August 2008 Family Vacation Part 12

August 14 and August 15

Over breakfast our host at the “off the grid” b&b suggested we use “the way I go, equally fast and so much more scenic” route to connect to the New York Thruway to head west towards Niagara Falls. We had planned to drive south to Albany and then west, but no, silly us, we followed his advice. Well, it WAS pretty, even though it rained again, but it was not a fast road, winding through the Adirondacks.

We crossed the border once more into Canada at the Rainbow Bridge, east of Buffalo. Just downstream from the falls, it is called that because sometimes you can view a rainbow in the mist generated by the water. Approaching the border on the highway, the overhead electronic signs warned about the wait time at the 3 main bridge crossings. The Rainbow Bridge took us about 30 minutes to pass over; probably one of the few places in the world where the view is worth the delay. By the way, the people who need to cross the border a lot can apply for a special pass, Nexus. They have to provide all kinds of information and get approved. But there is a 4th bridge at Niagara Falls for them and shorter lines at all the other border crossings we experienced.

The last time I was in Niagara Falls I was a little girl, about a kazillion years ago. I remember we went on the Maid of the Mist, the boat that outfits everyone in a yellow rain slicker and you still get soaked as you go up to the base of both falls. Well, I had thought we might do that; it is after all, one of the classic activities to do there. But they didn’t take reservations and they had a note on the website that in summer there could be as much as a 4-hour wait. We made no plans to waste time standing in line.

We went to our B&B first. We enjoyed the name, Trillium, as that is the chat name of one of our internet friends who lives about an hour from Niagara Falls. We could not take the time to go visit her, unfortunately, and she had just moved so she had no free time to come see us. We carried in suitcases, got our bearings and then walked about 20 minutes to the falls.

Perhaps the most notable piece of info about the American Falls is that after dark they reroute much of the water for generating electricity. Although diminished, the evening falls is still pretty darn spectacular. Horseshoe Falls, or the Canadian Falls, of course, is the classic postcard landmark.

We traipsed up the hill to find the restaurant recommended by our b&b hostess. This is definitely a tourist city; you have a Madame Troussauds wax museum, a number of exciting and life threatening amusement park rides, and lots of lots of other ways to spend your money.

After dinner we headed back to the park and the kids headed to Niagara Under the Falls for their own exploration. We agreed to meet back at the b&b after the fireworks.

Here is evidence of their exploration

Falls with colored lights and moon above.

The next morning we headed to Niagara By the Lake, an adjacent town. At dinner we had had some wine from a vineyard there and we decided to visit it before heading back into the States. We were a bit surprised that it is a large wine growing area. Apparently, the micro climate between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is further affected by the Niagara Escarpment, a circle of higher land around the region, causing the moderate temperatures to just settle there. We had a pretty nice server at the teasting bar and she then referred us to a chocolatier on the way to the Peace Bridge. Lisa had asked about some chocolates she had seen that had an ice wine flavored inside. So we went to Chocolate F/X next.

Ahh, imagine walking into a place where the aroma of chocolate surrounds you. The last place we went into like that was in Alaska. This place coats various berries, nuts and fillings with chocolate and then a colored shell. We had trouble picking……and bought too much, so I brought some into the office so we wouldn’t eat it. LOL

We crossed on the Peace Bridge into downtown Buffalo. As the traffic slowed we had a great view of the breakwater and noticed someone was out for a long stroll.

Well, we passed through immigration and customs once again (they let us back in!!) and dropped Dan back home in Pittsburgh and then headed another 4 hours south home to Huntington. Graham left the next morning for a professional conference, we got our new dog, and we then re-entered the normal routine once again. Only took me about 6 days to clear the pile on my desk!

We drove about 3500 miles, spending about $550 dollars to buy gas, took 2 weeks and didn't get to see neough. Graham and I are of the opinion that there are so many places to visit, we probably will never repeat a destination, but we are already vaguely planning a trip back to Nova Scotia, particularly more exploration in Cape Breton, in abotu 3 years.

And now, I will start planning for next summer: Russia to visit Serge and Alex, Croatia to visit Carol and to Israel to visit my cousins, since we’ll be “in the neighborhood. LOL

Isn’t life grand???

This is the end of the series about our 2008 family vacation. Of course, when I entitled the blog, I permitted myself open-ended future discussions….stay tuned.

August 2008 Family Vacation Part 11

August 14

The day at the Trapp Family Lodge dawned a bit cloudy, but shortly afterwards, the skies cleared. The curse of the rain clouds seems to have left us.

The Continental breakfast was very extensive with breads,

fruits, cheeses and some meats, oatmeal, granola, and muesli. We loaded up and headed south.

Our first stop was just about a half hour away, Ben and Jerry’s. We had been there about 20 years ago, before Ben and Jerry sold their company, and although Dan and Lisa did not remember, I noticed a few differences. The guy at the information booth opined that most changes must have been imposed by the new owners. First of all, it COSTS to take the factory tour. On the up side, the ice cream sample is larger than I remember. *G* Secondly, the sample used to be given as we walked above the machine that chilled the mixture to the consistency of soft-serve. Now it is scooped out at the end of the tour. That poor woman in the sample room must be scooping all day. By the way, although each employee receives 1.5 pints of ice cream a day, the guy at the information booth said he was done with ice cream for a while.

And then south through the Green Mountains to stop at a goat farm. We did not know that we should have let them know we were coming ahead of time. The tourbook said “open” next to the farm name. But the people were very gracious. They were in the middle of production for a farm fair the following week and were working hard. They had started the farm a few years before. They had 40 goats they miled and another famr nearby gave them milf from 45 goats. The also had a large flock of kids, although only two were two-legged and looked like them.

Lake Champlain is the border between Vermont and New York State. We opted to cross the lake on a small ferry at the town of Ticonderoga, NY.

Fort Ticonderoga was a stop I had opted for. My parents had taken there when I was quite young and my sisters and I all remember it with great fondness. My kids were a bit surprised because in comparison with Fortress Louisburg, it was tiny, the presentation of the displays was inferior, and the docents were not as well trained. But it still is an interesting piece of American history, first built by the French but then burned so the British couldn’t use it for the French & Indian War, and then rebuilt and used by the English and then captured by the upstart Americans during the Revolutionary War. Located at the lower end of Lake Champlain, the location was essentially the equivalent of today's interstate highway. With most travel by boat, this was the crossroads, with a short portage from Lake George just to the west and south providing access down to New York City via the Hudson River, and at the north end of Lake Champlain, a short portage lead to the St. Lawrence River, providing access to Montreal and Quebec. Fort Ticonderoga was captured by the colonists early in the Revolutionary War. The British soldiers did not know war had been declared, so they only had one guard at the gate in the night time. With 20 soldiers as part of the garrison, all sleeping away, the 40 colonists who knocked on the gate and were admitted, easily took control of the fort.

Fife and drum corps

Cannon firing demonstration

We spent that night in a B&B that was off the grid. The parents had moved to this area from New York City in the early 70s and had managed to raise their family of 4 boys using photo-electric solar cells completely. He is currently in the process of installing a geothermal system and has completed his well. Basically, if I had not known it was off the grid, I never could have told. There was plenty of power for all the lights, computer use, refrigerator, hot water etc that we use at home. Two of the boys were at home when we visited. The 19-year-old took Dan, Lisa and Sam on a late evening/sunset/return in the dark hike up to an overlook shortly after we arrived. Both boys helped their parents prepare the breakfast, during which all of us, guests and family sat down together. This was the only B&B in which we felt as if we were guests staying in someone’s home instead of at a b&b.

August 2008 Family Vacation Part 10

August 12 and 13

Our last day on Nova Scotia dawned….with rain. Nothing new there, but we were able to pack up the car without getting too wet and then headed into Yarmouth to do some more laundry. This time we paid extra for the people who ran the laundry to actually move it from the washer to the dryer, and fold it, giving us most of the day to explore. We headed into the “downtown” area. Dan had seen some brightly painted lobster buoys when we were in Maine approaching Mt. Desert Island and noticed that they all said “Made in Canada”. We had figured that we could find one to buy in Nova Scotia. Charlie explained that the lobstermen had transitioned to Styrofoam buoys several years ago and some man had come and bought up all his old wooden ones, first offering $1.50 each but reducing it to one dollar each when he saw they looked “worn”! When we told Charlie that they had been selling fake buoys for $14 in Maine, he just shrugged. Seems that he is not one to waste any energy on something long gone. Another lesson we saw in action from Charlie. Anyway, we were on a search still for Dan’s buoy, and sure enough, found one in an antique shop, surprising him with it…although he did not notice it for a couple of days!

Because it was raining we did not take advantage of the walking tour, but instead, drove out towards the lighthouse. We decided to stop at the Lobster Pound first and we never got to the lighthouse! As we’ve told you already, Nova Scotia limits fishing for lobsters to a 2-month season. The seasons vary geographically, but as in other areas of the world where banding together for a better price for production works (i.e., grain and corn silos in the MidWest, moshavs in Israel, ect) the lobstermen sell their catch to the local pound. The pound may be a natural saltwater pond, or a manmade pool where the lobsters are kept for months with careful water monitoring and feeding. The pound we visited was manmade, inside a large building kept very cool, so the lobsters would be sluggish. We saw a 14-pound lobster which was over 2 feet long. The man explained that he was getting a shipment ready to go by truck to Toronto that day. The lobsters would be transported without water; they can live 72 hours. Then the distributor would ship them off to restaurants and grocery stores where artificial seawater would keep them alive in large aquariums…you know, you’ve seen them.

He gave us one piece of information for selection of a lobster at a store or restaurant; since the lobsters have exoskeletons, their shells are actually molted when they grow. If you want a lobster as large as the shell appears, select one that has a lot of black mottling on the shell…it has been around a while. If the shell is completely red, it is new and the meat will not fill all the shell space.

We had lunch, of course, boiled fresh for us and served with melted butter at the picnic table which, thank goodness had a cover to keep out the rain. Sam is no longer a novice lobster eater!! The lobster pound guys were very friendly even though we knew we had interrupted them getting their shipment ready. I think they enjoyed the questions we asked and they would have spent mroe time with us, but it was time for us to go pick up the laundry and get back to the Cat for our trip back to Maine. Because of the rain the crossing was foggy but when we got into Bar Harbor the weather cleared and you know what? We had sun the rest of the trip!!

Both ferry crossings we were among the first to drive on board, whcih meant we were also among the first to disembark the ferry when we reached the port. Each time we arrived to get on the ferry, we had to hand over proof of citizanship. We used passports most of the time, but they also accepted a birth certificate and driver's license. We also had to claim certain items when we crossed into Canada, but believe it or not, the paperwork for the US was less restictive and we claimed nothing.

On line at US customs. They asked me who I had in the car. “My family.” What else do you have in the car? “Dirty laundry” I reported. Everyone in the car laughed. “Oops," I said, "that is not true. We have CLEAN laundry.” By then the customs guy was smirking. I gave him our passports, he asked if we had any weapons, and then we were free to move on.

We drove about an hour north to Bangor and stayed the night in a TravelLodge, definitely not a good choice. No one needs to stay there based on our experience!

We headed on the next morning, all on back roads to enjoy the beautiful scenary of Maine and then we crossed into New Hampshire, passing just north of Mt Washington.

On into Vermont, where Sam picked up another State Capital when we passed through Montpelier. And then we stopped at a Vermont winery, Grand View, where we were surprised at the way they were able to produce dry fruit wines.

We then headed to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. Sam had seen the Sound of Music while I was planning our trip in the spring and requested that destination. It is a pretty expensive place, but we very much enjoyed the dinner, breakfast and the rooms. It is a destination in itself and they have lots of activities, such as a sports center with an indoor pool and a climbing wall, gardens with guided walks, lots of hiking trails, and a class with the pastry chef.

August 2008 Family Vacation Part 7

August 9

On to Louisburg! Graham's strong wish during the trip planning was to make sure we spent time in Cape Breton. This area was settled primarily by people from Scotland (hence, Nova Scotia-New Scotland) and Ireland, definitely giving the place a strong Celtic influence. In fact, in this section of the province, the signs are in English and Gaelic! Cape Breton is world reknown for its music and Graham’s request was we MUST get a piece of that. I had to also pay attention to the distances and drive time. The roads being what they are, you just “can’t get there from here” as fast as we can with the Interstate system. I was trying to keep travel time to 4 hours and under so we could actually DO something each day. Hence the decision to go to Louisburg and not further up the island. And what a marvelous choice it turned out to be!

Our first stop was Fortress Louisburg, an absolutely marvelous recreation of the fort and town that once existed. Started by the government because of the lack of work for local miners and fishermen, it turned into a huge archeological dig with the workers being retrained into various crafts. If you have been to Plimouth Plantation or Colonial Williamsburg, you will have an immediate understanding: the place is recreated to look pretty much as it did in a prior era, and the people working there are, for the most part, dressed in costume and act knowledgably about the life and times. The current Fortress is set back in the time when the French, who had built the fort and town as THE major east coast city in the mid 1700s, were being threatened by the encroaching English. Right from the entrance at the gate, where we were challenged to prove we were not English spies, we were free to join in the fun. As large as the place already is, they told us it is only ¼ of the actual footprint of the old town. What an amazing national park!

That evening, after another seafood dinner, we went to the Louisburg Playhouse for Lyrics and Laughter. A small Elizabethan-style theater (a la Shakespeare’s Globe) had been built and roofed in the modern town. Our hostess at the B&B told us she was amazed we had gotten tickets (hey! I’ve been planning this trip since last February!) because she had tried a month before and it was sold out. She loved the group we were going to see, having gotten to know them from prior years when they were college students and had had long runs there each summer. Now they were back for only a few weekends. They played Celtic music with multiple instrumental talent by most of them and the 2 women also step dancing or clogging. We picked up one cd and probably will buy more from their website.

http://www.lyricsandlaughter.com/2007/music.html

After the show I commented to one of the band members about something I experienced in Nashville. I had worked as a volunteer for the Nashville Symphony for about 4 years and attended many wonderful shows. When River Dance came to town, they invited a bluegrass band to join them on stage for part of the show and it was apparently that the music had its roots in Celtic traditions. When I mentioned it, the guy said they would NEVER go the Nashville route. He has a friend who lives there and visits several times a year so has learned how “big business” it has become. The band members are all young, and now out of university. Several of them have made solo cds as well and they deserve a successful career.

Well, the next morning, after our “skip lunch breakfast” served by the B&B hostess, we headed back towards Yarmouth. We went to Truro, mid province, hoping to catch the last evening of a blues festival but got to town only an hour before it was scheduled to end. Instead we went to the river to observe the tidal bore (photo was presented in a prior journal entry) and just relaxed at that B&B a bit.

We’ve been intrigued by B&Bs and the people who run them since we started using them for lodging about 8 years ago. The couple who run the one in Truro immigrated to Nova Scotia from Holland with the intention of running a B&B. They chose Truro so they could run it year-round, as it is centrally located and the city hosts many professional conferences during the year, providing a need during slow tourist times. The woman also runs a lunch tea-room. She sounded pretty tired and most of the B&B operators indicated there are times when they are ready to close down the whole venture. Perhaps the only ones who seemed like they would continue forever were the ones at Coastal Adventures with the kayak program. The people in Louisburg and the one we stayed with in Niagara Falls essentially are running the B&B in a regular family home with their living quarters in the basement. The one outside of Yarmouth had the B&B in the basement with their living quarters upstairs. The others were all purchased by the owners as already established B&Bs and I think the financial mortgage obligation, being higher, was a large part of the stress they were feeling. The ones who run their place seasonally plan for a down time in the winter, and also seemed to feel better about running their business. But, except for one hostess, all were affable and extremely fun to chat with, full of information about the local area and very very worth staying with.