Stapleton Travel Blog

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.

The appendectomy was more involved due to an infection. I ended up spending 3 nights in the hospital getting pumped with antibiotics while Beth was running back and forth between me and Macy.

Surprisingly, this is my first time as a hospital patient. The level of care from the nurses and aides at St Luke’s hospital was excellent. I was also fortunate to have a competent and caring surgical team led by Dr. Fegely.

Finally back in Timber Trails on Monday night recovering with Beth and Macy. Feels good to be back with my girls.

After moving out of our Cranford NJ home, we rented a place in our old community of Timber Trails for two weeks in the Poconos. We we’re going to plan out what we were going to do for the next 6 – 8 weeks before our home in North Framingham MA is built.

Thanks to Joan and David from White Realty. White Realty (Evalyn Couzen) got us into this home 28 years ago and now they (Joan and David) got us sold.

Looked a little rough as we drove up to our rental , but once we got past all the spider webs, it only got a little worse.

The week started out great with Beth, Macy and me and then it spiraled downward. A visit to the Urgent Care was followed by a visit to the ER. Turns out constipation ( Urgent Care diagnosis) is not the same as large intestine blockage due to appendicitis (hospital diagnosis). Luckily I watched many episodes of The Pitt and ER, so I was “somewhat” prepared for this.

The ER nurse was very impressed with my vein for the IV. She said my vein was “ a poppin!”.

This is the view that I am ending the week with… definitely not lake view. Beth is holding the fort down with Macy.

This trip has nothing but upside now, right?

Today we take the 5 hr van ride back to a woodsy cabin retreat called La Casa Escondida run by Mauricio nearby Punta Arenas airport. He built this place and the surrounding cabins with his brother-in-law.

It’s just us and a German couple from Hanover Germany (Heinrich and Babel). They’ve been traveling for 4 weeks through Argentina and Chile.

This was our first time on Wi-Fi in 6 days. Sweet.
Tomorrow we take our 3.5 hour flight to Santiago and then a 10.5 hr flight to JFK. Looking forward to be home again. Adios.

Today we took a van ride to Laguna Azul to see some wildlife and just take it easy.

We saw a lot of guanacos which are similar to alpacas and a lot of condors and other indigenous birds.

We stopped at a waterfall and then went to the southern part of the park for a final view of Torres del Paine mountains and a picnic lunch.

We had our final dinner with our group as well as sharing what was positive and negative with the group leaders as they wanted to hear from us so they can improve on each tour they guide.

After dinner we sat around together and Felipe took us back to the kitchen so we could show appreciation to the cooks who we never seen. Their food was always delicious.

Today’s trek is 22K and over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. The last 1.4 miles has 2,000 feet of elevation gain which is STEEP.

Beth has decided to take the day off as her feet are hurting and the climb today is steep.

We went from walking through forests to walking up boulders. At one point we came across a bunch of guys carrying a guy in a wheelchair. Incredible team effort.

The weather today was spectacular…blue skies, warm, no rain, low winds and manageable crowds.

The view today was definitely worth the climb.

Climbing back down was just as hard as we had to make our way through hundreds of people coming up the same trail. Hiking etiquette is to give way to the people coming up the hill as they are expending the most energy. That rule was lost on this crowd.

Beth spent the day at Eco Camp taking a nap and treating herself to a massage. Eco Camp is such a cool place.

It is amazing how fast this group climbs. This is definitely not a walk in the park.

At night, it is surprising at how clear the stars are due to the lack of pollution down here.

Today is a 20K trek with over 1500 feet of elevation gain. Today we head to see the glacier on Grey Lake. This was suppose to be an easier day that included a boat ride near the glaciers on Grey Lake but the boat was cancelled due to the high winds. So instead we will need to hike back down to camp to catch another boat that will travel west to east to get us back to Eco Camp.

The highlight of the hike today was to see the glacier from the mirador and then the group got to lean into 45+ mph winds without falling forward.

Afterwards we had lunch in the woods protected from the winds.

The boat that was to take us back to camp only takes first come first serve so we needed to queue up 1.5 hours before the arrival time.

Felipe told us that the boat ride back would be OK for us since the wind will be at our back but for the people it was dropping off they were sailing into the wind and the boat might smell like puke. Good times.