Rogers Lake house

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Home, from 1960 until I married and moved away in 1972. Nobody is living there now, so when David and I drove by a few days ago, we were able to walk around the yard a bit.
The house was built sometime in the 1930's and it had its problems- the electrical and plumbing and heat systems were aged even back in the 1960's, and the woodwork was a bit off- hardly a right angle anywhere, but still a very neat place to grow up. I still like small boats, and this wonderful little lake I grew up on reminds me why I do.

Hosta

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These hosta were here when we bought the house in 1960, I believe.

swing

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In the late 1970's, my dad hung a swing in the yard for my boys. It might be the same swing as in the picture, but surely the bolts way up there are the same.

Step to lake

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My dad's concrete work, 43 years later. This was the step into the lake, where we swam.
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David and Syd at the river

While we were playing down by the river, a couple of people in a canoe capsized in the rapids and washed up near us. Didn't think that taking their picture would be too tactful though. They were fine, and except for a lost rental paddle, no harm done.

River dog

Our campground was right along the Farmington River, with great paths along the bank. SydneyJane loved it, clearly.

American legion state forest

This is where we stayed for 3 nights while in CT. Nice place.

Carriage roads

Anyone planning to visit Acadia: When you read online that the carriage roads in the park are only gently hilly, don't believe it. Lots more hills to push my bike up than I had imagined. Way more. But fun nonetheless.

The pictures of Eagle Lake do not really do it justice. The water was so clear you could see the rocks on the bottom despite the wind whipping up the surface.

Cadillac Mountain

David hiked to the top of Cadillac Mountain, the highest in the park. Syd and I walked partway with him, but went the rest of the way in the car and met him up there.

Acadia National Park

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse:

The name of this area is, no lie, Sand Beach:

Casco Bay

Beautiful campground with a site overlooking Casco Bay. Cold and overcast, but that's a regional thing. If you dislike cold-n-overcast, don't come to New England... I do remember that from my upbringing in CT.
Going out for a lobster roll for dinner.. I remember that too.

Maine, finally

You know you're retired when you take a trip to Maine and it takes 11 days to even get to the state line! We were in new Hampshire last night, and made a stop at a fantastic quilt fabric store that i have been ordering from online for years, Keepsake Quilting. What a store! And we just pulled over and had the last of the leftovers in the fridge for lunch, so we can start going out for lobster rolls. Oh yeah.

New York

We are in upstate NY visiting my brother, and spent some time walking around the small town where David spent some time when he was in the Navy, long time ago, Ballston Spa. Wonderful old Victorian houses; this is a picture I found online of one of them:

W

Damascus pictures

Unusual family on the Virginia Creeper Trail

This was a family of 3; I took the picture when they were in the Creeper Cafe, probably having a piece of the world-famous chocolate cake. The woman was on the red bike, pulling the baby trailer with her little girl in it. And the blue unicycle belonged to her brother, who unicycled the entire 17 miles.

Skyline Drive in the fog. There was a big mountain out there somewhere.

Skyline Drive in the fog

Beautiful Cades Cove cabin

Cades Cove frame house

Still rustic, but newer than the homes from hewn logs

Jasper TN

Skyline Drive

Lotsa miles in lotsa rain yesterday. Arrived in a beautiful campground about 4:00, then the rain really started. We know for sure that this new motorhome has no leaks. no leaky windows, no leaky seams of any sort. Yes!
The Appalachian Trail passes right by our site, but apparently all the hikers were still down near Damascus; most through-hikers are on a pretty similar schedule; the optimum time to leave GA is April sometime to maximize the good weather.

We probably will be part of a Walmart parking lot settlement tonight, possibly in Oneonta NY. Walmart has a corporate policy that welcomes RV'ers to overnight in their parking lots, which means that someone who stops there will likely not be alone. We stayed at a walmart in northern Georgia last week, and there must've been 5 or 6 others there.

Damascus VA

We spent 2 nights at a campground in the Mount Rogers National Recreation area, part of Jefferson National Forest. Beautiful place, big trees, a creek running through the site we were in. The rain stopped long enough for us to drive down into Damascus and take a shuttle van up to the top of the Virginia Creeper bike trail, then bike the 17 miles down. Pictures to be added when I figure out how.
Damascus is one of the few towns that the Appalachian Trail runs right through, so the town was full of hikers. Most appeared to be what they call through-hikers, those that are planning to walk the entire 2170 miles from Springer Mtn to Mount Khatadin in northern Maine. I cannot imagine such a thing. Most were young, although David says there are grey-hairs out there. whew...

Cades Cove

We had a wonderful visit to the Great Smoky Mountains. stayed at the campground in the park, did some hiking up a trail that David, Chris, and Eric hiked maybe 25 years ago, and biked the loop road through the area where hundreds of people lived back in the 1820's through when the park was established in the late 1920's.
I am not able to post pictures yet.... Apparently an iPad has limitations, or needs apps chained together to make posting pictures possible. Oh well.

We are on I-75 between Atlanta and Chattanooga and have passed several areas that were affected by tornadoes recently. Trees broken off, even some totally yanked up by the roots. Must've been brutal. We have not seen any building damage though, so far, just trees.

Atlanta traffic was busy- 8 lanes of traffic, about half of it trucks, hurtling along nose-to-tail. Drivers sure don't believe in leaving space between vehicles. David is in charge of driving; I am in charge of worrying. We both do our jobs well. Him especially of course.

Almost ready to leave home

It's been a busy morning. Packing a camper to go away for a month when you live on the third floor is a whole other task than packing when the camper is right outside the front door. Whew. But everything but this laptop, the dog, us, my purse, and a last-minute jar of strawberry jam is loaded and ready to go. At least I think so. This, right here and now, is that critical "Oh gee, what might I be forgetting?' stage. I hope whatever I forget is no big deal. Like the jelly; if I forgot that it'd be no big deal. I figure if I remembered the jelly even, I should be ok. Watch for updates... see what I forgot.

On the road again

We are getting ready for another road trip- yeah! We sold the fifth wheel after we returned from Alaska, but have recently bought a small motorhome that we keep here in Jacksonville Fl. Plans are to take a month and drive north. Stops planned include:
In TN, visiting a friend from David's Navy time, and at Smoky Mountains National Park. Always loved Cades Cove, especially biking the loop road.
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/cadescove.htm
In VA we are going to Hiltons VA for a music show at the Carter Family Fold (that's the traditional music family Johnny Cash married into)
http://www.carterfamilyfold.org/
Then a couple of nights near Mount Rogers, and biking the Virginia Creeper Trail.
http://www.vacreepertrail.us/history.html
Acadia National Park in Maine:
http://www.acadiamagic.com/