August 30, 2010

Happy Birthday, Denise.  Can you believe we have a daughter who is -- years old. Aunt Linda remembered she was about 17 and sleeping in on her last day before school started and I called to tell her and Mom that we were going to the hospital and they needed to come and take care of Denise's two older brothers. Linda remembers how she taught it was terrible that she had to babysit on her last day off.

Today when we left Bangor, Maine it was 70 degrees at 7 am and by 9:30 it was76 degrees. When the sun came out it was very warm very quick. I noted that the Trees were starting to look golden in the sunshine and the golden rod was very yellow with an occasional tree with red leaves.

We traveled on route 9 and it was quite hilly with forests as far as we could see. We bought diesel fuel near Calius, Maine, at $2.99 . This was near the Canadian border so we saw many Canadians fueling up. I also noted we had not seen very many flowers around the houses while we have been in Maine. It seems they only us an occasional shrub at their foundations and no flower beds. This seemed odd to me since we come from an area where landscaping with scrubs and flowers is quite popular, Maybe it is this way because the German's have a history of using flowers for decoration.

After we left customs we had to get accustomed to the road signs for legal speed limits. 70 means 42 MPH --80 means 50 MPH and 100 means 63MPH. We traveled on the Bay of Fundy Drive for a period of time which took us close to the Bay. The sights were breath taking at times. even thou the tide was very low.

St. Johns --Unbelievable---That is what a sign said when we arrived on the west side of St. John, N.B. .

St. Johns is a fairly large town with a lot of traffic which moves very rapidly. We found our campsite after driving with our 36ft home on narrow city streets and around sharp curves. The girl at the info center as we entered St. Johns cautioned us about taking the exit which our GPS recommended. She said and earlier exit was much better. Well if it was better I would hate to see what was worse. We are in a provincial park and park out in the open with no one near to us.

After setting up and eating lunch we got in the truck and went to the area of the Reversible Falls. We had seen this area in 1990 and remembered it when we arrived. There were two restaurants nearby which were not there in 1990. After spending some time watching the high tide arrive we decided to take a drive to St. Martins, which is east of Saint Johns. We did not think of rush hour but definitely remembered the time because the interstate was crowded. (At about 8:30 pm we realized we were in Atlantic time zone so we were later than we thought it was when we started our drive to St. Martins).

We found St. Martins to be a little bump in the road but drove east of town and found the most beautiful area along the Bay of Fundy. It had huge rocks which had caves in them at the shore line. You could enter the caves at low tide only. They had a restaurant up by the road which advertised that it had World Famous Clam Chowder. Walt wanted to give it a try, so we went in and found a bowl of Chowder was $10.99. I really did not need a bowlful so he ordered one for himself with another spoon for me. I must say it was good but very high in calories with cream and butter binding the crab meat together. It was delicious--each spoonful had a spoonful of clam meat in it. Two tablespoons of the chowder was enough for me and the rest was Walt's supper. After leaving the shore we went back thru town and headed west. On Lighthouse road we drove to the very end and found the Quaco Had Lighthouse and Quaco Head Reef and "Dulse Rock". I have great pictures of the sight.

After leaving the Lighthouse we headed west on the Fundy Bay drive and ended up in St. Johns just as the sun was setting. The end to a very long and enjoyable day.

August 29, 2010

Today started with a Sunday Mass here in Bangor, Maine. It was a very modern church and they had a fabulous organist and soloist. Father was from India so his English was a bit hard to understand, expecially during his sermon.

After Mass we went to Bar Harbor to revisit the areas we had seen 20 years ago on a short vacation covering Maine, PEI and Nova Scotia. We certainly found out that the town has changed since our last visit.
Our memory had the scenes of beautiful quiet harbor and town. Well, it was not that way today. I believe everyone was trying to get a special weekend at the same time. Everything was very crowded and the shopping had changed to a typical tourist type shops instead of speciality shops. Walt and I both agreed that it was not like our memory of the town.

When we went on the drive thru Acadia National Park the memories were more positive except there was much more traffic. The cars mixed with hikers and bicycles was not a good mixture. We did get some beautiful pictures and I hope to possibly get a picture downloaded .

Tomorrow we will be moving to St. John, New Brunswick, and our Mifi card will not be used for the internet. When we went to Verizon and asked about an international coverage for the internet we found it would be very expensive so we will see what we can find by some other means. We did get an international phone plan for a monthly fee so you can get in touch with us as you always have in the past.

See you soon. Marge

August 28, 2010

Today was a tuff day to travel. The roads were curvy and terrible. When we left Gorham, New Hampshire The birches were shining brightly in the sun, and all was right with the world. When we entered Maine everything changed. We were on Route 2 when we hit a construction area. The road was down to rugged ground. It looked like they had had a washout. They were putting huge rocks up the side of the hill. We could only travel 10 to 15 MPH for a mile or two. When we got thru all the wiggle and bumps (even with our air hitch) we went back to speed. When we got on 219 we hit another area of very bumpy road which shock you insides. This one lasted for 5 miles. By this times my Fibro was in full bloom. I was totally shot and Walt was tired from holding onto the stirring wheel that kept moving without his assistance. We finally drove 2 hours and we had not seen a straight for 1 mile. We did constant curves. Sometimes you question the route Lizzie, our GPS lady, takes to get to a certain point. At about 11:45 AM we arrived at Herman, Maine, a suburb of Bangor. Herman was founded in 1814 and the houses and barns were connected. The house was a rectangular shape with a steep roof. The connection was a smaller rectangle which connected to the barn. This connection was of different lengths according to how much room was needed for the kitchen and any adjoining room. The barns were usually painted red and also had a very high pitched roof. Our barns in Mercer County are about 1/2 as steep as these barns in Maine.

We scooped out a Church for tomorrow and had a seafood diner at a local restaurant. The smelts and trout were delicious and the service was perfect.

August 27, 2010

We are on the road again. Our stay at South Hero, Vermont was very nice. The R.V. park was just perfect and the view was to die for. (If I figure out how to add a photo, I will do so). We left the park at 8 a.m.-we certainly are getting up early. Our routine is rise at 7 and be on the road by 8. Today, we are going to Shelborne, New Hampshire.

Our sites are of Champaign Valley and in the White Mountains. Red barns are the main interest of the day. These giant barns remind me of Mercer County, Ohio, but they are painted a deep red with very steep roofs or round roofs. I guess the snow slides off the roof easier when it is steep. We are much happier about small farms today, because they seem to be vibrant and active.
Last evening our friend stated there are 1000 dairy farmers in Vermont and 200 of the farmers produce organic milk. Vermont is 23rd in the amount of milk produced in U.S.

We did notice the suack plant is changing color . Fall is not far behind if they use the change of color as a gauge to how far the season has gone. In Iowa we always used that as a measurement.

As we traveled closer to our next stop we are noticing how the houses are connected to the barns.
We also had signs stating "Hidden curves" and "Moose next 4 miles". We did find the hidden curves and many of them, but we did not find the Moose.

At 10:11 a.m. we crossed the border into New Hampshire and the White Mountain Region. We were wondering why they were called White Mountains and we finally came to the conclusion that it was because there were many white birch trees mixed in with the green of the other trees.

We arrived at our RV park at about noon. We quickly set up and ate lunch and we were off to the Keepsake Quilting Shop in Center Harbor. New Hampshire. I am a avid quilter so I was anxious about seeing the shop and hoping it was the best shop I had ever visited. Well, I was right-IT WAS THE BEST.  We had to travel about 2 hours in the mountains but it was a beautiful ride. When we got to the quilt shop there was a row of comfortable chairs on the porch for all the husbands who were waiting for their wives. When I stepped into the shop I was overwhelmed. The shop was filled with so many different colors and styles of fabric that you could imagine. It was a candy land for any quilter. I have my souvenirs for the trip. A bag of fabric to make a Christmas Throw. Now all I need to do is find time to make the quilt. The favorite comment while in the shop was "So many things to make and not enough time." You must be a quilter to truly understand that statement.

We arrived home at 6:30 pm and decided we would dinner at home and rest. The end of a very nice day.

Novia Scotia and Prince Edward Island Tour

Hello Everyone---I am entering a new age. This blog business always seemed like something I did not think I could master. Then it was brought to my attention that it is easy and I should give it a try. So what is it that I want to talk about at this time. Well, it is the travels that I do with my husband. We have a 36 foot fifth wheel hooked to a white GMC truck and we travel most of the year since we have retired in 2005. We discarded all excess baggage and live in our 5th wheel full time. We do not have a home per say--this is our home. 

Right now we are traveling from Ohio to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

This is journal I had started before I finally made the decision to start this blog. 

Monday August 23, 2010

Well, we began our trip this morning. We had been at Louisville, Ohio, since August the 16th. We spent a week visiting with Adam and Eric and their families who live in the area. We went to the Amish area and picked up a quilt which my mother embroidered last winter and I had the Amish ladies quilt it by hand. It is absolutely  beautiful.

We began our trip at about 8:30 this morning. The hook up went well and the drive was uneventful. We arrived at Akron, New York at about 2:30 this afternoon. So you can say we traveled from Akron, Ohio to Akron, New York in one day. Our dear friends who were going to go with us on this trip had to postpone their trip because of Susan’s sudden surgery. She is doing well, but needs some “recup” time. We will try to meet them at Cape Cod later next month.


Trivia: We paid $2.83 for diesel fuel in Canton, Ohio and $3.19 in New York. We traveled along route 90 which took us thru the wine country along Lake Erie. We saw many many fields of grape vines.


When we arrived in Akron, N.Y it was 66 degrees and misty rain. We may go from air conditioning to fire place. Hope not-- we are not ready for that kind of change.


August 24, 2010


We traveled from Akron, New York to Clayton, New York. Clayton is along the St. Lawrence Seaway. We began our trip today at 8 a.m. and arrived at Clayton at about 1:30 pm. We traveled on I-90 and saw some farms on gentle rolling hills with corn fields and hay as their main crops. As we traveled north on Route 81 to the St. Lawrence 1000 Islands area, we saw some farms near Watertown. The farmers seemed to carve fields out of the waste lands. The further north nearing the seaway we saw a lot of woodlands with pine and other deciduous trees. Next to the forests we saw marshes and then more trees. We did not see any agriculture in the area except for some large hay bales in grass fields. The further north we went we saw some of the trees beginning a slight change of color.


Our tour of St. Lawrence 1000 Islands area started at 1:30 p.m. and ended at 8 p.m. Needless to say, we were very tired by the time we came back to our home. We went to Alexander Bay which was about 12 miles east of our home. The area was busy with tourists, so we went directly to the tour boat. We chose a 2 ¼ hour tour of two nations which began at 3 pm. The tour was very well done and very interesting. The tour guide gave us a history of every island as we past them. At the end of the tour we were dropped at Heart Island and we toured the Boldt Castle. The Boldt Castle is known for the husband who started to build the castle for his wife, but after a year of building the castle his wife died suddenly of consumption. He was so grief stricken that he call a halt to the building of the castle. In later year the second owner of the island gave it to the State of New York and they refurbished the castle. They have the outside and the grounds of the castle completely restored but the inside is a work in progress. After the castle tour we were picked up by a shuttle and brought back to our original dock. This was the end of a very interesting and enjoyable day. Walt even enjoyed the castle tour-this usually is not his cup of tea.


Trivia: Paid a $21 toll to travel the New York I-90. The diesel we bought off of 81N was $3.13 per gallon.


August 25, 2010


Happy Birthday Zach!! Our third grandchild is 19 years old today. Oh, My!!!


We left Clayton by truck (not pulling our home) for a tour of Lake Placid. It was a 3 hour drive thru the Adirondark Mountain area. Route 3 was a very nice road and the scenery was of lakes, wetlands and forests. Lake Placid is a very small city which is next to a beautiful lake. The tourist shopping area was directly next to the lake. We ate lunch in an outdoor terrace and then shopped for a few hours. I did not buy anything but did do a lot of browsing.


When we left town we drove to the Olympic training center but it had nothing for us to see. We then drove to the Olympic Snow Ski Jump. We took a ski lift up to the top of the hill and then an elevator up the tower to the start area. There was a young man, who everyone seemed to know, doing some jumps. He left the gates and bent over his skis and flew down to the landing area. He must have nerves of steel to do such a jump. Their goal is to be going 60 miles an hour when they go into the air. Absolutely crazy!!! I wonder where his mother was. Ha Ha.


Trivia:
Diesel Fuel was $3.09 a gallon in Clayton.


August 26, 2010-Drive to Vermont


Our trip from Clayton, N.Y. to South Hero, Vermont was from 8:15 am to 1:30 pm. We traveled on Route 12 which was is parallel to the St. Lawrence Seaway. The scenery was great when we could look down at the St. Lawrence Seaway. The land is a gentle roll with some farms active as crop farms and run down barns and houses which at one time were small farms with dairy. It is so sad to see the loss of these small family farms. (our interest in farms is that we have a farm and grew up on farms-my husband also has worked for the family farmers most of his life)


Alert---we finally saw a Walmart at Ogdensburg, New York –Walt could not understand why I was interested in this bit of trivia. Well, you usually see a Walmart when you travel and some RVers can not wait to see one so they can park for the night. So after not seeing one for 3 full days it was a spot of interest.


On Route 11 we saw more active agriculture-we saw Corn, hay and working farms which were large and small. We even saw dairy farms and cows grazing in the fields. At Crateaugay New York we saw a Wind Farm with many large wind generators.


As we were driving down the peninsula to our park we passed a marina and then followed Rt. 11 to a draw bridge which took us to South Hero, Vermont. This is our place to park our home for the night. Later we drove about an hour to a farmers home near Burlington, Vermont. He worked with Walt for many years and it was great catching up with him and hearing about his farm. He has a 300 acre organic dairy farm. In Vermont there are 200 organic dairy farms out of 1000 dairy farms.  Vermont is 23rd in the production of milk in the U.S.

Trivia:
Waddington, New York is the carp capital of the world.