Plan B

 When we left you last, I hinted about a change in plans for the remainder of our trip.  As we wrapped up our stay in Vermont and were looking for a campground in southern New York state we found that most of the campgrounds were closing up for the winter as it was now mid-October.  The ones that were open were rather pricey with nightly costs running the $80 and up.  As we sat over lunch one day I brought up the fact that we didn't have to continue doing the same thing for our entire trip. This is our trip and plans can be as fluid as we like.  The RVing was great for the first 6 months but "the bloom was off the rose" as they say and we were both ready to settle down for a bit and not be constantly searching for new accommodations and things to occupy ourselves.  

As a result, we commenced on Plan B.  This entails renting a house near my family in northern NJ and staying until the end of December.  After that, we will arrange for another 2-month home rental somewhere farther south [perhaps one of the Carolinas on the beach] where we will post up until the end of February.  At this point, we plan to head back north to welcome the new grandchild in NYC and from there head back to our home in Pagosa Springs.  Neither one of us was particularly excited about the southern leg of the RV trip and we will be experiencing new things for a somewhat extended time.  We are happy about the decision.  We are also selling the RV as we planned on doing that after the trip anyway [too big for normal camping]  so if anybody is interested...

We kicked off Plan B by phoning my brother Dan and his wife Debbie with a plea to hang out at their house until we procured a place to stay. Not many would be so gracious as to answer 'yes' to a request to:

• Stay in their house
• Park a 26' RV in the driveway
• Bring along a dog who is obsessively interested in their cats

All this while they are in the middle of selling a business, building a new house in N. Carolina and kicking off their own Plan B for life.  We can't thank them enough and promise those pesky pet stains will, probably, wash right out of that carpet.

Of course, any new plan brings with it a new set of challenges.  We now had to find a place to live that was:

• Available for only 2-months
• Furnished
• Allows dogs
•  'Affordable' [definitely a relative scale on this one]

After an arduous search we came upon a great rental on Green Pond, NJ.  The lake is known as the cleanest lake in the state and it certainly looks it.  They are understandably very proud of their lake and require that any boats on the lake don't get used in other bodies of water.  The community is very small and very close, friendly, quiet and safe.  The house is nice but not fancy and other than a few drawbacks will serve us nicely for the next couple months.  While the house has 3 bedrooms the master suite is accessed via a rather tight spiral staircase [better leave that last glass of wine in the fridge] which Kasha refuses to attempt [this is a good thing].  The bathroom has been recently remodeled and is beautiful with a large soaking tub and large walk-in shower.  An unfortunate feature is the hi-tech toilet.  This thing, apparently, does just about anything you want a toilet to do and probably a few things you'd rather leave undone.  I don't really know cos' I'm a bit intimidated by it and there is no instruction manual.  I'm just afraid that I'll go in there for a 2am pee and be asked to set up a user-name and password.  At which point I'll have re-group and try to negotiate those damn stairs.

Side note.  The property taxes are so high in NJ that, according to the property manager, there is a very nice house on the other end of the lake whose property taxes are $50,00 a year!  I don't think we'll be moving here.

So far, we've been busy setting up our new digs, doing some nice hikes and bike rides, connecting with old friends and visiting family.  I had a great fishing trip with my brother and brother-in-law to my nephew's place in Cape Cod.  As salt-water fisherman, they thought the fishing was just so-so as we boated 'only' about 80 fish over the 2 days and reached our 'keeper' limit both days.  Any one of those fish were bigger than most anything I catch on my fly rod in CO.  Kelly and I have totally become spoiled by all the fresh fish we've had lately and may never eat a fish in CO again.

We also got to attend a baby shower for our new grandson [due in January] at Hannah and Myung's spectacular Brooklyn apartment.  It was great fun and we all went over in a very expensive Uber that was worth every penny to avoid driving into NYC.

We'll keep you updated on Jersey happenings and future plans.

Blackfish dinner

Captain Bobble-head Kneebone

Fishing the Cape

Hannah and Myung patio view

Green Pond Beach

More Travels in New England

Continuing up the coast to visit Acadia National Park we arranged to stay in a very pleasant campground outside of Ellsworth, ME.  The weather continued to be wonderful with warm, sunny days and cool nights.  We were eager to see the sights of Acadia and were not disappointed.  The seascapes here are spectacular and should not be missed if you ever get the chance to be up this way.  We, once again, gained free access to the national park via my Old Guy pass, purchased for the princely sum of $50 back when I gained 'old guy' status. It allows free entrance to all national parks for the entire vehicle...what a deal!  

We first checked out the town of Bar Harbor and found that, in spite of being a tourist town, we found it quite charming as things had quieted down [I imagine] from the frenzy of full-on tourist season and we were able to stroll around town and enjoy the sights.  I had been wanting to sample a lobster-roll which is a 'must try' Maine treat.  However, I couldn't quite bring myself plunk down $25 for anything that is served on a hot dog bun so I will have to save that experience for my next life when, perhaps, I won't be so damn cheap.

While in Bar Harbor we saw a sign for a cruise on an authentic 80-ft wooden sailing schooner, so we decided to return the next day and check it out.  It was a great trip...we raised sail and cruised around Frenchman Bay for a couple hours and they even let Kasha join us.  She was a big hit with the crew and, much to our delight, managed to not pee on the deck or eat any small children.

The next couple of days were spent exploring the sights of Acadia and doing some hikes and bike rides on a nearby rails-to-trails path.  The local bike path section is called the Sunrise Trail and is a portion of the larger East Coast Greenway.  I had never heard of this trail but found that it traverses the entire east coast of the US [more or less as it is not a continuous path and has some gaps].  The section we were exploring was beautiful with the changing of the leaves and treating us to some beautiful marshy areas and woodlands.  Our only disappointment being that we still have not seen a moose and were told that they do not frequent this area. Wahh!

You can't be in Maine without eating lobster so we arranged to the have the tavern at the campground cook us up a couple for dinner and we had a Maine feast at our campground table with some local corn and potatoes cooked on our grill. Delicious!

It was now time to start heading south so we packed up and took off for central Vermont, finding a place to stay near the town of Wells, a good jumping off point for exploring the area. We were able to find a very nice campground which had free mini-golf and shuffleboard which we took advantage of. The big tourist draw for the area, especially in fall, is the town of Woodstock.  It's the quintessential New England town with lots of beautiful old buildings, charming squares and [of course] a million places to buy a tee-shirt and maple syrup.  On the plus side, we were able find free parking, so we strolled around for a while and had some maple-syrup flavored ice cream [actually, quite good] and left town to find lunch that would cost us less than a nightly hotel stay in NYC.

We spent the rest of our time here doing Vermonty things like going to the Vermont Country Store, a locally famous attraction.  This store [and there are several scattered about the state] sells an eclectic blend of home goods, toys, camping supplies and touristy stuff. It has a deli section, a wine section, a cheese section and [of course] maple syrup section.  We had a great time wandering around and even bought some 'stuff' [we were running low].

Later, we were able to get in a hike in at Bromley Mt, a local ski area where we wandered around the top of the mountain and were rewarded with some great views and beautiful fall colors.  The ski terrain here looked like it would be good skiing but I recall skiing England during my former life as a New Jerseyite and what I remember is lots of ice and supercold temperatures.  It did not make me homesick for the good-old-days.

Kelly and I love the entire New England area, especially in autumn, with their folksy old towns, all with the required white spired church and cute downtowns, but it was time to start heading south as nights were getting chilly and many campgrounds were closing up for the season.  We were planning on spending the next weekend with our daughter Hannah, who planned to drive up to meet us in the Catskills from her home in Brooklyn, NY, so we started looking for suitable campgrounds in southern New York state.  This led to a major change in our plans which you can read about in our next installment.

Fall colors walk in Vermont

Vermont Country Store

 Gotta try the Lobsta

Acadia seascape

Bar Harbor schooner