Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Sightseeing and Shopping in Maine
On Wednesday (August 16) we drove from the caravan end in Fredricton, New Brunswick to Trenton, Maine – about 20 miles from Bar Harbor. During the day on Thursday and Friday, we toured Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. We took a pretty strenuous, short hike up Bubble Top Mountain on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we took a longer (3.2 mile) but easier hike around Jordan Pond. Thursday evening we went to dinner with Doug Lackey and his wife JoAnne. Doug was a contemporary of mine who spent his career in-house at BellSouth and retired in March of this year. He and JoAnne have a nice waterfront summer house about 10 miles from Bar Harbor.
Saturday (after Friday’s cruise ship departed), Carol and I went sightseeing in downtown Bar Harbor. We bought an oil painting in one of the Bar Harbor galleries that we plan to hang over the fireplace when we get home.
On Sunday we drove to Freeport, Maine down U.S. 1. The traffic was horrible. Monday we shopped in Freeport, with our primary stop at the huge L.L. Bean store.
Today (Tuesday) we got up early and had our motorhome serviced at the Freightliner dealer in Westbrook. During the morning service, we went to a major mall in Portland for window-shopping. We picked the motorhome up about 1:00 p.m., then drove about 5 hours to Bennington, Vermont, where we have both cable TV and WiFi access.
Our current plan is to continue west through Vermont and New York until we hit I-77. We’ll then head south with the goal of arriving home in Tallahassee before the Labor Day weekend.
Saturday (after Friday’s cruise ship departed), Carol and I went sightseeing in downtown Bar Harbor. We bought an oil painting in one of the Bar Harbor galleries that we plan to hang over the fireplace when we get home.
On Sunday we drove to Freeport, Maine down U.S. 1. The traffic was horrible. Monday we shopped in Freeport, with our primary stop at the huge L.L. Bean store.
Today (Tuesday) we got up early and had our motorhome serviced at the Freightliner dealer in Westbrook. During the morning service, we went to a major mall in Portland for window-shopping. We picked the motorhome up about 1:00 p.m., then drove about 5 hours to Bennington, Vermont, where we have both cable TV and WiFi access.
Our current plan is to continue west through Vermont and New York until we hit I-77. We’ll then head south with the goal of arriving home in Tallahassee before the Labor Day weekend.
Newfoundland to PEI and Caravan End in New Brunswick
NOTE: This entry was written on Tuesday, August 15. Lack of Internet access has delayed posting.
We left St. John’s Newfoundland on Wednesday, August 2nd, and headed to Grand Falls-Windsor for two nights. The highlight of Thursday’s bus tour was the Mussel Bound Tour, where we saw the process of cultivating and harvesting mussels at a farm in Fortune Harbor. They are growing about 30 tons of mussels, or for our Texas friends, about 75 million head.
Friday and Saturday were traveling days, including the 5-1/2 hour ferry to return from Newfoundland to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia, we had two free days on Sunday and Monday. On the first day, Carol and I drove around a pretty peninsula, and stopped to tour a reconstruction of the early Scottish settlements on the island. We had dinner that evening in a local fire hall, served by the Ladies’ Auxiliary from a local church. The second day we drove to nearby Baddeck to tour the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. In addition to inventing the telephone, Bell worked with the deaf, worked on early airplanes, and designed hydrofoil boats. Monday evening was a soup and cornbread dinner in the RV rec hall, followed by line dancing instruction and an ice cream social.
We departed Cape Breton early Tuesday morning for the ferry terminal to take a 1-1/2 hour ferry ride to Prince Edward Island. This is a smaller ferry, and it took 5 trips to get our entire group across – priority is given to truckers and automobiles. We spent six nights at our campground outside Charlottetown, the capital of PEI. On Tuesday, we took a bus tour of Charlottetown, which included Province House, the home of the PEI Legislature and the location of the 1864 meeting from representatives of different Canadian colonies which ultimately led to the formation of Canada as an independent nation in 1867. Since Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday were free days, Carol and I took our car on a day-and-a-half tour around the west end of the island, spending the night in a motel near North Cape. North Cape is the home of a windmill generation site with 36 windmills connected to the electric grid. On this driving trip we saw a couple of museums, including the Potato Museum (PEI has over 96,000 acres planted in potatoes). PEI is a great change from Newfoundland. Newfoundland is rocks. PEI is fertile farmland, lush greenery, and manicured lawns.
Friday was a bus tour of the center section of the island, including a stop at the College of Piping for a short demonstration of piping, drumming, and Scottish dancing. On Saturday, we left the campground on a double decker bus about 4:00 p.m. for an early lobster dinner followed by Anne the Musical, a show based on the Anne of Green Gables stories.
Sunday was another free day – we basically sat around the RV and caught up on reading and writing. That evening we had hearty hors d'oeuvres in the campground rec hall and honored our tour hosts and tail-enders.
Monday we drove across the 8 mile long Confederation Bridge that joins PEI and New Brunswick to our campground in Fredericton. The campground has WiFi access, which is a real treat. A hamburger BBQ dinner in the campground pavilion was followed by a round of miniature golf.
Today (Tuesday) was a visit to King’s Landing, a restoration of Loyalist buildings in New Brunswick with folks in period costume from 1783 to 1900. I thought the highlight of the village was a water-powered sawmill. This evening we are having a farewell dinner downtown and we’ll have a continental breakfast in the morning before going our separate ways.
Carol and I are headed for four days near Bar Harbor, Maine – our plans after that are indefinite. While there, we will have dinner with Doug Lackey, who retired from BellSouth in May, and who owns a summer home in the area.
I will try to upload some photos in a separate post.
We left St. John’s Newfoundland on Wednesday, August 2nd, and headed to Grand Falls-Windsor for two nights. The highlight of Thursday’s bus tour was the Mussel Bound Tour, where we saw the process of cultivating and harvesting mussels at a farm in Fortune Harbor. They are growing about 30 tons of mussels, or for our Texas friends, about 75 million head.
Friday and Saturday were traveling days, including the 5-1/2 hour ferry to return from Newfoundland to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia, we had two free days on Sunday and Monday. On the first day, Carol and I drove around a pretty peninsula, and stopped to tour a reconstruction of the early Scottish settlements on the island. We had dinner that evening in a local fire hall, served by the Ladies’ Auxiliary from a local church. The second day we drove to nearby Baddeck to tour the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. In addition to inventing the telephone, Bell worked with the deaf, worked on early airplanes, and designed hydrofoil boats. Monday evening was a soup and cornbread dinner in the RV rec hall, followed by line dancing instruction and an ice cream social.
We departed Cape Breton early Tuesday morning for the ferry terminal to take a 1-1/2 hour ferry ride to Prince Edward Island. This is a smaller ferry, and it took 5 trips to get our entire group across – priority is given to truckers and automobiles. We spent six nights at our campground outside Charlottetown, the capital of PEI. On Tuesday, we took a bus tour of Charlottetown, which included Province House, the home of the PEI Legislature and the location of the 1864 meeting from representatives of different Canadian colonies which ultimately led to the formation of Canada as an independent nation in 1867. Since Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday were free days, Carol and I took our car on a day-and-a-half tour around the west end of the island, spending the night in a motel near North Cape. North Cape is the home of a windmill generation site with 36 windmills connected to the electric grid. On this driving trip we saw a couple of museums, including the Potato Museum (PEI has over 96,000 acres planted in potatoes). PEI is a great change from Newfoundland. Newfoundland is rocks. PEI is fertile farmland, lush greenery, and manicured lawns.
Friday was a bus tour of the center section of the island, including a stop at the College of Piping for a short demonstration of piping, drumming, and Scottish dancing. On Saturday, we left the campground on a double decker bus about 4:00 p.m. for an early lobster dinner followed by Anne the Musical, a show based on the Anne of Green Gables stories.
Sunday was another free day – we basically sat around the RV and caught up on reading and writing. That evening we had hearty hors d'oeuvres in the campground rec hall and honored our tour hosts and tail-enders.
Monday we drove across the 8 mile long Confederation Bridge that joins PEI and New Brunswick to our campground in Fredericton. The campground has WiFi access, which is a real treat. A hamburger BBQ dinner in the campground pavilion was followed by a round of miniature golf.
Today (Tuesday) was a visit to King’s Landing, a restoration of Loyalist buildings in New Brunswick with folks in period costume from 1783 to 1900. I thought the highlight of the village was a water-powered sawmill. This evening we are having a farewell dinner downtown and we’ll have a continental breakfast in the morning before going our separate ways.
Carol and I are headed for four days near Bar Harbor, Maine – our plans after that are indefinite. While there, we will have dinner with Doug Lackey, who retired from BellSouth in May, and who owns a summer home in the area.
I will try to upload some photos in a separate post.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
More Photos
We are sitting in line at the ferry dock waiting for our 5-1/2 hour return to Nova Scotia. Attached are some photos that I could not upload last time I logged on.
U.S. troops in the international lounge at Gander, Newfoundland, at a refueling stop on their way to Iraq.
U.S. troops in the international lounge at Gander, Newfoundland, at a refueling stop on their way to Iraq.
Monument to the victims of an air crash in Gander that killed members of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division.
The "dungeon" rocks at Cape Bonavista.
Part of the light mechanism in the Cape Bonavista lighthouse.
The "Mare's Piss" waterfall in Western Brook Pond (the lake where a glacier previously retreated).
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
St. John's Newfoundland
We arrived in St. John's early afternoon on Sunday. Out of a total Newfoundland population of 500,000, St. John's has 100,000 and a 150,000 more live within 100 miles of the city. Sunday afternoon, Carol and I explored downtown and are dinner at our first Tex-Mex restaurant since Kentucky.
Monday was a bright, sunny day. A bus tour included Signal Hill, a promontory overlooking the narrow entrance to the St. John's harbor. We subsequently learned (today at the Geo Center) that the rock at Signal Hill is 500 million years old -- 450 million years older than the Rocky Mountains. The tour also included Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America -- closer to Italy than California. A bird/whale watching tour in the afternoon produced thousands of puffins, kittiwakes, and herring gulls, and one Minke whale.
Today (Tuesday) was a free day. After and finding a real shopping mall, Carol and I visited the Geo Center and returned downtown for a late lunch at Jungle Jims, a Canadian version of Bennigans or Applebys. Found WiFi access in a parking lot at the university, and am taking this opportunity to update the blog.
The first photo is us at Cape Spear, the second is the tower atop Signal Hill.
Monday was a bright, sunny day. A bus tour included Signal Hill, a promontory overlooking the narrow entrance to the St. John's harbor. We subsequently learned (today at the Geo Center) that the rock at Signal Hill is 500 million years old -- 450 million years older than the Rocky Mountains. The tour also included Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America -- closer to Italy than California. A bird/whale watching tour in the afternoon produced thousands of puffins, kittiwakes, and herring gulls, and one Minke whale.
Today (Tuesday) was a free day. After and finding a real shopping mall, Carol and I visited the Geo Center and returned downtown for a late lunch at Jungle Jims, a Canadian version of Bennigans or Applebys. Found WiFi access in a parking lot at the university, and am taking this opportunity to update the blog.
The first photo is us at Cape Spear, the second is the tower atop Signal Hill.
Newfoundland / Labrador Photos
The ferry that carried us from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland.
A humpback whale.
A shipwreck off Saddle Island.
A witness testifying at one of the trials at the conclusion of a Viking feast in St. Anthony.
Carol under a sculpture at the Viking historical site.
A humpback whale.
A shipwreck off Saddle Island.
A witness testifying at one of the trials at the conclusion of a Viking feast in St. Anthony.
Carol under a sculpture at the Viking historical site.
