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Drive through the Adirondacks to Montreal, QC

June 13, 2012 //
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The prettiest part of the drive through the Adirondacks on SR 3 was east of Tupper Lake, NY because there were streams, old barns, old houses, lakes, lots of thick, lush natural evergreens looking a great deal like Christmas trees all growing wild along the road with mountains!

A lake village

Lake views

General Store circa 1904

Mountain views

Streams!

Old barns!

Interesting old buildings

We drove into a storm when we reached Montreal after driving over six hours. Of course, the bad weather increased as did the bumper-to-bumper traffic as we proceeded toward Quebec to store my pop-up for a couple of days. I was soaked to the bone after detaching it and jumping in and out of the truck a dozen times and exhausted on all levels! Mirjana and I were running behind schedule for  getting Una’s performance on time. As true, devoted moms, we walked furiously toward Una’s school in the pouring rain. Montana and I turned back toward the apartment to unload “stuff”.

After we got settled down for the night, I noticed Montana curled up. As I took her picture, it was if she said, “Don’t even think about waking me up!”

DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

Today, Una and I walked around her neighborhood in a burb of Montreal which reminds me a great deal of the area of New York City where I was in December. This area, however, is prettier and more manicured as they’re not apartment buildings…they’re homes with common walls (townhouses) built as long ago the late 1800’s.

Tomorrow we ALL go and site-see in Quebec City on our way to Charlevoix to camp ON the beach of the St. Laurence River where its fresh water meets the ocean; we’re guaranteed to see whales! BOY, am I excited! I’m slowing coming back to life with all the wonderful love and support from all over the US and Canada. I’m so blessed. Ava really hooked me up with wonderful chirrens!

More to come!

Happy Trails!

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Categories Baby Boomer, Canada, travel

Adirondacks via backroads

June 12, 2012 //
2

We toughed out the tollways from Niagara Falls to get to the good part which starts in Watertown, NY. Mirjana focused right away on a little town on SR 3 called Tupper Lake, NY but because it would add another two hours onto our drive I really wanted to find a place in Watertown. I’d never heard of Watertown and was sure we’d be able to find something affordable. NOT! Every place we called was over $100 just to sleep! I’m getting beyond tired as I hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before and just wanted a shower and a bed but not at such outrageous prices in a noname town.

SR 3 has lots of little lake communities along the route.

Beautiful!

Then we saw the Adirondacks!

Mirjana focused again on Tupper Lake. She went on  hotels.petswelcome.com  and searched Tupper Lake, NY and found a wonderful Mom and Pop place called Park Motel and Cabins, 336 Park Street, Tupper Lake, NY  (www.parkmotelandcabins.com). It’s a quaint lake town which reminds me where I live in the mountains but bigger and a great deal more developed. This motel has probably been around since the 50’s or 60’s but is so well-kept and the proprietors are very friendly, keeping that homey atmosphere you look for when traveling long distances and are over tired. The price was very reasonable as well.

The Park Motel office.

We were very hungry as we’d just smacked the last two days. The proprietor called a local restaurant and confirmed their hours. We drove a couple of blocks down to Little Italy Restaurante & Pizzeria where we found friendly greetings and healthy, fresh food. It’s a must if you’re ever in the vicinity.

Now we’re off to Montreal to go camping and dancing by the fire like gypsies in the moonlight! Boy, do I ever need that!

Happy Trails!

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Categories Baby Boomer, northeast, travel, United States

NIAGARA FALLS, NY THE OTHER SIDE!

June 11, 2012 //
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I FOUND THE REAL NIAGARA FALLS! It’s on the other side of the border! LOL Here goes! I TOTALLY apologize to Canada for saying their side of the Falls wasn’t as good as the American side. However, I will say the American side is all about nature and the park because their views really aren’t as magnificent without hiking down into the bowls of the falls as the Canadian side is from the curb. The Canadians have created a Vegas-like party atmosphere which irritates me because the nature of the Falls is so gorgeous that having all that neon seems to dilute the natural experience. So, for view, drive over the border, for a hike stay on the US side, for glitz and bawdy-hawdy cross the border, for dog friendly park stay in US as Canada’s side is so NOT dog friendly!

There they are! They’re on the Canadian side! LOL

Horseshoe Falls

Then we saw the Maid of the Mist boat drive right into the rainbow!

We were greeted with a complete rainbow into Horseshoe Falls!

Montana even got into the rainbow! She stopped traffic with her posing! Everyone wanted to take pictures of my Hollywood movie star Crazy Lil White Dawg!

Then we received a DOUBLE Rainbow into Horseshoe Falls! A gift from Ava! Look closely to the far right.

When Ava was fifteen, she and I were driving back from Florida. It was dusk and I wanted her to have some experience driving through the back roads. We saw the double rainbow and decided to pull on the side of the road. As she was pulling off, I said, “Be careful and don’t pull off too far…it drops…” Well, it did and we did! The right front of the car was in a ditch. I’m really mad because this is a back road where the curbs are pulled in at dusk and I’ll have to walk to a farm to get someone to get their truck or tractor to help us as there is no such thing as cell phones at this time…not for the general public, anyway! I sternly tell her to keep her bikini clad body IN THE CAR as I start hiking to the nearest farm.

About 500 yards into my hike, I look back at her and she’s doing exactly what I told her NOT to do and I see her perched on the back of the car. Trucks appear out of nowhere to rescue this damsel! I’m relieved but now anxious to get back to her. The men who stopped were wonderful. They pulled us out of the ditch in seconds and we were back on the road.

I believe the double rainbow for Mirjana and me was from Ava. She always wanted us to meet face-to-face and, yesterday, we finally did. Thank you Ava! We love you so much!

Double Rainbow!

Awwww…caught by the magic of a rainbow!

I called this photo “prism” because the falls gets caught between the two rainbows and had a prism-look to it. Darn, I’m good!

Montana had to have her picture taken with the double rainbow too! She stopped traffic again as everyone wanted pictures of this cute pup!

Rainbow in the Maid of the Mist boat!

Daisy and rainbows!

Look closely at the falls…the rainbow colors the falls!

Although the cafe’s in Niagara Falls don’t serve you if you have a dog, they did allow us to sit without service. Montana is protesting!

Me and my pop-up in purple camophlage as any good southern woe-man would be!

Gotta’ run close up the pop-up to head for Canada via Vermont!

Happy Trails!

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Categories Baby Boomer, northeast, travel, United States

From Ohio thru Pennsylvania to Niagara Falls!

June 9, 2012 //
0

The internet reception was so bad at the Toledo, Ohio Motel 6 that it took me until 3:00 AM to get my last blog posted (obviously cracked out on decaf consumed at 6:00 PM) and I woke up at 7:30 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep! Geez! So, up and at ’em finished loose ends and to get going by 10:30’ish.

The drive was pretty unremarkable except for the fact that the Ohio barns (few and far between) did have that Iowa barn look to them. But the minute I got into Pennsylvania, the barns started looking like the ones in Iowa which raises the questions did Pennsylvania move west or did Iowa move east? LOL

Pennsylvania farmland!

This is just for you Shannon! Cleveland!

ONLY in Cleveland have I seen wind energy in a big city! Look to the right!

Huh? Really? In the middle of the city?

The minute I crossed over into Pennsylvania, the terrain changed. Wish you could see the remarkable change better.

There is one of those Iowa barns in Pennsylvania!

For those of you who followed me on my Great Adventure into New York City last December, you know how much I love NYC and how it charges my batteries. Well, understandably, I’d forgotten that until I saw this! And, apparently, it ain’t just NYC that charges my batteries!

Oh, did I tell you I have a “thang” for old bridges? I won’t get on them, that’s for sure, but I do like to look at ’em!

The drive to Niagara Falls on I-190

BIG bridge but not a white-knuckler!

Grand Island KOA view out back of my unit!

Almost sunset

The internet here at Grand Island KOA SUCKS! The people are wonderful and very proactive but it’s taken me HOURS to just download these few pictures (started at 1:00AM last night and now into 2-1/2 hours this morning. What’s going on? Had the same issue at Motel 6 the other night. Are we spoiled or what!

It’s raining and, seein’ as how I’ll get wet at the Falls anyway, I’ll forgo downloading the last picture and take off to do some seeing of the sights.

I’m really praying hard that this trip helps my heart to do some seriously needed healing. Mirjana says I’ve been in Ava’s head too much lately and she’s probably right. She’s on the way tomorrow to rescue me from myself for about a week or so. Now that she mentions it, I think she’s right. My daughter was an opera singer (full lyric) and I’ve been listening to all her voice lessons for the past year (I’m up to 10/19/11 now) and hearing how hard she worked for sheer perfection is SICK. How can anyone be that perfect in FOUR languages not to mention being perfect in every note as well as the period of the piece and the author’s meaning. Seems like t

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Categories life adventures, northeast, travel, United States

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio…oh no! Michigan?

June 8, 2012 //
2

I gotta’ say that I-80 from Nevada to Ohio is either rolling fields of agri crops or huge pasture land for cattle with range of vegetation from scrub to some of the most lush green you’ve ever seen. As you already know, I loved the farms in Iowa and Illinois was similar but not as spectacular.

KOA at Rock Island, Illinois was nice and this was my view from the camper BUT…PLEASE GET DECOY GEESE! The goose poop covered every square inch of my space! Is that why I only paid $30 instead of $45? Really?

Doesn’t it look like Iowa? This wasn’t far from Iowa…as the crow flies…or as I fly! LOL

They scrambled this beautiful farmland with this stuff just like Iowa or was it Nebraska? Which ever, it still looks weird.

Funky lil farms and outbuildings here as there…wherever that was! It’s all a blur now that they all look-alike! Cool picture crooked like it is! LOL

So pretty!

Love old barns…guess you knew that by now tho.

And then…

INDIANA! Notice there are NO pictures of Indiana because there is absolutely NOTHING on I-80 East to take a picture of! It doesn’t matter if you’re driving south to north or west to east…just nothing screams out to my camera. Sorry guys. I couldn’t find one…not even one picture to take in Indiana but the second I crossed over into Ohio, I thought I’d gotten back on the wrong highway again and was in Iowa! The farm houses looked just like the ones there! Incredible!

But first I had to get lost in Michigan which looked a great deal like some of the back roads of Georgia!

Lost in thoughts, I suddenly realized I was in MICHIGAN! WHAT? How did that happen? Oh my  TomTom routed me to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side! LOL Thankfully, I only had to go about six  miles on back Michigan roads to recover. The good news is that I discovered a little piece of Georgia on that back road!

What a pretty little house even if a telephone pole interrupts the view!

This reminds me of some of my favorite back roads which I take going to the Florida panhandle!

THEN OHIO! WHAM! What a contrast to Indiana! Back to the beautiful farm lands of Iowa and Illinois on I-80.

Crooked or not, it’s still beautiful!

The Toll highways surprise this southerner as we don’t have them there. They just don’t seem to be worth the cost. I’m going back roads the rest of the way! Well, maybe not if I-80 doesn’t have a toll for the rest of the way! LOL

 Another thing about Iowa that I meant to mention yesterday is that there is a great deal of construction going along I-80 through Iowa through Illinois and Indiana but the worst part is that there were hundreds of dead deer. So word: DON’T DRIVE AT NIGHT ON I-80 because you’ll either get challenged by the construction or by a deer!

The other part of the story is that my fav Motel 6 has been bought by the company that owns Hilton so I can only hope and pray they get their internet issues corrected where it’s FREE with the room. As the young woman at the front desk said, “It should be free with the room. Heck, even McDonald’s has free internet!” I totally agree especially when it SUCKS as badly as it does in your corporate owned hotels. You franchise units take care of business!

Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to camp at Niagara Falls for the next few days (US side, that is) until crossing the border. I’m so excited! It’s a lifetime dream and this trip is extended because it is a necessity for my sanity since my daughter’s death. I haven’t written about it much because I just can’t do it yet. Just continue to follow me on this healing heart adventure because it feels good knowing my friends are coming along for the ride.

Happy Trails.

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Categories Baby Boomer, midwest, northeast, travel, United States

Colorado Cow Country and Nowhere Nebraska

June 6, 2012 //
0

Didn’t have a clue that eastern Colorado was such a cow palace! It resembled the cattle ranches I saw in Texas (yes, with holding pens).

Wide open country

Then comes Nowhere Nebraska which is ALL green and lush.

It’s really interesting how crossing a state line is so obvious because of terrain or rivers. You KNOW you’re in another state because everything looks so different.

There’s a great deal of agricultural areas in Nebraska. I sure hope they’re not all owned by large corporations. I hope there are still some Mom & Pops around.

Beautiful countryside but make sure you get gassed up before entering Nebraska on I-80! There just aren’t that many places for fuel here.

I thought all the long trains went through Nevada and Colorado! Here’s a neat perspective.

Although there’s some dirt on the car window, I still wanted to add this photo because of the river in the background. Just beautiful!

And, as always, it’s Motel 6 when I need a TV fix or drive too long and have gotten too tired to set up the camper. BTW, most campsites don’t have really fast internet service so it takes forever to download photos. I’m kinda’ liking this Motel 6 because it’s a franchise (instead of a chain) and, although it’s pricier, it’s definitely privately run because of the grounds, location (overlooking a river) and it’s internet service. It’s in Grand Island, Nebraska just in case you’re ever up this way!

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Categories Baby Boomer, northwest, travel, United States

Boulder, CO

June 4, 2012 //
7

Boulder is a thriving, active city with more bicycles per square inch than most other American cities. How do I know, you may ask? Montana thinks they’re ALL something to bark about! She’s bicycle challenged and they torment her everywhere here even when it’s pouring down rain!

Boulder’s air is fresh and the atmosphere healthy. The mountains are remarkable backdrops for any drive as they’re in every picture you take. And, speaking of pictures, something happened with my camera and I can’t download any pictures from my last memory card. Don’t know what’s up with that but I’ve loaded a new one and hope all is well again soon as I leave for Canada tomorrow.

Anyway, I do want to give you all a heads up on a great little place to eat in Lyons, CO not to far from Boulder called Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ & Taphouse and their original location in Estes Park. Their menu is in the two inside pages of a clever newspaper called “The Smoke Ring” which gives a little history of the place and of BBQ in general.

As I enjoy trying several different things, I decided to order the “Dave’s Triple” from the Smokin’ Platters. What I didn’t know is that there would be enough food on the plate for ALL of us! I had beef ribs (which I did not share), brisket and pulled pork. We brought home virtually all of the brisket and pork and ate off it for dinner two days!

Look them up if your ever out this way! Their number is 303-823-RIBS. Bon appetit!

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Categories northwest, travel, United States

Boulder, CO at last!

May 31, 2012 //
2

I really wasn’t going to post anything yet about Boulder but the drive in from Cheyenne had such a great view that I couldn’t resist. I just love snow-covered mountain ranges!

Where the mountains meet the clouds!

Drive down Hwy 36 into Boulder

And, last but not least…

Montana, my traveling sidekick!

This time while I’m in Boulder, I’m actually going to see some of it! I can’t wait!

Happy Trails!

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Categories Baby Boomer, northwest, travel, United States

Wyoming east to Utah to totally miss Flaming Gorge

May 30, 2012 //
9

How in the WORLD do you totally miss Flaming Gorge? I have no clue but that’s exactly what happened today. See, it all started when I found myself in the middle of no where Wyoming needing gas. So, I did the most logical thing which was to find an interstate, which I did. It was either back track 10 miles or go down into a no name Wyoming town 3 miles off the freeway to fill ‘er up (so the sign on the freeway said, anyway).

I drove three miles to find the state route closed. The highway department worker sent me on a detour. That’s the last thing I remember except I kept saying to Montana that nothing looked familiar, which was the way it was supposed to be because I was taking a back road. Then I saw a sign mentioning Flaming Gorge and got all excited but it NEVER showed up. Before I knew it, I was in Green River, Wyoming north of the gorge.

Sure, I coulda’ turned around and gone south through the gorge but I’d already done that three times. I wanted to discover what it was like going north. Oh well. It just wasn’t meant to happen on this trip and quickly resigned myself to the fact that I’ll just have to do it next trip out!

So, here are pictures of the back road I was on!

Wyoming unknown state route going north!

Looks like Nevada!

Snow covered mountains!

landscape changes again

Flying!

more flying

changing terrain again and again

beautiful greens and big rocks

THE END

Tomorrow I leave Wyoming and enter Colorado to see Mandy in Boulder. I can’t wait!

Happy Trails!

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Categories Baby Boomer, northwest, travel, United States

From NW Nevada to NW Wyoming in six hours!

May 30, 2012 //
0

What a change! NW Nevada looks like the craters on the moon with some scrub growing. And, as soon as you get going east on I-80 it changes and changes and changes as does Utah. I ran out of juice on my camera battery by the time I hit Wyoming because I’d taken 150 pictures which all boil down to these.

In this never-seen-by-me stretch of Nevada, I’m trying to show perspective of the same view as I pass by it or to show the perspective of a panaramic view and how it changes all within the same line of vision from stark and craggy to lush and green.

Check out the scrub grass on each side of the road as I approach this mountain range.

And now this grassy area next to the ever-changing mountains and hills.

Then, suddenly, this craggy Monument Valley look.

Then snow-covered mountains, which, btw, I’m heading right toward!

LOVE this perspective! Looks like everyone is driving INTO the mountain!

Up close and personal snow-covered mountain!

Doesn’t it look like I’m flying? LOL

Fell in LOVE with the pinkish peak in the middle of this picture. Now, watch it change!

Pink marble look?

Going East on I-80 about 4’ish…watch what happens to the light next…

What my pink rock sits next to…then

cool shadows appear on the neighboring mountain…

making stripes across it enhancing the vegetation color changes

THEN, I cross the UTAH state line and the whole terrain CHANGES instantly like I’ve gone to another part of the world! It was crazy how it went from this last photo to huge SALT beds. These next pictures were taken in sequence from 3:59 PM Ava Specific Time (a/k/a Pacific Mountain Time) until my camera ran outta’ juice at 7:04PM…just TWO short hours!

Last vestiges of Nevada in the foreground and Utah state line behind it!

Amazing blue sky and HUGE, ENDLESS salt beds on both sides of the road!

Salt in the front and then God threw in some purple mountains for a back drop.

and more salt

on both sides of the road as far as you can see…left and right!

and then some more purple mountains miles, mind you, from the last ones!

Then let’s paint in some water on each side of the road in this massive salt invested area…some really pretty turquoise water!

Then let’s screw with everyone’s head and bring back the salt beds and throw in some really pretty green vegetation covered mountains!

And, 5 minutes later, we’ll remove the salt beds and add some ground vegetation and greener mountains..

And then let’s turn the corrner and find this HUGE lake…could it be Salt Lake?

Then a totally different lake in a totally different environment just minutes down the road from the last one!]

And yet another minute passes and look what I find now!

Then we’re back to the craggy rocky mountain look just when you thought you were in vegi heaven!

And the last shot de jour of Utah looks like the spine of a huge dinosaur!

So, that’s it for today’s adventure! No hiking…only driving…but I hope I’ve shown you a side to Nevada and Utah you’ve never seen before, or, if you have seen it, I’ve given you a whole new perspective of what you saw. After all, as an artist, the first thing they teach you about drawing is to forget everything you think you know about what you see making you focus on seeing in a fresh light.

Tomorrow is my favorite place. This will be the fourth time I’ve gone there. Flaming Gorge, Utah/Wyoming. But, this time I’m dropping back down into Utah to travel through the area south to north as it will totally give me a new experience. I find that traveling west through Zion is so much more interesting than traveling east through it. Just saying.

Happy Trails!

 

 

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Categories Baby Boomer, northwest, travel, United States
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