Home from a week-long stay with Mom in Vermont.  We celebrated my 60th birthday with a trip to the Maine coast for a couple of days and had a wonderful time.  The weather was beautiful !!!

 

 

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Just got home last night from vacation.  We took a road trip up through the Adirondacks, over to Lake Champlain and Lake George, across thru Vermont, then down to Massachusetts and home - over 1700 miles!!!
 

This is Stillwell Reservoir in Lowesville, NY.  The hotel, restaurant and boat launch are at the end of an 8 mile dirt road.  We would really like to go back next year.  We found out you can bring your boat and camping gear and camp on one of the 45 islands. That would be so awesome!

 

We stopped at the Maple Museum in Croghan, NY where a good friend of ours was inducted into the Maple Producers Hall of Fame and also found a cute little railroad station with a museum too!

 

This is Lake Champlain from the top of Mount Defiance in Ticonderoga, NY and our visit to Fort Ticonderoga.

 

  

 Here we are at the ruins of the British and French forts at Crown Point, NY.  If you look really close beneath the tree, you'll see our little groundhog friend that kept us company for a while.  We took a climb to the top of the Crown Point lighthouse.

 

The new bridge from Crown Point to Chimney Point, VT is beautiful, too!

 

 

  

 

Next stop - Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, VT.  It was over 90 degrees that day, so we spaced out the outdoor exhibits between trips to the air conditioned buildings!  I love the round barn, and enjoyed the beautiful woodwork and décor on the Ticonderoga steamship.  Someone else, whose name I won't mention, was more interested in the inner workings of the engine room, though!

 

 

The next day we were off to Barre, VT where we visited the Rock of Ages granite quarry.  Then we took a drive up around Stowe and got to see the von Trapp Family Lodge.  Brings back a lot of memories of Maria and the Sound of Music, even though the story is only loosely based on their real journey to Vermont.

 

We stayed in Barre in the old firehouse - now converted to a hotel and restaurant with a fireman's museum.  It was perfect for Sam since he was a volunteer fireman for many years.  The place was gorgeous, and they kept as much of the original décor of the fire station as possible - even the wooden lockers!

 

 

Off to Mom's in Springfield, VT on Thursday.  Had a good visit with the Dutton's on Friday (Marshall, Betty, Mark, Cindy and Diana with her grandchildren from Texas), and then went to South Sudbury, MA on Saturday to the Wayside Inn and Grist Mill.  Sam's dad built the waterwheel on the mill, so it's always good to go back and see it again.  Mom had never been there, so she really enjoyed the trip too.

 

 

Wow - no wonder I'm tired today - I need to take a vacation to rest up from vacation!!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and took a few minutes to remember the real reason for the celebrations!  Boy is it tough to take pics of those fireworks!

 

Here's a couple of visitors to my back yard last night.............

 

 

And, the Tiger lilies have finally bloomed - late this year!

 

 

 

Wow - I didn't realize it has been so long since my last post!  Life seems to get in the way of keeping up!

Yesterday Sam and I went to the Pocono 400 NASCAR race in Long Pond, PA (about 20 miles from my place).  Neither of us had been before and it was on Sam's "bucket list".  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.  I've watched the races on TV, and they get boring after a while.  Wow, is it different in person!  The noise of the cars is unbelievable, and the crowd is huge.  We had a wonderful time and are talking about going back again next year.  Here's a few pics!

 

Part of the grandstand from down in the "pits" - our seats were near the top just underneath the skybox.

 

We even got to tour pit road and stand in the pit stalls.  We talked to a few members of the pit crews, and they were very nice and willing to answer all our questions.

 

 

Here's Sam sitting on the pit wall.  In a couple of hours, the pit crews will be leaping over this wall to service the cars during their pit stops.

 

During the opening ceremonies a Brigadier General was there to swear in a group of new military recruits. 
It was a really moving ceremony followed by a prayer, the National Anthem and a fly-over of WWII military planes.

 

Here's one of the planes during the fly-over.

 

 

Tatum Channing and Jonah Hill from the upcoming movie "22 Jump Street" with the command -
DRIVERS - START YOUR ENGINES!

And - they're off and racing !!

Here's the #99 pit crew servicing Carl Edward's car during a pit stop.  Weiler Corporation, where I work, is one of the sponsors for the #99 car thru Fastenal.  Unfortunately, Carl was involved in a wreck near the end of the race - oh well, maybe we'll get 'em next time!

 

And the winner is................Dale Earnhardt Jr.!!!

Here's me at the Fastenal souvenir trailer.  Since Weiler is a sponsor for this car, figured I'd better get one picture!

 

 

 

 

We'll, my last two posts "disappeared" - the gremlins must  be visiting my computer again.  So, I'll try one more time!

Last weekend we went to New Milford, PA and spent the day with Sam's cousins.  They have a team of Haflingers, and we took them out for a run with the old sleigh.  It was a beautiful day, and we all enjoyed the fresh air!

 

We also went to Crystal Cabin Fever - an ice carving demonstration and competition at Sculptured Ice Works.  This company is run by a friend of ours, and he puts this event on every February.  Here is the New York skyline and the Coliseum in ice.  The Coliseum is 2 stories tall !!

 

 Here are a few visitors to my front yard and feeder - they are such a joy to watch when it's snowing and you're stuck in the house!

 

 

 

A little bit of a thaw today - maybe spring is coming!!

 

 

I took last Thursday off from work, and we went to the PA Farm Show in Harrisburg with a group of friends.  We had a wonderful time, but it was a really long day.  We left at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday and got home at 1:30 a.m. Friday morning - then I had to get up at 5:30 to go to work!  Good thing we don't do this too often.

 

 One of my favorite things at the show is seeing all the beautiful quilts. This is the 2014 grand champion.

 

 

Every year the show does a sculpture made entirely of butter.  This year's theme was 60 years of milkshakes at the show. These figures are each about 5 foot tall enclosed in a glass refrigerated room. After the show is over, all the butter is donated to the Penn State Extension Service to use for research on alternative fuels.

 

Saw some beautiful peacocks - their colors are gorgeous!

 

 

 

 Got to see some draft horses showing off their carriage skills - they are awesome animals.

 

 

Here's Sam and his friend Scottie - reminds me of the photo of the two little boys - "been farmin' long"????

 

These little piggies were adorable!

Ended the day with a rodeo - the first one I've ever been to.  This really must've hurt - OUCH!!

 

 Can't wait to go again next year!!!