RVing and Travels...Adventures with Suzanne and Brad

Our Summer Trip ~ Some Final Thoughts

2026-09-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

🚗 8,250 miles later……in no particular order…….🚗

We wanted to stay somewhere for a month(ish) to see what it was like. So our month in PEI was a bit of an experiment and we liked it a lot ~ and plan to spend a longer time next time we head there.

We made no prior hotel reservations (except the Airbnb in PEI) along the way until we knew where we were going, and we also wondered how that would work out. It worked out great!
We learned that we need to make sure that when we are traveling to a different place every 2-4 days, that we factor in some down time.
Brad doesn’t need to pack so many T-shirts!😁
We did not try our vodka infusions until we got home ~ we both agree that Suzanne’s is better (no recipe!), though the butterfly pea powder gave it a yucky color – next time she will use the same ingredients, sans the pea powder.

Our Goo Goo candy bars were great! We also did not eat these until we got home. We disagree on which is better ~ Brad likes his better; Suzanne likes hers better. Good thing we had two!

We were surprised that we drove over 8,000 miles ~ we never felt like it was “too much.” Maybe because (except for a couple days heading north) we broke up super-long travel days with stops at a new town and we always found a cool place to stop and have lunch.

💛Already looking forward to our next travels!💛

Nashville, Tennessee ~ Day 3

2026-09-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a fairly quiet day as it was still pretty hot outside. We drove around for a while (after another late start) and ended up at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, since we read that there were indoor botanical gardens. Yup - there are......

One can even take a little "cruise" on their river (it looked like this was mostly for kids).....

It is a huge hotel and convention center and we were surprised how much we walked their gardens - they have many levels of walks and it was charming.

Since we were just a few minutes from the Grand 'Ole Opry (we discussed going to one of the shows, but decided that it just isn't our cup-o-tea), we popped by and checked out their grounds (for about five minutes) and their store.

We then drove through some of the Nashville neighborhoods checking-out the architecture and stuff, then back to the air-conditioned hotel for the afternoon to get ready to turn south once again and head home. 🏡

Nashville, Tennessee ~ Day 2

2026-09-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

It was another slow morning at the hotel and we finally left around 10am and walked to Nashville's full-scale replica of The Parthenon. Why does Nashville have a full-scale replica of The Parthenon? Who knows/cares.....it is odd, to say the least.

One item of interest was the Women's Suffrage Statue......

...erected to acknowledge that Tennessee was the last state to ratify the 19th amendment - giving women the right to vote. (That being said, the Equal Right's Amendment has yet to pass and at this time, women's - and other's - rights are being decimated by the current administration.)

We also wandered around the Vanderbilt University campus for a while - it was quite lovely.....

It was hot, so we decided to relax for a while in the hotel (and watch the U.S. Open), eventually heading out for dinner at Martin's BBQ, which was unfortunately disappointing as the food was just okay and the service terrible.

We then went Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar on Printer Street to hear some blues(ish) music......

It was a fun time ~ even had drinks bought for us from some guy since we moved over so he and his wife could sit. We were done drinking, but when ya get free drinks, ya keep drinking! 😂

The band........

At some point a black marker was passed around and Brad graffitied the wall......😏

A couple hours later it was back to the hotel for the night.

Nashville, Tennessee ~ Day 1

2026-09-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

We woke without an alarm today, enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel, and finally got ourselves our the door around 10:30am grabbing a Lyft to the Broadway area ~ AKA Honky Tonk Highway.

It wasn't even 11am (on a Monday morning, no less) and there was music everywhere......

It was a bit like downtown Las Vegas - lots of neon signs.....

...and a putrid odor that was a cross between vomit, urine, and stale beer. 😵 The area definitely needed a good rain to wash away all the funk.......

Unlike Vegas, the stores were more country (which makes sense). Here one can buy one pair of cowboy boots and get two for free!

We happened upon the Goo Goo Cluster Candy Store (we had never heard of them before) and decided to sign up for their "Design Your Own Candy Bar" class that afternoon!

(Side note about Goo Goo Cluster Candy - they were the first one to make the first combined - think Snickers - candy bar in 1912.)

We had an hour or so to kill before our candy class, so walked over the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge towards Nissan Stadium, the home of the Tennessee Titans.......Go Seahawks! (Brad is a Seattle fan.😉)

The bridge offered some of the best views of Nashville (and no rank odor here! 😊)

It was time for our candy bar design class and we ended up sitting with some great people at our table, which made the time even more enjoyable! We were given sample of their candy, watched a video, and were given instructions along the way about designing our candy bar.

The first decision was which type of chocolate ~ white, milk, or dark. Suzanne chose white and Brad chose milk, and we were given the (what ended up being) the top shell......

Then we had to decide on the fillings - we had to choose two softer fillings (such as caramel, hazelnut, Biscoff spread, peanut butter), as well as three "add ins" (such as sprinkles, pretzels, pecans, toffee). Then the assembly began.....

First, one of the soft fillings.......

Then the "add ins".....

Then the top filling......

We then watched as the (what would end up being the bottom layer) rest of the chocolate was poured by an employee......

Our finished products!

Without talking about it, we ended up with very similar candies:

Suzanne's recipe: white chocolate, bourbon caramel, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, sprinkles, Biscoff spread
Brad's recipe: milk chocolate, bourbon caramel, graham crackers, vanilla wafers, potato chips, Biscoff spread

We were given boxes to store our candy creations......

..and aprons too!

(Which look nothing like this now that Suzanne washed them - the red in the straps bled everywhere and they are now pink tie-dye...along with a few other items! 😄)

By now it was time for lunch, so we were off to Prince's Hot Chicken......which was great!

After we were nourished, we went to the National Museum of African American Music ......

..... small but very interesting museum with lots of interactive exhibits.......

By then we were hot (it was a very warm day) and tired, so another Lyft back to the hotel where we chilled for the rest of the night.

Driving to Nashville, Tennessee

2026-09-06T16:02:00.000-07:00

We were up at 6:10 and out the door by 7am ~ saw many deer on our way out of the park.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast along the way in a neighboring town and an okay lunch in another one. Lots of heavy rain along the way – at one point, traffic on the highway really slowed down and people pulled over. While we were driving, we reflected on our time in Shenandoah National Park – we are glad that we went, but it is not a park we need to go back to. We both enjoyed the waterfall/creek hike the best, as the views were pretty much the same on the other hikes. Food was super expensive in the park and the staff just okay. Again, all that being said, and we said this before, we are still happy that we staying IN the park – especially since it took us 30 minutes to drive to the closest town on our way out.

We arrived at our hotel in Nashville at 5pm-ish ~ a very nice hotel where we used our Chase Sapphire Reserve hotel credit to cover some of the cost (along with free breakfasts and hotel credits). We had dinner at the bar while watching the U.S.Open and went to bed.

A long driving day of 567 miles and about 11 hours. (Nashville is an hour behind Shenandoah time.)

Shenandoah National Park Day 2 ~ More Hiking!

2026-09-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

The day started like yesterday - same wake-up time, same breakfast time, same breakfast. We decided to take the Rose River Loop Hike, a 4-mile circuit with a 910ft elevation change. We were on the trail by about 8:45am.....an easy start taking us along the gravel road.....

Past the Cave Cemetery....

We then were on the trail, which started with some steps....

....eventually leading to a waterfall....

It was a lovely hike along a creek bed (we kept saying how nice it was that it poured so much yesterday so the water was flowing nicely)....and we enjoyed hearing the water as we hiked.....

Though there was some hiking in open forest too.....

Then at 10:20am, it started to drizzle.....okay, no biggie, it wasn't even enough of a rain to put on our rain jackets. Not that we had any other choice, we kept hiking.....

Then about 10 minutes later it POURED. POURED! POURED!! Thunder. Lightening. The works.

Onward we hiked and were drenched - even in our rain jackets - drenched. By the time we made it to our car (11:30am) we were soaked and our waterproof boots were basically keeping the gallons (okay, maybe not gallons, but it felt like it) IN our boots, since waterproofing works both ways.

By the way, notice how nice this trail sign is...clearly showing a hiker where to go.....

However except for that one sign, all of the tail markers (on all three hikes we did) looked like this.....

...and at times the small embossing was quite difficult to read. (This happens to be a good/new one, but some of the older trail markers ones were very difficult to read - especially in that pouring rain!)

(We also intended to do this hike clockwise, but once again missed a turn at the beginning and ended up going counter-clockwise, which while the views would have been better clock-wise, the hiking aspect was better clockwise. So basically the only hike we did as intended was the linear in-and-out one! 😂)

By now we were cold and looking forward to hot showers, but when we got to our room, the electricity was out and had been for a while (we found out later it went out at 10:15am) - so no hot water - bummer. We put on dry clothes (hair still wet) and went to the lodge hoping/thinking that they would have back-up generators - nope. But they were still open for lunch (almost all items were still available as their grills ran on propane), so we had lunch (and hot tea!) and decide to drive south in the park for a while (with our heated seats turned on ....and weren't we complaining about the heat just the day before?????? 😂).

Even though it had stopped raining, the clouds were still around.....

...and the fog rolled in......

Eventually we turned around and were happy to find that the electricity was back on - yay! We showered and eventually went back to the lodge for dinner and to decide on our next destination - we had lots of thoughts about where to go next - and finally decided on Nashville - a place that Brad has mentioned in the past a few times. We hung out at the lodge using their WiFi and found a hotel in Nashville, eventually heading back to our room to pack as much as possible as we had a long day of driving the next day.

Shenandoah National Park Day 1 ~ Hiking!

2026-09-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

We set the alarm for 6:30 and were waiting for the dining room to open (7:30am) so we could get breakfast and get on the trails as soon as possible.

Our first hike was the Hawksbill Loop Hike, a 3 mile, 860 ft elevation change loop. We were on Lower Hawksbill Trail just before 9am....

..arriving at the Byrd's Nest 2 (a day shelter) at 9:25am.......

It was just a few more minutes to the Hawksbill Viewing Platform.....

Then onto the Salamander Trail.....

...and then the Appalachian Trail (the AT), where its 2,198 miles is marked with a white blaze.....

We continued.....

...and were done with the three miles by 10:45am, so just shy of a 2-hour hike.

(While we intended to do this hike counter-clockwise ~ don't recall why now ~ we missed a turn at the very beginning and hiked clockwise, which was perfectly fine! 😎)

It was then onto Marys Rock Summit , another 3 mile, 830ft elevation in-and-out.

We started around 11:20am on Meadow Spring Trail ~ and it was getting pretty hot by now....

Some flowers along the trail.......

...intersecting with the At around 11:50am....

More flowers.....

More trail......

Reaching Marys Rock at 12;15pm.....

We headed back down the way we came.....

(We passed this chimney ruin on the way up, of course, but forgot to stop a take a pic.)

Finishing at 1:10pm, so a bit shy of a 2-hour hike.

We had lunch in the Skyland region of the park, and then it POURED, with intense thunder and lightening, so we were glad to be off the trail. The temperatures dropped 20 degrees, which was a nice reprieve. We drove back to our hotel (in the Big Meadow area) about 10 miles south where it didn't rain at all, but was still cooler. We showered (clean is good!) and by 4:30pm the thunderstorms were at Big Meadow and it POURED again!

We went to the Visitor Center, turned in our Junior Ranger Books, and took our Junior Ranger Pledge, earning us our Junior Ranger badges! 😎

We hung out at the lodge (with a ton of people and their dogs) and played the National Park Trivia Board Game....which had some very obscure questions! 😃

Driving to Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

2026-09-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Shenandoah National Park was on our radar for this trip.....if it worked out......and it almost didn't. When we were in Ithaca, we talked about coming here, but there was that darn heatwave, which is why we went to Lake Canandaigua. This meant that we would potentially be in Shenandoah National Park over Labor Day weekend, which means lots of people (any weekend at a national park is busy, a 3-day weekend even busier), and could we even get accommodations given that we were looking for them only four days before a possible arrival?

It was the morning of our wine tasting when we were having this conversation and Suzanne spent quite a bit of time looking for accommodations in the park ~ being in the park would make getting to the trailheads early in the morning (our preferred time to hike) that much easier. There was no availability, so she looked outside the park. Nothing really floated out boat, so we tabled it and went on our way. On our drive, Suzanne looked again for any hotel openings in the park and - yay! - one opened up, so we jumped on it and made our reservation. 😀

So we were up at 6am and on the road by 6:45am for a long drive today. We stopped along the way at Rotsell's Family Restaurant and almost did not go in - even though there were great reviews online, there was no one in their parking lot and two "For Sale" signs in their windows. But we were hungry so in we went.......

....and it was great! The food was excellent and the waitress really nice. We (okay, Suzanne) asked about the "For Sale" signs - apparently her sister owns the place and 20 years ago in a nasty divorce agreed to sell the restaurant and once sold, give half the proceed to her ex-husband. So the restaurant has been "for sale" since, but not really. 😆

While this conversation was going on, another customer - clearly a regular - came in and started talking about the awesome fish fry they have here on Friday nights. So it was a lovely time and we are glad that we came here for breakfast - it was a very small town feel (which is nice for a short while). Oh, the other customer seemed to have driven his tractor to the restaurant for his breakfast.......

We arrived to Shenandoah National Park around 2pm......

Unfortunately the smog/haze did not help the views....

...made it to the lodge around 4:30pm......

...and our room.....which while cute was a bit more rustic than we anticipated (i.e. no WiFi or AC)......however we will take "in the park and rustic," over "out of the park and a long drive each day" anytime.

We had an early dinner discussing which hikes to do tomorrow - the next day was going to be the warmest, but driest, and worked on our Junior Ranger books (over gin & tonics)!

We tried to go to the 9:30pm Ranger Talk on Astronomy, but it was cancelled due to lightening. Bummer. At least Brad matched the Welcome Bear! 😀

Lake Canandaigua, New York

2026-09-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a super mellow day ~ after having breakfast in town, we hung out at the hotel (while it poured outside) doing laundry and napping. We finally took a walk late morning and checked out the boathouse again.....

....took a drive around the area, walked the town's main street....

.....chilled out some more, had dinner at a nearby pub, and hung out by the hotel while a band played until a thunder and lightening storm stopped the festivities......

Yep - we know it sounds boring, but it was a perfect day!😎

Driving to Lake Canandaigua, New York

2026-09-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

While we were in Ithaca and talking about where to head next, we thought about starting to head south. However there was a huge heat wave for the next few days (in the area we thought about going), so we decided to spend a couple more days in the finger lakes region of New York and headed to Lake Canandaigua for a couple days. On the way, we drove (a bit out of the way) to Rochester, NY to see where Suzanne lived when she went to graduate school there in the early 90's. She lived on the top floor of this converted (at the time) 5-apartment house and loved the area.

We arrived at the hotel late afternoon......

....and after getting settled, we wandered along the lakefront.....

...saw these three older gentlemen jammin'.......

....some geese.....

...and what we thought were floating houses until we chatted with a woman the next day who said that they were simply boathouses - no sewer and no potable water - one selling for nearly $300,000 earlier this year! 😮

Ithaca, New York Day 3 ~ The Corning Museum of Glass

2026-08-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

We aren't huge museum go-ers, but had heard that the Corning Museum of Glass was one not to miss, so off we went on a very rainy Monday.

The parking is a bit down the road, where a shuttle is provided, or you can just walk the 1/4 mile or so......

When we checked-in, we were given the brochure of all of the glass demonstrations throughout the day.....

So we figured out which demonstrations we wanted to see and walked throughout the museum between the demonstrations. We saw....

Hot Glass - where the presenters creates a small vase (pretty much what you see in any glassblowing shop)
Don't Try This At Home - this was interesting mostly because it took place in their mobile hot glass classroom - which they drive to places to bring glassmaking to those that would not otherwise have the experience

Flameworking - this was very interesting as the presenter used two rods of glass to create art

Secrets of Glass - this was rather redundant of the Don't Try This At Home presentation
Glassbreaking - this was one of the more interesting presentations where we learned how glass is created to cause it to break in some form (think car front windows).

Of course, there was a lot of creative and interesting pieces of glass art - quite difficult to capture in photos.....

Then we went to The Studio building of the museum where classes are conducted and professional glassmakers rent space to create their art. The super cool thing about this area was that it was casual and open to anyone who wanted to watch..... The verbiage next to the door says: Feel free to wander down this hallway to our artist workshops to see artists and students at work.

And so we did.......and found this group working together.....

We ended up spending 6-hours here and really enjoyed it.

Ithaca, New York Day 2 ~ Wine Tasting!

2026-08-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

We slept late today and spent some time this morning deciding where to go after Ithaca ~ with the goal that we want to stay in cooler weather as long as possible. Finally, we got going and visited three brad-selected wineries in the area.

First, we went to Thirsty Owl where we started with lunch ~ while the food was good, the service was painfully slow. This was the busiest of the three wineries we visited, and for a $5 wine tasting, you could try five wines. If you decided to buy a bottle, then you received $2 off. We split the tasting (as we usually do) and were surprised to enjoy some of the Riesling that the finger lakes is known. (We usually do not like Rieslings.) We ended up purchasing a bottle of their dry Riesling.

Then it was onto Hosmer Winery where the tasting fee was $12 (which we thought was expensive) for five tastings, plus you get to keep the glass (which we did not). We split the tasting again and tried a variety of their wines, ending up with a Pinot Gris in our bag. (We forgot to take a photo, but did take this one of the grapes at Thirsty Owl. 😏)

Lastly, we went onto Sheldrake Point Winery where the tasting fee was $15 (and if we thought $12 for a tasting fee with a wine glass was expensive, $15 was not going in the right direction! 😆) for five tastings. That being said, there was a free tasting to start and for some reason the bartender-guy wanted us to try a wine that we did not select, so he poured us a seventh tasting. (This is why we split tastings....each pour at each place was 1oz, so there were 15oz of wine in total - for us, that's a lot of wine in the early afternoon! 😂) We really liked this place as well and their wines were quite interesting. We ended up buying a Wild Ferment Riesling.

So three wineries and three bottles! 🍷😀

Ithaca, New York Day 1 ~ State Parks Galore!

2026-08-29T15:18:00.000-07:00

We had a great night's sleep and decided to start our day at Watkins Glen State Park, primarily to walk the Gorge Trail. It was a nice park and very accessible, which is great for the masses, however that means that there were tons of people there, which is not our cup-of-tea. 😕

Regardless, it was a nice walk and we can only imagine how the many waterfalls would look in the spring, rather than late August when we were there.

View from behind a waterfall....

Afterward, we walked the town of Watkins Glen a bit and took a short stroll along Seneca Lake.....

(We almost stayed in Watkins Glen, but could not find accommodations; this ended up being a good thing since there wasn't much in Watkins Glen.)

We had an awesome lunch at a low-key joint at Frog Hollow Marina ~ The Oar House......

We then continued on to Taughannock Falls State Park to walk the 3/4 mile gorge trail there.....again, we can only imagine how this all would look during the spring melt.....

Onto State Park #3 ~ Robert H. Treman State Park where we only walked about 1/4 mile to Lucifer Falls.....but first, we explored the grist mill which ground grain into flour from 1839 to 1916.....

....then onto the walk! 😊

Lucifer Falls

This was a beautiful park and we considered coming back another time while in the area, but then the rains came and it didn't happen. Next time! 😎

Our fourth and final park of the day was Buttermilk Falls State Park which had very little water....

(When we drove by a couple days later after tons of rain, it was much fuller!)

Driving to Ithaca, New York

2026-08-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

Brad wanted to see the finger lakes region in New York, and after lots of research, we figured that the best place for us to land for a few days was Ithaca, so we were up at 6:30, first stopping in Saranac Lake for a quick breakfast. We also decided to take the scenic (rather than highway) route......

...eventually finding ourselves in the cute town of Inlet......

...with its pier where one can buy a "slat" and honor someone.....

Of course, there was a bakery....

...so we went inside.....

...and shared (if one bite for Suzanne is considered "sharing"......😆) a walnut maple sweet......it was awesome!

Of course, as we were still technically in The Adirondacks, there were plenty of Adirondack chairs for sale......

We continued along the scenic roads, seeing lots of apple orchards, farms, and even a little early fall foliage changes.....

We drove into Skaneateles and meandered the quaint town for an hour or so.......

About an hour later, around 5pm, we arrived to our hotel in Ithaca with a ton of dirty clothes and looking forward to doing some laundry. Alas, the hotel no longer had laundry facilities (might be time to update the 'ole website......😡) so it was off to a local laundromat........

An hour-and-a-half later we were back at the hotel with clean clothes! 😁

Lake Placid, New York ~ Day 2

2026-08-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

We had breakfast at a little bagel place in town - was just okay. When we were at the Olympic Jumping Complex yesterday, one staffer told us that there would be someone (or more) training this morning, so we headed over again today to watch (with a surprisingly number of other people - guess it's a thing to watch practices).

Once the jump was watered (this is how ice is mimicked in the summer)...

We spent about 1 1/2 hours watching one 14 year old female jumper.....it was interesting.....

In photos.....

We then went to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum which was quite interesting and very informative......

The Olympic Games began in Greece around 776 BCE.
The first summer Olympic Games in modern history were held in Athens, Greece in 1896.
The first winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
The third winter Olympic Games were held in Lake Placid in 1932. There were 350+ athletes from 17 countries.

The Paralympics Games debuted in 1960 inspired by a spinal injuries center in Great Britain as their treatment evolved into competitive sports.
The thirteenth winter Olympic Games were held in Lake Placid in 1980. There were 1000+ athletes from 37 countries and this was the first winter Olympics to use artificial snow.

We went to the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics! 😀

We took another look at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena.....

(Can't get enough of that whole "Miracle on ice" thing......😉)

We enjoyed a Bobsled "ride"

Brad defended the net.....

...and speed skated on the outdoor track......

The museum was really interesting - lots of tidbits and facts of the Winter Olympics over the years.

We grabbed lunch at the same place we had dinner our first night in town. We were not impressed with the food in Lake Placid - lots of restaurants with the same type of "bar food," and mediocre service.

We chilled in the hotel room for the afternoon and took naps, preparing for our big night of curling at the Olympic Center. 😀 For $20 per person, one can learn how to curl and "play" for 1 1/2 hours.

Helmets were required.....

We walked onto the ice (with about 40 other people) - all of the stones and brooms were set-up.....

We were taught how to play and score, and were separated into teams. We played another couple ~ Karen and Paul (from Massachusetts) and had a blast!

Brad, who rarely takes a photo, just happened to have his phone out (and recording) at this moment in time.....😄

Karen and Paul with us....

In the end, we won! 🏆 (We determined that Suzanne was the better stone pusher/thrower and Brad the better sweeper!)

We ended the night having drinks with Karen and Paul, chatting until midnight - a late night for us!

Lake Placid, New York ~ Day 1

2026-08-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

We slept well and had the complimentary hotel breakfast ~ it was just okay. We decided to hike the Flume Trail, but for some reason could not find the correct trailhead.....though we did wander some trail for a while.....

We then decided to head to the Whiteface Memorial Highway to drive to the summit, though when we got there, we were told that there was no visibility at the summit, so we turned around. Yep: 0 for 2 so far! 😂

We headed back to the hotel and took the 2.2 mile walk around Mirror Lake...

We thought that the walk would be lakeside, but for most of it, it was along some amazing - and some quaint - lakeside homes. We did come across Lake Placid (the lake) as well, at about the halfway point.....

We eventually ended up in the downtown of Lake Placid (basically one long street), had an okay lunch, and drove onto Saranac Lake, which was just a tired old town.

We then ventured onto the Olympic Jumping Complex.....

.....where potential Olympians - and those hoping to be potential Olympians - train. It was surprisingly interesting and all of the staff were excellent and full of information.

There were two larger ski jumps.....

Two smaller ski jumps.....

View from the top! 😳 (Interestingly - and it is difficult to see here - is that it is a blind landing for the ski jumper - they cannot see the ground once they go airborne at the end of the ski jump.)

This is the track... it has a built-in cooling system (in winter) so it maintains a uniform layer of ice during competition....

This is the landing area (for summer) - it is plastic matting that mimic the slide of the snow during the winter months. (It is watered for summer practice.)

Brad tried ski jumping, but did not make the Olympic Team. 😏

It was dinner at a local bar (pretty good) and back to the hotel.

Driving to Lake Placid, New York

2026-08-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

One place that we knew that we wanted to visit while traveling in the area was the King Arthur Headquarters in Norwich, VT, so it was our destination as we drove to Lake Placid today, arriving at 9:15am after leaving Lincoln, NH at 8am.

Inside was basically a store (all the same stuff can be purchased on their website)........

..and some classrooms for their cooking school......

....freshly made bread.....

...and a small restaurant,,,,,

We had breakfast there ~ Brad had the "best cup of coffee on this trip so far" and an awesome cinnamon roll. We did buy a few things in their store, most importantly an awesome Big Book of Bread Cookbook that Suzanne is super excited about! 😀 (All that being said, we were a bit disappointed in the entire experience - mostly because the staff were just not very friendly.)

We the continued onto the Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock, VT for some Vermont maple syrup - yum! 😋

It was a bit of a "take this tiny road, now turn onto this tiny road," drive to get there, which often had us questioning if we were on the right road, but clearly we were not the only ones with that thought......😂

It was a very unassuming and low-key farm, not commercial at all.

What we did not realize when we (actually Brad) found this place, was that it is not only maple syrup that they produce, but cheese as well. Well, double yum! 😋😋

We first took the self-guided tour through the sugar house......

Sap holding tanks.....

The sugar evaporator ~ where the sap is boiled down into syrup......

Fuel for the sugar evaporator......

This shows the snowfall each year - as before, use Brad as a 6ft measuring stick......😂

We then went into the tasting room, and were surprised to see three women cutting and sealing cheese. One woman stopped working and explained to us that they do everything by hand - from cutting the cheese ....

...to dipping the cheese in wax to seal it.

We sampled five cheeses and some different maple syrups, learning that the color and grade of maple syrup is dependent on the weather (temperature) over the winter season. The darker (Grade B) syrup runs during warmer temperatures, so due to global warming, they are getting more of the darker Grade B syrup than the lighter Grade A syrup.

We then went into the shop, where we sampled more foods and met the owner (second generation) and were surprised to find out that they get 200-300 visitors a day. We bought some cheese and a sampler of the different maple syrups, then took another self-guided tour of a small part of their maple trees.....

The sap flows down the tubes into the holding tank.......

It was (somewhat surprisingly) a lovely visit!

We were back on the road about 12pm, but did not get very far as just a few minutes later we stopped in Woodstock to meander the charming town.

We finally made it to Lake Placid....

......and our hotel ~ The lake Placid Inn, which used to be a private preparatory school for elite winter athletes and housed the Italian athletes during the 1980 Olympics.

We originally wanted to come to the Adirondacks to hike, but after chatting with guy over dinner at a nearby bar, we decided to enjoy the Olympic-aspects of the area and forgo a hike.

We took a walk after dinner and stopped by the Olympic Center.....

First taking a look at the 1932 Jack Shea Arena....

Then of course the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena where The Miracle on Ice occurred.....

(More on The Olympic Center in a future post.)

Franconia Notch State Park, NH

2026-08-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

We slept great and were up around 7am. We spent some time still discussing where to hike today in Franconia Notch State Park and where we want to go from here. (Reminder, we have no pre-set plans as we travel - yay!) We were sort of all-over-the-place with both decisions, and two hours later finally made our first decision ~ breakfast at Polly's Pancake Parlor! 😂

It was a super cute place ~ and like when they opened in 1938, your table's server (and our waitress was awesome) makes your pancakes. (Anything else on the menu is made by the kitchen staff.)

We decided to share an order of six pancakes - one of each - sort of like a tasting flight of pancakes! 😄 Pancakes come with real maple syrup, Polly's Maple Spread, and Polly's Maple Sugar.

(Should have taken a pic before we split them.....)

So like with yesterday's distillery tastings, our thoughts on each:

Plain with blueberries - good. (Both of us.)
Buckwheat - Suzanne did not like (nor did she expect to); Brad's least favorite.
Gingerbread - Suzanne wanted to try this one; Brad was reluctant. Suzanne really liked it and immediately looked for a recipe online; Brad said this was a "sleeper" and it ended up being his favorite.
Whole wheat - just okay for both of us.
Cornmeal - Suzanne was hesitant on this one, but ended up liking it - it was like corn bread with maple syrup. Brad liked it more than he expected as well.
Oatmeal buttermilk - Surprisingly good. (Both of us.)

Of course, we ranked them as well:

Suzanne: gingerbread, oatmeal buttermilk, plain, cornmeal, whole wheat, buckwheat
Brad: gingerbread, plain, oatmeal buttermilk, cornmeal, whole wheat, buckwheat

Overall, we both enjoyed the pancake tasting WAY more than the liquor tasting yesterday! 😅

We went back to the hotel where we decide our next destination and Suzanne looked for hotels while Brad looked for a hike today knowing that rain/storms were expected around 3pm. We finally were heading out at 11am ( late for us) and stopped at the Basic Cascade Trail first for a few minutes.

A small waterfall along the way.

The Basin

We then headed to the Lonesome Lake Trailhead, and started hiking at 11:45am.

We arrived at Lonesome Lake about 45 minutes later.....

...and made our way to the Lonesome Lake AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) Hut .....

The hut......

What is an AMC hut? (From Google....)

The AMC huts are a system of eight historic, backcountry mountain lodges operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club in the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire.

Location: Spaced roughly 6 to 8 miles (about a day's hike) apart along the Appalachian Trail, ranging from Lonesome Lake in the west to Carter Notch in the east.
Accommodations: They offer rustic, co-ed bunkrooms with mattresses and blankets during the main summer season, though the bunkrooms are unheated and off-the-grid.
Meals: During the full-service summer season (generally early June to mid-September/October), resident staff known as the "Croo" prepare hearty family-style breakfasts and dinners for overnight guests.
Amenities: Facilities are basic, featuring composting or waterless toilets, cold running water, and common areas, but no electricity for charging devices, no Wi-Fi, and no showers.
Self-Service Season: In the shoulder and off-seasons, the huts remain open or accessible on a self-service basis where hikers must bring their own food and sleeping gear.

We hung out on the dock......

...chatting with two other couples and enjoying some snacks......

...hiking out and arrive back to the trailhead around 2:15pm.

(We did the same hikes 13 years ago.......link)

The it was back to the hotel for showers and our dinner decision which took us to The Common Man where we sat at the bar with a bunch of locals and had another excellent meal.

Driving to New Hampshire

2026-08-23T05:10:00.000-07:00

We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and were on the road by 9:30am heading west, first stopping at Grafton Notch State Park (still in Maine). We walked a bit to Mother Walker Falls - it was okay.

As we continued driving west, we stopped at Gemini Cafe and Bakery in Bethel, Maine.....

It used to be a bank ~ the old drive-thru is now an outdoor patio!😀

The food was great as well as the tea (in super cool mugs).

We then continued into New Hampshire and stopped at Cathedral Ledge Distillery, thinking/hoping we would try some really yummy maple liquor. (We had some in PEI, but had already purchased our "one liter per person US/Canada tax-free border" limit, so were looking forward to buying some in the US.)

Once inside.....

...we were given a menu and we could try five 1oz pours for $15. We split a taster flight since we were driving and knew Suzanne probably wouldn't love the tastes anyway.

Our tasting flight arrived......

Happy Brad!

Our samples and thoughts on each:

Straight Rye Whiskey

Brad: "smooth"
Suzanne: "turpentine"

Blueberry Vodka

Brad: "no"
Suzanne: "no"

Fig Vodka

Brad just shook his head no.
Suzanne: "least offensive so far"

Organic Aquavit

Brad: "My #2."
Suzanne: "Disgusting."
(Though we both agreed that it smelled the best of the five.)

Organic Maple Liqueur

Brad: "Not bad. PEI place was better."
Suzanne: "NO!"

So needless to say, we did not buy any! 😂

As we continued on the drive, we found ourselves along The Kancamagus Scenic Byway, but it was raining, so we did not get out to do any walks or hikes. (We were here in 2013 as well.)

We finally arrived at our hotel in Lincoln, NH (we are staying here to explore Franconia Notch State Park) around 3:30pm, got settled, and had a great dinner at Five Main on the River....

...where we had awesome butternut squash ravioli with a maple cream sauce ~ yum! 😋

We came here to do the Franconia Ridge Loop trail, but it has been raining and more rain is expected, and that is not the hike to do when the trail is wet (slippery rocks and boulders), so we spent some time thinking about what other hikes we wanted to do.........

Hiking Saddleback Mountain to The Horn, Rangeley, Maine

2026-08-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

After an awesome night’s sleep and a great breakfast, we got ready for our hike from Saddleback Mountain to The Horn. The distance is not very far: 2.1 miles each way, but it was a technically difficult hike due to the multitude of rocks and boulders.

We started by taking the Saddleback Mountain Ski Lift up Saddleback Mountain as far as we could (hiking up/down ski runs is boring)....

......and already enjoyed some great views once we were off the ski lift.

We still had a bit of ski run to walk up .....

...and then we picked-up the spur trail to start our hike.

We forgot to note the time when we started truly hiking, however it was 40 minutes after getting on the ski lift that we made it to the Saddleback false summit....

We continued hiking, enjoying views and the trail.....

.....20 minutes later arriving at the true summit at 4,515ft.....

We continued our hike over many rocky areas.....some flat......

...and some quite steep.....

...always keeping The Horn in our sights......

A bit of the the hike was in the trees....

....but not all.....

...still keeping The Horn in view.

The hike continued to be super rocky at times......

Brad stayed on his feet the entire time......

Suzanne stayed on her feet most of the time......

....but not always! 😂

Some of the boulders were pretty big......Brad is 6ft, for perspective.....and we would look at it and think, "huh," and then manage to climb up and over (or down on the way back).

The Horn was getting closer (well, we were getting closer to The Horn....😉)

....finally arriving at The Horn Summit (4,530ft) at 12:20pm.

We took a 10 minute snack break and then turned around and hiked out, taking about 1 1/2 hours for us to get back to the ski lift to take it down the mountain. (Honestly, our knees were shot after all the boulder ups and downs, so not walking down literal miles of ski runs was fantastic!)

We had an early dinner at The Furbish Brew House in Rangeley and enjoyed some music on their patio......

It was then back to the hotel for showers and packing, as we were heading out the next day.

We very much enjoyed our short stay in Rangeley, Maine ~ we had good meals, the townspeople were super nice, and the town itself just adorable. It is really the first time we have spent any time in western Maine and we are super glad that we made the stop.

Driving to Rangeley, Maine

2026-08-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

While it was sad that we were leaving PEI, we were looking forward to the next part of our summer adventure ~ and knowing that we had a long drive ahead of us, we set the alarm for 6am and were on the road by 7am.

Two hours later we had breakfast at Stacked Pancake & Breakfast House in Moncton and filled the gas tank at the Moncton Costco. We had a bit of a wait at the border crossing, and with the hour “gained,” we were back in Maine by noon.

Our next stop was at the Bangor BJ’s for provisions and fuel ~ along with a picnic lunch in their parking lot!

We arrived in Rangeley, Maine after about 11 hours of driving and 479 miles, although it didn’t really feel all that long.

We stayed at The Rangeley Inn & Tavern, which was lovely ~ a turn-of-the-century hotel that has been renovated over the years, yet maintains it’s historic charm.

We grabbed a quick dinner at The Corner Bar – it was great – and made plans for tomorrow’s hike.

Prince Edward Island ~ Some Final Thoughts.....

2026-08-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sad, but true. Our time on Prince Edward Island has come to a close ~ neither of us can believe that we have spent four weeks here ~ in some ways it seems as if we just arrived.

Some final thoughts, in no particular order......

1. We definitely enjoyed a great exchange rate! 1 USD was about 1.40 CAD, so even with higher prices, we never really felt it. (We have been to Canada when the USD and CAD were on par, so we have experienced the other side as well.)

2. Our Airbnb worked out great. In fact, it was larger than we expected and we never even used the downstairs room except to store our luggage. That being said, the one thing that was a miss was that it is on a single road that has a dead-end on one end and a busy road on the other, and no sidewalks. We enjoy walking at night and really could not do that without driving somewhere. So next time we come to PEI (and yes, there will be a next time), we will be more cognizant of this. We would like to try to stay downtown Charlottetown at some point and see what that is like. (We were downtown when we were here four years ago, but did not take advantage of it at the time.)

3. We drove a ton and saw some amazing views....as well as lots of crops, especially potatoes......

....and lots of 5# potato bags for sale too!

4. Our cache of sea glass has expanded......(Brad has a great eye for spotting these!)

What is sea glass exactly? From tourism PEI:

PEI sea glass is weathered, frost-coated pieces of discarded glass smoothed by decades of wave action along the shores of Prince Edward Island. Originating from old household waste, shipwrecks, and Prohibition-era bottles, these colorful frosted gems wash up heavily along the island's southern and eastern beaches.

(So yes, basically trash! 😂)

5. We really (REALLY!) like it here. People are nice, the pace is slower, the weather is cool, it is just a relaxed place. As stated before, we will be back for an equally long stay, if not longer.

💖PEI💖

PS - We are still traveling, so stay tuned.....

Prince Edward Island Day 26 ~ Back to Some Faves!

2026-08-19T12:28:44.449-07:00

It was another cool and cloudy day here, so after a slow morning, we headed to Brackley Beach to walk the beach and ended up walking 4 - 5 miles.....

We then drove to The Rustico Cannery in North Rustico.....

.... to enjoy their rigatoni with lobster again - it is just too good!!! 😋

We walked the beach in North Rustico a bit.....

As well as a little of their boardwalk which is along the harbor.....

We ended the day sharing a flurry (think DQ blizzard) from Crisker's Creamery - and it was great!

We keep getting weather updates from people in FL - high 90's a super humid, so a cool & cloudy day encompassing a beach walk, lobster, and ice cream is fabulous!!! 😎

Prince Edward Island Day 25 ~ Walking Part of the Confederation Trail

2026-08-18T11:51:23.133-07:00

Today was another cooler and overcast skies day, so not a beach day, so we decided to walk a bit of the Confederation Trail from Morell to St. Peters. Brad read up on the walk and found that it would be near the water with some great views. Well, we walked about a mile-and-a-half before Brad realized that we were going the wrong way...oops!😉...but there were lovely views nonetheless....

So we turned around and went in the "correct" direction (walking about another mile or so before turning around).....

By now we were hungry and went to The Seafood Shack in Morell, just a minute down the road. We were here four years ago and were not impressed, but the reviews were great and we thought, "well, things can change in four years...." so we gave it another try.

Brad ordered the lobster, scallop, and haddock chowder - it was very good, even though he is not a big scallop fan.......

Suzanne ordered their hot buttered lobster roll......which was very disappointing. While the (flavorless) lobster was plentiful, it was cold (she prefers warmed) and the roll was shorter than other (like at Richard's). In addition - and this is the deal-breaker - the "hot butter" on the side was not really butter at all, but a tasteless yellow-colored oil. 😡So while it looks great, it was quite disappointing.

This place is now dead to us. 😄

The rest of the day was mellow as we enjoy the cooler weather on PEI.

Prince Edward Island Day 24 ~ Fullerton Creek Conservation Park & Deep Roots Distillery

2026-08-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

It was a bit of a cool day and cloudy, yet we still wanted to take a walk, so we headed over to Fullerton Creek Conservation Park in Stratford (just east of Charlottetown) and enjoyed some lovely, nature-filled walking.....

Cattails

Yarrow

Goldenrod

We were rained on a bit, but at least this time we had our rain jackets with us! 😀

A couple days ago we stopped by the Deep Roots Distillery and to sample some of their liquors. While there, we saw their sign advertising a distillery tour and infusion experience where we could create our own infusion ~ so we signed up for today's 3pm tour ~ yay!

The tour started with complimentary cocktails ~ a Chocolate Espresso Martini for Suzanne and a Moonshine Caipirinha for Brad. 😋

The group (21 of us) went out to the apple orchard and our tour guide Melissa explained the history of the founding family (who began the orchard in 1987 and after the husband retiring from teaching, he started the distillery in 2014 - eventually purchased by three of his five children this past year). She also explained that they had an apple orchard at first to sell apples, but then eventually went into the liquor business using the apples to create apple brandy. It was quite interesting and she did a great job of enthusiastically explaining everything.

We made our way into the distillery where Melissa explained the distilling process and how most of their liquors are created, as well as their history and how each liquor is connected to PEI. Again, interesting and she did a great job of answering questions.

Finally it was time for all of us to create our own infusion, and we could select a base of either gin or vodka ~ we both chose vodka as gin already has a bit of flavoring.

A long table was set-up......

.......with some fresh ingredients.......

and some dry ingredients........

.....as well as recipe ideas (ironically it was Brad who pretty much followed a suggested recipe, which he never does; Suzanne free-styled it, and she is a "follow the recipe exactly as written" girl.)

Everyone gathered around the long table and started creating! 😀

Our almost finished products....Suzanne's is on the left, Brad's on the right.......

We then made labels..... (Now Brad's is on the left; Suzanne's on the right.)

The bottles were sealed and placed in cute brown bags.....

Our recipes, each for 375ml vodka.....

Brad's:

4 - 5g fresh strawberry
0.5g dried basil
0.5g dried hibiscus flower (he added as an after-thought after being mocked for having only two ingredients 😏)

Suzanne's:

2g cassia bark
0.5g cloves
0.5g nutmeg
1g fresh orange peel (she added since the dry ingredients alone looked sad)
0.5g butterfly pea powder (after seeing some one else put some in theirs as it makes the color blue and then it will change color if/when we add a mixer 😁)

This is what they looked like when we got home.....

Yum!! 😋

(Well, hopefully yum! 😉 )

So a super fun day and when we are back on PEI, we will definitely do again! Cheers! 🍹