10/5/17

Three States

Yesterday's journey took us through three states. We said good-bye to Sharon and Arlene in Schoharie, and then drove north through New York on our way to the fancy new King Arthur Baker''s Store in Norwich, Vermont.

It seems strange seeing the names of cities we've heard many times, and yet, they've always seemed remote and far away. To be right next door adds to the feeling and the knowing that we are far from home now.


Of course, we have an Albany in Oregon, but ours is pronounced with a doctor's "a." Also, toll roads are common in the east, but a rarity in the west, and so we barely know how to act. We drove on the toll portion of I-90 for a short distance. We were given a ticket at the toll booth when we entered, which we handed to the toll booth woman on the way out. We'd driven approximately ten miles on the toll road, and we were charged nothing for our use of it. Apparently, there is a minimum number of miles one must travel before being required to pay. It's all very mysterious.


On our way to Vermont, we passed this store selling fold-up Adirondack chairs. If we hadn't had to haul them for many more thousands of miles, we would have purchased two of these to put under our big fir tree back home.


A couple of hours later, we passed into Vermont. We've been to Vermont before, having flowin out of Burlington after a trip to New England some 20 years ago, but we've never RV'd here.


We drove through the Green Mountain area, and we looked out across the horizon, seeing more fall color than we've seen so far.


Soon, we reached Norwich, and the King Arthur Baker's Store. This is what our AAA tour book has to say about the tiny town of Norwich.


There were a few other sites to see in the tour book, but we wanted to see just this one: The King Arthur Baker's Store, Cafe, and Bakery. I've wanted to see it ever since it opened a few years back.


We visited the store first. To say I was agog would be an understatement.


Oh my gosh...what a lot of stuff. Flavorings,


and, of course, their multiple colors and kinds of flours.


Colorful displays...I love those candy apple red appliances.


Cupcake liners anybody?


These were "hen house" measuring spoons. I'm not sure why they photographed gold. They were actually silver in color.


Sprinkles, edible glitters, and flavored sugars in all ways imaginable...


and spatulas and serving spoons in a rainbow of colors.


They had maple syrup packaged six ways from Sunday, but I liked the gingerbread guys best.


And refrigerator magnets. Yes, please!


And you didn't think I was leaving without a King Arthur apron, did you? I think any bread I bake is sure to taste better and rise higher if I'm wearing this apron while I make it. Obviously, that's been my problem all along.


Mike snapped this picture of me keeping my debit card hot. You want those things warmed up at all times.


Also, we saw the bakery. There was nothing going on at 3:30 in the afternoon, but they had a sign saying they started baking at 3:30 in the morning. Yikes.


Also, we visited the cafe. We each had a brownie and a single shot of espresso.


When we moved on, it was no time at all before we passed into New Hampshire and our final destination of the night. New Hampshire was one of the states we visited on our trip to New England, but our RV was not with us that trip.


We ended up staying the night at the Walmart in Woodsville...a very quiet venue, surprisingly. This is our second stay in a Walmart parking lot...no complaints from these weary travelers. Mike had a couple of "man chores" to take care of. He wanted to check the roof of the RV again after we'd passed under a few low-flying trees. No problems there. Also, he did some velcro work with a clock for our wall and something about the TV that would be impossible to explain in words. He's also being diligent about keeping our passenger-side slide lubricated. It's the same one that got stuck open when we were in Minnesota back in 2014. Now, if it makes one single peep of squeaking, it gets a new dose of fresh lubricant.

As for me, my task was to add the great states of Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New Hampshire to the side of the RV.


By the end of today, I'll be adding the great state of Maine.

Today's travels will take us to our northernmost destination of Acadia National Park. We'll be staying at a KOA in Bar Harbor this time around. Originally, we thought we might go farther north into Canada again, but we're finding things this far north are shutting down for the season. In fact, the KOA where we're staying will shut down for the season the day after we leave. Also, we're kind of done with border crossings for one trip.

We passed through a lot of historic towns yesterday, and we saw lots of wonderful old churches with tall steeples. They make me think of my mother and that thing we did with our hands. It went like this:

(Hands folded, fingers laced together inside) This is the church.
(Index fingers pointed up) This is the steeple.
(Opening thumbs) Open the doors,
(Opening hands with fingers pointing up) And see all the people! 

The problem with steeples is that they are always tangled up in power lines, photography-wise,


and so any pictures I took weren't very good. I'm going to keep trying though. We might actually have to stop the truck so I can shoot from a sidewalk instead of through the windows. That ought to improve my odds of a good shot significantly.

19 comments:

Sherry said...

Ooohhh, the King Arthur store looked fantastic. I know all those wonderful goodies were hard to resist. I am enjoying your trip so much. Keep up the good work.

Debbie said...

I don't know how you passed up those chairs!!!! Ok, so space has its limits....but they are great. Great finds at KA....I would have grabbed some boiled apple cider and sourdough flavoring, and on and on! Thanks for sharing.

Robin said...

Be careful now you are in the East. Some "states"are called Commonwealth's not state. Some people may get a little huffy. ...Robin :)
ps: Pennsylvania is one of the Commonwealth states.

Betty said...

I've been following along, enjoying the trip. The Fall colors should be showing now and I look forward to seeing your pictures.
You are in my son's "neck of the woods" now. He lives in Massachusetts and I'll be up there from Alabama next week. Do you have plans to visit the Boston area? In Natick, there is a fabric store called "Fabric Place Basement". It isn't a fancy place but has an awesome selection of all kinds of fabric, including a quilting section. They have great prices also. My DIL and I found it accidently one day and now it is a "must see" stop when I visit.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I don't think I would get up at 3am to watch baking, but what a great store! After traveling expansive states, those seem like skips probably. Yes, our churches seem to love tall steeples.

Brown Family said...

the King Arthur complex looks very interesting! A lot going on in the early hours of the morning! We visited a lot of quilt shops in Vermont and New Hampshire when we were there! Many small towns on country roads,not a good fit for an RV! I remember the church/hand thing. I did it with my Mother, Daughter and Grand daughter!

Sandra W said...

The Mill store looks like fun. I went to Della's restaurant/kitchen store in Savannah, Georgia and it was quite a disappointment. The restaurant was good though. She specializes in fried chicken.
I also went to the International Cooking Academy and store enroute to a Denyse Schmidt weekend in Hartford. That was an interesting store with lots of gadgets.
Denyse's courses are very good but pricey. I went on a special Mother's Day weekend--if two registered you got 10 % off. However, it was really fun and worth the money.
I must mention the Maid of the Mist--although it's pricey it is well worth it. You go very near the falls and you can really hear the roar.
Your trip sounds delightful.

Vicki W said...

Acadia is my favorite place to vacation! You will have a great time there.

Sarah said...

Ok - I have to ask...in these parts we pronounce Albany as Awlbunni, which makes me think of the doctor's a. What other pronunciations have you heard? King Arthur looks like it was a fun visit. Do they also offer classes at the bakery? I can't believe how restrained you were in shopping at KA. I get the Small space/long trip but now that you have your mile high apron I would be itching to bake something . Enjoy Arcadia - it's on my bucket list.

WoolenSails said...

The store looks like a fun place to visit, will have to visit sometime.
I love taking photos of churches and there is always wires in the way or on a busy road.
You are really putting in a lot of miles in a day. I couldn't even get up there in one day, had to make a stop this year, much easier on me than pushing it.

Debbie

piecefulwendy said...

Oh, I wish I could've been at the KA store with you. That looked like just a whole bunch of fun. Glad you got your magnet and, of course, the apron! Looking forward to your Acadia visit and what you find there. I completely agree with you on the border crossing thoughts. There were so many cute steepled churches in Maine too. I could never get a decent pic of one because of those lines.

gpc said...

I use King Arthur flour and would love to visit their store and more, to take a class there! Good advice on the debit card -- I need to take that warning to heart and exercise mine today! I grew up in a little steepled church like that . . . they are charming, but also the reason I am not churched today. :)

Kathy H said...

I have been enjoying your travels. The King Arthur bakery looked like a real treat to visit. Where are you traveling to in Pennsylvania? Thanks for sharing all the places you have been.

Susan said...

I remember my mom teaching me siblings and me that thing with the hands.My brothers figured out that if you did it with your fingers on the outside, after you open the door, they either said, there are no people or where are the people.

QuiltGranma said...

oh, DROOLING about the King Arthur Baking place. The outside reminds me of one area in Sisters, OR I've seen when at their quilt show. Inside looks like Shop Till You Drop time! Love those measuring spoons and the gingerbread men maple syrup containers! What keepsakes!

Judy1522 said...

The King Arthur store looks fun. Yes, we ran into that problem with things shutting down in the Northeast for the winter. It was surprising to us since it doesn't happen as much here so we didn't even think about it happening. Also, we loved seeing all the old churches with their steeples.
I found that interesting that you were given a ticket at the beginning of the toll road. That didn't happen with us and when my son lived in Connecticut since they don't have tolls we used his ez pass box so didn't have to stop. Now they are getting rid of the booths in a lot of places and putting in an overhead scanner that charges the box or gets your license number with no slowing or stopping. He shipped his car back to Oregon this summer and forgot to take out the box so every time it went through a toll booth he got charged. They did reimburse him for it but those things are always a pain to take care of.

Kate said...

My Guy is a King Arthur fan. The store looks way more fun (and tempting) than their catalogs.

quiltzyx said...

Cannot wait to see the fabulous breads you'll be baking now that you have THE apron! The KA store looks like so much fun - I kinda like the effect the store had on your photo, turning the measuring spoons into gold. And the gingerbread guys maple syrup - the one on the right seems to be smirking!!

Your US map is gettin' filled up, isn't it?!? Fun!

The Adirondack chairs in so many cool colors - very nice indeed.

Lyndsey said...

The store looks fabulous but I wouldn't be getting up at that time in the morning to see the bakery in action. I remember the church rhyme and the hand actions and in fact saw a young child doing it only a couple of days ago.