Author: bethstapleton0201@gmail.com

Took the RER-B3 train back to CDG airport this morning as we say farewell to Paris. The trip went well, better than I expected since we spoke almost no French. I think it’s important to stretch yourself and go places that don’t speak your native language.

Back to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Au revoir.

It’s our official anniversary today and we spent the morning oversleeping in bed. Felt great to not have to get up to meet some ticket schedule time.

Heading to see the Arc de Triomphe and walk a bit on the Champs-élysées.

The AdT (1836) was to honor those who fought in the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars. We climb stairs to the top but there was no rooftop view today.

We were able to walk on the Champs-Elysées with no cars because they were beginning to have a Chinese New Year celebration.

Beth and I have been here for 4 days now and we’ve only fallen down on the walkways once each. We don’t fall well anymore either but we’re fine.

For dinner we went to Restaurant Georgette in a St Germain neighborhood west of Luxembourg Gardens. Another good choice and they kindly gave us some champagne to celebrate our anniversary which is today.

At one point the server is taking my plate away that is completely empty of food and jokingly said “ oh this is a good plate, the chef is very sensitive”.

We never did make it to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Maybe next time.

Today we headed over to Sainte Chapelle chapel to see its stain glass. Today was cloudy so we didn’t get the full effect.

A short walk away was Notre Dame Cathedral. We walked right in without any waiting. We didn’t even have a reservation.

Hard to believe that there was a major fire over 5 years ago. It looks great inside.

We then had a quick bite (quiche Lorraine) at a boulangerie to end the morning. Best, quick and inexpensive way to get something to eat in Paris is at the bakery.

We also saw some Camino shells as we were walking today. That was cool for us.

Took the metro in the afternoon to complete our touristy trifecta to see the Eiffel Tower.

Before dinner we stopped in at Sainte Sulpice church that began construction in 1650+. This was a very old looking church and was also in the DaVinci code movie. It was worth seeing.

We finished the evening at a forgettable restaurant near the Luxembourg Gardens. One more day in Paris to go.

Today we went over to the Louvre Museum. In the 13th century it was a small fortress and expanded to be a palace in the 1600s. In the late 1700s it became a museum.

The highlights at the Louvre are the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Venus de Milo dates back to 120 BC and discovered on a Greek island in the 1820 and the artist is unknown.

We were there for 4 hours and finally became “museum weary”. Surprisingly, there is a limit to how many nude paintings and sculptures you can look at.

Afterwards., we headed to a streetside cafe to have some cafe au lait. It’s 45 degrees but people are still sitting outside which is cool.

I decided that I must eat “at least” one delicious desert each day while l’m here.

As the 40 year wedding anniversary Paris tour continued, we took a 30 minute walk along the left bank to le vent d’armour restaurant. We passed by Notre Dame cathedral on the way which is across the River Seine.

The restaurant only has 7 tables which made for a nice quiet evening. We were served by a very cordial owner.

At one point as we were looking at the desert menu, Beth said “if you’re in Paris you got to have Crepes Suzette”. The owner overheard her and couldn’t hold back his laugh.

Bonne souirée.

To celebrate our 40th anniversary, we are headed to Paris. We’ve never been there so it seemed like the perfect time to go. It won’t be warm in Paris but right now Massachusetts is frigid. Forty to fifty degrees will feel balmy.

Selling our house in Cranford NJ and moving to a new home in Framingham MA has been exhausting. We are looking forward to just taking it slow and enjoy what Paris has to offer.

I do love that emergency exit row.

After taking the metro from the airport we dropped off our luggage at our hotel and walked over to the Musee d’ Orsay. The top floor had many paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir and many more artists from the 1870s to the early 1900s.

Very tired at this point since neither of us slept well on the red eye flight from Boston. Getting much needed rest at Hotel du Danube in the St Germain district on the left bank of Paris.

Visiting Paris in January/February does have its advantages as we are not fighting the huge crowds and lines that they would have in the summer months

We decided late to go find an interesting French restaurant for dinner close to our hotel. We decided on Racines des Prés. I saw that they had counter seating where you could watch them cook. When we got there, they had a surprise menu where the chef determined what to give you. It was a great evening and a shout out to my brother in law Rob who taught me always to choose the counter….. that’s where you meet people.

Sunday, we head east to Taughannock Falls near Finger Lakes in NY.

We made a stop for a wine tasting at Knapp winery. One of many wineries along Lake Cayuga. Cool. Nice vibe. Nice people. Helped the local economy by buying a couple bottles of wine to go. That’s called a “Win Win” (which BTW is one of my favorite sleeper movies starring Paul Giamatti).

We got to Taughannock Falls and just started walking the North Rim trail which led to the South Rim trail which led to another trail that went up a mostly dry river bed and dead ended at the bottom of the falls. After back tracking we needed to finish the rest of the North rim trail to get back to our car. All in all an unexpected 6.8 miles.

Our stay for the night is at a place called New Park Venue and Suites near Ithaca. It has a very “Twin Peaks” vibe to it. Maybe we’ll get lucky and see Kyle MacLachlan tonight!

Monday, we headed to Middlebury VT where a lot of my Stapleton ancestors lived for at least a generation.

We are staying at the annex behind the Middlebury Inn. I’ll only show the Inn as the Annex is a bit underwhelming. When we walked into our room, Beth initial reaction was “Oh boy”.

I will show you our state of the art phone.

Tuesday, we took a walk to see a few buildings that are still standing that were once owned by a distant ancestor of mine , John Sargent.

He first owned The Logan House on 2 Park St.

What was once a hotel is now split between two shops of which one is a cannabis shop.

The other hotel he owned was called the Sargent House on Court St. This looks more like a boarding house now.

Middlebury is a tiny town in Vermont which can be walked very quickly.

This ends my history tour for today. THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER…

Wednesday we headed to Newburyport MA coastal town. Off and on rain today on our drive. Walked a little bit around town as we did our laundry in a local laundromat. Parking is tough here but we got one of the 3 free spots at our Hygge House accommodation. It is centrally located which is great for us.

It was good to go out to dinner with Beth at a dog friendly tavern. Macy was well behaved. She likes a sidewalk cafe.

Thursday morning spent exploring the northern end of Plum Island which is ten minute drive from Newburyport. Sleepy ocean front community. It seems to be slightly off peak season here so the crowds are not too bad.

I highly recommend visiting Newburyport for a couple days. Very relaxing and dog friendly as well.

Friday, we head down to Framingham MA to see the status of our new home. Inside seems to be finishing with painting and there is outside grading still to do. Tentative closing date is now Sept 11 but we’ll see.

Saturday we head to Jersey to see my mom and brother. The road trip officially ends. Now we just need to work on getting through the closing, moving, etc. and hope Sept 11 closing actually happens.

Today, we met our daughter Liz for lunch in Highlands Ranch, CO. It was a German Biergarten named Prost where we could bring Macy and sit outside on the patio. It was nice relaxing time and good to see her again.

The outskirts of Denver seems so new. It reminds us of the outer Austin TX area. The traffic here is too fast for us now that we’ve become old farts. Seems like a speed limit of 75mph is common.

We did get to see the mountains in the distance. Up to today, it’s been very flat.

Next on the agenda is to see a little bit of the city of Denver before we get back on the road again tomorrow.

Denver seems to be such a newer city when compared to the east coast cities that we are used to.

This is as far west as we go on this trip. Tomorrow we head east.

Sunday will be a pure travel day. We are headed to York Nebraska. According to TripAdvisor the #2 thing to do in York is “Lee’s Legendary Marbles and Collectibles”…. the #10 thing to do is “Walmart Supercenter”….. Ugh.

Monday is another day of driving through miles of farmlands and windmills. We’re switching on and off with the driving. We’re like Starsky and Hutch…..that would mean Macy is “Huggy Bear”! Sorry my brain is turning to mush with all this endless driving….. or maybe it’s the redundant Hampton Inn breakfast buffets….or both.

Tuesday, we head to “Field of Dreams”. If you build it, he will come…..so we came (and dog friendly).

We had to go off the highway quite a bit to get to Dyersville Iowa. We were able to see what Iowa looks like in the local communities, which is to say…..more corn.

From here we head to Chicago for a couple nights.

Wednesday, we took a morning stroll along the Chicago river walk. Very nice and relaxing,

We also took a stroll by high end stores on Michigan Ave , also known as “the magnificent mile”. Aren’t we pretentious.

The coolest building on the whole block goes to “Burberry”.

For the next two days, we are going to make our way to Niagara Falls. It’s been on our bucket list for over 20 years. It’s like having gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe. We got to get this done.

Friday, we finally made it to Niagara Falls. It was a lot nicer than I thought it would be. The weather helped.

We decided to walk across the Rainbow Bridge to get to the Canadian side. My first time into Canada. Beth had been in Canada years ago.

Time to head back. Tomorrow’s plan is to visit Horseshoe Falls.

It’s been 6 weeks on the road. Anytime we get to spend 2 nights at a place it feels great.

Saturday, we went back to Niagara Falls State Park to see Horseshoe Falls.

Headed back to hotel to get some rest. We’re back on the road again tomorrow. Been through 14 states and dipped our toes into Canada so far. Starting to lose our mojo.

The first half of our road trip will be loosely following the Lincoln Highway. Once we get to the Chicago area, we will switch to route 80 as we want to get through “tornado alley” as quick as possible.

Saturday, we head to Gettysburg Military Park. My ancestor Thomas Stapleton fought at this epic battle with the Vermont Volunteers 14th Regiment Company E in 1863. I hope to learn a little bit more of what he went through and to see the land he fought on.

Surprisingly, we think Macy hasn’t just adjusted to the road trip; we think she actually likes it. She’s a roadie!

It’s been 4 weeks now without a home. We’re doing OK but it will be nice to call Framingham MA home at some point.

We had a battlefield guide give us a 2 hour tour in our car. Below are pictures of where the Vermont Volunteers fought during Picketts charge.

Every state has at least one monument at Gettysburg, even the Confederate states. Below is one from North Carolina.

The view from Little Round Top was impressive. This was a Union position.

Learned some interesting facts about the artillery that was used then as well as stories about the battle and the people.

Lunch in an alley at the “Gettysburger”. Nice.

In town, you can still see civil war buildings with bullet holes/shrapnel. This is the Farnsworth building below.

Sunday morning we head to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwaters home in Mill Run PA.

We then headed to Ohiopyle for lunch. This is a great stop when cycling along the GAP (Great Allegheny Pass). Cool vibe.

Final leg of the day is to our hotel in Pittsburgh (Drury Plaza Hotel).

Monday morning, we walked downtown Pittsburgh and eventually across the Liberty bridge to the Duquesne Incline.

The Duquesne incline was built in 1877. As you slowly go up the steep incline your first thought is “is this safe”? Then you see the overgrown weeds and wood rot which removes all doubt. Defintely worth doing (before they eventually condemn it).

We finished our short Pittsburgh visit by getting a quick bite to eat in the Strip District.

Tuesday, we headed to Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. I wanted to see some old NY Jets stuff

Next was a surprise tour I booked for Beth. It was the prison that was featured in the movie “Shawshank Redemption”.

One story during the tour was when they threw powder on Tim Robbins to de-louse him. The extra was supposed to throw the powder into his chest but he threw it into his face. Tim Robbins told the extra “don’t do that again”. The director told the extra that he like that and told him to do it again. After the second take of getting hit in the face, the director said “Cut” and the extra took off running as a naked Tim Robbins ran after him.

The actual cell block scenes were from a set that was built in town. The cell block from the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield Ohio were very run down.

We ended our day at our hotel in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Wednesday is a pure travel day as we get off the Lincoln Highway and onto Rt 80. Our day ends in Altoona Iowa just outside of Des Moines.

Thursday we headed to Lincoln Nebraska for a midday picnic lunch at Pioneer Park Nature Center. The additional lure is that they have bison that can be viewed on the range. Unfortunately, they were so far from the fence line they were not that recognizable…..they could have been cows. Bummer.

We then headed over to the Sunken Garden in Lincoln. Lovely garden.

Not sure what these multi colored flowers are below but they are our favorite now.

Afterwards, we kept heading west to our hotel in North Platte Nebraska.

Friday we head to Denver, Colorado.

Did you know there are 5 different ways to pronounce Colorado? Google it, it’s a thing.

We got to Denver earlier than we planned. This was the second time zone change we hadn’t factored in. We headed to Daniel’s Park south of Highlands Ranch. They are suppose to have about 25 bison that graze on the reservation…..

Seeing a live bison….check

Sunday, we successfully got a few hikes in at Acadia State Park utilizing the free shuttle buses. We had to have a fellow bus passenger carry Macy onto to the first bus ride as the stairs freaked her out. Crazy dog.

First hike we chose was Ocean Trail. Nice views, nice trail and a little bit of elevation. Only 1.5 miles from Sand Beach to Thunder Hole and Oyster Point.

From here we caught a shuttle to Jordan Pond for a 3.5 mile hike on trail, granite boulders and wooden planks. No real elevation but all three of us were wiped out at the end. We are definitely out of shape right now.

Time to nap.

Monday, we decided to take it easy. The only thing on our agenda today is to find a good “Lob-stah roll”……life in the fast lane.

Tuesday, we left our yurt and headed to Massachusetts to stop over at Matt and Caitlin’s home. We plan to visit seaside town Ogunquit on the way to see a little bit more Maine.

Turns out Ogunquit is a nice small touristy town with a nice beach and overflow lagoon. The traffic and parking was just as bad as Bar Harbor though. The weather in Maine in August is refreshing which I guess why August is so popular.

Wednesday, we are headed back to the Poconos for a post surgery visit and then see my mom on Thursday and pickup our mail we held, etc. Booooooring.

After 2 nights in Jersey, we head to Gettysburg PA for a couple days.

We left Timber Trails spider web rental to go to my brother Joe and his wife Reta’s house in Dingmans Ferry PA for some more recuperation.

It was very peaceful staying at their house by the lake. We both needed that. Downside, the closest Dunkin Donuts is 30 minutes away….WTF!

We are heading up to Massachusetts to spend the night with our son Matt and his wife Caitlin. We plan to stop at Framingham MA to see the progress on the new build before heading to Maine. Never been to Maine. So the adventure continues.

As we skirted through New Hampshire, we visited their popular tourist attraction…..tax free state liquor store .

We will be staying for 5 nights nearby Stockton Springs, Maine near the river. We are about an hour from Acadia Park and Bar Harbor. We will be staying in the green yurt which also goes by the name “The Mallard” and has indoor plumbing!

The Wi-Fi password is “yurtsarecool”. Totally.

Friday, we decided to stay put at the yurt. Beth stocked us up on supplies at the local grocery store. Took a short walk from the yurt to see the shoreline of the Penobscot river with sailboats moored in the distance.

Saturday, we went to Acadia State Park and drove Loop road. Didn’t get any hikes in because parking was impossible and a ton of people. Going to go much earlier tomorrow and use the free shuttle buses instead of trying to drive.

Headed to nearby Bar Harbor in the afternoon. Small, quaint, walkable touristy town with a pretty coastline. Parking was difficult here as well. The locals call August, “the 100 days of August”. There are so many tourists here in peak season.