State College. Larry thinks this is the smallest town to have a four year college. Freshman were all over the campus for orientation. So eager, it was fun to watch their enthusiasm.


Yesterday's lunch was awful...today's was fabulous!!!!!!!!!!! On Lake Bomossen is a restaurant called The Lakeview Pub and Grill. As usual Larry is interested on how business is fairing. The proprietor says they have been steady for lunch and dinners they are doing well. I know why because the food is to die for and the service is great. They open in the winter on the week-ends. Interesting fact, a few people ride across the lake on their snowmobiles. We had the best calamari we have ever had. We also shared clam chowder and a hamburger. I know I know...a hamburger but it was great!!!!!!!!!!


Today we had some of the best weather. Sure are glad we missed some of the heavy rains they were having. Today's high 81 degrees with low of 64. Even I can handle that.


Walked dogs and enjoyed the evening sitting outside. Talked with our neighbors who are from New Jersey.


Time to head north.


Good night!

Norman Rockwell Museum/ Rutland, Vt.

1. Church steeples in Rutland
2. School dating to 1888 in Sudberry, Vt.
3. Buildings in downtown Rutland


August 21, Thursday: Nice campground but no Wi-Fi or cell phone service. So unable to write on blog. OK, let's go sight-seeing! Started at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Larry and I enjoy looking at his works. Very interesting, they showed a lot of his Saturday Evening Post Covers. He is very famous for these but it was a very small part of his works. He received twice as much money for doing advertisement pieces in many other magazines. We were quite surprised to see how many other front covers he had done. Some other works..movie posters, ads for oil companies, car manufacturers, several food suppliers. The museum also had some of the pictures of the Presidential Candidates in his time. Larry was very impressed with how well he captured facial expressions. The museum, itself, was not very well done but we enjoyed it all the same.


When we finished the museum, we looked for a Mexican restaurant. Apparently, Mexican restaurants are non existent in Vermont. Not good! Taco Bell NOT!!!!!! Well, maybe we should have tried Taco Bell because the restaurant we tried was the worst one on this trip. If this keeps up I just may have to cook. Good Heavens! What is this trip coming to!


Oh, a couple of signs Larry and I have come across: U-Turn $10.00 this one was on a country road. Guess the owner had too many people using his drive-way. Sacrificed Pavement this one was in Rutland put up by the city workers. A piece of the pavement was removed.


Tomorrow we get to explore some back roads.


Good Night!

To Vermont or Bust

1 Boat launch at campground on Lake Bomossen


August 20 Wednesday: On our way to Vermont, we saw our first color! It is not hard to imagine how gorgeous these mountains will be when they all burst into full color. Kind of exciting but then I am easily amused. Short drive today only about 100 miles. Two lane road with not much traffic. Roads are in good shape. We only made one mistake; that was to stop at the Welcome Center...not a good idea. You see, we were going to kick back for a few days. I walked out with enough reading material for two days So much for kicking back.



We found a campground on Lake Bomossen which is about 20 miles from Rutland. Not a lot of campgrounds to choose from. We have electricity and water but no sewer hook-up. We are in one of the six pull throughs. Lots of grass and no one next to us. After setting up and walking dogs to see the rest of the grounds, we got our reading material out. Well, look at this there is a free concert in a park in Rutland! This is going to work out because the couple we met in the Poconos had recommended an Italian restaurant called The Palms. What a great dinner! Larry had lasagna and I had a chicken dish. Good atmosphere and a glass of Merlot set off the evening. Now off with the locals to sit in the park and listen to some music. How bad can this be the first song was a James Brown song. Headed home after about 1 1/2 hrs.



Forgot to mention we bought a GPS for the rig. Larry says "we were just a little too long in getting it". It helps getting into the correct lane to turn off freeways and finding all the country roads we end up on. We have only traveled over 6000 miles without one. Sure did relieve the stress level today.


Good weather today high of 76 low of 56. People say we Californians brought the sunshine. They have really had a lot of rain.


Tomorrow off to see the Norman Rockwell Museum.


Good Night!

Big Thunderstorm!

1. One of the walking/biking paths
2. Fishing pond
3. Trolley stop by fishing pond



August 19, Tuesday: Woke up at 2am, they were not kidding this time, this storm is cracking. Lots of rain, lightning, and thunder. In the morning the weather didn't look so good changed our plans of taking the 4 1/2 hour tour around the lake. Kinda of sad but not too sure it would be that much fun. So back to basics...clean the rig and do laundry. Laundry good idea getting low on the essentials........if you know what I mean! The afternoon turned out to be gorgeous! We took another long walk around the campground. We counted 6 different camping areas. Talked to the trolley driver who has a black lab. Larry figured we must have walked about 2 miles. I am sure it had to 20 miles because a lot of up hill. It is amazing what this place has to offer. It has been the most expensive campground $61.00/night with the exception of Friday and Saturday, then it is $71.00. Some families have been coming here for years. Can really see why........You never have to leave the grounds if you do not want to.


Up late watching the Olympics.


Good Night!

Checking out Lake George

1. View from Look out

2. View from restaurant
3. OOPS!




August 17, Sunday: Set out walking with the dogs to explore our campgrounds. It has two ponds, one for fishing, one for paddle boats, lots of hiking trails, free movies, and free entertainment every night. Those are just a few of the hi-lighted things which you can do or use. Oh, it also has 3 swimming pools. Needless to say, the dogs and us got quite a walk.




Made a Wal-Mart run to pick up a few things. Traffic was still backed up so asked Henrietta(car GPS) to get us to Wal -Mart a different way. Not sure faster but saw some more country roads.




Back home to sit outside to work on the blog and try to catch up on emails.




On our evening walk, we met several of our neighbors. We had some great stories to exchange so the walk or talk was about 2 hours. Really is fun to meet different people.




Good Night!




August 18, Monday: Our day included a 5.5 mile drive up the Veterans Highway to Mt. Prospect. On our way up we stopped at the 3 lookouts to view Lake George and the Adirondacks. You cannot drive to the Summit but they provide a shuttle which takes you on a short ride to the top. During the ride we watched a brief video of the history of the Prospect Mt. Hotel which used to be at the Summit. It was built around the turn of the 20th Century. When we walked around, we were able see remnants of the Cable Railroad which brought the guests straight up the mountain to the hotel. The Summit is 2030 ft. and offers a 100 mile view on a clear day. Yep! you guessed it ...it is NOT a real clear day. Nonetheless, we did see a spectacular view. Maybe not 100 miles but several miles.




Down to the lakeside for a late lunch. We watched several tour boats go by as we ate. Thought we might try it tomorrow on our last day. On the way home we passed the Million Dollar Beach. Not sure why it is called that but it was very crowded. Home to visit with our neighbors and find out what their day was like. Met a nice family from Massachusetts who would like to get out to California one day. Sometimes I think this is our favorite part of the trip.




Possible thunderstorm tonight so battened down the hatches before heading to bed.




Good Night!

A Slow down Day

1. House next to restaurant

2. View into town from Hardwick College

3. Chapel at college




August 15, Friday: Slowed down today, just took a drive around the area. Had lunch at the favorite locate BBQ restaurant. I liked the waitress short haircut so I asked her where she got it cut. After lunch headed there to get my hair cut. It is short but since I am trying to let it go gray it should be better. Sure hope it grows quick!!!!!!!!!!!




We drove up and I do mean UPPPPPPPP to see the Hardwick College Campus. It is built on the side of a mountain. All roads and walkways are very steep. Good thing those kids are young. They are restoring some of the buildings.




Home to get ready to head out tomorrow!




August 16, Saturday: Off to Lake George, NY, it is not a long drive. We had some rain that was heavy at times. In fact, really big rain drops! After turning off Hwy 87 towards our campground, the intersection came to an abrupt halt. We have arrived at a very busy tourist destination. The population says 985 but during the summer months it can get to 10,000 all in a 3 mile radius. Our campground, named(surprise)Lake George RV Park is huge. It has 359 camp sites. It has its own newspaper and Trolley service for around the campgrounds and into town. Big..........




gotta walk the dogs and fix dinner.




Good Night!

Cooperstown, New York

1. Doubleday Field

2. Baseball Game at Doubleday Field

3. The Ostego from the front

4. the Ostego on the Lake





August 14, Thursday: Well, this campsite is very peaceful so we decided to camp out for a couple of more days. Cooperstown is just about 30 miles from here. This is where the Baseball Hall of Fame resides. A very pretty drive. Lots of old houses, farms, dairy barns to look at while driving into Cooperstown. What a cute and very busy town. One thing they didn't mention in the AAA book was the 12 year old baseball tournament that was here. While talking to a few people in town, we found out there are at least 3 California teams here. They were from Roseville, Granite Bay, and SF. Walking around town we found the Hall of Fame, however, the line was halfway down the block. Too long for us to wait. We were able to walk into the Doubleday Stadium and watch an old timers game. Apparently any baseball team ,young or old, can book a game here. Abner Doubleday is reputed to have invented the game of baseball in 1839. I believe the stadium was built in 1850. It was like stepping back in time. We walked down several side roads back to the car. One of which was alongside Lake Otsego. There is a magnificent restored old hotel called(what else) The Otsego. Let me tell you it was a beautiful structure. It opened in 1909 and you could almost feel the first visitors walking around the rooms. It was known as the Cooperstown Palatial Summer Hotel. At that time it sat on ten acres with 700 ft of lake shore. Life was good! Of course, the wealthy people from Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey were probably the only ones that could afford it. Come to think of it since the rooms are from $325.00 to $500.00 a night it is probably the same today. Nice to look at but happy to get home to our little RV.





Larry found out about a farm team single "A" for the Detroit Tigers was playing tonight. What else to do in baseball territory but go to a game. What fun! It cost us about $20.00 for the entertain. That included our ticket in and, of course, our hot dogs, french fries, and water. The weather was good to sit at a game.





Good night!