Vermont, Maine, NH, NY Car Camp Tour - IPA, day hikes and must see suggestions?

[Sicks]

Op-
Re: Niagara Falls
You will get a ticket if you leave the pup in the car. Leash her up and take her with you, the only place she can't go is out on the patio over the falls, so you could take turns on that deck.

[uglymoney]

Op-
Re: Niagara Falls
You will get a ticket if you leave the pup in the car. Leash her up and take her with you, the only place she can't go is out on the patio over the falls, so you could take turns on that deck.

Cool. Thanks!


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[My Pet Powder Goat]

Oh, and as far a VT being more scenic that NH.
A lot of that has to do with the history of farming in VT. The open farm fields are often near the roads keeping the views open. In NH, the roads a more often lines closely by trees which block a lot of the potential views. And who wants to look at trees for hours on end

Exactly. "Vt is for growing grass, nh is for growing trees" rockier with more alkaline in nh soil makes it tough for farming nh. Place is only good for growing pine. ;-)

Alchemist cannery in Waterbury for heady toppers. Hill farmstead was just rated best brewery in the wold, or some shit, so it's getting mobbed. Don't visit on weekend. Portland is fun. Coast of Maine is great ( tho you'll get run off the sidewalk by inconsiderate asshole queebs this time of year)

[uglymoney]

Exactly. "Vt is for growing grass, nh is for growing trees" rockier with more alkaline in nh soil makes it tough for farming nh. Place is only good for growing pine. ;-)

Alchemist cannery in Waterbury for heady toppers. Hill farmstead was just rated best brewery in the wold, or some shit, so it's getting mobbed. Don't visit on weekend. Portland is fun. Coast of Maine is great ( tho you'll get run off the sidewalk by inconsiderate asshole queebs this time of year)

The liqour store is all out of Alchemist. Missed that one by a day. It is all the rage here for sure. Apparently more comes out at 11 am but we'll be gone by then . Good phone service in Vermont!

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[iceman]

Good phone service in Vermont!

I was hoping for a bit more than phone service in your ongoing notes on your trip impressions, but carry on I guess.

I mean, good phone service is nice.

[Bottleman]

Phone service in Vermont sucks. You are not fooling anyone

[Vt-Freeheel]

Good phone service is paramount for providing quality trip reporting.

[From_the_NEK]

Mt Washington should have incredible views today (clear Canadian high pressure just moved in) once the cloud lifts off the summit. Just dress warm. Currently as of 10:00 am the temp is only 32 at the top with 38 mph winds (wind chill of 18 ). Have fun! Today we are down at the big W lake in NH. Winds are strong and cold this morning. So may have to wait to go out on the boat until this afternoon.

[uglymoney]

Good phone service is paramount for providing quality trip reporting.

Exactly! Stowe was great because that campground was the cleanest quietest place ever. We left Stowe and toom the fast way to Mt. Washington. We drove into the clouds but it cleared and was amazing! The wind was stellar. Blew my girl across the deck and onto her hands for a good cry and laugh.

Acadia was perfect with Mt Acadia offering up the best short family challenging day hike ever maybe? Seawall campground walk in sites range from completely terrible to great. First night we had to share with neighbors with zero room or privacy. Second and third night we moved to a great spot site 38 way in the back. Longish walk but worth it. We need many more days in that park. Sunset at the Sandy Beach with the kids was probably the highlight. Lowlight was Bar Harbor crushed with tourons but I guess we had to do it to get to a boat.

Right now I am drinking a fine hoppy IPA in Lake Placid at the brewery afternoon a huge day on the Kakamangus highway and then up through Burlington across the scenic ferry and down past Whiteface. So far I dig this town. 3g though? Weak. Hockey sticks everywhere though which I dig.

[chatton18]

Exactly! Stowe was great because that campground was the cleanest quietest place ever. We left Stowe and toom the fast way to Mt. Washington. We drove into the clouds but it cleared and was amazing! The wind was stellar. Blew my girl across the deck and onto her hands for a good cry and laugh.

Acadia was perfect with Mt Acadia offering up the best short family challenging day hike ever maybe? Seawall campground walk in sites range from completely terrible to great. First night we had to share with neighbors with zero room or privacy. Second and third night we moved to a great spot site 38 way in the back. Longish walk but worth it. We need many more days in that park. Sunset at the Sandy Beach with the kids was probably the highlight. Lowlight was Bar Harbor crushed with tourons but I guess we had to do it to get to a boat.

Right now I am drinking a fine hoppy IPA in Lake Placid at the brewery afternoon a huge day on the Kakamangus highway and then up through Burlington across the scenic ferry and down past Whiteface. So far I dig this town. 3g though? Weak. Hockey sticks everywhere though which I dig.

U20 Junior Evaluation Camp is up there this week. Top players under 20 from the US, Sweden, Finland should all be there. Scrimmages between the teams taking place if you've got some time. US-Canada Play tomorrow.

http://worldjuniors.usahockey.com/pa...nd-stats-2013-

[From_the_NEK]

Requesting full trip report with photos

[uglymoney]

Requesting full trip report with photos

For sure. Watch this space.

[iceman]

For sure. Watch this space.

Not much seems to be happening in that space.

[uglymoney]

Not much seems to be happening in that space.

Until now...all the trip report you need at lightning speed. I'd have completed the report sooner but Frisbee with the dog is far more important than obscure Iowa->EC trip reports. At least in this dogs world. Thanks for all the suggestions even if we weren't able to take advantage of all the tips on this trip. We want to fly to Portland and do some more time in Acadia in the future.



We are from Iowa and it should come as no surprise that we are working people. We busted our asses all day and night Thursday and Friday until we could get into our 2003 4Runner with 170k and then after a headache inducing 9 hours of white line hell we made it into our Ohio hotel and then worked our way across southern NY on Saturday. We endured the endless NY State thruway until we turned north in Utica, NY towards the eastern heavens.

With kids you take trips, not vacations.



It was getting late so no pictures but we took highway 8 through the SE portion of the Adirondacks and it was spectacular. The road was low and slow but beautiful. So many ski lakes. Lots of cool scenes. What a beautiful area.

Crossing from NY to Vermont.



My first time in Vermont. State number 48. Two to go!



The road from here to the campground in Stowe was surreal. I missed an 'amazing' sunset view looking back at Lake Champlain just because we didn't have time to stop. I still regret not having made time because it was a soft golden glow of corn, mountains and lakes. Vermont at its finest. We did a google maps analysis and decided the road through Mad River would be more scenic and not much more time. Turns out it was scenic and slow but incredibly fun with amazing grades you never see out west. Just sad it was pitch dark...and that we were driving it in the 4-Runner rather than the Subaru...but it was still fun. My closest encounter with MRG.



It was getting late and we went through a thousand towns that looked like this...they could be any town in NE Iowa or Wisconsin and they all felt much more familiar than I had expected.



The lean-to at Smugglers Notch State Park in Vermont. They were awesome. Totally protected from the elements in everything but a huge windstorm and no bugs. We didn't set up our tent. The only issue with the state park was that we arrived at 10:00 pm on Saturday and they acted like they weren't going to let us in. We explained our 1200 mile drive but it was not an acceptable excuse to the attendant. He told us we should consider taking an extra day off work next time but he let us in Cleanest campground ever. I recommend this place to everybody. Apparently it has been moved in recent years and it used to be ski in/ski out in the winter but this is no longer the case. Oh well.



Bridger the physcotic mini aussie made sure sleeping beyond sunrise was impossible.



Our first view of a real live Ice Coast ski area.



Beam me up captain! A view from the Mt. Mansfield toll road.



A bunch of Iowans grace the crest of Mt. Mansfield. Beautiful bunch and the view was cool as well. Lake Champlain is in the background.



Some rain in the notch.



We searched high and low for some Heady Topper DIPA but we were skunked. We ended up drinking some of the other unremarkable IPA's available from the local beer stores.



After two nights in Vermont it was time to get up early on Monday and on the road to Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. We took the northern route through Morrisville and then on to 2 to Gorham then south on to Mt. Washington.



Note the I-Pass transponder in the corner of the dash. That thing worked all the way into Maine on all of the tolls except the bridges into and out of Canada. We could not believe how many Ice Coasters actually waste time going through the toll booth and paying manually. Crazy.







A view of Wildcat Mountain.









The Great Golf from the auto road.



It was cold for August!

[uglymoney]

We made it to Maine. My 49th state. Whoot! One more state to go.



1520 miles from Moose we made it to Acadia National Park right at sunset.



We had a walk in campsite for three nights at SeaWall. You cannot reserve an individual site this year (although that will change next year) so we were assigned an absolutely horrible site our first night. Right on top of our neighbors, right next to the bathrooms, right next to a large parking area, right next to a trail. The next morning we asked for a new site and we scored a nice site way back in the woods. A long walk but very private and nice and the kids loved it. I cannot recommend the place though really. Next time we go we will just score a cottage somewhere so we can spend more time exploring the park.



Acadia itself is stunning!









Mt. Acadia day hike. Perfect family hike.









With lobster prices at record lows we had some cooked for us at a local market and brought them back to the campsite. We don't really have Lobster in Iowa that is edible so Sage was a little worried when we put this in front of her















We took a sailboat ride with about 150 other people.



A small real live lobster boat.







I have some sailing experience with a 27 footC and C that we used to charter on Lake Superior so I know enough to know I'd like this.



Bar Harbor



Bar Harbor from Cadillac Mountain



Sandy Beach which the kids...loved. Of course.

[uglymoney]

After three short days it was time to leave Acadia.



We stopped at a roadside stand in the middle of google maps nowhere for some Maine blueberries.



We went past Shawnee Peak on the way out of Maine. Lake plus mountain = awesome.



We took the advice of the collective and took the Kancamagus back across New Hampshire. We basically had zero time to explore but obviously this is an area you could spend a week or three at. It was the most 'western' feeling area that we encountered, but it still felt very east. We need to go back. We must go back.



After the all day drive and a last minute driving sprint so we wouldn't miss the last ferry of the day we took the 'Scenic Ferry' from Burlington Vermont to Port Kent, NY. It was a gift after being in the car for so long. They even served ice cold Heineken! A look back at Burlington.







Back into New York. Ausable Chasm. Awesome.



We made it to the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid that night for showers and a swim. The Lake Placid Brewery offered up the best beer of the trip...by far. Ubu Ale, and the Lake Placid IPA were very, very good. Finally a West Coast style IPA. Thank you. Old school pool side room.



Contrary to some opinions and aligning with others we actually enjoyed Lake Placid. Cool town. Cool people to talk to everywhere we went. Lots of people eager to talk about skiing or fishing or gear or whatever. Unfortunately we woke up to widespread thunderstorm activity so we made the executive decision to lay low, enjoy the hotel pool, and then do some easy touristy stuff rather than the longish day-hike we had planned. Sigh...





We took the gondy at Whiteface because Sage insisted and it was a little more reasonable than the ungodly sum they wanted to ride it at Stowe - Aspen East pricing.



Sage made the most out of the ride!



The views from Whiteface of Lake Placid were...incredible.





Maybe it is just me but I'd like to ski this place.



New York kept throwing beautiful scenics at me. I wished I had a boat or a friend with a boat and a rope...maybe some skis. Maybe a friend with an airplane.



We made it to our campground at Rollins Pond which was about an hour out of Lake Placid. We had to drive for a few miles into the woods past a couple of other campground complexes to get to it. They had people driving around selling ice and ice cream and wood. You'd never have to leave! Alas we had but one night to enjoy the splendor of the place. Of course the kids were self entertained immediately.



So quite and the neighbors seemed cool. I recommend this campground to anybody who wants peace in a beautiful spot. We rented a Kayak to explore and fish the lake in and Addison was off fishing for the night.





Every site has a private beach and the leash law seemed to be loosely enforced to say the least.



Another nice sunset.



Saturday we packed up and enjoyed the drive out of the Adirondacks and made it to Niagara falls well before sundown.



Huge lines for everything but it didn't matter to us. We parked easily for a $20 bill and took in what we could from the banks on the American side.







From Niagara Falls we drove through Ontario on the smoothest roads ever and stayed somewhere in Michigan that night. Sunday we made it to Show Ski Nationals in Rockford, IL in time to watch our local team compete (I am semi-retired from the team) and then we drove back to Iowa safely. Great 'trip' but now I need a 'vacation'

[uglymoney]

reserved...

[BigDaddy]

Nice TR so far... Looks like you had great weather and managed to get to see an amazing amount in a short time.

Great shots, but bummed you got skunked on the Heady Topper... Stuff is gold.

[buttahflake]

heady topper is way overrated.
now the pancakes at Polly's, those are the real deal.
no cakes?

[geomorph]

Nice pics so far. If you think getting Heady Topper is tough, be glad you didn't try for Hill Farmstead Brewery on a weekend.

[BigDaddy]

heady topper is way overrated.
now the pancakes at Polly's, those are the real deal.
no cakes?

Ha, ha... I knew you would chime in on the HT. It may be half marketing (remember Coors was so hard to get?), but I still love it.

Hill Farmstead is amazing, so bottom line, UM needs to come back this winter.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Very nice TR, I was hoping to get to Acadia this fall ,but alas it's not to happen.
You also passed within 5 miles of my place on your journey while on 17.

[iceman]

Nice action. Great shots. Some people love the East and I am one of them, glad you had a good time. That flight to Portland sounds like a good idea, let us know when you do it!

[uglymoney]

heady topper is way overrated.
now the pancakes at Polly's, those are the real deal.
no cakes?

We had this planned till the last second. We just didn't have the time on the drive from Stowe-Mt. Washington-Acadia. It was truly one of the biggest disappointments for my wife. Thanks for the heads up because it is on our life to do list now. Today is pancake and waffle day at our house...again...because we love em.

I added a few more pictures and commentary this morning.

[uglymoney]

Nice action. Great shots. Some people love the East and I am one of them, glad you had a good time. That flight to Portland sounds like a good idea, let us know when you do it!

Will do. If I lived closer we'd find out if that boat of yours can go fast enough to pull a barefooter.

Ha, ha... I knew you would chime in on the HT. It may be half marketing (remember Coors was so hard to get?), but I still love it.

Hill Farmstead is amazing, so bottom line, UM needs to come back this winter.

I'd love to. I think we are doing JH this winter so that Sage can rip the heck out of Teewinot and Eagles Rest like I did when I was her age but someday I need to ski the East. The whole MRG area seemed to be more my speed in comparison to Stowe although it was a dark night so the only way to be sure would be to go back. Crazy road you have there