Absolutely zero rush this morning.  The only thing we needed to do was end our day in Shirley Mills, Maine (almost 6 ½ hours away) and make it down for the hotel breakfast before they stopped serving at 10am.  Three-fourths of us made it… one chose sleep over breakfast.  Any guesses on the identity of this noggin?

When we came back from eating, a few hits from the pillows and then tickled feet, and we finally got him stirring… at least enough to start stirring.

After everyone was upright and the car was loaded, we headed off to our first adventure, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream factory. We had about 30 minutes to kill before our tour started so we visited the Flavor Graveyard… the finally resting place of their retired flavors.

I thought this was really cute… The boys not so much.

The Waterbury, Vermont location is their original factory. Since Ben & Jerry sold the business to Unilever for a gabilliondollars, they now have 2 other Vermont plants and another in Holland.

The ice cream and cow puns were hilarious. There was the Vanilla-vator (elevator) and a Moo-vie (movie), I am almost 16 pints tall, and we followed the herd as we went through the factory. 🤣

We couldn’t take many pictures inside the factory – they said they never knew when a Hagen-daz spy was present 😉, but it was fun to watch to milk, cream and sugar moved through the facory and assembly line.   The Mooovie told us about the start of Ben & Jerry’s. Two cool tidbits: they started after taking a $5 ice cream making course from Penn State; and Ben had a terrible sense of taste and smell, so the chunks were left in the ice cream originally for Ben, but became part of their signature style.  

For the most part, everything was automated within the factory, but human supervision was required, and that’s where the real show was.  As we are watched the ice cream containers being filled, they would move to a spot where the caps would be put on, and then the containers were flipped over, so the expiration date could be put on the bottom. We noticed that the caps got jammed up on one line, but Lineworker Garrett was checking his email on his phone. So the containers were filled, not capped, then flipped, which spilled ice cream. One after the other after the other, and Garrett is still scrolling email.  Mike and I were tapping on the window to try to get his attention, but clearly, he couldn’t hear us. Finally, he glanced up from his phone and noticed ALL the spilled ice cream down the line. He cleared the jam, and the line was up and running properly again. But then the containers started coming down on the left side empty and uncapped.  Poor Garrett just started collecting the empty containers and throwing them in the trash.  Eventually, another guy came to help, but it was just too funny to us as we listened to our guide rave about the technological marvels of their factory while the actual factory looked like something on Laverne & Shirley!  Poor Garrett.  I sure hope his line got straightened out.

After the tour, we decided we needed a little more than the tour samples, so we got in line for more ice cream.  This sign caught our eye.  No tips allowed.  Seemed like a good idea at first, but after watching Lineworker Garrett inside for a while, I wondered if maybe we ought to reward those who work a little harder?

We snagged one more picture and then said goodbye to Ben & Jerry’s (and Garrett) 😁

Off we went headed to the capital of Vermont , Montpelier.  The Capital itself was impressive, but the architecture on the old homes was really cool.  Absolutely no cookie-cutter homes here – Everything was old and distinct.

We made a pit stop to explore Morse Maple Syrup Farm. Leo loved their homemade tree art.

We learned some interesting information on maple syrup, and now know why REAL maple syrup is expensive. Did you know it takes 4 forty-year-old trees over six weeks to make enough sap to create 1 gallon of maple syrup! The trees are “tapped” and then tubing runs from the tap all the way down to the sugarhouse.  This was just an example at the farm, but as we drove through Vermont, we could see the lines running through the woods.  Also, did you know maple syrup can be darker and lighter just depending on the blend of trees? Neither did we.

The sugar house isn’t in season right now.  Tapping is usually during the fall, but we got to explore on our own. I loved the lifecycle of the tree. The center marker notes it’s start: 1834 small, winged seed flutters to the ground. 1898 Great-Great-Grandpa John Morse died, and 1994 160-year-old tree dies Wayne and Rebecca Morse cut it down.  Clearly the Morse family has been here a very long time.

They had a great souvenir shop, with lot of maple syrupy things (clearly they believe in the power of maple syrup) and some hats that we almost brought home.

Vermont is a beautiful state.  Lots of Mountains and wide openspots, with these beautiful, old barns all along the drive.

Then we crossed into New Hampshire… State # 44!

We have had a long day of driving and these two have been such troopers… plus it helps that Mom’s Café is now serving New Hampshire too

We followed this truck FOREVER and loved watched this gigantic dog! He had his own “tent” in the back of the truck for shade and every now and then he would peek out to check where the truck was.  Mike said he was an akita. Boys and I thought he was part wolf.

Again, the scenery looked like something out of a painting.

I’m not sure who names the towns around here, but at one intersection we could go left for Mexico and right for Peru.  The boys didn’t think this was nearly as funny as Mike and I did.

We made a stop at Walmart for s’more supplies (I’m still giddy from all the Ben & Jerry puns and we really are getting supplies for S’mores) and we rolled on through northern New Hampshire, and then…

Maine… State #45!  I know Maine has some big towns and cities, but it is littered with these tiny little towns and hamlets.  Each with a downtown straight out of a Hallmark movie.

Since we knew we were going to do a late check-in for tonight, we decided to stop in for dinner in Guilford, Maine.  Pronounced WAY different than our Guilford. Here it is Gill (like what a fish uses to breath) and Fudd (like Elmer Fudd). Gill-Fudd. We saw great reviews for the Red Maple Inn so we decided to give it a try.  Great folks, great food, and great location!  We are even thinking of driving the 20 minutes back for 4th of July.  They have an American Flag painted on one wall and they ask all active duty military or veterans to sign the flag, and when they do everyone in the restaurant stands ♥️🇺🇸

As the sun started to set, we arrived at our home for the next 2 nights, Northeast Whitewater Lodge and Guides. We loaded up the luggage but left anything that wouldn’t go in the mini-fridge due to the critters it could attract. 

We walked and turned the corner, Surprise!  We are staying in a Yurt!

Mike hates camping but we are compromising with the yurt – it is insulated with fans, mini-fridge and electricity. It is so cool! It has beds for 6 people so plenty of room to spread out and relax. No internet at the yurt, but you can get a signal up at the office/bathhouse.  Did I mention bathhouse?  Of yes, good old fashioned shared camping bathhouse.  

We got settled and played cards, and then before bed had to get redressed to use the restroom one more time. (they loved my bathhouse outfit).  

Never in my life will I forget today. Niagara Falls was a bucket list item that met everything we thought it would be. Then we ended the day with the best Mexican food ever all with my favorite people… yep, Best Day Ever!

We started this morning in Niagara Falls, NY. We slept in a bit and then packed up the car. Thankfully, we can walk to the Falls from our hotel, so we could leave the car at the hotel, fully loaded to hit the road later. No free hotel breakfast this morning, so we snagged a few pop tarts from the car and stopped in a local coffee spot, literally called “The Spot” for coffee and smoothies. These two were entertained by the tic-tac-toe board while Mike went to change his shirt.

We crossed the street and made our way into Niagara Falls State Park.

The State Park is really nice. Plenty of walking/running trails with lots of shade and a nice breeze coming off the water. The weather could not have been better.

We decided to do the Cave of the Winds first, and based on the line as we were leaving, we made the right call. The Cave of Winds takes you down to the bottom of the Falls, gives you a really cool yellow poncho,

and then turns you lose to get as wet as you want… and we absolutely did!

The Falls were everything we thought they would be. Just amazing!

We were so soaked and laughing so hard 🤣 It will be one of my favorite days forever and ever… and it was only 11am! Some of us did not use the hood of our poncho, nor did they hold the edges of their ponchos tightly… wanna guess who?

We spent a little time exploring the gift shop and State Park… and of course took a few pictures.

We even managed to catch the Rainbow over the falls at one of the overlooks.

We then made our way to the Maid of Mist, and while the line at first made us nervous, it was only about a 10 minute wait.  This time, we got a blue poncho and some great views of the water around the Falls.

And off we went to the falls.  The Maid of the Mist boat takes you right up to the bottom of the falls and it is windy, and loud, and wet and AWESOME!

After we docked, we climbed the stairs on the other side of the Falls for one more chance to get soaked 😁

We went out on the observation deck for one last look.  Absolutely worth the trip across the state

We trekked back to the car and started making our way toward Vermont.  Mom’s Cafe – Now with service in Upstate NY!

The closest route took us off the Interstate and through some really cute small towns in Central and Upstate New York.  We decided that the town of Spectator should have been Spectactular, because 1) that’s a way better name and 2) the marketing/tourism plan practically writes itself!  And they had a road called “The Lane” – it turned out to be a boring residental road, but how cool would it be to live on The Lane in Spectactular, NY?

The old school metal bridge were definitely something you don’t see anymore.

When I pointed this sign out, I was quickly told by my people that no one was going in any caves today. BOO!😒

We loved the flags throughout the town of Crown Point, NY honoring their veterans.  Crown Point calls itself the “Birthplace of the Electrical Age” which honestly seemed like a pretty bold claim for a really small town.  But, after some internet sleuthing, it turns out that Ironville, a hamlet of Crown Point, was the firstplace in the world to use electrivity commercially for industrial purposes.  While an incredibly specific claim, it must be true because we found a plaque!

It wouldn’t be a Brown Family Adventure if we didn’t find ourselves on an unmarked road at least once, so we can mark this as done. And we found some random interesting things, like an orchard totally covering their apple trees from birds and insects. ☑️ and ☑️

But the views today made it so hard to believe that the NYC and Upstate are actually the same state.  I guess the same could be said for North Carolina when you think of the mountains to the beaches to the cities.

Finally we made to The Bridge, the one that separates New York and Vermont at the midpoint.

This drive was gorgeous.  Mike said with these views and the low population, maybe we needed to think of moving… I reminded him that it was July, not January.  Could he handle an average of 6-8 feet of snow per winter? We’ll just stay where we are, but wow!  These views…

Apparently everyone likes the views because every now and then, we saw these “Viewing Area” pulloffs. Nothing to actually see other than pretty landscape so maybe everyone thinks it’s gorgeous?

We did get tickled by these signs… apparently in Vermont you don’t take things to Goodwill.  You just put them in your yard with a sign?

We decided to grab dinner in Burlington, Vermont – home to the University of Vermont. The boys wanted Mexican (the boys always want Mexican), and we found this little renovated downtown diner that was a “farm to table to taco” theme.  Not sure what that means, but reviews were good so…  Other that the crowd of high young people hanging out under the stairs of a parking deck, the Downtown area was really cool.

El Cortijo was absolutely amazing! It was small but the food was so good, and the wait staff was friendly and welcoming (people are very interested in our accents). I think we are going to have a hard time eating Mexican food anywhere else and not comparing it to here. Of course, Michael, ever the contrarian when we all rave about a restaurant, said Amigos is better (our local Mexican restaurant). 🤦🏻‍♀️

After dinner, the boys decided to use the hotel gym to exercise and I decided to use to whirlpool to not exercise 🤣  Then they joined me in the pool area. I had a flashback to when they were little and could spend hours wrestling and sliding and wrestling, and did I mention wrestling?

Total miles today was 5 miles and ~11,000 steps, of course that was by 1pm so not too shabby 😊

Woke up fully rested. In fact, some of us are over 12 hours rested, which makes for a happy morning. We slept in with our only “have to” being to pick up the rental car by noon. Our hotel in the city has been fine – clean, enough room for us, free breakfast and courteous staff. But oh my word – The elevators in the mornings! . The hotel is 27 floors (floors 2-14 are a Springhill Suites with their dedicated set of elevators), so we are talking about 12 floors. I’m not sure if it’s spacial or number of guests or what but it is a good 20 minutes of waiting to get on the elevators. And some of the people, Lawd have mercy! I get that I’m not in the south where hospitality is important, but we were about ready to throat punch some of the people! 🤪 okay rant over.

We checked out, scheduled our Uber, and got ready to go back to LaGuardia to pick up our rental car. We headed out to wait with our bags and knew that our Uber would be a black Toyota Highlander. So we waited and watched on the app as our Uber coming our way. Finally we saw it, but it was in wrong lane. Off I run to tap on the window of this black Highlander. Window rolls down and there are 2 young men. “Hi, are you our Uber?”

Thank the Lord for my southern accent because despite their odd looks, they politely responded “um, no.” 🤣🤣🤣

3 cars back we see another black Toyota Highlander… but this one with an Uber sticker. So other than starting my day becoming a potential carjacker, everything’s going great 🤣

New York City traffic at 11am is crazy but we finally made it to the car rental at LaGuardia and off we went in our car for the next couple of weeks, a Ford Durango. We did almost run off the road laughing at these tree signs in East Elmhurst, NY

We traveled over the RFK bridge (and googled to find out that his middle name was Francis), and saw Yankee Stadium.

Then we went over the lower level of the George Washington Bridge. It was really cool to see the difference in each side of the bridge… one side was city and the other all green

Welcome to New Jersey! State #42

After 2 stops to get groceries and supplies… have you ever seen a Walmart with a grocery section but not a produce section? Well, we have now 🤪 We also learned that 2 years ago, New Jersey stores stopped using plastic bags… we have our unbagged groceries loaded in car and off we went!

We finished off our eclairs from Carlo’s for dessert and kept on driving

Rolling on, we made a quick pit stop in Scranton, PA for our favorite paper company, and stopped in at Copper’s Seafood House. Don’t recognize it? Its the location to a little award show called The Dundies!

Back on the road with a little Dunder Mifflin swag, we crossed back into New York and rolled on across the state.

We are scheduled to arrive at Niagara Falls after 9pm, so we started looking for dinner spots. Mike suggested chicken so I started searching. We found a chicken place with good reviews and a great name, Dicky’s Fried Chicky. With a name like that we had to give it try… but as we searched for the location in Victor, NY, we learned that Dicky’s Fried Chicky is a brand/style of chicken instead of a location. But they serve it at The Thirsty Turtle!

Dicky’s Fried Chicky was good. Let’s be honest, if you’re from the south, you probably know how to make really good fried chicken. So it takes a lot for us to say someone’s fried chicken is really good. So it was good, and the chicken wings were good too. Plus we got to watch some of the USA v Uruguay soccer match which thrilled the boys.

We finally made it to Niagara Falls around 11, checked in and ready to explore the Falls tomorrow.

Eight hours of sleep later, we were ready to tackle NYC again. By 9:30am, we were jumping back on the Subway, and headed for the 9/11 Museum.

I can remember my parents talking about Pearl Habor and how personal their memories were. Where they were when they heard about the attack… who they knew that was personally affected… how they felt. And while I could appreciate and respect it, I never understood what they went through. I suppose 9/11 is our Pearl Harbor. Mike and I spent some time telling the boys where we were when we heard about the attack… who we knew that was personally affected… how we felt. And they, like me, appreciated and respected what we said, but I do not think they knew how it truly was until today.

We didn’t make many photos inside, and I don’t think we need photos to remember today, but some were things we wanted to make sure to remember…

After we finished touring the museum, and of course getting our travel tree ornament, we decided to grab a to-go lunch at an old school New York Deli – the sandwiches were AWESOME!

By 2pm, we were headed to Battery Park to catch our ferry out to see Lady Liberty herself. We enjoyed our sandwiches sea-side 😊

Not a bad view for lunch

We landed at the Statue of Liberty and decided to climb the stairs up to the pedestal because the elevator line was crazy… it’s not that high, right? (It is 198 stairs high to be exact.)

The boys crushed it, passing and leaving us in their dust, but we did it. Slow and steady wins the race🐢

Even 198 steps closer, Lady Liberty is still a long way up

WooHoo! Finally, a plaque, and a plaque carved in a cornerstone no less!

Doesn’t get more American than this! 🇺🇸

We hopped back on the ferry to travel from the Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island.

Can you imagine arriving here so many years ago, alone or even with family, with everything you owned in one steamer trunk or less, traveling across an ocean and then walking into the Registry Room where they put you in one area to enter the United States or another to send you home.

While they waited to be registered as a citizen, immigrants were housed in these dormitory rooms that could be home to 60-80 people with 3 sinks and 1 commode. Makes our hotel room seem exceptionally spacious!

The Registry Room has been restored to what it looked like in the late 1800’s but still very different than when set up to receive new citizens. Ellis Island as a whole has had a lot of changes too in the last 150 years:

We headed out get back on the ferry to head back to Battery Park when the bottom fell out ⛈️ That meant everyone on the ferries’ spacious open fresh-air decks were now crammed into the inside areas. Maybe we just needed to be reminded how the immigrants felt being crammed onto Ellis Island.

Either way, we made it back to Battery Park and walked quickly through the rain to our subway stop only getting slightly soaked…

The boys wanted Asian Fusion Hibachi for dinner. Only in New York could you type in Asian Fusion Hibachi in google map, and boom! Yes, as a matter of fact, there is Asian Fusion Hibachi place with 4.8 star rating less than 10 blocks from your hotel.

And once again, the boys’ learned that being polite paid off… when we arrived at the Asian Fusion Hibachi restaurant, the hostess asked if we wanted to sit at an hibachi table. We told her as long as we could get hibachi food, we were fine with wherever. So she found us a four-top in the front, and away we went with dinner. As we were eating our entrees, the bartender came to refill our waters, and asked boys if they wanted soft drinks? They said no thank you, and about 2 minutes later she comes back. She has a free Japanese beer for Mike and I to try and 2 Japanese sodas for boys.

The Japanese soda was interesting. You had to take off the top and pop the inside of the cap to release a clear marble into the drink. I have no idea what purpose this serves, but watching these two trying to get them open was cracking me up!

Update: thanks to the internet, we now know that the marble seals off the oxygen and keeps the drink carbonated

Finally, the Japanese father sitting beside us showed the boys the trick to opening. They weren’t huge fans of the drinks themselves, but still a pretty cool experience.

We loved seeing all the lights come on as the sun begins to set. Although Michael said he was ready to be where there aren’t so many people… everywhere… all the time.

We have finally dried off from the rain deluge, and our bellies are full. So now dinner is over and it’s 6:45pm. 🤣🤣 We thought we should get something sweet for later – because I know these boys are going to be hungry again in an hour.

I asked them if anyone want to go see more of city? Their response: “Mom, we just want to take a shower, eat a dessert and sit at the hotel.” Okay, early night it is 🤣

As we are walking back to the hotel, we pass Carlo’s Bake Shop (from Cake Boss), and we decided it must be fate!

Back in the hotel, the cannolis, cheesecake and tirimisu are gone, and showers are done… Michael is in his PJs and cannot believe it is still light outside!

9:07pm Leo is OUT

9:18pm Mike is OUT

10:02pm Michael is OUT

12:34am Mom is typing a blog post 🤪

Day 2 is in the books! Totals for today: 7.6 miles and 17,000+ steps.

The boys said they cannot wait for a long car ride tomorrow 🤣 maybe this was all part of my plan!