Well here we are, back home in good ol’ Blighty! 🏠🇬🇧

I’m pleased to report that thank goodness, the ants did not invade while we were away enjoying ourselves. 🐜 Big thanks goes to our neighbours Al and Carol, who checked on the house and reported back to us, so easing our minds. 🥰

The walk across the Skybridge from the hotel to our terminal was an easy ten minute walk but it was heaving when we arrived. It was worse than Heathrow! Virgin was right at the end out of the chaos and surprise, surprise, check-in was open already and our section had no queue. 😁

The heavy suitcases!

We had already checked in, so a lovely lady took our bags and another surprise, surprise, the scales said our bags only weighed 19kgs each!!!!! What?!!! There is no way they only weighed that amount. On the way out they were 23 and 24kgs and all I threw away were some toiletries. The amount of goodies we added and the weight of them, when they were lifted, had us convinced they may even have been over our allowance of 32kgs each! Still, it made Si happy! 😊

When we arrived home we weighed the cases and one was 32.6 kgs and the other 28 kgs so goodness only knows why those scales said 19 kgs each. Big mystery! 🤷‍♀️

Also, for once, our suitcases were not opened by US Customs either. What’s going on!? 😂

We made our way to Security and stood in line, just like us Brits always do and then Si saw a sign for First Class etc so we made our way there. The queue was slow but we got through eventually.

Si, as always, was a problem at security bag check. It wouldn’t be a good holiday if he wasn’t now would it! 😁 He undid his belt but forgot to take it off and sure enough the alarm went off!! 😔They just scanned his belt but he had to go back through the scanner again.

Then came the anxious wait to see if the carry-on bags would make it through and not be ear-marked for further checks. Hooray, hooray, they went straight through! 🧳👏

Strange scene while we were waiting for our carry-on! There was a lady stood cuddling her cat!! 🐈I wonder if he has special bag allowance!! Um, must check that out!! 😂

So, on to the Delta Lounge. Virgin and Delta are sharing lounges at the moment and I think I may have mentioned that it said on the website it would close at 9 p.m., so meaning we would have to evacuate and sit with our fellow travellers for an hour or so. Again, a nice surprise awaited us when we were told they are open today until 1 a.m. so meaning we could stay until we were called for boarding at 10.20 p.m. Why is it in the US that they seem to be able to board people quicker? Our scheduled departure time was 11.10 p.m., 4.10 a.m. UK time.

We settled into the lounge, it was huge, with our beverages. My amaretto sour was classed as a ‘premium’ drink so we had to pay $6 dollars for it. Hey ho, it was worth it. 🍹

Si managed something to eat but I didn’t bother.

Si relaxing in the lounge

Me too!

The Lounge

The Lounge

Two disappointments followed. One, we were expecting one of Virgin’s new planes but two had suffered damage so they had to send out one of the older Airbus 330’s. Secondly, Tom didn’t pilot us home after all. ✈️

There were only 129 people on board. We were twenty minutes late taking off, mainly because of maintenance having to be called on board to fix a seat.

Food was served about an hour after take-off and although I planned not to eat anything so late at night, I did succumb to the asparagus soup.  It was delicious and came with a toasted cheese sandwich. I love toasties but not at that time of night! Si had a salad followed by cheese and biscuits.

The soup! Yes, I have the little salt and pepper shakers too!

View from the Lounge

We were told the flight would only take six hours instead of seven and because we still arrived at Heathrow early, we had to be put in the dreaded holding pattern.

We had quite the surprise when we landed at Heathrow because basically, it was empty! We arrived at the e-gates and there was not one person queuing. We just walked to the gates and through. Our bags were among the first to arrive and

The salad

The cheese and biscuits

there was no-one in Customs either. It was a miracle! 😂

After reading about the Border Control staff going on strike and the e-gates failing last week, we felt sure it would take ages to get through.

So, back to today!

As always, the holiday went far too quickly. 😔

We had a fantastic time, seeing new places and meeting many lovely people along the way. We didn’t even let good ol’ Hertz spoil things, even though they did their best to do just that! 🤬

It was great meeting up with Dot, John and Nat again. It was as though we had all been together just the day before.🥰

One sadness, was that we didn’t get to see our other dear friends, Denise and Desiree. Sometimes plans have to change, as happened this time, but fingers crossed it won’t be too long before we can right that wrong.🤞🥰

We had a few laughs too! Si driving on the wrong side of the road a couple of times for starters. 😂 Not being able to get a cup of coffee after 1 p.m. in Corning, New York being the second! Even the Hilton Hotel in Corning took the coffee away from the lobby after breakfast! 🤷‍♀️

As aways, a big “thank you” goes out to all of you who read and followed our adventures on the blog and for the comments too.They are always appreciated.👏

So, until the next time, there’s just one thing that remains for us to say, and that is ………. “goodbye again” 🥲

arrivederci, adeus, hejdå, 再见, zoi geen, zai jian, tot ziens, au revoir, tschüss, shalom, ciao, じゃね, anyeonghi gasyeo, poka/Пока, adios, hejdå, tạm biệt, vΘleft, farvel, ya sas, tókša akhé,

and hope to see you all again on our next adventure. 👋😀 ✈️🚙🇺🇸🇬🇧

Well, the end draws near! It all goes so quickly. 😔

It sounds like the weather at home is ‘on the turn’, so I expect it will be raining when we land! 🌧️ 🛬

I can’t remember if I told you, that there’s a good chance our plane will be piloted by a guy Si knows from our gym. Our very own pilot, oh my!! That’s what you call service! 😂 ✈️

We had another fabulous meal last night in The View restaurant at the Inn. We had one less course each but still couldn’t eat everything. Si had the risotto fritters followed by sea bass and I started with the pate and the rice fritters. To finish, Si had the vanilla creme brulee and for me, the Lemon Budino made up of shortbead cookie, fresh strawberry, strawberry coulis and strawberry dust. Plus, I had my usual, Amaretto Sour.

Si and the risotto fritters for his starter

I had the pate for my starter

Si and his sea bass

The Lemon Budino

The Amaretto Sour

Enjoying dinner

There was a small incident at the end of our meal that we felt bound to complain about last night and again this morning. 🙄

A party of six women arrived celebrating Mother’s Day, which just  happens to be tomorrow, two were from Cosmopolitan magazine and separately, a bachelor party of 10. We didn’t hear a peep out of the men but my goodness, the women! Well, in the end, we were having to raise our voices to hear each other. 😔

As you can imagine, I was rather annoyed and as we left I was giving long-hard stares at them and wanted to say something but Si was pushing me out by my elbows before I could voice my opinion! 🤬

We told our waitress and the maître d’ that we’d had quieter meals at a McDonald’s! Our complaint made its way to the Restaurant Manager and this morning he came to apologise and said our breakfast would be complimentary.

Such a shame on our last evening! 😒

I completed the review card in our room too, saying that if noisy children are not welcome then the same should apply to loud parties too! It’s quite a large restaurant so they could easily have been sat away from people trying to enjoy their meals in peace.

After breakfast, we said farewell to the couple from New Jersey, who it so happens have friends in Dorset and also learnt that the young man on reception has a sister living in Leeds! It’s such a small world. Then we set off to Boston for our flight home tomorrow. ✈️

Part of the Inn’s famous wine collection!

Our five-hour journey sadly took an extra ninety minutes due to road works and as we got closer to Boston, the traffic came to a standstill. Margaret, our sat-nav, told us there had been an accident but when we eventually reached the problem, it was just three lanes merging into two! 🤷‍♀️

I think that Margaret was having an off day today. She got a couple of things wrong and at one point disappeared altogether and we were left driving blind, so to speak! She needs a good talking too! 😒

We put our suitcases into our hotel room and then drove the car over to Hertz to return it and also speak to a manager about all the problems we’ve had on this trip.

We were fortunate to speak to a very lovely guy, Jason, who took everything on board, was very sympathetic and assured us he would do everything he can to resolve things to our satisfaction. I was pleased that I’d taken the time to write everything down and had saved the pages to my mobile because I was able to Airdrop everything to him, so he has all the details and copies of paperwork to hand.

Poor guy’s only been in the job a week, so he will take it to the next level of management for a conclusion. We felt reassured after speaking to him. He gave us his mobile number too, so that was encouraging also. We’ve requested a full refund so, fingers crossed, it’s all sorted out quickly.

We were pleased to get back to the hotel. We have a lovely corner room with a great view. We are in a Hilton and as I’m a member, they emailed and asked me to choose which room we would like. They also use digital keys so there’s no queuing to check-in. It’s all done via their app and the key is sent to my mobile so we just walk in to the hotel and straight up to our room. 👏

Tonight, as we were feeling rather weary after the long drive, we had a quick dinner here in the hotel at Connolly’s Publik (yes, that’s how it’s spelt) House. I had the Figgy Pie pizza, it was fabulous and Si went for clam chowder and fish tacos. Of course, I had my usual Amaretto Sour! I think I’m becoming addicted, I’ve had a few on this holiday!

It will be cold pizza for breakfast tomorrow me thinks as there was plenty left. We love cold pizza!

Our flight tomorrow is not until 11.05 p.m. It was changed from a more reasonable time, so it will be a long day. Luckily, we have a late check-out of 6.00 pm and there’s a walk-way from the hotel to the terminal, so that should be quite straight forward. We received emails from Virgin Atlantic asking us to choose our food options on board. Who on earth would want to be eating at 11.00 pm and then going to sleep! Not me, that’s for sure! 😒

See you tomorrow!

The day started cloudy and chilly again with a temperature of 60ºF (15ºC).☁️ 🥶I guess we shouldn’t really complain, as we were expecting it to be a lot colder up here! But I think it’s a good thing we fly home on Sunday, as I hear the weather is rather fabulous at the moment! 🌞

So, last night’s dinner in the award-winning restaurant! It was more than delicious, it was just fantastic. We are booked again for this evening.

The evening started on the right note when they presented us with our very own personalised menus!!

Our personalised menus!

There were three choices to start with, a cold starter menu, a hot starter menu, main course and then at the end of the meal we would be presented with the dessert menu!

Our waitress told us we could order whatever we wanted in whatever order we liked. For instance, we could start with a main course and finish with a starter etc.

Our view in the dining room

For the first course, we shared a cold starter of the house-made Harmony Hills pork pâté, fresh horseradish mustard, dried fruits and baguette. Oh my goodness, what can I say? The fresh horseradish was divine.

A little late taking the photo of the Harmony Hills pork pâté

The Safron Risotto

For the second course, we both had the saffron risotto, cheese, panko, North Point Community Farm roasted garlic aïoli and Small Town Culture fermented red onion. Again, just fabulous.

For the third course, Si had Slow cooked beef cheeks, cheddar grits, sautéed mushrooms and roasted North Point Community Farm garlic glaze and I had the 6oz grilled centre-cut beef tenderloin fillet, potato purée, petite carrots and turnips, haricot vert, fine herbs butter with pinot noir glaze. Heaven!

The Beef Cheeks

The Beef Fillet

My petite veggies!

Of course by this point we were saying it was a mistake to have had the first course because we were struggling, but we still managed to find a little room for some dessert of course! Si had the vanilla crème brûlée described as custard, sugar crackle, almond tuile cookie and fresh berries and I managed one scoop of burnt banana ice-cream.

In my excitement for dessert I forgot to take a photo. Good enough excuse to have the same again this evening me thinks! 😂

All in all, it was one of the best meals we’ve had in a while. Looking forward to this evening’s meal but we will probably only have two courses …………… or maybe three with dessert of course! 😂

After the meal!

So this morning we decided to visit Lake Saranac, just up the road from Lake Placid but upon arrival we decided perhaps it was not the best choice. It didn’t seem to have a lot to offer, although I’m sure the locals would disagree! So, we returned to Lake Placid and decided to do the Mirror Lake Loop again but this time in reverse. That meant the start of the walk was via the Main Street shops and that suited me fine. More goodies to purchase! 😁👍

Here are some photos taken on our walk and some of the Inn.

The Olympic Museum

The Inn from the lake

The Mirror Lake Inn Waterfall

Mirror Lake Inn Daffodils

Our very own outside temperature thermometer!

Once back at the Inn we composed our letter to Hertz detailing all the problems we’ve had, so that when we return the car tomorrow we have all of our ducks in a row, so to speak. 🦆🦆🦆

We don’t imagine them dealing with the problems there and then, if only, but we can make them aware of our intentions. I’ve now found an email of where to send our complaint higher up the chain to Executive level. So, we will see what their reaction is and take it from there.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that when we started our hike up Mount Jo, in the car park was a Tesla charger! That surprised us rather! 🤔

The Tesla charger!

Tomorrow we leave this wonderful place to travel to Boston, ready for our flight home on Sunday.

Hope you’ll join us there!

As always, thanks for reading!

The day started cloudy with a definite chill in the air, but at least it wasn’t raining! ❄️

We spoke to a couple at breakfast this morning who live in New Jersey. We told them how we were big Bruce Springsteen fans (he lives in New Jersey) and the husband was telling us how they use the same barbers and sometimes Bruce just drops in to use the toilet there. They said how ordinary he is, not like a lot of famous people! 😁

After a lovely breakfast, served by Nigel, who was very jolly and kept calling me ‘the Mrs! and Si, ‘the Mr! we decided on a hike.

Si, first of all found a two-mile ‘easy’ one but I thought we were capable of more than that, so we decided to climb to the summit of Mount Jo in the Adirondack Mountain Range. It’s classed as ‘moderate’ and reading the blurb about it, it seemed one we could manage. 👍⛰

Mount Jo

When we arrived at the trail head, the young man in charge said his advice was to take the long trail and not the short one, as it was more interesting and the short one had lots of boulders and high step-ups.

We set off and at first, all seemed okay, quite flat, not too hilly, but that soon changed and we found ourselves climbing up and up and up over boulders, tree roots and fallen trees. Of course, parts of it were very muddy too! The summit is about 877 metres (2,877 feet) but it felt like a lot higher climb.

Starting the climb!

This looked rather daunting!

We saw three other people on the trail, two men and one young lady. They were all moving much faster than us of course. We saw the young lady at the summit and Si said to her that we moved slower than her and she replied that yes, she was younger! How to make friends and influence people! 😂

Reaching the summit!

At the summit

On the way up and down we saw some grey squirrels with red tails! Very strange! They were moving too quick for us to get photos.

Grey squirrel with red tail

It took us 80 minutes to get to the top but only 60 minutes to get down. On the way up it didn’t rain and we even had a little sun but on the decent it started to rain quite hard at times. Luckily, we had wet jackets with us.

At the summit

View from the summit, you can just see Heart Lake below

Heart Lake

Good grief! 😂Well, it had started to rain. 🌧️

This shows how steep we were climbing!

Considering that just a few weeks ago, we didn’t know if we would be able to do walks, let alone hikes on this holiday due to Si’s bad back pain, I think he’s done extremely well to achieve all he’s done and without complaint. 👏👍

Just to go back to yesterday’s blog about John Brown’s house, I forgot to mention that apart from the two original pieces of furniture, the structure of the house is also original as are all the wooden floors inside. I find that just amazing! They knew how to build things back then!

Tonight we are fine-dining at the award-winning restaurant here at the Inn called, The View. There is a dress code and special rules apply, e.g. no mobiles are allowed in the dining room (in fact theres a notice when you enter the front door to say all mobiles must be turned off!) and if guests are bringing children to eat they are expected to behave and will be seated somewhere appropriate! Oh my! Expectations are high!

More tomorrow from Lake Placid. It’s our last full day before we move on to Boston to fly home!

As forecast, the day started wet and chilly! ☔️💨 It’s been raining on and off all day, sometimes very heavily so most of our activities were indoors.

After breakfast, we decided to go and visit the home of the abolitionist, John Brown. You may know the song, “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave”?

John Brown, born 9th May, 1800, owned a farm in North Elba, situated in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains. He loved the farm but spent hardly anytime there as he was following his cause of abolishing slavery.

Si outside John Brown’s house

There are only two original pieces of furniture in the house:

John Brown’s  bookcase/china holder

The top cupboard is was built by John Brown’s son-inlaw

Part of the upstairs where the children slept!

The spinning wheel

He was married twice and had twenty children, nine of whom died in childhood. He married his second wife, Mary Ann Day in 1833 when she was just 17. She possessed great physical stamina and was devoted to her responsibilities managing the household and raising the children. She and John had 13 children, but only six survived to adulthood and just four survived their father.

John Brown

Mary Brown with two of her daughters

A shaving bowl made from the gallows where John Brown was hanged!

A statue erected in memory of John Brown and a slave boy

In a story he told to his family, when he was 12 years old and away from home moving cattle, Brown worked for a man with a slave boy, who was beaten before him with an iron shovel. He asked the man why he was treated like that, and the answer was that he was a slave. According to Brown’s son-in-law, Henry Thompson, it was that moment when John Brown decided to dedicate his life to improving African Americans’ conditions.

On the night of 16th October,1859, Brown and his followers assaulted the U.S. Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, planning to use the captured arms in an extensive campaign for the liberation of the slaves in the South. Brown was captured on 18th October, 1859, imprisoned at Charlestown, Virginia, tried by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and hanged on 2nd December, 1859.

We visited Harper’s Ferry back in 2013 and learnt all about John Brown’s adventure there!

Harpers Ferry – Photo taken during our trip in 2013!

Mary brought his body back to the farm in North Elba and he was buried in front of his home on December 8, 1859. The remains of several of Brown’s followers, who fought and died at Harper’s Ferry, were moved to this small graveyard in 1899.

Although John wanted Mary to stay on at the farm after his death, she decided she could no longer cope on the farm, so In 1863, she and her children moved to California where she died on 29th February, 1884 at the age of 68 and is buried in Madronia Cemetery, Saratoga.

Slavery was eventually abolished in the US on 6th December 1865. Although Brown did not live to see the day, he was certainly a major contributor to its ending.

In 1999, 140 years later, John Brown Lives! was born and there is an annual gathering at his farm in North Elba. Their mission, quote, “is to not just honour John Brown’s forceful voice in bringing an end to slavery, but to take his lead and follow in his footsteps, promoting social justice and human rights through reflection and activism, awareness and exploration, kinship and individual action”.

We spent a long time in the house talking to a lovely young man called Patrick. He is the Historic Interpreter or Guide, as he calls himself, at the farm. His knowledge of all things relating to John Brown was vast and it was obvious that he has a great deal of respect for John Brown and what he was attempting to achieve with regard to slavery.

Patrick, the Historic Interpreter (Guide) 😊

Next, we decided to visit Lake Placid’s Olympic Museum, where we learnt all about the two Winter Olympic Games held there in 1932 and 1980. As a two-times Olympic Host City, they are home to North America’s second-largest Winter Olympic artifact collection.

Suits us, don’t you think? 😂

The USA beat Russia in the semi-finals of the ice hockey in 1980 before  going on to beat Finland for the Gold medal!

Original tickets to the 1932 Winter Olympics

Linda Fratianne wore this dress at the 1980 Winter Games. Pinned into the left shoulder is a tiny pouch blessed by the Pope, which contains several good luck charms. She secured a silver medal in the free skate performance.

The original scoreboard used when the US beat the Russians in the 1980 semi-finals of the ice hockey. The US went on to beat Finland in the finals so winning the Gold medal.

Finally, we headed to High Falls Gorge to experience, quote, ‘The Adirondacks’ Most Breathtaking 30-Minute Walk!” We didn’t know what to expect really, apart from the fact that there was a waterfall. Well, we were blown away by what we actually found there! 😱

We thought Ricketts Glen’s waterfalls were amazing but this surpassed everything for sheer volume of water and noise. It was also blowing a gale, so please excuse any wind noise on the videos! 💨

The same type of rock was found by Astronauts who visited the moon!

High Falls Gorge Waterfall!

Yes, that’s a tree!

The calm before the storm!

As we returned from High Falls Gorge the rain started to lash down, so we decided to stop quickly for some dinner to save us having to venture out again this evening. We stopped at the Black Bear restaurant just down from the hotel and Si had ribeye steak and for me, fish and chips. Everything was delicious!

So, even though the weather has not been good today, we managed to pack a great deal in and to even stay dry! ☔️

Tomorrow looks chilly again but at least it should stay dry! 🤞

Hope you’ll join us tomorrow for more of our adventures.

As always, thanks for reading.

After all of the previous day’s adventures, we slept very well. 😴

As home to both the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games, Lake Placid is incredibly proud of its rich Olympic heritage. It is the only venue in the USA to hold the Winter Olympics twice.

The Mirror Lake Inn has been family-owned since 1924, when it was owned by the the Wikoff family. It was originally known as the Mir-a-Lac Inn and quickly became known as a high-quality resort attracting very wealthy clientele from all over the state and especially New York City.

It survived the Depression years and in 1932, the inn was winterised for the Winter Olympics and the Norwegian Team rented the entire Inn.

The Inn is currently owned by Ed and Lisa Weibrecht, who continue with many of the old traditions. Good food, always warm and hospitable service were a tradition then and are now at the Mirror Lake Inn.

Our room is just lovely and the view magnificent.

Si relaxing!

We awoke this morning to bright sunshine but a chilly wind. 💨

After a delicious breakfast, we decided to walk the Mirror Lake Loop. It’s just a 2.82 mile walk and enabled us to acclimatise ourselves with the local area. Here are some photos of our walk.

Ironman Si!

Um! Potbellied Pigs in a tree!

I always measure a hotel by two things.

First of all, do they serve chamomile tea and how it is served. Top marks go to the hotel if they serve chamomile flowers in a silk bag and not just as a tea bag. I’m very pleased to report that the Inn serves flowers in a silk bag. So, top marks to the Mirror Lake Inn. 👏

From our room this morning we saw two men, Dave and Bob, fishing out on the lake and during our walk we met them bringing their boat into shore and they told us they had caught seven lake trout.

This is the view from our room. Can you hear the Loons calling?

A Loon

After a short break for a coffee and to write yesterday’s blog, we set off to visit the Lake Placid Olympic Ski-Jumping Complex.

The complex consists of a Sky Flyer Zipline, Skyride (gondola ride) and the Ski-Jump Tower. It is not fully open until June, so today we were only able to go to the top of the Tower which stands 420 feet tall (128 meters) and is famous for being one of the only free-standing ski-jumps in the world!

The ski-jump tower

The ski slope from the top

The view from the top is magnificent and kudos must go to the brave souls who are willing to stand out there in the open and then launch themselves down the slope with large planks of wood on their feet!! ⛷️🤣It’s not something either of us could do, that’s for sure. 😱

View from the tower

The landing area from the ski jump!

Tonight we dined at The Cottage, it’s the casual option here at the Inn. It sits right on the lake. The food was delicious.

Ann, here are the car photos! They are pretty much the same.

The first beast – the Lincoln Navigator

The second beast – the Chevrolet Tahoe

Funny event of the day ………….. well there has to be one doesn’t there? 😂🤷‍♀️

We set off to drive back to the Inn and heard a strange noise but it wasn’t immediately obvious what it was. Oh, oh we think, what’s wrong now? 🫣Suddenly, Si realises that we are driving along with the tailgate (boot lid) open!! Dear me, will it never end!? 🤣

At the moment, the weather for tomorrow is not looking very promising, rain and thunder is forecast, so we may be forced indoors. Fingers crossed the forecasters are wrong. 🤞

See you tomorrow!

Hi, we are back!

We had breakfast at the hotel, I had the kid’s plate today, Si had his usual breakfast sandwich and then we set off for Lake Placid. It was sunny and warmer at 63ºF (17ºC) and as we expected it to be cold in Lake Place, we donned our winter woollies! 🥶

We travelled through New York, into Pennsylvania and back into New York.

Also saw signs for Amsterdam, Hague, Worcester, Chester, Bolton and Rotterdam. Nice to see such familiar place names along the way!

We’ve been noticing a lot of Florida licence plates on this trip! We wonder if perhaps they live in New York and go to Florida for the winter? Answers on a postcard please! 😂

Also, we noticed on our trip that New York has a new tolling system, Cashless Tolling. It’s meant to reduce congestion, enhance safety and reduce pollution! All it did for us was to cause confusion! We don’t know if we were charged or not. Guess Hertz will let us know at some point. Mind you, as Hertz thought we were driving a different car anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens! They closed down the rental while we were still driving the Lincoln Navigator and thought we were driving a Corolla and the reservation has disappeared from their system. You couldn’t make it up! Good job we can laugh! 😂

Here are a few more photos taken during our five-hour trip!

We had quite an uneventful drive, apart, of course, from a few roadworks, to the Mirror Lake Inn, Lake Placid but unfortunately, that all changed when we arrived!

We checked in, the Mirror Lake Inn is just fabulous, staff very friendly. Went back out to move the car and it just wouldn’t start! 😱

Very long story short, Si called Hertz, not very satisfactory. They called the local garage, who were great, they came out and got it started. It seemed to be a computer problem. We didn’t want to keep a car we couldn’t rely on so we asked Hertz for a replacement. Yes, that’s okay but they wouldn’t deliver it to the hotel. We had to drive to Burlington Airport to exchange it. Shout our for Seth C. at Hertz, he was great and did everything he possibly could do to help us.

The whole journey took five hours. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 11 p.m. We’d only had breakfast and it was too late for dinner.

Still, we visited another state along the way, Vermont! Very pretty.

We thought we could stop somewhere en-route for a quick bite but even McDonalds was closed! The season hasn’t completely started yet. 🤷‍♀️

Oh, and when Si drove out of the Inn on our trip to Burlington Airport, he was on the wrong side of the road again! Of course, a car came round the corner, he must have been in total shock as Si realised and swerved to the right! 😱

The journey back to the Inn was awful. It was pitch black, no road lights, driving on very bendy roads in a car we’d just collected. Hertz will be receiving a very long letter when we get back. 🤬

There’s a lot more to the story that I won’t bore you with! 🥱

Tomorrow can only ger better! Right!🤞

As always, thanks for reading. 🤗

Sorry folks, but today’s post has been delayed due to more car problems! 😔

Will post as soon as possible.

We noticed this morning that the flags outside the hotel were flying at half-mast and asked reception why and were told it was to remember 89 firefighters who had died in the past year. 🇺🇸

As forecast, it rained this morning and it’s cold again. ☔️🥶

That didn’t stop Nat doing her early morning run before the rains came though! She’s very dedicated! 🏃‍♀️Bless her!

It looks as though the rest of our holiday will be cold, as Lake Placid’s temperatures are currently ranging from 38ºF (3ºC) to 64ºF (17ºC). We expected it to be cold there but we’ve been rather spoilt, as we were not expecting hot weather in Babcock and Rickett’s State Parks so now it’s turned cold here in Corning, it’s all been a bit of a shock! 🥶

Today’s plan was to have breakfast and then walk down to the Corning Museum of Glass. It’s only a five-minute walk from the hotel and is a great place to visit.

We saw some amazing exhibits before watching the glass blowing, they make it look so easy, before buying some beautiful glass to take home.

The following photographs are of items all made of glass.

Sadly, Dot and Nat have left us and travelled home. 😔We had such a wonderful time all being together again, the time went very quickly and are sad it’s over. Fingers crossed it won’t be too long before we can all be together again. 🤞

The three Twilight buddies back in 2013!

The three Twilight buddies today!

After the girls had left, we decided to drive into Corning for a quick pizza lunch before returning to the hotel and getting ready for our departure tomorrow.

We will be leaving Corning to drive to Lake Placid in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains.

As always, thanks for reading. Comments always welcome. 🤗

Today started drizzly and cold …. 59ºF (15ºC) and the most it got up to was 62ºF (16ºC) so it was a day for jeans and jackets! 🥶💨

We had a leisurely breakfast here at the hotel and discussed what we wanted to do for the day. We decided on a trip to Bully Hill Winery in Hammondsport for wine tasting.

Hammondsport was first settled in 1792 with the village being located at the south end of Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes. It is considered to be the heart of the grape-growing region in New York.

On the way we stopped at a place called Hickory Hill, where Dot has a summer home. It’s a great place and was lovely to see it again.

The Gang at Hickory Hill

Bully Hill is situated high above Keuka Lake. It is one of the major Finger Lakes in the U.S. state of New York. It is unusual because it is Y-shaped, in contrast to the long and narrow shape of the other Finger Lakes. Because of its shape, it was referred to in the past as Crooked Lake.

The View from the Winery

The wine tasting was great. There were two hen parties and one birthday being celebrated, so you can imagine how raucous it was! 😱The guy in charge of the wines was called Dustin. He was a real hoot, loud and booming and had us all in stitches. The cost of the tasting also included us keeping our Bully Hill wine glass.

Dustin!

Looking our best!

The original owner of the winery owned a goat!

A beautiful table at the winery!

After purchasing the necessary mementos we made our way into Hammondsport for cake and coffee. We found a lovely shop called the Crooked Lake Ice Cream Co. and instead of ice cream, enjoyed a Red Velvet muffin and one called French Toast. They were delicious.

Hammondsport Town Square Band Stand

Dot’s husband, John, joined us for dinner this evening and we decided to visit the Texas Roadhouse, a favourite with us all. The steaks are all hand-cut and just melt in the mouth. One particular favourite are the hot dinner rolls they give you to start the meal, with the famous cinnamon honey butter! Deeeeeeeelicious! The secret is not to eat too many or there’s the possibility of not being able to eat the meal! I could easily just have those rolls alone. Fabulous!

The gang at the Texas Roadhouse

Relaxing after dinner back at the hotel!

Dot

Nat

Si (just in case you didn’t know!)

As we drove through the small towns today, we noticed banners hanging from the lampposts. They were Hometown Hero pole banners. They are a lasting expression of gratitude and remembrance, honouring the service and sacrifice of local military heroes, both past and present, with each pole banner telling a unique story. Each banner has the name and photograph of each hero.

Memorial Banners

It was quite a moving sight, honouring people that way.

It’s been another lovely day, even if it ended as it started, rainy and cold. ☔️🥶 We are hoping for better weather tomorrow for Dot and Nat’s last day with us. 🤞

As always, thanks for following along on our adventures!

After a quick breakfast this morning we set out for Corning, New York, to meet up with our dear friends Dot and Nat. 👏

The temperature first thing was 65ºF (18ºC) but reached 80ºF (26ºC) later on. In fact, it’s been a lovely sunny day with a light breeze, so comfortable. 🌞

As one of the roads on the trip was closed, Margaret, our sat-nav, sent us on an alternative route that took us through lots of small towns like Milan, Athens and Ulster. Even though we took an alternative route, it didn’t add anything to our driving time of 2.5 hours.

Nearly there!

I was telling Dot how we named every sat-nav we have, Margaret, because in the past, one of Dot’s saying has been “punch it Margaret!” meaning to get a move on. Now we know that Margaret, was the name of Dot’s mother-in-law! So every time we mention Margaret’s name we are giving a shout-out to her husband John’s, mother. 😀

It’s been just great meeting up with Dot and Nat again. Even though it’s been a few years since we’ve all met face to face, it felt as though we’d seen each other yesterday. Such is the way with good friends. 😊

The hotel has put us all on the fifth floor with Dot in an adjoining room to us, so I think it’s party time! 🥳

We decided to go into Corning for dinner and ate at Mooney’s – Home of the Mac ‘n Cheese.

As the name suggests, it’s everything Mac ‘n Cheese. For instance, I wanted the Philly Cheese Steak, so they mix that with Mac ‘n Cheese. May sound strange, but boy was it good! 😋

The door for the little people!

It can be ordered as a side or main portion. We all chose the side portions after our waitress told us it would be rather large and my goodness, we were amazed when we saw the size of the meal! It would easily have fed two people comfortably. The starters were all of a decent size too, so there was no way we were going to eat everything.

The four together again!

Needless to say, we came out with leftover boxes and enough food to feed us for the rest of the weekend! We have microwaves in our rooms, so if we need a snack in the middle of the night, it will either be Philly Cheese Steak or Si’s choice, The Stinger (spicy beef)!

Mind you, afterwards, Dot suggested we should go for ice-cream! Funny how there’s always a little room for something sweet! 😂 So, we went to Dippity Do Dahs for homemade ice cream! Silly me, you would think I would have learned by now that portions are always large here, but still ordered two scoops!! Needless to say, I couldn’t finish it. What’s the saying ….. eye’s bigger than my belly! 😂😔

Sand’s Lucky Leprechaun!

Interesting!

Enough room for ice-cream and milkshakes!

When we got back to the hotel it was still a lovely evening, 🌞so we were able to sit outside around the fire pit for a drink before heading for bed, ready for a full day tomorrow.

The forecast is for some rain tomorrow, 🌧️ …………. fingers crossed the weather forecast here is wrong, just like it is in the UK! 🤞

I discovered today, that on Day 7’s post (the one where we lost our car!) I kept referring to the Lucy Rose parking lot ……………… it’s no wonder we couldn’t find our car because it’s real name is the Lake Rose parking lot!! I guess that’s why people kept looking at me strangely when I kept saying the Lucy Rose instead of Lake Rose, but no one corrected me! 😔Dear me, I think I need to lay down in a darkened room with a cool flannel on my head! 🤯

All in all, it’s been a great day and we look forward to another one tomorrow! 😊

Hope to see you then!

As always, thanks for joining us on our adventures!

Another day, another waterfall!

But first of all, dinner last night.

We decided to try out the Ruth’s Chris Steak House (yes, I know, strange name!) at the Mohegan Sun casino here in Wilkes-Barre. Regular followers of the blog will now we like a little gamble now and again and after our big £10,000 win in Las Vegas last year, we thought we would give it a go.

First of all, on our way to the restaurant we saw the same machines we had our big win on last year and well, well, well, there was a lady being paid out $19,000! Those machines, Dragon Link, have got to be the luckiest ever or maybe not! We played them today and had quite a few little wins but nothing big. Hey ho! 😔

The winning machine last year!

Anyway, to get back to last night’s dinner. We both had steak and to say they were delicious is an understatement. The steaks are cooked using a patented broiling method developed by the founder (Ruth Fertel). They’re seasoned to perfection, and then served sizzling on 500º plates. Needless to say the food stays piping hot throughout the meal. Just don’t touch the plate! 🔥

Si with his steak dinner at Ruth’s

We decided to go back to Ricketts Glen again this morning to try and photograph the remaining waterfalls that we were advised not to try and reach as the terrain was very difficult and potentially dangerous.

Careful on those steps!

Dodgy!

Instead of climbing up as we were doing yesterday, we actually went and parked in the Lake Rose parking lot (that’s where we thought we were yesterday) and walked down to the falls. We now understand what we were being told yesterday, as the hike in parts was difficult and after photographing four, we had to give up on the remaining two, as the climb down would have been suicidal. So, out of 22 waterfalls we managed to photograph 20.

On the way to the waterfalls

To get down to the next waterfall we would have had to climb down and round the rock, bottom left at the end of the video! I don’t think so! 😱

Time to get back to the car!

Anyway, by now we were hot and glowing, it was 72º (22ºC) at 10.00 a.m. and being bothered by flies, so we felt we had done our bit and it was time to make our way back to the car, where the temperature had reached 85ºF (29ºC). It was now 12.20 p.m.

During our hike yesterday, a lady stepped aside to let us carrying on climbing and she laughed and said she didn’t want to interrupt our momentum. Momentum! Si told her we had left that back in the parking lot! 😂 However today, we had it back with a vengeance.

There was no repeat of yesterday about finding our car as we took the advice of our dear chum Si Smith and used what3words to record its location. Thanks Si. 👍

We didn’t need the help of Ranger Mike today. He was a very interesting guy. He was telling us yesterday that he’s the only full-time ranger at Ricketts Glen. He’s been there 20 years and before that he was in the military and served in many different locations around the world. He gave us all kinds of information about the Park too and also informed us that they have bears too but they are black ones, so wouldn’t harm us! Don’t think I want to be testing that opinion anytime soon, thank you. 😂

One of the questions he asked us yesterday, when trying to find where we had parked our car was, had we seen the dam? Dam, what dam, we replied? Well, we saw it today and it was right by the Lake Rose parking area.

Now, a trip to the east of the US would not be complete, for me at least, without a visit to a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love them. They describe themselves as a ‘homey chain restaurant serving American comfort food, with an on-site general store’. We had lunch there today. Every time we drive past a Cracker Barrel sign we raise our arms in homage to this great store/restaurant.

Tomorrow will be a very exciting day for us as we will be meeting up with our dear friends Dot and Nat in Corning, New York! We keep in touch all the time, but it’s been a long time since we were last all together in person and to quote the character Red, from what’s got to be the best film ever, The Shawshank Redemption: “I find I’m so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head”.

Don’t be surprised if the blog is late over the next few days ………………… the four of us have a lot of talking and enjoying to do! 👏

The only photo I have with me, is this one of the three of us back in 2013 ……………. I’m sure you won’t think we look any different when I publish the latest one of us all together again! 😂

The three Twilight buddies back in 2013!

As always, thanks for reading.

We decided on an early start today as we wanted to get to Ricketts Glen before the crowds and before it became too hot.

So after a lovely breakfast here at the hotel we sped off and arrived at the car park and there were only six other cars. The temperature was 59ºF (15ºC) and rose later to 75ºF (24ºC). Under the tree canopy it was rather pleasant but when out in the sun it was burning. Of course, being near the water means flies and bugs!

Map of Ricketts Glen Waterfalls

Ricketts Glen State Park is one of the most scenic areas in Pennsylvania. The large park covers13,193 acres and it is the most beautiful place to visit and the waterfalls are amazing.

The 94-foot Ganoga Falls is the highest of 22 named waterfalls. Old growth timber and diverse wildlife add to the beauty.

We were there for a total of four hours hiking mostly the black trails (the most difficult). It was very strenuous and at times very slippery.

We only missed three of the falls and that was because we met someone who said to do those would mean another two-hours hiking and the terrain was very dangerous so we decided against that and turned back.

We met quite a few people on the trail and some stopped and talked and we discussed the falls. One couple were from Corning and that’s where we will be heading to from here on Friday to meet up with our dear friends Dot and Nat.

There were quite a few dog walkers and Si bent down to tickle one and it bit him! Luckily, no blood was drawn! 😱

Here are a few photos and videos of just a few of the beautiful waterfalls.

Sand on the hike – resting!

Si looking superior!

At the end of the hike!

I believe the weather in the UK is not very good at the moment, ☔️so what I’m going to tell you next will probably brighten your day somewhat! Prepare for a good belly laugh!!! 🤣

The Barretts had to be rescued by Chief Ranger, Mike Maneval …………….. oh! the embarrassment and shame. 😳

We were hiking our way back to the Lucy Rose Trailhead Parking as that was where we had parked our car  ………………. or so we thought! 🚙🤔

We walked from the woods triumphant that we had achieved so much and were high-fiving each other and then we stopped as we couldn’t see our car anywhere! We looked at each other in amazement as we realised the car park we were in was not the one we had parked in!

Out comes the map and even though we were 100% convinced we were parked in the Lucy Rose, it was obvious that we weren’t. We saw a sign that directed us back to the main road so set off thinking we must be parked just up the road somewhere. Eventually, we arrived at the Park Centre and managed to find a lady to help us.

She asked us our registration and when we hesitated she asked the colour and make, well we knew that, it was a black Lincoln. She radioed for help and up turned two men, one of which was Ranger Mike.

He asked us if we had driven in on I18? …………. um, we shrugged and said we had just followed the sat nav!

Had we driven past a lake? …………….. eh, don’t think so!

Had we driven in up a steep hill to the parking lot? …………… eh don’t think so!

Had we climbed up hill or own hill at the end of the hike? Hang on, we knew that one, the answer was up! 👍

The questions went on and on and we didn’t have any answers. We felt like such fools. Like those who set out on long hikes with no food or water.

Eventually, he asked if we had had to hike a while before we actually saw any waterfalls and boom, 💥 we had! From that little piece of information he told us we had parked in Glen Falls parking lot.

He ushered us in his car 🚗and set off at speed. I was still convinced he was wrong and when mile one became mile two and so on, I was sure we would not find our car there. After about eight minutes driving and wondering where on earth he was taking us, we turned a corner and there it was ………………… the car! As we drove in I noticed a sign that said ‘Glen Falls Parking’.

I apologised for our stupidity but he said it happens all the time ……….. not to us it doesn’t, and he said not to worry about it. I bet he’s having a good laugh with his family tonight about the dumb Brits. 😔

Anyway, this is a lesson learned. Always take a photograph of where the car is parked and put a pin in the map on the phone.

Driving back we had a good laugh about it as we relived all the questions and us standing there shrugging and saying “we don’t know!” 🤣🤷‍♀️

I’ve just realised while typing this that I wasn’t so dumb after all, just forgetful. I actually took a photo of the map at the parking lot showing exactly where we were! 🤷‍♀️

If you click on the map, you’ll see it says ‘You Are Here”. Well, we ended up at the Lucy Rose Trailhead Parking towards the top of the map. That’s how far out we were. Big shout-out for Ranger Mike! 👏

Still, we had a good day. The waterfalls were magnificent and we are thinking that we may return tomorrow after all to tackle the three we didn’t see today …………………. you can be sure we’ll be making sure we know exactly where we are parked!!

Thanks for reading. Comments (replies) are always welcome.