Washington, DC

Nan and I were in Washington, DC for about a week. I was working and she was vacationing. On a couple of evenings we went out and I took some night pictures of some familiar sights. If you have never been to DC, you really ought to go. It is impressive to see these historic landmarks in person.

Captial Dome

Tripod shot

Washington Monument

Tripod shot

Lincoln Memorial

Handheld - no tripods allowed

Capitol in Reflection Pool

Tripod Shot

Back In The States

We crossed back into the States about 12:30 this afternoon. It's nice to see signs in miles instead of kilometers, gas priced by the gallon, etc. You know, I could never quite figure out just how much we paid for gas in Canada.

All of the Canadians we met were really nice. They appreciated our desire to visit their country and were glad to make suggestions about (aboat) what to see and do.

We'll end up back in New Jersey tonight and pickup the girls early tomorrow morning. If the Lord wills we will be back home in Tennessee by tomorrow night.

Happy Canada Day

OK, so I am a day late. We just had so much fun celebrating Canada Day that I didn't have time to post yesterday.

At breakfast when the server brought our check she said, "Happy Canada Day!" That was the first we had thought about it being a Canadian holiday. Everything except restaurants was closed. Even Walmart. They obviously take their holidays seriously here and don't use them as a means of wealth building.

Shortly after finishing breakfast we filled up the van with gas. I bought a couple of drinks and when I completed the transaction I looked at the clerk and said, "Happy Canada Day!" He smiled really big (knowing I was American) and said, "Thank ya! Sames to ya!" And they think we talk funny.

Last night we drove down to Toronto for worship and saw Heather and Dave. Dave's family was in for the holiday (July 4th, not Canada Day) and it was good to see everyone. We got in late but really enjoyed our time last evening.

A bit of history I learned from Dave about Canada Day. It seems that they celebrate July 4th but do it a few days early, shooting off fireworks near Lake Ontario for the Americans on the other side to view. How nice! These Canadians are really great folks.

Algonquin Provincial Park

Algonquin Provincial Park is nearly the same size as the Adorondacks in New York except that all of Algonquin is protected area while the Adonrondacks are combined protected areas and cities with many roads crisscrossing the park. Algonquin has only one main road crossing the park. The rest of the park must be accessed by either canoe, on foot and perhaps by horseback.

The park boasts a considerable amount of wildlife. While in the park only two days Nan and I saw 3 foxes, a woodchuck, several rabbits, and several deer. We also saw numerous beaver "huts." Nan didn't pay too much attention to the bird species but my count was nearly 50 species without really trying hard.

One animal that Algonquin is supposed to have is moose. We entered the park about 9:30, having left our hotel in Belleville, Ontario about 5 a.m. We paid our day use fee and asked about seeing moose. The young lady wasn't too sure we would see any but told us that the visitor's center would have a listing of moose sightings. Our arrival at the visitor's center poured a bit of cold water on our hopes as the rangerette said that she had not seen moose in quite a while.

I had been reading a blog that suggested that the western end of the park was the better location to see moose. Highway 60 traverses the park from East to West and at 80 kmh (50 mph) it takes about an hour to travel. We stopped several times along the way to see the beauty and for me to do some birding.

At mile marker 22km (mile marker for lack of a better word) we noticed numerous cars on the righthand side of the road. It reminded me of the scene in the smokies when a bear was sighted. We pulled over and were pleased to learn that the crowd was watching a bull moose eating grass in one of the ponds. The picture isn't too great but here he is.

By the time we had reached the western edge of the park is was after 2 o'clock. We were very hungry. Locating food isn't the easiest task because the area is not very densly populated. However, we found just the right spot. Here the sign in front of their cafe.

We ate at the Moose Cafe twice. The food was really good. For lunch I got a Moose Burger and for breakfast this morning I got the Moosecakes.

We saw 3 other moose. Last night we went out toward dusk and saw another moose up in the woods above Highway 60. This morning we got up at 5:30 and went out looking and found a cow moose and her calf walking down the road that leads to Rock Lake. Their pictures are below.

Our quest to find moose is much more satisfied but not over. You see, the quest is to find that bull moose with a full rack and get an in-focus, stunning photo. So the quest continues...

Picture From Prickett Fort

Here is the outside view of Prickett Fort. The settlers lived around the fort on their farms. When trouble with the Indians would erupt, the settlers would all go to the fort for protection. At times they would stay in this 100x100 foot fort for weeks or months, depending upon how long the trouble lasted. The fort was a cool place but I wouldn't want to be couped up for too many days were very many folks in that small area.


This woman did a fine job of explaining life during the mid 1700's. She gave us a tour of the Prickett house and talked about daily life as a settler.


The fort is located near Fairmont, Va. This young man demonstrated pottery making and is a student at Fairmont State University. He was quite interesting to talk with and has already figured out he can't change the world. However, he does realize that changing one person at a time makes a difference and he is trying to be influential to those around him. I really enjoyed speaking with him.



The young man demonstrating blacksmithing was also interesting. He was fashioning a piece to go on a chest he and his fellow blacksmiths will use to house their tools.


Since we are on a moose quest I thought I'd show what we found. No, no moose, but this gal and Nan had a long conversation about raising kids.

All of these pictures were taken by Jennifer except for the fort. I thought she did an exceptional job. I promised pictures as soon as we got back to an Internet connection. Now I've kept my promise. I hope you enjoyed them.

Belleville, Ontario

We made it to Ontario in time to go to bed. We're up at 5 this morning to get off to Algonquin Provincial Park. Everyone we're talking with says it should be easy to see moose there. They don't realize the conspiracy that moose have going against me. Perhaps news of our arrival has not spread to the moose on this side of the border.

More tonight I hope, perhaps with pictures this time.

Prickett Fort

We visited Prickett Fort today. It is a reconstructed 1770's settlement with various craftsman demonstrating blacksmithing, pottery, farming, etc. We really enjoyed the visit and Jennifer probably got some good photos. Ut we have no Internet access except email through my BlackBerry. So I will try to post some pictures tomorrow evening.

We're in NJ tonight staying at a really nice Marriott (they had a good Saturday rate). The door man, dressed in fine black attire, opened the door as we entered. The girls were quite impressed as this is their first stay in a hotel more fancy than Courtyard! Julie said, "So is that the way you get treated on all those business trips you take?"
She began to realize the trade off when we declined the $12.95 per day Internet access fee.

--
Sent from my mobile device

New River Gorge In West Virginia

Instead of driving straight up I-81 we detoured at Wytheville, VA and went north into West Virginia. Several years ago Nan, her mom and Pauline Wright had travelled in this area and saw the New River Gorge Bridge. They were here in the Fall and the colors were much more beautiful than today. But the views were terrific and the day was fun.

Here is a full look at the bridge followed by a picture from a sign explaining the height of the bridge. It is 876 feet high. If you stacked the Washington Monument and two Statue of Libertys one on the other, you'd still have 20 feet to go to reach the bottom of the bridge.

To give you another perspective on just how tall the bridge is, I took this photo of Julie as we stood below the bridge near the bottom of the gorge. Look at the top of the bridge and consider that there are 4 lanes of traffic up there with the equivalent of one more lane on each side for emergency stopping.

Down in the gorge we found one of several creeks that flow into the river. Rhododendrons were blooming all around and the air was fresh and clean. The humidity was high so shortly after snapping this photo of the girls we stopped for soft drinks.

It was a long day but we really enjoyed it. The girls are so much fun to be with. We're sorry that Jeff wasn't able to come along this year. Unfortunately, life is calling his name these days and he has to work.

Of course, no moose along this portion of the trip. Our first opportunity for moose probably will be in Canada since we will not get into the mountains of New York on this trip. Heather offered to take us to the Toronto Zoo to see a moose but that seems too much like claiming a sighting because we saw it on Wild Kingdom. We want to get with Heather and Dave but probably not to see a captive moose. We should end up in New Jersey tomorrow night if the Lord wills. Until then...

We've Begun

We left later than expected but are on the way. Today our plans are to
go to the New River Gorge bridge in West Virgina which stands 876 feet
above the river. We'll also see Beckley, WV. By Sunday night Nan and I
will be Belleville, Ontario.

--
Sent from my mobile device

MooseQuest 4

I guess it is MooseQuest 4. Some number. Anyway, we leave tomorrow! We'll spend a couple of days with the girls travelling up. Then we'll leave them at camp and have the rest of the week to ourselves. Like before I hope to post pictures. With my fancy Blackberry I should be able to post updates along the way so check in often during the day. It is going to be nice to get away for a while.

Next Moose Quest

Our next Moose Quest begins soon. We're looking forward to seeing some new places...places that may very well have moose for us to find and photograph. I have a better way to update the blog this year by using my BlackBerry so we can post information as things happen. My BB doesn't have a camera so I'll still have to wait until we have an Internet connection to post pictures. Until then...

Interesting Church

Nan and I were surprised by the lack of churches of any type in Upstate New York. When we saw a church building, out of curiosity we looked close to see the name. This one was interesting. We figure these folks never get off "the milk of the word."

Trails End Inn & Other Locations

We had a nice stay at the Trails End Inn (say that 3 times fast!), a bed and breakfast in Keene Valley, NY. David and Susan, along with Marco their Labrador Retriever, were our hosts. They have a number of rooms in different sizes with different features. We stayed in the Marcy Suite and really enjoyed our stay.

Keene Valley is in Upstate New York about 14 miles from Lake Placid. This area of New York is rather remote and cell phone service is hard to find. Food is not the easiest to come by either, except you can get plenty over in Lake Placid but it is very crowded and expensive. New York has little diners in some towns. We really enjoyed finding them and seeing what sort of cuisine they offered. Breakfast is always good.

We left the Trails End Inn on Thursday morning and headed out the long way for Albany. I guess you could say that when we left the B&B, there was room at the Marcy Suite!

When Nan and I travel we like to take the scenic route. Sometimes Nan will point to a road and say, "Wonder where that goes?" I'll turn and we will explore. We have found so many neat little places on our trips. We turned onto Millbrook Road in the Catskills Mountains and wound around for several miles. Along the way we saw a deer, a bear cub which quickly ran away when we took interest in him, a rabbit and lots of scenery like this old covered bridge built in 1902.

We passed a very nice farm where a man was splitting lots of wood. Most people in the rural areas burn wood for heat during the winter and they spend a lot of time in the summer gathering their wood for winter. What caught our attention was the sign in his front yard. It read "New York Maple Syrup." New York produces more maple syrup than Vermont but Vermont's syrup has the reputation.

We stopped to see if we could purchase some syrup and found Mr. Kenneth Burger a delightful person to talk with. We were at his place about 2 hours as he showed us through his sugar house, told us all about how the syrup is made and how his wife packages it. In addition to syrup, they also make maple jelly and cream. We bought some of each and were glad to actually pay the producer rather than a store.

Here is Mr. Burger beside his growing stack of wood. His sugar house is in the back. If you get a hankering for some maple syrup or jelly, please call him and order some. His number is (845) 586-4784. Tell him the couple from Tennessee sent you.

Some Pictures Along The Way

At Gettysburg there are lots of monuments related to the Civil War. Some 58,000 men were wounded or lost their lives in just a few days of fighting.

The Amish country has lots of these and you'd better heed this caution sign. I wouldn't let anyone in the family take a picture of the buggies we saw since the Amish feel that is a rude thing to do.

This is fairly representative of one of their farms. They are quite beautiful thought a subdivision may sit next door.

This is where we left the kids. We think they were happy for us to leave.

We stopped at the Adirondack's High Peaks visitors center and caught this moose. It turned out to be the only moose we would see.

Before we arrived at our bed and breakfast we stopped at Chapel Pond. There were climbers across the pond going up the side of a steep rock face. Nan was watching with interest.

Driving around we came across a sign pointing to the North Pole. It is true that global warming is affecting the Arctic regions. No snow as we expected to find.

This sunset took place across the street from the only place we could find cell service. It was just up the highway from our B&B, right across from the grass runway of the airport.

We visited the Adirondack Park VIC (visitors interpretive center) at Paul Smiths. There are about 12,000 acres of land to explore. Here is one scene from our hike.

I had always heard about frogs and lilly pads but had no idea they actually sit on them. This little guy was busy moving from pad to pad trying to snatch up flies. We saw other frogs doing the same. If you don't get out and enjoy God's good earth you never get to see this sort of thing. That is, unless someone like me takes a picture. However, first hand viewing is far better.

I have other pictures I'll post later. These will give you an idea of what we've been up to. It has been a great week and the office has been about as far out of my mind as Tennessee is. I've needed that break.

Gas Prices

When we left home we paid $3.87 for a gallon of gas in Tennessee. Just below Winchester, Va we paid $3.99 so I only purchased 10 gallons. That was a good move because the next day I was able to get gas for $3.93! I thought I had made a mistake when we crossed over into New Jersey. Gas in Pennsylvania was about $3.95 and the first station we saw in NJ was at $4.05. However, away from the freeway I was able to purchase gas for $3.89.

I had hoped to do my best and not purchase gas for over $4 per gallon. Well, in Saratogo, NY I paid $4.15 and today I got it for $4.29. That seemed like a great price after seeing a station selling regular gas for $4.61 per gallon.

I have figured out a system though. If you purchase gas just after going below a half tank, you pay a lot less than if you run it down to empty. You might try this where you live and see if it works for you!

Moose Quest 2008

I spent a few minutes trying to remember if this is Moose Quest 3 or 4. Rather than spend much time or brain energy figuring that out, I opted for Moose Quest 2008 as the title of this post.

We left on Friday headed for the camp to drop off Jeff, Jennifer and Julie. Normally we leave on Saturday. However, Jeff came home with some congestion and Nan felt that she didn't want him around her mom who has been rather sick of late. Leaving earlier this year meant breaking up the nearly 15 hour drive. That has been really nice.

On Saturday we drove through Gettysburg, Pa and briefly saw the battlefields. It is interesting to see the place you hear so much about when studying the history of this country. From Gettysburg we drove through the Amish areas of Pennsylvania and ate at the Good and Plenty restaurant. Be sure to take Plenty of Good hard cash if you want to eat there! The food was great. They seat you family style with about 10 people per table. There were 8 at ours. A bilingual woman with 3 friends from Columbia, South America ate with us. It seems our family is destined to be in bilingual situations witch is just fine with me except that those times continually point out my need to learn a second language. I don't know when this old dog will learn that new trick!

Of course the Amish have a reputation for leading a lifestyle free of modern conveniences such as electricity, automobiles, power tools, etc. They dress differently, mostly in black, white and blue. The men usually have straw hats and the women have their hair rolled up into little balls covered with some cloth. We saw two Amish men in their standard attire including straw hat using a gas powered weed eater! I guess they were liberals.

The Amish are quickly losing their lands and the countryside is a mixture of old, beautiful farms separated by new subdivisions and commercial enterprises. It is kind of a shame to see that lifestyle gradually being broken up and modernized. While the Amish and I would not agree on many point religiously, their devotion to family values and keeping a corrupting world at bay must be respected and appreciated. I'm sorry to see them gradually losing that battle.

We made it to camp yesterday and dropped off the kids. They were quite excited and before we left we had already slipped from the forefront of their minds as they met up with friends and starting catching up on old times. We were glad to leave them in such a great environment and start our own week of renewal.

As I write this it is Monday morning and we are in Albany, New York. As I thought briefly about those of you who would be reading, I had a glimpse of dad sitting at the computer reading with interest. He always enjoyed travelling with us through this blog and I wish he were still here to do that.

Perhaps I can post some pictures this evening. We don't have too many at this point anyway. Our next stop is upstate New York and much cooler weather. Perhaps a moose will share the scenery with us this year!

Pictures Along The Way

Here are a few pictures that should help make the trip a little more interesting.

The girls were excited to be at camp to see their friends from last year. Christine is Julie's good friend. They hooked up within minutes of our arrival.

Elbow Pond. One of three ponds we were told would be good for spoting moose. Untrue based upon our scientific observation.

Nan and I found Stump Pond to be a beautiful place. There were ducks and other birds, clear blue skies with white puffy clouds, a nice rock to sit on for a picture...that sort of stuff.

When you get time away from the kids you end up doing some crazy things. Nan got an urge to climb a tree. I thought it made a nice picture, don't you?

We crossed over into New Brunswick, Canada for about 2 hours. In McAdam we came across this old train depot. The town is trying to raise money to restore it. It is a really neat depot with active tracks still running beside it. You can probably find a website about it where you can make donation for the effort if you like.

I'll post more later. We're having a good time.

MQ2 (Moose Quest 2)

Posting has been difficult this trip. It seems that we are up early and back late every day. We have really enjoyed ourselves.

We drove up to New Jersey on Saturday. The drive was uneventful but the time with Jeff was nice since he lives away from home and we don't get to talk as much. On Sunday we dropped the kids off at camp after church and drove over to Fair Lawn to worship with Sewell and Caneta Hall. Sewell provided us with good directions to get us into New York and on to Westborough, Mass. where I had a meeting the next day. His directions, as well as those I had from MapQuest, took us across the Tappan Zee bridge into the New York City area. From there we would catch 95 and go up toward Boston.

We started out about 8:30 p.m. We had gotten onto I-287 going toward the Tappen Zee when the traffic stopped. Thousands of cars as far as we could see were forming a parking lot. Since the weather was cooler I rolled down the window. Upon hearing what sounded like an air-raid siren, I decided to turn on the radio. WCBS reports traffic every 8 minutes and so it wasn't long before we learned that Tappen Zee bridge was closed due to a major accident in which a tractor-trailer rig had crashed and burned. The bridge, they said, might not be opened by rush hour the next morning.

We slowly worked our way off the freeway and doubled back, going up I-87 and then over to I-84. At about 11 p.m. we finally began to make progress toward Boston. Needless to say it was a long night.

We arrived in Maine on Monday evening late. Our purpose for going to Maine was to continue our moose quest. Bruce Hudson, a friend who preaches in Bangor, told me he could guarantee that I would see a moose. I like those kinds of statements though I felt I should have qualified the assurance by insisting that the moose be alive, in the wild, and not on TV or a video.

On Bruce's suggestion we headed out Tuesday to Baxter State Park. Moose were a certainty there, Bruce said. On the way up we saw the Moose Crossing signs. We confidently drove on.

After that we saw one of those portable warning signs like you see telling about highway problems. This one said, "Be Alert. Moose crossing I-95" and it was flashing. What a deal, we thought. We kept our eyes peeled from that point forward. Suddenly up ahead we saw a car pulled over to the side. From the bushes we saw a moose start walking up toward the car. I said, "Those folks stopped to take a picture." We were really excited. As we got closer we realized that the moose was actually the driver of the car. Apparently he felt the need to inspect the roadside trees. Talk about buck fever! We had it really bad. We exited I-95 without seeing a moose.

Bruce had told me about that there was a particular pond where we should go. I called Bruce for directions but he didn't answer. It wasn't until we had left Baxter, disappointed and believing that moose and Bigfoot we very similar legends, that I received Bruce's voice mail with directions to the pond. We hadn't gone to the right spot and were, by then, many miles from Baxter.

Feeling disappointed, we made plans to take a scenic drive going toward Canada. Driving South on I-95 we noticed brake lights ahead. Then we saw our prize. A cow moose was trotting north up I-95 South. It was a good sight.

So you may think that the moose quest is now over. Well...not quite. You see, cow mooses (meece?) do not have antlers and I was not able to get a picture. So we are still on the moose quest though part of the quest has been fulfilled.

I have other pictures to post but I'll try to get them up in the next post. Until then, the quest continues.

Northwestern Moose

Each year I attend the annual session of the American Association of Orthodontists. This year the location was Seattle, Washington. Nan joined me at the end of the meeting so we could spend a little time together and travel in an area we had never seen before.

Day 1

Some of our very best friends from college live in Bellingham, Wa. We drove up to see them and attend church services there. It had only been 24 years since we last saw them. Here we are with Joe and Debbie. Joe preaches for the church in Bellingham.




Nan and Joe take the prize for the least change since college. Debbie and I have changed the most in the hair department. Hers straightened out and changed colors, mine turned grey but mostly turned loose.

Day 2

After leaving Joe and Debbie's we went sightseeing in the North Cascades National Park and in Olympic National Park. The North Cascades has a driving loop that takes you from valleys into mountains and from the lush green mountains into almost desert like areas. We did the whole loop and ended up in Seattle that night.

Mt. Baker is a very prominent feature in the landscape north of Seattle. Almost everything is named for it.

At the beginning of the North Cascades Loop is the valley area. There is beautiful farmland, quaint little church buildings (though not many), and rivers full of melting snow.

Climbing higher into the mountains we came into the snow capped areas we had seen from below. It is interesting to be next to 8 feet of snow and be hot in a long sleeved shirt. The temperature was great and so were the views.



One of the nice sights was Diablo Lake. Here are two shots.

We met a cyclist at the Diablo Lake overlook. He had started from Mount Vernon that morning at 4 a.m. and had already travelled 70 miles. He was asking other folks if they had any water because he was running low. We gave him the leftovers of a Sobe drink and another person had a bottle of water they gave him. He was headed to Winthrop to be with family and friends. He looked to be about our age and Nan and I both admired his endurance. From that point forward in the trip we thought of everything from the perspective of biking the Loop. We figure the guy died along the way - we would have!

Now here is the way to travel the Loop. This cool little truck followed us for miles.

The best place to bike the Loop is from Washington Pass down to Winthrop. It is downhill all the way and must be about 40 miles long. That's my kind of biking. Winthrop is in the valley on the east side of the Cascades. The town is set in a western theme. We ate there at the little place pictured below. You can see Nan in the window.

Leaving Winthrop we drove through the valley and then back up into some mountainous areas. These areas were desert like areas. You can see how different it is to the green valleys and mountains at the beginning of our trip.

Day 3

The last day of our sightseeing took us to Olympic National Park. Believe it or not, the mountains were actually warmer than ONP. That is because ONP is next to the Pacific Ocean. The wind blowing in from the ocean keeps the temperatures cooler. It also adds to the fog and cloudiness that is often covering ONP. The temperature was about 60 or lower at ONP while in the Cascades it was 60 to 70 degrees.

ONP has several different ecosystems. There is a typical mountainous area, a rain forest and the Pacific Coast. Part of this area is like the huge forests in California. You get the idea from this next photo. The sign identifying this tree simply says, "Big Spruce Tree." Somewhat of an understatement.

There were some nice wild flowers along the way.

The rain forest is really cool. Pictures do not begin to represent what we saw. The water running down from the mountains is so clear that when I took a picture looking down into the creek, the stones and wood on the bottom didn't appear to be in water. Moss covers everything and, of course, there are mosquitoes picnicking on every visitor.

Like I said, moss covers everything! Here is a more impressive look at the rain forest.

The last ecosystem, and the coldest, was the beach. The beach is not sandy like you might expect. It is covered with smooth stones and huge trees that have been turned into driftwood.

Well. That about does it for the travelogue. Nan and I really enjoy the opportunity to see this wonderful country of ours. We continue to be impressed with the creation God has placed us into and our faith in Him is continually increased as we witness His handiwork.

By the way. No moose in Washington state that I could find. We did see signs indicating the chance to see elk. We didn't. We did see a deer, an otter, several interesting birds, and some really weird people (in downtown Seattle). The quest continues.