Adirondacks to Acadia Nat'l Park

September 14-18, 2008

We leave the Adirondacks on September 14. Odile (Lucie's Mom) is visiting from France and scheduled to land in Burlington, VT that evening. After a busy morning spent cleaning the bus and refilling our tanks, we drive to town (Lake Placid) to check our e-mail. We find a stressed-out phone message from Odile who has been rejected from check-in back in Paris for lack of a US address… long story. We deal with that the best we can, before getting a note from Lucie's sister, saying that Odile got on the plane after all!

The forecast looks very good for the next 10 days. We leave our quiet spot at the Lake Placid fairgrounds, and drive to Burlington. We check our mail again and make sure Odile's plane has landed on time in Philly before heading to the airport. She arrives almost on schedule!

We spend the next day in Burlington: checking out the marina, enjoying the outdoor cafes downtown, and stopping by the climbing stores. At the end of the day, we take Odile for a tour of the Green Onion, the local bobo coop grocery store.

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Leaving our improvised camping spot at the Fairgrounds in Lake Placid.
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Driving to Burlington, VT to pick up Lucie's Mom.
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She's flying from France to stay with us for 2 weeks. Her plane arriving in Burlington.
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Lucie and her Mom at the marina in Burlington.
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Downtown Burlington.

September 16: leaving Burlington, heading East. We stop in Vermont's capital, Montpelier, a very pleasant small town. One of the most liberal towns we've seen on the East Coast so far! We park the bus in town and head out with the Jeep to check out a couple of covered bridges along Highway 12, south of town. Later, we drive further east, and stop for the night at a small picnic area by the lake in West Danville.

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Bumper sticker seen in Montpelier, VT, one of the most liberal towns we've come across on the East Coast.
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Can't wait indeed!
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Vermont's state capitol in Montpelier.
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Imposing old houses abound.
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Vermont is famous for its covered bridges.

The next day, we do the tourist thing in the St Johnsbury area. We take a tour of Maple Grove Farm. Really a factory, where they bottle Maple Syrup and manufacture maple candy. W spend a long time in their gift shop afterwards, buying various maple products and maple ice-cream (yum!). We then drive a bit further North towards Lyndonville to check out the small town and more covered bridges. Odile even gets a taste of one of America's favorite pastime - football - as the Lyndonville Academy is hosting a game. It's late when we make it back to Saint Johnsbury. We spend the night by a mall just outside of town.

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Stopping for the night on our way to Saint Johnsbury.
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Early morning by the lake.
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Doing the tourist thing near Saint Johnsbury: visiting the Maple Grove Farm factory.
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Another covered bridge near Lyndonville.
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Driving across New Hampshire...

September 18: we left Burlington two days ago, but we've only driven a third of the distance to Acadia. Our camping reservations start tomorrow... better pick up the pace a bit! We spend most of the day driving across New Hampshire and Maine. We make it through Bangor late afternoon, and continue further before finally stopping at the high school in Ellsworth for the night.

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...near Mt Washington. The leaves are already starting to turn in this area.
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Wish we had seen a real one, instead of...
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...the lollypop version from Maple Grove Farm!
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Driving to Bangor, ME where the presidential campaign...
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...is heating up.