OUR VACATION!

We snuck away a few days between Conference and Vermontville camp to celebrate our anniversary. On Sunday, July 13, we went to Bloomingdale for their night service, then stayed in Saranac Lake with my aunt, leaving Monday mid-day from her house. We had room reservations in Vermont for Monday and Tuesday, and a special room in New Hampshire on Wednesday, but we really didn't have much of an agenda, which is the way we like to vacation! However, we did have a pretty good time, just making it up as we went...

We hadn't gotten far from my aunt's house when we decided to stop at High Falls Gorge. Although so close to home, I don't ever recall going there. It's a beautiful sight, so enjoy the views!


We thought it was interesting how a tree can get nourishment from a rock!


This is a picture of the entire gorge, taken from the low end of the walk. (There were a lot of stairs, but it was worth it!)


This is a closer shot of the upper part of the gorge, which wasn't fully visible in the previous shot.


We hadn't driven much further (Wilmington, NY) when we decided to drive up Whiteface. It was in the low 70s in town, and the temperature at the summit was 51, with a strong breeze. It felt cold at times, but there was decent sun, so it was certainly bearable.

This is a wide angle view from the parking area at Whiteface, not quite at the summit.


We decided to take the elevator up to the summit. Once we walked in the tunnel to the elevator, I looked back and there was no one in the tunnel. I thought this (freehand, no flash) shot was pretty neat!


This is a nice view of Lake Placid from the summit.


This is Mirror Lake (slightly to the left of the above picture) and the village of Lake Placid, home of the Olympic Winter games in 1932 and 1980!


At the summit, there's a sign telling the elevation. Whiteface is the fifth highest peak in NYS - can you name the top four?


Here's a view back at the "walkway" we used to come back down to the parking area. It has hand rails, but it's mostly natural. There are a few places where they have poured some cement or built stairs, but it definitely works the leg muscles to stay upright.


Wow - what a traffic jam! (On the ferry to Vermont, of course, it's always bumper-to-bumper!)


On Tuesday, we went to the Lake Champlain Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington.


This, or some variant, will probably be a periodical cover at some point. What a beautiful view from the observation deck at the Aquarium!


When we left the Aquarium, we drove to Stowe. We parked and walked around the village, visiting several shops. We saw a sign to the Trapp home near Stowe, but we didn't stop there, since our main second stop (heading back south) was in Waterbury...


Ah yes - our heroes. We both have pins that say "Body by Ben and Jerry's", but we're working on that, actually! This plant produces 250,000 pints of ice cream per week, if I recall the tour correctly. They also give three pints of ice cream to every employee after a day of work - that's a pretty good perk!


Milk and Cream - what a delicious combination...


So Wednesday, we were off to New Hampshire! The drive was beautiful, not just all highway. We found a railroad that we want to go on when we visit again, but we didn't want to waste any time today.


Our home for the night - "The Cave." This is a theme motel, and this room was very neat, made to look like the inside of a cave. It had a separate second-level bedroom, a fireplace in the living room area, and a two-person hot tub. There were also a couple of tunnels, one with a PlayStation and the other called "The Den." We wanted to get every penny's worth, so once we checked in, we never left until checkout!

Some of these pictures are natural light, and others used the flash.


I wouldn't normally include a bathroom picture, but the entire bathroom was the shower as well. There were two showers, one on each side wall, and when they were turned on, it also sent water out a waterfall in the ceiling. In fact, you could divert all of the water flow through that waterfall. I wanted to take a picture with the water running, but I was afraid I'd get the camera wet trying to coordinate the shot.


This is a view up to the bedroom from the lower level.


We had some visitors with us...


Here's a view of the lower level from the bedroom.


Here's the bedroom upstairs - a nice king bed with LOTS of pillows, some even genuine feather pillows.


The entire front of the motel is a facade that looks like a city block. Our "Cave" was inside what is the Bank from the front of the building.


Here's the front sign - check out their website at www.adventuresuites.com!


So the fun was over Thursday, as we headed home from our stay in the Cave. This sign is a little blurry, but it's tricky taking pictures while driving down the highway at 65!


We drove through the capital of Vermont, Montpelier. This is a shot of a state building that looked nice through the trees.


They kept warning us, but we didn't see any. The only moose we've seen on the road were on route 458 near Santa Clara, several years ago. They were HUGE!!


This is the second set of "highway sculptures" that I've seen. Near Alexandria Bay, on route 81 south, there are giant crows beside the road. These whale tails were on route 89, just outside of Burlington.


Ah yes - another traffic jam between Vermont and New York!