7/8 the day of Ithaca and Lyme disease

So we get up Monday morning to head to Ithaca. At this point Aaron has a red mark on his arm from where I knocked a bug off. We think nothing of this and proceed. As we drive to Ithaca, I was researching our hotel and its amenities. One thing I noticed that I have never seen in the dozens of hotels we have stayed in- "Gay friendly" is listed as an amenity. Now I have nothing against gay people. I know many and love them. But I couldn't stop laughing that it was posted as a hotel amenity. Was Ithaca not a gay friendly place? I couldn't understand. 

We were quite hungry so we headed to the Ithaca Ale House for lunch. We each order a brew and some grub. This is where it gets interesting. So Aaron is reading this paper and there is an article about Lyme disease. Number one alert is a red bullseye like mark. So of course Aaron starts looking at his arm. Then the article. Then his arm. And finally he says, "I think I need to get checked for Lyme disease!" So I start looking at the article and he proceeds to ask 20 questions about the bug I knocked off. When I knocked it off I didn't know it was a bug. I thought it was a black speck and didn't realize til I saw the red mark it left. We are 99% sure it was a deer tick bc it was tiny. So we finish our lunch and head to the free clinic. 

Apparently the fee clinic wants the world to know when someone is coming in bc the bells on the door are gigantic and they are super loud. I actually told Aaron I was half tempted to go cut them off the door. It was very annoying. So while we wait Aaron is googling antibiotics for Lyme and I'm just reading silver linings play book.

Sidebar: Let me add it was a great book. I finished it that night. The movie was great too. 

Anyways Aaron gets called back and I'm just reading. Eventually he texts me to tell me everything looks fine and he should be out soon. The doctor told him he wasn't concerned and that a tick has to be attached for at least 24 before it transmits its filthiness (that is my description) but gives Aaron a two pill prescription to take as a just in case. Btw Aaron does not fill this til a day later and take for two days, but that's neither here nor there. 

Now that we know Aaron won't turn green (haha jk!) we head to the hotel to game plan. Sadly the Ithaca brewing company is closed. So we take a nap-- well he naps. I do homework and read. 

We head out to have wings at Uncle Joe's which were pretty good. We even stick around to watch the start of the Indians game since they were trying to defeat the tigers pitcher to ruin his undefeated streak. We then head to bandwagon brewing where we were not impressed in any way. So we do the uphill-- and I mean uphill steep and stupid-- walk to the Charterhouse brew pub. They had 50 beers on tap which was nice and trivia was going. I cannot tell you our team name bc our mothers and my grandmother are reading this and it was gross. (Aaron's pick!) We didn't do to hot. So we left and headed back to the hotel. 

Next stop is Watkins glen and we are going to hammer out some wineries! 

Syracuse and some sight seeing 7/7

We wake up after our doom march to sooooorrreeee bodies. I mean more sore than I've ever been in my whole life. I didn't even know I could hurt like that. And at this point we have a smelly bag of dirty clothes after the death march. So we go to do laundry in our hotel and hey FREE! I love when hotels let you use their washer for free. It has only happened one other time-- Seattle last summer! 

After some laundry we head to Cooperstown, NY-- home of the baseball Hall of Fame. Aaron has never been and I went when I was really young. I loved it. There was so much stuff to see and I took lots of pictures. 

After the HoF, we hit a brewery (I know. I know.) called Ommegang. Their tastings were booked for a bit so we ate at their cafe. We each had a three beer sampler and had some delicious lunch. I had a crab salad crepe and Aaron this ham sandwich w a fried egg, cheese sauce and a mustard sauce. AH-mazing! Everything we ate was just delicious. The beer was good as well. 

We head into Syracuse and settle in at the hotel. The shuttle takes us downtown and we hit Empire Brewing. They serve a lobster bisque, which according to Aaron is the best lobster bisque he has ever eaten! So I'm all about it. I've been waiting two years to eat the bisque bc he talks about it every time we have a bisque someplace else or I ask him to compare when we eat a bisque some place else. Now before I tell you about this bisque, lets remember its been FOUR years since Aaron has had it. 

It was ....not very good. At all. It wasn't terrible. It had a spice to it I liked. But the "chunks" of "lobster" (bc honestly I couldn't tell) were more like shreds of lobster. And the soup was watery. Not thick at all. *Cue in sad music!* The cornbread was ok. Nothing to write home about either. But the beer was good, so bonus! 

We then started walking around downtown Syracuse. Can you say ghost town on Sundays? (For those who teach that might even be a magic tree house book...) We finally found a place called JRyans. They had a ridiculous amount of beers on tap so we were in business. Except I asked for the victory pilsner ($2.50 for an 11pz glass or $10 for a pitcher) and when I got back from the bathroom she had poure me a pitcher. Bottoms up I guess. And no I didn't finish it and I made Aaron have some out of it. I couldn't drink that before it got warm! 

We shot some pool. Started to plan out next trip and then eased back to the hotel! We were headed to Ithaca the next day! 

7/6 Day of Doom!

So today we get up super early so we can be on our way to Mt Marcy in the Adirondacks of NY. While we are driving I'm excited an nervous at the same time. Mt Marcy is a 7.5 mile hike (ONE way) and has an elevation gain of 3,000 ft. Which I have heard is not steep-- very gradual. Let me make a quick note to say gradual yes, but not easy by any means. It sucked. 

Anyways, we had planned on camping on Mt Marcy as well. However, they will not let you without bear canisters. You know bc I have these lying around. We had planned to leave to eat dinner and come back, but Aaron said forget it. So on we went w our hike. 

We sign it at the registry area. You know a book they keep in case you go missing and never return. That book. The guy told us the trails are muddy. Eh what's a little mud right?? 

First two miles-- not too shabby. Then the mud pit of hell. And yes it was a deep pit. So deep that when I stepped in (because I am clumsy and fell off of whatever I was balancing on) and my left foot sank in and then my right. Aaron pulled me out (my whole high tops were in the mud) and my left shoe came off. It was stuck in the mud. My right foot was covered about 4 inches above the top of my shoe. I seriously almost cried. Aaron got my shoe out and I had to put it back on. He started laughing. I on the other hand started swearing from here to high heaven! 

However, we carried on. We hit the damn that runs through and this is where it slows down. Now I know we are on a mountain but it is random rocks now. No longer a nice path like it was. When we get to 6.5 miles I think I might lose it. I felt bad for Aaron. For those who followed our blog last year, think the freaking sand dunes! 

Now we get to boulder field, as Aaron called it. You are literally walking up rocks that are pretty slanted up. I swear at this point I will die. Like tumble down the rocks and die. And never be seen again. Again, at this point I feel like I am going to cry and almost do at this point. Aaron, being fabulous, stops and looks at my whining ass to tell me "You can do this!" 

We finally make it to the top. We realize that we didn't bring our phones, so I didn't have a pic on my phone to show. But the view is amazing. Like breathtaking. And then you realize you climbed up it and it is super amazing. There were even dogs up there. Yes dogs made this 7.5 mile hike as well! And that made me feel real wimpy. I'm sure those dogs didn't whine once on the way up. 

After 20 minutes of blissful sitting we start climbing DOWN! Which let me say is harder than going up. However, now that I just want to go to the car I don't stop once. Going down puts so much hurt on your joints bc you are coming down hard w momentum. And again bc out of 7.5 miles at least 6 are walking on straight rocks. When we hit a sign that said 0.9 miles left we started busting a move. But it felt like it took forever. We couldn't believe how long it felt. 

We decided to drive the two hours and just stay in Albany for the night. When we got to Albany and hit a chipotle it was the best meal I had ever eaten. They tasted so good since we were own granola bars and water all day. As we were going to our  room, aaron says: "We should check for ticks." Um beg your pardon??? I actually knocked a black bug off of him which I will come back to at a later time!  When we got to the room, we showered (scrubbed is more like it) and hit the sack hard! Best sleep ever! 

7/5 All over Vermont

I have been an awful blogger this summer. I blame the summer courses. When I have to write, I write papers. However, I finished my last paper for one class (11 days early btw! I thought it would be much harder traveling!) and have one research paper for the other class left. But thank god staying at Aaron's parents all next week because I will do it then. That is not something I can do on the go. I need to just sit and do it! 

Anyways.... The day after Fourth of July was a slug like day. We did a lot but at our pace-- which has felt like the theme of the trip! First stop-- Ben and Jerry's factory. Who doesn't like ice cream for breakfast. Now before you get all excited-- they only give you one sample. Really B&J? However they put so many tours on a day they probably couldn't scoop enough. But the flavor they give you is experimental-- which could be good or bad depending. We got lucky. Ours was delicious. It was a blueberry ice cream w chocolate chips. After this we headed to the flavor graveyard where old flavors go to rest. It was pretty neat! 

Now it was BEER and passport stamping time! So right down the road from B&J was alchemist brewing, which supposedly has the best beer ever. It is called the Heddy Topper! The line was about 20 ppl deep and they give u a sample as you wait. We got three 4 packs at $12 a pop! What!!! Insanity! But we didn't go that far NOT to buy any! 

We headed to Trapp Brewing which is also a lodge. Hey hot mess of unorganization. It took us 30 minutes to get our meat and cheese platter and two bowls of soup. We obviously drank our beers (me- Helles and him Porter) while we waited. However, the bartender/manager seemed to like Aaron bc he was wearing a lightning shirt. For our wait he gave us each a free beer. I asked for the helles and Aaron the Vienna. He brought a Vienna and a porter. Yea he had no idea what was going on. However, we drank them. 

We headed to Long Trail Brewing as our last stop before the hotel (which was in Rutland VT!). We got the 6 glass sampler. Lets say we walked out w a six pack mix of 3 blueberry wheats and 3 something else. I can't remember at this point! We just went to a huge beer store in Ithaca today, so I am getting all our beer confused! 

Finally we parked it at the hotel, grabbed a quick bite and hit the sack. We had a big day Saturday-- time to climb Mt Marcy. That should be quite the post. We hiked Saturday and I'm just getting unsore today-- you know Tuesday! 

Happy 4th in Burlington, Vermont

Unfortunately for us, the "Bed & Breakfast" we stayed in had super thin walls. So we literally could hear the couple next door at 6am getting up and ready. It was terrible. And the ac unit in the room barely worked so we were super warm. The alarm had been set for 7, but 6:15 it was. We got up and hit the road towards the USA! When we got to border control, it was quite the line but it moved quickly. The lady asked us the normal questions and then it was Welcome Back! The best part was being able to read street signs again!

So now we were in Burlington, VT at 8:30 am. Ummmm breweries (which is the whole reason we were in Vermont) don't open til 11. So we called the hotel and nicely they let us check in at 9! Thank you! After making ourselves feel human again (aka showering) we headed out. First stop: Magic Hat. It was....

A huge letdown. They gave you four free samples, which is great but I had already had 4 of the seven beers on tap. In reviews I had read, people made it sound like they had a dozen or more on tap 90% was things you never had. They also sold very limited beer at the brewery which sucked too. But hey. We got one bottle, sticker, post card and 4 pint glasses. (They were $8 each or $15 for four specific glasses. Um no question.) 

While we waited for the next place to open, Fiddlehead Brewing there just happened to be a winery right across the street. Yes please! Eight samples for $5! We walked out w one bottle of apple wine and our tasting glasses-- which were free! Crossing the street we headed into the brewery. 3 samples for free (that was all they had on tap at Fiddlehead!) and everyone of the. Was delicious. They had a pale ale, lager and ipa on tap and if we could've kept it cold we would've had growlers. 

Our last place before naptime was Switchback brewery. They only keep one on tap year round and then one seasonal. They were ok. Nothing special, but we did get three stamps on our brewery passport in about 3 hours! 

After naptime we headed back put. First stop was vermont pub and brewery. They were blah! Their beer was ok. The food was eh. The building was leaking. Yes literally leaking. Luckily the rain let up and we were able to leave. We hit zero gravity brewing and their beers were fabulous. I had their helles and I was loving it! 

We walked through the church street area which is a strip of restaurants and shops. It was really cool. I wish spring hill could afford to have one. We hit our 6th and final brewery of the day called three needs. Best part-- not a brewery but on the passport so we needed the stamp. 

After some more random stops and walking around we called it a night at 1045 since we ha been up so early! It was a great fourth and we had one more day in vermont!

 

Montreal day 2 7/3

 

Day 2 in Montreal is a day I consider much more successful than day 1. We woke up and hit the streets about 9:30. We found a market which opened at 10. However it was shops and restaurants, whereas we were thinking it would be a food market. 

We proceeded to the Chateau Ramezy which was the house of the former governor. It is now a museum. We wandered through there. There was some interesting items. However, they had a section on modern folk art. People in Montreal apparently are big fans of roosters. But they did have a dog painting and it was called Scruff something so I was excited. 

We proceeded to get breakfast when we stumbled upon a place Le Fripon which sold crepes. I got one w Nutella and pecans. Hello delicious! Aaron got their complete breakfast which was delicious as well. The potatoes were cooked perfectly and the toast was amazing. 

We walked back to Notre dame today. We were able to go in. Holy moly! I can tell you how gorgeous it is and I can show you pictures. But it is something you need to see for yourself. Just stunning. We also had a lady explain the history of the church. Luckily for us, there was a baby who tended to a screech behind us. And I mean literally right behind us and the baby even pulled my hair once. No offense but this is a tour speech-- in a church. Take the screamer out or stand in the back of the group. Mass was happening in the chapel so we ha to wait to go in there but worth it! 

After leaving Notre dame, we were heading to the park that has a slight mountain in it. Remember in Philly how I got the drive by pic of the love statue? Hello replica in Montreal. We took pics by it of course! We also found a Basilique that was a scaled down version of St Peters in Rome. 

Finally we made it to the park. The man who designed Central Park designed this one as well. It was stunning. Trails and places to eat and rock areas and amazing views of the city. We climbed pretty good amount with a nice little incline. When we went down we pretty much went down a side full of rocks where we had to navigate ourselves down. A little scary bc.... We were in flip flops. I know. I know. When will we learn. But we are alive! 

After lunch we showered at the hotel. We were nasty after our expedition and we (well Aaron) took a nap. Oh before we hit the hotel we found a nice area by our hotel to park the car. A nice man translated the parking sign for us so we knew what to do. After napping we went back to the casino and got the car. 

We finished our last night in Montreal w the beer place and the brewery for dinner! 

Montreal Day 1 7/2

This morning we left Quebec City and headed to Montreal. On the way there we hit a McDonald's for lunch. Let me tell you. There is only a 5 cents difference in our money (1 American equals 1.05 Canadian) but they are wicked expensive. Two values meals cost us about $20. Ummmm what? And I read an article in Quebec that says the avg Canadian only makes $39,000 a year. Who could afford to live in Canada? 

Anyways Montreal is a hot mess. Construction everywhere. Lack of signs. Random lane merges.  Luckily when I was driving the traffic was not bad. Our first stop was the casino. Hello dumbest layout ever. It took us quite some time to find the craps table. They have two. And only one was open. So after not playing for awhile we decided to go back to the hotel. 

Let me tell you about this said "Bed and Breakfast". Usually BBs will provide a real breakfast. Not this place. Also the parking lot designated for this BB was two blocks south. The lot was an old college building that was not abandoned and run down. Oh and it was bext to gangster park. Previous BB stayers have had their car broken into here. Ummmm no. So since we were going to take a taxi once to the casino and once back we did it a little different. We unloaded our valuables into our room and We drove to the casino, lost some $, and then left the car there overnight. Since its a 24 hour casino we figured we would be fine. 

When we took a cab from the casino we had him drop us at Notre Dame. We could not go inside at the moment bc mass was happening. So we snapped a couple pics and knew we'd come back the next day. We grabbed a quick bite (thank you subway being in Canada) and headed to the hotel to game play our evening. 

We found a great beer bar called L'amere á boirè. It was the cheapest place for beer we had found in Canada. Half liters for $5.44. Yes please!!!!! Of course they were out of the helles so I "settled for their pilsner. And by settled I mean loved every drop of the eventual liter I drank! 

We then proceeded to the brewery across the street. We had a beer each. They claimed to have a blonde beer. However, it was 100% a wheat beer. And while I like wheat beers not at this moment. 

So after hating Montreal to start I didn't mind it too much by the end of day 1. Biggest complaint is I couldn't eavesdrop of convos bc I don't speak French! 

Quebec City Èh? 7/1

Driving through northern Maine was quite the treat. Pot holes the size of my car. Mailboxes on chains (bringing that style down to Florida. ) and trailers in the middle of nowhere that have piles of junk in front of them. We should call American pickers. They would probably find a small fortune. Not saying there were not nice houses. However, you couldn't pay me to live in that part of Maine. No stores for an half hour at least. It was terrible. I also killed a bird. It literally flew right in front of my car. It was awful. I almost cried. Feathers were flying everywhere!  

It finally came time to cross into Canada. The guy asked us some basic questions as be scanned our passports. Best part--no stamp! And all I could think was are you kidding me? I have driven into two different countries in the last two summers and no one wants to stamp my damn passport! Why do we have them then? He said we could go into immigration but it could take a half hour and they do a full background check. Yea I wasn't getting out of the car or waiting for a stamp. So I am still stamp less in my passport. Effers. 

We officially have no Internet access while in Canada unless we are on wifi. So of course I set my phone up immediately. (Right now I am typing and waiting for a time to upload) I didn't realize how much we appreciated google maps until this moment either. 

We checked into the hotel and found out it was Canada Day! After getting situated we headed downtown (aka a nice steep UPHILL) which was quite the brutal hike. Our first stop was all the way by the st Lawrence river where the walls from old Quebec City are still up. It was quite awesome. Luckily we had a seat next to a nice couple who could 

   1. Speak English 

   2. Tell us everything about the city. The wife used to be a tour guide! Hey bonus. 

We also stopped inside the tourist info place to get a map. This was great. They give u a number like you are waiting at a deli counter and when your number is called you go to a person. But she did give us a great explanation on where things were. So it was quite beneficial. Which led us to our lunch place. Hello two for one pints and buffet style lunch which was delicious. 

After this we went and had a drink here and there. And I love that Canada doesn't even mess around with pints. They do imperial pints for their "pint". For those who don't know what that means-- a regular pint is 16oz. An imperial pint is 20. This we were a fan of. We also hit up there market and wanted to buy beer but didn't want to lug it back. 

Since it was a holiday the observation tower was closed. So instead we went to the hotel with the observatory restaurant. We just got a beer and took pictures. About 5 mins in we realized it was a rotating floor so that was cool too. We got to see different angles. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at one more place called Le Hobbit (I told Aaron it was named for him!) 

We hit a beer store on the way back to the hotel. We also hit a dive bar where Aaron played pool with a nice French guy. We finished with getting food at the Thai place across from our hotel. Not our first choice but limits options around. The first thing the host said to us was we close at 10. It was 9:15. He was an ahole. 

Now we are on our way to Montreal for two days! 

Bangor, ME 6/30

So we decided not to go to Mount Washington. The weather was supposed to be questionable and that would mean we would drive up it and not hike it. Aaron has already driven up it, so to be honest I will live without driving up it. This obviously changed our plans. We decided to stick around Bar Harbor and see if when we woke we could go back into Acadia with a better view.

This however was not the case. Thanks Maine! It was still limited visibility, so we just headed to Bangor, Maine where we decided we would crash for the night. I mean HELLO-- they have a casino! When we got to Bangor, our first stop was Tim Horton's for breakfast.

Sidebar: For those who are not a fan of How I Met Your Mother, you may have NO clue what a TH is. It is basically a Dunkin Donuts--- buttttttttttt not as good. Me and DD have a close alliance which I will NEVER EVER give up!

After hitting up TH for some breakfast, we decided it was time to do laundry. The suitcase was getting low and the car was beginning to smell. While we did laundry, we went and explored what one might consider "Downtown" Bangor. Holy crap! Spring Hill has more businesses than this place. And for some reason, they believe Sundays is a day where nothing gets sold. Who could blame them? There was absolutely NO ONE hanging around. You would think it was a ghost town. I WILL NEVER GO BACK!

To kill some time, we went to the movies. Hey Fast and the Furious 6. It was great. Driving. Unbelievable stunts. Poor acting. And one liners like: "You're not to bad for a criminal" or "Ride or Die" (CLASSIC F&F line!)

I just want it in print that we have left TWO casinos-- yes TWO-- up on the crap table. That's how we roll (pun intended). Now not saying we are up millions-- if I was up millions, you wouldn't even see me blogging... But I will take an extra $50 here or there whenever I can!

While in Bangor, their list of attractions were crazy-- the #10 best attraction was a Paul Bunyan statue.... No seriously... it really was. Please feel free to go on Tripadvisor.com to figure this out. I had a screenshot of my phone to prove it, but being in Canada limits my phone use! BOOOO! We drove around a bit to find this statue only to find out it is RIGHT across from the casino. However, since Bangor can be circled in about 3 minutes, this was not a problem.

We went to a couple bars, Geaghans was great. In house brewed beer and decent food. However, Impanedas sucked. The two bartenders had problems keeping or glasses full and there was a whopping 7 people n the restaurant. Good job ladies. They only charged us for three beers and honest Abe (a.k.a Aaron) told them we had four. They thanked him for being honest. And all I could think was how could you not keep track of that??

We finished the night at the hotel relaxing.

This morning we drove to Quebec. However, that post will come later. Aaron is "patiently" waiting to play his game before we hit the sac. Montreal the next two days!

**Pictures are on my phone... so no pics this post! ***