Day 4 - Family, Friends, Food, Fun, and Finally...

Day 4 - Utica NY to Stowe VT
miles 289

We spent the July 4th morning riding through the upper part of New York and were both surprisingly impressed with its small-town, New Englandy feel. Flags flew on every pole and street corner for Independence Day,

The curvy roads took us by quaint New England churches,

and homes that seemed grow from a single, small house and were added onto until they reached the next house/barn/garage/lean to/structure of any kind.

We made our way through the Adirondacks to Lake Placid (a surprisingly popular place on the 4th of July) for a glimpse at the 1980 Winter Olympic facilities.

We were pleased to find that Upstate New York was just as beautiful as people say it is. Since traffic was pretty light as we cruised along the lower part of Lake Champlain, we were able to check off New York...

and Vermont...

I love Vermont. I've been enchanted with it since I first visited the state in 1989.

 I don't know what it is, but my soul is completely at peace in the mountains and beside the streams.

At one point, I thought I'd move there and stay forever, but that ever happened.

So I was thrilled to be able to bring Sean there, since he'd never had the thrill of visiting the part of the country I love most.

Sean's first impression was not great. The road we took to Stowe was bumpy, potholed and even had heaves in various places. It was impossible for him to enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery while trying to navigate around potholes that truly could have swallowed us whole.

We managed to arrive safely in Stowe in time for dinner. Our Innkeeper had excitedly told us about the fireworks and other events planned for the evening, so we walked down the mountain a bit, enjoyed a good meal... and it started pouring and didn't stop until very early in the morning.

So no fireworks, no celebrations, no tour of Stowe that night. We went to bed expecting to see the wonders of Vermont the next morning.