Camping with the Browns

The last day of school for the year was June 11th, and that was also the first day of three camping trips this summer to Pinegrove Campground and Cottages in Medway.  Kate, Wesley and I are going up twice, this weekend and Labor Day Weekend, and then our week with the big's in July.  

This weekend the Browns, Nikki, Justin, & Chloe joined us on your adventure.  We rented our normal cabin and they rented the big cabin.  The big cabin is very nice with a full kitchen, full shower, larger loft for sleeping.   However the fire pit are faces another campsite and you are essentially face to face with other people who are enjoying their fire.  The fire pit area of the cabin we rent continues to be far superior.

We worked half a day and then headed north, initially we weren't going to stop and get Chick-Fil-A, but we did, cause it's delicious.  We arrived at the campground about 10 minutes after the Browns.  I love the check in style, we roll up and the owners are standing outside, "Welcome back, keys on the table, we'll bill the card."  from the deposit.

We decided to get Pizza the first night, at River's Edge Motel and Pizza....well now called River's Edge Motel and Restaurant.  Since we had last been there the year before, many business expanded.  River's Edge, the Chinese restaurant, the ice cream place expanded, and Lennie's Superette built a large new location across the street and down the road  bit.  

Justin and I headed out to buy wood, bug spray, charcoal and pick up the pizza.  I had to explain to Justin how everything changed.  The pizza, of course, was outstanding!  We had a nice evening, went to the playground, threw rocks in the water, enjoyed the campfire.  Much needed relaxation.

Saturday Kate and I got up early to enjoy the morning fire, once the Browns surfaced she made us all big breakfast.  Once we got going we headed to the playground where the kids, and adults but mostly kids, enjoyed the apparatuses.  We decided to head down to the beach and ended up spending many hours down there.  At first I went and got the chair, and then Nikki & Justin went back to the campground and made sandwiches for lunch.  

The kids had a wonderful time at the beach, made some friends, and spent a lot of time in the water.  Wesley even got a leach on his foot, it was a small one and I took it right off.  It didn't phase him a bit he just headed back into the water.  

We left and went and got an ice cream at the shop and then headed back to the campground to clean up.  Wesley had sand everywhere!  Justin and I headed out to get more wood and to look at the knife shop.  We ended up at Lennie's and bought a bunch of small bags of the new Lay's chip flavors for a sampling party.  

Kate cooked up chicken and a grate cover we found for the firepit, it worked very well and the chicken was delicious!  We spent a lot of time down at the water skipping rocks and throwing rocks.  Wesley's favorite past time at the campground.

Justin also was giving Chloe a shoulder ride and Wesley and piggy back ride at the same time, I certainly wouldn't do that.  The kids had fun with morning glories and sparklers, and burned me several times with them.  

Wesley spent the night at the Brown's cabin, they had plenty of beds after all.

Sunday morning Kate made us all a big breakfast and then after we slowly tore down camp leaving right near the check out time.  We had a round of skipping rocks first, of course.

We were a bit nervous that we oversold how awesome the campground was and that it wouldn't live up to the hype, however the Browns loved it, and we'll be going back again.  

Next month we come back with the bigs for our week at the camper!

Until Next Time!

Moxie Falls

Monday July 5th was the best day of the long Holiday weekend.  We didn't have anything planned but we need to get out of the house.  Canaan needed new sneakers so we looked at what we could do near a New Balance outlet and decided on Moxie Falls.  The bigs haven't been since 2012, we went a few years ago, maybe five.  

We headed north and it was a nice drive all the way to the Forks.  The parking area was pretty empty when we got there.  After bug spraying up we hit the trail!

The weather was gorgeous!  It's a 3/4 of a mile hike in, and out of course, to the falls.  It's a well groomed trail that near the falls has wooden stairs and platforms leading down.  You can hike down to the bottom of the falls, but the hike up isn't worth it.  

There are areas along the top of the falls that you can walk down to.  Addison put her feet in the water and Canaan and I skipped some stones.  It was really nice.  On the walk out we passed a lot of people coming, and some really big groups too!  Back at the trail head the parking area was packed!

We headed down to Berry's General Store, the plan was to get some sandwiches and go to the rest area and eat them at the picnic tables and Canaan and I could cast a line in the Kennebec River just up from where it meets Dead River.  However, Berry's lunch counter was closed so instead we just grabbed some beverages.  They recommended Northern Outdoors for lunch.

Northern Outdoors is a hotel, cabins, brewery, restaurant, that also offers outing adventures like whitewater rafting.  We got seated outside under and umbrella, so we were in the shade at a nice table and as I said the weather was perfect.  After we ordered the kids and I played some games in the game room.  Pinball, air hockey, racing game, and crane games.  It was fun!  Both Addison and Wesley played pinball for the first time ever.  I honestly can't believe Addison had never played pinball before!

It was expensive, but the food was excellent!  We all really enjoyed out meals and left happy.  Canaan and I had a burger, I passed on the bun, Addison poutine, Wesley chicken tenders with french fries for $6 (that's how he ordered) and Kate a spinach and blueberry salad with grilled chicken.

On the way south we stopped at a 45th parallel marker that doesn't list it as one, it just says it's halfway between the North Pole and the Equator, which is the 45th parallel.  Kate and I like to check these out.  We've seen them in two countries even!

Next stop was at the Robbins Hill Scenic Overlook in Solon, it's pretty good.  What I really wanted was to take a picture of this sign about entering the Old Canada Road Scenic Byway, but there wasn't a safe place to pull over.

We got an ice cream at Gifford's in Skowhegan, and concluded the trip stopping at New Balance and picking up Canaan a pair of sneakers.  

It was a really fun day and it was nice to get out after a rainy Fourth of July weekend.

Until Next Time!

 

Cascade Stream Gorge Adventure

Kate and I bought hiking boots back in March, we spent a good penny on them to, and today was the perfect day to really test them out. Kate, Wesley, and I packed a nice picnic lunch and headed out towards Northern Franklin County.

Our first stop was an impromptu one Winterberry Farm in Belgrade.  Located on Route 27 it is an organic farm that has been in operation for 21 years.  We paid a nominal fee to tour the farm and Wesley loved it, his favorite part were the chickens and Eastern Mountain Quail.  They also had horses, sheep, and cows, in fact it was sheep shearing day.

Our next stop was at the Cascade Stream Gorge trail in the Rangeley area.  The short road to the trail head parking area is very steep, but Vanna made it up.  There was only two other vehicles there.  From what we read about the trail it was 1 mile loop, but we discovered that it is also part of the Fly Rod Crosby Trail and that it's marked, but not as clear as it could be.  It says the loop is a mile and once we got home and I looked at the trail map online I can see it, but out there we couldn't.

Our hike ended up being over two miles, we loved it and Wesley was a real trooper!  The trail varied from clear to rocky ledge, it was difficult at times but not dangerous at all.  It was really a lot of fun and one we will do again.

The gorge was beautiful with several waterfalls of varying sizes.  On the hike out we stopped and had a picnic lunch, the weather was gorgeous and there was nice breeze.  The bugs were not an issue at all which is another plus.

We headed out towards Rangeley and stopped at a scenic overlook we had never seen before.  The plan was to go to Quill Hill but it was not open for the season.  A road we took we had a sign that said "This Road Property of the US Navy", which we found odd.  Turns out it's the Navy's only cold weather Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training school is located here in Maine, just outside Rangeley.

We went to the New Portland Wire bridge where Wesley got his feet, and more, wet in the Carrabassett River.  

We headed home finishing the day with a 220 mile drive.  Can't wait to continue going on these hiking adventures all summer.

Until Next Time! 

October Vacation!

 This year Kate and I pushed our fall vacation back to October during Indigenous Peoples Day week so we only had to use four vacation days.  Our vacation technically started at 5pm on Friday October 9th when Kate got out of work.  Last minute we decided to kick off vacation right a head to the drive-in for a little Casper the friendly ghost, 1995 live action style.

Addison spent the night at her friends house to it was Just Kate, the boys and I.  I popped us up a bunch of corn and we headed out right after supper getting there five minutes before the 6:50 pm start time.  I hadn't seen the movie in years and had forgotten most of it, we all enjoyed it but Wesley love it! 

Saturday the 10th we, Andrew, AJ, my three kids and I, headed back to the Wiscasset Speedway for Fall Fury, the final races of the year.  There wasn't as many people as I thought there would be but there was still plenty of people there.  You can read all about it on my other blog: Another Saturday Night at the Racetrack.

On Sunday Mom & Hartley were taking Canaan golfing again, but we headed down to Litchfield early so Canaan, Hartley, and I can get some fishing in at the culvert.  We cast our lines for over an hour but no one brought anything other than weeds in.  I also caught three sticks, one was like four feet long.  

I got back home in time to help Bob install the new kitchen sink, it's a beauty.  John and I recorded episode 233 of our podcast that night.

Monday was relaxing day as Kate and I got things ready for our trip to Vermont.  Canaan's last day of golf was also a meet against Waterville.  I followed Canaan and his group along to watch them play, let me tell you I got some steps in.

It was fun to see them play, Canaan won his match by five strokes, 63 to 68.  

Tuesday the 13th Kate, Wesley, and I headed out to Vermont for your three night getaway.  We were going to stay four nights, but Emma and Caleb are coming up for a visit and we'd rather spend time with them.  It basically rained all day so planned stops on the ride over were switched because of the rain.  

We took 95 into Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then took route 4 to Concord.  We had planned to stop and check out the capital building but with the rain we decided not too.  We will come back with all the kids sometime as there are many cool shops we could check out along with capital, and museums.

We took Route 9 out of Concord all the way to Vermont.  We stopped in Hopkinton, New Hampshire at the Cracker Barrel Store where Kate got a chicken salad sandwich for lunch that she said was excellent.  

We drove by the Stone Arch Bridge and decided to turn back and check it out.  The rain had let up a bit so we could go down and explore for a bit.  

It's located along route 9 in Stoddard, New Hampshire.

Our hotel, The Covered Bridge Inn is located just over the line into Vermont in between a Wendy's and a McDonald's.  Our room was nice, a king size bed and a fireplace for ambiance, microwave, fridge, and comfy chair.

Once we got checked in we decided to go to Grafton Village Cheese Company, they were not making cheese when we got there, but we checked out the area where the cheese is made.  Everything was priced extremely high, I ended up buying a 4oz block of two year aged cheddar for $6, I've always wanted to try it.

Our next stop was at Scott Farm Orchard, located down a dirt road on Black Mountain.  They have many variety of heirloom apples that I have never heard of before.  After looking them over I ended up buying a few Blue Permain apples. 

I ate one straight away and it is really good!  Crisp and juicy, yet firm.

We drove down to the Brattleboro Co-Op to check out some of the prepared foods.  This is a wonderful co-op with a huge variety of fresh and packaged foods.  It looks like if we weren't in Covid right now they would have a wonderful salad bar and other prepared foods.  Kate did buy a few things to eat in the room later.  Also they were selling Grafton Village 2 year aged cheddar for half the price!  a block just over 8oz was $5.29!!! That really irks me!  Incidentally the cheese tasted awesome. 

The final stop before heading back to the room was at Hannaford to get some snacks and what not.  The hotel would normally have a continental breakfast, but because of Covid they are not.  

Wednesday morning we got out of the room a little after nine in the morning and took Route 5 North to Norwich and King Arthur Baking.  Route 5 is part of the Connecticut River Scenic Byway.  We stopped at Harlow's Sugar House in Putney where we bought some a tin can of Maple Syrup.

We stopped at the waterfall along Route 5 that we only noticed because I had my window down a bit when we drove by and we heard it.  I can't find a name for it, there was a sign marking Bridge 53 US-5 but I can't find anything on the internet.

We got to King Arthur just after noon, Kate's class started at 1pm, so we had time to grab lunch at the cafe and check out the store before her class.  

Wesley and I left her and headed to the closest McDonald's to get the boy some nuggets and then over to VINS: Vermont Institute of Natural Science Nature Center.  Founded in 1972 it's primarily a bird rehab center and feature several exhibits of raptures and a few nature trails. 

Wesley and I explored two of the three trails and the forest canopy walk, which is an elevated walkway about 50 feet above the forest floor and a tower that brings you a 100 feet above the forest floor.  We had an awesome time and Wesley loved it!! I even bought him a stuffed Horned Owl at the gift shop.  

We spent just over two hours there and then headed back to get Kate.  She made some AMAZING pretzel treats, standard pretzels, cinnamon sugar pretzels, and stuff pretzel rolls I had feta and spinach.  Everything tasted so good!

When we got back to Brattleboro I got some french fries at Fast Eddie's, they cut the potato with an apple slicer so they are unique shaped and they taste so friggin good!  Kate got dinner at a Thai food truck she had read about and then we stumbled upon.  She loved it. 

We had a nice relaxing evening at the room.  

Thursday morning we hit the road taking Route 9 or The Molly Stark Scenic Byway which runs from Brattleboro to Bennington.  Along the way we stopped at the Hogback Mountain scenic overlook.

This road also runs right through the bottom of the Green Mountain National Forest.  It was an absolutely beautiful drive and the foliage had areas where it was full and rich and areas where it the trees were barren.

Our first stop in Bennington was at the World's Tallest Ladderback Chair which is in the parking lot of the Tri State Credit Union.  The employees waved at us from the drive thru window and one of them came out and brought Wesley a box of crayons and a stress ball that changes colors with temperature.

We drove over to the Bennington Battle Monument, it was closed, however if it had been open we could have ridden the elevator to the top.

Our next three stops were all Covered Bridges Silk Road Bridge, Paper Mill Bridge, and Henry Bridge

Silk Road Bridge

Paper Mill Bridge

Henry Bridge

We drove into New York and we saw a version of New York that we had never seen before.  Rolling country sides, farms, mountains, and more.  We went to the Bennington Battlefield State Historic sight in Hoosick Falls.  

Fought on August 16, 1777 A combination of Militiamen from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts defeated British forces in what is considered a turning point in the Revolutionary War.  It was pretty surreal looking at the battlegrounds and reading about the battle.

We drove down to a place I read bout Big Moose Deli to get lunch but it was closed.  I asked someone across the street at a thrift store if she knew of any place to get something to eat and she didn't have much to offer, said there was a few places in Williamstown, Mass which was on the way to our next stop. 

Turns out Williamstown is home to William College which opened in 1793, it's a big college town.  We parked downtown and went to the Spring Street Market & Cafe.  Kate got The Purple Beast and I got Happy Chick, both amazing sandwiches.  

We all grabbed a pee wee ice cream at Lickety Split, and it was wicked good!  They serve Herrell's Ice Cream based out of Northampton, Mass.  Wesley chocolate, Kate cookie combustion, and I had burnt sugar n' butter.  

We drove up to the top of Mount Greylock mountain, the highest point in Massachusetts 3,491 feet which is the home of the Veterans War Memorial Tower, built in 1932 and standing 93 feet tall.  The drive up we some of the prettiest foliage of the whole drive. 

The drive down, well it was a bit rough on Vanna's breaks but we made it.  We then took a section of the Mohawk Trail Scenic Byway, Route 2, across to Greenfield.

We stopped at a tourist trap Shelburne Falls featuring a 20 foot tall big Indian.  We did grab Addison a couple small things toward Christmas.  

Our final stop of the day was in Greenfield at Poet's Seat Tower, built in 1912 and made of sandstone.  Wesley and I went all the way to the stop and got a very lovely view.  Kate only made it to the third floor, she had an issue with heights.  

We stopped back at the Thai truck for Kate to get dinner again, I can't say enough how amazing it smells outside that truck. I had the other half of my sandwich, it was still amazing.

Friday we got on the road early and we faced rain the entire ride home.  In fact at one point on I-91 in Northern Vermont it seemed like actually drove into a rain cloud.  We drove into blackness and it was raining and we drove right out of it.  It was a frigging rain cloud.  

We were headed to Polly's Pancake Parlor for a late breakfast, greatest pancakes ever!  About an hour away Kate called and put our name on the list, they don't do reservations but they do call ahead seating.  At 9am they already had a 45 minute to an hour wait.

We arrived just before ten and Kate went and got our buzzer, ten minutes later we were seated.  Polly's is always a hot ticket, but with social distanced seating it makes the wait even longer.  When we arrived the wait was 75 minutes. 

Wesley got french toast and bacon, I got the three pancake half stack with bacon and sausage, Kate got a three pancake platter with bacon and eggs, plus potato pancakes.  I also got a drink called a maple steamer, it's steamed milk with maple syrup and whipped cream.  I am not a hot drink, drinker and I'm pretty sure the last hot drink I had was the last time I was at Polly's.

My pancakes were oat buttermilk, buckwheat, and gingerbread with walnuts.  Hot damn they were amazing!  After an outstanding breakfast we went Harman's County Store to get their own cheese, this time I got two pounds of their 2 year aged cheddar.  I'm telling you their cheese is THE best!  Their four year is even better.  

We continued our ride home going over the Kancamagus highway into Conway, New Hampshire before crossing over into Maine.  We didn't stop until we got home.  We drove through rain all the way, but it wasn't that bad, it didn't start to pour until we turned onto our street, of course!

It was an awesome three night trip to Vermont, we did some great exploring, and drove 825 miles in the process.

We still have two full days of vacation left in which we will spend time with Kate's sister Emma and her husband Caleb who are up visiting for the first time in a long time. 

Saturday night we went to Jesse's and had an outdoor movie night of Hocus Pocus.  There was a fire, but it was tough to keep it going because the wood was wet and the temperature got down to 38 degrees so it was a chilly night, but we had a good time!

Sunday morning Kate made a big breakfast for everyone and we had a night restful afternoon after a full week.  I did run Canaan out to my mom at the golf course so they could play a round of golf.

Until Next Time!