Yesterday, we drove into town to ride the Conway Scenic Railroad. But first we walked around the cute little town for a bit, eventually happening upon the White Mountain Winery tucked on a back street. We spent a happy hour there chatting with the proprietor and petting her three dogs. We wandered over to the cute and fully restored station to catch our train – specifically the charming Gertrude Emma car – for the 1 3/4-hour ride. Biker entertained himself by taking about 100 pictures.

Later that night, we took a walk around Jackson – the cute little town that has been our home base for a few days.

Today, we got on the bike and ventured northeast, thinking ‘hey, we’ll just take a quick jaunt into Maine.’ Yeah, we weren’t dressed properly. It was cold and it rained, and we had unloaded all our warm clothes and rain gear from the bike. Got down to about 52 degrees. COLD. And rainy. We turned around at one point – Biker says like little bitches – but the upside is that we saw two moose on that return trip! Our first real wildlife on this whole journey.

We rode on a couple of really great small roads on the way back to the house – and it warmed up to the mid-60s, so things were looking up. See the video below for one example of a great road – the Hurricane Mountain Road.

Yesterday and today, we wandered through the land of covered bridges, across central eastern New York, into northwestern Massachusetts, and up into Vermont.  We set our sights early on toward Mt. Greylock in the Berkshires, where we rode a great little ‘goat trail’ road to the top of the mountain. Moving north into Vermont, we rode Route 100, which is a scenic byway and mostly a great road. It was a good day, and we ended up juuuuust over the border in New Hampshire where we found some pretty great Tex Mex – I know, in New Hampshire!

 

This morning we ate an amazing breakfast at the Four Aces Diner in West Lebanon, NH, then began our trek to our little rented cottage in Jackson, NH, in the White Mountain National Forest. Along the way, we drove the Kancamagus Highway, perhaps the most famous route amongst motorcycle enthusiasts in all of New England. 36 miles of twisties, elevation changes, beautiful scenery, great pavement, and alongside a river. And no traffic, so that made it even better. Biker dubbed it the Cherohala of the North.

We can see the leaves on a few trees starting to change – some reds, yellows and oranges. It’s just a tiny few, but we can imagine the glory.

 

 

We saw Niagara Falls from every angle – from the right, the left, the back, the side, the front, under, over, across, above, below, lighted at night and natural during the day, and so on and so on.  We saw the mist from 1/2 mile away. We heard it from our hotel room. We felt it up close.  We saw it from a whole ‘nother country. Get the picture? It’s awesome from every angle.  Seriously, to see it and to think that that amount of water moves across it every. single. second. of. every. day. for. thousands. of. years.  Is insane.

Other than that, Niagara Falls, New York, isn’t that interesting. Go to the Canada side. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

 

Today, we drove across the Adirondacks. It was pretty. Not the prettiest we’ve seen but nice. Sort of like the Miss Congeniality of motorcycle rides. We had a great dinner at the Olde Bryan Inn in Saratoga Springs. Pic of Thomas Jefferson by our table; he probably at there.

We’re in Niagara Falls tonight. Nearly 2,000 miles and 8 states already … thank God we have a day off tomorrow.  We’ll spend the day wandering around and touring Niagara Falls. It will be good to have a day of rest from moving.

Saw Alex last night – met him just outside D.C. for dinner. It was great to see him; we’re so proud – he is off to a great start at Georgetown. We’re kicking ourselves for not taking a picture. But we’ll see him again at the end of the trip. Get ready for your closeup, Al. 🙂

Today, we rode from just outside of D.C. up to Niagara Falls … by way of Punxsatawney, PA.  Yep, we visited Phil! Turns out, the movie Groundhog Day does not show the actual Gobblers Knob or just how far it is from town. You cannot walk there from a bed and breakfast, Bill Murray.  But we did visit the real Gobblers Knob and we even got to see Phil!  Andy was a little sad at how small the space was for the groundhog in the stump they pull him out of on stage. Look at his sad face. 😦 .

We had lunch in Punxsy – we’re so cool we adopted the locals’ name for the town – at Punxsy Phils.  Met a very nice local farmer.  Fast forward to dinner, and we just had a nice meal at the classic Red Coach Inn – where we’re staying just 500 yards from the falls. We can hear the water crashing in our room. We’re excited for tomorrow and the rest of the trip!

 

So … Biker and I went on a cruise last week.  No posts during the cruise cause we were way too busy drinking, eating pizza, gambling, drinking, laughing at great comedy shows, drinking, sunning ourselves, eating ice cream (all me), drinking, and chatting up the hillbillies.  Yes, I said hillbillies.

When we walked on the cruise, we noticed the high concentration of full sleeve and neck tattoos, severe obesity, missing teeth, and just general rowdiness.  We looked at each other and said “hillbillies.”  This might make us terrible people, but whatever.  You all know us.  Are you surprised we were judgy?

Having said that, we met some great people and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.  Our stops were Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.  We’re so over the whole shore excursion thing, so we only did one in Jamaica – we were bussed to a nearby nice resort where we could do much of the same we were doing on the ship – drink, eat, drink, sleep, drink.  We were reminded how good jerk chicken is, and I re-acquainted myself with the yummy Pineapple Delight concoction.  In Grand Cayman and Cozumel, we just got off the ship and wandered a bit.

We had a fantastic time in Hillbilly Heaven.  The clientele didn’t phase us one bit, and we’ll definitely be back to Carnival in the future.  Later, mon.

 

So I totally forget to tell the best part of the trip to Chichenitza — the blessing of the statue.

I really wanted a Mayan fertility statue. And no, I don’t want it to work for us. Jesus, can you imagine.

But I think the statue is cool and occasionally I like to have a culturally authentic souvenir instead of a t-shirt with a stupid saying on it (ahem, Biker). So I procured Ixchel. There’s a lot of history here, obviously, but I won’t bore you with it cause Biker says the history I provide in these blogs is, well, boring.  But if you want to know more, knock yourself out.

So I bought this thing and the salesman, all serious, goes, “now you need to have it blessed for your home and take away the energy of anyone else who has picked this up in the shop and touched it.” I’m like, um, OK. So he leads us over to a special table, sits us down, puts the precious statue in a blue tupperware bowl, and this is what happens:

 

Notice my irritation when he slaps me on the head with a wet branch time and again. Oh, and Biker and I are pretty sure all the mumbling he did for three straight minutes amounted to, “stupid tourists, why I gotta do this all day, you don’t appreciate my culture, I hope you leave a good tip.”

Again, you’re welcome. And don’t even think about touching my statue or I have to, like, call in a Mayan god and rub the statue with salt for three days or something crazy like that.  They gave me instructions. I’m serious.

Biker, the boys and I decided to make a little trip to Mexico to celebrate both boys’ college graduations this year … and my and Biker’s “raise.”  🙂

We arrived in Playa del Carmen Thursday afternoon and commenced with our usual tradition of hitting every bar once before the first day is over. You know, to properly say hello to the resort.

Today, we boarded a big ole bus and went to Chichenitza. It was a long day, but a really cool place that none of us had ever seen. We learned:

• The name means “at the mouth of the warlock’s water well”
• It’s one of the new seven wonders of the world
• It was a major civilization focal point from 600-1200 AD
• There are still about 5 million Mayan people in the world (they didn’t mysteriously  ‘disappear’ as popular lore suggests)
• They played a ball game called ulama. Look it up; it’s insanely difficult

We’re tired. We’re sunburned. We’re going to bed.

1 grizzly bear
1 black bear
1 coyote
2 moose
5 doll sheep
8 times across the Continental Divide
11 days on the motorcycle
18.6 gas mileage in the truck
43.6 gas mileage on the bike
45 mph average speed on the bike
Dozens of elk and buffalo
Hundreds of antelope and deer
Possibly thousands of squirrel-ish animals (chipmunks, squirrels, prairie dogs, etc.)
2,883 motorcycle miles
5,918 total miles (truck + motorcycle)
Too many adult beverages and calories
Too few workouts

We spent the last riding day of our trip in Yellowstone National Park. Ran across some kinda scary sections of road construction where the road was covered in gravel – once for 12 miles and once for 2 miles. That’ll wake you up!  We drove in the north entrance on Wednesday night, stayed at Canyon Lodge for the night, then the next day drove around most of the main parts of the central part of the park and out the east entrance to pick up the truck and trailer in Cody. Of course, Yellowstone delivered on beautiful scenery – steaming geysers, amazing vistas with trees for miles, gorgeous rivers and lakes, powerful waterfalls, snow-capped mountains and lots of wildlife. Old Faithful performed relatively on time as usual.

 

We’re now back in Texas, making our way home. It was a fantastic trip! We both agree our highlight was the Calgary Stampede – what an experience!

Until our next adventure – ride safe!

Maps:

Bigfork to Canyon Lodge

Yellowstone Circle to Cody

 

 

After one last ride in Banff, we spent the last few days in Calgary, enjoying the spectacle that is the Calgary Stampede. Such a party atmosphere! We go to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo every year, but it’s got nothing on Calgary when it comes to partying. We’re exhausted!

The first afternoon/evening in Calgary, we wandered over to a nearby street where we were told there would be restaurants, bars and good people watching. It did not disappoint! The street reminded us of being in Europe – all the sidewalk cafes and people walking everywhere. We had a fantastic time just absorbing it all. One thing we noticed is that the Stampede seems to be an excuse for women (mostly) to wear their skimpiest clothing – short jean shorts, bandeau tube tops, cowboy boots and not much else.

 

Sunday was our day to go the the chuckwagon races, and Biker could not have been more excited! We had tickets for a really cool place – the Lazy S club level seats – which included dinner, drinks and amazing seats for the races and the show and fireworks that followed. Highlight of the trip for sure! We also saw a really cool motorcycle trick exhibit; these guys were talented!

 

Monday morning we bought new cowboy hats as souvenirs. Then we made our way over to the Stampede grounds cause we had tickets for the afternoon rodeo events. We had a great time watching  the bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, bareback riding, etc. The overall event was different from what we’re used to, but the competitions themselves were very similar as I’m sure they’re regulated a certain way worldwide. Another point of difference between Calgary and Houston is that the Calgary venue for both events we attended is just so fantastic – it’s big, to be sure, but also feels really intimate. It made the whole experience!

 

All in all, Calgary and the Stampede showed us a GREAT time!! We definitely recommend it.

Today we re-entered the US of A and went through Glacier National Park again. We saw a black bear up close! Finally! Tomorrow is a moving day so don’t expect a post, but we’ll definitely get in at least one more before the trip is over cause Thursday is Yellowstone! One of my very favorites!

 

Maps:

Banff – Radium Hot Springs – Banff

Banff to Calgary

Calgary to Bigfork

The last three days have been great, and we’ve taken a break from things like blogging and exercising. Overarching thoughts about Banff and Jasper national parks is that they are absolutely beautiful, stunning, awe-inspiring, etc. And the town of Banff itself is super cute.

On our first full day in Canada, we woke in Pincher Creek to a steady rain and the forecast showed it was just going to get worse as the day wore on, so we sucked it up and set out for the 4-hour ride to Banff. We got rained on pretty much the whole way and never stopped once. Once we got to Banff and checked into our gorgeous hotel, we found some lunch and spent the afternoon relaxing. Our hotel has an amazing rooftop hot tub and fire pit, and we enjoyed spending some time up there in the evening.

The next day was the 4th of July and was planned as a rest day. We puttered around in the morning and had an AMAZING breakfast at a Creole place in town. Yum!  And because we had really had half of the previous day as a rest day, we decided to ride up to check out Lake Louise and Lake Moraine, two famous lakes just about 40 minutes north of Banff. Our verdict? Um, they’re lakes. And they’re certainly pretty. But we’re not entirely sure what all the fuss is about. Still, it was a nice day and a pretty ride. More hot tubbing on that gorgeous roof.

Today we rode up and back down Canada’s number one motorcycle road – the Icefield Parkway. It’s a gorgeous drive, with mountains, glaciers and glacier-fed lakes the entire 8-hour round trip. We saw some wildlife – a moose (finally!), doll sheep, bighorn sheep, a deer and a coyote. And we came up to a place where a rock avalanche had just happened; they were cleaning the rocks off the road and checking the wall to pull down any loose rock when we drove by. After a number of chilly-to-downright-cold days, today it got up to 90 degrees! We were like, “hey Canada, Texas called, and it wants its heat back!” And still more hot tubbing and fire pit enjoyment.

 

Maps:

PIncher Creek to Banff

Banff – Lake Louise – Banff

Banff – Jasper – Banff