Tales from the O.C.: Honeymoon

Heather and I didn't plan to stay in Cornwall for a long time and that's why after a quick breakfast we left the hotel at 8am on a frosty morning with the temperature at -2C. Before crossing the border, we made a quick stop at a local Wal-Mart for some last minute supplies.

Morning in Cornwall at the Best Western.

After paying a $3US toll on the Canadian side we crossed the border at 8:30am. The crossing took longer than we're used to as I was subjected to several questions like "Where were you born?", "When did you come to Canada?", "When did you become a Canadian citizen?" in addition to the usual "Where are you going and why"? On top of that I was asked to open the trunk.

The roads of New York we were traveling were somewhat twisty and the roadside was very colourful. We didn't make our first stop until we had to stop in Saranac Lake for gas. It was our first fuel stop since leaving home yesterday. Another 10 minutes later we stopped again but this time in Lake Placid. I made plans to include this town in our itinerary for a couple of reasons.

One of the reasons was a flying tour of Lake Placid and the surrounding Adirondack Park provided by the Adirondack Flying Service. For $40 per person, you were able to get a 20 minute flight of either the High Peaks or the Olympic Village. Heather and I decided for the High Peaks tour. The pilot, Phil, was summoned and after 15 minutes we were flying 5,000 feet above ground.

At the Lake Placid Airport with our aircraft.

Phil proved to be a great guide and a reliable pilot. Did I mention that this was only my second time ever in any aircraft? We had a great view of Adirondack's highest mountains and even saw the landscape of Vermont. With a clear sky the visibility was about 100 miles. In addition, we flew over the olympic village.

A bird's eye view of the town of Lake Placid.

While in the air, Phil also advised us that the best way to get to Vermont was to take a ferry from Essex instead of the bridge from Port Henry to Chimney Point as we had planned to do. Apparently the bridge is currently closed. We left the Lake Placid airport at 11:30 and made a quick stop at the Ski Jumping Complex where we met a couple of motorcyclists from New Hampshire. We chatted with them for a couple of minutes, exchanged photos and left for downtown and the Olympic Visitors Centre.

At the Ski Jumping Complex.

At the Visitors Centre, we found out that there are no tours at this time of year and most of the olympic venues are supposedly closed, except for viewing. With that in mind, we drove back out of town to Mt. Van Hoevenberg which is home to the Olympic Sports Complex. There we watched luge practice for a few minutes.

At the bobsled/luge park.

Following Phil's directions, we arrived in Essex at 1:35pm. There we boarded the ferry which left mere seconds later. Of the dozen vehicles on board, at least five states (Massachussets, Virginia, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island) and one province (Ontario, of course) were represented. We actually talked with a family from UK who were on vacation traveling in a Jeep with Ontario plates. Apparently, they had already visited Toronto, Kingston and were on their way to Burlington, Vermont and then Stowe tomorrow.

On the ferry from New York to Vermont.

The ferry ride took no longer than 15 minutes and from there we decided to drive straight to our destination in Stowe. However, that didn't prove to be easy as I punched in the wrong address into the GPS. Apparently in Vermont, the Green Mountains State, there is more than one Green Mountain Inn. Luckily for us the difference between the two was about 6 miles. We finally checked in to our hotel at 3:30pm. As we got to our room, a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates were already waiting for us.

Our room at the Green Mountain Inn.

Our hotel room is very nice with several great features like even a safe. One of the walls is adorned by a portrait of Fanny Allen. There's also a fireplace, a DVD player and a jacuzzi.

At 6:30, Heather and I made our way to The Whip, in-house restaurant, for supper. The food was amazing as Heather had a Fresh Vermont Chevre, Potato Dumplings w/Cheddar & Herbs and Maple Rice Pudding for dessert, while I had Grilled Duck & Brie Quesadilla and a Flatbread Pizza with roast pork, beef, ham, apples, BBQ sauce and mozzarella. To drink, Heather had a lemon martini and a white strawberry cosmo and I started my quest to had each of the seven local beers on the menu. Tonight, I tried the Long Trail Harvest Ale brewed in Bridgewater and Switchback Unfiltered Ale brewed in Burlington.