Julie & Keenan
Now Married For Five Years!
Yes, that's right, on August 25, 2006 we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. We've actually been together as a committed couple for thirteen years, which is something we celebrate every day. But it's become a tradition that we mark our wedding anniversary with a trip of some sort. Last year we did a 130km kayaking trip but neither of us had any interest in such a physical test this year. In fact, we were initially planning to just stay at home and enjoy our beautiful home on the river. But then we got the urge to hit the open road, to do some shopping, and to spend a little time with nature. It all added up to a road trip through northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. We spent two nights in Freeport (Maine) and two nights in North Conway (New Hampshire). Five days might not sound like very long, but we had a blast and did everything we wanted to do.
We left just after 9:00 as planned on Monday and decided to meander through Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry and then along the St. Lawrence to the international bridge at Cornwall. Except for a little time on the 416 we managed to avoid any major highways. We made our way along the 37 and 11 across the top of New York into Vermont. They were doing some work on the bridge at Swanton (building a completely new bridge in fact) but the delay was minimal and we were on our way. We avoided the interstates and wandered across Vermont on the smaller highways that took us through many towns and villages. When we reached St. Johnsbury (near the New Hampshire border) we stopped at Anthony's Diner which we had seen in the CAA travel guide. It was fabulous! We generally don't eat fries, but it's not the sort of place where you ask to substitute with salad, so we gave it a try. They were the best...not greasy at all, almost dry to the touch, and delicious. The diner is right across from a very busy railroad and there was lots of work going on to watch through the windows. We were quite full after our massive hamburgers so we got some dessert to go. Julie ate her gigantic blueberry cobbler well into the next state.
We rolled across New Hampshire and into Maine. We got pulled off our backroads route by about 3km but figured it out quickly and got back on track. Some of the roads were rather narrow to be sharing with the large lumber trucks that occasionally flashed by in the opposite direction, but it was very scenic and we felt happily surrounded by the unfamiliar.
Arriving in Freeport about 8:00 PM we easily located the Village Inn and settled in to our room. It was (as per the reviews) very plain, but very clean. The location was ideal, just a couple of blocks to the main street shopping area. After settling in and getting cleaned up a bit we decided to walk to the shopping district. Some of the smaller shops were still open, and we did some browsing. Keenan had a blast playing with a cat in a big cage in one of the specialty pet stores. We headed over to LL Bean's flagship store sometime after 10:00 PM (it is open 24 hours). It's a huge place but of the stuff we tried on it just wasn't right, but we had fun.
We got breakfast at the inn about 9:30 and hit the stores. The most notable experience was at the Anne Klein store. Julie was on the hunt for all sorts of fall garb, but always has a difficult time finding tops with the right cut and pants with the right fit. So she got set up in the change rooms and Keenan took over an empty clothes rack just outside the curtain and started loading it up. The sales ladies were quite amused by the spectacle but soon learned they were not dealing with amateurs (amazing what picking up a bit of lingo from "What Not To Wear" can do to earn the respect of fashionistas).
Julie was pleased to walk off with a jacket, top, and two pairs of pants. There was similar success with Banana Republic. They have these stores back in Ottawa, but much less selection. The Banana Republic was a real zoo...Julie found some pants she really liked but they were missing the right size. Keenan had checked the rack very carefully so we asked the young clerk in the changing area if there might be some in storage. Well, about two minutes later another clerk came up in an elevator with an entire rack of the same pants in all different sizes. Whoa.
Keenan didn't return to the inn empty-handed either. He found two pairs of Rockport shoes and got an incredible deal on some casual pants at S & K...$20 a pair, and they were unhemmed (this is critical, since he can never find a 36 inch inseam in pre-hemmed pants). We relaxed with some lemonade and a steamed hot dog on a beautiful sunny day. After poking around some of the shops on the side streets we went back to our room for a nap before heading out to dinner at the Jameson Tavern. We had a very good main course of Fruits de Mer but had some very strange service. The waitress forgot our salads but when she found out all she did was apologize but never brought them...it was more funny than anything since we were stuffed from our main course. We also had some free entertainment from an older couple nearby. The man was mildly chastized for eating like a slob and he was not pleased with the critique from his female companion. By the time we left he was pounding his fist on the table and stating that he would "never eat lobster again if that would make you happy." Yikes.
Next morning we decided to check out the local harbour. There wasn't a lot to see but last time we had been in Freeport we couldn't find the darn place, so it was like completing an old mission. It also brought us down to Route 1 where there are some neat and unusual businesses. We checked out some handcrafted weathervanes, some classic convertibles, and indulged in some frozen custard (delicious).
Sticking with our plan of taking the road less travelled, we took a unique route from the coast to hook up with the 302. It was another bunch of windy and narrow roads, but there was hardly any other cars and the scenery was great. The 302 was very busy and the towns and resorts along the way were bursting with tourists. We rolled in to North Conway in the early afternoon and decided to hit the biggest outlet centre in town called Settlers Green, which must have something like 60 stores. We did the rounds pretty quickly, finding success at the Jockey store and once again at a Banana Republic. For some reason this store had a huge men's section and Keenan got a bunch of shirts in different styles at great prices.
We put an end to shopping for the time being and checked in at the Cabernet Inn just north of the main drag. We were greeted by Bruce who gave us a tour of the beautiful house and all of its amenities. His wife Jessica had laid out the daily afternoon snack for guests so we took advantage immediately of the carrot cake and brownies. After relaxing for a while in the greenery of the back yard we decided to finish off all of our shopping and be done with it. We made stops at Ralph Lauren and Geoffrey Been and about a dozen other stores and picked up a couple of small items.
Our shopping mission successfully completed, we took stock of all our purchases and put on some new duds to head out for dinner. We decided to try a newer restaurant called the White Mountain Cider Company which is owned by Culinary Institute of America graduates Scott and Teresa Stearns. The atmosphere was great and the food was wonderful. Keenan had missed out on having dinner at Buck's Naked BBQ in Maine, so he got the rib appetizer. We both had the baked haddock special and can't remember half of the ingredients, but it all came together wonderfully in a parsley garlic butter sauce.
Breakfast the next morning was rather substantial and of the highest quality. We stoked up for a big day of hiking. But first we drove up the 302 past our trail to check out the lodging at the Appalachian Mountain Club. Along with Grace and Jen we are going to be supporting 20+ SMILE participants on a trip to the AMC in February. We were lucky enough to see everything including the lodge where most of the participants will be staying and it is an incredible place.
We headed back down the highway to the Arethusa Falls/Frankenstein Cliffs trail. We were supposed to buy some bottled water but forgot. Then Julie remembered we had some bottles of Perrier in the trunk, so we filled up an empty plastic water bottle in the car and got on our way. Yes, we were well prepared. Before we dealt with the whole water issue an older couple was asking us about the length and difficulty of the trail. The man seemed a little nervous about the whole thing, but gave in to his wife's obvious desire to see the falls and they started down the trail.
We've done this trail before but had never taken the Bemis Trail diversion, so we did that this time. It was great, leading to several tiny waterfalls in gorgeous surroundings. At the end of the trail you have to climb almost straight up to get back to the main trail but it was worth it. At the top we met up with the couple and the man was looking in very bad shape and asked "how much further." We encouraged them to continue, unsure if our advice that they were "almost there" was totally accurate.
We got to the falls in 60 minutes, which was very good considering how much time we spent fooling around at the Bemis falls. There were lots of people at the base of the Arethusa Falls including some young kids who were playing around on the rocks with no parents in sight. We were resting on some high rocks close to the water for some time before we spotted "the couple." The woman came out first and it seemed about five minutes before her husband followed. He was looking very weary and making a face like a blowfish. Keenan volunteered to take their picture in front of the falls and managed to coax a smile out of the man, who was mumbling about "now I have to go all the way back."
We decided to complete the full circuit via the Frankenstein Cliff Trail, and for most of that walk/climb we were alone. It's a hard trail at times, but the most difficulty comes after the reward of reaching the top of the cliff. The view is awesome! The downhill portion after that is very tough with lots of loose soil on steep grades. Julie took to sliding down some of them on her tush, which was too undignified for Keenan, who had his heels go out from under him and scraped up his wrist and hand. But it was a minor injury and the rest of the hike was challenging but uneventful. We headed back to the inn to enjoy the afternoon snack which was some delicious oatmeal cookies. No doubt we had more than our share.
We had purchased the "Romantic Getaway Package" which included a dinner for two from a choice of area restaurants, and we decided to return to the Cider Company since we had enjoyed it so much the previous night. We had some weird service from a young waitress who grunted while setting down our dinner plates and could not seem to get her head around our dinner for two coupon, but it was another great meal. Keenan also indulged in a cider martini, which was quite delicious.
We spent much of the night organizing our bags for easy loading the next day. In the morning we heard the bad news from Bruce that Cleo (dog) had taken off and Jessica was out with a friend trying to find her. The fill-in chef did a wonderful job on the French toast stuffed with walnuts and creamed cheese (yes, that was as filling as it sounds). We decided to head north and see if the Echo could make it to the top of Mount Washington and earn one of the cherished "This Car Climbed Mount Washington" stickers. The road is privately owned at it was $27 for the privilege of driving to the top, but it was actually well worth it.
The drive up is a bit harrowing because you are right on the ledge and have no idea what might come around the corner straight at you from above. The steering wheel was wet with Keenan's perspiration as Julie snapped pictures and kept an eye out for oncoming vehicles. At 5000 feet we found ourselves somewhat in the clouds. It was very eerie to be above the tree line and freezing cold in the middle of summer. We had fun climbing on foot the last few metres to the summit, 6288 feet! We checked out some of the historic buildings. Mount Washington has a bizarre and incredible history, such as the highest recorded wind velocity known to humankind...once achieving 232 miles per hour! People are always trying to go up and/or down the mountain in record times using every type of transportation imaginable - everything from race cars to people jogging backwards. There's even a coal train that tracks right to the summit, thanks to some fellow in the 1800s who thought that hiking was far too dangerous so he built the railway as a safer way for people to get to the top.
The drive down was a lot less stressful for some reason, despite all the warnings about what to do if your brakes are giving out. We headed north and found our way to St. Johnsbury. Yes, of course, we stopped at the diner again. This time we got coffee milkshakes to go.
We missed a turn somewhere and ended up on the 87 interstate which of course was a lot faster which wasn't a bad thing. We had a nice drive on the 11/37 and the border crossing was uneventful. We avoided the 138/417 and instead took the 2 along the river for a while and then headed north through Stormont/Dundas/Glengarry again. We had a great time zipping along the empty back roads. We tried to pick up a pizza in Mountain at the rather famous place along the railroad tracks but they were backed up for two hours filling orders, so we picked up a menu and carried on home.
The trip odometer said we'd travelled 1650 km, and we did it on less than 3 tanks of gas (probably about 120 litres in total) which is great. Bubba and Pookie were waiting for us at the door. Pookie seemed pretty normal but Bubba was obviously a bit pissed off at us for being away so long. Dad Wellar and Dad Kingstone did a great job looking after them, otherwise they might have left us a couple of "presents" to express their displeasure at being left alone.
It was a great trip and we had a great time together. It's pretty rare that we have any sort of a serious argument but on this trip we didn't even have so much as a small squabble. We were just very relaxed and enjoying each other's company, which really could not be a better way to celebrate our anniversary!
We still have another week of vacation, and intend to enjoy it! On Monday we laundered all of our new clothes and watched a lot of the US Open (we really want to go there as a future vacation destination). We also went for a bike ride that turned into a marathon. There are some great back roads for biking around here, and today we ended up way down at Pinhey's Point which is a historical site and park on the Ottawa River. We were surprised to see that it features a whole bunch of historical buildings and quite a large grounds (88 acres). There were also some fairly large sailboats moored just off the dock, and we immediately talked about how it might be fun to paddle up there from our place. It seems we biked about 25-30km which is a lot for us, since we only got bikes this spring and had only been out about four times previous.
Tuesday night we went to see the movie Bon Cop Bad Cop and it was excellent! We both laughed very hard several times and a few people in the theatre were made hysterical by some of the interactions between the two leads.
Peter was in town with Michael so we went to visit with him along with David, Trisha, and John on Friday night. On the way out there we dropped in to see mom and dad Wellar. Their front yard is just gorgeous right now. It has zero grass and 100% shrubs, flowers, and other ground cover. Peter told us all about his plans for his next movie production which sounds really interesting.
Sunday Peter (a different Peter) came over to finish his work on our screening in our back upper deck. The underside of the deck needs to be screened so bugs cannot come up from underneath. There have been a lot of hornets and wasps around lately so it is good to finish this up even though there aren't really any mosquitos around. Keenan helped out just for a few minutes to hold up the screening while Peter stapled it in and screwed in some wood braces. It looks really good and now the whole job is done!
The wildflowers Julie planted in the back (between the house and the beach) are still blooming and they look great. We have two humminbird feeders and two seed feeders that need to be refilled often because of all the bird traffic not to mention squirrels and chipmunks. The front yard is looking a lot nicer as well thanks to some landscaping by Barry and Marjorie while we were aware on our various trips. We also got a big pack of solar moonlights to arrange in front of the house and along the side of the driveway and it looks nice.
On Tuesday we had picked up a second wardrobe from Ikea (same as the one we got for Christmas - it's one of the nice solid wood products you can get there) and Keenan put it together late at night. Everything went fine except for two doors that were found to be upside down when viewed in the light of day. This was easily remedied and our bedroom closets are starting to become functional by moving some lesser-used clothing into the wardrobes.
The US Open has been screwed up by rain but we've enjoyed watching it when it is on. It was sad to see Andre Agassi unable to play well because of his bad back. But the tournament has been fabulous and we are feeling very motivated to make it a vacation destination one day!
