After the Spartan races we headed towards New York, we
stopped at Pulaski, NY for a couple of days. It was achance to relax,
just the two of us, we have been going like gangbusters since we left Florida.
We did take a nice hike to see the Salmon River Falls.
Of course after a hike you need to find a local
brewery! Here's our view from the deck of LD's!
Next we're getting together with one of the clubs we belong
to, the New York Centrals. They are having a rally at 1000
Islands Winery near Lake Ontario. It's a boondocking rally so its
free camping!
While we were there we did a boat cruise to see the 1000
Islands. We boarded the boat and as we pulled out of the marina we saw Boldt
Castle, a mansion built by George C. Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the
world famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, he set out to build a full
size rhineland castle in Alexandria Bay, on picturesque Heart Island. The
beautiful structure was to be a display of his love for his wife, Louise.
Unfortunately Louise died before completion and Boldt shut down construction
and walked away, the workers left everything on site, tools included.
Over the years it was sold and eventually the 1000 Island Bridge Authority
purchased it and is slowly completing the site per the blueprints.
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| Alister Tower / Playhouse |
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| Power House |
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| Boldt Castle |
The 1000 Islands is a series of islands, actually 1,864 of
them in the St. Lawrence River before it gets to Lake Ontario. To be an
considered an island it must be at least three square feet, have at least one
tree and some other type of vegetation.
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The smallest of the 1000 Islands! |
The tour took us along Millionaires Row up into Canada &
back in two & half hours. There are all types of houses on all sizes of
islands. It was a perfect day for a crusie.
We rounded out the day at a local pub. go figure...
Next stop was Warrensburg, NY, near Lake George. Over
the years Rita & I have visited many military battlefields &
forts. World War II sites when we lived in West Germany, Revolutionary
battlefields & forts, Civil War forts both Union & Confederate and
Civil War battlefields. But we have never visited a British fort, until
now.
We spent a HOT afternoon at Fort William Henry, a
pre-Revolutionary War British fort. It was built in 1755 and was captured
by the French, after a seige in 1757. We didn't take any decent pictures,
did I mention it was hot? We did see a demonstration of a musket firing
& a canon firing.
We took a sunset cruise on Lake George. It was fun we
were on the boat "Lac du Saint Sacrement" and as we cruised
along the shore the homeowners would come outside and ring bells, the ship then
blew its air horn. It happened over & over. At one house the
family was waiting for us on their boathouse roof & the kids did flips
& dives off the roof. Boats would run up along side our boat and beep
there horns eliciting our ships captain to blow the horn again. It was
fun...
Next we headed east, drove through Vermont, we'll be
stopping in Vermont on the way home after the caravan. We camped on the
Conneticut River for a four days. We visited the Cog Railroad on Mount
Washington.
The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known
as the Cog, is the world's first mountain-climbing cog
railway (rack-and-pinion railway). The railway climbs Mount
Washington in New Hampshire. It uses a Marsh rack system and
both steam and biodiesel locomotives to carry tourists
to the top of the mountain.
It is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an
average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37%. The railway is
approximately 3 miles long and ascends Mount Washington's western slope,
beginning at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet above sea level and
ending just short of the mountain's summit peak of 6,288 feet. The train
ascends the mountain at 2.8 miles per hour and descends at
4.6 mph.
We rode to the summit & discovered why they say Mt.
Washington has the worlds crappiest weather. Climbers practice here for
Mt. Everest in the winter. We arrived to heavy cloud cover so views were
out of the question, actually finding the buildings & train were challenging.
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Base station |
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The start up hill |
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Cloud cover up ahead |
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| Above the tree line |
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Our guide / brakeman Darlene |
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Hikers! |
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Summit house |
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| At the summit, of course now is when it starts
to rain... |
Now the interesting story, in 1933 they built a weather
station at the summit. It was manned year-round. On April 12, 1934,
the Mount Washington Observatory made history. The three-man crew witnessed
& recorded the fastest wind speed in history. The day before, April
11, was a beautiful sunny day, they could see the Atlantic Ocean, but April
12th changed drastically, winds started increasing to 100 mile per hour.
They thought the anemometer was malfunctioning due to ice & snow accumulation.
One of the crew climbed a ladder to the roof then crawled up to the peak to
clear the ice.
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Not the actual day, but where he climbed, in 100 mph winds! |
Keep in mind he went up there in over 100 mph winds. Minutes later they started recording wind speeds well over 100 mph & gusts peaking at 231 mph. Still a record speed witnessed live by man! The observatory has actual recordings of the event.
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| There she is! |
On the trip down we learned about the cog railroad, the
strange part is the carriage is not connected to the train engine.
What??? They're separate and have separate braking systems in case of emergency
the train engine could fail and take off down the hill, but the carriage can
deploy its own brakes and stop. The engine would then stop a little downhill,
re-establish power and come back up for the carriage.
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Just resting against the engine |
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You can see one of the three drive cogs. |
Afterwards at the suggestion of our brakeman we went to the
Mt. Washington Hotel. It's a turn of the century luxury resort that
catered to the rich big city elite. It is a classic Victorian age hotel
complete with 18 hole golf course. We walked around the resort, sat on
the Observatory Deck for drinks then went down to the steak house for a well-deserved
dinner. Freaking awesome steaks!!!
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Mt. Washington Hotel |
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Lobby |
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View from the Observatory |
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Great place to sit for a couple of cocktails... |
The hotel even had a Prohibition Era hidden speakesay in the
basement, The Cave!
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The Cave |
Saturday was a rainy day so we stayed in CC & watched
TV. Around 5pm cabin fever struck, so we got cleaned up & headed to a
local brewery, the Copper Pig. Had a flight of beers & a couple of
tacos, swung by the grocery store & started getting ready for tomorrow’s
trip to the coast of Maine for ten days. I see lobster in our future!
