Chapter 33- Vermont and New York

Hello Dear Readers! The last days have been relaxing and educational, more than full of crazy adventures. New England has certainly been experiencing its share of spring showers! Dale and I are at the point of placing bets on which upcoming stay will actually be our first true hint of summer.

Vermont was a beautiful place, but I’m sad to say a bit of a washout due to the weather. And a washout ONLY from the perspective of adding a golf outing to our list. We had two stops in Vermont planned. The first one was at a Maple Farm so close to the Canadian border, T-Mobile thought we were there. It was a lovely Harvest Host location, three generations living and working the farm, and growing the business through products including syrup, candies and ice cream. We had two nights scheduled which turned out perfect. We had stopped at the Ben & Jerry’s factory on the way over, which turned out to be a pretty cool and educational tour. We were pretty impressed with the wall of flavors. And shocked to discover that the number one selling flavor is Half Baked. We really expected it to be something more like Chip Mint! After a tasty sample, we arrived at the Gagne Maple Farm in time to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine and watch the family finish up their days chores. And then the rain came in. We were lucky enough to have a slight break in the morning and we hiked through the Maple trees and marveled at the network of plastic tubing that snaked through the woods, terminating at a collection point at the bottom of the hill. Somehow I had pictured rows of cleanly maintained trees, like apples, pistachios, cherries, etc. But nope! It truly was tapping trees that were there when they bought the land. Fortunately, by the time we had arrived, all the hard work of harvesting the sap for the year was complete. Now it was all about turning it into sweet goodness and getting it sold.We did our fair share of helping move their local stock. We had a slight reminder of the spring season when after the hike we did a tick scan and low and behold we found two of those critters on Dale. We spent the rest of the day assuming every tickle MUST be another bug on us, and a bit hesitant to go outside! Fortunately, in this case, the weather helped us, and we spent a rainy afternoon all snug inside. We were supposed to spend the next night at a Harvest Host Golf Course. But we knew the course would either be closed, on rain delay, or so wet it wouldn’t be fun, so we decided to skip it. The whole region deserves another, more thorough, visit, so we’ll golf there in 2026.

We accidentally decided to take a scenic route, in the driving rain, through the Adirondack Park to our next stop at Turning Stone Resort. To our surprise and delight, it is a LARGE casino resort with five golf courses. In summary, we discovered through two visits to the casino and one to the bingo parlor, how they are funding these beautiful golf courses and their expansion plans. We did manage to get a round of golf in, a full 18 even! The course was beautiful, but incredibly wet and golf path only. Dale seemed to shine in those conditions. I, on the other hand, continued to watch my mojo eek away. But, after my cursing and threats that I need more lessons, we managed to find a way to make it fun. “First par, opens the bar” and if that fails, the course had the drink car making the rounds. It was an expensive stop, but an enjoyable one.

Our next stop was on Grand Island, NY, or in other words, Niagara Falls. This was a bucket list item for Dale, so we had three full days planned in the area.

Day one was a private tour of the Falls. Accidentally Dale had booked a tour that starts in Canada. So we started off bright and early with an Uber to the Rainbow Bridge, and walked over to Canada and got our first peek at the falls. Ironically, our first stop was on the US side, where we did the Cave of the Wind. We were grousing a bit about the wait for the one working elevator, but we were told that a 10-15 minute wait was nothing compared to the summer wait times of 1-4 hours when both elevators are running! no more grousing from us! Then we headed back into Canada, took a driving tour of Niagara Park, had lunch at the Skyline Tower and enjoyed the BEST views of the falls, and ended our day on The Hornblower, Canada’s version of the Maid of the Mist, and got SOAKED. But we saw those Falls from on top, below, the river and the air. Neither of us could see what kind of thrill seeker would need to go over them.

Day two was a surprise round of golf. Two in NY to make up for missing one in Vermont! The weather was so nice I finally got some mojo back!

Day three was a food tour in Lewiston. And it was a highlight. We really didn’t know what to expect as Western NY specialties, but it turned out to be a showcase of some of the towns best restaurants interspersed with a history tour. They are very proud of their ties to the Underground Railroad, being one of the key spots for escaped slaves to find freedom in Canada. We also learned about its history with the War of 1812. It was also fun to discover that the McKinley assassination ALMOST happened in Lewiston, rather than Buffalo. And that the hotel that McKinley stayed in, unexpectedly saving his life for a day, was the local McDonalds for a spell. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case. The beautiful building, The Frontier House, is being restored and will be honoring its history again. And the food we tried was all fun and delicious. They tour did a great job of breaking up eating with walking and learning about the town. So we finished the tour full but not stuffed. And we were blessed to have had three glorious weather days at Niagara Falls!

Next stop, dear readers, is Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. I grew up going to this theme park, and I’m excited to see the changes since my last visit I’m guessing 20ish years ago! Until next time, I’m loving all the adventures I see many of you going on! Maybe our paths will cross!

Thinking of you, Lady Wanderingwise