START: MWR Campground (Pine View), Fort Drum, NY

END: Maple Brook Campground, East Burke, VT

Miles traveled:

Travel time: 0830-1600

With the awesome trails on post, I went for a longer run this morning.  Just over 5 miles.  I took the trail close to the campground and ran to another trail, did most of that one (the loop of the Commando trail) which ended up going deeper into the woods and had a few hills, then returned on the trail I came out on.  I saw quite a few Army personnel, always in either pairs or groups of 3, walking in the woods with their rifles, uniforms on, carrying backpacks.  I haven’t figured out hat wear for the Army - half the time people were wearing hats, half the time they were not.  It didn’t seem to matter what they were carrying.  I guess hats are optional in the Army?  I will say it was consist within each small group.

Reveille plays at 0630 here, apparently.  Not sure if there’s any associated protocol, but since I was in the woods and by myself, I just kept on with my run.

Anyways, like the bike ride the day before, it was a very enjoyable run.  Not warm and humid out, so I wasn’t soaked in sweat by the time I was done.

The Tooth Fairy left Ruby a $5.  I got mostly quarters - but also sometimes a silver dollar - from the Tooth Fairy.  I’ve heard of kids getting $20s, and even $100s from the Tooth Fairy.  Our Tooth Fairy isn’t that rich.

Today’s drive took us through the rest of NY and into Vermont.  The scenery didn’t change a whole lot, but it was still very nice.  We stopped at Ben & Jerry’s factory on the way to our campground.  They had RV parking, so we weren’t worried about getting in and out.  Apparently this is a major destination.  Tours were sold out and we needed to buy tickets days in advance.  The line just to buy ice cream wasn’t worth the wait, either.  It was loooooooong!  So we just checked out the ice cream graveyard (the part I really wanted to see anyways), bought a few bamboo bowls from their itty bitty gift shop shack, then left.

We didn’t plan out dinner very well, but since we were in Vermont, we went ahead and just had ice cream for dinner!  I am not in love with ice cream - I like it, don’t get me wrong! - but it’s not the end-all be-all of treats for me.  For my husband and my daughter, the other hand, they would be perfectly happy if ice cream was served as part of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Just look at how happy they are!