During the holiday break, Maha and I took off from Indianapolis in the car to explore the east coast. I was looking forward to seeing the ball drop in New York City and to checking off a few more states from my list of visited states.
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We left Indianapolis early in the morning before the sun rose.
When we left Indianapolis, Buffalo had already had a couple days of heavy snow. They were in their first or second foot of snow. Before the storm finished, Buffalo received 7 feet of snow in 5 days! But we could not be deterred by a little of the infamous Buffalo snow. We braved the snow and drove into Niagara Falls anyway. The weird thing about the Buffalo snow was that 30 miles east of Buffalo on I-90, there was NO snow on the ground, and 30 miles west of Buffalo on I-90 again there was no snow. The massive amounts of lake effect snow seem to be mysteriously drawn to just that specific location. Once at Niagara, the air was cold, the snow was heavy, and the wind was blowing hard, but the falls were still impressive (taking pictures with a tripod though was a bit of a pain!) We managed to see the American Falls, the Horseshoe Falls, and do an abbreviated version of the Cave of the Windws Tour, where you walk to the bottom of the Bridal Veil and American Falls.
After getting out of the Buffalo snow and traffic, we managed to make it up into the Adirondacks. We had reservations at the Piseco Lake Lodge in Piseco, New York, but when we arrived all the lights were out and the doors were lock on this quaint little lodge. After 20 or so minutes of searching around in the dark and the cold, I found a house nearby with the lights on. I knocked on the door and surely startled the man inside, but it turned out that he was the owner of the lodge. He claimed that his partner had been in charge and must have gone to bed without realizing that there was a reservation left that night. Anyway, after that small scare, we finally got to our room and got some rest.
In the morning, we drove to Gore Mountain for a little skiing and snowboarding. Maha did her best to learn skiing, and I tried out the snowboard for the first time.
Most of our hotels were very cheap, basic accomodations, but we decided to spoil ourself one night. We chose a little bed and breakfast in Vermont. The room had been part of a former horse barn, but it was done up very nicely. Service was excellent as well; we were treated extremely well by the owner, who made sure to know everyone staying at the inn by their first name. Breakfast was tasty and filling.
So much for the luxury of the Heart of the Village Inn. Off again to the slopes to repeatedly fall and hurt ourselves as we learned to ski and snowboard. This time we went to Smuggler's Notch in northern Vermont. Had a good time, but we were sore by the end of the day. After skiing, we drove through the White Mountains of New Hamphsire where we had dinner, and then on to Maine where we spent the night.
We spent this day driving and hiking in Acadia National Park. While many parts of the park are closed during the winter, there is still a lot to see, and winter is a very beautiful time to see it if you are willing to brave the cold and put up with the inconvenience of having many things in the park and surrounding towns closed. Although it was in the 20's, it was a beautifully sunny day when we were there, which made for some nice hiking. We drove along the few miles of the scenic Park Loop road that were open, did a hike around Jordan lake, and ended the day with drive along Sargent Drive to see Somes Sound the only fiord on the east coast.
In the evening, we went out to dinner in nearby Ellsworth. I had some delicious Maine lobster and New England clam chowder.
Not ready to quite leave Acadia, we drove over to the Schoodic Peninsula, a part of Acadia National Park not connected to the main body of the park in Mount Desert Island. After a scenic drive through the peninsula, we headed off for Massachusetts.
We stopped in Tewksbury to see Kevin, a friend of mine from my undergraduate days, and his wife. We had a very nice dinner, and spent the night at their house.
Left Tewksbury in the morning to go meet Maha's brother and his wife in New Jersey. Drove through Rhode Island, where we had breakfast, and Connecticut, where we filled gas. Got to New Jersey, had lunch, then took the subway into Penn Station. Walked over to Rockafeller Plaza, then had dinner, then made our way to Times Square to find a place to watch the ball drop. Got a good spot around 7pm, and then stood there for 5 hours in 20 degree weather. Nearly froze to death, but got to see the ball drop. Then ran back to Penn Station, to take the subway back to New Jersey where we spent the night.
I must honestly say that I do not understand of the New York City celebration. Its cold and boring. You just stand there in the freezing cold, and there is no entertainment for most of the 500,000 people standing there. I guess its a good thing to do once, but I probably won't be going back anytime soon.
After being out late for the New Year's Eve celebration, slept in a little, but made it to Philadelphia in time for lunch. We went to the corner of 9th and Passyunk, where the famous Pat's and Geno's stand. Pat Olivieri reportedly invented the cheesesteak sandwich in 1930. Now Pat's and Geno's are probably the most famouns cheesesteak joints in all of Philly. Pat's, which is normally open 24-7, was closed when we arrived, so I went to Geno's first. Because Pat's was closed, the line at Geno's was very long and it took me nearly 30 minutes to get my sandwich. Of course, after Time Square the night before, I was used to standing in the cold, so it didn't bother me much. When I finished my Geno's cheesesteak, Pat's had opened, so I walked across the street and ordered one from Pat's. It is the subject of much debate who makes the better cheesesteak in Philadelphia, Pat's or Geno's. They were both good, but my vote goes to Pat's.
Next we went to the historice distric, went for a tour of Independence Hall, where the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were signed, and saw the Liberty Bell. After our visit to the historic district, we went for dinner to get-- yes, you guessed it-- more cheesesteak. This time we went to Jim's. Jim's has a meatless version with mushrooms, onions, and peppers, so even Maha the vegetarian was happy.
It should be noted that we were informed that Philadelphia was famous for its soft pretzels. We tried one from a street vendor, but it was cold and hard and not very good. If someone knows where to get a good soft pretzel in Philly, we will surely try it if we ever go back.
In the night, we drove through Delaware (where we stopped for ice cream) and Maryland (where we filled gas) to Washington, D.C. We decided that you could just as easily see D.C. at night as you could in the day, so we drove directly into Washington, D.C. This was actually a great time to see it. There was almost no traffic or parking problems, and there were only a few other people visiting the momunements at 10-11pm at night. Is was very easy to travel around and see whatever you wanted. I was amazed to how late in the night the park rangers stayed at the monuments. It was a little cold, around 20 degrees, but I bundled up warmly, and I went to the heated museums under the monuments when I need to warm up.
We had planned to do Washington, D.C. this morning, but because we did it last night, we could spent the whole day in Shenandoah National Park. It turns out that this might not have been a good thing. Shenandoah was actually a pretty big dissappointement. I'm sure is very beautiful in the spring and fall, and the views along the Skyline Drive are breathtaking. However, during the winter, its just a bunch a barren trees, and EVERY visitor center, campground, and bathroom in the park is closed. However, unlike Acadia and Great Smoky Mountains, who didn't charge an entrance fee, because most of the facilities were closed, Shenandoah still charges a full entrance fee, even though there is nothing there to see. Furthermore, Shenandoah is basically just a driving park all built along Skyline Drive. It has only a few hiking trails. I don't understand why anyone would pay to go up through Shenandoah, when they can just drive through the Blue Ridge Parkway, which has everything Shenandoad does, for free. I won't ever go back to Shenandoah in the winter.
Now that am finished complaining, we did do the entire Skyline Drive and a couple short hikes.
Maha claims that I have to actually get out of the car and do something to claim that I have actually been in a state. In most states, I tried to eat a meal or at least fill gas. However, we did not want to drive as long as it would take to get into a decent-sized city where we could find gas or food in West Virginia, so I just got out of the car ran around in a circle, and got back into the car to drive back to Virginia.
We had intended to drive the first half of the Blue Ridge Parkway this day. However, a freak snowstorm in the southeast, which shut down Atlanta's airport, blew up through North Carlonia and Virginia, and spoiled our chances. We drove miles 1-71 before the park service close several parts of the parkway including some we had just driven on. We skipped ahead and drove miles 135 to 165, but the snow was getting too deep and it was getting dark, so we got off the parkway and drove over more maintained highways to our hotel for the night.
The entire North Carolina section of the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed because of the snowstorm, so we took interstate instead. After a slight detour through South Carolina, where we had breakfast, we made it to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We did a short hike of about 6 miles to see a frozen rainbow falls. It was a very pretty little hike through a light snow cover. We decided that Great Smoky Mountains was a much better winter park than was Shenandoah.
In the evening we went into Gatlinburg and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Finally our trip was over. So after breakfast, we drove back to Indianapolis. In all we put about 3800 miles on our rental car.
I will finish, as is my custom, with a sunset photo, this time from Acadia.
Last updated: January 10, 2002