March:
Alexander Hamilton National Historic Site, Manhattan
Metropolitan Museum of Art/The Cloisters, Manhattan

April:

May:
Fort Stanwix National Historic Site, Rome
DeadApple Tours, Manhattan
Other touristy things in Manhattan

June:
Philip Schulyer House, Albany, NY
New York State Library and Museum, Albany, NY

July:
Erie Canal Boat Museum, Chittenango, NY

August:
Lake Placid Olympic Center, Adirondacks
Whiteface Mountain, Adirondacks

September:

October:
Plymouth, Massachusetts

November:
Lake George, NY
Trip to Vermont?

As you can see, the itinerary needs some fleshing out. Two trips per month is enough for the spring and late autumn months, but I’d like to have a few more activities for July, August, September, and October. If you would like us to visit a certain place, feel free to use my contact form for suggestions. I’d love to hear from you!

2012 Itinerary In the Works

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As much as I love traveling and exploring new places, sometimes I really need a familiar “face” or place to ground me. If you have ever traveled extensively or have ever needed something very important while traveling, you know what I mean. Earlier last year, we traveled out of state, to Virginia, for two weeks. My daughter became very ill while we were there. We took her to the emergency room, and it was a very scary time. I knew no one and was not familiar with any of the hospitals or stores or anything. My daughter was fine (it was an allergy to some medication she was on) so thank God for that. But when it came time to get some medical supplies, we were lost– until I spotted a Walgreens! I can’t tell you what a comfort it was to walk into a familiar store and encounter some of the most amazing and helpful people I’ve ever met. The pharmacist there was so helpful. He came out from behind the counter to show me some over-the-counter medications for my daughter and explained to me why certain supplements (such as potassium) were prescription only. That guy was the epitome of terrific customer service, and such service seems to be status quo for Walgreens in general.

I love my local Walgreens and we get our prescriptions there. The people there are simply stellar. I feel like I have made a few new friends there, that’s how friendly they are! The company focuses on customer service and excellent prices. Perhaps you heard about the recent Walgreens/Express Scripts dispute. It was in the news and on the radio, and affected tens of thousands of Americans (especially military families). In a nutshell, Express Scripts didn’t renew their contract with Walgreens because they wanted more profit and more control. This left scores of people high and dry, forced to find a new pharmacy for their medications.

In response, Walgreens turned around and has been offering their Walgreens Prescription Savings Club at a deep discount. The annual membership fee for an entire family– including the pets!– is $35 a per year. Membership for an individual is $20 per year. That is an incredible deal. Membership includes savings on generic medications and over 8,000 brand name prescriptions, discounts of medical supplies such as nebulizers and diabetic supplies, pet prescriptions (that alone makes the Walgreen’s plan worth it, have you seen the cost of pet prescriptions?!), flu shots, and more. As if that wasn’t enough, you get bonuses on Walgreens-brand products and on the photo-finishing services.

I give Walgreens a lot of credit. They made lemonade out of lemons AND turned everything around to help the customers. Combined with their outstanding customer service, it’s no wonder so many of us are devoted to Walgreens, no matter where we go. I am so thankful for the care I got at Walgreens in Virginia. It was such a relief during a confusing time.

So check out Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook. I have “liked” them through my personal Facebook page and my NewYorkTraveler.net Facebook page. I recommend Walgreens as a comfort zone of familiarity and excellent customer service wherever we travel. Thanks, Walgreens!

I Recommend Walgreens

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HAHA! I liked that last sign. It alludes to the old Burma Shave road signs, popular in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s when Americans hit the roads in droves. It was a time of great optimism and prosperity. The road trip was king.

Burma Shave was a shaving cream, manufactured by the Burma-Vita company. Sales for the cream were less than enthusiastic, so the company started an advertising campaign that later entered the annals of American culture. They placed signs with brief snippets of limericks along roadways. At first the signs were pure advertisements, such as these:

A shave
That’s real
No cuts to heal
A soothing
Velvet after-feel
-Burma-Shave

You’ve laughed
At our signs
For many a mile
Be a sport
Give us a trial
-Burma-Shave

Later, the signs became little stories or humorous admonitions against speeding and driving drunk. Always, the last sign said simply “Burma Shave.”

Hardly a driver
Is now alive
Who passed
On hills
At 75
-Burma-Shave

Past
Schoolhouses
Take it slow
Let the little
Shavers grow
-Burma-Shave

If daisies
Are your
Favorite flower
Keep pushin’ up those
Miles per hour
-Burma-Shave

The actual shaving cream was never as popular as the company’s advertising campaign. Sales declined and Burma-Shave was sold to Philip Morris in 1963. The company pulled the ads and thus ended another quirky icon in American road trip travel history. A shame.

But there are a few of us who still remember Burma Shave! It was nice to see that the Window King of Holland Patent remembered.

No Burma Shave Here!

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In the previous posts, I yakked on about the Adirondack hermits, Adirondack stuff and paraphernalia (aka, junk) that previous campers and residents left behind for us to ooo and aaa about, and I talked about the wonderful methods of transportation back in the ‘ol days (and you think modern potholes are bad, check out the old plank road!). For this post, I’ll talk about the modern Adirondacks– the Winter Olympics and Smokey the Bear, woo hoo!

Twice, Lake Placid in the Adirondacks has hosted the Winter Olympics, in 1932 and 1980. I remember watching the 1980 games on TV and feeling that tremendous surge of pride as a New Yorker. Lake Placid (where we hope to visit very soon) is a wonderful little community of sports enthusiasts. Dozens of winter athletes have come from this little town, including Jack Shea, winner of the 1932 gold for speed skating and his grandson Jimmy Shea for skeleton sledding in 2002 in Salt Lake City.

The museum has a small section devoted to Olympic history. This is the sled on which Francis Paul Stevens won his silver medal in 1932.

A little bit of trivia– did you know that the Lake Placid High School is the only school in the United States to have been issued an alcohol license? During the 1980 Olympics, the school served as a private bar. Lake Placid was also one of the first communities in the U.S. to build a golf course, in 1898.

Moving along, we wandered through another very large building dedicated to the various industries in the Adirondacks. Logging was the biggest, and there was so much to see and learn. We all found it extremely fascinating, with many old tools, displays, plaques and stories of the loggers and their families. What a tough, tough job. I’m amazed at the strength of these guys.

This is one of the many gigantic piece of equipment the loggers used. It’s a Barienger brake, a huge piece of machinery that controlled logs (and horses and men!) as they were transported down the steep slopes of the Adirondack mountains.

Men also transported logs by the many waterways of the ADKs. I loved this diorama.

After spending over an hour in this one building, we ventured outside to the old Whiteface Mountain fire tower.

The view is so cool.

Obviously, these fire towers could make or break a community. To heighten awareness of the threats of fire to visitors, Smokey the Bear was invented by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1942. This is a genuine old Smokey suit. Did you know that Smokey was named for Smokey Joe Martin, a New York City assistant fire chief?

The last moments of our visit were spent enjoying the various outbuildings. Many were reproductions of typical ADK cottages and summer camps, all sporting unique and quirky objects, like chain rain gutters, rustic playhouses and furniture made from twigs.

Giant Adirondack Chair.

TV, Adirondack style!

Before the sun set and the museum closed, we scampered over to the back of the museum to take one final glimpse of Blue Mountain Lake. As dusk approached, a couple of loons trumpeted over the lake. It was absolutely beautiful. I miss it so much.

Thanks for reading. If you are ever in the Adirondack region, check out the museum. It’s a blast!

Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, Part 3

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All my kids love wristwatches. A few of them have cell phones, but they still wear their watches. Problem is, the watches they have had are the “discount” watches from the local Wally World. Needless to say, I usually wind up (pun intended!) purchasing a new watch for each kid because the watches are so poorly made. 300 years from now, will museum visitors be treated to the junk from our landfills? Ugh.

It would have been better if I’d paid a little more and just purchased Citizen Eco drive watches for the children. Seriously, I could imagine George Washington wearing one of these watches, especially if it has a barometer or calendar. He and Thomas Jefferson were avid weather watches, I hear. You think this watch with its “perpetual calendar” would go over well?

P.S. My son saw me going through the BlueDial.com website and he came right over. “Wow, watches!” he said. I told you, my kids like watches!

Check out the store for some of the most beautiful watches you’ve ever seen. Truly, these are elegant timepieces. And who knows, maybe someday YOUR elegant timepiece will sit behind a display case in a museum.

Timeless

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It took us two days to see the entire museum, and we rushed through it on the second day! The place is situated like a campus, with dozens of outbuildings connected by pathways. Lovely fountains, a pond, and breathtaking views of the majestic mountains fill the background.

After wandering through several buildings loaded with information and artifacts relating to the geology and geography of the park, boat building, and Adirondack camp nostalgia from the previous century, we entered an enormous building with several life-like displays of old carriages, trains, and sleds. Transportation by boat seemed to be the main mode for Daks residents, but a railroad and horse-drawn carriages transported visitors to the park.

The train reconstruction is remarkable. What elegance and decoration of those old trains! Today, everything is so utilitarian; the difference is so striking.

I like the Peddler Wagon. It was crammed with all the typical household necessaries of mid-19th century rural American.

We also saw a Dog/Sheep Power Machine! The kids and I have often joked about building one of these. We wouldn’t churn butter as this one does, but maybe the critter would provide some juice for the electronics, eh?

This is cool– a huge snow roller. Back before plows, all the people could do was squash the snow and pack it down as much as possible. Wow.

I enjoyed seeing a replica of an old plank road. About 100 years ago, such a road ran in front of my house. These plank roads were built of logs. Sometimes the logs were planed flat, others kept there round shape and we firmly planted into the dirt pathways. VERY bumpy going. A businessman or group of businesses usually funded the construction. They charged tolls to make up for the construction costs. These roads must have been extremely hard on the wagon riders — ouch!

The name of this “mountain” on a map made me giggle.

We followed another path from that building to several outbuildings. These were tiny replications of typical summer camps. This one is called the Durant Sunset Cottage, named for the builder and owner (William West Durant and Frederick Clark Durant, respectively) and for the radiant design. The building is sided by spruce limb and used as sleeping quarters for the Durant camp north of Raquette Lake.

In the 1860s after the Civil War, Americans became prosperous and enjoyed more leisure time. City-dwellers and rich folks wanted to enjoy the “strenuous life” outdoors, and they flocked to the Daks for their exploits. The Adirondacks are extremely rugged country, however, even to this day. A whole new economy sprang up: guides and guide books who led intrepid city slickers on forested adventures.

Hermits came to the Daks, too. The museum dedicated a portion of the room to some of the hermits.

Noah John Rondeau is one of the more famous hermits (oxymoron??). For a hermit, he sure got out a lot. He had visitors from all over the world, and traveled to New York City on occasion to give speeches about hermit living.

Rondeau was quite the character. I have intentions of reading more about him (yes, he even had books written about him– this is quite the popular hermit!). He invented his own language and wrote his diary in it. It took a while, but someone did crack the code.

Rondeau was definitely a quirky character. One of the books at the museum that interested me was written by Maitland de Sormo. I’m going to check it out (it’s difficult to find in print anymore) and perhaps do a little story about Rondeau here in the future.

I continue our adventure at the Adirondack Museum in Part 3, so stay tuned for more!

Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, NY – Part 2

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I think it’s terrible, especially now that the population is getting older. No offense to you senior citizens, but vision tests ensure that the folks behind the wheels can still see to drive! Vision does tend to deteriorate with age, and mandatory vision tests did provide the public with some assurance that all drivers on the roads had adequate vision. The DMV says they eliminated the tests because they wanted to make online license renewal easier. I think that is a very poor reason for eliminating the vision tests. The tests were a minor inconvenience compared to the assurance that every driver is fit. Oh well… we as drivers can each do our part to make sure that our loved ones are OK behind the wheel and that we all get regular exams at the optician’s office. Sometimes a nice, new pair of glasses is inspiration for a quick vision check. I’m going to go again soon because I want a new prescription for a new pair of eyeglasses at Zenni Optical. I purchased a pair several months ago and I absolutely LOVE them. Honestly, I can’t sing Zenni’s praises louder. I got exceptional service and the glasses are the best I have owned. I want another pair, now!

I think these colorful frames are spectacular!

Seriously– if you are needing new glasses, try Zenni Optical. To buy glasses online, you do need your prescription and pupillary distance measurement. These measurements are obtained by an optometrist with a simple eye exam. And eye exams are good, especially if you drive!

Oh Say, Can You See?

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Little Falls is another fine example of Upstate New York’s formerly prosperous era, between the Civil War and World War II. Many of the Victorian grand dames lines the streets, some kept up while other decaying.

One of the claims to fame of the city is The Human Polar Bear. City resident and eye specialist businessman Professor Louis Sugarman was thus called the Human Polar Bear for his sensationalist plunges into the freezing cold waters of the nearby Mohawk River. The man apparently bathed “daily,” even in temperatures of 20 BELOW zero!

The day we visited, the Monday after New Year’s Day, was extremely cold and the wind whipped around the rugged cliffs. No baths for us! I originally hoped we could wander the streets a bit, snapping photos and admiring the architecture, but it was too cold. Instead, we sauntered into Ann’s Cafe and Deli Restaurant for coffee and sandwiches. The prices are outstanding and the food was tasty. The coffee was absolutely phenomenal.

After we’d thawed out, we wandered the canal area. Little Falls was one of the Erie Canal cities, and the city thrived from the commerce. Railroads and, later, the highways, replaced the canal. The city slumped from the loss but Lock 17 is here and is a popular tourist site for canal enthusiasts. According to Wikipedia, the lock here at Little Falls was “the highest lift lock in the world at 40.5 feet (12.3 m) in height” until recently.

The city has created a lovely park and visitors’ center in this area by the canal. We wandered the park.

In the center of the park stands an odd, modern sculpture. It clashes quite loudly amongst a backdrop of very old buildings and antique shops.

The park hosts a number of stores. I am not a fan of shopping, but it was so cold that we decided to wander in the building. What pleasant surprises we found!

The buildings were crammed full with quirky old stuff for sale. We delighted browsing through so many interesting tools, crafts, furniture and other objects that left us baffled. We spotted this very odd device. It is made from blown glass and is enormous- larger than a beach ball! We played a little guessing game. My son thought perhaps it was a huge Christmas tree ornament. I guessed it was a Victorian decoration for a garden, like those glass globes on pedestals.

I submitted the photo and asked my NewYorkTraveler.net Facebook friends. What a surprise! Three people answered and knew exactly what it is– a Japanese fishnet float! Fishermen once hung these glass floats on the edges of their nets to make sure the nets did not drop down into the water, lost forever.

I also spotted an old rotary phone. Oh this brought back memories! Remember how long it took, just to dial a number? And if you dialed the wrong digit, what a pain it was to start over!

We spent too long in the shops, looking at so many things. A storm was coming and we knew we must start the drive home soon… but there was always something incredibly interesting to see!

Finally, we made our way out. I took a quick diversion to the bridge over the canal. We were surprised to see extensive damage, still, from the August and September hurricanes and severe flooding that had hit the area. You can see that the floods washed away parts of the foundations of these buildings. Oh no!

The waterway was messy, full of piles of enormous rocks, fallen trees and some debris. I could tell that there had been some cleanup already. I wonder how extensive the damage was after the hurricanes?

The sidewalk was closed, for obvious reasons. You can see right down through the foundation.

We slowly made our way back to the vehicle. The streets were nearly empty and the clouds were beginning to darken. Next time we return to this little city, it will be in better weather to visit the Nicholas Herkimer Home just east of the city limits.

On our way, we passed by the Fairfield Windmill Project, a hotly contested “renewable energy” project that greatly divided the community.

A New Year’s Stroll Through Little Falls, NY

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There’s a silver lining to every cloud. Last year, contract negotiations between Express Scripts, a pharmaceutical benefit manager, and Walgreens, the nationwide pharmacy store fell through. This means that people on Express Scripts plans are no longer able to fill their prescriptions through Walgreens pharmacy. This stinks because some people (myself included) really like Walgreens and have a relationship with the pharmacy department there.

Well, Walgreens is stepping up to the plate and making things even better. The company has started a Walgreens Prescription Savings Club where customers can register for a special plan for TEN DOLLARS a year! The plan membership covers the entire immediate family household (spouses, dependents under the age of 22) and even the pets! Individuals can get coverage for $5. Through this plan, members can get deeply discounted prices on their prescriptions. These promotional membership prices are available through January 31, 2012. After that, member prices become $20 a year for individuals and $20 a year for families. Even so, the membership is a great deal.

I have to give a lot of credit to Walgreens. Other companies would probably whimper and whine and simply jack up the prices for us customers. Walgreens appears to be very devoted to customers and while other pharmaceutical companies are more concerned about their bottom line.

So if you have had a relationship with Walgreens and Express Script and suddenly find yourself bereft of a pharmacy from the dispute, check out Walgreens Prescription Savings Club. Not only is it a great deal, but it’s business with a company who cares about the customers! For more information, see Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook.

Express Scripts Dispute Benefits Walgreens Customers

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I also located a video of the call of the loon, to help him remember the loons on Blue Mountain Lake. This is the video I found– so good, I just have to share.

*siggghhhhh*

Can we go back, right now?

Going Loon-y

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