The Mice Coast to Coast: By The Numbers

2626 miles traveled
200 cough drops eaten by City Mouse
47 rocks collected by City Mouse
30 degrees difference in temperature in 1 day(91 to 61)
15.5 rolls of film taken by Country Mouse
15 coffees/lattes
12 days of vacation
10 states
10 meals with eggs
10 bottles of wine purchased
8 bodies of water
8 friends we saw
7 places geeps directed us to that did not exist
7 things we ate that had blueberries
7 postcards sent
6 modes of transportation: walking,driving,the train,sailboat,ferry boat,tour boat
6 tanks of gas
6 wine tastings
5 Farmers Markets
5 delicious meals cooked over a campfire
5 state parks visited
4 nights camping
4 nights with friends
4 islands visited
3 successfully built fires by City Mouse
3 times we ate ice cream
2 hotels
2 national parks visited
2 times we heard Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson
1 Bed and Breakfast
1 the number of times we had to use nature as a bathroom (we won't tell you which mouse...)
0 the number of speeding tickets acquired by City Mouse


All in all, a VERY successful trip.

We thank you for following along!
City and Country

The Mice get their rainbow...

After a nice breakfast in Sketch-nectady, we moved on and made the mistake of trusting Geeps again and following her direction to a Meadery and Honey Farm that did not exist in the middle of nowhere far north of our original course. But we made the most of it and found another winery and Chimney Bluffs State Park where we dipped our toes in Lake Ontario and City Mouse collected rocks and driftwood for awesome art projects she will make in the future. We then headed further west to Niagara Falls with our first bout of weather that was less than desirable. It cleared up though as we walked toward the falls. I have always been under the impression that Niagara Falls was a big touristy gimmicky place but it is really a pretty and well serviced State Park. We went first on the Maiden of the Mist, a boat that takes you pretty close to the falls and you get soaking wet, they do however provide you with a nice blue poncho. As we were going by, the sun came out for some great rainbows and the falls were pretty amazing. Then you walk across the rapids on a pedestrian bridge and over to another area where you can do a Cave of the Winds tour. This tour provides you with a pair of awesome sandals and another poncho and you walk up a bunch of wooden stairs and on a boardwalk growing algae right next to the falls and you get drenched. It was pretty awesome. The water was really clean. We had possibly our last vacation dinner at the Top of the Falls restaurant complete with a chocolate decadence cake. And then we watched the colored lights on the falls change colors and the evening was completed with a firework show over the falls. The whole Niagara Falls experience was spectacular and highly recommended.

Country Mouse

I don't know, City Mouse makes up the titles and she is busy. . . she'll fill it in. . . maybe we'll call it Hillbilly Fun Park?

(Country Mouse, again City Mouse is busy) So on Wednesday we explored Camden, Maine. Quite the cute little tourist spot, complete with lots of little knick knack shops and a harbor full of beautiful boats. We had breakfast and coffee at Zoot and then walked about stopping randomly and always being very thankful when the store we were searching had air conditioning. We went out to the Cellardoor Winery and sampled a few wines which were pretty good (I’m up to seven in my road trip collection) they even had a wine that mixed blueberry and maple syrup into the wine. On the way back into town we spontaneously decided to take a swim at the lake, because really, how often can you take a swim in a random lake in Maine among the mountains? There were fish visible beneath us, the water was clear and it was quite refreshing. Then we headed back into town to continue our shopping after eating Lobster Rolls and Lobster Bisque while overlooking the harbor. And I’ve also discovered how great blueberry soda is. . . We tried to buy some to bring home today but apparently they only make it on the coast. We went to the Camden Farmers Market and headed down to Rockport, home of the Maine Photographic Workshops. I walked around the harbor and went up this little path I know to a bench that overlooks all the boats. It’s lovely. Great little town really. If you want to visit Maine and see the boats but don’t need all the hustle bustle of touristy shops, I would hang out in Rockport. Our last night at the campsite with some pasta, tomatoes and pesto and potatoes and zucchini. And finally we had the thing that defines camping- smores. The marshmallows were in one large clump from being in the car, but hey, they taste the same.
Thursday morning we took one last look around Camden and headed west. . . Through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to New York. Vermont was gorgeous, winding roads, mountains, a river and sunshine. We stopped at one point and ate a watermelon in a parking lot outside of what I think was a senior center. A not-nice-lady observed us and seemed a little put out by us using that parking lot and we’re pretty sure she called the police so we moved on. Safe and sound now in a motel in a place I can hardly pronounce. . . Schenectady, NY. Niagara Falls tomorrow.

Mad Mice

The mice are going to stop writing if we don;t get some comments! is anyone reading this?
City

Adventures of Sailor Mice and the Carins

Country Mouse again, City Mouse is too busy talking to ETBFM on the phone. We are being camping mice again, sitting at the campfire after finishing smores in Camden Hill State Park, Maine. A call out to my sissy who probably isn’t reading this (until mom tells her she should), this is the same park as your favorite hike! The hike to Mt. Battie.
The mice didn’t get to make that hike today since it’s somewhere above 90 degrees and humid. But wait, wait, I’m not talking about today, I must start back on Monday night since City Mouse never filled you in. So we’ve only been on this vacation for a week. I worked last Tuesday. That seems like a different lifetime ago. Maybe that is what vacation is? It makes you forget board meetings and deadlines and WORK (but I do love my job). Every day has been a new adventure.
So Monday night we stayed at this splendid Bed and Breakfast the Seaside Inn. We had a very early breakfast and hopped on the 7:00a.m. ferry to Monhegan Island. It was a little over an hour and gorgeous and sunny the whole way. Small boat. There was apparently a wedding on Monhegan Island on Tuesday and everything was shutting down so the island folk could go to it. We hiked along the sea to a shipwreck and absolutely beautiful cliffs and waves and cairns. We explored the seaside and all the little caverns rocks can make. I’ll let City Mouse tell you more about that if she wants to. She knows what I mean. We made a cairn and sat on the rocks and read and then hiked back in to the village. There was quite a bit of rock climbing and maneuvering. This mouse thought it was super fun. Then we had lunch and I had a lobster. It’s been awhile since I’ve had one and I remembered all the nasty water that comes out of a whole lobster but I’d forgotten about the green brown nasty stuff. But with a little butter, it was super good. We browsed and shopped and the sun was very intense, there was no relief from it. We watched all the wedding guests headed to their wedding. A man in a tie, a button down shirt and shorts, a lady with ripped up jean shorts with patches and a shirt that said What Wedding? Which was funny because there were signs everywhere and everyone was talking about it all day, lots of sundresses and some suits in the 90 degree heat. City Mouse wanted to crash the wedding but I restrained her. Then we sat for awhile by the beach. I fell asleep on these great big rocks by the water. Then the ferry return home. It was a beautiful day on Monhegan. What I am shocked by as I am revisiting places I was at 4 years ago is how little they change. I took a photo then of a pitcher in the window of a red house. . . And I took the same photo yesterday because it looked exactly the same!
We drove up to Camden then and spent another night in the tent but this one wasn’t quite so comfortable. . . It’s a little warm out. So warm in fact that they had to cancel school for the first time due to heat. None of the schools have air conditioning because they’ve never needed it. I guess this heat wave is very rare. And we definitely noticed it in the sauna of our tent. City Mouse gave up after four hours of marinating and slept in the Prius instead.

City Mouse additions coming soon. Stay tuned…..

Little Mice, Big City.

Hello friends! Country Mouse here to tell you about our lovely second day in Boston. We arrived in the city after once again successfully navigating the train system around 9:00 a.m. We observed a lady on the train with super high heels with glitters and a nice top with sweat pants on in between. Who knows? Living in the city must be entertaining. Unfortunately today our friend Emily had to work so the two mice were off to conquer the city on their own. First stop was breakfast and I had the best tomato basil tort and I’m not sure what it’s made of but it was the best thing I’ve had so far. So good. Then we ventured toward the Boston Common. . . Now I think we all know what the “Country” mouse favors in the way of an environment. But Boston is a contradictory place, there are nice country areas within the larger city. The Boston Common (5-sided) contains a frog pond, a swan pond, a public garden area, lots of sunbathers, and lots of green grass. Would any of you wear an itty bitty little bikini and lay out near the Swan Pond in Winona Lake? No! But this is what the people of Boston do. . . Wear as little as possible and lay out in the green areas of the city. To their credit, I heard someone saying that it has been the hottest day all summer. And it was very warm, especially for the mice in their matching black tops. But on with our journey. We waded across the Frog Pond, which does not contain frogs at all but is a lovely shallow pool for families to come and enjoy. It may be my favorite spot in Boston- or close to it. We observed the Swan Boats in the Swan Pond. Some poor soul paddles these huge boats around like a bicycle and people just sit on them and move very slowly. We passed on that adventure. We walked down Newbury Street. And then we went to the Esplanade. For the life of me I cannot keep in my head how to pronounce that word- but it is an area around the river that is very green and peaceful and full of runners. And. . . The tannest man alive. I may let City Mouse tell you more about him. We took a nice little nap there by the river because we had been walking FOREVER in the heat and we were tired little mice. We also went by the Hatch Shell which is an outdoor area where they have concerts and movies. I am going to have to go back sometime when I can witness this- the idea of sitting outside on a blanket and drinking wine while watching a movie really sounds fun to me. But then comes the best part of the day. . . We met up with my friend Ashley and he took us sailing. SAILING! We had a delightful time. And then we ate at a nice little restaurant where the menu is made up by the best chefs in Boston. And then he took us to his place and we sat out on a deck to drink some wine and listen to music. It was great. This house is a skinny six stories tall and it has an elevator. Cool place. I could not have imagined a better evening. It was just about the perfect day. . . And yes country mouse is saying the perfect day was in the city. We went home around 11:30 p.m. so we were in the city walking for 14 plus hours . . . We were sweaty messes when we arrived back at Emily’s.
Unfortunately we had to depart this morning but we were on to a new adventure, driving up the coast to Port Clyde Maine. . . Via Gloucester, MA.
We stopped in Gloucester because I was there nine years ago with my family and it’s quite a pretty little place. When I was there then my dad and I got up one morning so that I could shoot photos of the sunrise between these two lighthouses. So today we set off on an adventure to find the same place again. And we did- when I was there before it was sunrise and abandoned. This time there were hundreds of people with bright umbrellas but it was cool to find again. It made me really appreciate that memory where my dad took me to take pictures. Thanks dad.
There’s also an artist colony there so we checked out some art and traveled up the coast some more.
I will tell you that I am eating entirely too many eggs on this vacation. I had then last night for dinner, today at breakfast and this evening in a quiche. Enough is enough.
We are staying in this awesome Bed and Breakfast (my favorite) and there’s a barn restaurant next door, too cute.
I was in this area nine years ago with the fam and again 4 years ago . . . I came up here for almost 2 weeks on my own to take two classes at the Maine Photographic Workshops in Rockport (near Camden). It was a big time for me. I am struggling now with whether or not we should go to all these places that I have in my memory or try to see new places. So far I’m going for the memory and tomorrow we’re going to Monhegan Island, a place I loved before.
I’m going to hand it over to the City Mouse now. . .

City Mouse is tired. She will write later….

The Scenic Route

City Mouse: Yesterday morning we left our Yale friends and headed up the coast toward Cape Cod. We opted to take the more scenic Rt 1 vs taking the interstate. This took us through cool little seaside towns, such as Mystic, CT. We made an attempt to stop at our winery for the day, but quickly opted out (costs...tastes...strange pushy wine lady...). We made the decision on the way up the coast to stay in Cape Cod for th night before heading to Boston so we could explore the national seashore a bit. with the help of ETBFM we secure a camp site at Shawme-Crowell State Park, in Sandwich, MA (the oldest town in the cape). We hit a local farm market to grab goods to make dinner (which country mouse came up with the recipe on the fly, in the car), then headed out to see the cape. Everyone warned us about all the traffic from the vacationers for the weekend, but I didn't find it that bad. We drove all the way to Provincetown at the tip of the cape and back to Sandwich. with some little adventures inbetween.
we got back to the campsite (after dark again, but this time we had already set up the tent during daylight), and made our dinner. the fire didnt go so very well this time. I think the wood was a tad wet. it wouldnt burn. but we made it work. and it was delicious.

in the morning we enjoyed a cute and yummy breakfast (involving whipped cream made with sugar) at a little tea house in Sandwich and headed up to Boston. An easy drive, a little over an hour. Since I just wrote about our time in the country, I will have Country Mouse tell you about our time in the city today....

I would like to say that one of my favorite adventures on the way to the end of Cape Cod, was chasing the sun. I really wanted to see the sunset so we chased it down a road called Pleasant Point. . . we mostly missed it but it was a pretty anyway. We also found a dumpy cottage on a dead end road that was $749,000. Unbelievable.

We arrived safely in Boston at my friend Emily's who just moved here a little over two weeks ago. She is very nicely hosting us for the next two days. When you enter the city you go under it for a long time. It was pretty cool.

We navigated the T Train taking the Orange Line from Malden to State Street. I would be a fish out of water without my two pals to guide me around. We ate some Italian sausage from a street vendor because it smelled so darn good. We wandered the streets a bit and saw street singers, and people who act like statues and awesome architecture everywhere. We took the National Park Service's Freedom Trail tour with a very entertaining elderly chap who really liked Paul Revre and wore a ranger hat. He "had no vocal cords" so we all had to gather in close to hear his tales. I learned some history and saw a lot of interesting things around Boston. There were pastry stores that must have something special because the lines for them would extend half a block out of the store. There's a huge farmers market with a box of tomatoes for $5 and 8 peaches for $1. There's quite an interesting mixture of old and new, huge skyscrappers built from glass and then there in front is a much smaller brick building that looks like it's painted in, it looks so out of place.

We went through the Holocaust Memorial that's here in Boston. It's here because of all the history symbolizing freedom here, having to do with the Revolutionary War. It was pretty powerful. There were glass pillars inscripted with all the numbers of those who died in the concentration camps. As you walk through, steam would rise underneath you- like the gas in the gas chambers. There were quotes all along the way from survivors about things they saw. It makes you very thoughtful and quiet and I really about cried there in the middle of sunny Boston. And then on the other side of the street were all these people laughing and talking and eating at Irish pubs.

There is one section of Boston with 138 Italian restaurants. We went for seafood instead and City Mouse got her crab cakes (the one thing Nicole wanted to eat in Boston). We sat at the harbor for an hour watching skateboarders and models and boats and bride-to-bes.

Tonight, despite how much I love the outdoors and camping, its nice to be somewhere comfortable and safe. A car alarm went off in the middle of the night last night while we were camping, and for some reason I thought it was my car, although, I don't think I have a car alarm, and it made me super anxious that a person or a bear was going to attack us in the tent at any momment. It's just nice to not have to worry about that tonight.
Over and out.

see ya later,
History Mice

What do you call two mice in a Prius...?

awesome.

City Mouse here, checking in from a cute little joint called Cafe Romeo at Yale in New Haven, Ct. We are just sitting amongst our smarty-pants peers, soaking up the knowledge and culture, enjoying lattes and coffee cake and sunshine and conversations on how to improve the world. but let me back up and fill you in on the adventure so far.....

we got off to a start tuesday night by driving separately to my brother's house in Mt. Vernon, OH. Country Mouse did a nice job following the big redheaded van across the miles. We were just at brother mouse's house long enough to enjoy my too-cute-to-boot niece, who entertained us with smiles and jabber.
Wednesday morning we had breakfast at the local greasy spoon and headed east. To the end of the world to be exact. World's End State Park, PA. it was a LONG drive. much longer than we expected. We arrived at our site after dark. But being the Wilderness Mice that we are (and by we, i muean summer), we got the camp site set up. After setting up we needed to find some firewood so we could make dinner (no propane fueled camp stove for us--unlike our camping neighbors--thats cheating), plus we had no cell phone reception, so we drove 15 miles back out of the state park. We found a gas station to sell us firewood, and much further down the road we found ice cream, and more importantly, cell phone reception! Counrty Mouse would like you to know that the reason we didn't have firewood is because we arrived 8 minutes after the camp store closed. such luck. oh well, we are resourceful. We checked in with both momma mice and extremely tall boyfriend mouse and headed back. Country Mouse prepared a delicious dinner of chicken tacos, potatoes, and corn that we picked up a farm market on the way. I built a fire. a darn good fire if i do say so myself. (i know how to do this because I paid attention on vacation last month and watched extremely tall boyfriend mouse (ETBFM) do it. it was stellar, as was the food. it was soooooooooo delicious. the we climbed in the tent and hit the hay.

In the morning we make delicious pancakes over the fire (that i also built!), got ready and went mini hiking.
Country Mouse here to tell you about how beautiful Worlds End State Park is. We walked along the river on a lovely little path complete with my favorites, pine trees and ferns. I took pictures. Do you know how long its been since I've shot a roll of film all in one day? Lovely flowing water and rocks and the air. . . all those of you in Indiana, just imagine air without humidty that is just the right temperature that you can actually feel sunlight as it filters through the trees. Perfect. Then we drove on this dirt road up a mountain to a scenic area with a rock garden. We climbed around for a bit and then had to move on.
The gps (geeps) guided us through the back roads of Pennslyvania, maybe not in the most direct route. But it was an enjoyable scenic drive. . . but then I got sleepy so a stop had to be made. We decided to use the geeps to find a lunch stop. It said that Back Mountain Tomato was just a few miles away. We drove out into the middle of nowhere and had the nag (voice on geeps, not Nicole) say via point on right. . . not so. So we tried another 4 restaurants and they weren't there either. Lovely technology. At this point, we are a few hours behind schedule, but you can't pass up a winery when it's on your path. Family owned at that. Had to make some investments there. Finally we got on the road. . . for hours. Traffic and craziness. So glad city mouse is driving. I saw New York City across the Hudson River.

City Mouse back....We got into Yale about 730 last night. I took Counrty Mouse to one of my favorite Thai food places, York Street Noodle House ( I love me some noodles). Then after a nice visit with our friends Gabe and Sarah and their awesome dog, Delft, we slept. Great long day. Good to sleep.

So here we find ourselves, getting ready to head up to Cape Cod National Seashore, via Mystic, CT and Newport, CT. Pray for less traffic. Its not our favorite.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more adventures to come.....

love,
the Mice

Coast to Coast Adventure, Part II

Stay tuned. . . August 25th