East Coast 2021:
Day 3 - Littleton, NH

	Sunday, September 12, 2021: We departed our hotel just before 8 AM and stopped for ice for our coolers at a nearby gas station.
	A very short time later, we entered the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.
	We stopped for breakfast at McDonald's at a service plaza on I-90 and were surprised to have our food served in a Happy Meal box.
	This very pretty building is the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at SUNY Polytechnic University. This was the last (and prettiest) of several campus buildings along the highway. They looked like they had been very recently built.
	Debbie loves old theaters, and this one was stunning.
	Our first stop of the day was to see the statue of Nipper the dog atop the old RCA building in Albany, NY. He has his head tilted just like he did in the painting from 1898 named, "His Master's Voice."
	On the way to the capitol building, we unexpectedly encountered this little Nipper statue, part of the "Downtown is Pawsome" program from 2019 - 2020. We will now have to come back to Albany just to look for the rest.
	The New York State Education Department building is right across the street from the capitol and takes up the entire block.
	Northwest of the capitol is this very charming set of buildings.
	It suddenly hit home that these streets were here during the Revolutionary War and that there was an immense amount of history that had happened on this very spot. Cool.
	Here is the New York State capitol building, looking southeast from West Capitol Park. It was built over 32 years between 1867 and 1899.
	While Edison made it famous, and Westinghouse made it practical, electricity was discovered right here in New York in 1829 by Joseph Henry.
	Hold up. Hamilton made us aware that the Schuyler sisters (say it: Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy) were beautiful, but it never mentioned that their dad Philip was smokin' hot.
	Oh, and he lived near here.
	Here's another view of the New York State Capitol building, this time looking northwest over East Capitol Park.
	This is the second and last "Downtown is Pawsome" statue that we saw: "Up Above!" by Kimberly Schaller.
	We were quite taken with "The Egg," which is a performing arts venue in the Empire State Plaza complex.
	We were still looking for Nipper statues when we stumbled on the New York State Executive Mansion, the official residence of the Governor of New York.
	The Swan Street Building, part of the Empire State Plaza, is just beautiful. Oh, and huge. It is more than a quarter of a mile long.
	Back on the road, we crossed over the Mohawk River, part of the original Erie Canal.
	Beautiful!
	We made a pit stop at the Adirondacks Welcome Center.
	Debbie was a helpful photographer for a nice couple who were posing in front of the I (heart) NY sign.
	The entrance to the welcome center had stones in the floor representing outstanding individuals in the Adirondacks Walk of Fame.
	Georgia O'Keeffe was a surprising name since we don't associate her with upstate New York.
	The floor just inside the doors had a map of the area embedded in it.
	There were various exhibits showcasing activities in the area. Skiing, for example.
	The vending area had a selection of food and beverages in addition to other New York products.
	There were souvenirs, soaps, maps, ...
	... craft soda, butter beer, ...
	... and the one that Debbie couldn't resist: a three pack of shallot flakes, roasted garlic dust, and everything bagel seasoning.
	Look. An Adirondack chair in the Adirondacks with someone in it.
	There are more than 48,000 miles of highway in the United States that make up the interstate system. Thanks, President Eisenhower.
	According to this historical marker, we were in the historic Glens Falls area.
	It's always nice to be on a road that is denoted as a scenic byway.
	We had been seeing the start of fall color in the surrounding trees and other foliage. We were a little early for the full effect, but it was easy to see how beautiful it would become.
	We were off the interstate and into the rolling hills ...
	... and farmland of upstate New York.
	We were on the Lakes to Locks Passage, which is a scenic byway from just north of Albany through northeast New York and continuing into Canada to Lac Saint-Pierre northeast of Montreal.
	We passed the Whitehall Armory building in Whitehall, NY. It has a very castle-y look.
	Bold move, Vermont. We'll have to check that out.
	Welcome to Vermont, the Green Mountain State, and the 33rd state that we've visited this year.
	We drove through the rolling hills ...
	... and grasslands of northwestern Vermont.
	This hand holding an ice cream cone sign on this shop was tempting, but the van rolled on.
	We passed lots and lots of pumpkin stands and garden centers selling pumpkins and other fall decorations.
	This state historical marker says that local resident Rowland E. Robinson, born in 1833, was an interpreter of Yankee dialect.
	Near Shelburne, VT, we passed the turn off to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. It seems like a fun place to build your own Teddy bear, even featuring a Bear Hospital to repair any previously created bears.
	This was a fantastic sculpture, made from fire hydrants.
	We tried to visit the Vermont Merci Train, but unfortunately, it was locked away in a closed museum on a Vermont Army National Guard base and we could not get to in to see it. Bummer.
	In the Adirondack region, are these just called "chairs?"
	We stopped at a rest area and noticed that the road we were on was part of the National Purple Heart Trail, an honorary system of roads throughout the country intented to honor the men and women of the armed forces that have been awarded the Purple Heart medal.
	The picnic area had these wonderful tables shaped like tractors.
	Inside the rest area, the vistors center had these handmade rocking chairs. We sat in them and thought they were beautiful, but when we looked them up on line, we decided that they were far too expensive to own. (Editor's note: Did we? Or did only one half of the marriage decide that?)
	What lovely scenery.
	This warning sign was new to us, and warned cyclists of grooves in the road designed to carry water off the road to reduce skidding and hydroplaning.
	We saw many moose and moose crossing signs and eagerly anticipated seeing some actual moose.
	We were passed by this Subaru that was wrapped with advertising for Von Trapp Brewing, and sure enough, it exited the highway at Stowe, the location of the Trapp Family Lodge, which we had visited in 2009.
	We approached Montpelier, hoping to see a monument to the Challenger shuttle accident.
	When we arrived at the expected location, we were greeted by these two juvenille deer, who already knew that the monument had been removed in July 2021 for cleaning and had not yet been returned.
	We moved along to our reason for being in this area, ...
	... the Vermont capitol building. The bright gold leaf was shining brilliantly, and the grounds were quite lovely.
	Fifteen minutes down the road was the Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont, which calls itself the "Granite Capital of the World." The cemetery is on 53 acres, and has many exquisitely carved monuments. Let's take a look, shall we?
	The monuments were in all shapes and sizes, like this one that looked like an old-fashioned washing machine agitator.
	This one is more abstract, with a bust surrounded by flowers.
	These pyramid monuments had lots and lots of writing on them.
	This one was designed to look like the husband and wife were sitting up in bed together.
	The skill involved in carving these monuments is stunning.
	The detail on the man carved in this monument is amazing. You can see the creases in his pants as well as the seam, and the hair, eyes, and mustache are incredibly lifelike.
	There were many fonts on display, including this cursive one.
	Wow. Just wow.
	You almost expect the wheels to spin on this one.
	The cube in this one had different designs on each face. The bottom face shown here featured two interlaced rings, flowers, and the word "Together."
	This face had a tree with their childrens' names carved in it.
	Look at this plane soaring through the clouds.
	Amazing.
	Seriously beautiful work.
	This family's monument has the childrens' names carved into the links of the chain.
	Soccer ball.
	The gates of the cemetery were no less spectacular.
	In the town of Barre, this statue of a stone cutter is dedicated to all of the Italian-Americans in the region.
	This statue, named "Youth Triumphant," is part of a World War I memorial.
	Debbie's Roadside America app alerted us to the "Largest Zipper in America," built in an alley out of blocks of granite, appearing to unzip the ground. The artist has planted flowers in the open zipper.
	On the way out of town, we realized that there was a monument in Hope Cemetery dedicated to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. We headed back into the cemetery to locate it, and found it in a triangle of land on the north end of the grounds.
	It's fashioned as a bench and dedicated to the more than 1700 people from Vermont who died from the Spanish Flu, as well as to the 50 million people around the world who also died from the disease.
	We passed more farmland, cows, lakes, and grass.
	A brief rain shower passed over us before the sun came out again.
	Vermont is lovely, isn't it?
	Oh, we're alert. Bring on the moose.
	Seriously. Bring. Them. Out.
	We crossed over the Connecticut River, ...
	... into New Hampshire, our 34th state this year. We wondered what the other slogan proposals were, and if they conceded gracefully when "Live Free or Die" was presented.
	We arrived in the town of Littleton, our destination for today.
	We were staying in the Thayers Inn, a historic hotel built in 1843.
	We were on the second floor, ...
	... in the back, with our room overlooking the river.
	It was a large room, and the first of several hotels on this trip where we were given old school metal keys to our door.
	At the back of the hotel building was a restaurant named "Vulgar Display of Poutine." We were helpless to resist.
	It was still early, and we didn't want to have dinner yet, so we split one "Regular" poutine and a pineapple Jarritos soda, ...
	... sitting on their outdoor patio overlooking the riverfront.
	We went back up to street level and walked east along the street in front of the hotel.
	We passed this free "Fixit" stand which featured an air pump and various tools to work on your bike.
	There were several pianos on the sidewalk under "Be Glad ... Make Music" banners.
	We headed down this alley decorated with this lovely mural.
	We were headed down to the riverside.
	The crosswalk had an outline of a girl and the words "Stop. Look. Wave." We did the first two, but there were no cars and so we didn't wave.
	We had arrived at the Schilling Beer Company's tasting room. Let's get some beer with Debbie's name on it!
	The tasting room provided a variety of beers in either a full pour or a short pour, which was six ounces.
	After looking over the menu, we decided to get the six beers that that they offered as short pours. From the bottom left, going counterclockwise, they are: San Jacinto Especial (Mexican Golden Lager), Schlaumeier (Bavarian Hefeweizen), Poppy's Moonship (Gose), Popadour (APA), Erastus (Abbey Tripel), and Combover (IPA).
	We sat outside overlooking the river and enjoyed our sampler.
	That's a happy boy!
	We bought lots of souvenirs before going next door to the Schilling Beer Company's Brewpub and Kitchen.
	We ordered a wood-fired pizza for dinner, and ordered two more short pours while we waited. Tom ordered a Georg, which was a dark Munich-style Dunkel Lager. Debbie had another Schlaumeier, a hefeweizen, which is one of her favorite beers.
	We enjoyed the pizza, and had another Schlaumeier and an Adem, a witbier.
	Goodbye, Schilling Beer Company. We enjoyed our visit very, very much.
	We walked back down the main street of Littleton toward our hotel, passing another street piano, ...
	... and this candy company with an extremely long candy counter. Unfortunately, the store was closed or we would have definitely gone in and bought something.
	This beautiful dress was in the window of a closed consignment shop. Someone please buy it for Debbie when she loses 40 pounds.
	This bench was intricately carved with dragons, a guitar, a snake, and torches.
	We walked down to the bottom of these stairs, just to get a photo looking back up toward street level. The different color stairs with the umbrellas over the alleyway were a really cool effect.
	At the top of the stairs, a sign in a window informed us that Littleton was the birthplace of Eleanor Hodgman Porter, the creator of the famously cheerful character Pollyanna. That explains the crosswalk silhouette that we had seen earlier.
	Debbie, of course, knew this already, and also knew that there was a statue of Pollyanna at the library down the street.
	The statue of Pollyanna was presented to the city in 2002, and is a favorite spot in town for selfies.
	Our hotel looks very imposing, doesn't it?
	There were three historic plaques near the front entrance of the hotel, noting that the hotel had first opened in 1850 as "Thayer's White Mountain Hotel," had running water and spiral staircases, had dropped the apostrophe in the 1930s, and had many famous visitors include P.T Barnum, and Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin Pierce, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter.
	We photographed our loot from Schilling Beer Company before packing it away.
	Our hotel room had a view of the river, and of our beloved Septimus. We had installed our Weathertech window covers in all of the windows in an attempt to keep out the heat so that our coolers would not completely melt.
	We settled in for a relaxing evening in our room. Day 4 >