30th Wedding Anniversary Trip

Continuing on our quest to see more of America. San Francisco, California Zephyr, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Lancaster & Bird in Hand, Niskayuna, Seattle back to San Francisco Read more

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30th Wedding Anniversary Trip Traveler
Arlington Cemetery
February 21 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C
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Korean War and Vietnam Veteran Memorials
February 21 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C
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Thomas Jefferson Memorial
February 22 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C
After going to bed at 6.30pm we woke a few times during the night (cold) and hoping that the power would be back on but when we woke at 7.30 this morning we were both extremely annoyed that there was still no power.

We had something to eat and I was so annoyed I had another sleep at 8.30am for 2 and a bit hours waking at just before 11.00am. We spoke with management again who promised the power would be back on today so we decided to stay and not find other accommodation.

Again no hot water so had to have a cold wash before getting ready to have a walk around. Didn’t have much planned, other than to see the Capitol Building and Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

While we were walking to the areas, all of a sudden we heard and saw police cars going in every which direction, blocking traffic and all of a sudden Marine One helicopter came over followed by a police helicopter that circled for ages until Marine One left again. We also saw a sharp shooter on a building. Not sure who came to the White House but is anyone really that important - I think not!

We stopped off at Starbucks before coming back to our room. As we got closer we could still hear the generator going so guessing the power was still not on. Apparently the power company is installing a large generator to run lighting, power points and hot water but as we sit here freezing at 7.00pm it still isn’t on!! Knew we should have found alternative accommodation this morning!

We walked 9.6kms today.Read more
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Smithsonian Zoo
February 23 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C
We went to bed at 11.00pm after watching some Netflix on Dave’s phone hopeful that the power would be back on when we woke up. Given the fact that we were told that the generator would be installed early in the evening and it was now 11.00pm we didn’t hold much hope!

We woke up this morning at 7.30am to yet again no power! Annoyed was an understatement. We had the mobile number of the manager and I had just finished typing a text to her and was just about ready to hit send when the power came back on. 3 full days and 2.5 nights without power and 2 nights of cold bird baths had come to an end - hooray! Dave and I both said it was a very expensive camping trip to DC but with our camping at least we had hot water.

We both got into the shower pretty quickly just in case the power went out again and let me tell you that shower was THE best shower!

For our last full day in Washington we decided to walk to the Smithsonian Zoo which is out in the suburbs and all free. It’s massive and we had an amazing day! And it was a gorgeous day with a high of 8 degrees. We couldn’t believe we were experiencing 30 degrees difference in temperature to our last day in Chicago! And walking through the suburbs there are so many beautiful buildings to look at. We got an uber back to our room.

After dinner we went for a walk to all the monuments and memorials to take photos at night.

We walked 17.2kms today.Read more
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Smithsonian Zoo
February 23 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C
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Washington at night
February 23 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C
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Onwards to Philly
February 24 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Well our time in DC has come to an end, we now head by train to Philadelphia for a 4 night stay with our basketball game tonight.

Our time in DC has been great (we won’t talk about the no power for 3 days), we have seen and experienced things we never thought we would get to in our lifetime.

The highlight for me was the Arlington Cemetery, a place I have wanted to visit for many years now! Dave’s highlight was the sheer size of all the buildings and monuments.

The only underwhelming thing was The White House.

Like San Fran and Chicago, we felt very safe in DC and we found our way around extremely easily, never getting lost (just like in San Fran and Chicago) and all cities have been easily accessible by foot.

The train station in Washington was easy to find your way around with a big waiting area for Amtrak customers. Before long we were boarded the Acela train destination Philadelphia.

The trip was only an hour and a half and it went smoothly. We arrived at William Gray station in Philly, made a quick exit, found our Uber and we were at our hotel in about 10 minutes.

We really didn’t have much time to settle in before it was time to get another Uber to the basketball at Wells Fargo Center.

Our Uber driver was half an hour early so we arrived way before we needed to and had to wait in the cold before the gates opened.

Dave had a Philly cheesesteak and I had chips for dinner, both weren’t very appetising at all. All Dave has been wanting is a Philly cheesesteak so hopefully the ones in the city are better.

We saw Philly 76ers v Chicago Bulls and our seats were right on the floor. Even though both teams aren’t top teams at the moment, I have always, since Michael Jordan days, wanted to see Chicago Bulls play and tonight I got to.

Whilst, because the teams weren’t top teams, the game and atmosphere weren’t as amazing as our last game we saw in San Fran in 2023, we still both had an amazing night with the Bulls winning 142 to 110.Read more
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Philadelphia 76ers v Chicago Bulls
February 24 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C
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Streets of Philadelphia
February 25 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C
As we were both too wired from the basketball game, we only got to sleep between 1.00am and 2.00am so we were both a little tired today.

We got up at 8.00am and headed down to the breakfast room for breakfast before asking reception where the guest laundry was, only to be told that they no longer have a guest laundry.

As we hadn’t done laundry since Chicago we were both running low on clothes so a quick google search we found the closest one was 2kms away.

This is the not so glamorous part of extended travel holidays - if only the washing went on holidays as well.

So with laundry in hand we made a beautiful 2km walk through the streets of Philly to the nearest laundromat and as the washing was being done, we enjoyed a Starbucks coffee and hot chocolate while we waited.

On the bright side, it’s a great way to see the streets of cities you wouldn’t normally go through.

After we finished the laundry we came back to our room, put it away before heading out the door again this time Trader Joe and CVS bound to get some food for lunches and dinners.

By the time we got back to our room it was around 2.30pm and after finishing lunch it was 3.30pm. As we were both exhausted we decided to have a lazy day in the room, an early night ready for days exploring over the next couple of days.

We walked 8kms today.Read more
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Exploring Philly
February 26 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C
After a much needed rest day yesterday and a pretty good night’s sleep last night, we were up early ready for a full day of exploring.

We opted for breakfast in our room today instead of the free breakfast as it really wasn’t that appetising yesterday.

Breakfast done, showered and ready to go, we headed out the door Rocky Statue and Steps bound.

It has always been a dream of both Dave and mine to visit the iconic scene of the Rocky movies. Anyone from our generation grew up on the Rocky movies and Rocky running those stairs was iconic.

Walking to the steps we walked through some beautiful areas of the city. We sat around the steps for quite a while just taking in the scenery.

From here we made our way down to the Schuylkill River to take in more beautiful views and a gorgeous walk along the river.

We made our way back to our room stopping off at the Reading Terminal Markets for Dave to get a Philly Cheesesteak and I got an Amish pastrami on rye (I just didn’t eat the bread). Dave loved his cheesesteak however my pastrami was no where near as delicious at the one from Katz we had in NYC.

We had a short rest before heading out again this time to view the Liberty Bell, which is a symbol of freedom and independence in the United States.

As I knew we were close to the water and when we went to the basketball game the first night, I knew the Benjamin Franklin Bridge should be close so a quick google search and we were on our way. This bridge is a pretty good rival for the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges in NYC. This bridge leads into New Jersey. We have now seen New Jersey from Philadelphia as well as New York City (the Hudson River runs between New York and New Jersey).

So glad I talked Dave into following me along my crazy plans to see different parts of the city because if we hadn’t we wouldn’t have seen the most amazing cobblestone roads tucked away along the streets we took.

We sat at the Race Street Pier, overlooking the Delawere River just taking in the atmosphere before heading back to our room which happened to be in Race Street.

On the way back we took in the awesome sights deep in Chinatown (we are staying in the outskirts of Chinatown) before calling into the Reading Terminal Markets to get a slice of Baked American Cheesecake for me and a slice of Chocolate Mousse Cake for Dave for dessert tonight. Both did not disappoint at all.

We truly had an amazing day today, walking another 16kms!Read more
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Riverwalk & wanderings back to our room
February 26 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
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Liberty Bell
February 26 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
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Cobble stone roads
February 26 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
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Benjamin Franklin Bridge & Chinatown
February 26 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
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Last day in Philly
February 27 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
We woke early again today ready for another day of exploring however the weather had different ideas for us as it was quite heavy rain.

We waited around in our room until after lunch waiting for the rain to ease before heading out.

We had lunch at the Reading Terminal Market before browsing shops looking for a Phillys Eagle shirt for Kenz. The thing we have noticed with Philly that is different to all other cities we have visited is there are no souvenir shops. We found one very small one in the back streets while we were walking the river yesterday but other than that no others.

Philly has the most amazing old buildings, ones I could walk for miles looking at and photographing.

We had to head back to Trader Joe’s to get a salad for dinner as the fridge in our room froze mine and nothing worse than eating lettuce that has been frozen!

Tomorrow we get the train to Lancaster before picking up our hire car to drive to Bird In Hand which is about 20 min drive from Lancaster. This is Amish countryside and we will spend 5 days exploring Lancaster County.

Only 6kms walked today.Read more
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Amish country here we come ….
February 28 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C
As we didn’t need to be out of our room until 11.00am today and having stayed up late binge watching a Netflix series called ‘Behind Her Eyes’ (bloody brilliant), we only ventured out of bed at 8.30am.

We had breakfast and then packed the last few things before meeting our Uber at 11.00am. It’s only a 10min drive to the train station so we were there quick and our train didn’t leave until 12.45pm. We did Dave’s favourite pastime of people watching.

All Kenz wanted from America was a Philly’s Eagles hoodie and we couldn’t find any in Philly (well we did at a sports store who wanted $180 for it which I refused to pay). Well low and behold the train station had one so we got that for her.

So happy we paid the little extra for business class seats as the line for coach was HUGE!

A quick hour train trip and we were at Lancaster Train Station and we went looking for the car hire place. I reserved one from Hertz that said they were situated at the train station. We walked around and around and couldn’t find anything. We asked the lady at Amtrak and she gave us the address which was nearly a kilometre away. No biggy if we didn’t have 1 large suitcase and 1 carryon each.

After googling for a while I finally found a phone number for Hertz and they said that on their website it says you have to organise a pickup. I said when I booked it said nothing about that but all good as they sent someone over to collect us.

Went back to the car hire place, paid for the car and we were we on our way. Dave didn’t want to drive so it was up to me! We were given a red Kia Forte which is the Kia Cerato in Australia (which so happens to be the car I wanted to buy but we ended up getting an Isuzu MUX, if we ever get it!). A quick look over the car and connecting Apple play so I had maps and we were off. I even drove on the interstate. I have driven heaps in the States before but each time I do I get nervous but it’s really just like riding a bike, you never forget!

Where we are staying is about 20 minutes from Lancaster and the drive went perfectly. We made our way to our room, looked at the size of the fridge and then headed out again to Walmart to get some food, clothes for Tommy and another carryon suitcase.

Back at our room just in time to witness our first Amish sunset. Looking forward to exploring tomorrow and the next 5 days. As we were driving here we saw our first Amish horse and cart and have seen quite a few trot past our room.Read more
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Exploring Lancaster county ….
March 1 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C
We woke to an amazing clear warm day so we decided to explore Bird-In-Hand by foot.

As I was getting ready, you would never guess what happened …… yes the power went out. Deja vu, Washington all over!

It came back on but only the lights, not the power points. We thought we would get on top of it straight away so went and saw reception and they didn’t know what had happened, just all of Bird-In-Hand was out. Their generator had kicked in but it only runs lights.

So we went walking, ready for a big walk through the countryside. It didn’t take us long to realise that the roads here aren’t conducive to walking. There are no paths and the road goes right onto farm land so is a little dangerous for walking.

We made our way back to the shops at Bird-In-Hand and looked around the Farmer’s Market. We thought it would be a little different here than Philly in that the Amish stores would be a little more authentic but they are just like Philly, very commercialised and not very authentic.

After looking at the Farmer’s Market, we looked through an antique store which was amazing, looked at the bakery and Dave got a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie (forgot to take a photo but he said it was delicious).

By this time the temperature had dropped significantly and the wind had also picked up significantly so we headed back to our room for lunch before heading out to the countryside for a drive. We visited Strasburg, Paradise and Intercourse.

From the first time we came to the states way back in 2013, I heard there was a place in Amish country called Intercourse and knew I had to visit mainly for a photo at the town sign. Juvenile I know but still extremely funny! Today was that day.

After our drive, we came back to our room for a hot chocolate and coffee to warm up before heading out again for a trip to Walmart to get a few more things.

Pretty good day all round. Temps are going to be really cold again tomorrow so back to thermals, gloves and beanies.

We walked 6kms today.Read more
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Intercourse ….
March 1 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 8 °C
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Sundays are for rest ….
March 2 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 2 °C
As we are in Amish country, Sundays are for rest and no shops open on a Sunday in any little townships close around where we are.

We decided to drive to Intercourse and walk the streets just to look around while it wasn’t busy and it was so nice just looking around the streets and the buildings.

We then went to Applebee’s for lunch before hitting the large outlet shopping mall. We stayed there for a little while but we really didn’t need anything and the prices weren’t that cheap when you did the conversion.

So back in the car heading towards a covered bridge I wanted to see only to realise it was the one we had seen yesterday.

Headed back to our room and looked at the map again and found another bridge so headed off to it. Beautiful drive seeing the sights however the roads around here aren’t really made for sightseeing as there is nowhere to pull over on the side of the road just to take the views in which is a real shame as there are some beautiful areas in the middle of nowhere that would make a beautiful photo. So it’s a quick point and shoot from the passenger seat which was Dave’s job today as I was driving.

After we got back to our room, I really needed a walk so headed off walking around our hotel area, wandering to the farm animals to spend some time with them, and a general look around the property.

All in all a great day was had, we will go back to Strasburg tomorrow as it looks like a beautiful little township and also might take a buggy ride.

Walked 5kms today.Read more
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Abe’s Buggy Ride
March 3 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C
Last night we heard buggy’s going up and down the road most of the night with the most traffic between 2 and 3 am. We were wondering what was going on so good old google told us that Sunday nights are the teenage Amish children social nights. They must have been having fun as there as a lot of horse and buggy traffic between 2 and 3 this morning.

We got ready and walked to Abe’s Buggy Rides. We went into this holiday with the motto of taking every experience that came to us and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ride in an Amish buggy, we may never get the chance again.

Our driver was Paul. He is a Mennonite who are very similiar to Amish except they embrace a more modern lifestyle including cars and electricity.

He took us for a 4.5 mile ride around Amish country, showed us 2 schools, many many Amish farms, a sycamore tree that was over 120 years old and a stone house that dates back to before 1870.

He was very knowledgeable and answered all our questions. He did confirm that Sunday nights are Amish teenage social nights so google was correct. He also told us that the average size of an Amish farm is between 50 and 60 acres and you can tell the size of the farm by the number of silos on the farm. Farms are kept in the family and each farm has at least 2 barns/houses on the farm with the smaller barn being the parents and the larger barn/house is the child who is now running the farm: Mondays are washing days and there was lots of washing on everyone’s lines. Amish children only go to school until year 8 which is when they turn 15 and after that they either work a farm, learn a trade or find a job normally within an Amish business.

Though many may not understand or agree with the Amish way of life, we have absolutely enjoyed learning about their way of life and immersing ourselves in their county. The most wonderful morning spent.

We headed back to our room for some lunch and a bit of a rest before getting in the car and heading to Strasburg a little township near Bird-In-Hand that caught our eye yesterday.

Once we found a place to park which is difficult in these towns as roads like our New England Highway pass right through the centre of town and the houses are right on the road.

We wandered up and down the Main Street taking in all the beautiful heritage listed properties getting so many ideas for my ideal house. We knew that all the shops were closed on Sundays so we decided to go today however what we didn’t know was that all the shops also closed Mondays so we just looked and not shopped.

Before heading back to our room, we made a quick visit to Walmart to get a hot chook for dinner. Back at our room we went for a walk to the pond and fed the ducks, goats, fish and alpaca and sat by the pond while I typed this blog entry.

Another amazing day on our adventure.

Walked 7kms today (with the lower kms walked you can tell we have a car again).Read more
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Strasburg
March 3 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C
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Last day in Lancaster County
March 4 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C
Another quiet day on our trip today, our last day in Lancaster County. I have fallen in love with the area and hopefully will be back again one day, maybe in fall.

We had a bit of an earlier morning as we had a 2 hour bus tour that is part of our accomodation. We were the only 2 on the bus so it was great and Berna, a local ex Amish now Mennonite who has lived here her whole life, was an amazing tour guide. She would have been in her early 60’s.

She took us all around the local area showing us many different areas we hadn’t seen yet.

We stopped at an Amish farm that has a quilt shop and oh my the quilts were amazing. We had a great chat to one of the Amish girls from the family who would be late teens early twenties. She was amazed the differences between Australia and America. When we said we were 15 hours behind here to where we live, she said ‘That’s pretty awesome to think while we are sleeping here people in Australia could be partying!’

We bought some little things to take back home and it was back in the bus.

Berna was telling us that the quilts helped in slavery times. When the slaves ran away the Amish helped them and if a quilt was hanging that was a log cabin it meant it was safe but if there was a flying goose on show then it wasn’t safe.

Amish wedding season used to be just every Tuesday and Thursday in November however it got too busy so now their wedding season runs from November to Easter. Weddings are held in their winter because their summers are too busy on the farms. Weddings are always held at the bride’s home with 300 to 400 guests. Their weddings are all self catered and two 3 course meals served.

Amish funerals are held at the deceased’s home. Amish are always embalmed never cremated and there are showings held for 2 days before burial and their funerals are by verbal invite.

The Amish don’t believe in nursing homes except in dire circumstances. The families are expected to look after them until their passing. Portable tiny homes are being introduced so each family member can take care of their parent for certain times during the year and this works well if the elderly have dementia as they stay in their own home.

Church is held every second Sunday however Sundays are for rest and tending to their animals.

All farms are self fertilised using their own cow, horse and chicken manure (and fertilising is starting now and you can smell a slight smell in the air at certain times during the day).

We visited an Amish quilt shop, an Amish popcorn shop with over 50 different flavoured popcorn and a Mennonite ice cream shop where I had a scoop of peanut butter and vanilla plus a scoop of maple and walnut. Dave had a scoop of peppermint choc chip plus a scoop of vanilla and they were absolutely delicious.

She then took us to an area call Valley of No Wires which is a huge area of land where you don’t see any power lines and the Amish live the true Amish life.

Back at the room, we did some washing, had lunch, went and filled the car up with fuel ready to drop off early tomorrow morning before coming back and going for walk to feed the ducks, alpaca and goats.

Tomorrow we have a very early start getting up about 4.30am to leave our room at 5.30am. We need to drop the car off then get an uber to the train station. We have been advised by the lady at the train station last week to be there about an hour before so that will get us to the train station by 6.15am for our 7.15am train to NYC where we change trains to Niskayuna for our week with Cathy and Michael.

Only 4.5kms walked today.

The adventure continues.Read more
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Onwards to Nisky ….
March 5 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C
Today was an early start for us getting out of bed at 4.30am to get ready to leave our room at Bird-In-Hand at 5.30am. Bit of a rude shock to the system as we haven’t been getting out of bed until 8.00/8.30 every day since being on holidays.

We left our room right on 5.30am and dropped the car back to Hertz at 5.50am, waited a little while for our Uber to basically take us around the corner to the train station (it was about 1km), just that little too far with all our luggage.

We had about an hours wait before our train came and before we knew it 3 hours had gone and we were in our beloved city of New York. We caught a glimpse of 8th Street and West 31st Street before heading in Moynihan Station to catch our train to Niskayuna.

Both Dave and I caught up on a bit of sleep during this stretch of the train trip and again before we knew it 2.5 hours had gone and we were giving Cathy a cuddle in the train station.

This afternoon has been taken up with talking all afternoon. It’s always like we haven’t been apart when we see each other again.Read more
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Wanderings around Niskayuna & surrounds
March 6 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C
Cathy and I were going to start the day with a walk today however the weather had different ideas, and we had showers on and off during the day and the icy wind picked up. So instead we went for a drive around.

First port of call was a fully gluten free bakery and oh my all the goods looked amazing. Surprise surprise I bought a slice of baked cheesecake and I just a had a little bit of it and it was AMAZING!

Next stop was a stroll down the streets of Schenectady where we visited some gorgeous little stores. Even travelling in America I think of the children in my class and bought some books for a reading time during the day. I think they are going to love the ones I chose.

I am absolutely fascinated by old buildings so today I was in heaven looking at all the old buildings in Schenectady.

From here we went for a drive to the Vischer Ferry General Store and enjoyed looking around the shop. We also couldn’t pass up the opportunity of having our photo taken with my favourite car again.

It was then onto the hydroelectric plant and it’s amazing the force of the water here before making a stop at the Hannaford grocery store on our way home.

We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon before heading to one of our favourite spots, Smokin' Bones, for dinner. The steak was cooked to perfection.

Another great day on our adventure.Read more
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Dr Wim Van Eekeren Covered Bridge
March 7 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 -1 °C
To we set off to see the Howe Caverns which are underground caves. On the way there we stopped off at a covered bridge in Schoharie which was spectacular. Both Dave and I love covered bridges and thanks to Cathy from previous trips, and from our time recently in Lancaster, we have now seen a few. We might just have to make another trip over specifically dedicated to seeing covered bridges.

The bridge was in a little park called Lily Park which didn’t look much in winter time but when we got home, Cathy looked it up (as she has never been there before) and in spring it is absolutely gorgeous as the park is full of green grass and lilies.

Walking through the park after visiting the bridge, we saw that there was a cemetery close by and I found a family tomb dating back to the 1800’s.

I also found foot prints in the snow that iced over, the snow has melted but left perfect shoe imprints.

And while we were down on the river bank we saw a tree in the process of being felled by beavers.Read more
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