The summer leg of our journey has officially come to a close, about 3 weeks earlier than we had anticipated. A combination of rising gas prices, depleting funds, and, perhaps most of all, the pressing need to finish preparing for the wedding, have all lead to conversations as to exactly when we should head to Pittsburgh. Our decision was made easy by the impossibility of sleeping in a van during a major  and lengthy heat wave. We decided to return to Pittsburgh early and pick up a few part-time jobs while finishing wedding preparations and sleeping in an air conditioned house. 

On Friday night, when it was so hot we couldn't even think about falling asleep, we decided to stay at a hotel for the first time during our travels so we could wake up refreshed and ready to make the drive back to Pittsburgh from Burlington, Vermont the next morning. We left Burlington at 9:30 am and arrived in Pittsburgh at 11 pm. After languidly taking 6 weeks to reach Burlington from Pittsburgh, it was a bizarre experience to make it home in under 12 hours. We really wanted to make the trip back in one day, so, for once, we sped along the highways and toll roads. 

Our drive home was just as epic as our entire summer has been. Our GPS actually instructed us to "Board the Ferry" in order to cross Lake Champlain. We had really wanted to take some pictures of the lake, so after we got over the shock of being directed to take a ferry, we became incredibly grateful for the unexpected shortcut from Vermont to New York. 

I had never been on a ferry with my vehicle before! 

Surrounded by mountains, Lake Champlain was breathtaking in its deep shade of royal blue. 

This was the ferry we took across the lake. It was relatively small, holding about 20 cars or so.

The ride across Lake Champlain took half an hour. It was like being on a cruise. The wind was blowing in our hair, there were mountains and islands in the distance, and you couldn't feel the choppy waters at all because of all the weight on the boat. 

The van got to take his first boat ride! He was happy to cover some mileage without adding to his odometer. Taking the ferry saved us about 100 miles of driving. Lake Champlain is enormous. 

We could have been content with this view for an entire day. 

Passing by the other ferry. 

Approaching the small town in New York where we disembarked. 

After the ferry crossing, we had three hours of blissful driving through the countryside and the Adirondack mountains before we joined up with the highway. Just driving through them was majestic and magical, and we were grateful for the experience. 

Collapsed barns have been a too common sight in our travels. 

It was a perfect sunny day for a long distance drive. 

We came across this waterfall in the town of Westport. This town was once home to the largest iron mining operation in the country. 

We stopped for lunch at a deli with this as their backyard. 

A perfect place to kick up your heels and read a book.

Beautiful sun rays in the sky. 

We couldn't have had a better summer leg of our journey, and we're excited about being in Pittsburgh, working, and wedding planning. Stay tuned; we'll still be posting all summer. 

After leaving Dave's parents, we began heading North to spend some time with Dave's son in New Hampshire. As usual, we didn't drive straight through, and made several stops at some interesting places along the way. One of our stops was Bigelow Pond State Park, attached to Nipmunk State Forest, in Connecticut. 

When we decided to go for a hike, it was 86 degrees outside and sunny. As we drove, the sky began to darken and the temperature dropped, all the way down to 62 degrees by the time we reached the state park. Still determined to take a hike, we stubbornly snapped a few photos of the lake, put the camera back in the car, and started off, trail map in hand. 

Connecticut's state flower is the Mountain Laurel, which was really abundant around Bigelow Pond. 

Of course, 10 minutes into our hike, it started pouring. We didn't really mind the rain, which was actually refreshing, but there was also heavy thunder and lightening, so we decided to turn back. 

By the time we made it back to the van, we were thoroughly drenched, and so was the forest. This region has been getting so much rain lately that the ground can't absorb any more water. 

These pictures are from about a week ago in New York, and I've been holding on to them for a time where they would fit nicely into the blog. 

This is basically what all of New York looked like as we were driving; fields, playgrounds, anything on low ground was flooding. 

This poor playground is going to take quite some time to dry out! 

The New England states haven't looked quite this flooded, but seeing the state park in the rain made us realize the ground here is just as saturated with water as it was in New York. 

After our hike was ended early, we continued North and came across this Peace Memorial in Sherborn, Massachusetts. 

This is an animal rights memorial and gravesite of Emily the cow. In 1995, Emily was destined for the slaughterhouse when she decided she'd had enough. She jumped the 5 foot fence, which is something cows just don't do. In an Underground Railroad style escapade, local residents helped hide Emily and keep her safe for 40 days until the owners of the Sherborn Peace Abbey read Emily's story in a local newspaper and officially purchased her from the slaughterhouse and gave her a safe home at the Peace Abbey, where she lived for 8 years. 

The doors to Emily's barn were always open, and visitors began making pilgrimages to come and visit her. A week before Emily passed away, she was blessed by a local Hindu priest, who placed a golden thread around his wrist and through the hole in her ear which had once held her number at the slaughterhouse. 

Along with Emily's statue, the Peace Memorial had dozens of signs and placards, which contained quotes from well-known peace activists and prayers for peace from many different religions. 

This Peace Memorial has seen its share of famous visitors, and Yoko Ono reportedly donated $40,000 to the Peace Abbey. 

The memorial also contains a statue of Gandhi. "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good it does is only temporary- the evil it does is permanent." 

A memorial to unknown civilians killed in war. 

When we visited the Peace Memorial, we noticed the buildings next to it appeared to be in disrepair, and wondered what they had once been. After some research, we learned the buildings used to make up the Peace Abbey, a multi-faith retreat center that contained information from 12 different religions, held weekly meditation sessions, and built the Peace Memorial and installed the sculptures of Gandhi and Emily. The Peace Abbey is now closed, but its documents and artifacts have been donated to UMass Boston's library, where they laid the foundation for the University's Center for Peace. If you're interested in reading more, take a peek at this article. 

"In oneself lies the whole world, and if you know how to look and learn, then the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either that key or the door to open, except yourself." 

-Krishnamurti (1895-1968) 

Often, the most incredible moments of life are unplanned; they just arrive, unannounced, with captivating beauty. One of our goals on this journey has been to open space for such experiences through scheduling and planning as little as possible and just letting life happen. We were fortunate to stumble into such a moment in Grafton, New York, last week. 

We began seeing signs from Route 2 in New York for a peace pagoda. We didn't know exactly what this would be, but it caught both mine and Dave's attention, and we decided to go, even though we were trying to make it to Vermont by nightfall and were making an attempt not to make stops. 

Once we pulled off Route 2, signs led us several miles down curvy dirt roads and through lush green forest that was delightfully devoid of human noise except the rumbling of rocks under our tires at 15 miles per hour. We eventually came to a clearing and a parking spot with a sign for the peace pagoda. 

A magical, sun dappled trail led us into the woods and we followed several small arrows on the way to the peace pagoda. This path alone was worth the detour; it had a wonderful energy, and reminded us very much of entering the Hostel in the Forest, our inspiration for this trip. 

Along the path, we encountered many cairns, which are human-made stacks of stones. 

Cairns are sometimes used as path or trail markers across the world, but they are also popular in the Zen tradition and serve as a sort of natural meditation, both for the person stacking them and the person encountering them. 

Because we didn't know what the peace pagoda would look like, when we came upon this old growth tree surrounded by a circle of cairns, we assumed this was it. As we soaked in its beauty, we heard the clap of drums and gongs in the distance, and wondered if we could trust our senses. We took a few more steps through the woods, and came upon a clearing that offered this view: 

This was one of those speechless moments where Dave and I just looked at each other. From the lush New York woods appeared this grassy clearing with a giant temple structure rising to the sky. 

As we approached, the rhythmic drum beating continued to vibrate. 

What we had discovered in the woods was only a prelude; this was the peace pagoda. 

This 3 1/2 story tall marvel would have been right at home in Tibet. 

In front of the pagoda was this naturally landscaped area with a pond. Accompanying the drum beats was a cacophony of bullfrogs, the pond's inhabitants. 

One of the pond's frogs. They were wonderful to watch and listen to. 

There were also resident salamanders! 

After soaking in the peace pagoda for as long as we felt time allowed, we decided to take an alternate path back to the car since the wooded path was very muddy from the recent heavy rains. We assumed this was a community where monks were living and that the drumming and singing we were hearing was their evening prayers and chants. As we approached this building, however, we found out we had been wrong. A sign on the steps invited guests into the temple for prayer. We again slipped off our shoes and entered. What followed was a scene that felt straight out of a dream. 

The building was light and airy with open windows and the fragrance of incense. A single monk was inside, sitting to the left of the door, playing a giant drum and chanting. We entered silently and sat down on the floor to meditate, and he noticed our presence, stopping his prayer to bow and greet us with a very thick accent, a shining shaved head, and red and gold robes. He offered us both a meditation cushion and a drum if we wanted to play along. The monk was incredibly kind, and told us to stay as long as we like, but not to stay longer than we could. We sat in meditation for a while, captivated by the gorgeous symphony he was producing. Opening our eyes occasionally, we were treated to the luxurious view of red and gold cloth and statuary lining the front wall. 

When we decided it was time to go and stood up, the monk stopped his prayer to smile and honored us by repeatedly bowing, sometimes so deeply that his head touched the ground.  He insisted we wait just a moment and ran off, pattering barefoot across the wooden floor and through a blue curtain hung from a bamboo pole across a wooden doorframe. When he came back, he presented us with a gift: 2 cans of soy milk and a bag of white beans with a black center. They were having a special event, he said, and these were gifts for visitors. It was an incredibly kind gesture, and certainly brought tears to my eyes. 

We're still not sure what the black and white beans are, but we plan to use them at our wedding for guests to shower us with in lieu of rice. The gentleness, humility, and kindness of the monk were touching to us and we decided these beans would represent these traits in our marriage.  

Getting back in the car, both Dave and I were at a loss for words. The entire experience was so magical, it did not seem like it could be real. The only thing we could do was read the leaflet of information we picked up on our way back to the van. Here, we learned more about the purpose and intent of the peace pagoda. 

"In 1978, Native Americans organized “The Longest Walk," wherein participants walked cross-country from San Francisco, California to Washington, DC. Accompanying them on their walk was a Japanese Buddhist Nun from the Nipponzan Myohoji order. Since then, Jun Yasuda has crossed the country four more times on foot and logged in several thousand additional miles for the cause of peace. She walks beating her drum while chanting a prayer for peace Na-Mu-Myo-Ho-Ren-Ge-Kyo. Many times she has spent days fasting on the steps of the NY State Capitol in Albany for support of freedom for a Native American activist Dennis Banks. In 1983, during one of her fasts, she was approached by Hank Hazelton, a long time activist for Native Americans. Hank had heard of her work and offered her a parcel of land in Grafton, New York, for the purpose of building a “Monument for Peace." In October 1985, work began on the structure soon to be called the Grafton Peace Pagoda. After 8 years of toil and struggle, the Pagoda was completed and dedicated in the fall of 1993." 

In a world full of nuclear bombs, constant states of war, people killing other people, and a pervasive atmosphere of anything but peace, the Grafton Peace Pagoda exists as a space to bring peace into the world. There are only two peace pagodas in the entire United States (a third in under construction in Tennessee.) It's so amazing that we completely unknowingly stumbled across one of them. It made the experience that much more magical. The second is in Massachusetts, so we plan to go, but I know the feeling of awe will never quite top the experience of this first peace pagoda, rising up from the forest in the middle of rural New York. We're so thankful for moments like this; it's what being on the road is all about! 

After Canandaigua Lake, we continued East on Route 20, which we've now learned was New York's major East-West highway for the first half of the 20th century. Today, it still follows nearly the exact same route as it once did, due largely to the fact that it skirts major cities, but does not go through them, with the exception of Albany. Because of this, it has not been bulldozed to make room for modern superhighways, like Interstate 90, which we've so eagerly avoided. It still travels through pristine farm country and small towns, just like it did in the 1900's. How neat to think we are traveling along the same path as many road trippers and vacationeers from the early 20th century. 

We ran across this really neat old graveyard, which was being completely reclaimed by the earth. It was really old; the earliest gravestone we found belonged to someone who died in 1807. We liked the interesting angles the gravestones were falling into. The non-linear gravestones coupled with the bright, sunny day made the whole scene feel surreal. 

We'd heard from many sources that Keuka Lake, accessible from Keuka Lake State Park, was the most beautiful of the Finger Lakes, so we veered off Route 20 to see for ourselves. 

Keuka Lake did not disappoint! This amazing view was captured from a scenic overlook point right before the state park entrance. 

We got incredibly lucky with Keuka Lake State Park. The entrance fee was going to be $7, which we decided would be worth it. We were also hoping to be able to find showers at the park since we knew they had camping facilities. When we arrived, there was no one at the entrance booth, and there was a "Closed" sign on the park office. However, there were no barriers restricting access, and there were other cars parked in the lot. We talked with another guest, and it seemed that the park office was just closed for the day. Before going to the lake, we decided to drive through the camping area. We were delighted to find nice, clean restrooms and showers. Showers are like gold on the road, and a free shower is like finding a $20 bill on the ground. It was so exciting. We were incredibly grateful to have somehow gotten free entrance to the park, and free showers! 

After our refreshing showers, we explored the lake. The water was so clear; this photo is of water over ten feet deep. I didn't know water could be so clear and pristine in a lake. When we dipped our toes in, we found the water was freezing, making us even more thankful for our hot showers! 

We also got lucky with an incredibly gorgeous day. According to the locals, it has been raining for 8 out of the past 9 days in the Finger Lakes region. 

There are several trails in Keuka Lake State Park, but we decided to wander along a service road, which ended up leading out of the state park and along the lake past a stretch of lake houses, which were neat to see. Most of them were on the hill on the opposite side of the road running by the lake, but some, like this one, were directly lakeside. This house even had a little grassy yard jutting out into the lake, which was adorable. 

We couldn't get enough pictures of this lake. Even these photos don't capture how perfect it was. 

When we were by the lake, we chatted with a woman who told us about this scenic view, which she described as "one of the best in the world." She said she'd traveled the world, and in the end decided that this was the best view, better even than Italy or anywhere in Europe. Though we would like to see those European vistas someday, too, we have to agree that this view was spectacular, and certainly the best we've seen in our travels thus far. The view was from the parking lot of the Esperanza mansion, where you can actually get married, dine, or stay overnight with this in the background! 

As evening was quickly approaching and we needed a place to stay for the night, we regretfully left Keuka Lake and headed back to Route 20 to continue East. We drove right by another of the Finger Lakes, Seneca, so we decided to hop out and snap a few photos. While not quite as nice and clean as Keuka Lake, Seneca was still beautiful, and amazingly big. Seneca and the next lake to the East, Cayuga, are the two largest of the Finger Lakes. They are both nearly 40 miles long, and incredibly deep: 618 and 435 feet, respectively. 

Seneca Lake. 

We could have spent the entire summer just in the Finger Lakes region. It is truly the most perfect road tripping territory, and if you're looking for a vacation spot with beautiful views and country charm, we couldn't recommend any place we have visited along the entire Eastern seaboard more highly. We didn't have time to see even a quarter of what the region has to offer: dozens of waterfalls, countless small towns, bed and breakfasts galore, wineries, local farms, and so much more. 

Though we missed a lot, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Finger Lakes region and would love to come back again someday. The drive along Route 20 was certainly one of the best in the country, and we loved the miles of farm land interspersed by postcard perfect towns. One of my favorites was Cazenovia, which is a historic town with museums, adorable inns, and a wonderful main street with lots of locally owned shops and restaurants. We had a lovely chat with Monica when we stopped in Lavender Blue, a gorgeous French and Spanish import store with beautiful tablecloths, linens, and dishes. She told us about The Key, a second hand store down the street, where we found several great items, including a nice leather belt for Dave with a heavy pewter buckle, for $5!