September 6 - 12, 2009

We were just here for 6 nights and I caught a terrible cold so we spent the first three days not doing anything. We had a good drive into Canada and it only took ½ hour in customs. Since we have a loaded van we weren’t sure how it would go. We drove through Montreal and to an area in the mountains. The small village is called Mont-Tremblant.

The area we stayed is noted for skiing, hiking, biking and lakes.


It is beautiful and the leaves are beginning to change. We enjoyed seeing a red branch among the green.



We took the gondola up to the top of the village.






I found a store like Build-A Bear.

We also found this Adirondack chair. Bob thought it probably had been soaked in water too long and expanded.

We did cross-stitch, read and watched DVD’s. Well, I am feeling better and it wasn’t a bad week, just different.
The travel day to near Barrie, Ontario was about 8 1/2 hours but a pleasant drive.

August 28 - September 6, 2009

We left Rangeley on Friday and spent the weekend with Clif, Anne and Liz in New Hampshire. It was cold and rainy all day Saturday. We had Clif help us with a couple of things on our computers. Saturday Jared, Allie and Landon came for dinner. Sunday was a much nicer day. We still just hung out and visited. We had not seen them since May of 2008 so it was good to spend time with family.

Sunday we drove to Lincoln, New Hampshire which was only a couple of hours. There are no elevators and I figured Bob would have to do a bunch of carrying but our unit had two steps from the parking lot and then right in the door. Praise the Lord. It is getting cool at night but is still warm in the day. The van is finally dried out.

Monday morning Bob went to the activity meeting. I have been doing some reading and catching up on the blog and it was laundry day. We went for smores by the campfire on Monday night. Tuesday we took two different trips with the resort staff.

This is looking across from New Hampshire into Vermont.

The first was called Fall Foliage and Apple Picking. There is no Fall foliage yet but we stopped at 2 covered bridges. This is the Swiftwater Bridge.

The Bath bridge is over 350 feet and is the longest in the country.

We also stopped at a place called Indian Leap. Indians were to jump this to prove their manhood.

We ate lunch at the Windy Ridge Orchard.

Then we each picked ¼ peck of apples right from the trees and got to take them home.

We went to the oldest General Store in the country (Brick Store), received ¼ pound of fudge and also an ice cream cone.

By the time we got back we had only 20 minutes until the next activity. We went to Fadden’s Sugar House and General Store. We heard how they make maple syrup today, saw the equipment and found that this business has been in the family for 7 generations.

And we got to sample the maple syrup.

Wednesday was time for some computer catch-up. We skipped the “make your own bird feeder”. Thursday we went by caravan to the Cog Railway and rode to the top of Mt. Washington.

It is New Hampshire’s highest peak and it took about an hour to ride up. The steep tracks were astonishing and we found that the locomotive wasn’t hooked to the car. It just pushes the car up the mountain.

We were lucky as it wasn’t very windy and was about 52 degrees at the top.

We had about an hour and then boarded for the trip back down.

It was an enjoyable and different experience.

Friday was baking day. I made 2 pies with the apples and tried a new recipe for brownies. I have enough food in the freezer now for most of next week. We are not sure what our accommodations will be like as we have seen some terrible reviews.

Saturday was finishing up the blogs (I am now up to date), doing some laundry and packing. Probably tonight will be our spa night. I will let you know when I post next time. We head into Canada tomorrow for 3 weeks.

August 16 - 28, 2009

We were busy during our 4 full days in Massachusetts. We visited with others at the wine and cheese social and I went to two different spa sessions, one with Beauti Control and the other with Arbonne. We spent one day in Hyde Park, New York visiting the Vanderbilt Historic Site,

FDR National Historic Park

and then the Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Park called Val-Kill.

The FDR site was where he was born, raised, lived and also died. We learned quite a bit. At the Vanderbilt site the park has hired goats from a farmer to eat the vegetation on the hill along the Hudson River.

We enjoyed many fresh vegetables from the road side stands. Eating fresh corn-on-the-cob, BLTs and peach shortcake has been fun.

We didn’t have a full week in Massachusetts but moved on Friday, August 21 to Rangeley, Maine. On our way up through the country we visited the only National Park in New Hampshire which is Saint-Gaudens.

He was a sculptor who is best known for his standing Lincoln.

He had a studio here.

We also learned that he was friends with Chester Arthur French who sculpted the sitting Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.

It rained all afternoon after we had lunch in West Lebanon, New Hampshire and the van started leaking again. We arrived in Rangeley, Maine about 6 p.m. Oh wow, how awesome. We were in a three bedroom log cabin.

The master bedroom and bath were upstairs and there were two bedrooms and bath downstairs as well as a nice kitchen, dining area and living room with a fireplace.

There was a covered front porch with a picnic table and a couple of chairs. We could see Rangeley Lake from the main lodge.

We walked in the mornings down to the lake edge where there was a dock.

It was comfortable and very relaxing all week. I loved to sit in the rocking chair and watch out the big picture window.

The visitor center operates a free moose tour two evenings a week for about 2 hours in the evening just before dark. Since I have been so many places and have never seen a moose we decided to go on Monday night. But it was a bust. No moose and this was the first time with this bus driver. Oh well. Bob & I drove out on our own on Wednesday night and did actually see 3 moose. It was almost dark and we couldn’t take a picture but we did see them. They were females so no large antlers. We didn’t do any other traveling during the week as Bob worked to dry out the carpet of the van. This was one of the first places that I really didn’t want to leave because it was so comfortable.