Day 13 - New York and Vermont

Our trip through New York was only notable in that we were on a toll road and got acquainted with toll road service plazas, which offer gas and an indoor food court of sorts, with three or four restaurants, a newstand / gift shop, restrooms, ATM machines, and tables and chairs with wifi. We were SO hungry and wet after Niagara Falls that we were hoping to eat at a nice restaurant, so we were actually disappointed when we found it to be more of a food court. But at the same time the idea of getting OFF the tollroad, paying toll, finding a restaurant, and getting back on seemed cumbersome. So we went with the food court.

We did learn how HUGE the state of New York is, and we got a strong sense of where upstate New York was compared to "mid" New York, and how crazy it is that New York City is on kind of a wierd little corner of the state, so stretched away from the natural state boundaries that it might as well not be in New York at all. We got quick peaks at Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany, and then we headed into Vermont - which may as well have been a completely different country.

Vermont seems to be mostly trees, mountains, and quaint little towns where all the eateries are little country diners in what looked like old New England style houses. The food was surprisingly expensive, and it was all home-made, which is good if you are used to home-made food. My kids loved the hot chocolate, and the processed food, but they didn't eat the mac and cheese, which was made from a rather lumpy cheesy white sauce, or the bread and butter which used "real" butter, or the home-made french fries that actually tasted like real potatoes in strips with a crispy outside.

Vermont reminded me mostly of Colorado, because everywhere I looked there was a bubbling brook or stream with little whitewater rapids. It was the only state other than Colorado where we saw hitchhikers and hikers, and we stopped in quite a few places to look at beautiful landscape views of the mountains. You could see the ski resorts as well.

We only spent a few hours driving through Vermont before heading into New Hampshire and looking for our hotel. Even though the states are right next to each other, New Hampshire seemed quite different from Vermont. We listened to Boston radio stations, and Mark and I immediately noticed the license plate tagline "Live Free or Die." We also noticed that the seat belt law seemed to only apply to kids under 18. Both states seemed "free-spirited", but Vermont more in a quaint, welcoming, outdoorsy type way, and New Hamphire just a little more in your face, with hard core fisherman and signs that say "This is not Burger King - you don't get your burger your way, you get it my way or you don't get it".

We finally found our hotel and got familiar with the Lake area. New Hampshire has a whole part of the state that is called the "Lake Region", and the big lake we will be staying at: Lake Winnippesaukee, is only one of several in the area.