June 2004:  Gettysburg, PA  We arrived at the Drummer Boy Campground in the early afternoon to the annoying din of the cicadas, after a short drive from Luray, VA. The "red roads" are quite narrow and winding, so we opted to take the freeway instead. A good choice!

Gettysburg in the evening is memorable.  We didn't quite know what to expect here, but the shear vastness of the battlefields overpowers you at times when you think about all that happened here in 3 short days.

We drove the "Auto Tour" route that takes you from July 1 to July 3 of 1863...from one part of the 25-square-mile park to the other.  The number of memorials commemorating various troops along the way  is enormous...beautiful statues, plaques, and carvings.

The Eisenhower Farm is adjacent to the battlefields and can be seen from several vantage points, but we've decided that we'll save that tour for another time. The town of Gettysburg is charming, with many buildings dating from the early 1800's and before.  We ate at The Dobbin House Tavern last night, which dates from 1776 and which we can now highly recommend.  Seeing their hideout for the escaping slaves (it was reputed to be one of the first stops on the Underground Railway) was particularly interesting.

Our allotted two days will not be nearly enough, so we'll have to return...Fall would be a delightful time here. Summer is too crowded we can see, and this week at least...too hot!

L-R: National Cemetery, roadside scene in Gettysburg, us at one of the battlefields, Gen. Warren statue on Little Roundtop, typical scene, The Dobbin House restaurant, Sachs Covered Bridge

June 2004: Hartford, CT  College Reunion for Chris at Trinity College...fabulous weather! Great to see old friends and make new ones!

Trinity College Chapel, Hartford, CT

June 2004: Lake George, NY  We stopped at the Lake George RV Park in Lake George, NY for several days and can highly recommend it...IF you arrive off season.  It looks like they are VERY busy from late June until Labor Day, but if you get there just ahead of the crowd like we did, you'll be rewarded with an excellent place to base your travels from.  If you have kids, and want all the "stuff" then this place is the right place IN SEASON when everything is humming! They have all the activities you could want, from boccie ball courts, tennis courts, movies, theater (real!), fishing ponds, etc.  We took advantage of the location to visit Ft. Ticonderoga and Lake Placid, as well as just generally enjoy the Adirondacks which are beautiful.  We snuck in a bit of genealogy over in VT while there, and managed to find a 5th g-grandfather of Jan's gravesite, as well as check out historic records from the 1700's in their quaint Town Hall.  The trip up was through Bennington, VT, so a stopover was made there to view the Battle of Bennington memorial which Jan's ancestors fought in also.  Bennington is a lovely village and definitely worth a stopover. We found a shopping mall just north of town where one picks up Route 7 where it was convenient to leave the RV while using the Jeep to travel into town.

L-R: Battle of Bennington Monument, Lake George, Ft. Ticonderoga seen from Mt. Defiance, Pawlet VT Town Hall, family gravesites, site at Lake George RV Park

June 2004: VT, NH, Maine  We took a quick trip through the Green Mountains and White Mountains of VT and NH on our way to Maine, our ultimate destination on the East Coast.  The lupines were at full bloom throughout the whole NH-Maine area.  The winds were blowing 70 mph at the top of Mt. Washington the day we were going to take the Cog Railway to the top, so we opted to take some short hikes to see some waterfalls and take a loop tour around the White Mountain area.  Our "travel days" of 120 miles or so often take almost 4 hours with the winding, narrow roads, or the constant repair crews!  Keep it in mind if  you are planning to travel any of the "red roads" in New England!

 
Lupines with Mt. Washington in the distance. Us in the same spot the day before.

Maine: Eustis, Maine...Moose Country!  One of my goals was to see a moose.  An outstanding RV park in Eustis (Cathedral Pines RV Park) was our headquarters for several days while Chris played golf at the excellent golf course at nearby Sugarloaf and in the evenings and early mornings we visited the local "moose wallow" to view the moose that frequented it. We saw several female and male moose at different times of the day. They're not happy to have visitors, so everyone remained in their cars while observing them.  We finally reached the coast of Maine today (June 23) and celebrated with dinner overlooking the water on Cape Elizabeth. 

Maine: Camden area and Windjammers!  The highlight of our Maine trip was a 3-day cruise on an authentic (no engine, no generator, no power of any kind!) 1916 schooner, the Mercantile,  through Penobscot Bay. However, it's not for those who don't like roughing it!  The quarters were cramped, 1 shower for 15 of us, 3 "heads" for the same (and the ship CAN hold up to 29), but it was amazing and definitely we'd do it again...for longer!  I can't even begin to describe what it was like to see the sun rise while calmly riding at anchor in a beautiful small cove...or to watch a companion ship appear in the early morning mist just off our stern....or to feel the power of this 81' foot ship riding the wind down Eggemoggin Reach between the islands in Penobscot Bay. WOW!  If you're a sailor or just adventurous this is a fantastic thing to do!  We had a terrific crew, excellent food, and a very fun time! We can highly recommend it! (www.mainewindjammercruises.com) The photos will speak for themselves...

L-R: The Mercantile, on board 1st day, the "dish machine", Chris at the helm, another schooner in the fog/rainbow

OOOPS! Us being towed out of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND
(Good thing folks convinced us to get unlimited towing insurance!  75-mile tow!)
(It was only a faulty starter solenoid, so a simple repair and we were on our way the next day.)