​With the end of Summer upon us we decided to take one last quick trip to Maine for a little outdoor gear shopping at the Kittery Trading Post and doughnut shopping at the closest Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store.

Kittery Trading Post
Our first stop was the Kittery Trading Post, located in Kittery, Maine. For those of you that have not heard of the Kittery Trading Post – it’s a regional treasure that has been in business for 80 years; since 1938. During that time it has grown from 360 square feet to over 90,000 square feet. So it’s big – really big! So big that it carries merchandise from over 1,700 different manufacturers.   https://www.kitterytradingpost.com/all-brands/ 

 The store has three main levels where you can spend hours roaming and looking at cool gear:
 
Main Level

• Outdoor Clothing & Footwear, Gifts & Collectibles, Handmade Fudge Shop

 
Upper Level

• Seasonal Specialty Sports & Related Apparel - backpacking, camping, canoeing, kayaking
• Shooting Sports & Related Accessories - firearms, knives, bows, hunting gear

 
Lower Level

• Fishing Tackle & Related Accessories - fresh water fishing, fly fishing, saltwater fishing, canoe fishing

​We spent over $80 (how could you not) so we even got an 80th Anniversary T-shirt:

You can find out more about the Kittery Trading Post on their website:
          https://www.kitterytradingpost.com/

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
After our detailed perusal of all of the gear at the Kittery Trading Post we continued to head North to Saco, Maine where one of only three Krispy Kreme Doughnut stores in New England is located. Since New England is Dunkin’ Donuts territory getting some Krispy Kreme doughnuts is a real treat since they are so much better.

You can find out more about the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on their website:
        https://www.krispykreme.com/

Needless to say, the quick trip was a great way to end the Summer!

We just got home from a trip to Maine where, as a part of the trip, we visited seven of the larger active lighthouses (there are ~60 active lighthouses) along the Atlantic coast to include:
 
          1) Cape Neddick (Nubble) Lighthouse - York, Maine
          2) Cape Elizabeth and Cape Elizabeth West Lighthouses - Cape Elizabeth, Maine
          3) Portland Head Lighthouse - Portland, Maine
          4) Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse - Portland, Maine
          5) Pemaquid Point Lighthouse - Bristol, Maine
          6) Owls Head Lighthouse - Rockland, Maine
          7) Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse - Acadia National Park, Maine

If you want to learn more about the lighthouses in Maine here is a great website that has detailed information on 29 of the lighthouses:

     https://www.us-lighthouses.com/displaystate.php?StateID=12 

Most people go out to brunch on Mother's day. Since we love the outdoors we did something a little different; we took a hike at a few locations on the Massachusetts North Shore (Ship Rock, Devereaux Beach, Marblehead and Castle Rock.). ​It was a great way to spend the day!

In April we took a 16-day trip to Japan and South Korea - and I’ve finally had time to catch up, review, edit and post some of the 2,500+ photos that I took during the trip. It was a great trip that allowed us to see a lot of spectacular sights and hike all over the countries (both in the woods and in the urban areas). Here’s a short list of the places that we went and the sights we saw:
 

1. Tokyo, Japan
   1. Akihabara, Studio Ghibli Museum, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, Meiji Shrine and the Imperial Palace Gardens
2. Shingu, Japan
   1. Kumano Kodo Pilgrimages Trails - Daimonzaka Trail, Nachi Taisha Shrine and Seigantoji temple and the Nachi Falls.
3. Kagoshima, Japan
   1. Chiran Tokko "Kamikaze Pilots" Museum,  Chiran historic samurai dwellings and gardens, Shoko Shuseikan Museum and the Senganen Garden
4. Sasebo, Japan
   1. Ohashi Kannon Temple, Emukae Honjin Ruin and Yamashita House, Kozakihana Park - the westernmost place of mainland Japan
5. Busan, South Korea
   1. Seokguram Buddhist Temple, Bulguksa Buddhist Temple, the Gyeongju National Museum and Tumuli Park
6. Fukuoka, Japan
   1. Niji no Matsubara pine forest, Karatsu Castle, Hikiyama Exhibition Hall and Koreyoshi Takatori's historic residence
7. Hiroshima, Japan
   1. Miyajima, Itsukushima Shrine and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
8. Kochi, Japan
   1. Katsurahama Beach and the Kochi Castle
9. Kyoto, Japan
   1. International Manga Museum, Nishiki Market, Mameshiba Café, Kiyomizu Temple and Kiyomizu area and Gion
10. Osaka, Japan
    1. Osaka Castle, Umeda Sky Building, Dotonbori, Lucky Owl Café and the Harukas 300 Observatory

You can see all the photos of our Adventures on the Adventures/Asia page.

This weekend we went to The Collings Foundation WWII reenactment of the “Battle for the Airfield”; a live-action reenactment of a 1944 battle between the Allies and the Germans for a forward operating base airfield.

There were over 300 reenactors, representing several units of Allied and Axis military, participating in the reenactment. There was also fully restored military equipment of all kinds to include tanks, cannons, troop carriers, halftracks, aircraft and support supplies. Allied and Axis camps were set up with authentic materials and appearance and the reenactors shared their knowledge about the weapon systems and life as a WWII military person.

As you can see in the following photos, a significant number of restored WWII vehicles participated in the reenactment:
 
German Historic Vehicles:

• 1942 Fieseler FI-156C Storch airplane
• Zündapp KS750 motorcycle (with sidecar)
• 1939 Mercedes Benz W31 Staff Car
• SdKfz 251 Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251 half-track
• Panzerjaeger 38 Hetzer tank killer
• Sturmgeschütz III tank killer
• Nebelwerfer rocket launcher
• 20-mm Flak anti-aircraft cannon
• 88-mm Flak anti-aircraft cannons

 
Allied (American and British) Historic Vehicles:

• M-3 Stuart tank
• M-4 Sherman tank
• M-5 half-track
• M-8 Greyhound armored scout car
• M-18 Hellcat tank
• Bren Gun Carrier

 
If you would like to learn more about the Collings Foundation - here's a link to their website:

                www.collingsfoundation.org

​During our recent trip we spent a couple of days at Niagara Falls. Now everyone knows about Niagara Falls, and we saw people from all over the World when we were there. But in order to really appreciate it you have to see it in person.
 
Niagara Falls is actually made up of three waterfalls; from largest to smallest, they are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. Located on the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world that has a vertical drop of more than 165 feet. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America. More than six million cubic feet of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost four million cubic feet falls per minute on average.
 
Here’s a short video of Niagara Falls during the day so that you can see the massive amount of water flowing over the Horseshoe Falls:

​For those that don't find Niagara Falls interesting enough, at night they light both the American Falls (on the left in red) and the Horseshoe Falls (on the right in blue) and have fireworks. Here's a short video of what it looks like during the night:

​You can see some photos of our travels around Niagara Falls on the Adventures/North America page.

During our recent vacation one of the many hikes that we took was on the Gorge Trail at Watkins Glen State Park. Although this trail can get a little busy if you go in the middle of the day during the summer months, we hit the trail early (they are open from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM) and were successful in avoiding most of the people that seemed to be arriving as we were leaving.
 
There are 19 waterfalls, of all shapes and sizes, on the 1.5 mile (one way; 3 miles round trip) trail. The vertical elevation change from the beginning of the trail to the end is 554 feet. The park is open year-round, but the Gorge Trail is closed in winter and opens later in spring depending on the damage caused by the winter weather.
 
Here are two short videos of waterfalls that we saw along the trail.

​If you want more detailed information about Watkins Glen State Park here are a couple of URLs:
 
           https://parks.ny.gov/parks/142/
 
           http://nyfalls.com/waterfalls/watkins-glen/
 
You can see photos of our hike on the Gorge Trail on the Adventures/North America page.

​We just made it back from our latest adventure – this time to Western/Northern New York, Ontario Canada and Vermont. During our 1,650 mile trip we:

1) Hiked the Revolutionary War battlefield at Saratoga
2) Toured the Schuyler Mansion in Albany (in honor of the Broadway musical “Hamilton”)
3) Took a boat ride on the Erie Canal
4) Hiked the Gorge Trail at Watkins Glen
5) Visited the vineyards in the Finger Lakes region
6) Spent 2 days watching Niagara Falls
7) Visited friends in Toronto
8) Toured the Boldt Castle on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands region
9) Hiked up Chimney Mountain in the Adirondack Mountains
10) Toured the Revolutionary War Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Defiance

As with all trips, it was great, but it’s also nice to get home and unpack the gear. 

You can see all the photos of our Adventures on the Adventures/North America page.

Although this activity doesn’t have anything to do with Hiking, Camping or Shooting – it was very interesting so I’m adding it to the blog.

The activity was the "Race of the Century" at the Collings Foundation.  During the day they actually raced cars from 1904 to 1935 to show how fast the technology advanced during that period. The first race had a running person beat a 1904 Franklin Type A Roadster, a woman on a 1900's bicycle and a stagecoach from 1879. The last race had an 8 cylinder open-wheel Sprint racer nose out a Boeing PT-17 Tuskegee Stearman bi-plane. In between they raced thoroughbred horses, a powered bicycle (the forerunner of the motorcycle), a Steam-powered car, a 1908 Cadillac Open Roadster Runabout, 1914 Stutz Bearcat, and a 1924 Ford Model T.

Other cars that were on display, but were not driven in the races included a 1927 Rolls Royce Springfield Phantom 1 Phaeton, 1928 Pierce Arrow Series 81 Limousine, 1932 Duesenberg SJ Dual-Cowl Phaeton, 1935 Packard Model 1208 Convertible Sedan and over 50 other cars.

The foundation also has a military vehicle collection that includes many tanks from WWII and several other airplanes to include working 1909 Bleriot Type XI, Curtiss P-40B Tomahawk, North American TF-51D Mustang, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX, Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, Consolidated B-24J Liberator, North American B-25 Mitchell, North American AT-6F Texan and 25 other aircraft that they fly in exhibitions around the United States.

If you would like to learn more about the Collings Foundation - here's a link to their website:

www.collingsfoundation.org
​

With stargazing on our minds lately - this weekend we went out to a local Astronomy get-together to look at the night sky. There were telescopes ranging from 2” apertures to 14” apertures - so there were lots of celestial objects to look at - if you knew what you were looking for. 
​
During the evening we saw (1) Jupiter and the 4 Galilean Moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto), (2) Mizar and Alcor - two stars that form a double star in the handle of the Big Dipper (aka Ursa Major), (3) the "Double-Double" stars of Epsilon 1/2 and Delta 1/2 in the constellation of Lyra near Vega and (4) even a low earth orbit satellite zipping by. Although we did not take any direct photos of the planets, moons and stars that we saw - here are some representative pictures of what they looked like.