Gigi Meets Helene

After leaving Massachusetts we drove 2 1/2 days to get to Lexington Kentucky for The Bourbon Burn.  The Burn is a 3 day biking event with bourbon distilleries along the bike routes.  While I don’t ride, I do volunteer.  The evenings are for dinner, bourbon tastings, and live music.  Usually, that is.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon and set up camp under a beautiful big oak tree. Thursday there were concerns about weather for Friday as Hurricane Helene moved north.  Fridays ride was canceled and the evening events were moved to a more sheltered location.

Friday morning it had rained all night and we decided to head to a Waffle House for breakfast and coffee instead of trying to cook under a 4x6 awning

When we returned we saw huge branches from the beautiful big oak tree on our neighbors truck and camper   Then we saw our campsite

By a miracle only the awning was damaged   One branch was less than an inch from the bikes   Gigi the camper was undamaged, and of course we had the truck with us when it happened  

Staff from the Kentucky Horse Park and our camping neighbor Rodney came to help us move our stuff out of our campsite. 

This is Heather, a rock star at keeping us safe and helping out   Thanks so much Heather!!

 We packed up all our wet gear (except for the awning frame) and headed to a hotel   Even driving 5 miles in the winds was a white knuckle experience 

So we are warm and dry and tomorrow we head home a few days early  We had a fabulous trip and we are grateful for the many experiences and stories we have.  

Thanks for joining us on the road with Got Bliss?.

Got Bliss Gets Rained On

Disclaimer -my laptop died on this trip so I’m now blogging on my old little iPhone with fewer editing options   

Our last day in Acadia was beautiful.  We hiked Mt. Beech to the fire tower for more spectacular views.

We also drove to the Seawall, walked along the Wonderland Trail and visited the Bass Harbor Lighthouse

We hated to leave Maine’s beautiful vistas, excellent food, and perfect weather.   From there we next went to Wompatuck State Park south of Boston, where we had planned some hiking and biking, as well as a trip to Fenway Park.   But it rained for 3 days, limiting our options.  We did manage a couple hikes in the park.

      

Happily Sunday brought better weather so we hopped onto a ferry to Boston and enjoyed the Freedom Trail, a visit to the iconic Cheers and to the Green Monstah at Fenway Pahk!

It’s wonderful to see the sun again!!

Eastward Bound

After leaving Canada we spent a couple days in upstate New York near the sweet little town of Clayton.  The campground had the best showers, which has inspired me to dedicate a future blog to designing the perfect campground bathroom, shower, and dishwashing facilities.   But today I’ll stick with our less mundane experiences on the trip

We had a great meal at The Hops Spot in Clayton and had a lovely afternoon at Garland City Beer Works—Clayton Taproom.  The beer was good (I don’t usually like beer but Colleen’s coconut porter was yummy) and the place has a friendly feel to it.  The beers are named after the owners, their brew master, and their dogs!   Colleen even put the Bears game on tv for me

From there it was on to New Hampshire where we stayed at Franconia Notch State Park. We hiked the Flume Gorge one morning.  

We started another hike that afternoon but the terrain was similar to Devils Lake, giving me a small flashback to my “incident” there in June so I didn’t get too far. (See Got Bliss post from June 12). The good news is that I seem to be getting over that with hikes at our next stop:  Acadia National Park!

Here at Acadia we have driven to the top of Cadillac Mountain:

Beautiful 360 degree views from up here,

hiked the Ocean Path, Jordan Pond:

and here,

Mt. Gorham, 

And here…

Lower Harbor, and The Anvil.

And …well you get the idea.

We ran into some of my friends from home at our campground without realizing until recently we’d planned trips that would overlap here!

Small world indeed!

Acadia is truly a gem.  Parts of the park are very busy but the Schoodic Peninsula area is much quieter and the terrain is quite different

Sunsets at the beach near our campground!

Tomorrow we plan to hike another area in Acadia then head out for more adventures the next day.

Thanks for hitting the road with Got Bliss.

Oh Canada!

 Our last day in Holland, Michigan we climbed Mt Pisgah, 236 steps but who is counting?  The views of Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa were fabulous.

Lake Macatawa from the top of Mt. Pisgah 

Lake Michigan from Mt Pisgah

We spent a lovely evening with friends in East Lansing on our way to Ontario where we camped at Wheatley Provincial Park.  We biked, walked, and enjoyed Lake Erie while there. We also biked one day at Pelee Point National Park which is a peninsula that is the southernmost point in Canada.  During spring bird migration birds heading to Canada land there in massive numbers.  We hope to experience that next spring.  It is almost time for monarch migration south and we saw a few but were too early for the peak.

Wheatley Provincial Park is very nice.  The facilities are clean, the staff are very friendly, our campsite was very nice.  You can walk to Lake Erie and hang out on the beach.  

   My meditation spot on the beach!

Some crazy guy has a goal of taking a dip in each of the Great Lakes.  Now he just needs Huron and Ontario.

This area of Ontario is known for its wineries.  We visited and enjoyed the tasting rooms of several including Cooper's Hawk, Paglione, Pelee Point and Southbrook wineries. 

Sampling wines at Southbrook organic vineyards

After several days there we moved on to Bronte Creek Provincial Park near Toronto.  

Our campsite was sheltered by a massive mother oak tree.

We had two reasons for staying here:  My traveling companion's aunt lives near here and we plan to visit her and some of his cousins today.  Yesterday, however, a highlight of our trip was a day spent at Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.  Neither of us had been here before, and it is truly spectacular.  A beautiful and powerful work of Nature.

One of  the many thousands of pictures of the falls we took.

My mom recommended we take a boat ride so we did!  It was wild   Even with the ponchos we got drenched but worth it for different views of the falls

 

  

                                       

Views of the American Falls from the boat

                                        

It’s been a great trip and we still have so much more to see and do.  Thanks for tagging along with Got Bliss? on the road!