Back in Rochester

We took a different route out of Morrisville this time, heading down Route 100 through Stowe all the way south through the Mad River valley and then down the White River valley to Killington before heading west on 4 to New York State.  Back in 2011 when Hurricane Irene hit Vermont, there was widespread devastation along the White River.  We can remember traveling that route for a year or two afterward and there was still evidence of the storm's power.  Now it's a peaceful, idyllic trip along a quintessential New England route.  Beautiful countryside and peaceful rivers.  Lots of green trees and fields - we're trying to soak up as much of that green before we get back to Nevada.

Killington is a ski area in the heart of the Green Mountains.  It's where the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail intersect in southern Vermont.  As were eating breakfast, I thought perhaps we should order a meal to go and bury it for Char, Tom III and their families as they hike the Long Trail later this summer.  Naah, the bears would probably get it before they reached it.

Crossing into New York State, we passed the birthplace of the US Navy (at least that's what the sign said).  It's right at the bottom of Lake Champlain and is also the headwaters of the Erie Canal Way.  The Erie Canal is much further south, but there is a whole network of feeder canals which helped with the distribution of goods back in the early 1800's. 

Cutting southwest from I-87 to I-90, we hit the Mohawk River and encountered one of the most heavy rainstorms we have ever experienced.  Traffic slowed to a crawl and a lot of people pulled over to the side.  After about thirty minutes, it subsided and we were in beautiful, sunny weather.  We watched the temperature climb from 59 to 77 in the space of about twenty minutes after the storm went through.  One of the side benefits was that we got a great free car wash!

Got to Rochester about the same time Tim got home from work.  We're going to celebrate his birthday (June 4th) early and then head home on Thursday.  Went out to dinner at Basil's at the foot of Irondequoit Bay, part of Lake Ontario.  Water was still very high (and the rain earlier today probably didn't help any).  Outside the restaurant, they had a walking trail called the Swan Trail  There were a couple of the beautiful birds in the bay - much prettier than the Canadian geese which were also swimming around.