Tag Archives: vacation

Ausable Chasm… it was awesome!

December 5, 2022 Rivergirl 24 Comments

Our day trip destination in New York was the little town of Keeseville, home to the Grand Canyon of the East.

We’d driven by this place on a previous vacation and vowed if we were ever back in the area we’d stop and explore.

In case you can’t zoom in, one of the best tourist attractions of the Adirondacks is under the C in Lake Champlain. Au Sable directly translates to “of the sand” which makes sense since the chasm is a giant sandstone gorge.

Looking forward to taking some good pictures, I was extremely glad cameras are smaller and lighter than they used to be.

After buying tickets and taking a quick look at the little history museum, we headed out over the bridge which was impressive in and of itself.

Entering the site, it felt like they knew I was coming.

There are multiple paths and trails but they all start here.

And like good tourists, we followed the yellow brick road.

Okay, we followed the yellow wooden squares… so sue me.

The first open outcropping looked back toward the bridge. And after that?

I knew my knee would not be happy.

It’s a shame they even have to post warnings like that, but you know some bozo bonked someone on the head down below at one time or another.

This was our first look at the chasm.

And I have to say I was hooked.

I was also glad it was off season and the “adventure trail” was closed.

Because that’s a bridge I had no interest in crossing.

😳

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Day two: Truck envy, The Champlain Islands and cows.

December 4, 2022 Rivergirl 27 Comments

On our second day in Vermont we headed for New York. Seems crazy, but stick with me … it was worth it.

Of course we didn’t make it very far before my husband had to turn around and check out an old Ford truck.

It looked just like his… same year, same color except this was a 250 instead of a 150. Price tag, for a truck made in 1994? $22,000. That is beyond insane (and made me want to list his for sale as soon as we got home).

Back on the road, we pointed the car towards the Champlain Islands.

If you’re unfamiliar with this area, Lake Champlain is large. 107 miles long, 64 foot deep. There’s often talk about adding it to the Great Lakes but nothing ever comes of it.

There are a few ferries that cross it from the Vermont side, but the ride is pretty and we weren’t in any rush.

South Hero, North Hero….

And Grand Isle.

Miles and miles of nothing but farms, mountains and lake. (spellcheck changed lake to kale. No one wants miles of that!)

Peaceful doesn’t begin to describe it.

And hey, look….

COWS!!

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The resort pros and cons. And this time I’m blaming the husband for the cons.

December 2, 2022 Rivergirl 14 Comments

Because our first trip to Vermont was a quickie, the husband wanted to go back and spend a bit more time in the same area… so that meant booking another condo at Smugglers Notch Resort.

Pro:

We’ve been there numerous times and enjoy the quiet, nestled in the mountains setting. When checking in this time around, we were going to luck out and occupy one of the newly remodeled units… which after our previous stay in the 1980’s horror sounded perfect.

Con:

My husband saw they booked us on the first floor. And since nothing upsets my husband more than people stomping above us, he immediately requested a top floor unit. Naturally there were no third floor remodeled condos available, so we were stuck in the Willows.

Tired. Outdated….

And very …. woody.

Pro:

It was clean, quiet and had a comfortable king size bed.

Con:

Would it kill them to add a bed skirt and a pretty spread?

Pro:

There were 4 beds in the unit. A king, a queen and two twins… in case you like a variety of sleeping areas.

And the master bath’s whirlpool bath was in the bathroom.

It even had its own television if that’s your thing.

Con:

There were two random cows overhead.

And Holy guacamole Batman! The wallpaper. How bad was it?

Really, really bad.

I mean, WTH? This is Vermont… not the southwest.

The decor mattered not one iota to my spouse. It was clean, comfortable, and had working appliances with no one stomping above him, he was happy. But no matter how many times he told me to enjoy the sunrise off the balcony….

I wasn’t forgiving him for turning down the remodeled unit.

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Because the blog series are longer than the vacations.

December 1, 2022 Rivergirl 25 Comments

I know I just got through blogging about our trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, but guess what? In the time it took me to do that… we took another trip to Vermont. And knowing the kind of detail I like to post about our trips, this series will probably last until Christmas.

So here we go, back to Northwestern Vermont…. where I found this helpful information shortly after crossing the border.

COW!

I’ve never swum with a cow, but now I kind of want to.

Back in Jeffersonville, these wonderful silos greeted us.

In Stowe? It was a truckload full of cuteness.

Heading through Smugglers Notch in late October after all the foliage had fallen wasn’t as pretty…

But following this truck and trailer around the tight bends was interesting.

Vermont, where red barns….

Windmills…

And corn are plentiful.

But mummified Halloween bears are a little harder to find.

🤣

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Antiquing and some very heavy water.

November 29, 2022 Rivergirl 28 Comments

A recent antiquing day trip to search for a final alcoholic crate left me empty handed but did result in a few chuckles.

Yum.

Not.

I think I had one very similar to this when I was a kid.

Bloomers.. complete with reinforced crotch. Who could ask for more?

I’ve been looking for an old crank phone like this for the man cave. But this one didn’t crank and was missing parts … so for $350, I left it there.

And speaking of the man cave…

I’ve started to migrate my vinyl out there, though there isn’t enough room in any one spot to line up the crates in a row.

Guess they’ll have to be scattered here and there.

And if you’re wondering what’s going on here, it’s the husband breaking his back trying to upend a vintage glass water bottle into the cooler. He’s collected the damn things for years and wants to replace all the plastic containers it came with.

Prettier, but damn. They’re seriously heavy.

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Classic cinema.

November 27, 2022 Rivergirl 16 Comments

It was Halloween season when we were in New Hampshire and as I was blow drying my hair one morning in the resort, I heard strange sounds coming from the living room.

Turns outthe husband had found one of those mondo bizarro horror movies from the 50’s.. and it was a hoot.

Fiend Without A Face. No need to delve into the plot, just know it was marvelously ridiculous with disembodied killer brains on the loose.

They boarded up the doors, but it found a way in.

They chopped it with an ax…

But they still weren’t safe.

And just when we thought our damsel in distress could stop wringing her hands?

Multiple disembodied brains attacked.

Man, they don’t make movies like this anymore.

🤣

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Ending our trip with bad beer and a wind up Sasquatch.

November 27, 2022 Rivergirl 15 Comments

On our last night in the White Mountains we skipped down the road to a very popular brewery called One Love.

It was a huge place, and so busy on a Friday night we had to schlepp up the stairs to the second floor bar.

Sadly One Love brewery doesn’t take their beer very seriously and only had three of their own on tap, all of which were quite disappointing

They did however make a stellar blood orange cranberry margarita.

Which I consumed with some amazing lollipop lamb chops so the visit wasn’t a total waste.

Our trip home the next day was uneventful, consumed mostly with me bugging the husband to stop at multiple gift stores so I could purchase a thank you gift for our Lord Dudley Mountcatten cat sitting neighbor.

In case you’re wondering, this did not make the cut.

Upon returning home I happily put my newly purchased brewery crate into service.

Four down, probably two more to go. Since my idea for vinyl storage/display containers is proving more difficult to procure than I originally thought, I have culled my collection down to a more reasonable number and now have a rather large stack of never listened to albums in the closet. It was hard to be ruthless, but necessary. I need to get my crates out to the man cave before the husband bogarts all the available floor space.

😉

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Mount Washington resort.. the finale.

November 26, 2022 Rivergirl 12 Comments

As we were winding up our tour of the resort we wandered into the conference center….

Which was just as attractive as the rest of the resort though in a newer building addition. There were multiple meeting rooms of which I’ll spare you the details…

But we did find a plethora of fascinating old maps.

And since I included the word old in that description, you know who enjoyed them the most.

Random grand piano…. because you never know when the Brotherhood of Orthopedic Shoe Manufacturers will feel the need to break into song.

The indoor pool required a paying guests only entry card so here’s a shot of it through a window. I thought it was very nice they had a handicap lift machine.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, this hotel was built in 1902. And though they do an amazing job of upkeep, the old broad is beginning to show her age and needs some serious restoration in spots.

Underneath decades of crisp clean white paint? Rotted wood.

And a side porch rotunda that’s undergoing some major repairs.

They try to keep as much of the original structure as possible which I’m sure is an engineering nightmare.

So there you have it, The Mount Washington resort. An area landmark that shouldn’t be missed.

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Porches and decks. Decks and porches. They’re everywhere…

November 25, 2022 Rivergirl 19 Comments

If there’s one thing that struck me as we wandered around this grand old dame of a resort…

It was the feeling that it wanted you to sit, relax and simply… be.

Everywhere we went there were long porches with ample seating. Upstairs, downstairs, all with fabulous views.

On top of the east wing?

An outdoor bar with covered porch…

And open deck Adirondacks.

Around another bend?

Another covered porch with ample seating. If you can’t find a chair here, there’s something seriously wrong with you.

Around back? The pool, complete with mountain view.

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Lunch in the basement.

November 24, 2022 Rivergirl 23 Comments

When I think basement, I imagine dark corners, cobwebs and mouse turds. Clearly there was none of that here.

How big is this resort?

It has its own post office.

And a line of high end shops down the hallway. One of which I was forbidden to enter by my spouse…

Did I mention the carpet?

Trees, pine cones and woodland creatures. Very whimsical.

Since we were visiting off season for lunch there were only two options, an upstairs restaurant offering small plates and tapas or downstairs which had a full menu. I think you know by now my husband is not a small plate kind of guy.

Another cocktail? Don’t mind if I do.

The menu was a bit smaller than I expected from such a big place, and as I scanned to the bottom I was seriously hoping my spouse would find something he wanted before he found the filet. Gulp!