Author: thetinyhousetravelers

For our second week in NOLA, we wanted to kick things off right. We had heard that liquor laws were a whole different thing in New Orleans and we knew that it was possible to walk around the French Quarter with giant glasses of mixed drinks. We were in total disbelief, however, when we heard that you are able to purchase frozen daiquiris at drive thru locations across the city and we had to investigate this for ourselves so we went and found one after John got off work. It was true and it was incredible (you just can’t put the straw in them or take the lid off while you are in the car – then it becomes an open container). We drove around the city for a bit, then picked up wings from J Creole’s and drinks from Daiquiris & Company to take home for a quiet dinner followed by a dip in the hot tub.

We also went out on Wednesday evening for more alcohol themed entertainment. We had done several brewery and distillery tours previously but I was REALLY looking forward to the one we had scheduled at Happy Raptor. Number 1, how freaking cute is the name? Number 2, it’s rum. I love rum. It is one of the few alcoholic beverages that I actually really enjoy – cheap rum, expensive rum, flavored rum, it doesn’t matter. For $15 each, we got the distillery tour, one of their cocktails, and sample shots of 5 different rums – Silver, Gold, Bananas Foster, Hibiscus, and King Cake. For our cocktails, I got a Hibiscus Hurricane and John got the Rum Punch and they were both delightful. We also sampled our first actual piece of King Cake (a Mardi Gras must) and learned a little about this amazing dessert. We ended up buying a bottle of Bananas Foster to take with us as well. John had the good sense to stop drinking when we started feeling tipsy and switched to water for the rest of our visit so that he would be good to drive home. I was not the driver and, consequently, did not stop drinking so I was feeling very good by the time we left.

The single slice of King Cake that we shared at Happy Raptor was enough to really spark our interest (and our taste buds) so John got up super early on Thursday morning and drove to Dong Phoung Bakery to stand in line for a King Cake of our very own. Almost every bakery in town sells King Cakes but Dong Phoung is one of the very best and you have to get there really early and get in line before they sell out.

A little King Cake history: This cake is historically only eaten from Epiphany (Jan 6, 2023) through Mardi Gras Day (February 21, 2023). It is similar in consistency and flavor to a giant cinnamon roll but may also contain cream cheese or fruit filling. There is also usually a trinket or figurine called a “feve” (french for fava bean, which was originally used as the trinket) baked into the cake representing Christ and whoever finds that in their slice is considered lucky and, if the cake is being enjoyed in an workplace setting or a friendly gathering, may win a small prize- but they are also responsible for buying the next King Cake! Many New Orleans bakeries use a small plastic baby. Ours was on top of the cake which is much less of a choking hazard. This cake was cinnamon with cream cheese frosting and cream cheese inside and it was delicious.

On Saturday, we visited the Audubon Zoo. This is a beautiful zoo filled with gorgeous architecture, giant green spaces and towering oak trees. There are statues and fountains everywhere you look and I just felt transported back in time to the old timey zoos and parks that you see in classic movies. We also got to experience our first New Orleans Crawfish Pie and Jambalaya while visiting!

Exhibits include flamingos, rhinos, sea lions, a great reptile collection and a small aquarium section.

We absolutely loved the “local” wildlife section – raccoons, alligators, and THREE baby black bears!

The zoo sits inside the beautiful Audubon Park, which is also full of amazing old trees and plenty of green spaces to walk and play. We visited several areas in the park but our favorite was the Tree of Life, which was planted around 1740 and is absolutely breathtaking. We climbed the tree and sat among its roots and just felt at peace.

We wrapped up the day with dinner at Cooter Brown’s, a local hotspot. We had a Strawberry Lemonade and a Rum Punch to drink. I had the Mater Gator (fried green tomatoes and alligator sausage) Po Boy and John had a Hot Sausage Po Boy. The planters out front are full of oyster shells from the bar and it’s just a really comfortable, low-key place.

We decided to finish out the week on Sunday with another day of adventure. We started the morning by shopping at the Farmer’s Market at City Park. We bought some strawberries and some donuts and just enjoyed people watching for a little bit.

We continued the day by venturing into the French Quarter. We walked along Decatur, shopped at the French Market, and tried a Muffuletta from Central Grocery. We saw the original Cafe Du Monde but did not stop as we have had their beignets from another location and a cruise ship had just unloaded a TON of passengers that had made their way there. We did find an amazing little art market at Jackson Square and bought a few small pieces from local artists. We also picked up a few souvenirs to send home.

We drove back to the house to walk the dog, then headed out again for lunch/dinner. We had crossed Lake Pontchartain on our way into the city from Slidell and I had thought the bridge we drove on was never going to end. We soon learned that the area of the lake we had crossed from Slidell into New Orleans was actually one of the smaller parts of the lake and that the lake was enormous (630 square miles) and that there was a bridge crossing the middle section that connects Metairie to Mandeville- AND THAT BRIDGE IS ALMOST 24 MILES LONG!

We headed over to Metairie and drove across – it seemed to take forever! It turns out that the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is actually the longest bridge over water in the entire United States. It is free to drive from Metairie to Mandeville but there is a $5 fee on the return trip.

While in Mandeville, we ate at Trey Yuen, which is a popular Chinese restaurant. Dinner was pretty good but we also enjoyed exploring the grounds which were full of plants, statues, and koi ponds.

We had just completed our second week in New Orleans and, usually, this would mean that it was time to move on as we don’t typically spend longer than two weeks in one location. We had already done so much but we still had a to-do list a million miles long and were relieved to have an additional 6 weeks in which to do it.

On Friday afternoon, we decided we needed to get out of the house. The rain had finally stopped (for pretty much the first time since we got into town) so we bought tickets to hike Flume Gorge at 2:00pm. Flume Gorge is part of Franconia Notch State Park and was created by a beautiful waterfall, rapids and stream that flow through the area. Over time, the gorge was created by the water flowing over the rocks. It isn’t very wide but is very long and pretty deep.

We arrived at the Visitor’s Center and checked in then began our hike by heading through the forest towards the gorge. The first part of the trail is gravel and has lots of ups and downs- including a very steep descent to the bottom of the gorge. We got to pass through some beautiful forest, though, and saw some huge glacial boulders and a covered bridge.

Soon, we approached the base of the Flume trail at Table Rock. this is a HUGE piece of rock with water flowing gently over it. The trail lets you get right down beside the water (John couldn’t resist the urge to play in it) and it feels like you are looking at a deliberately designed fountain feature in a large garden. The water flows so peacefully and makes some small little pools along the edges – it really is very serene. I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.

From there, we began a slow ascent up through the Flume on a series of wooden boardwalks and bridges as the water picked up speed beside us. The streambed was very rocky here. The further we went, the more the walls started to narrow and the currents became more aggressive. The sound of the rapids became a dull roar. The path would often cross the water via wooden bridges. We were surrounded by walls of living green and it started to feel like we had been transported to another world. John said that it felt like a fairy land and I thought it felt like we had stepped into a prehistoric world like on the old television shows and movies like the “Land of the Lost”. I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.

Eventually, the walls began to narrow even more and the green, lush ferns thinned out. We were soon surrounded by high rock walls covered in moss with giant boulders overhead. The boardwalk we were on was built right over the flow of water instead of beside it. Instead of a slowly meandering path, we were now faced with a series of ramps and staircases. The current was definitely picking up speed and the roar of the falls kept getting louder and louder. I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.

With the path getting steeper and the roar of the water getting louder, we finally reached Avalanche Falls. The water rushed off the top of the rock wall on the left side of the gorge. We crossed one final bridge to the opposite side of the gorge and walked up a steep ramp right in front of the cascade. The spray coming off of the falls felt AMAZING on our skin and there was a rainbow in the mist below us. We had to shout at each other to be heard over the water but, after 20 years together, we aren’t shy about raising our voices. We just stood on the soaking wet walkway taking in the view for the longest time. This was around the time that I twisted my ankle, but I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.

Once we were past the falls, the trail led up a staircase and a bridge crossed back over the stream that fed the falls. There were some large rocks perfectly situated on top of the falls for a nice break and a great observation spot that had been cleared as a nice photo op. There was also a shallow cave that John couldn’t resist exploring, known as the Bear Cave. We rested for a few minutes, caught our breath, said goodbye to the falls, and prepared for the 1.2 mile hike back to the car. As I limped off down the trail and into the woods, I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.

The hike back was difficult, both due to the uneven terrain of the trail and due to my twisted ankle but, even in pain and out of breath, the scenery was beautiful. We passed some truly amazing trees and boulders that had grown into incredible sculptures. Various streams crossed our paths a few times and we also got to see Liberty Falls as well. A different covered bridge brought us across an area known as The Pool and between the water below us and the mountains looming above us, it was quite the sight to see. Even in pain I thought to myself, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike”.

Although the woods that we were travelling through were stunning, the highlight of our trip back came when we discovered an area known as the Wolf’s Den. This is a “shortcut” from the standard trail that went into a very narrow crevice in a pile of rocks and provided the opportunity to climb up the rocks instead of taking the longer trail around. Of course, John had to try it out. (He really is going to end up dead in a cave one day and you will all be my witnesses that he has a habit of doing things like this and it is in no way my fault!). I watched him disappear into the darkness and waited (very anxiously) for him to emerge from the top. Another group of people wandered along at that point and waited with me until John poked his head out and waved from the top. Then he convinced the men in the group to give it a try as well while myself and the ladies in the other group took the trail up the long way. When we got to the top and saw the guys squeezing through a tiny hole in the rocks, all wet from having to army crawl through the mud, we thought to ourselves, “wow, this was definitely worth the hike instead of rolling around in the mud and squeezing through rocks”.

We let the other people go on ahead of us while we stopped for a break. With my ankle starting to swell and becoming more painful to walk on, we took a lot of breaks and didn’t make the best time getting back to the parking lot. We stumbled to the car absolutely exhausted and starving and quickly decided that neither of us felt like cooking so we stopped off in Littleton to try a restuarant that had been recommended by a friend, The Littleton Freehouse Taproom and Eatery. We devoured an order of cheese curds while waiting for our entrees to arrive then made quick work of the Chicken Ranch Sandwich and the North Country Scallops. With full bellies and exhausted bodies, we drove back home and practically fell into the house and into our beds. It had been a long day with about 2 and a half miles of walking (about half of that on a twisted ankle) and we were beyond dead tired- but it was 100% worth the hike.

On Saturday, because we hadn’t punished our bodies enough on Friday, we decided to completely renovate the living room of the tiny house – which involved tearing out the built in couch and replacing it with a new couch we found at a furniture store that afternoon. Because the prior couch had been built in, that also involved replacing the flooring and adding shiplap to the walls where the couch had once been. Stay tuned for a separate post entirely devoted to that.

We spent Sunday working on the living room and running a few errands. We got to check out the town of Littleton a bit more – they have the cutest little downtown shopping area! We had lunch/dinner at a Thai restaurant (appetizer sampler, stir fry garlic chicken, and Korean beef) and shopped at Chutter’s, a local candy store that holds the record for the longest candy counter (112 feet)! We purchased 200 pieces of penny candy, some assorted chocolates, and several other things.

On Monday evening we decided to take Harley for a ride to reward her for being so good all weekend and for putting up with all the noise and chaos we had been creating at the house while redoing the living room. When we leave the park, we typically always exit and turn right which takes us to Bethlehem, Franconia and Littleton. We decided to turn left out of the park this time and just drive around exploring. We ended up following Route 302 for about an hour before turning around and coming back. We drove through White Mountains National Forest, Crawford Notch State Park and all kinds of adorable little towns. We enjoyed views of forests, mountains, waterfalls, giant boulders, tranquil ponds and luxurious resorts. We did stop briefly at Willey House pond and dam to stretch our legs and give Harley a bathroom break. It was just starting to get dark and there was a fog settling over the water. The pine trees looked like ghosts coming out of the mist. It was just about the prettiest thing we could have seen.

On Thursday night we returned to the 99 Restaurant in Littleton for Trivia Night and to have dinner. The food was pretty good (John had the Backyard BBQ Plate and I had the New England Fried Shrimp) but the trivia was super hard! Last week we had only been there for one and a half rounds and had still scored well enough to not come in last. This time, out of 30 questions, we only got 12 right! It was so much fun though. We also found out from the manager that the entire chain of restaurants holds trivia on Thursdays- not just this location. This is a popular chain throughout New England so we are hoping to find another location to visit during the rest of our time in the area.

The rest of the week was mainly spent trying to put the house back into some semblance of order and getting ready for the move to Maine on July 8th. We had a very quiet 4th of July at the campsite. We couldn’t find any scheduled fireworks nearby (but being right on the edge of a National Forest we weren’t really surprised that no one was shooting flaming rockets into the sky) so we just continued to work on the house, watched a few television shows and movies, and enjoyed some hotdogs on the grill. Toward the end of the week we also got to meet the folks that had the spot next to ours in the campground and it turns out that they were from our home town! What a super crazy coincidence!

It has been amazing to have the gorgeous White Mountains towering over us every day and I am definitely going to miss the views as we leave New Hampshire on Saturday and head to Maine but I guess trading the mountains and pine forests for the Atlantic coast seems like a fair deal – especially because the Maine Lobster Festival is now less than one month away! We will be spending the next month in Maine (split between two different campgrounds) and we have a lot of fun adventures planned.

Ordinarily on move days we sleep in, lounge around a little bit, and get moving at our leisure but this time we were racing the weather and had to get up and get moving. The forecast was calling for heavy rains, high winds and potential tornadoes moving across our area and heading right for our park. We had done as much prep work as possible the day before and quickly finished up the rest. We decided to leave most of the cats in the house again except for Pandora, Lilyth, and Mama so we caught them and loaded up the cars and moved out. We usually divide up the animals so John took Lil and Dora and I got Harley and Mama.

The trip started out with a Mama Kitty in her harness, buckled into the front seat. She activated her Houdini powers pretty early in the drive and managed to slip the harness. She spent the ride in the back windshield and would occasionally SCREAM AT ME just to remind me of all of my shortcomings as a human being.

We hit some bad rain as we headed south through Mississippi and it was really slow going for a bit but eventually we drove out of the storms and were pulling into New Orleans in no time. We did get to drive across a REALLY LONG bridge between Slidell and New Orleans – I thought it would never end! We learned later that at that moment we were crossing Lake Pontchartrain and that this bridge was just a baby compared to some of the others in the area – but more on that later.

My first impressions of New Orleans weren’t great. Everything just seemed so dirty and depressing. We were staying at a private RV park on the East side and I was a little scared as we exited the highway and turned onto Chef Menteur Highway. I thought we would eventually drive out of this terrifying part of town and find our nice little RV park but just a few short blocks later we were turning into Jude Travel Park which would be our home for the next two months. I wasn’t really impressed with the “park” at first either – it was just a large gravel lot with barely any grass and no shade. The spaces were so small that there was barely enough room to walk around your rig without running into the camper next to you. My feelings about the park would improve over the next few weeks. My overall opinion of New Orleans would not.

Once we got settled, we decided to venture out for supplies and lunch. We found a well-rated restaurant on Yelp that was just down the road a few miles and was right across the street from a Walmart. Perfect!

Our first meal in New Orleans couldn’t have been better. We ate at Peewee’s Crabcakes where we enjoyed the Crab Cake Deviled Eggs, Seafood Who Dat Pasta (pasta with shrimp, crawfish and crab meat served with fried catfish and a crab cake) and a Crawfish Po’ Boy. Seriously, look at that mountain of crawfish for $15. Neither of us have ever been huge crab cake fans but this was so incredible. We ate so much (and were already so tired from moving) that we barely made it through shopping and had to go home to rest for the remainder of the day.

We had only been in town for a day but it was HOT and HUMID. We were quickly learning that the south was going to be like nothing we had experienced – and it was only January. While John was working, I took the car (for one of my very few solo outings in New Orleans) and went for a haircut. I usually just go to Great  Clips but there were none around so I tried an actual salon/boutique, Spa Isbell, for the first time in over a decade. We also found a small barber shop for John in Carrollton, Family Barbershop, for a hair and beard trim.

The area was a really cute little hipster part of town so we decided to take a stroll down Oak Street. We found an adorable bookstore (complete with cat) and had dinner at Jacque-Imo’s. We couldn’t decide what we wanted so we just shared three appetizers. The cornbread had a pool of garlic butter and parsley on top and it was amazing. The appetizers were the Boudin Balls Arancini, the Shrimp and Alligator Sausage Cheesecake, and the Fried Green Tomatoes (which came with shrimp on top). It wasn’t as good as I was hoping but was still a nice dinner and a fun evening.

Living in the Central Standard Time Zone but working in Eastern Standard Time was definitely a perk we enjoyed while in New Orleans. John would start work around 7am each day, skip lunch, then be off for the evening around 3pm. Because of this, we were able to have a lot of little adventures during the week in the late afternoon and evening.

On January 6, we decided to check out City Park -a huge park in New Orleans similar to Central Park in New York. The park contained several ponds, Swan Boats, an art museum, a sculpture garden, an equestrian center, soccer fields, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, a dog park, cafes and food stands, play areas and so much more.

For our first visit, we visited the Big Lake area and rode the Swan Boats. We spent about an hour pedaling around the pond and watching ducks and other birds go about their lives.

We particularly fell in love with a bird called an Anhinga. We watched it catch fish in the lake then sun itself on the banks.

We also visited the Singing Oak which is a massive tree in the park near Big Lake that is full of enormous windchimes. We sat on the banks of the pond near the tree and listened to its beautiful music for a long while.

When we finally dragged ourselves away from the Singing Oak, we walked around the pond towards the at museum but we got sidetracked when we noticed movement in one of the trees. We discovered that a crow had gotten tangled up in some fishing twine then gotten stuck in a tree. It was pretty high up and we weren’t sure what to do. There aren’t really any park rangers around and we couldn’t find anyone to call. We were determined to help, though. John went to the museum and explained the situation and somehow managed to convince their maintenance team to let him borrow a ladder in exchange for leaving his driver’s license with them. He was also able to borrow some scissors and a long pole from the Swan Boat rental stand. We used some random stuff we had in the car (shoelaces and a dog leash) to lash the scissors to the pole and John climbed the ladder into the tree while I held him steady. I was absolutely convinced that the precariously positioned ladder was going to topple over any minute and John was going to land in the lake but somehow he managed to free the fishing line from the branch. We weren’t able to get ahold of the bird or untangle the line from his body and he was still in the tree when we finally had to leave (it was too dark to see and we honestly couldn’t have done anything more) but he was moving around better when we left and we hope that we at least gave him a chance.

During the whole rescue mission, I also got to see my first nutria – a large beaver-like creature with a rat tail and long, yellow teeth- swim by in the lake. We would learn later that these are a huge nuisance in the area and are one of the leading causes of erosion in the swamp. But for now it was a very novel experience.

On our way out, we also stumbled across a Café Du Monde location! We were fully prepared to go to the main location in the French Quarter and have to stand in line forever to have the famous beignets but this location was much less busy, tucked away in City Park, and we only had one person ahead of us in line when we got up to order. There were tons of empty tables to sit and enjoy our treats and the cool evening air definitely brought back our appetites.

Exhausted from our adventure at the park, we decided to spend our first Saturday at home and try out the hot tub. Despite the bad area, small campsites and everything else, this was one amenity we had not yet experienced and we intended to use it as much as possible during our stay.

For our first Sunday in New Orleans, we woke up early and went out for breakfast at Molly’s Rise and Shine – an 80’s/90’s kid’s paradise. This place was recommended by the lady that cut my hair and when we walked in and saw dinosaurs and  Beetlejuice on the walls, I knew it was the right choice. I had the Grand Slam McMuffin (sausage, egg, cheese, grilled onions and a hashbrown on an English muffin) and John had the Fried Chicken Biscuit.

After breakfast, we visited the National World War II Museum. We have both always had a love of WWII history and love opportunities to watch movies, read books, or learn about this time period in any way possible. It was amazing seeing exhibits covering heroes that we recognized from movies and television- Carwood Lipton and Dick Winters (Band of Brothers), Desmond Doss (Hacksaw Ridge), Eugene Sledge and John Basilone (The Pacific), Dorie Miller (Pearl Harbor), Pappy Boyington (Baa Baa Black Sheep). We also got to learn about so many more heroes who we had never heard of but who were also incredible men and women.

The exhibits were set up in a way that really brought history to life by taking you into bunkers, onto battleships, through tropical jungles and snowy forests. You also got to choose a dog tag card and follow your soldier throughout the museum- I got Pappy Boyington (leader of the Black Sheep Squadron) and John got J. V. LeFleur (a chaplain who ultimately gave his life saving others).

We saw so many artifacts and read so many personal accounts from the war. The planes, tanks, and other vehicles were incredible to see and the 4D film that is shown there was incredible and moving.

We had allotted about 6 hours to spend at the museum but we could have easily spent days. We both highly recommend visiting this museum if you are ever in New Orelans. Or, if you are just history nerds like us, make a special trip for it. It’s worth it.

On Saturday June 24, we packed up the house and prepared to drive from Leicester, Vermont to Carroll, New Hampshire. The weather was cool and there was rain in the forecast all day – both in the area we were leaving and in our new spot. Moving in the rain isn’t the most fun- especially when towing the house through the mountains but, aside from just a few downpours, it was a light drizzle for most of the way. The roads were fairly smooth and we had no major mishaps on the road. We didn’t even have to stop for gas! While the drive took almost 3 hours (due to driving most of the way on two lane roads through small towns with low speed limits) it was only about 80 miles.

We arrived at Beech Hill Campground around 2:00pm, checked in at the office, and were soon pulling into our spot. We had been given a map to our site and a pamphlet about how to protect ourselves from bears so that’s always fun. The spot was a back-in spot with trees on three sides. I was so proud of John for backing the house in with absolutely no difficulties (our last few spots had been pull-throughs so I was worried he would be a little out of practice but he totally nailed it in one try).

We came into the house and were delighted to find that the refrigerator had not tipped over (thanks to being attached to the wall by straps that were stuck in place with resin and having a 2×4 screwed into the wall in front of it) and only a few other items throughout the house were out of place. We were so excited to finally have a move go smoothly – until the power went out. After some investigation, John found that one of our wires had come loose when he was working in the area of our fuse box and he couldn’t get it back in. We found a Home Depot about 20 minutes away and were able to get new wiring (even if it did take over an hour in the store to get someone to help him). We picked up some McDonald’s for dinner then drove home. After eating outside under the awning (it was too dark by this time to see inside the house with no electric) John made pretty quick work of fixing the problem and, once electric was restored, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the house.

On Sunday we had reservations for the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway located in Franconia Notch State Park. We arrived at the park and were absolutely stunned by the beautiful mountains surrounding us. The Tramway would take us to the top of one of these mountains – an elevation of over 4,000 feet which, for a girl from Ohio, was pretty high up. I was terrified during both the rides up and back but I couldn’t wait to see the view from up top. There were only a few other people in our gondola for the ride to the top and the operator was very friendly and provided some great information about the park. As we kept going up and up and up I couldn’t imagine the people who hike up and back or, even crazier, the ones that ski down in the winter! It was an 8 minute ride and I clutched the railing the entire way.

Once we arrived at the top, we stopped by the snack bar to grab a bite to eat in hopes of settling my stomach. We tried eating outside on the balcony but the wet weather had brought about a ton of mosquitos and gnats so we quickly traded the beautiful views for the opportunity to eat without bugs flying into our ears and mouths. We shared an order of chicken fingers and fries and the biggest whoopie pie I have ever seen. The chicken and fries weren’t great but that whoopie pie..mmmmmmm. I will dream about that for a long while.

After eating, we hiked the short distance to the observation tower – to get an even higher view of the area. The mountaintop was covered in pine trees and the smell was incredible! It was a short trail but somewhat rough going due to all of the rocks and tree roots. It took us a few minutes but we eventually made it to the lookout tower.

The platform was an additional 4 stories up but it was worth it. We had been warned that the moisture content in the air plus the particulates from the fires in Canada were causing limited visibility but it was still lovely. We were told that on clear days you could see Canada to the north, Maine to the east and Vermont to the west. We could just barely make out other mountain peaks in the distance but, again, the view was still nice and we had a great time.

For the ride back down I had planned to seat myself on one of the two benches in the gondola but there was a bigger crowd and we were towards the back of the line so I had to stand again. The ride really wasn’t terrible except for when the gondola would pass the large towers that supported the cables. When we passed these, it would cause the gondola to kick out and swing back and forth. It hadn’t been as bad on the way up but the way down definitely left me feeling nauseous. Thankfully, John held on to me and rubbed my back and kept me calm for the ride down so I was able to fight the urge to throw up. The views were so pretty from the gondola but I was happy to get my feet on the ground once again.

We got back in the car and drove a short distance to the Old Man of the Mountain site. This had been a rock formation perched precariously on the edge of Cannon Mountain that resembled the side profile of a man’s face. It was a super popular tourist attraction until the rocks had finally succumbed to gravity and fallen in the early 2000’s. The area was still beautiful, however, with the mountain in the background looming over a tranquil lake so we took the path down to the viewing plaza. They have recently installed tall rods along the plaza that have the “old man” profile notched into them so if you line up the view just right, you can see what it would have looked like before the rocks came tumbling down. I thought it was a really neat way to preserve this once famous landmark without actually disturbing the animals or trees in the area.

We ended our day driving along the scenic highway then stopping for dinner at Rek-lis Brewing in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. We had some Mexican Street Corn Nachos and split a Pork Belly Banh Mi sandwich before heading home. The food was amazing!

The rest of the week so far has been dreary and rainy and, when the rain does stop, there are so many mosquitoes and other bugs that assault you the moment you step out the door, so we have been enjoying some much needed time off by relaxing in the house. We have watched some movies and television shows, read books and played video games all week – all while snuggling Harley and watching the cats be maniacs.

We did have to drive to nearby Littleton on Thursday night to pick up an Amazon order so we made the most of it by going for a drive for a few hours along the western edge of New Hampshire, across a neat bridge, then back up the eastern edge of Vermont. We found a gorgeous covered bridge that I demanded we drive across and we stopped at a few dams along the Connecticut River as well. We finally looped back to Littleton and ended up stopping at a restaurant called 99 for dinner. We discovered upon entering that it was their weekly trivia night so we played along for the last round and a half and actually got enough points to not come in last even though the other teams had been present for all 3 rounds. The food was pretty good too! John had a Vermont Burger and I had a Colossal Lobster Roll because, if the opportunity for a lobster roll presents itself, I’m not going to say no. We will still be in town next week so are hoping to come back for the full Trivia Night experience next Thursday. And if another lobster roll happens to be ordered that won’t be any fault of mine (wink wink).

Stay tuned for week two of our time in New Hampshire – we will visit Flume Gorge for an incredible hike, tell you all about our insane decision to remodel our living room, and hopefully be able to explore the nearby towns a little bit more.

While we were building the tiny house and getting our house ready to sell, we weren’t sure of when we would actually be leaving Ohio so we weren’t able to make any travel plans too far in advance. We were fortunate enough to find a really nice couple who rented land to us month-to-month for the tiny house so we didn’t really need too much advance notice for when we would be leaving. We thought that once we got the house on the market we would have time to relax a little bit and make our travel plans. Things moved much faster than we anticipated once we put our house up for sale (we listed on a Thursday and had multiple offers by the following Monday). We accepted a cash offer above asking price and had a closing date within 2 weeks. We were suddenly faced with the fact that we needed to make travel plans fast.

Because of the short notice, booking campsites around the holidays was a little tricky as availability was limited. Apparently, lots of people travel with their RV’s and campers around Christmas and New Year’s – especially in the south. Because of this, we had to switch around some move dates and make the final few moves of the year on weekdays to secure camping spots and avoid the holiday traffic so we ended up moving from Jackson, Mississippi to Paul B. Johnson State Park in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on a Wednesday instead of our usual weekend travel days. We would spend New Year’s weekend there then check out of Paul B. Johnson State Park on Tuesday January 3 to head to New Orleans.

As with the last park, John really knocked this one out of the park. The move went smoothly and we found ourselves pulling into our waterfront site on a large lake just as it was getting dark outside. This park was a bit of a drive from any nearby cities but was absolutely stunning. The campground was HUGE with 125 RV camping sites. The sites were divided into three loops branching off of the main road through the park. Each loop had primitive campsites for tent camping in the middle along with a bath house with public restrooms, showers, and a washer and dryer. Because of the holiday weekend, it was a little crowded but the site sizes were generous. It got a little loud with folks setting off firecrackers and shooting guns on New Year’s Eve but otherwise was very peaceful.

We only had 5 days to spend at this park instead of our usual 7-14 so our activities plan was a little light but we still managed to squeeze a few things in, thanks to the long weekend.

We also had our first experience with absolute terror while at this site. One evening, I came up to the bedroom to give treats and I couldn’t find Mama Kitty. She is always in the bedroom. I shook the treats and no Mama. Mama is like a Hoover for treats- when she hears the bag, she comes running and will happily suck up handfuls of them at a time and has even been known to reach into the bag or jar to help herself if you aren’t giving them to her fast enough. She never misses treat time. We frantically searched the house but she just wasn’t there. I ran outside, about to burst into tears because I knew at that moment that somehow she had gotten out. I was walking around in the dark shaking a bag of treats yelling for my cat, in an absolute panic, when suddenly I hear a rustling and look over to see two glowing eyes emerge from the GODDAMN SWAMP at the edge of the lake. She made me chase her around a bit and shake out half a bag of treats before I managed to catch her. She was SOAKING WET and covered with mud all up her legs and across her stomach. She smelled horrible. I brought her in, cleaned her up with a towel, and checked for any wounds but thankfully didn’t see anything. With Mama, though it isn’t that simple. She is FIV positive which is like a human being HIV positive. Her immune system is compromised and she doesn’t have the ability to fight off infections like a normal cat would so this began a period of a few weeks where I stressed about some unseen injury becoming infected and her dying a slow painful death and me blaming myself for the rest of my life. Or her being pregnant as she is the only one of our cats not spayed/neutered due to this health issue. At this point, I was also covered in mud and my heart was racing as I began this emotional spiral and that damn cat has the ABSOLUTE NERVE to BEG FOR MORE TREATS. In case anyone was wondering, she was completely fine and nothing came of it. Cats are the absolute worst.

Over New Years weekend, we went on a few little adventures to do some shopping. We also took the advice of a friend and visited nearby Shady Acres Village – a small roadside spot with small stores and a restaurant. John had the ribs platter with hush puppies, cheesy potatoes, and tomato rice and I had a shrimp po’boy with onion rings. We shared an order of wet fries- french fries smothered with gravy and onions. We also stopped by Country Tyme Fruit Stand where we discovered Satsumas- a local orange variety that is too fragile to be shipped anywhere so you can only get it around where it’s grown. If you ever have the opportunity to try Satsumas -please do! They are sweet and juicy and so incredibly easy to peel. We bought two bags of them!

One of our weekend activities was visiting the Hattiesburg Zoo. It is a tiny little zoo but had a fair amount of animals – including zebras, giraffe, lemurs, tigers and emu. We were also delighted to find a Chacoan Peccary which is an animal we had learned about during out trip to the caverns in Indiana but had never seen in a zoo before! The peccary is a pig-like animal that is currently found in the Southwest US, Central America and South America. We had seen peccary bones in the caverns in Indiana during our tour there meaning that they once inhabited that area, too. It was really neat to see this animal in real life.

On New Year’s Eve, we took a trip into downtown Hattiesburg to find another unique attraction that I had read about- The Hattiesburg Pocket Museum. This “museum” is actually outdoors and is located in an alleyway in the city. As you walk through the alley, you absolutely have to take your time and have your head on a swivel so as not to miss anything- the entire alley is full of miniature scenes and art installations! There are paintings on the ground, on walls and in windows, some of which are incredible optical illusions. There is a spilled coffee cup that has become a swimming hole for miniature children figurines, tiny men work on the utility boxes, and hike trails made of crumbling bricks. The creativity that has gone into each individual scene is mind-blowing. The nearby parking garage also has old parking meters that have been painted according to different themes and there is something to see everywhere you look. We spent quite a long time walking up and down the alley and through the garage but I am sure there are still things that we missed. This was definitely unlike anything else I had ever seen and I was so happy that we made the time to come and check it out.

On our last night in Hattiesburg, Mama Kitty decided to make another attempt to become a swamp witch and, as a result, John and I had a lovely walk/hike/run/game of hide and seek in the swamp and woods in 70 degrees and 93% humidity chasing after her. She had decided to suicide dive off the refrigerator, knock the dog out of the way and escape INTO THE DARKNESS as John was walking out the door. We had another camper down the way from us keeping an eye out and he actually spotted her twice and provided directions to us and without his help I don’t know how long we would have been out there. We climbed through thorn bushes, waded through muck, and climbed over fallen logs and tree roots as the only thought in my mind was that we had to find her because we had to leave for New Orleans in the morning and, contrary to John’s opinions, we couldn’t leave without her.

After about an hour, we finally caught the beast and staggered back to the house. We checked for ticks and assessed the damage- Mama was fine but John and I had some scrapes and scratches. And she actually had the nerve to growl at me after making me ruin my favorite shoes!

We were absolutely ready for bed and slept well after our little adventure. We had heard about bad weather moving through the next day and wanted to get an early start to beat the storms.

On Saturday June 17th, we pulled out of Adirondack Gateway Campground in Cold Brook, New York and began our long, rainy drive to Leicester, Vermont. Because I had been sick most of the week, we hadn’t really been out much. There were no gas stations close to us so we just figured we would fill up on the way somewhere. We drove for quite a while without seeing any gas stations. We had no cell service for most of the trip and our walkie-talkies were having some battery issues so we weren’t able to communicate but when we left we had decided to stop at the first gas station that we came to. As we continued to drive mile after mile without seeing anywhere to fill up, I started to panic. My gas light came on. The display on the dash that tells me how many more miles I have left on the tank kept ticking down….below 40, below 30, below 20. Finally, we came into a larger vacation town with several campgrounds and a few hotels and we found our first station! I was finally able to gas up the car and stop worrying about running out of gas!

Unfortunately, the truck and the house couldn’t fit in the parking lot so John had to continue on, hoping for another gas station. He still had over a quarter of a tank so it wasn’t as urgent for him. We continued on, again finding no gas stations until we were very worried that the truck was going to run out. We had a few minutes of cell service and were able to talk briefly and decided that if the truck was going to run out, John would pull over and I would take a gas can and go on to the nearest station and bring some diesel back for him to tide him over. We came in to a slightly bigger town and saw a few stations but NONE OF THEM HAD DIESEL! Just as things were looking really bleak, we finally found a station with diesel that John was able to squeeze into. Although we made it this time, we have definitely learned our lesson and won’t risk it on future trips.

Even though it was rainy and dreary all day, we still loved the scenery as we were driving through. We drove along a beautiful stream for a long time and over a few bridges-all with misty mountains in the background.

We arrived at the campground and got checked in with no issues. The current owners purchased the property just a few months ago and they are the nicest people. They were even able to print off some return labels for us for a few Amazon returns that we needed to make. The campground is smaller but set up well in a figure 8 design with open, grassy spaces in the middle and trees around the outside. The bath houses are older and a little run down but are cleaned daily. There are also bowls in each bathroom with travel size shampoos and soaps for guests to use which is definitely a nice touch. The camp store has a good variety of necessities, groceries and snacks – and even Vermont Maple Syrup!

For this trip, we had bolted the refrigerator to the wall with furniture safety straps but they were no match for the New England roads and we found the fridge on the floor blocking the door again. John crawled through the window again and got it righted. I cleaned up inside while John set up everything outside.

We decided to drive into a nearby town for dinner and to pick up a few things at Home Depot to try (once again) to secure the refrigerator. After getting the things we needed from the store, we ended up at the Baxter Restaurant at the Country Club for dinner. John had a chicken sandwich and I enjoyed a lobster roll before heading back home for our first night in Vermont.

On Sunday, we had scheduled a visit to Fort Ticonderoga and a boat tour of Lake Champlain. The lake sits on the Vermont/New York border and the Fort is on the New York side a little ways up the mountain overlooking the lake. This fort played an important role in both the French and Indian War and the American Civil War and is in remarkable shape for being so old. We spent a few hours touring the fort itself – they had some great museum exhibits with artifacts and dioramas but our favorite parts were the interactive displays. They had a game that let you fire a small spring loaded cannon to try to accurately hit ships, a pulley setup where you could try to lift an actual artillery gun (spoiler alert- they are HEAVY), and all kinds of things that you could touch. There were also several costumed employees demonstrating how daily life worked at the fort – baking bread, making soup, cleaning, sewing and even someone making shoes.

At around 12:30 we walked the short trail from the fort down the hill through the Kings Gardens and to the lakeshore where we boarded our boat, The Carillon, for our tour of Lake Champlain. The boat was a replica of a popular type of vessel from the 1920’s and took us on a 75 minute cruise around the lake. A costumed employee narrated the entire trip, provided information about the history of the fort and the lake itself, in addition to pointing out other important landmarks. They were even able to use sonar to show us the remnants of sunken boats, bridges, and railroad tracks under the surface of the water.

While we enjoyed the military history, the thing that really stuck with us was the way that people have tried to bridge the lake in the past. One fairly successful bridge involved American soldiers during the Revolution. They waited until winter and when the lake froze over, they used the ice to support them while building a bridge across. They would drive the supports down into the lakebed through the ice, securing them to the bottom, and then built up the bridge through the ice and above the surface of the water. The ice held the weight of the men and their supplies while building the bridge then during the warmer months when the ice melted, the bridge was in place so that they could continue to move supplies and troops from New York to Vermont with ease.

A failed attempt in a later century involved building a floating railroad bridge directly on the water. This ultimately ended with the train derailing in the middle of the lake. Thankfully, this was a supply train only and no passengers were aboard. The conductor can be seen in a photo from the time standing beside the wreckage.

Our admission also included a token to access nearby Mount Defiance. On the short drive over, we found a really pretty waterfall so we stopped to admire it and the beautiful covered bridge spanning the La Chute River for a few minutes.

Mount Defiance looms above the surrounding landscape and is the point from which the British were finally able to force the Americans to abandon Fort Ticonderoga and flee into Vermont and further south to Sarasota, New York. We were thankful that we were able to drive most of the way and only had to walk up about 100 feet of steep paved trail to get to the top. We could not imagine the struggles of the British troops chopping their way through the trees up the side of this mountain to clear a roadway to the top – all the while carrying their supplies and gear and toting cannons behind them. The views from the top were absolutely stunning, though.

For the drive home, we decided to take the Fort Ti Ferry back across Lake Champlain. While the fort was only 17 miles from our campsite, the lack of bridges meant that we had to detour pretty far out of our way to cross from Vermont back into New York. It took us about an hour to get from Leicester to Fort Ticonderoga using roads and bridges. The ferry cost $16 total but knocked about 40 minutes off of our drive. This ferry service had been running since 1759! It has been modernized, of course, and is now a flat bed ferry that is powered by an engine and runs on cables from one side of the lake to the other to keep it on track.

John was off work on Monday in celebration of the Juneteenth Holiday and we used this opportunity to visit the New England Maple Museum in nearby Pittsford. The museum itself cost $3 per person and while not very high-tech or modern, did a good job of explaining the history of maple syrup production in the US and its importance as a trade items to native peoples. At the end, we got to sample four different syrups ranging from golden to dark and even one that was aged in a bourbon barrel. We have done Bourbon and Whiskey tastings on our earlier travels through Kentucky and Tennessee and learned that the barrels are often repurposed for other industries so it was neat to really experience this come full circle.

The gift shop is what got us. We purchased several maple products – candy, a few different types of syrups, a maple cream that is AMAZING on toast, and even a t-shirt for John.

We also dined in Rutland a few more times during our visit – having dinner one night at Taco Fresco (Nachos and Shrimp Tacos) and woodfired pizzas at Vermont Tap House. For our pizzas, we chose the Maple Goat (Olive oil, red onion, broccoli, goat cheese, rosemary and Vermont Maple Syrup Drizzle) and The Vermonter (garlic sauce, apples, bacon, red, onion, and Vermont Maple Syrup Drizzle). It was all so delicious! We also learned that Rutland, Vermont is the birth place of John Deere.

On Wednesday after work, John decided he wanted to go for a drive so we loaded Harley in the car and hit the road. One of our favorite things is to just choose a direction out of our campground and drive until something catches our eye – usually a bridge or a tunnel or an interesting road- and then change course. We had arrived at our campground from the south so we decided to go north. We drove past a giant gorilla holding a Volkswagen and then found a gorgeous lake. When we came to a crossroads, we opted to turn toward the lake and I am so glad we did!

After a short while, we came upon Branbury State Park. There was a swimming beach and a little snack stand and shelter houses and further away from the road was a campground. We pulled into the parking lot and headed for the beach. The view was amazing! There was this grassy field, then a sandy beach, then the lake shimmering in the sun, and finally the mountains in the background. I could not have imagined a more beautiful setting if I tried.

John took Harley down to the water from the grassy banks while I walked on the beach (dogs weren’t allowed on the sandy part of the shore) and dipped my toes in the water. I had been expecting it to be freezing but it felt really nice. I got out of the water and headed over to John and Harley, who were also wading. We enjoyed the water for a bit then decided to get back in the car and see what else we could find. But first, Harley had to roll in the grass to dry off.

Once we left the State Park, we drove along the lake on the opposite side as our campground. We eventually came to another big crossroads and decided to turn towards the mountains. Thankfully, the road that we were on was one of the few mountain passes in the area. We found a pull off with a gorgeous view and stopped to investigate. This was the Mount Horrid Scenic Overlook and it was incredible. We had only planned on driving around with no destination in mind so I hadn’t brought the camera. With only my cell phone, I snapped a few photos but they absolutely did not capture the beauty of this spot.

We drove on and ventured into a campground in the Green Mountains National Forest and drove around that area for a bit before heading for home back the way we had come as it was starting to get dark Isunset is around 8:45 here right now) and driving unfamiliar mountain roads in the dark with bear, moose, and deer lurking along the way didn’t sound super fun.

We came back into the town of Brandon, which is the next town over from our campground. We were hungry and it was already 8:00 so we decided to try to find carryout instead of going home and cooking something. Unfortunately, everything in Brandon that we found online said that it closed at 8pm. John parked the car and went to make a loop of downtown on foot to see if he could find anything while I walked Harley to a greenspace nearby.

John checked a few places before finally walking into a Chinese restaurant. The sign said that it closed at 8:00 but the Open sign was still on. The man said that they were closing but that he still had a few things to do so he would be happy to make us dinner. John put in the order and, when it was done, walked back to find me and the dog.

While we were waiting for him, we had wandered about the area where we parked and found a waterfall right in the middle of town! The river actually flowed under the main road and came out of a little tunnel and over some rocks before meandering out of sight a short distance later. There were houses and businesses built along the banks and a little covered pavilion with benches and a grassy area. It was so cute! We admired the view for a bit and Harley enjoyed rolling in the grass before returning to the car and going home to eat our dinner which turned out to not taste like much but it saved us from having to cook and the cook stayed after closing to feed us so it gets a lot of bonus points for that.

On Friday we had booked tickets to tour the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont. John got off work early and we started the hour and 20 minute drive over. The scenery was beautiful the entire way there with beautiful forests, mountains and streams coming in and out of view after every turn. We drove through a small town where we saw a small ice cream stand selling Maple Creemees – a food that we had been dying to try. This is a soft serve ice cream that has a light maple flavor. We were already on our way to eat ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s so we did the only reasonable thing – we each got one! We thought that getting a small cup each would still be manageable but when they handed them over I couldn’t believe how big a “small” was. By the end of the day we would definitely be swearing off of ice cream for a while.

The coolest thing we saw, though, was when we were driving down this crazy dirt road that we actually weren’t sure was a real road and suddenly, something crossed in front of us. We couldn’t decide what it was at first so we pulled up to where it had disappeared into the trees on the roadside and started watching for it. Through the leaves and branches we were finally able to see a bobcat making its way up the embankment! Despite having previously seen bobcats in zoos and actually volunteering around them at least once a week for 6 years at Butternut Farms, I have never seen one in the wild and was super excited. We watched until it moved out of sight and then continued on our way.

We finally emerged from the dirt road onto an actual paved road and eventually arrived at the Ben & Jerry’s Factory. The tour experience was about 30 minutes and was only around $6 per person. We had made reservations a few weeks prior and if you plan to go I definitely recommend booking in advance as they do sell out. The tour itself consisted of three parts – a film that provided information about the history of the company, a view of the production line, and the tasting room. After our visit to World of Coke a few months ago, we were immediately skeptical about the film (the Coke film felt like they were trying to get you to join a Coca Cola cult) but it was actually decent. It was informative, a little self-deprecating, and only slightly an advertisement/feel good message about their brand. When we entered the room that overlooks the production line, our guide walked us through the manufacturing process by pointing out numbered stations below and telling us what happened at each one. They were making the “Half Baked” flavor during our visit. No photos were permitted here.

The tasting room is, as you probably guessed, where we got to sample one of the flavors from the new 2023 line. Of all the options, we were provided with Butterscotch with pretzel chunks. Neither of us really loved it but most of the other guests seemed happy and some even had seconds.

Following our tour, we checked out the gift shop and visited the Flavor Graveyard – a small area off to the side that is set up like a cemetery but all of the tombstones have names of past flavors that are no longer produced. Some of the more interesting ones included Maine Blueberry, That’s my Jam, and Cake Batter, and Holy Cannoli. They even had a Dave Matthews Band collaboration called Dave Matthews Band’s Magic Brownie.

After only an hour (including our tour) we were ready to go. There just really wasn’t much else to do there (although we did get to measure ourselves and find out how many ice creams tall we were). We were also absolutely starving and the only thing available to eat there was ice cream and we needed real food so we found a nearby restaurant called The Filling Station that was well rated and had dinner there. John had the Fried Chicken Sandwich and I had a Shrimp Tempura Roll. We split an order of Duck Fat Fries as well and they were wonderful! We really enjoyed the ride home – the scenery was just incredible.

We did run one final errand to the town of Pittsford. We had contacted a local sign/decal maker for large decals of our logo to put on the house and they were finished just in time! We took a few minutes to put them on the house when we got back home. They look amazing!

We are hoping the decals will help us gain followers on social media pages – the more people we get to interact with, the more cool recommendations we can get for fun things to do and delicious places to eat while we continue our travels! We will see how well it works on our drive tomorrow from Leicester, Vermont to Carroll, New Hampshire!

On Saturday December 17^th we left Tennessee behind and made our move to Jackson, Mississippi. The trip was fairly uneventful and we pulled into LeFleur’s Bluff State Park right around 4pm. I am the “Activities Director” for our little family but John is the “Lodging and Logistics Coordinator” so he books all of our accommodations and I never know before hand what each campground will be like. This one definitely knocked my socks off and remains one of my favorite parks to this day.

The park was located right off of a main road off of on exit from Highway 55 but once you were in the park you had no idea you were just minutes from downtown Jackson. We checked in at the gatehouse and were given access codes for the pinpad so that we could come and go as we pleased in the gated park. We followed a long, winding drive through trees and around  a large pond to the camping area. I was so happy when I saw that our site was one of the lakeside spots. John got us backed in while Harley and I sat at a picnic table right along the water. I was so excited that this would be our home for the next 11 days and where we would spend our first Christmas on the road. During our stay there we would spend a ton of time watching the birds and turtles on the water and John even got to see an otter (or so he claims)!

Our first excursion after arriving was dinner at nearby Cultivation Food Hall.  They had a ton of great options to choose from and everything that we had there was absolutely delicious. We had Fried Chicken Tenders and fries and Fried Green Tomatoes from Uncle Rays’s and Pork Gyoza, a Shrimp Tempura Roll, and a Fried Hurricane Roll (crawfish, crab, cream cheese, sweet soy and spicy mayo) from Ohashi Sushi. And maybe also three macarons (Strawberries and Cream, Cake Batter, and Wedding Cake) from La Brioche (which may have all been eaten by the time we got back home). As it turns out, Jackson would be one of the best food experiences we have visited so far.

Other places that we would eat during this leg of the trip were A’ha Donuts and More (amazing donuts and fried rice!), The Crawdad Hole (a shack across the street from the campground entrance serving up the best shrimp and crab boil I have ever had), and Mama Hamil’s (an all-you-can-eat buffet with ribs, fried catfish, fried chicken, smoked chicken, chicken livers, and chicken and dumplings, creamed corn, corn salad, coleslaw, fruit salad, broccoli salad, potato salad, mashed potatoes, butter beans, black eyed peas, fried okra, cabbage greens, a full salad bar, dinner rolls, cornbread, hoecakes, peach cobbler, banana pudding, bread pudding, cinnamon rolls and more).

We took one of our first days in town to drive into the downtown area and go siteseeing. We took Harley with us and drove around Jackson stopping anywhere that caught our eye. We visited their gorgeous capitol building, a Welcome to Jackson mural, and the  Jackson Greyhound Bus Station where the Freedom Riders arrived on May 28, 1961 as part of a protest to end segregation on public transportation. The bus station was such a big part of history and was especially touching after visiting the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis the week before.

We were also excited to find that there were several museums within a mile of our campsite! We made visits to the Mississippi Natural Science Museum and the Museum of Agriculture and Forestry.

The Natural Science museum had some incredible fossils, dinosaur statues, live fish and reptile exhibits, and the most incredible sand table that taught about topography and weather conditions. We also got to meet a very handsome Pine Snake appropriately named Chris Pine. The volunteer even let me hold Chris! John politely but firmly declined. We spent a very fun afternoon at this museum for a whopping $8 per person admission fee.

We also visited the Museum of Agriculture and Forestry. They had two sections- one inside and one outside. The outside portion was not fully open due to being off season but it consists of a small historical town with a general store, doctors office, school, church, barn, cotton gin, print shop, blacksmith shop and more. There was also a traditional farmstead. We got to go in several buildings and even bought some sodas in the General Store. And of course we made friends with the animals.

The inside portion of the Agriculture and Forestry Museum provided exhibits on the evolution of agricultural practices in Mississippi. It also included the Agricultural Aviation Museum so we got to see a few examples of planes that had been converted for crop dusting. They also had a HUGE display of model trains.

Unfortunately for us, a terrible cold spell settled in so we spent our first Christmas Eve in the tiny house snuggled under blankets together watching movies- Glass Onion and of course our traditional Christmas Eve flicks The Night Before and The Grinch. John made a delicious dinner of Cornish hens and rice pilaf and we snacked on fresh baked chocolate chip cookies before bed. Sadly, we ate all of the cookies and did not save any for Santa.

We would always see people in movies and on television going out for Chinese on Christmas and we had always wanted to do that so, for our first Christmas on the road, we did just that. We found a Chinese Buffet just a few miles down the road in the suburb of Flowood and headed there for lunch. The buffet had so many amazing options- including shrimp, oysters, crawfish and sushi. We were thankful that we didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day because I don’t think we could have moved if we wanted to so we spent the rest of the day lounging around the house making Zoom calls to family members, snacking on junk food, and building a tiny gingerbread house.

During the cold front we had been experiencing temperatures dropped down to single digits-something we were not prepared for this far south. Thankfully John had booked our site across from the shower house as we weren’t able to run water in the house for fear of bursting our pipes. We also had a few issues with our toilet draining and  had to use the public restroom while we waited for the drainage pipe to thaw but it was a small inconvenience -especially when we thought about our friends and family at home who were dealing with temps around negative 30 degrees. Things started warming up for us and we spent our last few days in Jackson enjoying the beautiful scenery at our park and sitting around a roaring fire in the evenings.

 Other than the unusually cold temperatures, it was a beautiful way to spend the Christmas holiday. We decided not to exchange gifts with each other (we just buy what we want as we go along plus where would we hide things from each other?) and we hadn’t been in one spot long enough to get any gifts by mail from back home but, as corny as it sounds, this amazing life was the best gift of all.

We were absolutely loving our time in Warsaw, NY and the Buffalo area but, on Saturday June 10, it was time to pack up and move to our next stop – Cold Brook, NY. We got everything packed up and secured and, while we were a little nervous about moving with the awning on the house for the first time, we felt pretty good about the move. This trip was about a three hour drive and we stopped for gas about halfway through. John realized that he forgot his wallet in the house so we pulled in to the gas station and he went to the house to get his wallet. This is when he realized that the door to the house wouldn’t open more than a few inches.

By squeezing his hand in through the opening and using his phone to take a photo (what did we do in the days before cellphones?) and that’s when we discovered that our entire refrigerator had flipped over and was wedged behind the front door. Now, we built the house with several points of egress in mind in case of fire. We can exit through any of our living room windows with ease or the large bedroom window. We can even climb through the skylight and onto the roof. We did not design the house with multiple points for easy entry. When we travel, we lock most of the windows, leaving only a few open for a little airflow for the cats (who ride inside the house now) and those are the two small windows in the kitchen.

Thankfully, we had just purchased a folding ladder to install the awning so John pulled it out of the storage hatch in the back and used it to get to the front kitchen window. He had to bend the window screen to get it out but we figured we would deal with that later. The kitchen windows are rather small and this one has a straight drop to the floor on the other side so it wasn’t ideal but John was able to make it in. Thank goodness he has lost about 15 pounds from all of our hiking because otherwise he may not have fit! Once John shimmied through the window and deadlifted the fridge, he closed and locked the window (the screen was pretty mutilated and we didn’t want anything flying into the house or the cats flying out) while driving down the road), we paid for our gas and continued on our way.

We arrived at Adirondack Gateway Campground in Cold Brook and were met by the nicest lady. She got us all checked in and gave us information about our site and the campground, introduced us to her outdoor cat, and told us she loved our house. Things were going well! Yay!

The campground was set back a little from the road, behind the owner’s house, and had a wooded cliff on one side and a farmer’s field on the other. They had a pool, a driving range, mini golf course, volleyball court, and more. There was also a small seating area overlooking the best view in the park. A lot of the other campers made it a point to say hello to us and talk to us about the house. It was so cute and everyone was very welcoming.

Our spot was a pull through right near the front of the park so it was super easy to get pulled in and situated. It was a large, triangular spot with lots of grass for walking Harley, plenty of room for lawn chairs and the grill, and ample space to park both vehicles.

John unhooked the house from the truck then came around to open the house and get the stairs out for me and……the door wouldn’t open. The damn refrigerator had fallen AGAIN. And the window that he had used to break in at the gas station was firmly locked. This left the window over the sink as our only option.

Once again, out with the ladder, rip out the window screen, shimmy through the window, deadlift the fridge and open the front door to let me and the dog inside. By this point, there were all sorts of mystery liquids coming out of the bottom of the refrigerator and dripping onto the floor (and into our extra shoes). It had also managed to dent the top of the freezer door, make a few gouges in my wall and front door, and crush the wooden holder for Harley’s food dishes. I set to cleaning up the fridge and mopping the floor while John finished setting up the outdoor stuff. We were too tired to do much so we made dinner at home and took it easy for the rest of the day.

We woke up feeling refreshed in the morning and drove into the nearby town of Herkimer for breakfast at Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner. This place was so cute! It had the look of a classic diner and banners in the window let us know that they had been voted best in New York for their bacon, hollandaise, and pie crusts. They were absolutely slammed but seated us fairly quickly when two spots opened up at the counter. The servers were running around like crazy people but they were so friendly and did an excellent job. We sat directly in front of the passthrough to the kitchen and the cooks kept smiles on their faces and cranked out dish after dish at a steady pace. I ordered the Waffle Special and John had the Freight Train. Both were absolutely delicious- and the bacon was definitely deserving of being named best in the state.

The only definite thing that we had on our list of activities for this location was a spot called Herkimer Diamond Mines so we decided to tackle that on Sunday after breakfast. Because sitting in the sun hitting rocks with hammers is what you do when you are stuffed full of breakfast foods, right?

The mines don’t have actual diamonds but they are the only place on Earth to find clear, naturally faceted crystals that are known as Herkimer Diamonds. We paid $18 each and were provided with a small hammer and a fairly unhelpful training video on how to find stones in the mine. Full of this knowledge and a bit of apprehension, we entered the mine!

I know when I hear “mine” I usually think of a dark, creepy, claustrophobic shaft going down into the ground (thanks to the mine exhibit at COSI museum in Columbus when I was a kid) but this wasn’t the case at all. This mine was a giant rock quarry out in the open with a beautiful stream running through it. We picked a spot near the rock wall that had some larger rocks to sit on and others to use as anvils and got to work.

This is when we learned that our strategies for “mining” were very different. John would methodically pick rocks that looked like they might be hiding gems inside and then broken them into smaller pieces, checking for any rocks or other cool features each time a rock would break. I sat on the ground and looked over all the nearby rocks for anything that sparkled or that looked neat to me. My way was much easier on the body but was, admittedly, less fruitful. Not to say that my efforts yielded nothing. I did actually find a few “diamonds” this way in addition to some quartz. I also managed to find a few pieces of what is called “drusy” by breaking open some of my “cool rocks” that I found lying about. These pieces, when broken open, had tons of tiny sparkles inside that were made from teeny tiny Herkimer diamond deposits that never actually fully formed.

After a few hours of hitting rocks with hammers beneath a brutal sun, we decided to call it quits and returned to the “camp” area with our haul. There was a shop with Herkimer jewelry and pieces of other rocks and crystals for purchase and a little section where they could turn your finds into jewelry for you. We had a necklace made of one of our larger pieces and decided to keep the rest “as is” for the time being. After a run to the grocery store and a stop at Home Depot, we were absolutely exhausted and ready to be done for the day.

Unfortunately (and probably due to exhaustion from all of the insane things we had done over the past week), I started feeling pretty terrible on Tuesday and was down for a few days. John used this time to work on a few projects around the house and play Diablo IV. I used the time to watch a bunch of television and movies and lay on the couch. John did have to venture into town again for supplies mid-week and brought home some pizza and “Chicken Riggies” from Nina’s. It turns out the “riggies” or rigatoni, is a local favorite so we had to try some.

On Friday evening, after being cooped up on the house all week, we drove to the next town over for dinner. This was a must do after we learned the the neighboring town was named Ohio and since we are from the state of Ohio we thought we should pay a visit. We had dinner at the Ohio Tavern and it was a stellar last meal for us in this area! The Fried Green Tomatoes were amazing! They were served with a balsamic reduction sauce and some kind of spread, covered with bacon chunks and green onion. John had the Nashville Hot Chicken and I had the Fish Fry.

We went to bed for our last night in Cold Brook with happy hearts and full bellies in preparation for the drive to Leicester, Vermont the next day.

While we were technically staying in Warsaw, we were about a 45 minute drive to Buffalo and found some fun stuff to do there over a few days.

We also discovered that we were 15 minutes away from Attica, NY which is home to Attica Correctional Facility. We needed to run some errands on Tuesday night to pick up some things from Home Depot for a few household projects and we drove through Attica and stopped at the prison for a few photos. I know, it’s a weird tourist stop. A few years ago I read a book called “Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy” by Heather Ann Thompson and I just really enjoy visiting places that are featured in books, movies or television that I enjoyed. The riots there were famous so this was also a part of history so we had to stop by. We were really surprised how beautiful the outside of the prison was.

Somewhere in all the craziness of the week, we also managed to install an awning on the front of our house. We had debated getting some sort of canopy for a while as many of our campsites have been out in the open with absolutely no shade and it was really brutal those few days last week when it had been in the 90’s. We also have a hard time keeping the windows open when it rains because most of our windows are residential windows that open all the way (not RV windows) and it often rains in. John did a great job finding an RV awning kit and we had it delivered to our campground. He got a good bit of it assembled on his own but then needed by help getting it on the house. We tried our best but it was really a job for more than 2 people so we enlisted the help of two men from the local Sherriff’s office who happened to be camping there at the same time as us. With their assistance, the install was quickly completed and I think it looks absolutely wonderful! John will be posting a video on YouTube that goes more in-depth on the install so if you want to watch lots of footage of John climbing up and down ladders and me standing in the sun while holding a tall, heavy pole this is definitely the video for you. Be sure to check that out.

On Thursday, John took a half day and we drove into Buffalo to tour the Martin House. This house was built between 1903 and 1905 for Darwin D. Martin, a local millionaire and executive at the Larkin Company, and his family and was designed by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. We had recently toured the Fallingwater home designed by Wright and had already visited this house back in 2013 but we were excited to take a more in-depth tour while we were in town. Thanks to the membership we purchased at Fallingwater, we were able to get a great discount on this experience.

Unlike Fallingwater, this home had been through some seriously hard times. This home was older and had made it through the Great Depression when it sat empty for 17 years because Mr. Martin passed away and Mrs. Martin was unable to afford the upkeep on her own but wasn’t able to sell it due to the economy of the time.

While the house originally included the main house with a covered walkway leading to the conservatory and carriage house. The Barton house, belonging to Mr. Martin’s sister and her family, sat to one side and a gardener’s cottage to the other on this 5 acre plot. In later years, the portions of the land with the the carriage house, conservatory and pergola would be sold and those structures demolished. The Barton House and the Gardener’s Cottage were sold. The main house fell into disrepair due to damage from the elements, neglect, and vandalism. Much of the furniture was lost, stolen or destroyed. But the greatest tragedy was the loss of the beautiful art glass windows that adorned the house.

Thankfully, when restoration began on the home, they were able to use the original plans and blueprints made by Wright and photos taken after the build was complete. The owners of the Barton House and the Gardener’s Cottage eventually sold the property back and the pergola, conservatory and carriage house were rebuilt. All of the landscaping has been redone and many of those stunning windows have been recovered or replicated. Even in the 10 years since our last visit, so much has been done in the preservation of this site.

We were not permitted to take photos inside of the houses but we did take several of the exterior. The house was designed in the Prairie style and Wright, in his signature style, did an amazing job merging the indoor and outdoor views and made such an amazing use of natural light.

John’s favorite feature of the house, however, is the way the bookcases were made. Because this house was built in the Prairie style it is long and low. With so much of the exterior walls being glass, the house was built using structural columns and steel I-Beams. The columns are arranged in a square with empty space inside. The empty centers allow room for the radiators and are the central source of heat in the home. But the outsides of the columns are covered with bookcases – one on each side standing about 4 feet tall. But the coolest part is that the front part of the bookcase swings open like a door and reveals double the space inside in a hidden bookcase compartment! I wish so badly that we were able to take photo or video of them because they were amazing.

While I also love the bookcases, I think my favorite part is the Conservatory. The building is at the other end of the long pergola, opposite the main house. As expected, the conservatory is filled with plants but it also houses the Nike of Samothrace statue. The statue currently standing in the house is a replica as the original is in The Louvre in Paris but it is still a beautiful piece, made from the same cast as the original. The way that the statue is framed by the surrounding windows and visible at the end of the walkway from the house was just incredible and another sign of Wright’s genius.

We had the good fortune to be at the house right when the peonies were at peak bloom. These are one of my favorite flowers and I could not stop walking along the rows and just breathing them in.

Darwin Martin also commissioned his summer residence called Graycliff and a building for his employer, The Larkin Company from Wright. The final work commissioned by Martin was for a mausoleum in nearby Forest Lawn Cemetery. The design was completed in 1928 but the mausoleum wasn’t constructed until 2004. We made the short drive to see the mausoleum following our zoo day on Friday. It was really beautiful, sitting on the hillside overlooking a small pond with the greenery of the hill as the backdrop- all things that Wright had included in the original design.

After leaving the Martin House, we grabbed lunch/dinner at Dinosaur BBQ on the recommendation of a friend of John’s. I am so glad that he mentioned it! We really wanted to try everything so we got two of the sampler platters which let us try the pulled pork, brisket, smoked chicken, chicken wings, sausage link, and ribs. For the four included sides, we got the Harlem potato salad, coleslaw, BBQ fried rice, and Cajun corn. We wanted ALL of the appetizers but limited ourselves to the Fried Green Tomatoes. Every single thing was delicious and it’s good that it turned out that way because we had ordered so much we had enough to eat for lunch another day, too!

Our final bucket list item for this trip was the Buffalo Zoo. John took the entire day off on Friday to finish up a few things and take me to the zoo. Thanks to our Nashville Zoo membership, we got 50% off our admission (seriously, zoo memberships are awesome!). The zoo was very small compared to others that we have visited but the seemed to have a good variety of animals. Some of the buildings looked a little older and worn out but many of the exhibits were well set up – we especially loved the reptile/amphibian area and the Polar bear exhibit. They had really nice spaces for their sea lions and otters as well. If you go, however, we highly recommend eating before or after. Prices for food inside the zoo were OUTRAGOUS! And again, we visit zoos all of the time so we are used to the inflated prices that places like this charge. I worked at a zoo for many years before we started travelling and still these food prices shocked me. Otherwise, it was a nice way to end our crazy week!

Next stop, Cold Brook in Eastern NY.

We only spent a week in Warsaw but it was such a busy week that I am going to have to break this week into two different posts. This post will focus on our time at Letchworth State Park and our visit to Niagara Falls. Later this week, I will be posting about the rest of our time in Warsaw and the Buffalo, NY area including the Buffalo Zoo and the Martin House.

On Saturday June 3rd, we moved from Butler, PA to a small town called in Western New York called Warsaw. Warsaw is located about 45 minutes outside of Buffalo and surrounded by beautiful fields and rolling hills. The campground is on the outskirts of Warsaw just barely inside the city limits. We arrived at Dream Lake Campground around 4pm and were greeted and checked in by the sweetest lady. In fact, everyone we talked to here was amazing and very helpful. The campground is quiet and has plenty of shade, a lake for swimming, canoe rentals, a general store, and a snack bar that is open on the weekends. They also have weekend activities for campers- they were setting up a slip and slide by the pond when we pulled in.

After setting up the campsite and getting the house level, we drove into Warsaw to grab a bite to eat and explore a little bit. We settled on dinner at Laurie’s Restaurant, which was very well rated on Yelp and conveniently located right on the main strip of town. Everything on the menu sounded delicious but we both decided on the Beef-on-Weck, which is thin sliced roast beef served on a nice quality bun and topped with horseradish. Apparently this is a local specialty and we had it a few times this week – both at Laurie’s and at the Silverlake Family Restaurant later in the week (along with a cheeseburger). On the way home after dinner, we also stopped by Yummie Made Ice Cream for a sundae and a Pup Cup for Harley.

On Sunday, we drove to Letchworth State Park’s south entrance in Portageville, about 30 minutes away. On the advice of a local at our campground, we drove past the park entrance, across a bridge and pulled into a gravel lot on the side of the road. We took the trail from the parking area along the Genesee River about a mile and a half through peaceful woods and beautiful fields. The first part of the trek was very hilly on a very narrow trail and was a little bit challenging but we eventually came out onto a fairly flat, gravel path through the woods. It eventually came out under a train trestle and from there we could hear the roar of the water fall. We followed the sound down the trail, catching little glimpses of the waterfall here and there through the trees until we finally found a cleared section overlooking the falls and spent some time admiring the view.

Because there was no one else around (we only saw one other person on the same trail the entire time we were out there) we let Harley run free off leash and she was absolutely in heaven. After a while, we headed back up the same trail and back to the car. We did take a short side trail down to the banks of the river upstream from the falls and we let Harley play in the water while we caught our breath.

From there, we drove back to the Portageville entrance to Letchworth State Park and followed the signs to the Upper Falls. These were the same falls we had seen from the first trail but this time we were on the other side of the river. There was an overlook area under the train trestle where we stopped and walked around for a few minutes.

Our next stop was the base of the falls. There was a parking area just a short walk from the falls. There was also a snack bar, souvenir shop, playground, restrooms and a picnic area. We got an order of chicken fingers and fries and ate them from a bench looking out at the falls. The view of the falls was beautiful. The first trail had us above the falls on a hillside but this vantage point was below the falls with the cascades in the background. It was a fairly busy area but not overcrowded. We were a little surprised when Harley jumped right up on the rock wall and laid down but, of course, this put her at the best height for getting pets from passersby so she was quite happy.

We left the Upper Falls and drove to the parking area for the Middle Falls. Again, the parking area was close to the falls. This location had viewing at the top of the falls and the walkway formed a crescent from above the falls extending around to an area opposite the waterfall. As with the first set of falls, the view was incredible from just about every vantage point.

We also pulled off at the parking spot for Inspiration Point, which looks out over the river with the Middle and Upper Falls in the background.

The path from the parking area to the lookout was a short, paved trail through a wooded area with a pond in the middle. The pond was surrounded by a low stone wall and the water was very swampy and full of frogs. John had gone ahead to see the view and Harley and I were standing at the edge of the pond. I was fiddling with the camera and getting ready to take a picture of a frog when Harley decided to jump up on the rock wall. She had been doing this all day so I was aware of it happening but wasn’t too concerned. And then she walked right off the edge of the wall and splashed down into the pond. Because it was surrounded by the rock wall, there wasn’t really anywhere that she could get out once she fell in so I had to yell for John who came running and hoisted her up by her leash and harness. She was very wet and very stinky and made the back of the car smell like a dirty aquarium for the entire rest of the day.

We had come this far so we decided to head to the Lower Falls – but it wasn’t as easy to get to. The parking area was a bit further away and eventually we came to a split in the trail – over 100 stairs going down to the falls or straight ahead for an easier path overlooking the falls but with not as great a view. Harley and I both have some arthritis issues so we decided to take the easy path. John headed down the stairs to the base of the falls. Harley and I went ahead a little ways and were able to see a very obstructed view of the falls. We eventually turned back and waited at the top of the stairs for John.

John made it down the stairs but the view of the falls still wasn’t great. There was an old bridge that had been built over the water that he really enjoyed but, when he finally came trudging up the stairs to meet back up with us, he said that the view wasn’t really worth the work.

By this point, we were both exhausted but weren’t quite ready to head home so we drove the main road going the entire length of the park. We pulled off a few times for various overlook spots and stopped at the dam as well before heading back home.

We have visited several waterfalls in our travels but this park was definitely one of the better places we have been. The first two sets of falls are very accessible and there are restrooms and snack stands that are very conveniently located. We absolutely recommend visiting if you have the chance!

On Wednesday night after John got off work, we made a last minute decision to drive the hour and 15 minutes to Niagara Falls. We had taken our first big trip together there all the way back in 2006 and had stayed on the Canadian side for a week. We didn’t have our passports this time so we thought this would be a good opportunity to stay on the US side and see the sights from there.

Our first stop was at the rapids that are upstream from the falls. We couldn’t believe how fast the current was moving! It was also surprising that there was absolutely nothing to keep people from falling in. We have been to a lot of state parks and there is usually some sort of barrier between the trails and water. We walked along the river for a while then got back in the car to drive to the falls.

Because it was after 6pm, we didn’t have to pay for parking so we were able to visit a few different observation areas for free! Our first stop was the American Falls. We were too late to ride the Maid of the Mist or go out on the Observation Deck but we enjoyed looking out over the water.

From there, we drove over to Goat Island to Terrapin Point to view the Horseshoe Falls. While the view of these falls is so much better from the Canadian side, it was still very pretty and we had a good time.

We also made a pitstop on the way home. I went back and forth about including this in the blog but I ultimately decided that, while we do share this for others to read, this is a record for us to remember our travels. As it turns out, Marijuana is legal for recreational use in New York state and most of New England and we found a dispensary along the drive home. We stopped in for a visit and met some of the nicest people on Earth. They talked with us about how they got started and how they make and test their products. We ended up buying some gummy worms and a chocolate bar. Even the small amount that we bought is probably more than I will ever use in my lifetime ( I take a super small amount every once in a while to help me sleep when my knee pain is too much for me) but it felt good to support a small business and the two owners were just so incredibly sweet.

While writing this, I was trying to think back through our travels and this may be the record holder for “week containing the most waterfall visits”. We visit a lot of falls but this week got us two falls at Niagara and three at Letchworth. And if this wasn’t enough to exhaust us, we also threw in a visit to a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home and the Buffalo Zoo. Be sure to catch the next post later this week for those adventures!