Sugar and Squalls and everything Falls

On Saturday morning I finished packing up the last of my belongings into my, already extremely full, car. My landlord came over to see me off. She is so nice and I have really enjoyed renting from her and her husband.
Her husband was not able to come and see me off, though, because apparently I chose the first day of deer hunting season to leave. This is a BIG deal in Maine. Multiple generations of hunters gather at 4am for "Hunters Breakfast," which every diner in the area serves. You can imagine what they serve...it includes lots of meat! I heard that some people don't even go hunting afterward, it's just a tradition to go to the breakfast. I did see some hunters on my drive, but I am sure most were deep in the woods. As I headed toward New Hampshire, I drove part of the way on the same road I drove on everyday to go to work. It was nice to see everything one last time.

Taking the back roads instead of highway is such a wonderful way to go. You save on the tolls and you get to see the real side of the towns.
New Hampshire was very similar to Maine (big surprise), except for one part when I was going through the White Mountain range. Seeing the mountains off in the distance was really nice until I couldn't see them anymore due to the clouds.

Then, it began to snow on my ride. Turns out I made it out of Maine just in time cause my landlord sent me a picture of  her house on Sunday with at least a few inches of snow on the ground.
My first stop on Saturday was at Sugarbush farm in Woodstock, VT. As I was driving down this dirt road, and wondering if my GPS had steered me wrong it finally dead ended at this wonderful, family owned, working farm. I won't say it was the prettiest thing I have ever seen, but it was the real thing. The family has lived and worked there for decades. They make cheese and real maple syrup. They have a self guided tour through the farm, sugaring house, and though the maple trees that they tap. It was really interesting. I learned that there are 2 grades of syrup and they never know how much of each grade they will get per year because the grade is based on the temperature of the day they collect it. If it is warmer they will get a darker, more maple flavored syrup (Grade B) whereas, on a colder day they will get a lighter syrup (Grade A). The grade A's are broken down even further into Vermont Fancy or Light Amber, Medium Amber, and Dark Amber. I tried each of these and was very impressed with the Vermont Fancy. It had a very light flavor, but was still very sweet. I also learned that Vermont has a slightly different grading system then the rest of the US, so their syrup has a slightly higher density (more sugar!)

they link all the trees together with lines of hose and collect all the sap in a big bucket

The cheeses I tested were good. My favorite was the Smoked Hickory and Maple. I later found out it was The American Cheese Societies first prize winner for Best Smoked Cheese in America. I knew I had good taste. ;) As I drove around the town afterward I found some of Vermont's infamous covered bridges...

Afterward, I headed for Syracuse, NY where I was staying the night in a hostel. I stayed in hostels all over New Zealand when Coralie and I went there and they were all wonderful, and I read a few good reviews about this place so I thought it would be great. Well, the neighborhood was nice enough, and the host that was there to greet me was nice, but the house itself was really creepy. It was a large, 3 story house built in 1895, and I don't think they had made many changes to it since then. I was one of only two people staying there that night and the other person was not very talkative. There was a stair case leading up to the 3rd floor right outside my room and the light in the stairwell was flickering on and off making that creepy buzzing sound you hear in all the scary movies. This is why I can't watch horror films; even though I have never seen any my mind still goes crazy. I distracted myself by talking to a couple friends on the phone till I was so tired that it didn't bother me that I was almost alone in this old, creaky, light flickering house while it was raining outside. *shiver*

The hallway with the flickery light. Its off in this pic.

Well, I made it through the night, and headed for Niagara Falls. When I could actually see Syracuse during the day I found that it was nothing to get too excited about. I would not go back to visit, but that's just me.
However, the area surrounding Syracuse I must exclude from this assessment. For miles upon miles along the highway in NY from Syracuse to Buffalo there was rolling farm land and big country homes scattered here and there. That was pretty! As I was approaching the falls, probably 5-10 miles away, I noticed a pillar of what, at first, I thought was smoke coming really far up into the air. Then I thought maybe it was mist from the falls so I got my camera out and snapped a few pics... thinking the whole time I was gonna feel stupid when I found out it really was smoke and had nothing to do with the falls. But lo and behold, it sure was mist from the falls!

The falls were great. It was a little overcast, but still pretty. I was able to park on the American side of the falls and walk over to the Canadian side. That way I did not have to try to pass customs with all the stuff I have packed in my car.

The American falls as seen from Canada

The mist covers the middle section of the Horseshoe falls. I guess you can see the whole thing when it is windy enough for all the mist to dissipate as quickly as it is made. Unfortunately, (or fortunately for my freezing cold fingers) there was only a slight breeze on Sunday. But every once in a while the wind would blow the right way and the mist would rain down on everyone nearby.

Horseshoe falls Canadian side

Horseshoe falls from American side

Then I drove to my grandmothers house in Ohio. On the way I drove along the Chautauqua Wine Trail. This is 45 miles of road with houses and towns just like normal, but behind, between and around all the houses there were grapes growing everywhere! These houses had no backyards, just vineyards.

Today I spent the day with my grandmother, her sister and my cousin (once removed or something like that) :) and her new, adorable baby. Even though I have only been on the road for two days it has been nice to take a little break, and I always love to see family; especially family that I do not get to see very often due to the distance between us.
Tomorrow I am off again. Don't worry my other posts won't be this long. :)