Road Trip - Day 5! (VT, NH, MA)

May 30, 2012 (Wednesday)

We headed to Quechee Fall/Gorge first thing in the morning. There is parking along the edge of the road. All the rain raised the water level in the gorge quite dramatically from when we drove by the previous evening. The gorge looks nicer when the water level is lower, since you get to enjoy the ribbon effect created by the rocks to a larger extent. It is a short walk in either direction to the dam and to the base of the gorge.

After the gorge, we drove around checking out some covered bridges and then headed to “Sugarbush” farm where they make cheese and maple syrup. They offer samples of the products and have a store where you can purchase items. It was a bit out of the way to get to “Sugarbush” but it was a nice place to visit if you have some time to kill.



Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP

 Our journey, next took us to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. This park was established to tell the story of conservation history and the evolving nature of land stewardship. The park represents three generations of conservationist, as well as, the history of three quintessentially families. The visitor center has shows a 30 minute film about the site, which is very informative.  There is also a tour of the mansion, which cost $8/person or $4/person if you have the National Parks Pass. There are many miles of hiking trails within the park. The mansion tour was an hour long. Photography is not allowed inside of the home. The woodworking and décor is extremely class, as to be expected from the families that lived in the home. The information in the video is repeated in the tour, so you could skip the video if you wanted.

Across from the National Park site is the Billings Farm & Museum, which is a working dairy farm and a museum of agricultural and rural life. The Farm & Museum charge admission $12 for adults, children price varies $3-$6 depending on age. They do offer a combination ticket package for the two sites. We did not visit the Billings Farm & Museum.



Saint-Gaudens NHS - Studio

 Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site was our next stop. This park is one of two parks that has been dedicated to an artist.  Prior to our visit, we knew nothing about Saint-Gaudens, so we learned a lot at this site. Saint-Gaudens is one of Americas’s greatest sculptors. Over 100 of his artworks are on display at this site. There is a $5/person fee charged at this site, unless you have the America the Beautiful Pass, which is then free to enter. The grounds are beautiful – pretty buildings and flowers, not to mention the pieces of art that are displayed. The Aspet house was undergoing exterior renovations during our visit. There are 15 minute tours of the interior of Aspet house and well worth the visit if your time allows. There was another tour available, which included the grounds and the studios. The grounds/studios tour lasted about an hour.  I would not recommend this tour, it seemed to drag on – spending too much time on certain sculptors. The visitor center also shows a video, which other visitors said was really good. We did not watch the video, since we anticipated that it would cover the information that would be discussed on the tours.

The weather appeared to be good for the night we decided to camp. The next day we planned to head to the Springfield, MA area and found a campground nearby to stay at. The campground was called Sodom Mountain Campground. It was $29/night for a tent with no electricity. The campground was very peaceful with lots of birds chirping away. The sites were very small, in our prior experience/knowledge, and pretty much all dirt surfaces. The camp roads were windy and would be difficult to maneuver a trailer in.  The bathroom was a bit small and showers cost $0.25/5 minutes. Camping rates vary depending on the month. I would not recommend this campground, but it seems that there are very few campgrounds in the Springfield area.

Road Trip - Day 4! (NY, VT)

May 29, 2012 (Tuesday)



Lake Placid, NY

 We headed to the downtown area to check out the shops and views of the lake. Most of the shops open at 10am, with just a few opening at 9am. We attended the tour at the Olympic Center at 10am. Our tour group was guided by a pleasant guy named Howard Riley. Howard did a great job at providing us with information about the Olympic Games and how the Olympics choose Lake Placid to host. The tour was $10 per person and lasted approximately one hour. You do not see a lot, but you learn a lot. There is a store in the Olympic Center, but it is not always open. If you would like an Olympic gear it is best to check out the store downtown, which opens at 9am. Also be sure to check out this website to see what is open if you visit any Olympic sites:  www.whiteface.com. The hours at each facility varies with season. Not too many things were open during our visit.

Whiteface Mountain was open during our visit, so we headed towards “Veterans Memorial Highway”. Along the way we stopped at “High Falls Gorge”. The Gorge was nice, but a little on the pricey side - $20 for 2 adults, but that was because they had some construction going on. The trails and boardwalk were well maintained. The trail is about ½ mile long and takes about 30-45 minutes to walk.



Whiteface Mountain

 We continued towards “Veterans Memorial Highway”. There is a toll booth at the bottom of the mountain. The cost is $10/car/driver and $6 for each passenger. Before going up the mountain, there is a sign stating the conditions at the top of the mountain. There are many pull-out locations along the roadway for photo opts. The highway pavement condition is quite rough, they might keep it that way to keep vehicle speed down. The sign warned us of black flies at the top, oh man were they bad! Needless, to say our visit at the top was cut a bit short because the black flies were relentless!  Once to the top of the mountain, you can take the elevator to the very top or you could hike to the peak. The elevator operator told us that the flies are really bad in the spring and early summer.



Covered bridge near Woodstock, VT

 Upon heading to our final destination we had a decision to make – take the freeway to White River Junction, VT or take side roads. The GPS said it was the same time regardless of the route we could take. We opted to take the side roads; the only disadvantage was that we would not be able to take photos of Montpelier, the capital of Vermont. Our travel route took us through Ticonderoga. We did not stop since it was raining very hard, but the town seems to have all sorts of tourist shops.  We continued driving in the rain and reached Woodstock, VT. Woodstock is a very quaint town with a mix of storefronts and beautiful old homes.  At last we arrived to White River Junction. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. The hotel was nice and the room was updated and in good condition.