Everyone knows I love covered bridges and that Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. So, what better way to spend a Fall day than visiting every covered bridge in the state of Delaware (SPOILER: there are only 3!) and then driving around looking for Fall colored foliage on the back roads of northern Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania.
Now you can finally take look at some of what we found in this album.
The last of my photos from our trip to the 1000 Islands are finally online. We took advantage of the cool Fall weather that had already arrived in northern New York and visited the Burrville Cider Mill in Watertown where we watched cider being pressed before stocking up on so many varieties of delicious apples to take home. We stopped in Watertown again on the way home from Alex Bay and visited the New York State Zoo at Thompson Park. The zoo is populated with animals that are native to New York.
You can check out this album right here. While you’re at it, check out the other photos from this trip from the 1000 Islands and Upper Canada Village.
I just posted another album from this past October. This one contains photos from side trip to Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario that we took while we were visiting Alexandria Bay and the 1000 Islands region. During the day, we took a guided tour of the British Canadian colonial village. After having been to many American colonial museums/villages over the years, it was quite interesting to see the colonial era from the point of view of the British loyalists. After dinner at the McIntosh Inn, we went back to Upper Canada Village which was transformed into Pumpkinferno. A seasonal display of over 6,000 hand carved pumpkins. It was quite a sight.
You can check out the album right here. Take a look at my 1000 Islands photos here and watch for my Watertown NY photos coming soon too!
I finally posted then photos from last October’s trip to the 100 Islands region of New York. When we got up there, the area was quieting down since the summer high season was over and Fall weather was settling in, but there was still plenty to do while avoiding the massive crowds of summer. Our hotel in Alexandria Bay was right on the St. Lawrence River with a great view of Boldt Castle and the shipping traffic of the St. Lawrence Seaway. We visited and toured the castle while taking a boat tour of some of the over 1800 islands in the area. Besides exploring the village of Alex Bay (as the locals call it), the trip also included an Oktoberfest at a winery (yup, another vacation with a German festival!) and some side trips to Upper Canada Village and Watertown, NY which you can see in separate albums.
The photos can be viewed here. Two more albums from side trips we made during this vacation, Upper Canada Village and Watertown NY, will be forthcoming soon.
While looking for someplace to stop for a few days on the way back from Kingston in the Catskills, we settled upon Norwalk, Connecticut, a city I’ve driven through/past hundreds of times but never visited. They have a cool aquarium along the waterfront on the Long Island Sound. We also took a boat trip out to Sheffield Island to tour the lighthouse. Our spare time was spent exploring the SONO (South Norwalk) neighborhood where we found some fantastic food. On our way out of town we stopped at the world’s most fun supermarket, Stew Leonard’s. A friend suggested it and you’ll have to look at the photos to really appreciate it as much as I appreciate her telling me about it!
I just posted some photos I took while in Kingston, NY. For those keeping count, this short vacation to the Catskills is the third time we’ve wound up at a German festival at a ski resort. I swear it’s not intentionally planned that way, but really, who can resist delicious German food? Of course, it included a scenic chairlift ride, but one difference at this festival at Hunter Mountain was the Doxie Derby. How often do you get to watch dachshunds racing??? Some ran to the finish line, some ran away! This trip also included a walk across the Spectacular Walkway Over the Hudson, a boat ride on the Hudson river and some time in downtown Kingston before we headed out of the Catskills and off to Norwalk, Connecticut.
Photos from my trip to Gatlinburg, TN are finally posted. The foliage was less than colorful, although I suppose green is a color. However, it was a fun trip. We spent a lot of time walking around downtown Gatlinburg visiting various stores and tourist destinations, dining at great restaurants, sampling moonshine and just people watching. We also took the aerial tramway up to the Ober Gatlinburg ski resort for their Oktoberfest and spent a day visiting the Gatlinburg Craftsmen’s Fair. We spent one morning in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg’s slightly more obnoxious and touristy neighbor. The trip was rounded out by some time in Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
Last year I visited Havre de Grace, Maryland for their annual seafood festival. (View those photos here.) This year I went back to revisit a nearby restaurant that sells amazing crab cakes that we discovered last year. While down there we also made a second visit to the great waterfront promenade/boardwalk along the area where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay. We climbed the Concord Point Lighthouse and also made a side trip to tour the Susquehanna Museum at the lock keeper’s house from the old Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal. The weather was beautiful, the wildlife was plentiful and this little town on the bay made for a relaxing and fun day. The photos from this year’s visit are now online and ready for your viewing pleasure. Click right here to check them out.
I just uploaded two new albums to the Photos section. They may not be as glamorous or stunning as photos of Alaska or Las Vegas, but some of the photos hold a special interest due to a tie to my family. While visiting a friend in Lewes, DE, we took some time to explore downtown Lewes including the waterfront and a historic churchyard cemetery. Those photos can be found in the Lewes album.
We also visited Fort Miles, a historic Army base at in what is now Cape Henlopen State Park. The fort consists of 15 observation towers (11 in Delaware, 4 in New Jersey), 10 gun batteries and other support structures such as barracks, etc. It was built during World War II to defend the mouth of the Delaware Bay from German ships and u-boats that might want to do harm to the vital ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia.
This facility holds a special interest for me because the people who assesed incoming vessels and decided whether the Army should blow them out of the water were US Navy sailors. One of those sailors on watch in Fire Control Tower #9 was my grandfather. While visiting Cape Henlopen we were lucky enough to be there on a day when the facilities were open for tours. We climbed tower #7 and toured gun battery 519. We also watched as renactors acted out a battle with the Germans that thankfully never really took place at Fort Miles. These photos can be found in the Fort Miles album.
When you think of Las Vegas, you usually think of gambling, drinking and general debauchery. Before heading there for a long weekend, I researched and found some fun things to do that didn’t involve getting drunk and passing out in the Bellagio fountains. It was supposed to rain on Saturday and Sunday so we ran around on Thursday night and Friday trying to do as much as possible. The only rain (and a little snow) that we got was during the night, but it’s a good thing we got an early start because we barely finished my checklist of places to see before it was time to fly home on Monday!
My photos from the trip are now online in the Photos section of the site.