My brother-in-law—(it occurrs to me that George has been my brother-in-law longer than my sister was my sister—Beth died 31 years ago when she was 38, George came into our lives 47 years ago when he started dating Beth)—took the time out of his summer camping routine to drive me up to Maine. We took the time to visit some things neither of us had seen before.
What more romantic place to start a vacation/eviction trip than Niagara Falls.
Upper New York is quite beautiful and expansive. Rather than head to the finger lakes region and wine country, we opted for a drive along the shore of Lake Ontario. I learned several interesting facts along the way. 1) the province of Ontario was named after the lake and not vice versa, 2) the British fought extensive battles along the shore trying to invade the fledgling young country from the north, and 3) George and I eat too much when we’re together. Just as we said we need to cut back on our eating, we saw a sign for a bread and cheese store out in the country—we both like bread AND cheese…resolution aborted.
Next up was the Adirondacks. I had been there once before with Bunny and Sassy but we aborted the trip after running into a rather disturbing rally in Lake George that soured our experience. This time, George and I had much better luck exploring the area.
George is a much more adventuresome driver than I am, so we traversed dirt roads, found hidden lakes and gorges that the “Dueling Banjos” soundtrack running in my head has always kept me from seeing.
We tried a foray into Vermont, but, surprise surprise, it was raining. We drove through Stowe on our way to Ben and Jerry’s but missed out on the tour (again—0 for 2). We set our sights on Mount Washington.
I’ve ridden to the top (with our Portland friends, Peter and Marcia—AT pioneers from the 70s). I’ve walked to the top on our through hike in 2018 with Bunny, Bear, Ass, and Sassy to encourage me up the rocks. I needed something easier. George and I opted for the cog railway.
Visibility wasn’t great but who cares when you’re sitting down traveling 5mph (at least 6x my hiking pace in the mountains). This was a first for George on Washington, and a first for both of us riding on a cog railway. Interesting side note, the engine is not coupled to the passenger cars. I tried to get our brakeman to slow us down more than the engine so we could freewheel back to it and break the downhill speed record of 65 mph set when there was a newspaper being printed on the summit.
The rain that started in Vermont continued in New Hampshire. I was praying it pushed due south and was quite dismayed when I saw that it had, indeed, continued on into Maine. We crossed the Kennebec River in Moscow just south of where the ATC canoe crossing is and my stomach started churning. The river was raging and in flood.
I had my plans which included summitting Katahdin on June 22—nothing was going to change my mind on that. We headed to Monson for a two night stay at Shaws. To my surprise, Hippie Chick remembered me. I’m still the only Easily Forgotten on the trail.
EFG