Knightdale, NC (Home)

After a marathon drive from Gettysburg through work areas and traffic jams, we're home again - a month earlier than planned, but home we are. Get ready, Dr. Moore, I'll see you on Monday to hopefully fix my sciatica!

Gettysburg, PA - Day 3

Most of today was spent driving around the self-guiding auto tour of the Gettysfield Battlefield. While we covered a lot of it on our Segway tour yesterday, this time we saw the whole thing. We started at Oak Ridge where we walked to the top of a viewing tower, then on to the Eternal Light Peace Memorial. From there, we went to the North Carolina Memorial, McPherson Ridge, past Pitzer Woods down to Warfield Ridge, Devil's Den, Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Plum Ridge, and many other historic battle sites. It never ceased to amaze us at how people were so willing to give their lives for what they believed in.









Our last stop of the day was back at the RV park where they have the country's largest diorama. This is a miniature display of the entire area showing every battle that occurred during those three days in history. There was a 35 minute long narrated light show using the diarama to document the major battles and their impact on the outcome of the war. Quite impressive for an RV park.

Gettysburg, PA - Day 2

We're doing it again - taking another Segway tour. We spent about 3 hours touring the old community of Gettysburg and most of the Gettysburg National Military Park by Segway instead of by automobile. What an amazing way to see the area! We were the only two on this tour, so we had our own personal guide for the whole 9+ mile trip. We saw many monuments - including one dedicated to the soldiers from North Carolina - and numerous cannons spread out over the enormous park. All along the way, we listened to a recorded explanation of the various battles and heroes of the battles that took place there.

After a late lunch, we walked through the Soldier's National Cemetery and got there just in time to become part of a tour guided by a Park Ranger. One of the things he pointed out was the actual site where Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 (which, at the time, was viewed as one of the worst speeches ever given). The Lincoln Address Memorial monument shown here is about 300 yards from the actual site.

Gettysburg, PA

We're staying at an nice RV park that is literally surrounded by the Gettysburg National Military Park. What a cool place! Once we got the RV settled in, we went over to the park headquarters and signed up for a tour of the Dwight D. Eisenhower farm and home here in Gettysburg. The brick structure on the right was the originl home with the larger white section added later. He and Mamie bought the farm in 1950 and lived in it during his two terms as President and they eventually retired here and enjoyed raising black angus cattle. While a rainstorm kept us from seeing the whole farm, we did tour the house itself that was packed with memorabilia and restored to look like it did when they lived here and saw some of the farm buildings.

Pottsville and Hershey, PA

We started today by driving to Pottsville, PA for a visit to the Yuengling & Son Brewing Company - founded in 1829 making it America's oldest brewing company. The town was so cool, lots of interesting buildings built within feet of the roadway and obviously a very old town. We just missed the 10:00 tour and the next tour wasn't until 1:30 so we opted to move on to our next destination. Oh yeah, no tasting available either...pooh!

Next we went to Hershey, PA where we visited Hershey's Chocolate World. This place is both enormous and very crowded (especially considering that this is a Monday). We took the tour in a carnival-like ride that showed the process of making chocolate without actually showing us the real factory. It was still interesting but seeing the real thing would have been better. There were areas there where you could see a 3D movie or make your own chocolate (for $$) and, of course, the largest chocolate gift shop in the state was all around you. Right next door was a gigantic amusement park but we didn't go there.

Our next stop was the AACA Museum (AACA is the Antique Automobile Club of America) which has one of the largest and nicest collection of antique cars we have ever seen. Out in front they had the Hershey Kissmobile on display. Inside, they had an awesome collection of antique cars, some unique racing cars and specialty cars plus there was a wide variety of old motorcycles and busses - all nicely restored. One of the busses was used in the movie "Forrest Gump." There were even some nice reproductions of an old service station (back when gas was 17 and 6/10 cents/gallon) and an 1950's soda shoppe. It was like stepping back in time. A very nice museum indeed.

Into Canada - Not!

Even before our trip began, I (John) had a nagging problem with my back - mainly with my sciatic nerve - often causing pain to shoot down my left leg when sitting, driving or lying down. I expected it to go away with time. It didn't. In fact, it got worse. Our destination today was going to be the beginning of our stay in Canada. When we found it difficult to get a campsite in Canada (mainly because of no cellphone service and limited WiFi), we agreed that it would be best to head home instead and seek treatment for this problem. We're still going to do some sightseeing on the way home but we'll be getting there a lot sooner than originally planned.

Vermont in a Day

Our first stop today was about two blocks outside of the campground in Whitehall, NY to see Lock C-12 on the Champlain Canal. It is a single lock that raises boats 15.5 feet in elevation from Lake Champlain to the beginning of the canal system.

Then we went to explore Vermont. Stop #1 was at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory in Shelburne, VT where we were treated to a guided tour of the operations where they make over 1,000 teddy bears per day. We even saw the Vermont Teddy Bear Hospital where owners may send their damaged bears to be repaired.







Stop #2 was at the Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington, VT where we did yet another beer factory tour and sampled their fine brews. Their bottling operation was going full speed and producing more beer per minute than I could drink in a day!

Stop #3 was at Lake Champlain Chocolates in Burlington, VT where we missed the factory tour by just a few minutes. We did spend time (and money) in their gift shop where we stocked up on some delicious chocolates to snack on.

Stop #4 was at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury, VT. While they weren't making ice cream that day, we took the factory tour and, surprise, sampled some Imagine Whirled Peace ice cream (Susan's favorite). We also saw their Ice Cream Graveyard where headstones describe the various flavors that are no longer with us.

Whitehall, NY

We spent a few nights at a nice little campground and marina located at the other end of the Erie Canal off of Lake Champlain. Right outside of the campground was a plaque proclaiming this to be the Birthplace of the United States Navy. The first fleet of Navy ships were built here in 1776.

We drove north to see Fort Ticonderoga, first built by the French in 1755 and first used to attack their English rivals. In 1758, the English took it over but Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys captured the fort in 1775. After the wars, it was abandoned and fell into ruins until purchased and restored in 1909. The fort has many old cannons and displays of historic relics. There were also some docents dressed as French troops who gave tours and displays of musket and cannon firing. We then drove to the top of neighboring Mount Defiance for an interesting view of Fort Ticonderoga from above.

Cooperstown, NY

Cooperstown...hmmm, where have I heard that name before?...think baseball...oh yeah! We started our day in Cooperstown by visiting Doubleday Field (built in 1839) where baseball was first played. From there, we went down the street to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. There, we saw exhibits and read all about famous ballplayers like Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Lou Gehrig, Pee Wee Reese, Hank Aaron and the various teams and their interesting history. If you like baseball, you gotta see this place.




On the way back, we stopped in at the Ommegang Brewery (who specialize in brewing Belgian style beers) and took a tour of their brewery. Of course, there was a beer tasting event afterwords. We also stopped in to visit the Cooperstown Brewing Company and enjoyed even more fine beer samples. What a nice day - yesterday we learned about making glass and today we found something good to fill a glass with. ;-)

Corning, NY

Today, we drove down to Corning, NY on a route that, most unfortunately, took us past Watkins Glen Raceway. It was unfortunate because rain had delayed the big NASCAR race that weekend so it was held today. What a traffic jam! Thanks to Jill (our faithful GPS) we were able to take some back roads around the town.

When we finally reached Corning, we visited the Corning Museum of Glass. What a cool place and it is absolutely huge! It is loaded with some of the most awesome glass sculptures (this one is life-sized) and glass art ever assembled plus interesting displays of glass artifacts that were used to explain the progress of making things from glass over the centuries and we watched a demonstration of custom glass blowing.



We then took the free tour bus to the Rockwell Museum which had an extensive collection covering three floors of western and Indian art. Very nice indeed. We drove home on the other side of Lake Seneca, one of the Finger Lakes, to avoid the Watkins Glen traffic. Beautiful scenery in this area (as it is in most of northern NY).

Waterloo, NY

After arriving in Waterloo, we started playing tourist again. Our first stop was at the National Women's Hall of Fame located in Seneca Falls where we read plaques describing the various women and the reasons they were chosen to win this honor. Susan even knew one of the women, Gertrude Elion, whom she had met while she was President of the Raleigh Business and Professional Women's organization.

From there we walked down the street to visit the Women's Rights National Historical Park Visitor Center where we read all about the full history of women's rights.

We then drove back to Waterloo and stopped at the National Memorial Day Museum. Unfortunately, it was closed for the day. We had been told about this historic event while at my Navy reunion - yes, John Grimmke, you were right! ;-) On May 5, 1866, the residents of Waterloo held the first complete community-wide observance of Memorial Day to honor the Civil War dead in a solemn and patriotic manner. This would have been an interesting visit if it was open. Oh well...

Lockport, NY

Our travels today took us to the city of Lockport, NY where we toured the Erie Canal Locks 34 and 35 and the Lockport Cave. There are actually two locks paired side by side. The oldest had five locks that raised boats 10 feet per lock. They completed in 1825 but were too narrow and took over 8 hours to traverse so the newer and wider two-lock system was built around 1910. These locks raise boats and barges 25 feet per lock in a matter of minutes. We watched as several boats went through the locks and it was a surprisingly fast and smooth operation.








Then we went on a tour of the Lockport Cave that started out as a tunnel that parallels the Erie Canal. It was built to flow water through it to power several manufacturing businesses back in the 1800s using the hydraulic power of the water to run its machinery. Our guide explained how the tunnels were blasted out at a rate of about 1 foot per day. It took a long time to complete. Most of the 'blasters' were 10-12 year old boys because they could run from the blast area faster than older men. Talk about child labor laws! ;-) At the end of the tunnel walk, we boarded a small boat for a ride through the flooded part of the tunnel. A very intersting trip indeed.

Niagara Falls, NY

We had a few days of relocation travel which took us down through the Lower Peninsula of Michigan into Port Huron for the night, then crossing through lower Canada to get to the Buffalo, NY area where we'll spend the next few days.

On our first day here, we just had to go see Niagara Falls. Wow, what a place!! We started on the American side where we first viewed the falls from the Prospect Point viewing area. We could only see part of the Canadian falls from there but the power and beauty of the American Falls were absolutely breathtaking! Look carefully at the bottom of the picture and you can see folks walking up to the base of the falls (as we did later).

We then donned the traditional blue plastic ponchos (to help keep us dry) and boarded the Maid of the Mist boat for a half-hour tour past the American Falls to the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. The mist from the Horseshoe Falls was unbelievable - rising hundreds of feet into the air and we rode right into it! So cool - literally! ;-) After getting back to shore, we used our ponchos to explore the bottom of the American Falls.









We then walked across the bridge and entered Canada to explore the falls from their side. We started with lunch at the Secret Garden Restaurant (sitting outside with an awesome view of the falls and the beautifully flowered and gardened main street). Then we went to Table Rock where we stood in awe watching the magnificence and power of Horseshoe Falls. With the sun behind us, we were treated to a beautiful rainbow in the mist of the falls. We enjoyed watching the Maid of the Mist treating other tourists to a shower (this picture shows the boat entering the area).









Then we took the Journey Behind the Falls tour. This involved donning yet another poncho (yellow this time) and, after taking an elevator down about 150 feet, walking through tunnels beneath the falls and emerging at several viewing areas to watch the torrents of thundering water fall from the back side. Only one viewing area took us outside and the view there was a wet one as were were mere feet away from the edge of the falls. We were sure happy to have the ponchos on. We then walked back to the good ol' USA after spending one of the most awe-inspiring days of this trip and taking almost 100 pictures. We'll sleep well tonight...

Mackinac Island, MI

After a morning of rain, we drove down to St. Ignace, MI and boarded a hydro-jet ferry out to Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw). What a neat place! No cars, no motorcycles, no motorized anything. . .just bicycles and horse-drawn carriages on the whole island. We boarded a two-horse carriage ride that took us past the Grand Hotel (and it is really grand) to the Surry Hills Museum. As we left the museum, we boarded another carriage (this one with three horses) for a long tour around the island. Along the way, we saw the island's cemetery and stopped for a few minutes to see Arch Rock before taking us to Fort Mackinac. There, we were greeted by a docent who was an officer's wife from the early 1800's who explained a lot about the history of the fort. We then entered and toured through the many restored buildings and watched a demonstration of gun firing by some men dressed as period soldiers. The view from the fort was awesome as the town and harbor lay at the base of the hill. We then walked down to the town and played tourist - buying T-shirts and some delicious chocolate fudge. Another ferry trip to the mainland and we had dinner and drove back to the RV. What a fun day!

Sault Ste Marie, MI

We arrived in Sault Ste Marie yesterday and spent the afternoon touring the downtown locks area and visitor's center. We watched from an elevated walkway while a 750+ foot long boat (yep, they call ships 'boats' on the Great Lakes) loaded with iron ore entered a lock and watched it get raised 21-feet to exit onto Lake Superior.

Today, we boarded a much smaller boat (with Soo Locks Boat Tours) for a two-hour cruise through the locks. As we left the pier, another one of those little 750+ foot long 'boats' was entering one of the locks. After cruising around the St Marys River and seeing some of Canada's sights (and seeing our RV from the water) for a few minutes, we entered the lock next to the big boat. The lower lock gate closed and the water level raised us up 21-feet in elevation in about 10 minutes. Then the upper lock gate opened and we entered Lake Superior followed closely by the big boat. We were shown a large steel mill in Canada then we entered one of the Canadian locks to descend 21-feet and return to our pier. What fun! BTW, the high temperature today will be 68 degrees. I never expected to be wearing a coat in early August. Really cool. . .

After lunch, we drove out to Whitefish Point along the shores of Lake Superior and went to see the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum where, among other things, we learned about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and saw the ship's bell recovered from the wreck. We toured the museum, lighthouse and the keeper's home. Over 550 shipwrecks have occurred over the years in the waters around Whitefish Point. Makes me glad that we were on land. ;-)

We weren't finished yet. Our next stop was Tahquamenon Falls State Park where we walked along some long wooden bridges and paths to see both the Lower and Upper Falls. They were quite beautiful despite the brownish colored water (mainly from dissolved tannic acids from woody debris upstream). A lot of walking but all that beauty made it all worth while. We'll sleep well tonight.