No tour of the Great Lakes would be complete without seeing Niagara Falls, especially for someone (say, Doug) who’s never been there before. Neither words nor photos can convey the beauty and power of a waterfall that drops 750,000 gallons of water per second. We’ll try anyway…
The Tibbets Point Lighthouse in Cape Vincent NY is at the start of the St. Lawrence River and the outflow of Lake Ontario, so for us it marks the true beginning of the Great Lakes portion of our journey.
Well, it’s not really true… There’re actually 1,864 islands (this year) within a 50-mile stretch of the St. Lawrence River between Ontario and New York State. The border zigs and zags among the islands, intentionally keeping each island wholly within either the US or Canada. Although there is a greater number of islands in Canada, several in the US are larger, rendering the total acreage of all the islands about even. The count changes periodically since there are rules to qualify as an island. Each land mass must have at least one square foot of land above water level year-round and support at least two living trees. Some of the smaller islands come and go.
Doug and I lived in the Albany area when we were first married, 30 years ago. We were quite active with the cycling community back then. As we drove out of Albany, we had a rush of memories as we recognized familiar roads we’d biked so many times, so many years ago. We both suddenly remembered that the greater Albany area was simply awesome for bicycling.
Today we are near Albany NY and – for the first time – west of our starting point! Wonderful to touch base with our old friend Albin, whom we first met at the 1986 Eastern Tandem Rally – almost exactly 30 years ago. We spent a very relaxing evening with Al, both reminiscing and talking about the future, also listening to music and enjoying a fantastic, home-cooked meal (I’d like to say, “…and helping Al in the kitchen,” but it was more us watching Al in the kitchen). Thanks, Al!
We’re now through the third of our scheduled stops and our third week on the road.
From Lewiston, ME we headed over to West Gardiner for a drive-by jam session with my friend Wilbur (aka “Cowboy”) from Blues Guitar Unleashed. This was the inaugural music stop on the trip and the first field test of the suitcase drum kit. We’re calling it an unmitigated success. Wilbur and Naomi are also RV’ers, so we had a lot of (non-musical) notes to compare, as well. We all had a great time, and Sue and I very much enjoyed getting to know Naomi and Wilbur in a closer and quieter setting than the big jam sessions where we’ve met before.
We didn’t get any photos (still working on developing effective travel-blogging routines and habits!), but Wilbur got a couple of us:
Getting together with my Bates College classmates from 40 years ago was a total blast. The college and ’76 reunion committee set a new standard for reunions with this gathering.
There is a beauty in Acadia National Park that is special and naturally lifts the spirit. Mountains rise dramatically from the sea and host a number of ponds and lakes, rivers, trails, rock formations, and a wide variety of gorgeous, natural landscape arrangements all over the island. We were fortunate to spend four delightful days in the Park in advance of the full tourist season.
This was the second of our scheduled events, in which we attended the graduation ceremonies at Reading Memorial High School in Reading, MA.
Our youngest niece is now a high school graduate, and we’re just as proud as her parents. Continue reading “Pomp & Circumstance”
Northfield Associates and Newagen Group celebrated a long and fruitful history of collaboration this week as Northfield’s mobile office visited Newagen’s northern office in Southport, Maine. The occasion also marked the first time each organization’s Business Managers have met in real life.
The northern office is beautifully situated on the island, overlooking a secluded cove. The directions to the office included: “when the dirt road turns to single track, keep going until you see my truck parked in the trees…” We woke to the cove, island and wraparound deck hugged by the dense morning fog. A grand time was had by all. Thanks, Dave and Diane!
And Sue got to hold a monster cat on her shoulder! He just climbed up there and purred.