Category ArchiveEverywhere Once |

Masterpiece

by Brian on August 31, 2010 in Food & Drink, Maine

I can’t deny that her answer wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. But I had asked the question for a reason, and I was determined to see it through. We stopped at Congdon’s Doughnuts in Wells, Maine, on a whim and I had just asked our cashier, Rebecca, for their best doughnut. Her response: jelly. With options like chocolate crunch and blueberry filled, how can jelly be the answer to that question? A jelly doughnut is so ordinary, so typical, and not usually my first choice. But she was the expert, or at least more expert than me in all things Congdon’s, so who was I to question her wisdom? Jelly it was.

I could tell the pastry was going to be terrific the moment I plucked it from the bag. It was plump, and pillowy, and almost impossibly fresh. Just the feel of it in my hand was something to be admired. A bite confirmed my suspicion. Holy crap these are good doughnuts. The fresh raspberry preserves still contained lumps of fruit and had just the right sweetness to complement the sugar dusted cake. Too often jelly doughnuts are sweet enough to induce diabetes, but not Congdon’s, theirs are perfectly balanced. Somehow they’ve managed to raise the simple jelly doughnut to a form of high art, a masterpiece. Thank you Rebecca!

When we’re lucky we happen upon places like this. Little, nothing-looking, road-side establishments that turn out to be memorable gems. We found out later, though, that many others have discovered Congdon’s before us. This mere doughnut shop is listed by Trip Advisor as the sixth best restaurant in all of Wells. If anything, it is probably ranked too low.

Whiteface Mountain

by Brian on August 27, 2010 in New York

A stop in Lake Placid isn’t complete without seeing the lake from above. It’s an 11 mile hike to the top of Whiteface Mountain, but why hike when you can drive? Although one might expect that some of the proceeds from the $16 admission to the toll road ($10 for car and driver and $6 for each additional passenger) are used for occasional road maintenance, mostly what they seem to be invested in is “Rough Road Next 4 miles” signs. So don’t expect a smooth ride, but it’s still worth the trip.

The road ends just shy of the apex, at a parking lot and “Whiteface Mountain Castle.” Built with the granite excavated during construction of the toll road, the castle now houses a café and rest rooms. From there you can reach the summit by two distinct routes: the quarter mile “Stairway Ridge Trail” or an elevator through the center of the mountain. Each has its merits, so plan on doing both. We hiked up the “Ridge Trail,” which winds directly up the north slope of the mountain, mostly over boulders but occasional steps as well. It’s a neat hike with excellent views the whole way.

The top of Whiteface provides stunning 360 degree views of the Adirondacks. On a clear day they say you can see all the way to Canada. After our descent, we heard you can even see the dome of St. Josephs in Montreal, which would have nicely linked our last destination with this one. But alas, we didn’t know, and didn’t look (and are somewhat dubious, anyway).

For the trip down we rode the elevator, which is an entirely different experience. It descends 276 vertical feet through solid rock, ending in a 424 foot tunnel back out to the parking lot. The tunnel stays naturally cool given the superb insulation of the mountain. On our trip through it was a chilly 40ish degrees. But just as the chill began to set in we emerged on the other side; out of the cold and the darkness and back to the sun dappled vista of the Adirondack Mountains.

For Love of Flora

by Brian on August 25, 2010 in New York, Vermont

It was like Washington crossing the Delaware.

Except it was August instead of December. And we were going to retrieve a plant from relatives instead of launching a surprise attack against Hessian forces. And we had coffee.

So basically it was nothing like Washington crossing the Delaware. But we did ferry our car across Lake Champlain. Not heroic, but kind of neat.

An Interesting Trail

by Brian on August 11, 2010 in Vermont

Shannon scales Sterling Pond Trail

That’s all it took. Shannon noticed an interesting-looking trail, and moments later we had parked the car and were scrambling up rocky steps to who knew what.

We actually had no intention of hiking that afternoon. Our plans only included a scenic drive through Smuggler’s Notch on our way back from a short stop in Stowe, Vermont. The Notch is a winding 2,16- foot crag cleaved in Sterling Mountain. Breathtaking views of rocky cliff walls and mountain waterfalls can be seen while threading your car through the bolder-strewn switch backs of what is now Route 108. But if you’re lucky enough to have an eagle-eyed girl in the passenger seat, you can also see the trail head to Sterling Pond leading up the mountainside.

Sterling Pond trail ended up being more of a climb than a hike, with a 1,500-foot elevation gain over the 1.1 mile path. That’s basically like walking a flight of stairs from 14^th Street in New York City to the top of the Empire State Building on 34th Street, plus a couple hundred feet. We felt surprisingly good on the ascent, though. Maybe these hikes are starting to undo the years of entropy that had turned us into large bags of jelly. One can only hope.

The actual hike was the most interesting we’ve been on during this trip. Much of the trail is a shallow brook that bubbled around rocks and over our feet as we made our way up the mountain. Countless tiny waterfalls sprang from nearby rocks and cascaded across our path. At the top, a large flat rock at the tip of Sterling Pond offered a welcome place to take in the stunning views and catch some sun–and our breath.

This Isn’t Your Father’s Log Cabin

by Brian on August 10, 2010 in Vermont

This is Hildene, the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln, in Manchester, Vermont. He wasn’t the important Lincoln but apparently had enough cash to upgrade the old log cabin. We were just passing by, so we didn’t stop in for a house tour. But the grounds afforded us a nice stroll on a pleasant summer day.