#WanderingDorks

I had planned it all week. This Saturday was getting up early and trekking the hour and half out to the southern entrance of Shenandoah National Park and going to explore the wonders of a park I had not been to in decades. The drive out along 64 was pleasant and fun. Even exciting as an idiot in a Porsche came up behind me trying to do roar along. I was already speeding but I sped up and got over as I had to pass another car on my right. Well I was in the CRV and the guy in the Porsche. Well maybe his view was slightly blocked. Mine was not and as the guy roared by me he blew by the unmarked State Trooper. Oh sweet karma. I continued my drive into the park's Rockfish Gap Entrance. The area was very familiar. If you dig back through my posts. I had driven out here with my daughter Erin to explore some of the stuff around Afton and Staunton many moons ago.  But not this time, into the park I went. Skyline Drive is really quite gorgeous. On the east coast the Appalachian Mountains...

Today was the final day of our trip. Cara will be flying back home in the morning. But today after a longish drive from upstate New York to Cleveland OH we got to spend some time in Cuyahoga Valley National Park visiting the Ledges area and Brandywine Falls. The park truly is a unique place stretching approximately 50 square miles between Akron and Cleveland Ohio. You move from urban cities to a beautiful area full of hiking trails and cascading falls. While we did not get to do it a train does cross through the park and from what I am told is an amazing fun time.

Over the Falls We left the KOA this morning on a mission. Reach the amazing Niagara Falls. A quick easy fast food breakfast and the race was on. How much time could we put down to reach the Falls and enjoy it. First stop was the hotel, The Giaccomo, a beautiful old style hotel with an amazing staff and great amenities. The room was amazing and the people great. The little bar in the bottom was nice. Overall a great place. We got settled and then  headed over to the Falls to get out Cave of the Wind tickets. Once purchased we headed back over towards the hotel to grab some food and other stuff before heading back to the falls for some exploration. The story behind and the beauty of the Falls are truly something magnificent. In line I mentioned to the girls this felt like the most touristy thing I had done in the past two years but it was so amazing. I have seen waterfalls but this one was just gorgeous. And after saying all of that and seeing what I had seen I was nowhere near prepa...

br /> We woke up on the shores of Lake Champlain and ended the day on an island in Lake Ontario. Today was mostly a travel day which cut down on big time events but there were plenty of neat little ones. We left Vermont via a ferry, a first for all three of us I believe. After that breakfast was at the most scenic McDonalds ever. I mean picnic tables dotted the shoreline of Lake Champlain. I have to admit it was pretty nice looking for McDonalds. From there we criss crossed upstate New York sliding along the St Lawerence River and the border between the United States and Canada. There may have a quick turn around in a parking lot in a reservation to keep us from crossing into the Great North. In the little town of Therese, NY we enjoyed the local conversation and their dramatic run down of all the local going ons as we enjoyed a late lunch early dinner at Miss Laura's Diner. We arrived a the KOA which was neat and had tons of little things to do. Erin and I wandered around the ...

Happy Cows and Apple Orchards What a day. I feel like I say that a lot on these blog posts. But part of the reason we go to all these places is so by the end of the day we are going oh wow. As I sit here putting pen to paper and then to blog the notes of a concert echo across Grand Island reaching me through the orchard stretching out beneath the sunset in front of me. The evening sky is shades of red, orange, blue and purple the wind is just picking up and whistling through the trees. Crickets are chirping and a cool breeze keeps me company as I look back at another amazing day. Though amazing it was a rocky start. My choice for breakfast was the famous Polly's Pancake Parlor. I did not know how famous. Reservations are apparently needed normally. We came in and were told a 45 minute wait that slowly turned into an hour plus. Again as I have many times on this trip, own this mistake. I should have called ahead. But the girls and I once we managed to get seated were able to enjoy ...

Today was an outstanding day on so many levels. Let us start at the beginning where every great story begins. So to the summit we go. We headed out of Maine and across into New Hampshire with our first stop today at the wonderful Purple Cow House of Pancakes in Fairfield, ME. Hey with a name lilke that we had to stop right? The house special sounded amazing and we all wanted some so we ordered away as it was going to be a long day and we were hungry. Plate sized pancakes I tell you. It was massive but so good. The girls could not get through it but they did eat enough to get them going. After we managed to somehow remove ourselves from our chairs get back in the Santa Fe we rolled through the winding roads of New Hampshire. New England is really a beautiful and a wonderful place to see. If you have never been I fully endorse it. Go, see things, it is wonderful.  The yellow lines brought us to the foot of the cloud covered Mt Washington. I got us a little turned inside out trying to...

I had heard of the beauty of Acadia National Park but honestly there was no way I was prepared for its reality. To be prepared though we had to get a great breakfast first. We drove into the town of Bar Harbor. The streets were empty at this point except for our stop, Jeannie's Great Maine Breakfast. The tiny restaurant is considered one of the best breakfasts in the area and it lived up to its billing. I had the wild blueberry waffles and they were just mouth watering stupendously great. After the breakfast we headed up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. It was incredible. The views in every direction were breathtaking. One of the things they say a person has to do is catch the sunrise on Cadillac. We did not but I can tell you that it would be an amazing thing. Maybe the morning? Depends I suppose on how much sleep tonight. It was an amazing day. So let me continue. The rest of Acadia was just as beautiful as the views from the top of the mountain. The rocky shores, the high trails...

We woke up and rolled down the many stairs of our AirBNB in Boston and over to Cambridge this morning for a nice and generous breakfast at the Friendly Toast. The food was really good with amazing portions and great service. The parking was expensive as it was a business area on a weekday. After that it was up along the coast to Maine and I was not disappointed. Our first stop along the coast was the historic Cape Neddic Light on Nubble Island. Built in 1879 the Nubble Light is one of the most iconic lighthouses in America and the world. Fancy history note that we learned a picture of the Cape Neddic Light is on the Voyager spacecraft some 13 billion miles away from the Earth. It lived up to being very photogenic and was a cute little spot along the coast. Along this route we headed along to a fun little stop at Len Libby Candies. There we got to meet Lenny, a 1700 lb chocolate moose. Oh my oh my. From there it was onward to our next major stop. That would be Red's Eats for some ...

What a day!!! I mean this has been one of the most fun days I think I have ever had on one of my trips. I mean we saw Whales!!! Whales in the wild. I honestly never thought I would be this close to whales or dolphins but here we were watching dolphins race our boat in the Atlantic. We watched a whale named Venom and her pup lounge. At one point Venom even went under the boat and came out right underneath where I was standing it was amazing. The people in charge of the New England Aquarium Whale Watch Tours are awesome and it was worth every cent. The boat we were on was great and had everything you needed for the trip. As the pictures show, we found whales! But then we were not done yet. We got home took a quick break and then we were off to Salem MA where we were treated to one of the best tours ever. Jeff of Bewitched After Dark gave us an amazing and engaging tour of the history of Salem and its past. This was no ghost tour this was an indepth walk in the steps of the Salem With Tr...

Well here we are the end of day one in Boston. To say it wasn't eventful would be an understatement.  My original plan for the day was to walk as much of the Freedom Trail as I could. Now that said I would have kept going in any way shape or form. Now the girls on the other hand were not fans of the rain. It was a big storm and understandably they were not happy with the first part of the day. I do sometimes have a hard time realizing some people just will not push on like myself. That is just a thing. With that out of the way let me recap a wonderful day, really it was. First off Finagle a Bagel right across from Copley Square and it was a yummy start to the day. I also should point out there are tons of Fallout 4 references in this blog post as all of us have played the game and loved it so we well saw stuff from it. First stop was Trinity Church and "Trinity Tower" okay really it is the John Hancock building. The church is pretty cool with some amazing reliefs carved o...

Today was suppose to be a nice quiet day. Along the coast and up to Boston. Oh but no. Let us call it the "Cash Breakfast Crisis." And damn it Dad does not handle these well. We stopped at well reviewed Lakeside Diner. It really is a great little place. I loved it. Breakfast was exactly what we needed. Of course they charged for refills. Now that wouldn't have been a problem if I had been paying attention. Needless to say when I started going through all my cash. I did not have enough. I of course being the crappy Dad I am at times. Targeted Cara and her extra milk for the problem when in reality of course it was me. I should have remembered cash only. Cara saved the day. She got what little money she had left cash wise and we were able to get out of there with just my ego in shamble and Cara of course mad at me. Rightfully so. We meandered up along the coast to the town of Old Saybrook where the girls moved from the back to the front seat and Dad took a break from drivi...

Day 2 in the books and holy cow were we all over the place. What a day. Felt like we traveled forever but things were so close that it was not as bad as I thought. Before we even checked out of our AirBNB there was breakfast oh glorious breakfast. This was one of several places recommended by our AirBNB host Valarie. It was just a short walk from our stay and it was simply amazing. I can not even begin to tell you how amazing it was. I had Toto's Special French Toast. It is a Caramelized French toast served with a cinnamon brown sugar peach whipped mascarpone, fresh blueberries, vanilla syrup and an oatmeal crumble topping and it was glorious beyond measures.  But hey before we made it to breakfast we wandered around Swan Memorial Fountain caught some Pokemon and my girls got to see some of Philly's homeless. I always feel bad when we come across these folk. So many stories being wasted. One has to wonder where they could go or maybe where they came from. Sad.  So, then a qui...

Our day was not done with just Eastern State though. We headed over to the BNB where we had front door parking. Valarie, the host had contacted us and let us know exactly where we could park and all the other great details. We met her very friendly cat Bella hanging around outside of the BNB. She was a sweetheart and Cara and Erin both loved her as she wandered around outside. The place was really cool as you can see from the picture. It was a former dance studio turned into a bedroom with bathrooms. After a brief break out we went. The following minutes were on me as we wandered around trying to find first if a bus took cash and not just their cards. We found an ATM after a little more wandering. It was luckily right next to the bus stop. At this point the girls were getting a bit hungry and no one had grabbed any food snacks. Sadly our big dinner was still miles away!! We managed to hop off the bus and after standing behind a disabled guy in a wheelchair for 5 minutes as he discus...

The Summer 2018 trip started with a jaunt up the coast along busy interstates and rural backroads. We skirted Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD skipped through Delaware really quickly with a brief stop for some post cards and magnets to prove we were there. Our destination on day one was the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, PA. I also must point out that my oldest daughter Cara sucked Erin and I right back into playing Pokemon Go. Oh the tragedy. We pulled into Philly and I found our AirBNB but since there was no where to park I drove right past and headed to our first stop of the day anyway. The imposing Eastern State Penitentiary. This was the highlight of the day. We did a lot today but this wow. From its castle like walls to the amazing stories inside it was several hours well spent. We prowled the hallways looking for lost souls. Dove into the depths of Death Row and the Pit. In the end we found nothing . . but the sense of something just out of view was always there. It real...