We started the morning doing business. Using the computer, we found a Walgreen's and a Bank of America and the auto place where the truck is getting an oil change tomorrow. Off we set.The map we had of the local towns was confusing and not to scale, so we were thrown off right away. We did find the auto place. Then we tried to find the B of A, but ended up close to the Walgreen's, so we started there. Then we got better directions to the hospital. We drove up and down the street by the hospital looking for the [View Full Entry]

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Today we're moving north to another campground, so we started the day with Nancy up on the roof sweeping the leaves off the roof of the slide-out. As we drove along, Rich grew philosophical about gas prices. "How can a service station raise and lower the price of gas of what's already in his tanks and paid for? No new oil has been drilled for, refined, or shipped . It's a kind of collusion, not really supply and demand. The market is driving the prices? Is it really competition that one company raises prices so the other ones have to [View Full Entry]

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We started the day with a visit to an ophthalmologist. Nancy's right eye was having a change in vision. There were little hairlike strings floating around and flashes of light on the right edge of her peripheral vision, both symptoms of a possible retinal tear. So, to rest our minds, we went to the doctor. After a VERY thorough exam, he assured us that there were no tears and that everything was fine. This is the part we hate to hear: "As a normal part of aging..." the gel in the eye gently pulls away from the retina, causing these symptoms. [View Full Entry]

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Well, they all had to go back home to New York City for Vivian's uncle's birthday party. Rowan got to swing on a swing and walk with grampa. Seth and Vivian had said, "Don't the leaves change every year?" Even they had to admit that they were slendid this year in Vermont. So they came to see the leaves and then they had to leave. :( After they left, Seth called to say that the light was perfect for pictures in the apple orchard, so we went right out to take pictures. He was so right! There are still wildflowers blooming [View Full Entry]

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We spent the whole day being entertained by Rowan. We went out to the state park to look at the leaves and the lake. Rowan loves water. We made a pile of leaves for him so he could play in them for the first time. Rich can close his eyes and see every minute of our time in the park. It was beautiful. We walked around the town of Bennington and looked into the shops. We also looked at the sculptures set about town done by J. Seward Johnson. There were fifteen realistic staues of people doing ordinary things so you [View Full Entry]

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Today we are getting ready for Seth, Vivian, and ROWAN to get here! They'll arrive this evening. We can't wait. We went into town to do our laundry. Then we went to get some mail that Jodie had sent General Delivery for us. It included my first retirement check! YAY! Then we snuck in a little leaf peeping in a different direction. We traveled a little North and discovered Robert Frost's Stone House Museum. We enjoyed being there where he wrote some of his most famous poetry. Then we found out that Norman Rockwell lived and worked in the next town, [View Full Entry]

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We took off early to go "leaf peeping". We headed East on Highway 9 over to Keene, New Hampshire. It's only about 40 miles across the bottom of the Vee of Vermont. That's how I remember which state is Vermont and which is New Hampshire, Vermont is shaped like a Vee. The colors were fabulous. Around each corner, there were more oohs and aahs. Rich, a person who is color-blind, said, "I've never seen such vivid colors!" That made the whole trip worth it. We are just so impressed and so glad we decided to do this. We read that Vermont's [View Full Entry]

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We're in Vermont! We slept in and went out to explore after noon. Crops here are sunflowers, pumpkins, and corn, corn, corn. There are many houses here with slate roofs. The town of Bennington is nice and friendly. We were told that the leaves have not "peaked", yet. They still have a few more days to go to be the best color. As we drove out of town toward the Green Mountains, we noticed that every dealership had some kind of snowplows for sale. Higher in the mountains, some trees had already lost their leaves, but most were radiant. We passed [View Full Entry]

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This morning there was frost for the first time! In the small towns on the way back to the Thruway, there are lots of hysterical, I mean historical markers. For example, there was one in LeRoy about the first Jell-O factory.The farms are clean and neat. We saw another pumpkin patch and overhead, a big flock of geese in a VEE, flying south. There is Wi-Fi in these service areas on the Thruway. We went inside for coffee and there were two strange looking lights that said EcoLab. They were like big white bowls hanging on the wall with blue [View Full Entry]

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As we drove through Pennsylvania near lake Erie, we saw miles of grapes for the first time. This is a new area for wineries in the last 20 years or so. There were many dairy cows in pastures. There were also rolls of hay, but they were much smaller than the rolls we've been seeing. They're at least a quarter of the size. Occasionally, we can see Lake Erie, but the woodlands are very thick even in the center divider. Rich saw some wild turkeys. Entering into New York state, we were on the New York State Thruway. At Buffalo, [View Full Entry]

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