The reason we were rushing across the US is that we wanted to get to Vermont for our lovely niece's wedding. Sarah Torrance is marrying Aaron Sheldon on Sept. 4. We wanted to be able to get to New England and tour as much of it as we can before and after the wedding.
So, if any of you have any recommendations on where to go, what to see, nice campgrounds, great restaurants, etc., please send them to us. We are interested in hearing about anything to do with New England, not just Vermont.
The wedding is in Norwich, VT. We are staying in a nice campground in White River Junction, not far from Norwich, Woodstock (no, not that Woodstock) and Quechee.
So far we've gone to Woodstock and the Quechee Gorge. They call the Quechee Gorge, "Vermont's Grand Canyon". Now that's a big stretch. We've now been to both, and I'm not sure the people who call the Gorge, "Vermont's Grand Canyon", have actually been to The Grand Canyon. We walked down to the Gorge and back up in a half hour. Not the same at all. But it was fun and apparently the people of Vermont have a sense of humor.
Woodstock is a very old, typical New England town. Beautiful old homes and a covered bridge no less. When we arrived they were having a band playing in the town center with the locals sitting in the lawn chairs with their shoes off and toes in the green grass. Little children running around dancing to the music. Dogs laying next to their owners wishing they could do the same. It seems the citizens take full advantage of a lovely summer day.
Today it's raining. We have the heat on in the coach and we are reading and catching up on a few things. We are very thankful that we are here. We know many people are suffering from the heat in many parts of the country and hope that some of this cool air starts heading south soon.
Just a few pics of the Gorge and Woodstock. Click the link, select slideshow and F-11 to enlarge the screen.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/QuecheeGorgeWoodstock?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ3grtjrjZn-dA#
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Ilion, NY, Cooperstown, the Remington factory and The Adirondaks
We found a small, special campground heading east across central NY, near Utica. The Ilion Marina has about 15 spots. We got the last one. We had planned on staying one night. However, as often happens with us, if we like the spot, and it's available, we'll stay longer. We did stay 3 days at Ilion. The Marina is part of the Erie canal system. Every night different boats would pull up and hook up to the Marina's electric, water and cable TV. The town of Ilion had recently cleaned up the Marina so that they could get more traffic into their little village. We think they did a great job. It worked, as we did go into to town and spent some money.
What did we do? We walked around town, drove up into the Adirondacks and went to Cooperstown, NY. Mr. Remington built his first gun in Ilion and the factory is still there producing pistols and rifles. Alex went in to the small museum and bought the T-shirt.
Cooperstown was about 40 minutes south of Ilion and a beautiful drive. The Baseball Hall of Fame was every boy's (and some girls) dream. The Adirondacks were quiet. We had expected huge crowds of people camping, boating and hiking. Not so. Maybe we were in the wrong part, but there was very little traffic. It seemed a little sad. The Adirondacks were beautiful but after being in the NW this summer it was just not the same.
We are so glad we stayed the extra days. We discovered a lot by accident. As usual, click the link, select slideshow and hit F-11 to enlarge the screen.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/Cooperstown?authkey=Gv1sRgCLHp4Jfd8-DTQQ#
What did we do? We walked around town, drove up into the Adirondacks and went to Cooperstown, NY. Mr. Remington built his first gun in Ilion and the factory is still there producing pistols and rifles. Alex went in to the small museum and bought the T-shirt.
Cooperstown was about 40 minutes south of Ilion and a beautiful drive. The Baseball Hall of Fame was every boy's (and some girls) dream. The Adirondacks were quiet. We had expected huge crowds of people camping, boating and hiking. Not so. Maybe we were in the wrong part, but there was very little traffic. It seemed a little sad. The Adirondacks were beautiful but after being in the NW this summer it was just not the same.
We are so glad we stayed the extra days. We discovered a lot by accident. As usual, click the link, select slideshow and hit F-11 to enlarge the screen.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/Cooperstown?authkey=Gv1sRgCLHp4Jfd8-DTQQ#
Monday, August 16, 2010
Niagara Falls and What Could Have Been a BIG Problem.....Wasn't
Niagara Falls surprised us. It seems many places and things we've seen across this country have. I guess it's because we spent the last 20 years either in Iwakuni, Japan, Yuma, Arizona and Corpus Christi, Texas. I think we've been secluded in our own little world.
We went to Niagara Falls State Park to see The Falls. We just stood there and watched it happen. It's thrilling to stand there and hear and see the force of the water.
There are other ways to see the Falls. There are boat rides, walks down to the shoreline by the falls and a walkway over the river to see a head on shot of the falls.
We had Pilot with us so those things were out. We enjoyed the park and a walk around town. We will come back some day and see the Falls again. They are fantastic.
On our minds during that day was the fact that the coach was at a Tiffin Dealer getting our electrical problem taken care of. The inverter had been a little sensitive and finally blew after plugging in at the campground in Niagara Falls. We had to wait a day and a half to get an appointment. So we had to be very selective as to which things we were going to turn on and use. The batteries kept getting lower and lower. We would have to run the engine to charge them up. To make a long story short... it was a pain.
The good part in all of this, is that once we got to the dealer and they confirmed that it was the inverter, they talked with the Tiffin guys. The Tiffin people paid big bucks to overnight a new inverter to the dealer. Tiffin paid the whole bill once everything was done and we drove away very happy, but with our fingers crossed that this would be the end of it. So far, so good.
We liked the Niagara area very much. There is much more to the area then The Falls. We spent a day driving around and visiting a few of the State Parks and a City Park near Lake Ontario. Took Pilot to the City Park and he got to run around the beautiful park.
Here are but a few of the pictures of The Falls. This is certainly a case of where the pictures do not do the area justice. Just click the link, select Slideshow and hit F-11 to enlarge the screen.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/NiagaraFalls?authkey=Gv1sRgCMubqszXjOSS1gE#
We went to Niagara Falls State Park to see The Falls. We just stood there and watched it happen. It's thrilling to stand there and hear and see the force of the water.
There are other ways to see the Falls. There are boat rides, walks down to the shoreline by the falls and a walkway over the river to see a head on shot of the falls.
We had Pilot with us so those things were out. We enjoyed the park and a walk around town. We will come back some day and see the Falls again. They are fantastic.
On our minds during that day was the fact that the coach was at a Tiffin Dealer getting our electrical problem taken care of. The inverter had been a little sensitive and finally blew after plugging in at the campground in Niagara Falls. We had to wait a day and a half to get an appointment. So we had to be very selective as to which things we were going to turn on and use. The batteries kept getting lower and lower. We would have to run the engine to charge them up. To make a long story short... it was a pain.
The good part in all of this, is that once we got to the dealer and they confirmed that it was the inverter, they talked with the Tiffin guys. The Tiffin people paid big bucks to overnight a new inverter to the dealer. Tiffin paid the whole bill once everything was done and we drove away very happy, but with our fingers crossed that this would be the end of it. So far, so good.
We liked the Niagara area very much. There is much more to the area then The Falls. We spent a day driving around and visiting a few of the State Parks and a City Park near Lake Ontario. Took Pilot to the City Park and he got to run around the beautiful park.
Here are but a few of the pictures of The Falls. This is certainly a case of where the pictures do not do the area justice. Just click the link, select Slideshow and hit F-11 to enlarge the screen.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/NiagaraFalls?authkey=Gv1sRgCMubqszXjOSS1gE#
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Duluth, Minnesota
We left Grand Forks and drove straight across Minnesota. Probably missed many wonderful places, but we have a deadline. We'll discuss that on another entry.
We stayed at a campground about 13 miles from Duluth. There wasn't many campground options for us. We came to see some property we have that is out in the middle of no where. Absolutely no where. Even people from Minnesota have never heard of it. Anyway, it's some land with lots of trees on a dirt county road. We've never been to Minnesota, so it was nice to see the property after waiting all these years. It's been in the family for over 100 years, so we'll pass it along to Bill I imagine. It's land my lumberjack great grandfather had. I have a feeling he bought this land for the lumber and he never got around to, or needed the lumber off it.
So when that was done, I (Chris) ran around Duluth looking up information about relatives for my sister who is the real genealogist in the family. The problem is that I ran out of time just as I was getting hot on the trail of some of our ancestors. It was fun. We will have to come back and finish up. Did get some copies of birth and death certificates for my sister, which I hope will reveal a lead for her to discover something wonderful about the O'Brien and Connelly family, other than that they came from Ireland.
Duluth is fascinating. It has a lot of natural resources such as lumber, iron and THE LAKE. The Lake is Lake Superior of course and it is central to everything that is Duluth. It's not a destination city, that's for sure, but if you are in the area, you might be surprised at the things you will find here.
We did take a day and drive up the coast of THE LAKE. It's charming. It didn't hurt that we happen to hit it on one of the best weather days they've had in over a year. It was relaxing. We stopped at a typical shoreline restaurant. We sat outside on the porch so Pilot was able to sit next to us and watch the people go by. There were some barky dogs that he ignored as much as possible. Great day. Just a few pictures below.
These pics were taken of the Duluth shoreline from Canal Park. There's a picture of the famous Aerial Bridge and some lighthouses, one with a Tall Ship in the background. We like Duluth, especially in the summer.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/Duluth?authkey=Gv1sRgCIybnamJtcHIfg#
We stayed at a campground about 13 miles from Duluth. There wasn't many campground options for us. We came to see some property we have that is out in the middle of no where. Absolutely no where. Even people from Minnesota have never heard of it. Anyway, it's some land with lots of trees on a dirt county road. We've never been to Minnesota, so it was nice to see the property after waiting all these years. It's been in the family for over 100 years, so we'll pass it along to Bill I imagine. It's land my lumberjack great grandfather had. I have a feeling he bought this land for the lumber and he never got around to, or needed the lumber off it.
So when that was done, I (Chris) ran around Duluth looking up information about relatives for my sister who is the real genealogist in the family. The problem is that I ran out of time just as I was getting hot on the trail of some of our ancestors. It was fun. We will have to come back and finish up. Did get some copies of birth and death certificates for my sister, which I hope will reveal a lead for her to discover something wonderful about the O'Brien and Connelly family, other than that they came from Ireland.
Duluth is fascinating. It has a lot of natural resources such as lumber, iron and THE LAKE. The Lake is Lake Superior of course and it is central to everything that is Duluth. It's not a destination city, that's for sure, but if you are in the area, you might be surprised at the things you will find here.
We did take a day and drive up the coast of THE LAKE. It's charming. It didn't hurt that we happen to hit it on one of the best weather days they've had in over a year. It was relaxing. We stopped at a typical shoreline restaurant. We sat outside on the porch so Pilot was able to sit next to us and watch the people go by. There were some barky dogs that he ignored as much as possible. Great day. Just a few pictures below.
These pics were taken of the Duluth shoreline from Canal Park. There's a picture of the famous Aerial Bridge and some lighthouses, one with a Tall Ship in the background. We like Duluth, especially in the summer.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/Duluth?authkey=Gv1sRgCIybnamJtcHIfg#
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Grand Forks, North Dakota
We've been in Grand Forks for a week. We didn't mean to stay that long, but our campground space at Grand Forks Air Force Base is so nice and quiet we just couldn't leave. The very large spaces use to be either from an old mobile home park or old WWII housing. The base is going through a transition. I think it will be closed at some point but for now it's changing from a KC-135 refueling/tanking base to a UAV (Unmanned Aerial vehicle) base.
There are dedicated walking and biking paths and a natural area that grows the grasses and plants of what use to be the prairie in this area. Somebody has done a good job of making areas on this base that the service members can enjoy and maybe even forget that they are on a base.
Grand Forks, ND is a small town of 50,000 and across the river, East Grand Forks, MN seems a little smaller. The Red River flooded in 1997 and they had to bulldoze many of the buildings. They have since made a beautiful park, with a walking/biking path along the river on both sides. There's also a wonderful State Campground right in town, just above the river on the Minnesota side. It has large spaces, full hookups and cost $24. a night. To read about the flood and the park, check this out. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/red_river/index.html
We will be heading out on Sunday. We are going to Duluth, Minnesota where Chris' mother was born. She has always wanted to go and see Duluth after hearing the O'Brien family stories for so long. We're not sure where we will stop for the first night, but should make it to the Duluth area by Tuesday. We plan on driving north along Lake Superior to see the sights. If anyone has any suggestions on where to go and what to do, please send them to us. Thanks!
By the way, Pilot is doing much better. He has loved being at this base. He's been able to go off leash and is very happy with the cooler weather. He hates hot weather as does Chris, so they are both pretty happy about being this far north.
We'd like to hear from those of you that read this blog. We'd like to know how our family and friends are doing and what is happening in their lives. Keep in touch.
There are dedicated walking and biking paths and a natural area that grows the grasses and plants of what use to be the prairie in this area. Somebody has done a good job of making areas on this base that the service members can enjoy and maybe even forget that they are on a base.
Grand Forks, ND is a small town of 50,000 and across the river, East Grand Forks, MN seems a little smaller. The Red River flooded in 1997 and they had to bulldoze many of the buildings. They have since made a beautiful park, with a walking/biking path along the river on both sides. There's also a wonderful State Campground right in town, just above the river on the Minnesota side. It has large spaces, full hookups and cost $24. a night. To read about the flood and the park, check this out. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/red_river/index.html
We will be heading out on Sunday. We are going to Duluth, Minnesota where Chris' mother was born. She has always wanted to go and see Duluth after hearing the O'Brien family stories for so long. We're not sure where we will stop for the first night, but should make it to the Duluth area by Tuesday. We plan on driving north along Lake Superior to see the sights. If anyone has any suggestions on where to go and what to do, please send them to us. Thanks!
By the way, Pilot is doing much better. He has loved being at this base. He's been able to go off leash and is very happy with the cooler weather. He hates hot weather as does Chris, so they are both pretty happy about being this far north.
We'd like to hear from those of you that read this blog. We'd like to know how our family and friends are doing and what is happening in their lives. Keep in touch.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Headed East! Glacier National Park
We left Whidbey a week ago. Sorry to leave, but excited to be back on the road. We took Hwy 20 east through the Cascades. Pretty exciting going thru the mountains. Alex did a great job driving. The motorhome went up without breaking a sweat.
It's scary sitting in the passenger seat as everything on the side of the road looks like you are going to hit it or, that you are going to fall down the side of the mountain. After awhile Chris got use to it, but still screamed every so often.
We arrived in Columbia Falls, ND after two days on the road. We got up early the next morning and headed to Glacier National Park in the car. The drive through the park is wonderful. Chris was still screaming once in awhile as in some places they were replacing the road where it had fallen off the side of the mountain. To say that we were driving close to the edge would be an understatement.
Glacier is everything one would imagine. Words won't do it justice and neither will our pictures but some of them turned out pretty good. We did get up close to a mountain goat and her baby. They were on the side of the road waiting for the traffic to ease. I hope they got a chance to get away from the road. Everyone stopped and got out of their cars to take pictures. We didn't but I got a couple pics as we drove by them.
We were very fortunate that it was a spectacular day at Glacier. Click the link and choose slideshow. I put the very best pics in this album. There were a lot of pictures taken. I tried to be picky on what to show you.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/GlacierPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCJaUj8iF1fiRGQ#
It's scary sitting in the passenger seat as everything on the side of the road looks like you are going to hit it or, that you are going to fall down the side of the mountain. After awhile Chris got use to it, but still screamed every so often.
We arrived in Columbia Falls, ND after two days on the road. We got up early the next morning and headed to Glacier National Park in the car. The drive through the park is wonderful. Chris was still screaming once in awhile as in some places they were replacing the road where it had fallen off the side of the mountain. To say that we were driving close to the edge would be an understatement.
Glacier is everything one would imagine. Words won't do it justice and neither will our pictures but some of them turned out pretty good. We did get up close to a mountain goat and her baby. They were on the side of the road waiting for the traffic to ease. I hope they got a chance to get away from the road. Everyone stopped and got out of their cars to take pictures. We didn't but I got a couple pics as we drove by them.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/GlacierPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCJaUj8iF1fiRGQ#
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Ebey Park, Whidbey Island
Alex and I went on a hike to Ebey Park, near Coupville on Whidbey Island. It was a sunny, cool, but not cold day. The beach is on the west side of Whidbey and the views were stunning. We could see the Olympic mountains along with Mount Rainier and the Cascades with Mount Baker. This doesn't happen often that you would have a day this clear to see everything. Today we did.
Mr. Ebey founded the area and helped ships navigate the channel in his row boat. He settled this area because it was a prairie and not the woodlands like most of Whidbey.
After Ebey Park, we drove a little further south and went to Fort Casey. The Fort was built during World War I to protect and defend the huge channel between the islands and mainland.
Click the link and choose slideshow. Beautiful.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/EbeyAndCaseyParksWhidbey?authkey=Gv1sRgCKWl6sSjxuf1Wg#
After Ebey Park, we drove a little further south and went to Fort Casey. The Fort was built during World War I to protect and defend the huge channel between the islands and mainland.
Click the link and choose slideshow. Beautiful.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ChrisTorrance/EbeyAndCaseyParksWhidbey?authkey=Gv1sRgCKWl6sSjxuf1Wg#
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