The Appalachian Trail, Massachusetts

While in Vermont, we made a day trip to Massachusetts to hike at Mount Greylock State Park.

The forest is so dense and brightly colored, I could barely believe my eyes!

We hiked Round Rocks trail which offered great views.

Luckily we had recently been warned not to touch these Hickory Tussock caterpillars!

In 1948 a plane crashed right here on the mountain. These rusted pieces, and the man's grave just a few feet away are all that remains. 

We hiked the Appalachian Trail! Cross that one off the list ;)

But seriously, we discussed returning to hike a larger portion of it maybe for a week or so when the kids are old enough to understand what will be required (hiking all day- every day, sleeping along the trail, eating solely out of the backpack, etc). They would have to have the desire to do this and the ability to actually keep up. If you are unfamiliar with the trail, it is 2,180 miles long, running thru 14 states from Maine to Georgia! 

The view from the peak of Mount Greylock.

Afterwards we warmed up in the Bascom Lodge with some chili and hot chocolate. 

The Veterans War Memorial was unfortunately closed for tours.

A week in Vermont

We arrived in Vermont's southwest corner, right at the peak of autumn colors. We visited the Bennington Battle Monument, which stands 306ft tall and commemorates the Battle of Bennington, a turning point in the Revolutionary War fought on August 16, 1777.

Enjoying their Vermont Apples before the tour begins.

The tour took us up into the monument where the row of windows are near the top.

The view from the top-

You can see Vermont, Massachusetts and New York from here.

Afterwards we continued to explore by walking down colorful Memorial Drive.

We came upon a cemetery next to a historical church.

Robert Frost happens to be buried here, so we visited his grave where he was laid to rest along with his wife and 5 (adult) children.

Then we went back to our campground, which we had mainly to ourself since it closed for the winter on the day we left.

The MOST in Troy, NY

After our stay in the Adirondacks, we moved on to Vermont. One of those days we drove back into NY to visit Troy's MOST (museum of Science and Technology).

One of their main exhibits is the Hudson River display showing how the water goes from fresh to salt water along with the different aquatic life in each different stage.

They have some live owls and reptiles to see.

They brought out a bearded lizard for us to learn about and Journey touched it.

Afterwards we had craft time where they made their own lizards 

nd camouflaged them to what they were wearing that day.

One of our favorite activities, the track wall is always a hit!

A construction area

This was the first time Asher has used a separate mouse, and he was pretty good at it.

We spent quite awhile in their "classroom" and tried out every one of their challenges- 

matching, sorting, that kind of "stuffs".  Then we put the skeleton together.

They played with more magnet tiles than they have ever seen before.

We read the story of Sadako.

There is a Japanese legend that if you fold

1,000 paper cranes you will be healed.

The young girl, Sadako, managed to fold

644 cranes before succumbing to leukemia.

Her classmates folded the rest for her.

There stands a memorial in Hiroshima

where children still continue leaving 

cranes for her.