Saturday, October 26, 2013

New England Fall

Last weekend Brett was away at an AAOMPT conference in Cincinnati and I had a whole Saturday to meander through the great state of Connecticut and enjoy a beautiful fall day. I took my time and enjoyed driving through the Northwestern part of the state. It was beautiful and I enjoyed every minute of listening to some music that "took me back" and had a flood of wonderful memories come flooding back. Here are a few pictures of my adventures. I haven't had a change to edit them so they will probably turn out a little better when I print them but thought I would get them up on the blog while I am at it....










Heublein Tower - I hiked the 1.5 up and back for a great view!

Top of the ridge by the tower




Heublein Tower

New England Adventure

Labor Day weekend we decided to head up north and check out parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine that we haven't seen and probably won't be able to see due to our time winding down here in the New England area (Brett only hopes!). We had such a great time. We headed up to Fort Ticonderoga, which we just happen to miss by about 30 minutes! We had to leave after I was done with work and didn't get away quite as soon as we would have liked but we were still able to enjoy a nice ride along the river and around Lake George and Lake Champlain. 
Saturday we wandered around Burlington, Vermont. It is a very quaint little college town that sits on the opposite side of Lake Champlain from Fort Ticonderoga. They have an awesome farmer's market that we meandered around for a while before heading down to Camp Joseph.  We stopped at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Stowe, VT for a tasty treat before getting to Camp Joseph. 


At Camp Joseph we were able to see the site where Joseph Smith was born and visit the surrounding area. It was and still is very much a farming community and is very small. The roads are back country roads and follow the local rivers and streams. 
Joseph Smith Monument
Footprint of the Smith's Home, with original hearth in the center
Sharon, VT church house (on the land of the Smith Farm)
We camped at Camp Joseph and then headed through the White Mountain Range and to Mt. Washington. Here's a little tidbit on Mt. Washington - Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft (1,917 m) and the most prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. It is famous for dangerously erratic weather. For 76 years, until 2010, a weather observatory on the summit held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, 231 mph (372 km/h or 103 m/s), on the afternoon of April 12, 1934. Before European settlers arrived, the mountain was known as Agiocochook, or "Home of the Great Spirit".
The mountain is located in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, in the township of Sargent's Purchase, Coos County, New Hampshire. While nearly the whole mountain is in the White Mountain National Forest, an area of 59 acres (24 ha) surrounding and including the summit is occupied by Mount Washington State Park.
Most vehicles take about 30 minutes to make the 7.6 mile ascent and from 30 to 45 minutes to come down depending on traffic, weather conditions and whether or not you need to stop to cool your brakes. The Auto Road is a steep, narrow mountain road without guardrails. The average grade is 12%. As the sign at the base of the Road states – “If you have a fear of heights, you may not appreciate this driving experience”
 To get to the top and back down was quite the experience. It was a pretty warm day at the base of the mountain but I would have been content in my winter coat at the top. I am just glad that Brett drove - not sure I would have been able to manage it. 

Tip Top Stone House
Marker at the top of Mt Washington
Parking lot at the top

Ski Resort


From Mt Washington, we headed over to the coast of Maine to visit some lighthouses. The coast of Maine was the ideal New England. The Lighthouses were gorgeous, the ocean was fabulous and I would 100% love to go back. 
Bug lighthouse





Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Southern Trip Part 3

Tuesday: Said our goodbye’s to the Shelton’s and headed on our way to Savannah. The drive it about 3-4ish hours but we decided to take it slow and take the back roads through the southern towns to get more of the southern experience. I am glad we did! We saw lots of cool farms and sleepy little southern towns. If we would have had time I would have stopped in every town along the way. When we got to Savannah we didn’t really have a “game plan” so we just went with the flow and we ended up down at the river perusing the shops and watching the boats sail in and out. We ate at Tavern Exchange and then enjoyed the beautiful weather with a stroll through the streets of Savannah. We enjoyed some quality picture-taking time, although most didn’t turn out fabulous we still enjoyed our time.
Savannah Riverboat
The Church that is in Forest Gump
Fountain in the Middle of Downtown Savannah
Wednesday: We took a bus tour of Savannah and learned all sorts of stuff about people who have lived in Savannah and why the city is so beautiful. I can’t recall anything special that we learned but it was fun to learn at the time. We had Ice Cream at the famous Leopold’s and it was good. We grabbed ourselves a few slices of pizza from Mr Pizza and headed on our way to Charleston. We found our way to the Riverwalk in Charleston and ate at Griffon Pub. After dinner we walked the river and enjoyed the sea breeze for awhile. We walked down Market St and did some shop-hopping at the various shops. Charleston is a quaint southern town – the charm in the streets and the houses made it easy to understand why people of all walks of life are drawn to the charm. We did stay in a hostel this night – it was Brett’s first experience with a hostel and he was not impressed. I would have to say that it was definitely the best hostel that I have ever stayed in. I don’t think Brett will be returning to a hostel any time soon.
One of the 26 squares that are in Savannah
A church
This is a monument in the main park where most things happen in Savannah
Charming homes

Charleston Riverwalk

Pineapple Fountain in Charleston
Park along the river
Thursday: I really wanted to go to the beach at least one day and it just happened to be this day that we were supposed to go. We woke up to it pouring rain! L It was starting and stopping and it looked like we might be in luck so as we waited out the storm we walked through the charming downtown streets of Charleston and enjoyed all of the charm and beautiful houses. Then we made our way to the Isle of Palms Beach and were able to spend about an hour swimming in the water, laying on the beach and enjoying ourselves. While we were swimming we saw some dolphins about 50 yards away from us. It was pretty cool to see them so close. We dried off and headed to Middleton Place Plantation. We spent several hours touring the plantation, the gardens, the house, learning about life on a plantation. We learned that the Middleton’s had a lot to do with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and are signers of one or both of the documents. The son or daughter (I forget which one) then married someone whose father was also a signer, making them the only couple in history with both a father and father-in-law who signed the Constitution. What a legacy! That night we retired to the hotel early and Brett watch the Seahawks vs Chargers football game.
um....
Pottery Worker at Middleton
Beautiful gardens at Middleton


Brett's favorite part of the Middleton Plantation - the water buffaloes

Charming Charleston Homes

Playing in the park
Friday: We spent the day making our way towards Virginia, with our final destination being Williamsburg. We drove the most of South Carolina, all of North Carolina, making a final stop for Zaxby’s in North Carolina before entering into Virginia, who doesn’t have Zaxby’s in convenient locations. We made it to Williamsburg about 430ish that afternoon and spent the afternoon walking around Williamsburg. We didn’t pay to go in any of the shops or anything but it was cool to be able to see the town and for Brett be able to experience a little bit of Williamsburg. We walked through the College of William and Mary, which just happens to be the oldest college/university in the US.  We ate at the Cheese shop, as recommended by Zach and Megan and then headed to our hotel, which was literally one block away from Williamsburg. We hung out there for the night, watching shark week and football.
Govern's Mansion
Court House
I finally caught him! 
The Wren Building - the oldest educational building in the US.
Saturday: We slept in again and took our time getting ready before we headed out to Jamestown. We saw the Jamestown settlement and where able to see several artifacts that have been preserved through archaeological digs. We spent some time at the glass blowing shop and enjoyed watching the artisans make various things out of glass. It started to downpour a true southern rainstorm. We headed to Richmond and drove down monument ave, seeing several statues of famous people from Virginia. We were also able to see the confederate capitol building but there was not convenient parking so we opted to forgo going inside. One of Brett’s favorite bands and mine was playing Richmond that night so we were able to catch a concert of Jimmy Eat World to finish out our trip. The concert was in an old historic theater that had been restored and it was really cool to be able to see them – Brett was able to fulfill a life-long dream. They were very good in concert and we enjoyed it.
The Glassblower
A house at Jamestown Settlement
Robert E Lee's statue in Richmond on Monument Ave
Sunday: We traveled the 7ish hours home and were able to make it home by about 230 pm. We didn’t hit a lot of traffic, which we were very worried about and it was smooth sailing. We were able to get home in just enough time to do a few loads of laundry and make it to a youth fireside at Bishop’s house.

We enjoyed our trip and we are very glad that we were able to get down to the Atlanta area and enjoyed some really awesome time together before we won’t get to travel like that for quite a few years. It was a good last hoo-rah before starting the next chapter of parenting and “family trips” take on a whole new meaning!