Day 9

Day 9:  Manistique, MI to Willmar, MN - 538.7 Miles

PS From yesterday's post that I forgot to include.   We were able to check the box that we saw all 5 of the "Great Lakes".  We didn't set out to do that but we will claim the accomplishment anyway!

We still have 5 states that Rudy hasn't been in yet, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North & South Dakota and Montana.    We made good milage today but we hit a hurdle that we didn't count on 'No Vacancy' signs were hung on the hotels that we called in our target today, Aberdeen, SD.    So we stopped in Willmar, MN where we found a room along our route with a promise to hit the road bright and early in the morning.

Before leaving Manistique I wanted to grab a pic of the "Big Boy" that we ate at.  

This is silly but this will be a favorite highlight of the trip I think.   We show up last night around 9:20pm and the three of us all order Breakfast for our supper.  Not saying it reminded me of leaving Bullwinkles and making a run for the Hot Biscuit with friends way back when, but Mom, Dad & I all having breakfast in a small town when we should be having a proper evening meal, sure made me nostalgic for what I guess is the good ole' days.   Some of you reading this will also remember those days.

Driving along the coast Lake Michigan was uneventful although we did enjoy it.  We saw some obvious vacation retreats and some year round residences as well as a few places that time has moved past.

Eventually we enter Wisconsin and I flip a u-turn and grab the Michigan welcome sign that I we didn't see yesterday when we crossed the border.

We are heading towards Green Bay and Lambeau Field,  and for the first time in what seems a very long time we find a "Big Road" and speed limits north of 50 MPH.  

We saw a unique sign for not a historical marker but a Geographical Marker.  Well that was just to much bait for us to pass up, so we stop and read about the 45th Parallel and us being half way between the North Pole and the Equator.

Found the stadium!

From here we headed west towards South Dakota with this as our view for several hours.

We entertained ourselves by spying all the "Quilted Barns" along the road which was treat.  

Unfortunately we arrive Minneapolis-St. Paul just shy of 5pm and are greeted with some heavy traffic but it moved tolerably well enough.  We did get to see the new Minnesota Vikings Stadium going up from from the freeway.  Looks like it is going to be a very impressive facility.

Our plan was still to push towards Aberdeen, SD, so we stop in the town of Litchfield, MN and have dinner at a very nice place where Mom & Dad got breakfast again and I had their fish special.   How is this not good for you?!?!

Well tomorrow we hope to knock out both of the Dakota's and Montana before calling it quits.  Good night from Willmar, MN!

Day 8

Day 8:   Petawawa, ON - Manistique, MI - 526.7 Miles

Today was a primarily a transition day to get us over to the remaining 5 states that he has not visited.   We left the hotel and hit Hwy 17 the "Trans Canada Highway" and pointed ourselves westbound.   The drive was uneventful and looked pretty much just like this for 300 miles.

The closer we got to the towns near the border the more Amish we saw.   I have to complement the demeanor of their horses as I don't think the ones I associated with growing up would have tolerated so much traffic noise in such close proximity being overtaken while they trotted with buggy in tow on the hard shoulder.   

We crossed back into the USA in Sault Ste. Marie and paid a toll of $3.50 for the privilege.   Is every dang road up in this part of the world a frackin toll road????

After the tax was paid the drive continued to be uneventful with not much lookie-loo things to see or do at least it wasn't obvious.     We did see a; Moose, Pourcupine, Coyote and a pair of Sand Hill Cranes (beautiful bird by the way).     We arrived in Manistique, MI secured our hotel and had dinner at a Bob's Big Boy for the first time ever.   What a treat!    

Good night, tomorrow we set off for the Dakota's.

Day 7

Day 7:  Augusta, ME to Petawawa, ON - 468.6 Miles

Well we have reached the eastern most terminus of our trip and are now heading back westbound.  Our target today was Montreal, QC.    We got on the road and was greeted with a cool partly cloudy day with spits of rain that lasted maybe 1 mile for the first hour or so.   We sticked to the smaller roads but it was the most direct route to Canada from Augusta and ended up being one of the more prettier drives yet.

First off we went and found the State Capitol (I mean State House), with Flat Stanley flapping in the wind we did our best to capture the moment.

Just before entering New Hampshire from Maine we entered Grafton Notch State Park, which our route took us through.   From the roadway we saw waterfall and then immediately a parking lot so we pulled off and we explored Screw Auger Falls, where I captured this shot.  

Leaving the park we happened upon our first large wildlife!   

Not too far from the border of Maine we top a hill and see this magnificent white resort type thing on the right side of the road with a marker out front so we stop, turns out we are at The Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville, NH.   Which has the distinction of not only being 150 years old and beautiful but is also the place on the news every election year as the first in the nation to vote.  

Before long we are back into Vermont for just a few miles until we reach the Canada border.  Anyone else thinks this reminds you of the border crossing from the movie STRIPES?

We are used to seeing Chicken Houses being native East Texans' but none us had seen Cow Houses before.  The country side was dramatic in that we were not expecting to see so much agriculture up here.   

We are now just a few miles from Montreal and we start to see signs (in french mind you) that clearly indicate that there is a vinyard up just a little ways.   We don't know what the written word was saying but we all recognized the hanging bunch of grapes and an arrow to the right.   We exit the freeway and run up the small road and wouldn't you know it we found a winery!    We met a most pleasant proprietor of the VIGNOBLE - CHEMIN DE LA RIVIERE and tasted some very nice wines.  But we all agree that Ice Wine is not our favorite.    

From there we left and got back on the big road and as we got closer to Montreal the traffic got worse we lost likely more than 1 hour of sitting in traffic with NO EMBELLISHMENT HERE, the most RUDE, AGGRESSIVE, BELLIGERENT drivers I have ever seen.   I say that as a person who has driven or ridden in a car on 6 continents!  Dianne it was worse than Lima, Peru!   If I see Montreal again it will be too soon!

Our view for what seemed and eternity.  

We finally get west of Montreal and come into Ottawa where we stop and have dinner at a small strip mall diner.  Which was not bad.  I had Poutine and Smoked Meat following a recommendation from a friend and actually liked it.  

We pushed on towards the west with this as our view for what seemed 2 hours, it would just not get fully dark.

We called it quits here in Petawawa, ON.   Tomorrow we are going to try for Lambeau field (or not).

Until next time.

Day 6

Day 6:  Lake George, NY to Augusta, ME - 338.6 Miles.

This morning got off a little later than any of us had planned the night before, but this is vacation after all!   Having loaded the car we left the hotel and took a brief tour of Lake George and then started to head east towards, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, the only three states east of the Mississippi that Rudy hasn't visited before.

We drive down to the waterfront here are views looking left, straight ahead and looking right.

Also on the waterfront we found a bit of history for Landon's Flat Stanley to learn about, Fort William Henry.  A British fort established in 1755, which was also the setting for the book and subsequent movie(s) "The Last of the Mohicans".    No we did not see Daniel Day Lewis

We also found a jolly gent that was not in the North Pole as we thought he is supposed to be.

We stayed off the interstate and had a wonderful drive even if we didn't make great time.   The little towns, lakes and river valleys of Vermont, New Hampshire & Maine.  The scenery was truly amazing and the roads narrow and twisty, perfect for the motorcycle but will do fine for a Honda Pilot.  Just before Vermont we rolled into the small town of Whitehall (Skenesboro), NY the birthplace of the US Navy.   With Dad and I both having served in the Navy we felt very welcomed to the town.   Well not really but it sounded good.

Next was Vermont

Where we found a covered bridge still in use, the plaque on this one read it the oldest and longest still in use today in the state.  

We saw some of the neatest towns on this stretch of the trip.   All established in 1700's well before the Declaration of Independence was signed.   My favorite and a destination for a future trip for certain is Woodstock, VT.      As we continued east we entered New Hampshire but if there was a welcome or a visitors center, we missed it.  But what I did find in New Hampshire was this:

I so wanted to go and knock on the front door and ask for Elwood but I was afraid to.    New Hampshire was beautiful but I didn't really take many pictures, the next image I kept is on us crossing into Maine.  It is official we can check the box for every state east of the Mississippi has been visited by Rudy.

We headed from the New Hampshire border and made our way to the coast toward Boothbay, ME along the way we saw light houses

Saw the famous Bath Iron Works facility,

With me driving and while heading down towards the coastal community of Boothbay, ME I see this cove and just had to turn around.  Problem is there is no pull off point and there is some light traffic so a plan was formulated where mom held the steering wheel while I shot the camera out the drivers window.   

After we arrived Boothbay we chose to head back towards Augusta and get a meal a room.  Not a long distance day but we saw a bunch.

Good night from Augusta, ME  tomorrow Montreal, QC Canada.

Day 5

Day 5:  Niagara Falls, ON to Lake George, NY - 357.8 Miles

Today I was moving slow, I stayed up way too late last night playing with pictures that I took at the falls.   So while Mom & Dad were getting breakfast I was trying to not snore anymore and get up and get ready.

We had planned on making it to Maine today, and set out of Niagara with high expectations.  But that was quickly met with construction detours through Buffalo just across the Rainbow Bridge.    Once we got moving good on Interstate 90, I had the great idea of getting off it and driving down by the "finger lakes" of NY.   So we paid the toll to get off the interstate and I get down to HWY 20 so we can see the local sites.   Well 30 mph speed limits do not permit for distance records and the we get hamlets (towns) and are met with traffic that lasts 2 red light cycles.   I was sorely disappointed in this choice.  

We get to Canandaiqua, NY and my disappointment disappears!   What a neat town, so reminded me of something straight off a movie script.   With wide streets and beautiful old and very large homes, this place is like the places you have seen referenced as the idealized home town USA.

Straight ahead down the main drag was the city marina which had a nice park and a historical marker for us to read.  The lake was, well, quite lake like.  

After staring at clouds and flat water for a bit we chose to leave and look for something to eat, we found it at the top of a hill just east of town, Akroplolis Family Restaurant.   This was neat little family restaurant where Mom, Rudy and I could all find something off the menu to please us.   When we finished eating we continued on HWY 20 until we got bored and turned back for the freeway.   By then the rain has started to fall and it would get worse as we moved forward.

a couple of hours later later and while on the small roads again we find ourselves in torrential downpours on very narrow roads so we decided to pull off and wait out the worst of the rain.  So we had a picnic in parking lot of the new Dollar General just east of Floyd, NY.    

The rain finally lets up some but it is still nasty out and the rain will return many times over the next few hours with a vengeance.    But while its let up we get back on the path that I have plotted on the GPS.   PSA: Review your route before accepting.   As the GPS had plotted shortest distance it took us on a little excursion, this was actually kind of fun as we found roads like this:

Which led me to a bridge with this view:

All in all this was a fun day, even if we didn't put that many miles behind us, we got to see Niagara Falls, the Finger Lakes Region and crossed the Adirondack Mountain park.   Ultimately, water logged and tired, we found a hotel in Lake George, NY that was actually open.  I think ours and maybe one other room is occupied right now.   It turns out that this town doesn't really open for business until Memorial Day weekend.   Yes the entire town.  This is a resort/vacation town, and I swear I hear music and see the setting and the actors from the Dirty Dancing in this town (figuratively).  But the hotel is clean and when I get to our room I wonder if I am on a cruise?

We had a great dinner at Mario's Italian Restaurant and made friends with the staff who were so impressed with our little road trip that they wanted to send us off with something to remember them by, a couple anniversary wine glasses.  

Well I say we made friends, it could be because it is not memorial day weekend and we were like a unicorn or bigfoot walking in tonight, just look at what I mean...

Seriously though, this food was likely a top 5 meal in a decade for me, yes that good!    

Tomorrow is Maine for sure, maybe even Saint Johns, NB time will tell!  Good night from Lake George, NY.