Due to COVID-19, any travels that we would have liked to do this summer were put on hold. The amazing trips to Glacier National Park and the Statue of Liberty that I have dreamed of taking for years had to be placed on hold. Quarantine and staying home have replaced exciting travels. However, I have decided to share some of our previous travels since this is a travel blog, with few stories of travel. So, here it goes…

Last summer , we opted to take a break from travels out west, and instead, headed to the northeast. Our plans were to visit Niagara Falls, New York; Stowe, Vermont; and Portland, Maine. However, sometimes our vacations don’t go as planned…they’re even better!

We began our trip at Niagara Falls, a place my husband and I have both previously visited but that we wanted our children to see. Niagara Falls is breathtaking, with three separate waterfalls: Horseshoe Falls, American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls. We spent the day walking the trails and seeing the various waterfalls. We also walked to footbridge into Canada. To do this, we had to go through customs. Our children had never been out of the United States, so “going to another country” was perhaps more exhilarating than seeing Niagara Falls for several of them. They were excited to go through customs and discover what it was like to visit another country. Granted, Niagara Falls, Canada really isn’t much different than Niagara Falls, New York, but to the kids it was an exciting new experience. We got them each Canadian coins, a snack, and little mementos to remind them of their visit to Canada, and after walking around for an hour or two, we headed back to the United States side of the falls.

After returning stateside, we went to Anchor Bar, the home of the original buffalo wing. My husband had dreamed of eating wings at the place where buffalo wings were created, and his wish came true on this trip! The food was amazing, as was the experience! Once lunch was done, we walked to the top of Horseshoe Falls, the largest of the three waterfalls. As the wind and mist from the waterfall blew across our faces, we tried to savor the experience, taking pictures and attempting to enjoy the view. We stayed long enough to feel like we had made the most of the experience, but determined that the waterfall was definitely more enjoyable from farther off because at this proximity, we were cold and wet! Sad to say good bye, but tired and feeling like we had done everything we wanted, we headed back to our RV for the night.

The next morning we packed up and drove for two days, stopping only for the night, in an effort to get to Stowe, Vermont as quickly as you can in 32-foot Class-A RV. I had dreamed of the day I could return to Vermont, as I had done a brief internship there in college. For me this stop felt like a homecoming. Memories of mountain hikes and fun with old friends filled my mind. Upon arriving, we opted for dinner at the Bierhall at Trapp Family Lodge, as we had read amazing reviews. The food did not disappoint! I ordered Chicken Schnitzel, and the combination of bacon apple kraut, arugula, and braised red cabbage over chicken was phenomenal. I can honestly say it was in the top two meals that I have ever eaten in my life! I still remember the amazing combination of flavors in this mouth-watering meal!

We spent the next two nights camping with our RV in a rustic campground at a state park. Campfires, playing in a cold river at the base of a waterfall, and hiking in the mountains encompassed our next several days. It was a relaxing stay, and the mountain views were breathtaking. When the time for us to leave came, I was reluctant to go. I would have been content staying in the mountains for the remainder of our trip. Perhaps someday I will own a cabin in the mountains, but for now, I try to make the most of vacations that take us to the mountains. However, with other places we wanted to visit, we packed up and headed out.

After a quick stop in Portsmouth, New Jersey to see the town and enjoy dinner on the water, we continued to Maine, our next destination. We spent our first day in Maine, at the ocean in Portland. The ocean was too cold for swimming, but we enjoyed walking on the beach, seeing the town, and eating poutine and lobster rolls.

The next day we drove to Acadia National Park, a park that I have always wanted to visit. It was a gloomy, rainy day, as were all of the days during our stay in Maine; however, we tried to make to most of it. We hiked part of Ocean Path and a portion of the Jordan Pond loop trail. We even drove up Cadillac Mountain, but were unable to see anything besides fog. We wished for a better day, but since we had no control over the weather, tried to do as much as we could while there. It seemed like the perfect spot to journal and clear your head, if only we had more time and it had been a nicer day. We added it to the “visit again” bucket list and headed back to Portland where we were staying, but not before stopping to eat surf and turf at a local restaurant.

Our final day in Maine we spent exploring some of the states peninsulas, walking on beaches, visiting lighthouses, and local restaurants with amazing food.

Somehow we were only about a week and a half into our vacation and we had already traveled to all of the states we originally planned. Because we refuse to schedule every waking moment of our vacations, this is a risk we run, but not necessarily a bad problem to have–extra time to see more places. My husband and I sat down to discuss what we wanted to do with our extra time and decided on visiting Boston, a place we had always wanted to travel, but had no intention of visiting on this trip. Yes, we could have spent more time in Maine, but we had done the top four things we had wanted to do: eat surf and turf, visit Acadia, tour the peninsulas, and visit the ocean. Since we had done all of these things, we decided to enjoy another part of the northeast, so the next thing we knew, we were packing up and preparing to head to Boston…