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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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