On the Road Again

Well, I have officially left my home and headed out for the summer. My car is packed, and I think I managed to remember everything. 

I'm spending about 10 days visiting family in NY & NJ before heading west. 

This evening, I went with my mom, stepdad, brother and sister to the Museum Mile Festival in NYC, which was cool, except the part where the lines to all the museums were super long. But we checked out Central Park, ate yummy street vendor food and saw several buskers. 

Here are some snaps from the event:

Vermont

My grammie and I had an awesome time in Vermont! I have never seen so many beautiful trees all at once. I don't have that many great tree shots, but here are some of the fun things we saw:

A countryside scene, taken in West Cornwall, CT.

Classic covered bridge.

Grandma at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA

Norman Rockwell's studio.

View from the top of Mt. Greylock, near Williamstown, MA

More views from the top of Mt. Greylock.

The watchtower on Mt. Greylock. You can climb to the top, but I was too scared.

 Colorful hillside near Adams, MA

 The Vermont Country Store in Weston, VT-so much cool stuff!!!

 The old-fashioned candy counter in the Vermont Country Store-too bad it's not penny candy any more.

Gorgeous hillside in the Green Mountain National Forest.

 Moss Glen Falls along Route 100 on the edge of Green Mountain National Forest. We didn't know this place was here, but it was so gorgeous and peaceful-well, minus the hordes of camera-toting tourists.

 Another beautiful, colorful hillside, this one in Waitsfield, VT. Some of the views along Route 100 were amazing, but unfortunately, there was no safe place to stop and take pics.

 Sweet little country church in Waitsfield, VT.

The flavor graveyard at the Ben & Jerry's Factory, which you can see in the background. We didn't tour the factory because there was a long wait and they weren't in production that day anyway, but it was still a cool place to stop and see.

 These next few shots are all of Lake Champlain, taken from Burlington, VT. We got there just around sunset, and it was so pretty.

 We also took a tour of the Vermont Teddy Bear Company factory in Shelburne, VT, which was pretty neat.

My favorite part was the teddy bear hospital, where they repair any "injured" bears that were made by the VTBC. You can see this little guy is on a honey drip!

We had such beautiful weather all weekend, and it was so awesome to just look at the pretty New England scenery. The fall foliage is as nice as they say! I'll end with a few of my favorite "tree" shots.

There's just something about trees I love. My two favorite tree quotes about trees are:

 "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree."

~Joyce Kilmer

"I couldn't live where there were no trees-something vital in me would starve."

~L.M. Montgomery, from Anne of Green Gables

Up next, I'll be returning to my summer road trip-I think we left off along the Oregon coast.

Fairbanks, Part 1

We are in beautiful, sunny Fairbanks! It is so nice to finally see the sun, because it has been so cloudy. We went up and visited my uncle at his cabin on Thursday & Friday, but I forgot to take pictures (sorry, Grandma). Then today we did a bunch of stuff in Fairbanks before picking up my friend Tasha from the airport. Tasha will be joining me for the trip back east, which is so cool!!! I'll post details about our itinerary once we figure it out. But for now, here's some snaps from Fairbanks.

Susanne & I outside Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. It's pretty nice in here. They have a lot of museums and old log cabins that have been preserved.

They also have this riverboat that was preserved from the gold rush era that you can walk around inside.

That's me coming out of a little house that's kept at 40 below! My dad insisted I go in. It was soooooooooooo cold I think that the snot in my sinuses froze!

We went to El Dorado gold mine, which is a working mine, and went panning for gold. My dad used to do this, so he knows how and he showed us. We got about 7 grains of gold, which was worth about $50 altogether. I got it put into a locket.

A big old grizzly bear at the Museum of the North in the U of Alaska. It's like 9 feet tall!

And here's my hand inside the grizzly track. Hope I don't meet one of those while hiking in the woods!

Athabascan natives make these amazing beaded items & intricately woven baskets. It is so amazing to see. I wish I could afford to buy some, but it's pretty expensive since it's so detailed.

This is a Tlingit ceremonial robe. The Tlingit & Haida art is probably my favorite of all the native art.

Tomorrow we are going to the farmer's market & the Tanana Valley Fair. Not sure when I'll have another chance to post pictures-maybe when we are back in the Yukon. Tasha & I will be leaving Denali and heading out of Alaska on Tuesday.