New Hampshire and Vermont

We weren't as late checking out as the previous guests but we did enjoy a fairly luxurious sleep in and a delightful breakfast before somewhat reluctantly heading off on a drizzly, no rainy, day into New Hampshire. 

With the rain steadily increasing to a deluge we took refuge and stopped at Wild Willy’s Burgers http://www.wildwillysburgers.com/rochester.cfm   The driver chose the Willy Burger while the navigator enjoyed a Chicken Sandwich. Mmmmmmm!!



Stayed at the Swiss Chalets Inn in Intervale (interesting alliteration). The Inn took a bit of finding but after we found it we were rewarded by a comfy place with a stunning mist shrouded view  of the mountains. The motel was managed by a family who had immigrated from India who were friendly and informative but hadn't used the great ski hills in the 10 years they had owned it. Oh well they ran a nice place!

After a by now traditional breakfast we drove toward Vermont on Highway 112 Kankamangus Highway. This is another of America's Scenic Byways which have been a huge part of our trip http://byways.org/explore/byways/2458 . Stunning views of the river & the mountains were the reward for taking a little more time than it would have taken by travelling on the major highways.

Vermont has always been known for its beauty and as we drove into it we weren't disappointed at all. The Apiarist lived and learned a lot about bees in1980 and driving through the lovely little towns brought back lots of pleasant memories.
 





Saw a sign that stopped us. Artesano Mead!! http://www.artesanomead.com/ Tasted and bought some very nice mead. Interestingly their honey is sourced from Champlain Valley Apiaries, the place where the Apiarist had stayed in 1980. The little door next to the Meadery was the place they were selling their very own.........

Suitably fortified we managed another couple of hours of driving through the picturesque towns and verdant green countryside before we made it into Burlington and booked into the Rodeway Inn. 

Dinner that night was at Flatbread Pizza. A yummy way to end a great day. Nice food too!

Next morning we wrote more and posted some of the always slightly out of date blog, caught up on emails and washed clothes. Such is life.

After breakfast we headed to the Burlington Jazz Festival. A totally unexpected and pleasant morning followed and the Educator in particular gained new choir ideas watching the 2 School Bands, watch out Broulee PS. 

Discovered that Burlington is the home of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and then had lunch @ Leunig’s Bistro where the Apiarist enjoyed a Turkey Burger on Flatbread with tzatziki & salad greens and the Educator had  Comfort Food (Chicken w smoky BBQ sauce with a broccoli slaw) Add a Long Trail beer to the equation and mmmm we realised that Burlington was yet another place we should have spent another day at..... Another trip maybe.......

Reluctantly we left the University town and headed north and into..............

Newport, RI to Boston, Mass.

Embarked from the ferry at New London & passed submarine capital of the world, Groton. Connecticut was another state that, in the words of David Myles http://davidmyles.com/, we passed right through. It seemed, at times, to have dense forests but it's difficult to tell this when you are travelling on an Interstate Highway. 

Leaving the I95 we crossed into Rhode Island and had a late picnic lunch, to supplement the Ferry chowder and bagel, at Patriots Park, Portsmouth RI. The park is a memorial to a Regiment that fought during the War of Independence http://portsmouth.patch.com/listings/patriots-park-3. The US seems to have many parks like this one and, invariably, they have facilities for people with disabilities. Australia could do better in this regard. Leaving Interstate 95 meant that we left the highway and Mrs G returned us to two lane country roads.  

Crossing over several lovely bridges (it is an Island after all) and driving through Newport we arrived in Middletown and our hotel. Atlantic Beach Inn &Suites. We enjoyed the nice, large (compared to New York) room & saw a nice sunset overlooking the water. There are beaches here! And they look inviting!!!

The driver went for a walk while the navigator had a rest and after recharging their "batteries" in their own way they headed out for a night’s entertainment listening to some enthusiastic Karaoke “performers” at the nearby Rusty's Bar & Grill. Perhaps the $2 beers made them sound better but "they were having a go". Supper in our room, booked accommodation and a show in Boston for the next night, then well deserved sleep. 

Middletown is just north of Newport and when we travelled south to that city after breakfast we weren’t surprised by the fact that there were yachts, yachts and more yachts. 
 

Newport is an old city that oozes money and when we took Ocean Drive past Fort Adams the mansions were unbelievable. These were sometimes beautiful, sometimes not so, but were in many cases hidden by large walls or hedges. Such are the burdens of the wealthy!

Even with all these nice places appropriate venues for an al fresco lunch were in short supply in the Newport area and the sight of we two Aussies eating lunch on our picnic rug right on the slipway to a highway may have been amazing to some. But the sign did say Patriot Park. There were interesting interpretive signs, and there was parking, and even though it wasn’t a traditional park we left with full bellies!!!
 
Our reasonably easy, though slow drive in took us past some familiar place names and  lovely old buildings into Boston.

We arrived at the Kendell Hotel at 6pm and our room wasn’t ready due to a late checkout. We were upgraded to a suite. 
Bonus!

Because we had been kept  waiting we were offered a complimentary glass of wine at the bar. Extra Bonus! Julie chose a Bells Syrah ($13) and I chose a Hook & Ladder Shiraz ($9).  
EXTRA BONUS!!

Finally got into our room at 6.30pm and discovered it was a magnificent deluxe suite ($1000 per night) thats almost as big as our house.  
EXTRA SUPER BONUS!!!!!

The Kendall Hotel http://kendallhotel.com/ was situated in an ideal area, adjacent to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and two subway stops from the Loeb Theatre where we enjoyed a great night when we saw Woody Sez http://www.woodysez.com/ . Woody Sez was essentially the Woodie Guthrie story told by four extremely talented people playing (at least 12) acoustic instruments. Another wow part of our North American adventure! It's amazing what things you can find on the Internet.

Returned to our palatial room via the subway. Salad for tea followed by a spa bath and a wine or two.What a great night. 

Went to bed still buzzing!!!!

Note the colour scheme - Go Saints!!!!

Leaving NYC

Julie's early morning jog gave an opportunity for some great views of Central Park but it wasn't all good for her when she fell over a wayward fence post on a shaded path while in the park. She took a bit of skin off which required some repairs and liberal swabbing with alcohol wipes. Luckily there were no breaks or sprains!!!!

We packed & left by 11.30am.

Rather than take the direct route (what's new) we decided to take the opportunity to vary our methods of transport to leave New York.Getting out of Manhattan was OK but slow and as we wound our way along Long Island we realised that it is aptly named. It's long!! It was fairly quiet when we were driving through the farmland and wineries but it looked like weekends would be busy. 

We arrived just in time to catch the Cross Sound Ferry. https://www.longislandferry.com/Common/Help.aspx?page=connect 

The 90 minutes on the ferry gave us a nice easy time to reflect on five days and four nights in Manhattan. On reflection...

• We didn’t realise just how friendly and helpful New Yorker’s would be. 
• We didn’t realise how easy and inexpensive transport by cab and subway would be. 
• We didn’t realise how much WOW there is in and around Broadway.
• We didn’t realise that you could drive into and out of New York, if you are a good driver and have a GPS.

We do realise, however, that five days is not nearly enough for the Big Apple. Hmmmmm maybe another place for house swap!!!

Da,  da, da, de da New York, New York……

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqlJl1LfDP4

NY NY D4

A shorter day to blog about today. Cab/ Metropolitan Museum of Art/ Cab/ Top of the Rock/ Subway/ Home 2 change/ Cab/ Broadway/ “Memphis”/ Broadway/ Cab/ Sleep!!! At least that’s what my notes said and looking at these notes I don't know why I felt so tired!!
 

Now here is the full description. LOL. 

Our scenic fifteen minute cab ride from the Comfort Inn took us through the middle of Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.metmuseum.org/

To say this is an amazing museum is an understatement. We spent four hours and in that time barely covered a half of the museum. It would be very easy to base a week in New York simply around visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The beauty and breadth of art from civilizations from all around the world is stunning.

Back into another cab after a pretzel for lunch 

to head to the “Top of the Rock” http://www.topoftherocknyc.com/ which is a “catch phrase” for the Observation Tower on the top of the Rockefeller Centre. We chose to attend during the day rather than wait until the evening and see the lights of New York City as we had booked another Broadway show. Due to the Apiarist’s lack of speed we weren’t certain of being able to get back in time for the 11pm close. Daytime views were great on this sunny, summer day and we were able to easily see where we were staying, where we've been and where we're going to be.....  we could almost see Perkins Parade, Narooma!!

Subway home in time to book accommodation for Newport, Rhode Island for 2 days time and reheated paella from last night before we got back into a cab having changed and prepared ourselves to head back into Broadway for “Memphis” http://memphisthemusical.com/The musical is based around race relation struggles in the south during the 1950’s. This held special interest as we’d spent the last 3 weeks looking at places that were significent to those troubled times.

Broadway hadn’t mellowed in the 24 hours since we last emerged from a theatre and we were simply gobsmacked by the colour and vibe again. 

Cab home again at midnight then sleep. zzzzzz