Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Today is Six Places and anytime I think about going anyplace I think about Dr. Seuss

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself 

any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

Oh,The Places You'll Go! ~Dr. Seuss

1).  Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. - Robert Frost

I don't know about the rest of you, but mom and dad's place is really still home when I think about it.

The backside of the house I grew up in.

2).  Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action. - Mother Theresa

My own house, which is slowly becoming home as we remodel, make memories and watch the minions grow up there.

Formal Dining Room set with my Grandmother's China and my crystal.

3).  Washington, DC is to lying what Wisconsin is to cheese. - Dennis Miller

I love D.C.  There is so much to see and do there, from museums and art to little hole in the wall eateries and people watching.

Washington Monument, before the earthquake.

4).  "I need a vacation to recover from my vacation" - said everyone, always.

Your last vacation is always one of your favorite places.  The memory is fresh and chances are you did at least one thing that was a lot of fun.

Mount your whales, we ride at dawn!
Deep Creek Lake, MD

5).  There's a lot of fantasy about what Scotland is. - Sean Connery

Out of all the places I've been, it's by far one of my favorite.  There's a certain wildness and peace to the entire country.  The people are lovely, the food is horrendous (or good if you're smart enough to get what I did) and every day is a new adventure.

Eilean Donan - there was a drought the year I was there.
Hence the lack of water.

6).  Yes, we’ll gather at the river, The beautiful, the beautiful river; Gather with the saints at the river, That flows by the throne of God. - Robert Lowry

I know I covered Scotland as a whole, but until you've seen Inverness, you've really not seen Scotland.  Its considered a city because of the cathedral, yet the size of a small town.

Cathedral Church of St. Andrew along the River Ness,
taken from Inverness Castle.

These are my places.  The places I most want to be, or the places I think of most often.  

What places do you think about?

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The One About Wineries and Mani-Pedis

Wednesday, we headed for a grand tour of the local wineries.  There are two.  Yeah, I know whee!  Two whole wineries.  The first one we visited is the 1000 Island Winery located right near the bridge to Canada.  Their wines were interesting.  The had a few good ones, and some that were downright awful.  Our favorite was one affectionately called Girls Are Meaner, or a gewürztraminer.  It wasn't mean at all.  It was quite smooth, so a bit of it is coming home with us along with some blueberry wine, raspberry wine and another local semi-dry Riesling.

I totally would :)

The other local winery is called Coyote Moon.  They charge to taste their wines, so we took a pass.  The last few places we found that charge for tastings do so because their stuff is pretty foul.  I was already happily buzzing from the previous tasting, so it didn't break my heart much.  From there we went into a cute little town nearby called Clayton.  The have a nice little downtown district with shopping and a few coffee houses.  We were practically forced to stop at one have something called a Mocha Loca.  It was so awful we may go back today and have another one.  Thankfully the lovely staff at the Lyric Bistro has no issue with using our almond milk in their drinks.

Another little spot in Clayton worth noting is Bella's.  Partly because you can dine right along the river and the scenery is divine, but the other reason is that you can get GF/SF food.  Their staff is well versed and you can even get dessert.  Which for those of us with food issues, this is HUGE!  Add to the fact that it was a mint brownie and it's bonus points.  I think we'll head back there on Friday evening, our last in the area.

Thursday it rained here.  Well, it was more of a downpour, all day.  So, I did what any person on holiday would do.  I looked around for a day spa to get a massage or a mani-pedi.  Oh, right, did I mention we had no electric?  Yeah, it does that when it rains around here.  So, using the 3G interwebz on the phone I hunted down someplace to get relaxed and prettied up.  I thought at first my phone wasn't working right.  But no, there are no spas.  No day spas either.  The best I could swing was a mani-pedi in a shop that also does tattoos.  Awesome, a two-fer kind of day!  I should have know when the girl doing the pedi was impressed with my own paint job on the toes to run.  But, I stuck it out.  I repainted the mess that were my finger nails this morning, a nice shade called iced merlot.

Today we are headed to the great nation of Canada.  A little drive down the river and maybe a brief stop at Fort Henry.

Fort Henry Guard

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The Queen is in Residence

It was incredibly windy here yesterday, and the 90 degree temps went down to the upper 70's during the day.  It was feeling a little chilly, so we decided to spend a few hours on the water, and visit a few castles that are in the middle of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

We visited Singer Castle on Dark Island first.  The 11 mile boat ride took about an hour, but we had a tour guide filled with info to impart on us for most of that ride.  For instance, did you know the Skull and Bones society owns an island on the St. Lawrence?  The 1000 Islands island chain isn't made up of 1000 islands, it's actually 1864.  The largest is 11 miles by 9 miles and the smallest is 3 feet by three feet and a tree.  1000 Island dressing was indeed created here by some fisherman who forgot to bring salad dressing along on a fishing trip with a silent film star.  He whipped that up for her, she liked it and introduced it to her friend, George Boldt, the owner of the Waldorf Astoria, who then put it in his hotels and the rest is history.

Singer Castle, Dark Island

Singer Castle is currently for sale, in case any of you are in the market for an investment property.  For a mere 25 million it can be yours.  However, for your cool 25 mill you get secret passage ways that are cooler than any Scooby Doo mystery, a boat house, 2 ice houses, a squash court and a workshop.  In its heyday it took a staff of 27 to run it, but there are sleeping quarters for 6 currently in the attics.  The rest of your staff will have to sleep in the spaces provided in the kitchens and secret passages.

The winding staircase

Clay Wine Cellar - Holds 600 bottles

Alcove in the drawing room.  Secret passageway located above it

Secret passageway in the library

Windblown and overlooking the workshop and Canada

The next stop on our trip was Boldt Castle.  For any of you not familiar with the story, it's your average  richest boy in America wants to build his lady love a house story.  Boy buys girl Heart Island and commissions a castle be built on it.  Stone masons work diligently on it night and day for years until the poor lady love drops dead of TB.  Work halts and boy never steps foot on the island again.

The receiving room

There really isn't anything to prepare you for the opulence that is Boldt Castle.  From the imposing structure itself to the amazing details of the plaster work, I've just not seen anything close to it anywhere.

Clover, the youngest daughter's bedroom

Other side of Clover's suite.

In addition to the bedroom, Clover also had a bathroom, 2 closets and her own reception room adjacent to this.  The reception room had window seats, and honestly, I'm still drooling over them.  Parts of the castle are still unfinished.  The Bride Authority currently owns the island and castle and without turning a profit have sunk 40 million into the place thus far.

Unfinished Room

Main Gallery

Main Gallery Ceiling

4th floor servants quarters, top of stained glass dome

Some of the amazing architecture and stone work.

The King, surveying the lands

Still windblown at the powerhouse, Boldt castle

I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going to come up with 25 million dollars.  I mean, who doesn't want to own an island called Dark Island to start with?  But, then you put a castle on it and give it a ton of secret passageways and a clay wine cellar... 

Wonder how much power ball is this week?

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The One About Vacations, Staycations and Summer time lists.

I was scrolling through a few of the blogs that I follow this morning and one post caught my eye, intrigued me and made me think a little.  Patty, over at Lather, Rinse, Clean had a post about her summer bucket list, and all the things she wanted to see, do and accomplish before fall sets in.  I thought it was an awesome idea, and a bit of a challenge to set those goals for yourself and strive to make them happen.

My actual bucket list can be found on Pinterest.  It has everything from exotic places I want to go see to some just off the wall crazy things I want to do.  You know, like hand some random person a briefcase and tell them quietly, 'you know what to do', before I smile and walk away.

This summer though, I have so many things on my list of to dos, that it's almost laughable.  I am however great with check lists, so maybe I'll get more done if I write them down and I can just check them off as they happen.

• Start on the reclaim the yard from missile range project.  (check back Thursday for plans and other details)
• Have a BBQ on the veranda for the 4th.  Entertain more in general.  I miss having people over.
• Go fossil hunting.
• Visit Kings Dominion.
• Get the Minions to various Birthday Parties and other fun things they get invited to.
• Spend an evening catching fireflies with my boys.
• Have an evening picnic and watch the sunset with some wine.
• Enjoy a winery tour, or three.
• More kayaking!

• 

  From the King's birthday trip

• Get out the supersoakers on a hot day and chase the minions around while drenching them from head to toe.
• Spend a few evenings stargazing from the hot tub, with faux mojitos and margaritas in hand.
• Finish the family room.
• Tour Boldt Castle.
• Enjoy the convertible on sunny days.
• Go on an adult vacation.
• Finish stripping and repainting the ugly furniture I've been working on.
• Spend an evening at the drive-ins watching movies in the open air.
• Go to the lake a few more times.
• End the summer with a day trip to the York Fair.

What's on your list for the summer?

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The One About the Geologist and the Dinosaur

While the minions were away with my parents they went to visit the Museum of Geology and Natural History in Morgantown, West Virginia.   The museum houses the only fossilized dinosaur in the state of West Virginia, and serves as an education center as well.

This is the second visit the boys have had there and both times the curator of the museum has taken time out of their day to go over exhibits, answer questions patiently and explain geology in depth to a 10 year old.  Which by the way is a huge thing when you've already planned out that your undergrad degree will be in geology and then you'll be a paleontologist after that and work at the Smithsonian.

The minions also came away with some really nice fossils complements of the curator and the museum.  While we're sending them a nice thank you, I thought it would be great to give them a mention here as well and if you live in the vicinity, or are just looking for a day trip, check them out.  Don't forget that it's people like Patricia Johns that inspire and help educate your kids.  Be sure to thank them, and if you can, give generously to places such as this so they can continue to do wonderful things, like encourage your kids to follow their dreams.

Fossilized plant

Fossilized Ferns

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The One Where the Natives Get Restless

Long weekends are great times to do a little local sightseeing and taking in things you may not have time to do otherwise.  This weekend we were without the minions and restless.  Too much time spent indoors of late and we needed to get out and stretch our legs.  And so we ventured across the river to ArtsFest on Saturday.  It was hot and sticky out, but it was a chance to get out and enjoy ourselves.

Walking bridge over the
Susquehanna River

I want to say it was a great experience, a chance to see some fantastic artisans and buy a few things for our home as we are redecorating.  Alas, that's not exactly what we found.  What we did find was a trade show filled with booths and vendors of many different artistic varieties.  What we didn't find in abundance were the actual artists.  Many just sent their booths and hired people to sit there and read or look bored.  Some just ignored you, not even looking in your direction.
A few were true artisans who made their living from their art, were there with their items and happy to tell you all about them.  We found three of those.  One did pendants in sterling silver with an insert of stained glass.  Another was making bracelets out of antique silverware.  They were very cute and something I'd love to try someday.  The last was making jewelry as well.  Sterling silver with Morse code punched out of it to spell names, etc.  It made for something very interesting to look at.  Their booth were nicely set up, and actually doing some business.  Most of the others were not.

Brooch, gone a fowl

Perhaps the next time we get restless we'll stick to antique shops.  Who doesn't want to find jewelry made from chicken feet?

Do you wander locally?  What little things have you found interesting?

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The One Where We Went to Prison

Dino Poo

For those of you who are familiar with Logan, you're also aware of his love of dinosaurs.  The fascination has been going on since he had personal interests, and we tend to indulge it as much as we can.  A few weeks ago we visited the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.  They have a wonderful dinosaur hall where both boys, ok three boys, were more than happy to gaze at the bones of some long dead critter for hours.  In typical man fashion they even got to look at poo.  That's right, they have petrified dino poo there.  Mostly I think it's just to fascinate the male of our species.
Some of the highlights were pretty spectular though.  In the lab, a few students were cleaning up a new dinosaur, one that hasn't been published yet.  We got to watch as some of the plaster packing was opened and the specimens were cleaned.

Dave proving he has successfully tamed the T-Rex.

We looked though the animal halls of more dead, mounted creatures.  Many which are endangered, or are able to lick their own eyeballs and clean out their ears.  Yeah, makes for a good visual doesn't it?  Also in the collection there, more dead things, Mummies!
The entire museum is well done and laid out.  Great for kids as all the exibits are at their level, and even the notes for the exibits are written at their reading level.

This one is the size of a pygmy hippo.

The next day, we bundled up and headed to prison.  Eastern State Penetentiary is a unique relic in Philadelphia, that if you have the chance to go see it, you should.  The outside is imposing.  The place looking more like a medieval castle than early 19th century prison.  30 foot stone walls surround the entire property and make it seem more imposing than modern prisons with just chain link, razor wire and armed guards.  The fact that it's crumbling doesn't help the matter, and you do get an eerie feeling as you pass onto the property.

Eastern State.  Just inside the property.

The have both guided and self guided tours.  We decided on the guided one, which was the way to go, the guide was friendly, and knowlegeable, happily answering questions as they were asked.
Logan, being the intrepid watcher of Ghost Adventures that he is was wanting to look at all the 'haunted' places and was more than happy to relate the ghost story of Al Capone's cell to the husband.  There's no doubt about it, the place is creepy and imposing.

Inside one of the cells.

In it's time it was meant to be a place for penitence.  Even the doors to the cells are designed to make the prisoners bow their heads as they enter and leave the cells.  Unless you're short, like me, then the design is lost on you.  Each cell had a window made to look like an eye, as though you were being watched.  And after hearing about the state of indoor plumbing in 1829,(toilets flushed once a week, and the heat and waste line running next to each other) I'm thinking that was all part of the grand scheme of punishment.

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