Vermont and Home Sweet Home!

April 25^th, 2015 (Saturday):

     Today Scott and I drove to Burlington, Vermont around the Lake Champlain. It was a pretty drive along the water. We had lunch at a Vermont Brewery & Restaurant which was yummy. And then walked around exploring all of the shops. It was nice to see stores selling local, hand-crafted products/art…not just stuff made in China.

    We found a neat antique store which had everything from wooden skis, to bright colored furniture, to beautiful dishes. We enjoy looking through antique items and finding hidden gems. My inner designer comes out and inspires me to decorate rental properties that I don’t yet have but imagine in my head J

    Overall, it was a nice, relaxing day in Vermont. We were going to camp out in New Hampshire at a campground however there aren't any places open yet. And being so close to Maine we decided to push on. We arrived to Pownal, Maine a little after 11:00pm.

    Thank you to everyone who followed my blog and came on this adventure with us in spirit! Looking forward to having a beautiful summer in Maine with you all.

With Love,

Heidi & Scott

 

 

Podcasts through Canada

April 24^th, 2015 (Friday):

    We spent last night in the RV at a parking lot next to Tim Horton’s. I did not sleep well due to the large trucks coming in and out all night (as Tim Horton’s is open 24 hours). We’ve both been pretty sleep deprived the past few days. And also have sore muscles from sitting for hours upon hours. However one good thing we came across that you can download for free on iTunes are podcasts. We are podcasts junkies now.

    Two podcasts that we have been listening to every day is Stuff You Should Know which is hosted by two guys that do their own research (looking at peer reviewed articles) and report to the public what they found about a broad range of topics. They tend to go off topic once in a while sharing random thoughts or humorous sayings. Apparently they also have a website where you can find an array of articles on whichever topic you decide to search. We have been listening to topics such as “How Patents Work” and “How Chocolate Works”. It’s interesting and our brains are filling up with so much knowledge! J

   The second podcast that we found to be interesting is called This American Life. The host portrays stories in an unbiased way. He also has guest speakers come onto his show to explain their personal stories and they tell it in such a way that makes it so intriguing to listen to. So, next time you go onto iTunes make sure to look for free podcasts, music, television shows and books at the iTunes store. Every few weeks they seem to have added more free stuff. You can also subscribe to podcasts so that new episodes download automatically into your iTunes library.

    Okay, enough tech advice…we literally drove all day through Canada, mostly on highways and through residential areas. We only had to stop once to get gas and twice for food. We had considered going all the way to Montreal however with the higher gas prices and the fact we’d have to find parking in the city we decided not to go this trip. We went south just before Ottawa, Canada on HWY 416 and arrived in upper New York about 8pm at which time we drove another 1.5 hours to Plattsburgh, New York.

    Exhausted, it’s now 12:15AM into Saturday morning…we are in a chic hotel along Lake Champlain; we plan on getting a good sleep this morning (already asked for a late checkout). We will check out Vermont over the next 1-2 days then head home to Maine! What a journey it has been.

    Sleep well,

Heidi & Scott

Oh Canada!

April 23^rd, 2015 (Thursday):

    This morning we are driving towards Canada where we will take Route 17 through Ontario. Depending on gas prices and how expensive it is in Canada we will decide to either continue through Canada until we reach Northern Vermont or may go south earlier and go through Northern New York. We shall see…be home in less than a week!

 

Great Lakes and Good Cheese

April 22^nd 2015 (Wednesday):

     Vantastic is re-aligned and had an oil change yesterday. We drove quite a bit through Minnesota eventually finding a Casino to camp out at. I won $15 playing the card game Black Jack. I also have been on a winning streak with Lotto tickets…even if it’s just $1 to $2, I win on a ticket and take my profits to the next gas station and purchase a new ticket. It’s been fun.

    Today we took the more scenic Route 13 off of Route 2 in Wisconsin to get a closer view of Lake Superior. Everything is pretty much closed right now as we are arriving earlier in the season than most visitors. It’s so cold and snowing here that we didn’t get to hike trails that had wanted too.

    One thing we wanted to make sure to do while in Wisconsin was to try its’ local cheese. We bought Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Curd from a small grocery store and it was really good. Now in Michigan driving through the Ottawa National Forest.

North Dakota

April 21^st, 2015 (Tuesday):

     Yesterday afternoon we stumbled upon the “Geological Center of North America” in Rugby, North Dakota. It’s apparently the center point between Mexico, Canada, Maine and California. There are flags flying which represent the three countries and a plaque that describes the history of this particular location. It’s been super windy on Route 2 the past two days. It’s mostly flat, farm land here so there’s nothing to block the wind. It’s been in the 40’s-50’s for temperature…we’re missing the 60 – 70 degree weather!

     We stopped at a nice espresso shop called “Speed Shots” in Wolf Point, MT off of HWY 2. The owner was very friendly, the Chai tea I bought was delicious and he even gave us a free home-made rice krispy treat for the road. I would recommend this espresso shack if you’re ever in the area.  

     Last night we stayed in a town called Devils Lake, North Dakota. Now we are heading to our alignment/oil change appointment in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Heading to North Dakota

April 20^th (Monday):

     This morning we continue on Route 2 heading East. We are almost to North Dakota. We scheduled an appointment for Vantastic at 1pm tomorrow in Grand Forks, Minnesota. She will have an alignment done as well as an oil change. It’s a cold, windy day here in Montana. We are going to get lunch at the next town which is probably about 100 miles away. We just passed two beautiful horses running outside. The amount of wildlife and animals we’ve seen on this trip has definitely been a highlight!

     Have a wonderful day,

Heidi

Glacier National Park

April 19^th (Sunday):

    We stayed at a Travelodge last night in Kalispell, Montana. We had dinner at an Italian Restaurant. It was a pretty quiet town. Today we saw Glacier National Park (the west entrance to the park is right off of route 2). Most of the park is still closed due to snow however we were able to drive up to Lake McDonald. The water was so still when we arrived. The reflection of the mountains, trees and clouds on the lake was unbelievable! I've included pictures of this lake below. The picture of the rocks were actually under water but it was so clear you can't even tell! Definitely one of the more beautiful National Parks we've seen. We didn't do much hiking as most of the trails open were over 5 miles long and we wanted to get on the road. We got a lot of driving done today, a little more than 10 hours.