MEANDERING MOOSE

     After almost 2 months of visiting family and friends with frequent venue changes we were looking forward to some quiet time in the amazing solitude of the lakes, rivers and mountains of the High Peaks Region of the Adirondacks.  Wrong!  There is way too much to see and do here: paddling rivers and lakes, fly fishing, mountain biking, beautiful drives, and fantastic hiking.  I felt like a "kid in a candy shop" and couldn't wait to get the fun started. An view into the high peaks.      Our first adventure was a road trip into Lake Placid, a cute but super crowded tourist town. Situated on Lake Placid and Mirror Lake, the town was the home of the 1980 Winter Olympics.  A lot of the Olympic facilities still exist, so viewing athletes in training as well as watching competitions seemed to be a daily offering.      Our campground in Wilmington, NY bordered on a mountain bike trail system.  One day off I went wit...

     We just completed our 2 month "whirlwind tour" of New England and it was a blast.  Instead of our usual scenic tours this trip was 100% focused on family and friends in the northeast.  We did a lot of moving around and it was exhausting, but well worth it.  A major focus of the trip was to catch up with the younger generation as they are buying houses and pumping out babies.  It was great to get one-on-one time with these wonderful people in their own homes.  Further, everybody had a place for us to park our rig on their driveway where we could stay for free!--a.k.a. "mooch-camping." Whenever we visit Vermont Nancy cannot resist the opportunity to hit the Lake Champlain beaches and collect Iberville Shale for her jewelry projects.      AND the really big news--our youngest daughter Acacia and her husband Adam announced that they are pregnant with a girl!!!!  We are so happy for this wonderful couple and excited abo...

     After Lorri & Alex departed we decided to chill a bit to figure out our next destinations.  So off we drove to West Virginia where we discovered a beautiful Corps of Engineers campground on Sutton Lake.  Since our arrival coincided with Memorial Day weekend we were in a very busy campground, but lucked out with a great campsite overlooking the lake.  It was a great family camping area and we were entertained daily watching the children having fun in the water and biking past our site. Sutton Lake, WV      While we were at Sutton Lake we discovered that the Southeast United States Woodchopping World Championship was in the nearby town of Webster Springs.  This was a big event in the world of woodchopping as 24 world champions, as well as a hoard of challengers were participating.  Since we know nothing about woodchopping this was a new and delightful experience.  There were axe events, sawing events and chainsaw e...

Nancy & Marie at the Country Music Hall of Fame.     We entered Tennessee and the 1st thing we heard about was the “Predators.”  Not being hockey fans we quickly learned that Nashville has a professional hockey team and they are doing very well in the playoffs.  The games are on in every establishment with a TV so we started watching.  Since we were in Tennessee for a month…well…GO PREDS! Kimbro's Cafe in Franklin, TN is an unusual music/bar venue.      Our first stop in Tennessee was Franklin, the home of a beautiful, upscale downtown as well as the location of another famous civil war battle.  Our goal was to find scenery by day and music by night. On our first night we discovered “Music City Roots Live From The Factory.”  This is a live PBS radio show broadcast from Franklin and we were there for the performance.  The performers were John Carter Cash (Johnny Cash’s son), Colter Wall, Dori Freeman, and The Gre...