Bradford PA and Home!

Leaving Kingston, we knew we were headed west and I knew of a place I wanted to take my dad.  The GPS took us through a historic town called Hurley.  Definitely a return trip is on my bucket list for this town.  The historic district is full of Hudson Valley Dutch Style Stone Houses.  So my complete history nerd is coming out.  I got a bit geeked seeing signs saying George Washington recruited patriots for the American Revolution here.  Read more about Hurley.

After marveling at the area we kept heading west and stopped at a farm stand/cafe for breakfast called Saunderskill Farms in Accord, New York.  I had a heart attack which was bacon, and New York Cheddar cheese on an everything bagel heated. 

We kept going.  I had a plan and a place for the night.  We were headed for Bradford, PA.  Home of the Case Knife, and Zippo Lighter plant and museum.  My dad has collected Case knives forever so I thought he would enjoy the museums. 

We left him there and my mom and I went searching for a quilt shop. We found Little Fabric Garden on Main Street in Bradford.  Cute shop, sweet owner and of course I had to make some purchases. 

We stayed at a funky motel which was a total dive on the outside, but the rooms had recently been remodeled and were very upscale.  We ate at Kabob's at the Option House, a very neat history of the building.  The food was excellent to in my opinion.

I loved their floor!

An option house was where bidders met to bid, sell, trade oil during the oil boom in Pennsylvania during the late 19th century. 

The next morning we were headed for home.  I was going to follow the GPS.  My mother argued that according to the map it was 100 miles less going her way.  (Insert rolling eyes).  So we headed south, then west toward Warren, turned and headed toward Clarendon and Sheffield through Allegheny National Forest then on route 666 toward Endeavor and finally we made it to I-80.  Only to be stopped multiple times in road construction.  What many people don't think about is it may be shorter, but the GPS can be set up to route you on the fastest route, and it will pick up road construction etc. 

We finally made it to Ohio, and since we were on I-80 I stopped in Maumee, Ohio at The Quit Foundry to pick up a kit I had on hold.  I also saw a really neat pattern that I picked up too!

My 5 hour drive turned into a 12 hour drive but we finally made it back to Michigan with stories to share. 

Massachusetts and The Cape

We started out bright and early from Augusta.  We had an agenda today.  We were going graveyard tromping!

Oh the one thing my parents found so fascinating were the homes in Maine that the barn was attached to the main house.  Some were large, some were small, but they were so interesting to my parents. 

We drove south, and entered New Hampshire, and then Massachusetts.  Our destination was Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain which is a neighborhood in Boston.  Now I have driven through Boston before and I knew how aggressively I would have to drive.  I actually had to growl at my mom, she is one of those "Oh" "Careful", constantly startling people. 

I  told her, "Mom I have a CDL, I have a chauffeur's license....I am a professional driver.  Please stop, you are going to cause me to have an accident, because when you do that I think you see something I have missed and my first instinct is accident avoidance."  After that little chat she was much better.

We finally arrived at Forest Hills.  Um just an FYI when you are using your GPS and it is set for a cemetery it is a wee bit disconcerting when it says "You have arrived at your final destination." 

I love the front gates and entrances.

The office. 

Forest Hills is a 275 acre and is one of the finest examples of a garden cemetery.  There are beautiful statues and pieces of art throughout the grounds.  Forest Hills even has their own green houses to maintain all the beautiful flowers and plants throughout the area.

The family member we were looking for, but opened up a whole new line of inquiry because right next to it was this stone.

As I was walking away there was a large monolith headstone.  It had family members buried at all 4 sides.

The name of the family was LeFevre which is an alternative spelling to my last name.

I had read that there were some famous people buried in Forest Hills and that it was ok to visit the grave sites.

As we were wandering we were stopped and asked what we were searching for.  I told the gentleman and I was taken on a personal tour of some of his favorite sites within the cemetery.

I thought this stone was interesting because ti was shaped like a tree trunk with flowers and leaves twining around it.

Hard to see but the grave of e.e. cummings.  The groundskeeper told me that he has to constantly go and pick up before they mow.  There are mementos, poems, letter, pens and many other things left on his stone. 

Mt. Warren is where the memorial and graves of General Joseph Warren and his family are located.

 Joseph Warren was a physician, who played a large role in Patriot organizations in Boston during the early days of the American Revolution.  He dispatched Paul Revere and William Dawes to warn that the British garrison was getting ready to leave Boston and travel to Concord to capture rebel leaders.  General Joseph Warren was killed at the battle of Breeds Hill (Bunker Hill). 

 He and his family were moved to Forest Hills from another location.

It is said that if he had not been killed during the Battle of Bunker Hill is it highly likely he would have been the first President of the United States instead of George Washington.  To read more about Joseph Warren click here.

The gentleman was more than happy to show me the sites, but unfortunately the day was getting long and we had a drive to The Cape for the night.  He sent me on my way and encouraged me to go down White Oak.  When I jokingly told him he should get back to work or his boss would be looking for him, he smiled and said he was the boss.  This sweet man was the head groundskeeper. 

Among the rocks and trees are miniature buildings which are replicas of homes or businesses of people buried within the cemetery. 

Atlas Obscura has a nice write up about Forest Hills and the village.

We left Forest Hills and headed toward The Cape.  We had reservations to stay in Yarmouth.  My parents were astounded at the row houses as we wound our way toward the interstate.

Living on the west coast sometimes scale is hard to understand until especially reading history.  We too in so many geographic names and to actually see the was exciting.  Hyannis, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Mashpee, Plymouth.  We got to our hotel for the night and tucked in after an interesting day.

The next morning we headed out to The Cape. 

 It was neat to see the sailboats

 Light houses

 The visitors center.

This gigantic Lobster Claw which was about the size of a man's hand X2. 

We stopped and had lunch at the Sesuit Harbor Cafe.  Last lobster roll of the trip.  I made a slight detour up to Plymouth for my mom and dad to see Plymouth Rock and the bay then we were on our way.  We had miles to go before we slept.

Waved at Jacky and Dawn as we went past Taunton, and headed toward Rhode Island all 43 miles.  I was going to go toward Waterbury but my mom wanted to go toward Danbury.  I waved at Julierose as  I went past Old Lyme heading toward Norwalk.  Then we turned to go toward Danbury and promptly lost the road.  Experienced a pretty nasty thunderstorm with torrential rain.  But saw some pretty awesome country, beautiful homes and eventually made it to Kingston. 

Maine and Acadia

Welcome back to my travel post.  If you haven't read before I promised to take my 75 yo and 78 yo parents on a road trip to Maine.  Well we have finally arrived! 

This is the Penobscot Narrows bridge from a view point.  The Penobscot River was a vital waterway and it was interesting how important protection from the British this area was.

The Penobscot Narrows bridge replaced the Waldo Hancock Bridge which was built in 1931. 

There is actually a viewing platform that for a fee you can go up to the observation area. You can read more about the bridge, the engineering and the observation tower here.

Looking across to Verona Island.  I thought it was so pretty.

Nearby was Fort Knox.  No not that Fort Knox with the gold.  This was for protection and fortification.  Fort Knox.

 We walked in to explore the fort.

 The stairs were steep and kind of dark.

 Cannon balls

 One of the 64 guns that were installed.

 The barbette or roof of the fort.

 The dock, you can see steps chiseled into the stone.

After a thorough exploration we headed up Highway 1 to Mt Desert Island and Acadia National Park. But first we had to stop for lunch which consisted of a lobster roll of course.

 There were a lot of places to pull out and take photographs.

 A huge cruise ship coming into Bar Harbor.

 Seeing the fog roll in was always fascinating.

 I loved the rock formations and was amazed at the white fuzzy moss or lichen that covered the rocks. 

We walked into the Abbe Museum in the park where their was supposed to be a lot of information about the Abenaki, but there really was not much.  A few dioramas, some pot sherds, arrowheads etc.

 Otter Cliff Rock Climbing area was one of my favorite places. 

 The day was ending so we headed to Brewer, Maine, and our hotel The Maine Coast Inn.  Of course we had to stop for dinner.  What is dinner in Maine without Lobster?

The next day we headed out into a misty, drizzly day, and I decided to take some of the less traveled routes.

We headed toward Pretty Marsh, past Seal cove and toward Bernard and Bass Cove.

We watched a ferry depart for Swans Island.  Then headed toward Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.

We hiked down the path, and the fog really rolled in.

 We took another path which takes you down along the cliffs and boulder hopping to get a different perspective.

We then headed toward Bar Harbor so my mom could visit the Abbe Museum there.  Let's say I didn't get any pictures, the fog had burned off, it was warm and parking was impossible especially with the dog.  I have been told it is a really neat town, but I didn't get to experience it. 

After the museum visit we headed back into Acadia to Cadillac Summit.  It was beautiful and warm. 

Then the fog rolled in so quickly that we struggled to get back to the car it was so difficult to see.  We headed out of the park and back to our hotel to prepare for our departure the next day.