We had lunch at Witchside Tavern in Salem, Massachusetts, with appropriately witch-y themed decor:
Menu:
Our lunch:
Pretty tasty.
food
A sampling of interesting restaurants.
Bull N’ Claw
We had dinner at Bull N’ Claw in Wells, Maine, as Jenn wanted to experience a classic Maine lobster dinner.
Menu:
Chowder:
Lobster dinner:
Fish and chips:
Jenn with her lobster dinner:
It was an experience… that she didn’t feel a need to repeat.
Travel from White River Junction, Vermont to Wells, Maine
We drove our coach 138 miles, about three hours of driving, from White River Junction, Vermont to Wells, Maine.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Heading down a narrow road in the campground; fortunately we didn’t meet anyone trying to come up the hill:
I-89 South:
Weigh Station Rest Area closed for the season… why would you need to close a rest area?
Exit to I-93 South:
Rest area:
New Hampshire Welcome Center plus Liquor & Wine Outlet… weird to sell alcohol at rest areas, but seems common in this area:
A very cute welcome center:
Lunch:
I-93 South:
Exit to I-95 toll road:
Toll plaza; we took the rightmost lane as it looked a bit wider:
Maine state line on Piscataqua River bridge:
“Maine; Welcome Home; The Way Life Should Be”:
Route 1 North:
Rainbow crosswalk in Ogunquit:
Arriving at Thousand Trails Moody Beach:
Mini golf out front:
Entrance gate; needed to buzz the office to be let in:
Our site:
Woodstock, Vermont
We drove through Woodstock, Vermont on a rainy afternoon.
An interactive map of the town:
Welcome to Woodstock (unrelated to the famous music festival, that was originally going to be in Woodstock, New York):
We headed out of town, looking for a place to stop for dinner, and came across the Long Trail Brewing Pub:
A nice creekside view:
And tasty food:
Then we headed back to Woodstock; here’s another covered bridge:
And another:
We would have liked to spend more time exploring the town, but had to make do with a quick drive through.
Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tour
We visited Ben & Jerry’s original factory for their guided tour.
Starting the tour:
Unfortunately they didn’t allow photos during the tour, despite their site saying “there are plenty of photos ops”, perhaps because they weren’t manufacturing during our tour; it was a cleaning cycle.
Afterwards, a taste of ice cream:
While that would be interesting, the flavor we tried was actually:
Examples:
Available here:
Gift store:
Back outside:
The Flavor Graveyard of retired flavors:
A fun experience, though a little disappointing that they weren’t manufacturing at the time.
King Arthur Baking Company
We stopped by King Arthur Baking Company in Norwich, Vermont for a brief visit, snack, and shopping.
Nice outdoor seating options:
The cafe:
The store:
Our swag:
Just a quick visit.
Travel from Richfield Springs, New York to White River Junction, Vermont
We drove our coach 261 miles, about five hours of driving, from Richfield Springs, New York to White River Junction, Vermont.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northeast — not the most direct route, but the easiest, sticking with interstates, instead of twisty highways:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned; we went through Massachusetts, but didn’t stop, so that doesn’t count as a visited state — but we’ll get it in a few weeks time, so that’s fine:
A short video of engaging the tow bar and doing a pull test to ensure the truck wheels turn as we prepare to leave:
Narrow road:
US-20:
Exit to I-88 East:
Exit to I-90 East:
Tolls:
Rest area:
Starbucks for lunch:
South to I-87:
Exit to I-90 East:
Narrow roadworks:
Narrow bridge:
Fuel stop:
Massachusetts Welcomes You:
Steep Grade Next 6 Miles:
Exit to I-91:
Narrow roadworks:
Exit to I-91 North:
Welcome to Vermont:
Rest area:
5% grade:
Exit to I-89 North:
Exit to US-4:
Arriving at campground:
Following coach up steep narrow curvy road:
Cooperstown
We visited Cooperstown, New York to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame (see tomorrow’s post), but before that we wandered through the town, and had lunch.
Downtown:
Doubleday Field:
We had lunch at the HardBall Cafe:
BLTs, fries, mozzarella sticks:
More of the town:
A cute town, but very touristy, unsurprisingly.
Donatello’s
We ate at Donatello’s in Niagara Falls, New York.
A rather large white pizza (yes, there was lots of leftovers):
Jenn also wanted some wings (also lots of leftovers):
Baseball: Toronto Blue Jays vs Philadelphia Phillies
We attended a game of the Toronto Blue Jays vs Philadelphia Phillies, playing at the Blue Jay’s ballpark, Rogers Centre, the only MLB team in Canada.
Jenn’s game summary:
Our first domed stadium. They can open the roof, but it was closed due to drizzle and maybe wildfire smoke. A lovely park with excellent food and a vibrant atmosphere. The Blue Jays came out for four runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings each to make total cream cheese of the Phillies, who only scraped together one run. Bassitt recorded his 1100th career strikeout, and Bo Bichette hit his 8th home run of the year. It was a fun game with a bit of local color—they sang a song called “OK Blue Jays” before “Take Me Out To the Ballgame,” and everyone knew the words and gestures, creating a great community vibe.
An interactive map of the ballpark environs:
This ballpark was a little more difficult to get to, as we had to cross an international border into Canada:
Toronto:
CN Tower:
Toronto Blue Jays:
Team store:
Mary Brown’s Chicken:
Poutine (of course) and chicken tenders:
Selfie from our seats in Section 119, Row 12, Seats 13 & 14:
Closed dome:
Ace, the Blue Jays mascot:
Cheerleaders:
Play ball:
Hotel rooms overlooking the field:
A run scores:
Two more runs:
The mascot “helping” the grounds crew:
Exploring the ballpark:
Chungchun rice hot dogs:
Gamsung hot dog covered in potato, and half mozzarella hot dog:
Cheerleader:
Blue Jays win:
