August 29-31, 2009. Days 41-43 Montpelier VT.

We stayed in Randolph Center VT, at the Lake Champagne Campground for 3 nights, from August 29-31. The campground was incredible. A family had taken their 100 acres of property many years earlier and made it into a campground. They put in a lake and spread out several camp areas on sloping hills that overlooked the lake. It was great. On Sunday the 30th we took a nice, slow drive around the area. We went to see the “Floating Bridge” that usually can be crossed by cars but is closed right now for some improvements. We drove by so many awesome looking little and not so little farm homes. We stopped in Randolph for lunch and had pizza at their little pizza shop. It was a nice day. On August 31st, we drove to Montpelier, Vermont, where we toured the capitol. The Capitol Building sits up against the side of a hill and was really pretty. It wasn’t big but was still impressive. We drove around Vermont a little more and found through three covered bridges. The kids thought that was cool. We then drove to the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury, Vermont. We enjoyed the tour and we loved the sample of ice cream that they gave us. It is so green and beautiful in Vermont.

August 29 2009. Day 41 Concord New Hampshire.

On Saturday, August 29th, we left our campsite in Augusta, Maine and drove to Montpelier Vermont through Concord New Hampshire. A tropical storm was coming ashore and we drove through very heavy rain until we were 50 miles NW of Concord NH. Our plan was to drive all the way to Montpelier VT to get west of the 2 days of forecasted rain otherwise we would have stayed somewhere in Vermont for at least the night. In Concord we were able to park the RV close to the capitol and walk from there. We weren’t sure if the capitol was going to be open since it was a Saturday, but we thought we would give it a try. The front entrance was locked so we went around to the side. We found a door and Andrew hit the handicap button on a post and the side door opened. We were happy to see that it was open on a Saturday but as we walked inside and started walking down a ramp, we kept hearing an alarm softly beeping. It was a little dark, but we kept going in anyway. I saw an office with a light on and we thought there might be someone in there. There wasn’t, but we kept on walking in thinking we would run into someone. We began thinking maybe the capitol wasn’t open, but we continued walking around a little bit. In fact, we even walked up to the second floor and looked around in their Hall of Flags. This is where we decided the Capitol was not open for sure. After spending a little time in the Hall of Flags, we thought we better leave. We went back downstairs and when we got to the door that we came in, Kevin hit the handicap knob again to let us out, and the door would not open. We thought, “Oh my, we are going to have to call 911 to tell the Concord police to let us out of the capitol building that we had just broken into.” We tried again, and it still wouldn’t work. Andrew then tried to hit the bar on the door and the door finally opened. We were happy we were able to get out. As we rounded the front of the capitol building, we noticed a security guard driving up and walking toward the door. We decided to walk over and tell him that it was us that set off the alarm. He was glad we owned up to it and that it would save him from having to search the whole building. We told him what we were doing in visiting all the state capitols and he said that he would show us around a bit. So with the security guard, and his small dog named “Peanut”, we got a personalized tour of the Concord State Capitol. He showed us the Senate and House of Representative chambers and the Hall of Flags again. We thought that was the coolest thing having a personalized tour. We walked along Main Street and had hot dogs on the street. All this was done in a constant, cold rain. We then drove on to Vermont and stayed at a campground in Randolph Center, Vermont. It was a good day.

August 28, 2009. Day 40 Augusta Maine.

On August 28th, we left our campsite in Presque Isle, Maine and drove to Augusta to tour the capitol. We took a self-guided tour and while looking around the Senate Room, we met the President of the Senate, Elizabeth Mitchell. Her office sits right off of the Senate Chamber and she could hear us talking to her secretary about getting some souvenirs and telling her about our trip around the country. All that brought her out of her office and she then spent several minutes with us in the Senate Chambers explaining Maine legislative law and her own personal story of how she became the President of the Senate. Turns out she is Maine’s first female Senate President, was Maine’s first female Speaker of the House and is running for Governor and if she wins will be the first female governor of Maine. We loved talking to her and she even let the kids go up to the front and sit in her chair and bang her gavel. The boys really enjoyed that. She had to leave but she told her assistant to give us a tour of her office too. Libby, yes we’re on a first name basis now, made it our best capitol tour so far in 11 capitol tours.

August 27, 2009. Day 39 Quebec to Presque Isle Maine

On August 27th, we left Quebec City for Presque Isle Maine. We drove NE on Canadian Route 20 along the St Lawrence River. We’ve said this before but what a beautiful drive it was. All of Canada has been really great to see. Being from the desert of NM we just can’t get enough of the “green”. We reentered the US at Madawaska Maine, the farthest northeast part of the United States. We stayed at The Arndt’s Aroostook River campground in Presque Isle, Maine. Wow, what an incredibly beautiful CG! The owner, Clare Arndt (with her husband Ken too), was so friendly taking the time to share their story of how they acquired the land and built the campground themselves 15 years earlier. She even took the time to show us the cabins she, her husband and son built. We wished we had more time to spend there. Maybe when we’re done with this trip we’ll go back and stay for the summer. It isn’t a place where we could live though. Not with the 110 inches of snow they get per year!!!

August 26, 2009. Day 38 Quebec City.

On August 26th, we left our campsite in Montreal and drove to Quebec City, Quebec. We drove into downtown Quebec City trying to find Parliament. Everything was in French, so it was kind of hard to find. We drove along Boulevard Champlain along the St. Lawrence River. We finally did find Parliament and we took a tour. It was a beautiful building - not as much inside mostly the exterior. We had planned to spend two days in Quebec City but had to stay an extra day in Montreal since Kevin was sick. No Hard Rock Café so Kathleen was sad. Senator Ted Kennedy passed away today.

August 23-25, 2009. Days 35-37 Montreal.

On August 23rd, we drove from Ottawa to Montreal, Quebec. We stayed at a very nice campground with a pool and a playground. Kevin hadn’t been feeling very well, so I took the kids to the pool for the day while he slept. On the 24th, Kevin was still not feeling well, so the kids did schoolwork, and I took the kids swimming and later on Andrew and Daniel hit a bucket of balls at their driving range. On August 25th, Kevin forced himself up so we wouldn’t miss Montreal. He kept saying his H1N1 was acting up. We drove to downtown Montreal and had lunch at the Hard Rock Café. They are closing the Montreal store, and all merchandise was 50 percent off. That was fun shopping!! We walked around downtown a bit and left to get Kevin home to rest. Yes, Kathleen loves going to all the Hard Rock Café’s around the country, if she can!!

August 21-22, 2009. Days 33-34 Ottawa Canada.

On August 21st, we traveled to Ottawa Canada from Watertown NY. The Canadian Border Patrol was very interested in our trip. He asked all kinds of questions and wanted to see our maps and even asked if he could come with us. He was friendly and very funny. It was a beautiful drive through NY into Canada through the Thousand Islands region. After setting up camp we drove downtown to the Ottawa Parliament Building. Ottawa is the Capitol of Canada. We walked along the grounds and then took the guided tour of the building. This was easily the largest capitol complex we had seen so far with beautiful grounds and the building was built on the highest point in town on a cliff overlooking the Ottawa River. It was very impressive. Since we had been to a Hard Rock before we found the Ottawa Hard Rock and ate dinner there. Kathleen has started collecting shirts from Hard Rock. On the 22nd we left to go back to see more of Ottawa but had to stop at Staples to fax some docs. Kevin had been starting to feel sick and by the time we had done the fax he felt so bad that was all he could do. We went back to the RV and spent the day there. Kathleen went to a grocery store to restock us so the day wasn’t a total loss.

August 20, 2009. Day 32 Watertown NY.

On August 20th we drove from Niagara Falls to Watertown NY and camped for one night. We were getting ready to go into Canada again and needed to do some shopping, phone calls and bills before we went in. While we’re in Canada we don’t use our cell phones or internet WiFi since we don’t have a Canadian plan. It would cost too much so we just go without.

August 19, 2009. Day 31 Niagra Falls.

On August 19th, we left Toronto and drove to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. What an amazing sight of Horseshoe Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. We took a boat ride on the “Maid of the Mist IV” that took us right below Horseshoe Falls. We could feel the mist all around us. It was so cool to be so close to the falls. We then drove into the United States and went to Bridal Veil Falls and walked at the park along the rapids. You really don’t get a good view of Horseshoe Falls or Bridal Veil Falls from the US side but you can feel the fall’s power. We took the Cave of the Winds tour to the bottom of the falls where you can walk right up to them. We backed ourselves up to the falls and got so wet – especially the boys. Niagara Falls has been our favorite place that we have seen so far.

August 15-18, 2009. Days 27-30 Toronto Canada.

On August 15th, we left Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and drove across the bridge into Sault Ste. Marie, Canada on our way to Toronto Canada. It was much easier to get into Canada then we expected. The drive was quite long with a lot of rain. We stayed our first night in a campground north of Toronto. It was the only one we could find that had availability but it was very expensive, $90 Canadian. The next day we moved to a CG on the west side of town that was less than half the cost and much nicer. On August 17th, we drove to downtown Toronto. We went to the CN Tower – over 1400’ high– tallest structure in the world. We went up to the Skypod at the top and looked around. We then went to the level with the glass floor that you can look all the way down. We had lunch at the “360 Restaurant” at the top of the CNN Tower – a restaurant that rotates 360 degrees in a little over one hour. The food was amazing and very expensive but the view was spectacular. The kids really enjoyed it. Andrew loved how fancy the food was. We toured the Royal Ontario Museum. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Café. On August 18th, we again drove to downtown Toronto. We took the subway to Casa Loma, one of the first and oldest mansions in Toronto. We got back on the subway and went to the Parliament Building and took a tour of the Parliament. Toronto is the Capitol of Ontario so we had to again visit the capitol. We got back on the subway and went to Rogers Center to watch the Toronto Blue Jays play the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox is Daniel’s favorite team. He was quite excited. Before the game, Daniel and Andrew were able to get the autograph of one of the Red Sox players on their baseball gloves. One of the players on the field gave Rachel the baseball he was throwing and signed it for her. The stadium is right next to the CNN Tower. It was so cool to see the Tower from our seats. The Red Sox won the game and we saw Big Papi hit a homerun.

August 13-14, 2009. Days 25-26 Sault Ste. Marie MI.

On August 13th, we drove north over the Mackinac Bridge – the longest suspension bridge in the world. You could see through the metal grating all the way to the water. Kevin did not like that one bit. The bridge took us from Lower Michigan to the upper peninsula of Michigan, where we stayed in Sault Ste. Marie for two nights. We stayed in a campground that was right by the river where very large, over 1000’ long, ships go by. The river connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron. To get from one lake to the other the ships must go through the SOO Locks. On August 14th, we toured the Museum in town. We also went and toured the Tower of History. The boys and I walked up 363 stairs, while Kevin and Rachel took the elevator. We then went to the locks and watched a 1,013 foot ship go through (with only inches of clearance on either side), being lowered 21 feet and to go out the other side. It was quite a sight.

August 12, 2009. Day 24 Silver Lake MI.

On August 12th, at the suggestion of our friend’s Kim and Glen Wood, we went to Silver Lake, Michigan. It was a very good suggestion because we really enjoyed ourselves there. The kids and Kevin swam on a private beach at Silver Lake and later that day we drove to Lake Michigan and we all went swimming. Water was a little cool = the kids didn’t care. We drove to the huge sand dunes that they have there, we walked up them and watched all the vehicles having fun in the sand. The boys enjoyed rolling down the hills. Later that evening, we drove to Sable Point Light House and watched the sunset at Lake Michigan. It was spectacular. That was an awesome sight to see.

August 11, 2009. Day 23 Lansing MI.

On August 11th, we made the short drive from Detroit to Lansing, Michigan and took a tour of the capitol. There wasn’t a guided tour of the Capitol so we did our own. We were able to sit in for awhile and watch the House of Representatives have a short 30 minute session. They just read into the record the proposed laws that they were going to talk about when they got together the next week. It was the first time we’d seen any legislature in session. This was the 7th capitol we had visited.

August 8-10, 2009. Days 20-22 Detroit MI.

We drove over to Detroit Michigan on August 8th. It was a long drive and it rained most of the way sometimes really hard. An accident near Ann Arbor forced us off the interstate to some back roads. It was actually a nice drive through some small towns. We got to our campsite late in the afternoon so we didn’t go anywhere that day. On the 9th of August we went down to Comerica Park and watched the Detroit Tigers play the Minnesota Twins. It was second time in a week we had seen the Twins play. It was a very hot day and the humidity was unbearable. We found some seats in a picnic area, in the shade, thank goodness but we were still melting. After the game, later that night, Kathleen’s dear friend, Sheri, and her son Zachary came to our campsite and had dinner was us. The kids enjoyed fishing out by the lake and Sheri and Kathleen caught up on things. Kathleen had not seen Sheri for seven years and wished there was more time to spend with her. Maybe they won’t wait seven years to see each other again. On August 10th, we drove to Dearborn, Michigan and toured The Henry Ford Museum. It was quite interesting. Afterwards we drove downtown to Detroit again and went to the GM Headquarters building on the river right across the river from Canada. We ate dinner in their food court then went to see a movie, GI Joe, all right there downtown.

August 5-7, 2009. Days 17-19 Chicago IL.

On August the 5th thru the 7th we were in Chicago IL. On our way down from Milwaukee we stopped at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Great Lakes IL. We had this crazy idea that maybe we would see Thomas marching around. Of course we didn’t but we did find out they had a campground we could come back to for his graduation in September. While in Chicago we went and saw the White Sox play the Angels on the 6th. On the 7th, we rode the train in to town to the Sears Tower (it is now called Willis Tower) and went up 103 floors to the observation deck. We even went onto the four foot clear ledge that overlooks the tower – all the way to the ground. Kevin wouldn’t do it, didn’t even get close. The kid’s favorite thing about Chicago was at the campground we stayed at in Peotone IL. The campground hosts, Don and Dianne were really great. They let the kids drive their golf cart all over the park each day. One night they even brought out a small dune buggy and let us all drive it around the park. It was our favorite campground so far.

August 4, 2009. Day 16 Milwaukee WS.

We drove from Madison to Milwaukee WS on August 4th. We stopped at the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball stadium and took a tour. It was good except for getting trapped in a service elevator with 40 other people for several minutes! After the tour we drove further downtown and parked the RV at the Harley Davidson Museum and then went to look around. We ended up at the convention center right on a lake. It was real nice. After walking around downtown we drove a few miles south and camped at Racine County Campground.

August 3, 2009. Day 15 Madison WS.

On August 3rd, we drove to Madison, Wisconsin to tour the capitol. This capitol was amazing – grand – beautiful. The exterior was as impressive as the inside. Apparently it’s rated by the Smithsonian Institute as one of the top 5 capitol buildings and we could see why.

August 1-2, 2009. Days 13-14 Green Bay WS.

We drove from Rosemont MN to Green Bay WS on August 1. It took most of the day so all we did that day was find a campground. On August 2nd we toured the Green Bay Packers football stadium. It was very interesting. The tour took us from the top luxury booths to the locker rooms below the stands. We even walked through the tunnel where the players come through before a game and were able to hear the sounds of the crowds like they would hear. When we were done with the tour we drove downtown and to Lake Michigan.