NYC

We had a terrific time staying with my friend Andrea in NYC. She showed us around Brooklyn Heights, where she lives, and then we took the train into Manhattan for the evening. We ate pizza at a place called Adrienne's Pizza Bar... delicious and then walked around the older part of Manhattan. After a ride on the Stanton Island Ferry we payed our respects at the World Trade Center Site and then took a very quick tour of Time Square. Dave lasted about 15 minutes in Time Square and he was ready to head back to Brooklyn!
You can look at some NYC pics here: NYC Pictures

What a Ride....

By the time we got back to Cross Lanes we rode over 2,700 miles through 11 states! The only state that we did not ride through is Delaware... I know that we will regret not going the few extra miles to check that off of our 'bucket' list.

2471miles behind us as of Westminster, MD.....on our way back to WV!

Turns out that Middletown, NY, where we stopped to get the front tire replaced, is only about 60 miles from NYC. With the city so close we decided that it would be crazy not to stop so as soon as the tire was fixed we were on our way. Of course the route we took along 9W was more than 60 miles and would take much more than one hour! Our route took us through Bear Mountain State Park, just south of West Point Academy, and eventually the Palisades Interstate Parkway which runs along the Hudson River and is mostly in New Jersey. This was a beautiful drive and some of the homes along the Hudson River are just amazing! We stopped briefly in a small town called Stony Point to take a break and use an ATM. There were signs about a light house but we didn’t see it and because we were already running short on time we didn’t look. After riding for a couple of hours we did have to take time to stop for lunch in the small town of Conger, NY. Although we didn’t drive into the town it appeared to be pretty small. According to city-data.com the population of Congers is under 5, 000 (about the size of Clay Center) and the average house value is 516,000…..location location location! The homes we say were not large or fancy but they are fairly close to New York City so they have the big city but live in a small town.r

Salem

Where the first meeting house in Salem stood

I can't believe that I forgot to mention that before we went to Boston we stopped in Salem, where the infamous 'Witch Trials' took place back in the 1600’s. We walked all over town but didn’t go into any of the museums. The town seemed to be very ‘touristy’ with lots of corny museums and tours. We did go into this really old cemetery with graves from the early 1600’s. We didn’t take pictures because we thought that the tombstones seemed fabricated however, after seeing the graves in Boston we realized that the ones in Salem were similar and probably real. We did see one strange looking ‘lady’ walking around dressed sort of witch like…. Guess Salem is a mecca for those that practice witchcraft or other odd ‘dark side’ activities.

Invitation to view Lena's Picasa Web Album - Boston

You are invited to view Lena's photo album: Boston Boston Aug 13, 2010 by Lena View Album Play slideshow Message from Lena: Here is a link to some of the pictures we took in Boston. If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=myhrtisnwv&target=ALBUM&id=5504884156069145025&authkey=Gv1sRgCOjtkrO23-buNA&invite=CP2o-98D&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

Evening in Boston

Nighttime view from our hotel window

Boston is a pretty cool city… once we got into the actual city! It seemed we drove around in circles for a long time trying to figure out how to get across the river. We ended up going under the river through one of the many tunnels. Checking into our hotel was interesting. We used Hotwire.com to get a ’cheap’ rate at what turned out to be a very expensive hotel. When we walked in you couldn’t help but feel like everyone was looking and thinking, “Here come the hotwire people” because we looked more like Comfort Inn folks than the Intercontinental – Boston. Picture us walking into the huge lobby of this luxury hotel that sits on Boston’s waterfront after being on the bike all day. Dave hasn’t shaved since we left so he looked scruffy and I didn’t look much better. We were carrying our helmets along with our luggage unlike others that had hotel staff taking their things to their room. I even had my old boots in my hand. To complete the picture… while Dave checked in my cell phone rang…. My ring tone is the theme to the Andy Griffith Show. The room was awesome to say the least and our view was of Boston Harbor. We could actually see the spot where the Boston Tea Party took place!

After we settled in our room we took a short walk around the Financial District where our hotel was located and went back to our room, on the 11^th floor, to decide where to go for dinner. The choices of restaurants seemed almost unlimited but eventually we decided because Dave had never eaten at a Hard Rock Café we decided to go there. It was too far to walk so we decided to try out Boston’s subway system. The subway is very user friendly but figuring out buying tickets was a little confusing. We now know that change is given in tokens…. So if you put in a $20 to buy a $5 dollar pass you get 15 tokens in return. The lady at the information booth was happy to ‘buy’ them from me; I guess that they don’t give money back because she gave me her own money for the tokens. She also thought that I was from Texas, haha.

The S.O.B burgers we had at the Hard Rock were really good but the meal itself turned out to be the most expensive so far. This Hard Rock was the least crowded of any of the other Hard Rocks I’ve been visited. Other than us there were only 3-4 other tables occupied at 10:00pm! I guess that’s because the next street over was lined with small bars and pubs, each one packed and several of them had what sounded like live bands. We enjoyed our dinner, paid the outlandish bill and headed back to the ‘orange line’ subway station. As we walked by the busy bar street we came across an amazing Holocaust memorial. Six huge glass columns, each representing a different Nazi prison camp, stood in a row. Each column had the numbers from each individual that was killed at that camp etched into the glass along with a quote from a survivor. The memorial really gives you a new perspective on the Holocaust when you realize that each of those numbers represented one person and the rows of numbers reached to the top of each column. The steam that rises from the grate below each column only adds to the effect. It was dark so I really couldn’t get a good picture of the memorial but here is a link to check out pictures on the official website. New England Holocaust Memorial

On our way up

A few days we rode the bike along the auto road to the top of Mt. Washington the highest point in New Hampshire! This road was Even though it is not as high as Pikes Peak it was still quite the white knuckle ride to say the very least. A few times I was certain that we had made a poor decision and maybe we should just turn around… but there wasn’t anywhere so I just held on and tried not to lean away from the edge.  Once we got to the top it was so foggy that we could not see anything below and we ended up with damp hair and clothes. The temperature was 52 degrees and boy was it windy. I had a hard time keeping my balance while climbing down the rocks that lead to the summit sign. The ride down was much nicer than the ride up because most of the time we were on the inside rather than right along the edge so I was able to enjoy the scenery a little better. After all was said and done I was glad we made the trip to the top.

Read more about Mt. Washington here: Mount Washington Auto Road

The building at the top was chained down.

Dave at the Summit

I had a hard time standing and it was cold!

Weather alert for Clay Center that I received while
freezing on Mt. Washington....

Lobsters and Lighthouses

Dave in front of The Pearl

Me in front of The Pearl

We got an early start out of Rochester yesterday morning and headed in the general direction of Kennebuckport. One interesting thing that happened at the hotel is that we ran into a couple of gentlemen from WV. They were brothers from Huntington. The one brother still lives in Huntington the other lives in NC but is retiring and moving to Logan? Anyway, after a quick breakfast at our hotel we were once again on our way. By lunch time we found ourselves in a small coastal town called Rockland. Rockland is the location of the Maine Lighthouse Museum. The museum turned out to be quite interesting and we learned more than we ever could have imagined from the gentleman working there. They had tons of old lighthouse beakers and uniforms and equipment of former lighthouse keepers. I didn’t realize that each lighthouse had its own signal and could be recognized by its color and number/order of flashes. I found out later than Rockland was chosen as ‘one of the 2010 America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations’ by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

 Rockland is also where Dave had his official ‘Maine Lobster’ dinner…. We walked from the museum to a restaurant that sits on the pier in Rockland Harbor in Penobscot Bay called the Pearl. Dave had lobster, of course, and I had a chicken sandwich. He said the lobster was tasty but I just can’t imagine eating that mess, yuck. My sandwich was pretty good as long as I watched the boats in the harbor rather than what was going on in front of me. I was glad he was finally able to enjoy his true ‘Maine’ lobster and only asked that he try not to ‘squirt’ me with the lobster but despite his best effort I guess it was unavoidable….

Lobster traps in the ship yard.

Several years ago while we were living in NC Dave was sent to Ft. Drum for a month or so. He somehow managed to stay in Alexandria Bay instead of Watertown which is closer to Ft. Drum. That was one time I was actually jealous of his assignment. Anyway, he wanted me to see the town so the plan was to stop in ‘Alex Bay’ before heading to Vermont. So, after Rochester we continued to ride up the Seaway Trail. Our first stop after Rochester was a little coastal town called Oswego. Like many of the other villages or towns it was an important location during the War of 1812. We drove around taking in the sights and looking for a place with wi-fi so we could find a place to stay that night. We’d been having a hard time finding a room so we thought we’d plan ahead. We finally went into this pizzeria called ‘Cam’s Pizza’ for a slice of pizza and some free internet. The pizza was pretty good NY style thin crust. We decided to book a room in Burlington Vermont, this turned out to be poor planning on our part because although the map said about 4 hours….. it took much longer

Update

'Dave is waiting 'patiently' for me to finish…. just wanted to give a quick update since the blog is waaaaay behind. This morning we are leaving Lancaster, NH and heading to Maine. We plan on staying in Maine this evening! Oh, this ‘Northeast Kingdom’ and here there are supposed to be more moose than people! We hope to see some along our way….

Bonus Experience

Looking down Park Ave. Rochester, NY

After sleeping off the huge meal from Dinosaur B'BQ we were up and ready out... hopefully to Vermont! We have been using the website Urban Spoon to help us locate cool places to eat. This morning we choose a small restaurant on Park Ave. in the upscale area of Rochester. When we got to the street it was blocked off to traffic. Come to find out that they were having their 34th annual Park Ave. Art Fest. About 8 blocks or so were blocked off along Park Ave. and there were booths lining each side of the street with arts/crafts, foods.... It was pretty cool getting to experience a local event that was not a big tourist attraction. The place where we intended to eat was overflowing with people waiting outside for a table so we walked across the street to a place called Camille's Sidewalk Cafe'. We had a nice breakfast while sitting outside people watching. The weather here is not anywhere near as hot as home so eating outside is really nice.

Some birds decided to join us

My breakfast at Camille's

Still in NY

Dinosaur B'BQ

After leaving Buffalo we had hoped to make it across NY and into VT. With so many places to stop it quickly became obvious that we were not going to make it that far. By the time we left Ft. Niagara it was already afternoon so we decided to stop in Rochester. The road, by the way, we took into Rochester was absolutely the worst road we’ve been on. It was very bumpy and rough. Anyway, once we got into Rochester we found their Buffalo Wild Wings. We know that BWW has wireless internet that we can use so it is always a good choice. We did not, however, have our usual Habanera Mango wings…we were still ‘winged’ out…. just some fries. We found a really nice hotel in the downtown area where we could walk to dinner. This hotel was also the location for a Baptist Youth Conference….I think we were just about the only white folks, other than a wedding reception, in the place! We found a place called Dinosaur B’BQ. This place was really cool. The name sounds like it might be a kiddie place but it’s not. We walked but if we would have ridden the bike they had an area set aside for motorcycle parking. It was a busy place and we had to wait about 25 minutes, but it was worth the wait. The food was excellent. We ordered ‘Chili on the half shell’ as an appetizer. Dave and I loved these nachos! It’s probably a good thing that we can’t get them on a regular basis! For the main course Dave got the ‘Big Ass Pork Platter’ and I had the ‘Small Ass Pork Platter’….. yummy! The only bad thing is that we ate way too much and I don’t know when I have been that miserable from a meal!

From the Dinosaur menu:

CHILI ON THE HALF SHELL

Fresh fried tortilla chips served with either A.K. Chili or BBQ Pork & Black Beans. 
Both topped with cheddar cheese, pickled jalapenos, onions and tomatoes

Rochester, NY had painted benches
throughout the town this one is in
front of the public library
(their library is closed on the weekends)

Seaway Trail

Lighthouse at Ft. Niagara

After leaving Niagara Falls we headed up the Seaway trail. This trail follows the west coast of New York and passes through some amazing small coastal towns that look like they were taken right out of a magazine. There is a lot of history along the coast, most of which revolves around the war of 1812. Our first stop was at Fort Niagara. 

August 7

We wanted to visit Niagara Falls after eating dinner at the Anchor but because of the rain we ate later than planned so we decided to go by Niagara Falls on our way out of town. The falls were beautiful but boy has it turned into a major tourist spot. Luckily we could park along the road with other bikes in the 2-hour area rather than forking out 10 bucks for an all day parking space. We didn’t have time to do any of the ‘touristy’ things so we just walked out to the look out and took a couple of pictures. We thought about going in the Hard Rock Café but it was lined out the door. So, after a short visit we were back on our way and riding up the ‘Seaway Trail’.  
To see a map of the Seaway Trail click here:  Seaway Trail

We passed through and area called
Little Italy on our way to the Falls

Battle of the Hot Wings

Dave in front of Duff's

I'm slow to post but this was written Friday, August 6

Not sure if it was the Food Network or the Travel Channel that brought the 'battle of the wings' to our attention but before heading out to Buffalo Dave and I knew that we would need to form our own opinion on the matter. Today was the day.... lunch at Duff's Famous Wings and dinner at the Anchor Bar. The Anchor Bar holds the distinction of creating the recipe for hot wings but evidentially Duff's has become a major contender for the title of 'Best Hot Wings'. Dave and I rode to the Duff's on the outskirts of Buffalo for lunch. The menu warned that their medium is hot and their medium-hot is very hot. Hot is 'at your own risk' and they had one that required a waiver to be signed before serving the wings. We ordered one 10 medium and 10 medium-hot. We thought the wings were probably the best we've ever eaten and preferred the medium-hot over the medium. As we were getting back on the bike Dave started laughing at me... evidently I still had a considerable amount of wing sauce on my face.... well.... they were tasty.

The Anchor Bar

We spent the next few hours just riding around Buffalo and then around 3:30 we found our hotel, checked in and unloaded the bike. Around 5:00 we were ready to check out the Anchor Bar and more wings. We walked outside to find the sky dark and a little rainy. Not wanting to let a little rain interfere with our quest for hot wings we hopped on the bike and rode off toward the Anchor. What we didn't factor into our decision to ride in the 'light' rain was 5:00 traffic and road construction.  The traffic was bumper to bumper as people were trying to get home from work plus one lane was blocked, it was a mess! We pulled over for gas (and to get out of the rain) and decided to drive on because if we didn’t go now we never would besides we’d have to sit in traffic to get back to the hotel anyway.

Dave and his Anchor Wings

We drove out of the rain in no time and were at the Anchor within 10-15 minutes. Another thing that we didn’t factor into our plans was that we were going to one of the most popular places in Buffalo at dinner time. We had a couple of things in our favor 1) a motorcycle is easy to park and 2) it’s easier to find a place to sit for just 2 people! We set in the bar area and ordered from the bartender rather than wait the 20 minutes for a table and waitress.  They did not have the same range of hot sauces at the Anchor so we just got 10 medium and 10 hot. When the wings arrived they did not look as appetizing as Duff’s and didn’t seem to have any sauce. They were kinda dry and not at all hot. We got some extra sauce and that made the wings much better. They were good… just not as good as Duff’s. As we were leaving I heard the hostess tell a couple that the wait was 1 hour 25 minutes! Wow! 

We're leaving Buffalo this morning and hope to make into Vermont by tonight....but that's not likely. So far we've put 698 miles behind us.

Du Bois, PA to Jamestown, NY

After lunch we ate lunch at the Hitchin' Post in Du Bois (great burgers and fries!) we hopped back on the bike and headed north and soon found ourselves in a really pretty little town called Ridgway. I wish we would have had more time to look around but we really wanted to make it to Buffalo.  The road we took through Ridgeway had a beautiful courthouse on one side and a several small specialty shops on the other. We did stop for a quick map check but after a few minutes we were back on the bike and riding into Allegheny National Forest.

Late Wednesday afternoon we came upon a sign: Jamestown-2 Buffalo-73. We had planned to spend our 2nd night in Buffalo but it was about 6:30pm so we thought we'd check out Jamestown and if we liked the town we'd find a place and stay... if not... we'd find a place with wi-fi and book a room in Buffalo. The first thing we saw was the sign: Welcome to Jamestown home of Lucille Ball....Cool! So, we drove on into town to look around. The town was interesting.... parts of the town was made up of well maintained, beautiful old buildings and homes but then other parts were obviously neglected and run down. What stood out most to me was the number of people just hanging around. Dave and I figured that it was partly due to the lack of air but to me many just appeared lazy. There is a difference, I guess, between someone hanging out on the front porch of a well maintained clean house/yard and someone hanging out with junk piled to the roof. I saw one lady sitting in front of a pile of junk almost as high as her head. Lucille Ball's hometown or not we decided to move on to Buffalo. The McDonald's in Jamestown had free wi-fi so we stopped there and used our computer to find and book a room in Buffalo. It was cool to visit Lucille Ball's hometown but if we'd have turned right rather than left at that sign.... we would have been in Buffalo much earlier than 10:00!

Punxsutawney Phil Pictures

Punxsutawney Phil

Phil 

When we went to bed Tuesday night (8/3) the plan was to head towards Pittsburgh and the to Buffalo but when woke up Wednesday morning we decided that Punxsutawney PA sounded like a whole lot more fun. This was a cool little town that was all about a groundhog named Phil. We visited with Phil before driving around town to check out all the ‘Phil’ statues and Gobbler’s Knob where they hold the annual weather forecast event. I was surprised at how small Gobbler’s Know is compared to enormous amount of attention the event gets every Groundhogs Day.  We had hoped to find a cool little place for lunch while in Punxsutawney but we were out of luck and decided to drive to the next town, Debouis. At Debouis we had burgers and fries at the Hitching Post.  The food was great but due to the lack of A/C it was a bit warm.