# Fall New England (sort of) Excursion



## DGS49 (Oct 11, 2016)

In anticipation of the Colombo Day holiday, I headed out last Monday to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, a long and picturesque river valley that draws a lot of travelers all year round.  Since it is PA, all of the landscape is covered with trees, but it was nice.  Highlight was a long bike ride on the rails2trails path along the creek that runs at the bottom of the valley.  It ain't no Colorado River, but it's nice and pleasant, with good scenery.  Friendly people

Then on Tuesday, I went up to Syracuse to visit the Erie Canal museum, which I found very interesting.  Before the railroads, the Erie Canal was the best and cheapest way to get goods from the East cost to markets in the Midwest, and of course to get mid-western products to the east coast.  For it's time, there is a lot of engineering and technology demonstrated, and the sections of the canal that remain provide good hiking or biking paths in rural and farm areas.  My legs were about shot from Monday's ride, but I rode one of the tow paths for a couple hours.

then I went to Cooperstown to spend an afternoon at the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Great stop.  Great town.  Wish I lived there. Well....maybe not in the Winter.

Then on Wednesday morning, I drove over to West Point, to take a guided tour of the campus, and otherwise snoop around.  This is a great stop with a lot of inspiring military history.  Some outstanding Americans are evidenced here and buried here.  Drove up to Portsmouth NH to spend the night, before picking up my wife at Logan on Thursday morning.

Spent 4 nice days exploring around Portland, Maine before driving back home.  I found a nice room in a 200-year-old farmhouse in Scarborough (10 miles south of Portland) on AirBnB.  To be kind, Portland's good for about three days, and we spent 4 there.

Not a bad vacation, if I do say so myself.


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