June 20, 2010 Sunday

Today we went on an adventure, heading to a part of Acadia National Park that we didn't even know existed.
Took a while but we finally found it. First we went to a little town called Winter Harbor. The view from the actual harbor was just something. Cute little town we think it was about 2 miles long. Real "Maine" looking houses.
Then we ventured into Acadia Park headed toward the Schoodic area. This part of the park is very quiet and not well visited. The views were amazing they all overlooked the Frenchman Bay. The rock formations were really something. The water was really rough today. Even saw a porcupine. Took a lot of pictures, we were a little disappointed that is was cloudy and overcast today. Yesterday when we sat around and did absolutely nothing it was a bright, clear sunny day. Oh well the luck of the travelers.
Art glass is very prominent in Winter Harbor and a little town of Goldsboro. They had some awesome pieces.
Stopped at a few other places, these people are very "artsy" and extremely talented.
Found a really unusual restaurant for dinner "Ruth & Wimpys" the food was great, they have huge kettles out front cooking fresh lobsters for the diners.
Enjoyed another dinner that we didn't have to cook.
Well tomorrow it's off to Mystic, CT and a visit with our niece Rebecca, haven't seen her in ages.
Staying there a few days and then not sure where we are headed.

June 18, 2010 Friday

We woke to a glorious sunny day here in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Decided to get an early start since it is supposed to be 90 degrees today.

Headed out to Acadia National Park.

First we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain, you can see an unbelievable distance, it was a little hazy, but the views were amazing. Overlooking the Frenchman Bay we saw a Cruise ship and a Tall ship. We could see the town we are actually staying in which is the town of Trenton.

We took many, many pictures today. So much to see, like almost hitting a large eight point deer.

We stayed in the park for about 4 hours, then it was on to our "chores".

First we went to the "pie lady", we were so happy she was still in business, bought a few pies to freeze, and of course small ones for now.

We headed to the Atlantic Brewing Company to get Robbie beer and Robert root beer.

Then it was off to the Bar Harbor Tea Company to get Kelly her tea and a few for Dorothy too.

We found a small winery along the way and of course had to stop, their wine was just OK not great and their prices were steep.

Actually had dinner in the motorhome, then went to a lobster pound and bought lobster that they cooked for us to take back to pull apart and freeze the meat. Robert has officially had enough lobster for a while OK maybe a long while.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another hot day really don't have anything planned, guess we will play it by ear.

June 17, 2010 Thursday

Driving into Bar Harbor, Maine today.
The traffic is light, but the roads are still awful.
Crossed over the USA border about 10 AM.
Just a side note for Annette - when we got the the USA border the officer asked us to pull forward, shut off the engine and allow him access inside.
Yes Dorothy started to panic, not that we had anything to hide, but what an awful feeling that we did something wrong and didn't even know it.
He opened our freezers and refrigerator and asked many many questions.
He took our beautiful red ripe tomatoes and 1 left over apple.
He did not take the 10 lobsters we had frozen right off the wharf.
Guess he needed a slice of tomato for his sandwich and a piece of fruit for dessert.
He didn't find the 7 pound wheel of Gouda cheese that we brought back. The "cheese lady" said it was ok to bring it back it is not considered to a contaminant.
After that experience we think we will stick to the USA.
It started to rain and continued until late in the day around dinner time. Stayed in most of the day and did laundry. When it stopped raining took a short drive around. Then chose a great log cabin for dinner. So far we have had wonderful luck with restaurants.
Tomorrow we head into Acadia National Park.
National parks are one of our favorite things to tour.
Have been there before, but are still looking forward to it.

Wednesday June 16, 2010

Well we headed out this morning heading into St Stevens in New Brunswick. Just staying overnight.
How these people drive on these roads every day is just something. If our roads were in this condition, we would have strung up our county guys long ago.
The other interesting thing we have noticed are the hitch hikers there are tons of them, for us it is weird we haven't seen one in years.
The people here are so trusting you can pump your gas move your car out of the way and then go in and pay, what a concept.
Here in St Stevens there are a few smoke houses that specialize in Salmon. By the time we got here everything was closed, they close everything at 5 PM.
Found a little and we mean little diner that was family owned and after arriving we knew we made the right choice all the locals came in and the food was great.
Staying at not so nice a campground, but it is a flat open space to park in for one night.
Tomorrow we head out to USA and Bar Harbor

Tuesday June 15, 2010

Had a nice breakfast then on the tour route again.
How one whole part of a country can be obsessed with just one person is mind boggling. Laura Maud Montgomery is almost a saint to these people; there must be 6 different houses, museums and shops all dedicated to her. For you who don't know her she wrote Anne of Green Gables and a total of 23 books. I guess if it wasn't for her there wouldn't be much to do or see here except fishing boats and water. Oh but we found other things.
We have really enjoyed this part of Canada and found lots of other things to do other than Green Gable blah blah blah.
Today we went for a ride heading West and saw many fishing boats still moored, it is so windy and chilly today. It didn't even get out of the 50's. One of us loved it.
We found a canning company that makes all their jams, jellies, and salsa right on the premises. And boy were they good.
Found a store called "Cow" they are supposed to have the best ice cream in the world, so of course we had to give it a try, it was OK, but don't think they have ever had Merrymede ice cream.
Didn't have lunch so we decided to try a lobster supper place and boy did we make a good choice. Food was good and they had a 60 ft. salad bar.
Got back to the motorhome early and are plotting the route for tomorrow. We are headed back to New Brunswick then on to Maine.

Monday June 14, 2010

Back to sightseeing!
Today we traveled to the home of Anne of Green Gables. It is on a beautiful farm and the gardens are unbelievable. When you exited the house the scent from lilacs engulfed you.
The lilacs and lupines grow here prolifically. They are just lovely.
We found a farm that makes their own Gouda cheese - it is yummy. We bought some to bring home - maybe we will have a wine and cheese party Canadian style when we get back.
We also went into another national park and saw 2 eagles sitting on branches on the side of a river. That was breathtaking to see them in their natural habitat. They say there were around 50 feasting on fish near one of the beaches. It was raining too hard to walk to see them Just a little disappointed about it; but at least we saw 2.
We actually got to see the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. Never thought we would see that in our lifetime. Their national parks are nothing like they are in America. Here they don't officially open until the end of June so you enter them for free until then.
Went to another wool store - one of us just loves them, and Dorothy bought a wool sweater that was from local sheep, knit by a local resident. Can't wait to wear it.
The funniest thing was the convenience store that has a denture clinic in it. Odd.
Went to a goat farm where they produce their own soap and have quite a variety.
It is a cool rainy day, tomorrow we are planning on having dinner at one of the "lobster supper" places here, some are at churches some are a wharfs we will let you know how it is.

Sunday June 13, 2010

Hi Everyone:

Nothing to report today other than were drove to Cavendish. Staying here for a few days. Didn't do anything today our driver is a little under the weather.
Hopefully we will have an adventue filled day tomorrow.

Saturday June 12, 2010

Today we went the other direction along the coastal drive.
We stopped at a yarn mill in a little town called Belfast, they produce machines for spinning, carding and felting of wool. The machines are computer capable and they have a huge weaving loom, bigger than any I have ever seen.
The mill is located on a huge piece of farmland and the mill business must be pretty good. They had a gorgeous home and the land was lovely with sheep, goats, cows and a large pet pig.
The mill is family owned the mother and one sister run the mill and the twin sister runs the tea house. The men folk run the business of shipping machinery all over the world.
Dorothy bought some wool for our niece Rebecca who has her own spinning wheel. Also bought some already spun to make some scarfs. They sell wool from all kinds of animals even dog and cat. Weird but unbelievably soft.
Then we went to look at "bottle village" It is in someones back yard, someone with too much time on their hands or an alcoholic built little houses a school and a church out of empty liquor bottles.
We stopped at a cool little place to eat, every table and every chair were different it looked like a yard sale exploded, but our lunch was really good.
Tomorrow we are heading into Cavendish to stay for a few days, we have seen everything here and now we can't drink the water, it has to be boiled they even brought bottled water to us.
We bought lobsters cooked them and put them in the freezer, guess we will have many friends when we get home.

Friday June 11, 2010 Day 6

Prince Edward Island is best known for potatoes, lobsters and Anne of Green Gables. We are headed to the town of Cavendish where the story of Anne of Green Gables was written.

We are hoping to go there on Sunday.

A long day of riding in the car and not going very far.
We headed out to take the Coastal Road that is along the Northumberland Strait Coast.
We traveled for over 4 hours and if we would have gone direct it only took 25 minutes. The ride was beautiful the coast is just something. We saw lots and lots of lobster boats and a ton of buoys in the water (lobster pots). The cliffs here are unbelievable. A little scary, but great for pictures. Our lesson for the day was trying to figure out their signs. Everything is in pictures and some of them took us a few minutes to figure out. The best was the car falling off the cliff. We figured that one at really fast.
Found another lighthouse here and decided they all look the same.

We came upon a Winery that was right on the coast and they had some really nice wines. We even stopped at a liquor store and bought PEI potato vodka. Can't wait to try it.
We stopped in a little town called Montague for lunch ate outside right along the water. Food was delicious and just sitting there watching the inlet with the lobster boats was really enjoyable.
We rode over to see the ferry to take to Nova Scotia and asked about the ferry from there to Bar Harbour and low and behold they don't run it anymore. We are now changing around our travel plans a little. We will be going to Nova Scotia by car and then coming back and traveling from here. Not sure what route yet; but sure the tour director will figure it out.
We bought some lobsters off a boat at the wharf and cooked them for dinner had too many so we cleaned them and put the meat in the freezer. We will certainly enjoy it when we get back home.
The weather here is surprisingly warm; it has been in the 70's all week. Everyone here says this is very unusual for this time of year.
Well enough for today, a cup of tea and a good book await.

Thursday June 10, 2010 Day 5

What a day!

We left New Brunswick this morning about 10 AM headed to Wood Islands, part of Prince Edward Island. It is only 200 miles, but it took almost 8 hours. The first 2/3 of it wasn't too bad - highway driving 4 lanes 70 mph. Then it all fell apart our directions told us to go on a certain route which we so obediently did. The road was 2 lanes and I mean a very narrow road, not for a 42 ft motorhome towing a car. The road was paved and I use that term loosely. We had to follow it for 28 miles because there was nothing on it so no place to turn around. It brought us back onto the highway we had gotten off of. Then we had to go another 60 miles. The directions were a little fuzzy, and the roads were awful.

We had to go over the Confederation Bridge that is 13.7 km; it was not pleasant for one of us who doesn't like bridges.

We finally made it and it was worth it; once again we are parked with water right in front of us. We are facing the Northumberland Strait. And if we look out to the right we can see a lighthouse, not sure which one it is yet. The lesson for today is the Canadians are so ecologically conscious they ought to use some of their ecology budget and FIX THEIR ROADS! Along our journey today we passed the town of Shediac, it is the lobster capital of the world. Tomorrow we will venture out and drive along the coast. In the car. Once we stop shaking we are going to just spend a quiet night.

June 9, 2010 Wednesday Day 4

Here we are in the Atlantic time zone. It was a little weird last night, it didn't get dark until about 9:45 PM.
Headed out in the morning to do the Bay of Fundy Trail. Arrived with a dead camera battery and no camera bag. Dumb Huh. Thank goodness we were only a few miles away from the motorhome, so off we went back and retrieved what we needed. The trail is only 13 km long, but there is certainly plenty to see. If you are a "experienced" I mean a tri-athelete you probably could do it in about a week. Ha Ha. They lable it for bikes, hikers, and vehicles. Needless to say which we were. But, Dorothy did hike down 60 steps and 1/8 mile to get a picture of "Flower Pot Rock"; really fat and really out of shape but so worth it. Oh and had to climb back up.We took our time driving and enjoyed the views from all the lookouts, we never realized how huge the Bay of Fundy really is.
After we were done we went to the Caves Restaurant for lobster rolls for lunch, they were delicious.
After lunch we decided to venture out and try to find The Reversing Falls. We used our GPS which we have used all over the US and has never steered us wrong - well today was an exception it got us close, but we ended up in a ghetto. Found a man leaning against his car and wasn't too scary looking so we asked him for directions. We were close but on the wrong side of the town.
When we finally got there it is in front of a steam plant and is something to see; the falls run down stream and the tide comes up stream and they crash in the middle. Pretty amazing.
When we were done doing all that we needed a little down time so we headed back to the motorhome for some R & R. Now we are sitting watching the lobster boats waiting for the tide to be high enough to come into dock. I guess it will be off to the dock later to buy some more lobsters at $5 per pound who can resist.
Tomorrow we head out to Prince Edward Island.

Tuesday June 8, 2010 Day 3

Wow what a change in weather, when we got up this morning it was 45 degrees and Robert put the heat on without being asked to - guess it is the altitude.
The town of Houlton, Maine where we stayed last night was established in 1807 and 2 miles from where we stayed was a tribe of Indians called Maliseet.
Headed out toward Canada along the way we traveled past the town of Nackawick which is the home of the world's largest axe yes axe. Who knew?
Driving along Route 7 we actually saw a young moose grazing along the side of the road; now Robert is a true believer he has now seen moose in 2 countries. The photographer was too slow to get a picture.
Arrived in the Bay of Fundy in St. Martins - New Brunswick - Canada.
We parked the camper and look right out of the windshield at the bay. Totally awesome, arrived at low tide so you can walk on the ocean floor or bay floor if you are that picky. Can watch the lobster boats going by too.
We took a drive over to the sea caves which you can walk to at low tide but can only get to them by boat at high tide.
It is just beautiful here, but the towns are very tiny and there are some magnificent old Victorian homes.

So here we were sitting outside having late afternoon coffee and tea and noticed that the lobster boats were all lined up waiting to dock - waiting for the tide to come in far enough for them - so we decided to drive to the dock which we can see from the campground and low and behold they will sell you lobsters right off their boats - bought one 7 pounder and a 5 pounder for $5.00 per pound - can't imagine what something like that in PA would cost - Robert is outside cooking them right now - yes we even brought a huge pot and burner for outside - we are no dummies when it comes to fresh lobster. We will try to get more tomorrow and freeze them. The tide in now coming in and it is just amazing they only have 1 low and 1 high tide in a day.
Tomorrow we will be taking the Fundy Coastal Drive - arrived her too late to do that it should take all day - we did one other small drive today and saw a lighthouse out on the point.
Some of these people have a million dollar view from their homes.
We got some really good pictures today and I am sure we will get plenty more tomorrow. This picture was taken standing next to the motorhome in the campground.
Keep you all posted!

Monday June 7, 2010 Day 2

Hi Everyone

Today we crossed from MA to NH and the roads in MA were horrific, we had drawers and cabinets open that have never done it before. It was like an I Love Lucy cartoon. And the most unusual thing was in NH there was a giant liquor store that had its own exit, interesting.
We have arrived safely in Houlton Maine.
What a beautiful drive today.
We got a late start today, it was really interesting trying to get out of the
"big rig" friendly campground. We definitely had to have the car unhooked, there was a tree right next to us and a fence along side the tree and then right across from us was a tree and pick up truck and the road was very narrow. But our ever capable driver got us out with no trouble.
We arrived in Houlton, Maine at dinnertime, so we asked the clerk at check-in about restaurants and he said there were 2 really good ones, but they aren't open on Monday. So we settled for burgers.
Along the drive today we pulled into a scenic overlook to view the Mattamiscontis Mountains which has a elevation of 1272 feet. It was just beautiful. Maine is just a green, lush, clean state. The campground is just 4 miles from the Canadian border. Tomorrow we head to Canada to New Brunswick for 2 days.

Sunday June 6, 2010 Day 1

Well here we are day one, we left our home and dog in the ever capable hands of our niece Emily. We didn't get started until 9 AM, but with all the time in the world what's the hurry.
We didn't hit much traffic, believe it or not, but when we got close to the campground in Sturbridge MA it rained like the world was ending. And yes when we went to pull into the site for the night there was a picnic table in the way. One guess who had to go out in the monsoon and move it.
Got settled - waited for the rain to stop - then were off to Webster MA to "The Chowder Bowl" much to our disappointment it is no longer. That is one reason we chose to stay the night here they had the best clam chowder we have ever eaten. Well we settled for grilled steak, mashed potatoes and green beans. Not quite the same, but are looking forward to eating lobsters until we can't anymore. Tomorrow we are headed to Maine, just overnight. Will keep you all up to date on our adventures.