Year 5 - Day 39

23Jul15

Our last day in the area and we started the day with a visit to the Wildlife Refuge Center just up the street from the campground. They rescue and rehabilitate wild animals, and had a keeper giving a talk on the wolves they have in residence. They also had several different birds of prey, along with a few other creatures, like a young porcupine who was adorable, and some bobcats and fawns. One of my favorites was the Great Horned Owl "chick" who was as big as the parents but still fluffy.

We then stopped by the Whiteface Mountain Ski Center to take a ride on the gondola to the top of the mountain. The ride up was over 8400 feet of cable - whew! It was a cool view!

Our last stop for the day was at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake. This is a very popular place with folks visiting the Adirondacks, and they had just opened their new treetop walk exhibit this month, so it was getting a lot of attention! Their inside exhibits were very interesting and informative, and we all enjoyed the visit.

The Adirondacks and Lake Placid area are gorgeous, and it is easy to see why so many people love this area!

Year 5 - Day 38

22Jul15

We drove into Lake Placid today to visit the Olympic Museum. The winter Olympics were held here in 1932 and in 1980. During the 1980 Olympics was when the USA Hockey Team took the gold medal over Russia, and caused a worldwide surprise and celebration. The museum here had some displays about it, along with the winning game running on a screen.

Along with several other interesting displays and artifacts, one that was of particular interest to us was the display with artifacts belonging to Jack Shea. His brother, Gene Shea, is a good friend of ours in Saint Petersburg. At 101 years old, he is the oldest living working realtor I have ever met!

He and his brother grew up in Lake Placid, and Jack won the gold medal in speed skating in 1932. His son and his grandson were also Olympic competitors and medal winners, making them the first family to have three generations of Olympic medal winners.

Afterword, we went to the Olympic Jumping Center to view the enormous ski jumps and see a show and demonstration. The kids who train here practice their jumps by landing in the water, and it was awesome to see them practicing their twirls and flips.

We then finished up our day at the Olympic Sports Complex, where James went on a bobsled ride! Wow, was it fast! We then went on a tour of the complex, where the bus took us to the top of the bobsled track, and we were allowed to walk down the track to the bottom. How cool!

Year 5 - Day 37

21Jul15

Today we drove down the road a couple of miles to visit High Falls Gorge, which is a beautiful walk along the river gorge. It was similar to the Flume Gorge in NH, and the walk was gorgeous!

For dinner, Sam opted to hang out in the RV, so James and I went to town and had dinner at a restaurant overlooking Mirror Lake.

Year 5 - Day 36

20Jul15

We drove to Lake Placid, NY to spend a few days. Our campground is a KOA just outside of town, in Wilmington, NY. What a big and beautiful campground! Wow! It is right alongside the Ausable River, and we walked over half a mile through the park just to get to the river trail.

This campground has breakfast, a snack bar, swimming pool, and mini golf.  It turns out that this coming weekend is the Iron Man Triathlon held in Lake Placid, so the park is full of competitors. Cool!

Year 5 - Days 19 - 35

03Jul15 - 19Jul15

We arrived in Concord on Monday afternoon - yay!  After some maneuvering, we managed to get the RV parked in the side yard next to Grammy's house.

For 4th of July weekend, the whole family was gathered together for food and games.  Even Tammy made it down from VT, and this was the first time all eight of Grammy's "kids" have been together in one place in a LONG time! Of course, this warranted photos...

Part of the 4th of July gathering is a food competition, and this year's food of choice was finger sandwiches. After tasting and voting, the winner was...James (with my help) last minute concoction! :) All of the entries were delicious.

Even though it tried to rain us out, games were later played, some with the help of a rain tarp. Since most of the games involved getting wet, the rain didn't matter anyway!

It was great to see everyone together, and to visit and catch up. Michael and Anna brought the newest addition by later in the day, little Alexander who is 4 1/2 months old, and adorable!

Over the next few days, we enjoyed some R & R, and Sam enjoyed some time with Auntie Lu and Maddie, going to the planetarium and Chuckster's. We also spent a day with Liz and Shawn at Lake Winnisquam, and a day with Jim, Maddie and Adam kayaking on the Contoocook River. Sam also got to spend some time playing with the neighbor kids, and James changed out the refrigerator in the RV, only to find that the replacement part was defective and so he changed it back to the original. It seems to be working okay now, so we hope to avoid any heat waves that seem to tax it.

Grammy had a Thanksgiving dinner for us the day after 4th of July, so we had plenty to eat while we were in Concord! After two weeks, and depleting her food reserves, we figured it was time to roll out and head to New York state to explore.

Year 5 - Day 18

02Jul15

Today was a visit to the Lackawanna Coal Mine for a tour underground. We rode down in a mining car, and went for an hour tour through the mine shafts. What a cool tour to see the working conditions of a miner in the late 1800’s! The tour guide’s grandfather had worked in these coal mines, and he was very knowledgeable about the time period and the entire operation. The ride down in the mining car to travel down 360 feet was pretty interesting, too!

 

Afterwards, we stopped in Scranton to walk around the old site of the Iron Furnaces along the river. Not a big place, but it was interesting, and while we were there we saw a resident groundhog, a family of rabbits, and a field mouse. What a strange place to see wildlife right in the middle of the city!

 

 

After lunch in Honesdale, which is a cute small town, we stopped by the local museum to catch a glimpse of the Stourbridge Lion locomotive. It is actually a replica, but it was the first steam powered locomotive to travel on the rails in the United States. Coal delivery was a priority in those days, and this was the most active coal mine territory around back then!

 

Lazy evening back at the campground, for we drive to Concord, NH tomorrow! Yay!

Year 5 - Day 17

01Jul15

We drove to a KOA outside Honesdale, PA, which is about 40 miles outside Scranton. Beautiful, mountainous country! This campground is really beautiful, and about six miles from the closest town, which is unusual for a KOA.

James was craving pizza, so he played pizza delivery man and drove into town to get one! Yay!

Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes an RV shaped like a peanut...

Year 5 - Day 16

30Jun15

We visited the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and his birthplace home in downtown Staunton. His father was a minister, and although he was born here, his family moved to Augusta, GA when he was about 18 months old and he grew up there.

We visited the Clinton Presidential Library last year, and I am finding that I really enjoy them! What a fountain of information! I knew practically nothing about Woodrow Wilson, but he was a groundbreaking president in many ways, and led our country through WWI. Sam completed a scavenger hunt questionnaire, so he learned a lot, too!

After stopping for lunch, we visited the Bruce A. Elder Antique Car Museum, but it was closed. We viewed the collection through the showroom windows, and he had a few unique vehicles.

 

A quiet afternoon at the campground finished up the day, feeding the ducks and letting them chase us around the camp. LOL

 

Year 5 - Day 15

29Jun15

Today we drove to Staunton, VA, around 330 miles. We are spending 2 nights in the KOA here. This is a beautiful campground, with a lake and a winding brook that empties into it.

It was a drive through the Appalachian Mountains most of the way. Once a huge swarm of bumblebees flew into the road and coated the front of the RV! What a mess, and it sounded like hail hitting the window! Weird!

Year 5 - Day 14

28Jun15

Today we took our kayaks for a run down the French Broad River. It was a nice sunny but cool day to spend a couple of hours going about seven miles downstream.

The water had some mild rapids in a lot of places, so we got to practice those for the first time. Sam was like a pro just zipping right over them, but our kayak seemed to drag on the rocks a lot, and we got stuck once. Guess we will have to seek out a little deeper water next time!

Our route took us along the backside of the Biltmore property, so we had a different view. We had a great time, and even got a little sunburn to boot!