September 2016 New England Road Trip

September 2016 New England Road Trip

We had hoped to take an extended western trip to Oregon this Fall, but a screened in porch construction project prevented it.  Soooo, we decided to take a short New England trip.  Here it is:

Sunday, 9/11:

Woodland Hills Campground, Austerlitz, NY

We arrived about 2:30.  This is a very nice campground that is mostly seasonal campers.  The seasonal sites are neat very well kept up.  It is wooded and picturesque, with a pond in the middle.  The sites are quite large.  We are the only campers in the the transient section.  We just relaxed and enjoyed being back on the road again.

Monday, 9/12

About 10:00 AM we headed, just across the state border, to Stockbridge, MA to visit the Norman Rockwell Museum.  What a wonderful display of his works.  Rockwell was an illustrator who’s works graced over 300 covers of The Saturday Evening Post magazine.  His last studio is at the museum, left as he actually used it.

After the Rockwell Museum, we drove to Great Barrington, MA to have a great lunch and a brew at the Barrington Brewery.  On a side note, our good friends Wayne and Linda have a daughter-in-law who runs an upscale clothing store in Great Barrington.

We were back to the campground by 3:00.  Naps and reading followed.  We only had snacks for dinner since lunch was so filling.

Tuesday, 9/13

A very short drive today to Sunset View Farm campground in Monson, Massachusetts. We will use this campground as base camp to visit nearby Old Sturbridge Village.  We had a pleasant site and there were lots of places to walk the dogs.

Wednesday, 9/14

We headed out to Old Sturbridge Village early.  It opened at 9:30 and we wanted to beat the crowds.  As is our luck, it was “Home Schooling Day” at the museum, so there were lots of kids.  No problem though because the village is spread out over a lot of land and the crowds were dispersed. Old Sturbridge replicates life in the early 1800’s with most of the shops manned by volunteers in costume.  We got to see a functioning blacksmith shop, a potter working with clay, and a cooper making barrels.  It was interesting, but living among the Amish in Northern New York, we were familiar with many of the activities.

We stayed about three hours, and then found the Oxhead Tavern in downtown Sturbridge for lunch.  The tavern building was built in 1820 and has served several uses over the past 196 years.  Lunch was excellent.

Thursday, 9/15 

It’s only a two hour drive to Mystic Connecticut today, so we took our time getting around this morning.  Finally got on the road about noon, and had a pleasant drive to the Mystic KOA in North Stonington, Connecticut.

    

Friday, 9/16

The Mystic Seaport was on our agenda today, and we were not disappointed.  This is a wonderful museum of early America and the sea. 

The seaport is composed of three parts.  The "Shipyard" is a working yard where you can watch shipwrights and crafts people practice the art of ship building and repair.   The "Village" recreates a 19th century seafaring village.  There are several historic vessels that you can tour, including the last remaining wooden whaling vessel to exist, the Charles W. Morgan.   The "Museum" hosts a fantastic exhibit of “Voyaging in the Wake of Whalers.”

Mystic Seaport is a must stop if you are in the area.  We stayed about three hours, and then had an excellent late lunch at the Latitude 41 Restaurant.

Saturday, 9/17

Today was devoted to Rhode Island, the smallest state in the United States.

First, we drove to Watch Hill.   The town is small and the shopping is expensive.  The beach is private with an admission fee, so we moved on.  The town does have a neat carousel located in the town square dating back to 1883.

Later we walked  the Misquamicut State Park Beach.    This is a long, sandy, beautiful, and free admission beach.

We walked along the beach for a bit, did a little shopping, and then hit an oceanside pub for lunch.  We did discover a really cool classic Corvair station wagon car advertising a local souvenir shop.

According to wikipedia,  the station wagon was only made in 1961 and 1962.  I have never seen one before. The car we saw was pristine, and still driving the streets of Miscuamicut. 

Back at the campground that evening, we helped our camping neighbors polish off a bottle of home made wine.  They are from the Cape Cod area.  He is a woodworker for a high end home building company.  His parents are full blooded Portuguese, and his father makes 160 gallons of wine each year, the old fashion way.  I traded him some maple syrup that I had helped make the old fashion way.  It was a great evening with lots of conversation and wine.

Sunday, 9/18

We packed up and by 10:30 were on the road headed for Scarborough, Maine.  The drive was 199 miles, and about three and a half hours.  The traffic going our way was not bad, but the traffic coming out of Maine was heavy.  I kidded with that Judy it looked like they were evacuating the state of Maine.  Come to find out, that is typical of Sunday traffic.  Many Boston area folks head to the coast of Maine for the weekend and return home Sunday.

We landed at site 64C at Bayley’s Campground in Scarborough.  We camped here a a couple years ago on our return trip from the Canadian Maritimes.  Longtime friend Chris Koch, a Gouverneur native, came over for dinner.  Her husband, Nava was in western Canada for the month visiting his children, so we missed him.  We got caught up and made plans for the next several days.

Monday, 9/19

We met Chris at her house about 9:30 for some amazing local bagels.  After bagels, we drove to Freeport for some shopping.  Of course, when in Maine, you have to make the pilgrimage to the well know sporting goods store,  LL Bean.  Freeport also hosts some other amazing outlets.  I bought a backpack at Bean’s and Judy got dinnerware for her daughter at the Corelle outlet.  We were back at the camper by 4:00 to freshen up, and then drove to Cape Elizabeth to meet old friends Mark and Joanne Woodward about 5:30 for dinner.  Mark’s son Jon was there also, and we had a really wonderful evening catching up.

Tuesday, 9/20

This morning we met Chris about 10:30 at her house.  Chris lives near Fort Williams, a park that contains the famous Portland Head Lighthouse.  The park also has a huge area where dogs are allowed off leash.  We took the dogs for a very long walk and they got a ton of exercise, as did we.

After lunch at the house, we went to Old Port shopping.  We capped off the afternoon with a visit to Rising Tide Brewing Company for some samples.  Dinner that evening was a wonderful homemade fish chowder that Chris made.  It was wonderful!!!  She is so fortunate to have access to fresh seafood all year long, a treat not available to us living inland in a small village in Northern New York.

All in all, it was a busy day.  We were tired!

Wednesday, 9/21

We met Chris again, around 10:30 again.  Its another warm and beautiful day.  This time we took the dogs to a small park nearby called Bug Light, one of the several lighthouses in the Portland area.  The park was crowed with people, but not dogs.  Chris pointed out that there were two huge cruise ships parked at the Portland docks, and lighthouse tours are one of the activities offered by the cruise lines.  In fact, when we were shopping in Portland yesterday, the streets were crowded with cruisers.  The cruise industry has had a huge positive impact on the Portland area economy.

Later, after settling the dogs back at the house, we took the ferry to Peak’s Island.  Its only a short 15 minute ride to the island.  There are only a few shops and restaurants on the island, and some of them were closed because it was mid week and mid day.  After a wait, we did score some deck seats at an oceanside restaurant with an amazing view.  We were back to the house by 4:00 and in time for some naps.  As for dinner for our last night in Maine, what else but “lobstah”.  :-)

We had such a wonderful time in Maine, and Chris is such a great host.  Until next time.

Thursday, 9/22:

We were on the road by 10:00  We had made arrangements to Jane Hoover for lunch in Manchester.  Jane’s husband, Mike, is Judy’s cousin.  Many, many years ago. Jane was a teacher in Gouverneur, where i had known her.  We had a great visit over lunch at the Red Robin.

We landed at the KOA in Quechee about 2:30.  The Quechee KOA is immaculate and beautifully landscaped campground.  We set up, napped, took the dogs for a walk, read, and watched some television for the rest of the day.  It was a very relaxing day.

Friday, 9/23:

It was a cool and rainy day today.  At 10:00 we met with a former student of mine, Brooke Drew (formerly Robinson) who works at the White River Junction VA Medical Center.  Brooke works in rehab and teaches some classes in arts and crafts, outdoor recreation, and gardening.  She even has a year-round greenhouse to operate.  It is very, very impressive what she is doing.

After visiting Brooke, we found the 7 Barrel Brewing Company in Lebanon, New Hampshire for a tasting and some lunch.  Later we did some shopping at the Quechee Artisan Mall.

Saturday, 9/24:

We're back home after an uneventful drive.  This New England trip was a wonderful time.  We saw many new things, but better yet, connected with some old friends, which is really special.

Here is a an overview of our travels on this trip.

So, stay tuned for our next adventure.  Hope we can connect with you.