Days 1 and 2: New York and Vermont

The first day of the trip was really just an evening. We left our house around 4pm which was record time for us to get out of the house considering I just got home from work at about 3:40pm. The plan was to stop at a turnpike travel plaza in New York just past Buffalo. Nolan had been so temperamental lately that we considered either driving less on the first evening or even leaving super early on Thursday and going all the way to Vermont. Fortunately, we stuck to the plan because the drive to the travel plaza wasn’t too bad.

Just leaving. The peak of Dad's energy for the trip

Interstate 90 in New York is labeled the NY tollway. It stinks. Actually all turnpikes typically stink. When I was younger I always thought that since you paid to use the turnpike the roads would be in pristine condition and it would be an enjoyable drive. Over time that view has routinely proven to be untrue, and not just in New York but in all states. This particular toll road was not in great condition, and the large cracks and bumps are magnified in the motorhome. So it wasn’t exactly enjoyable to drive on. One odd thing was the non-stop reminders to know your vehicles height. Apparently colliding with an overpass is an issue in New York.

Dinner at McDonald's

The travel plaza we stayed was very nice. At first I pulled over to truck/trailer section but I was a little worried about sleeping over there. We’ve stopped at truck stops but we’ve never spent the night parked in-between semi’s. My main concern was being sandwiched between two trucks with our generator running and having either us or some unsuspecting trucker breathing in exhaust fumes. I ended up deciding to park over in the car area, and since travel plazas are set up for one-way traffic the rest of the family got to watch Dad back the motorhome up a couple hundred yards amongst traffic. It was worth it because we ended up comfortably parked for the night.

Our parking spot for the night

Late night snack at the travel plaza

Nolan was not easy to get to bed. Allyson had to lay with him for a long time in our bed and then when we thought he was asleep we moved him to his pack n’ play, but of course he woke up crying. We took him back to the big bed and he slept there (mostly in my area) for a couple hours until I had enough and moved him to his spot for the rest of the evening.

Sleeping arrangements for night 1. Julia is in the drop-down bed above the front seats, Caroline and Natalie are on the sofa bed, and Nolan is in his pack n' play. Sam is out of view in the bunk bed.

The next morning we had 6.5 hours of drive time to make it up to our campground north of Burlington, VT. We got up at 5am, moved everyone to "road-ready" sleeping spots, and were on the road before 6am. We only spent about 2.5 hours on I-90 before we got off and started jogging our way up N/NE. That's when the drive got a little more scenic, and a lot less fun.

We spent the next few hours on winding roads through the Adirondack Mountains. The area is really pretty, but driving winding roads is exhausting in the motorhome. You don’t make good time when you’re constantly accelerating and decelerating a 22,000 vehicle. And with all the twisting and turning everyone in the back is liable to be taken for a ride if they aren’t careful. Around 11am we were getting closer to Lake Champlain and also close to lunch time. We decided to stop in Pottersville, NY and saw they had an attraction called the Natural Stone Bridge and Caves. We pulled in there to check it out and then make lunch. We only made it as far as the gift shop because it would have cost us over $60 for the whole family to take the tour, and that was after artificially dropping everyone’s age. We let Nolan walk around a bit and then made lunch before heading up to Vermont.

The rest of the drive was by no means straight. Mostly winding roads and zigging and zagging up, down, and around mountains as you come down towards the lake. As we made this part of the drive I uncovered a problem with Google Maps. Google Maps has to be the best free app there is. And I think I’ve never had a complaint about it until now. The complaint is that several of the options for getting to Burlington, including Google's suggested option, involved taking a ferry across the lake. Now obviously that would be a pain to do with the motorhome, but also there is no way it’s the most timely option. Does Google assume the ferry is waiting for you to pull aboard so it can immediately depart? To work around this I had to put in additional stops in the app to make sure it took us across a bridge to get into Vermont.

Driving along Lake Champlain

The drive along, and then across Lake Champlain was great. The drive is scenic: mountains in the background, blue water, boats out everywhere, it was awesome. Once we were in Vermont was had about an hour to get up north of Burlington. We were considering going to Ben and Jerry’s in Waterbury to tour the factory but instead made an unexpected stop at the Vermont Teddy Bear company. We had been told about the factory but hadn’t made specific plans to stop. However, we drove right past the sign and decide to loop back to check it out. It was a neat place. They had a fun shop for the kids, a stuff-your-own bear thingy, and a tour. And we basically did those three things. The kids all loved it and Mom and Dad thought it was fun so that was a good stop to make.

6 out of 7 smiles. That's pretty good

Vermont Teddy Bear Factory

Vermont Teddy Bear tour

Making their own bears

Making their own bears. Sam hates loud noises. We later learned that this guy had only been working there a couple weeks and did NOT do a good job sewing Natalie's bear.

Our campground was the Apple Island Resort which is on the southern end of Grand Isle, which is an island in Lake Champlain. Of all the campgrounds we’ve stayed at this one probably had the best views. It is a very nice place. Before we even got to our campsite we were being asked about the pool. Allyson and I were on minimal sleep from dealing with Nolan the night before, so I don’t think either of us were too keen on the pool. However it was 90 degrees when we pulled in and the kids spent much of the day driving. So we ate some food and then went to the pool for a little while.

The view from our campsite

After the pool we showered up and then Allyson put Nolan to bed while I took the girls on a walk. Nolan was exhausted the last few hours of the day so he was fast asleep by 8:30pm, which was a welcome treat after the prior night. We got everyone else to bed and Allyson and I got a little bit of time to hang out the two of us. Vermont is really nice. We would have stayed a second day to check more of it out but we couldn’t find a minivan to rent. So tomorrow morning we will check out a few more things in Vermont and then we’re off to New Hampshire.

Checking out the view before bed

I'll end this post with a cute picture of Nolan sleeping, which is 180 degrees apart from how he appeared 15 minutes before this.