9/18/2012: The Last Leg of the Journey

Thursday we pulled up camp and headed west on country roads. Before leaving Lily Bay State Park I put on my bathing suit and went for a quick swim in the lake.

Swimming in a very cold Moosehead Lake!!

I figured if I am going to do a triathlon I should do an open water swim. The water was freezing and swimming in it was very difficult. It felt like the water was really heavy and I had trouble swimming even 50 yards. I guess it was because the water was so cold, probably about 55 degrees. A cold front came through before we got to Moosehead Lake and we learned that the first big cold front of the season causes the lake to churn, bringing the 20 foot deep water up to the surface. It was fun getting in the lake, but eye opening at the same time. I have a lot to learn about open water swimming!

Thursday we drove through Maine, New Hampshire, and part of Vermont. We spent the night in White River Junction. Nothing special, just a place where the state road met the interstate, so we knew we'd be able to find a clean place to spend the night. It's kind of funny that we are very adventurous when it comes to our routes and the dining establishments we choose on the road, but we stick to names we know when it comes to lodging. We've stayed in one fleabag motel while on the road, and one was enough for both of us!

Breakfast stop, they had homemade whole wheat bread!

We ran into a couple of surprising points of interests on the road Thursday. One of them was The Shrine to Our Lady of Grace in New Hampshire. The Shrine was a series of dozens monuments along paths on both sides of the road that documented the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. There was a chapel and an outdoor chapel area, a statue of the Virgin Mary, and a shrine to motorcycles, too! The entire area was still used, most of the candles were lit, but the grounds were not very well maintained, probably from lack of funding or volunteers. It was definitely worth the stop.

Amen, Brother!

We also stopped at Fort Ticonderoga, right on the border of New York and Vermont. A lot of battles have been fought over this piece of land because it controlled the water ways between Canada and the US. The French built the Fort in the early to mid 1700s, the British attacked the fort twice, once in 1758, unsuccessfully, and a second time in 1759 when they won and took possession of it. The fort played a vital role in the Revolutionary War when Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys attacked and demanded surrender of the Fort very early in the war. The continental army then had in their possession their first heavy armaments with which to attack to the British. 60 tons of cannon, supplies, and equipment were then hauled 300 miles by Henry Knox, his men and teams of Oxen to Boston which allowed George Washington to successfully drive the British out of that city. It was awe inspiring to see this site of vital importance to our fight for Freedom and to get a deeper understanding of the effort required to haul those cannon the 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston.

The British recaptured the fort from the Americans by shelling it from this hill

Our drive through New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York took us through beautiful scenery including the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack's of New York. We got to see a 200 year old wire bridge, canyons and beautiful vistas, mountain lakes and much, much more. It was a beautiful drive.

We spent the night just west of Buffalo Friday night and drove to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls Saturday morning. We beat most of the tourists and were able to easily park the car ($15 for 90 minutes) and walk along the river to both sets of falls. Gorgeous and magnificent, of course. We took plenty of pictures, but we were able to see everything we wanted to see in the hour and a half.

Jack's eyes are kind of closed, but this picture captures the fun we had on this vacation!

Niagara Falls

We then headed back to the US and spent the afternoon and evening with our friend Derek and his family. We went on a driving tour of Buffalo where we learned about Buffalo's industrial beginnings and then toured Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House, built in the early 1900s. The home, particularly when compared to the other homes in the neighborhood that were built in the same period, was impressive in it's unique architectural style, open floor plan, use of natural light, and much, much more. Even as a lay person, it's easy to see why Frank Lloyd Wright was considered a visionary in his time. I recommend the tour if you are ever in Buffalo.

Martin House - Constructed between 1904 and 1905

The last craftsmen left the house in 1907

We had a wonderful time visiting with Derek and meeting his family, but needed to get back on the road, so after a cup of tea we left their home around 8:30pm and headed over the Peace Bridge to Canada.

Our only purpose for going back to Canada was to cut through lower Ontario to get to Michigan. Luckily, we were able to get the second to last motel room in Brantford when we decided to stop at about midnight.  By that time it had been a long day and it is very dark in Canada in the middle of the night.  We were both getting tired and beginning to think we'd have to drive through the night.  We were glad that didn't happen!!

We made it to East Lansing at about 12:30 in the afternoon on Sunday and had time to rummage through a flea market before showing up for a 3rd grade flag football game that Ruth was coaching.  My sister had a couple of assistant coaches helping her out and, as she put it, her team may have been a little "over-coached," but they did dominate the field.  It was a lot of fun watching the kids play and Ruth working work with them.  We spent the afternoon visiting with Ruth and Terry, including taking a walking tour of the MSU campus.  It was great to catch up a little bit, talk about swim camp in October, and to just see my sister for a few hours.  We left East Lansing at about 6:30 and headed south, with the goal to be west of Indianapolis before getting a motel for the night.

The rest of the drive home, I-70 through the Midwest, was just that, I-70 through the Midwest.  We did find one little town that had lots of anitque shops, so we spent a few hours there.  Jack found some great army men buys and I found a few things I liked, too. 

Trip Treasures - some new, some old

Army men!!

We made it home before dark yesterday.

It's good to be home, I guess.  I feel a little sad as I sense us getting back into normal routines, yet I know how important those routines are.  And, yes, we still need to work for several more years.  I'm looking forward to planning our next vacation, already!!


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Location:I-70 west of Indianapolis