NE Trip 2016
Day 10 - Tue Sep 6 2016 (Janice's Birthday)

Our hotel had an electrical problem so we had breakfast at a place a block away owned by the same company.  Much better breakfast.

Turned out to be a very overcast morning - maybe due to the remnants of Hurricane Hermine.  We wanted to hit the loop road around Acadia again.  We started out doing it, ending up at Thunder Hole.  

 A pond on the Loop Road with the fog rolling in.

Rough water off the Maine coast, probably caused by hurricane Hermine.

Then we decided to just move on to Portland - a 3 1/2 hour drive.
We go into Portland about 5, settled in and walked to a place called BLUE.  Cool little cafe/coffee house with live music - and great fresh homemade Maine blueberry pie.  On the walk, we passed a circle of musicians in a little park.  Fiddles, bass, banjos etc.   We stopped to listen for a few minutes.  Very cool.

NE Trip 2016
Day 9 - Mon Sep 5 2016 (Labor Day)

Had breakfast in the motel cafe.  Well... it was a place with tables and chairs where the hotel provided hard boiled eggs, some cereal and pastries.  Not great, but okay.

Then we went to Acadia National Park.  We hiked around the Jordan Pond.  We did this about 15 years or so ago with the kids.  Took us about 2 hours!  The hike was beautiful (see pics) but we forgot there are a few rocky/boulder sections that aren't the easiest to get by.  There was also a rather long stretch where the path was split logs, flat side up and laid end to end.  Sometimes a little narrow

This is from the north end of Jordan Pond.  If you look closely, you can see a gap in the foliage at the far end.  That's where the Jordan House is.

Our reward after the hike...

Jordan House Lunch.

Then we took a walk around Bar Harbor in the daylight...

Porcupine Island







Bar Harbor

BA HA BA (Bar Harbor)

a cruise ship leaving Bar Harbor

A real photographer taking real photos!


LOB-STAH (Lobster) traps!









A place we had dinner..

Something that reminded us of home...

A funny sign...



Tomorrow... more of Acadia (?), then on to Portland!

NE Trip 2016
Day 8 - Sun Sep 4 2016


So today we left Quebec City and headed out to Bar Harbor.  We knew it would be a long ride - almost 7 hours!  Before we left Quebec City we stopped at the Farmer's Market catty-corner to where our hotel was.

Very nice market...

Old Quebec City Farmer's Market

It was a little out of the way, just a few miles, but we also went to see the Montmorency Falls before heading out for Bar Harbor...

Montmorency Falls from the Park entrance.

Hard to see it here, but there's a wooden staircase to the right of the falls.  See picture below.

Selfie at Montmorency Falls

The wooden staircase to the right of the falls.
No... we didn't climb the 487 steps!







Pulled into out hotel/motel in Bar Harbor about 8:00 PM.
We waited to eat dinner, so ate at a place across the street called Blazes (I think).  Ate at the bar.  Walked down to the water, but it was too dark so we actually turned back about a block from the water.

NE Trip 2016
Day 7 - Sat Sep 3 2016

Breakfast this morning was outside our room hanging on a little peg by the door.  It was an insulated bag that contained a couple of croissants with a raisin type filling. Delicious.  There was also Orange juice and a couple of muffins.  Coffee was in the room.  Very nice, but no protein.  We knew we'd have to eat something else in a little while.
We walked to the Petit Champlain area - A few square blocks of very European-like shops and restaurants.  Pics to come at a later time.
We will always remember today as the Day of the Plains of Abraham.
The girl from last night said we should definitely see it.  She said to walk i would be maybe 45 minutes.  She might have been right, but she forgot to mention the hill we'd need to climb.  Actually we may have misunderstood.  We followed the St. Lawrence.  Very nice walk, but we started to get tired and realized the Plains of Abraham were on the other side of the mountain. We stopped at a little store.  The proprietor didn't speak English very well (better that our French) and we left there thinking we had to head back south then turn west, then climb the mountain.  We ran into a couple from Montreal who were looking for the same access to the PofA.  He seemed to know where he was going so we followed him.  After much more walking in the original direction we were heading, we found the park access.  We ended up in a very nice section of Quebec.  Not sure if we missed anything to do with the PofA, we were too tired to really explore.  We started out walking back towards Old Quebec.  We discovered a pretty cool few blocks - restaurants and shops, people walking around with bottles of wine - not opened, but not bagged either.  We continued our walk and decided to grab the next city bus.  We got on and asked if it was going to Old Quebec.  Nice driver - he said it was just 3 stops ahead and let us on without paying.  He saved us maybe a kilometer or two of walking.  He dropped us off about a 10 minute walk from our hotel.  We ended up walking more than 10 KM today - a lot of hills thought.  
But the day wasn't over.  We stopped and had dinner at a Greek place a block from our hotel.  We stopped at teh room before heading back to the circus performance.  In the room, I couldn't find my phone.  We called it and Janice thought someone answered, so she ran back to the Greek place to see if it was there.  I tried not to panic.  Turns out it was in her purse.  Like I said, we were tired.
We walked the half mile or so to the circus venue and made it in tonight - after waiting on line for about an hour!  Pretty cool show - lasted an hour.  A Cirque de Soleil type circus.
We walked back to Petit Champlain, had some really good ice cream, then back to the room.
Tomorrow - the farmer's market across the street, the Montmorency Falls, then on to Bar Harbor!

NE Trip 2016
Day 6 - Fri Sep 2 2016

Had breakfast at Internationale - about 1/2 mile from our hotel.  Decent breakfast.
Packed up and took off for the Mile End section on Montreal.  I had Theo's address to use as a reference point.  We drove past his door about 11.  We were going to park and walk around, maybe hit Fairmount Bagel for lunch, but we decided to head straight out for Quebec City.

Got to our hotel in Old Town Quebec City about 3:30 PM.  I had to stop for about 15-20 minutes to rest my eyes.
The ride in wasn't as nice as some of the places we've driven through.  Passed through a lot of industrial looking areas.  Still, the old city made us forget that.

Checked in then hit the hills of Quebec to get to the area where a ton of shopping and eating places were.  Just a few blocks away, but a lot of steep streets.  We ate at a nice place.  I had lamb, Janice had Coq Au Vin.  We both liked our food.  We walked around some more then headed back to the room.  We rested for 10 -20 minutes then went to look for a free circus performance at the waterfront.  As we pulled up we saw this amazingly long line of people.  It was the line of folks waiting to get into the circus performance.  Turns out we missed getting in by about maybe 50 people.  That little rest probably cort us the circus tonight!  The place, an outdoor theater only holds 3000 or so.  We'll try again tomorrow but get there earlier - by 6:30 PM.
They will be doing it nightly till Monday night.  Not sure how many days they do it, but apparently the city pays for this type entertainment every summer.

We walked back thinking we'd go to the train station where the concierge told us there was music tonight.  We ran into a local young woman who walked with us and told us more about places to go to tomorrow.  Very nice young lady!  The train station place wasn't that exciting so we didn't stay.  We hung out at the colorful fountain for a few minutes then walked back to the hotel - looking for a place with a decent dessert.  We decided instead to go back to the room and eat the remainder of the cookies we had gotten from the last Hilton we stayed at in Montreal.

Hopefully we'll see some interesting things tomorrow based on what the nice young lady told us tonight.

NE Trip 2016
Day 5 - Thur Sep 1 2016

Started the day with a so-so breakfast at the Hilton Restaurant.  Not bad, just nothing special.
We took a 20 minute walk to the Old Port. On the way, we stopped to get Canadian cash from an ATM.  Then we stopped into a little bakery shop - Janice to use the bathroom and I to try to get change for the Canadian $20 bills.  The owner of the shop, an attractive young lady, gave us change and explained about the Canadian cash.  We might stop there for breakfast tomorrow - or head up to the Mile End neighborhood where my cousin Theo lives.

We walked towards the Old Port, but were quickly disoriented and frustrated.  We decided to take a tour bus.  Might have been a little expensive, but turned out to be worth it.  It was an open double decker and we got seats on the top.  The guide was from France and had to do part of the tour in French and English.  His English wasn't terrible, but he had a heavy enough accent to make him difficult to understand at times.  We got off the bus at Mount Royal (Mont Real - hence Montreal) and hung out for a few minutes.  We caught the next bus.  Still a French accent, but not as strong - easier to understand his English.  The buses run every 15 minutes or so and follow a route that has 9 stops.  You pay the fee and get a wrist band that allows you hop-on-hop-off access for 2 days.  We got on at stop 2, got off at Mount Royal, back on and off again at stop 1.  The guide asked if anyone knew the most famous food in Montreal.  No - not Poutine.  It's the smoked meat sandwich.  He gave a really enticing description, so when we got off at stop 1, we went around the corner to Dunn's and split a Smoked meat-poutine lunch.  Poutine is fries with cheese curds smothered in gravy.  The smoked meat is very much like corned beef.  It's brisket, that's cooked and smoked for some number of days with lots of different spices coating the meat.  Then it's cut thick - maybe 1/4 inch and server on rye with Montreal mustard.  There are other versions, but that's the gist - and it was delicious!  Attman's better watch out if Dunn's comes to Baltimore!

We got back on the bus and took it back to stop 2.  We got off and walked past the Montreal Science Center and through the Old Port Market - streets in the Old Port closed to vehicle traffic.  Vendors, musicians and restaurants and stores.  Seems every city has a section like this.
A funny story here - We ran into what we thought were other Americans and someone mentioned Trump.  The ladies we met were adamant about being ashamed to be Americans because of Trump. Their husbands sort of stood to the side not getting into the conversation - secret Trump backers?

We stopped at the World Trade Centre Montreal on the way back to the hotel.  Interesting building on the inside.  Apparently 2 buildings separated by an alley were turned into one building when the alley was capped.  Theo texted us the location of the Crew Cafe (just a block from where we were) where we stopped in and got coffee.  We walked back to the hotel, intending to meet up with Theo and his girlfriend Heather for dinner,  After a few false starts, we finally met in an area called St. Henri at a place called Sumac - Mediterranean food.  We cabbed it there, they Ubered.  We had a really nice meal and enjoyed the evening with them.  We all Ubered back, dropping us off at the hotel which was more or less on the way for them to go home.

Tomorrow, after we pack up and check out, we plan to head to their area in Mile End.  Just plan to see the area before heading to Quebec City.

NE Trip 2016
Day 4 - Wed Aug 31 2016

The day started with breakfast at Trader Duke's,  I got the Grilled Oatmeal, Janice got an omelette.  We ended doing what we are calling a "Monica" - that's where we split our dishes so we can share.  Then we checked out.

We went back to Burlington to visit the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory.  Gourmet or high-end chocolates made with the best of Vermont's ingredients - and of course cocoa brought up from the tropics.  Lots of samples and a pretty good narrative as to how chocolate is made.  We got there a little early for the next tour, so we took a walk to the "Earth Clock".  Reminded me of Stonehenge!

It was only a 10 minute walk away.  We met a local and asked about Oakledge State Park and decided to go there after the chocolate factory.

By the way, Lake Champlain Chocolates was guarded by a huge spider!

We got to Oakledge about 2 and stayed for about an hour.  Very nice place.  This was also a property formerly related to the Webb family from the Shelburne Museum.  There was something called The Forever Treehouse, and a short walk to a cove the looked out across the bay to Burlington.

We took off north to the Champlain Islands.  We had a reservation for dinner at the North Hero House Restaurant and Inn.  We'd heard that Bernie Sanders had recently bought a place near there and had dined there.  Our waitress told us that he never did.  He did visit the small General Store just a 5 minute walk from there.  We ended up doing that too because we were early for our reservation.  Very nice place on the water (northeastern part of Lake Champlain).  Janice got a salmon dish that she liked.  I got sea scallops - probably the best I've ever had!

After dinner we took off for Montreal.  Took about an hour and 20 minutes.  We crossed the border into Canada - a really small border station with a friendly Canadian border guard.  Thanks goodness for GPS.  The signs are all in French - a smattering of English once in a while.  And hitting the city about 7:00 PM - a little daunting.  We got to the hotel, checked in, settled ourselves and then on advice from the concierge Walked a few blocks to the Maison du Jazz - House of Jazz.  Very cool funky place with a great quartet.  Got back to the room about 11:00 PM

Hoping to see Theo for dinner tomorrow night.  We'll explore during the day.  Probably Mile End.

NE Trip 2016
Day 3- Tuesday Aug 30 2016

Today was our second day in Burlington.  We slept late, not hitting breakfast till after 10:00.  We just went through the lobby of the hotel to Trader Dukes - the hotel's restaurant.  Not a bad breakfast.
We decided to see the Shelburne Museum today.  Just 15 minutes or so down the road.  Some very rich woman named Webb, whose mother-in-law was a Vanderbilt, founded the museum - mid 1950's I think.  It's not a building or two.  Or three.  It's over 100 acres about 10 miles outside Burlington, that is home to many buildings and exhibition halls.  Those buildings hold art and artifacts from many periods in American history, some directly related to the area surrounding Burlington.  We saw paintings by Grandma Moses, an exhibition of Circus Posters dating back to the 1800's, a couple of houses, one originally built in 1773 and the other in the early 1800s, an exhibit of 3-D quilts made by a Canadian Artist in the last 10 years, an actual steamboat that carried passengers on Lake Champlain that was moved from the Lake to the museum (during the winter when the ground was hard enough to support its massive 892 ton weight), among other interesting things. 

Super Hero

Circus Poster

Ticonderoga Steamboat

The houses, by the way, were moved from their original locations to the museum.   Parts of the houses were left intact, some were modified to fit the ideal of the owners of the museum.  Not exactly
historical, but still pretty cool.  Another interesting thing was the General Store.  A one stop shop for your mid 1800s shopper - including an apothecary, dentist office, barbershop and surgery center. 

Leeches - Modern Medicine!

We kept running into what we surmised to be a married gay couple.  Originally from the LA area, they sold their house there for "7 figures" then retired to a bigger house in southern Vermont.  A couple of nice guys.




We left there about 5:00 PM and went to the place we parked our car the night before.  We did a sunset dinner cruise around the lake.  BBQ chicken, roast beef and a ton of carb-laden foods.  It was about as well as could be expected food-wise.  Still, about 2 1/2 hours going west to the NY coast of Lake Champlain, then south, then west and back north to Burlington.  A lot of people onboard. employees from some corporate company, a ton of Russian exchange students and a crew of mostly other foreign students working there for the summer - hoping to travel a little in the US before gong home.  Our waiter was Valentin from Romania.  Nice kid.  I hope we tipped him enough.

Got back to Burlington about 9:00 PM.  A little drama at the hotel.  Neither of our card keys worked to open the side door we were using.  Some fellow travelers had to get in using that door, so they let us enter with them.  Then we discovered our cards didn't work for our rooms either!  A quick trip to the desk.  They had us down for another night, but apparently the key system doesn't talk to the reservation system.  The key system only had us for one night.  Easily remedied. 

Tomorrow - TBD.  But we do have a reservation for dinner at the North Hero Inn at 6:00 PM and then going directly to Montreal!  Woo Hoo!

NE Trip 2016
Day 2 - Monday Aug 29 2016

Seems like we did a lot today.  I'll try to recap without too much detail (can I do that?).  But I do have a few pics.

Ate breakfast at the Lake Front Motel (I think they called it a hotel - we beg to differ) restaurant.  Not terrible.  At least not as bad as the room - #24.  Very small, very uncomfortable - especially for the price we paid!  Absolutely no counter space in the bathroom.  Standalone pedestal sink - small.  The bed filled the room with barely enough left for a small table and a dresser.  I believe we had to step around each other to move around.  The good things about the room - it was clean and close to the main drag in Cooperstown.  The staff we met were actually kind of nice, despite what some reviewers said.  Thank god we only had one night there.  Neither one of us slept well that first night. We don't recommend this place and would NOT stay here again.
After we ate we took a walk for about an hour.  Someone mentioned the Otesaga Hotel.  Really high end place.  Quite beautiful and opulent.  It's how the other half (or 1%) does Cooperstown.
Here's the place where we had dinner last night

Mel's at 22

One more interesting thing about Cooperstown which is on Otego Lake.  The lake is the source for the Susquehanna River that flows south to the Chesapeake.

A tribute to the Susquehanna

Lake Otego - south is to the right

Not much else to do in Cooperstown.  We decided to leave.  Next stop - Burlington, VT.

As soon as we started out, we made the decision to stop at Lake George.  Not really out of the way, just a shift in the road to Burlington.  It was a good decision.  Lake George was surprisingly like an upscale Ocean City, MD - but even nicer than that.  The Lake is a BIG attraction - lots of people.

Lake George - looking north

We had a little snafu selecting the restaurant we wanted to try, but the place we ate at wasn't terrible.  Although I liked my food more than Janice liked hers.  I went to the men's room and found a relic of a "personal products" machine.  Yep - condoms for a quarter!  It wasn't operational, but I thought this was interesting:

MMMmm... Hot Fudge Flavored!

We stayed at Lake George for about an hour and a half then took off for Burlington.  Because we stopped at Lake George we went north along the west side of the lake instead of the east side of the lake.  Time wise - about the same.

So Burlington... Got to our hotel sometime around 5:00 PM.  Got settled in then drove to downtown Burlington - on the Bay.  About a 10 minute ride.  Nice ride that took us past the colleges.
Once in town we sort of got frustrated with finding parking, but finally found meters that weren't in effect after 6:00 PM.  We got there about 6:30.  Free Parking - Woo Hoo!
Saw a really nice sunset over the bay

Burlington Bay

We walked the short boardwalk.  It really is a boardwalk - no stores or other buildings.  Short, but nice.  We saw some crew teams working out.  We assumed they were from the local schools.  Walked around a bit more.  And finally settled on a place called The Skinny Pancake for dinner - it was a crepe place.  And they were having a free comedy show - well comedians working for tips,  Only got to see a couple.  They were OK.  The food was very good though.  We left after eating even though they were having a comedy open mic.

The Skinny Pancake

Walked a bit and decided to splurge on Vermont Ice Cream.  We found a crowded place practically on the water.
We both got creemee (soft serve ice cream).  Twist of Vermont Maple and raspberry.  Delicious!

Burlington Bay Market & Cafe

As we ate our ice cream, we walked up College St. a few blocks to Church St.  The Church Street Marketplace is about 6 blocks where cars aren't allowed on the street. Only 2-3 street actually allow traffic to cross Church.  Very nice.  Restaurants and shops.  We saw something similar in Charlottesville a few years ago.

Church Street Marketplace

Back to our hotel.  We were going to map out tomorrow, but Janice was beat and fell asleep.  I settled into updating the blog.   We'll see what tomorrow brings!