Our Final Blog!

If you have been following our blog you are aware that we have been absent since Thanksgiving.  After over two years of blogging, we have decided to end this experience and allow you to follow our lives via alternate and free ( to us ) means. Kay is on Facebook and Omar has threatened to do the same. 🙂

After leaving Fort Polk, we headed off to Dallas taking in the Perot Museum of Science, the George W Bush Presidential Library and the downtown site of the assassination of JFK.

While in Texas we also managed to attend the George H W Bush and LBJ Presidential Libraries. Republican or Democrat, if you look hard enough and are honest, there is always something to respect about the office of the Presidency and what these men have attempted to accomplish with their lives.

Thanksgiving was a special time in Austin with Kay’s Uncle Bob, Aunt Sandy and her cousins Britt and Diane along with their husband’s, Charlie and Mike. They treated us to many of their favorite restaurants and highlights of Austin.

The month of December was spent in Tucson checking some of the local sites: Titan Rocket launch facility, bike trails and the Sonoran Desert with the enchanting Saguaro cactus. We also managed to take a flight to Grass Valley to visit Daniel and meet his sweet finance, Erin and her daughter Kiley for Christmas.

The beauty of the Sonoran Desert was a glorious site.

January, February and March were spent at Palm Creek RV Resort in Casa Grande, AZ.  It was a very active three months with, line dancing, pickleball, swimming, biking, golfing, movie nights, car shows, photography club…you get the idea.  We also enjoyed visits with many special friends and made new ones. We enjoyed our visits to the Air Museum, Biosphere 2 and the fountain at Fountain Hills. This was the longest stay in one location on our travels.  We were a little leery when we first decided to reserve a spot for three months but we welcome the thought of returning next year for another three month stay. 🙂  In the middle of our stay Kay took flight to visit the grandkids in Louisiana. That grandma itch needs to be scratched! 🙂

On a sad note, Omar’s brother Larry, lost his precious wife Julie to cancer.  We took a drive to Banning for a celebration of Julie’s life and a reconnection with Omar’s brother, Larry and sister, Jane.

April was spent in Grass Valley to attend Daniel and Erin’s wedding and grand visits with family and great friends.

We then moved on to the Sparks/Reno area visiting longtime friends including some of  Omar’s work buddies from Truckee.  Kay’s cousins Chris and Sara live in the Sparks area as well and we had some great visits with them an their husband’s.  In the midst of all this we got the motorcycles running, kayaked on Donner Lake, biked along the Truckee River and Omar got some much needed golfing lessons from Sara’s husband John.

Thanks for following us these last two years!  We leave you for now but just remember to contact us on Facebook for all the current events!  Omar has followed through with his threat to join Facebook! 🙂

Fort Polk Louisiana – Act #3 :)

October 18- November 15, 2016

Kaylee and Sierra love to wear Grandma K’s glasses! 🙂

Such a gift to experience four weeks of daily life with our daughter, Lauren, her husband, Justin, and our 3 exceptional grandchildren, Kaylee-4 years old, Sierra-2 years old, Caleb-7 months old and Ruger, their Boxer dog-4 years old. We were reminded of the on-going duties of parenting 3 little ones and how the days can be arduous, exhausting and a bit monotonous. There’s unending cooking, cleaning, planning, piles of laundry, bathing, diapers, potty training, feeding, interrupted sleep, tears, high decibels, comforting, training, teaching, correction, discipline, understanding temperaments, differing parental styles all in a dynamic universe!! I’m sure you get the picture!! Even though the mission and responsibilities can undo you at times, we are totally confident and abounding with encouragement that Lauren and Justin are learning and growing with the process and will climb out of the trenches victorious, spending the rest of their decades together, blessed by their adult children!! Lauren shared this quote that says it clearly, “The days are long but the years are short!”. They are enjoying the victories, snuggles, joys, fun, smiles, laughter, wonder, rewards and miracle of each unique child in every stage all the while growing personally! We are incredibly blessed to share in it all!! Thank you for inviting us in to your home and hearts!!

Ft Polk is a (JRTC) Joint Readiness Training Center in the middle of no where but the military does provide numerous parks in their housing developments which we visited almost daily with the kids.

We also spent a beautiful day at Toledo Bend Reservoir on a pontoon boat. Toledo Bend is a 65 mile long reservoir on the Sabine River and straddles the Louisiana and Texas border. It is only 10 miles wide with an average depth of 60 ft but it has 1,200 miles of shoreline with its numerous fingers. The Army has a campground and recreation site for use by military families on one of the fingers. We all got to practice our casting but the fish were elusive. Kaylee and Sierra had fun helping daddy drive the boat and Caleb just enjoys being outside.

Halloween is a special time in their neighborhood. Everyone sets up outside and welcomes the steady flow of kids and costumes for 3 hours. Neighborhoods on Base, remind us of how life used to be as we were growing up. Interactive, jovial and safe.

Kaylee is attending an excellent Christian preschool Monday – Thursday. They are very welcoming to parents and grandparents so we had the opportunity to attend a field trip to Anderson’s Pumpkin Patch and attend Chapel service in which Kaylee’s class shared a song and what they were thankful for. We also had lunch with her one day. Kaylee is thriving with the structure and challenge of her school and Lauren gets a little reprieve while Justin works multiple days and hours as an observe trainer.

On another day we drove 1 1/2 hours to the Children’s Museum in Lake Charles. Timing it between naps,  everyone had fun discovering and being a kid for a few hours.

We stayed at Ft Polk’s Alligator Lake Campground so BBQ’s and one night roasting marshmallows is always a big hit.

We enjoyed non-humid, mild weather for a month which we are grateful for!! We were also visited by the wild horses who freely roam the base since the days of the Calvary.
The month quickly passed but we are taking our treasured memories with us as move on to Texas!

THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT! HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL.

Little Rock and Hot Springs Arkansas

 

October 13-18,

Arkansas is the 36th US state we have visited since leaving California and our first time to ever visit Arkansas. Our first stop in the “Natural” state was North Little Rock. We stayed at the Riverside RV Park right on the Arkansas River directly across from the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. The RV Park is just a parking lot but it was good access to Little Rock. We could ride our bikes or walk across a foot bridge to the Clinton Museum and 30 acre riverfront park.  At night the bridge is  lit up changing light patterns. The days we were there were cloudy and rainy during so we couldn’t take advantage of the bike path.

The Clinton Library and Museum is an impressive five story structure. The main building cantilevers over the Arkansas River reflecting Clinton’s campaign promise of “building a bridge to the 21st century”. There is an 110-foot timeline, representing each of Clinton’s years as president, many artifacts, a theater, and our favorite, full scale replicas of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room. The presidential limousine, Cadillac One, used during his presidency is there too. The museum also hosts visiting exhibits and the Beatles was their current feature. We had fun walking down memory lane when the Beatles toured America in the early 60’s. Omar even played the drums with Ringo instructing! Even though we are not Clinton fans it was interesting to look at the life of our 42nd president.

From Little Rock, we stayed in Hot Springs at Catherine’s Landing RV Resort. This is a very nice resort, all paved and well maintained. Previously it was an old 400 acre dairy farm on the Ouachita River. They have a very nice heated pool, a boat launch and small marina. You can kayak, stand up paddle board and go boating but the water isn’t clear and we read there are alligators in the lower third of Arkansas so we chose to pass on the river activities!

Besides swimming in the pool, relaxing and catching up we spent one day at Hot Springs National Park. This is the smallest national park and it borders a city that has made an industry out of tapping and dispensing the park’s mineral-rich hot springs water. It is also the oldest park initially known as Hot Springs Reservation. It was created by an act of the United States Congress on April 20, 1832 to be preserved for future recreation. It was the first time that a piece of land was set aside by the federal government to preserve its use as an area for recreation and before the concept of a National Park existed. In 1921 it became Hot Springs National Park and today still preserves 47 hot springs and their watershed, plus there are hiking trails, scenic drives, camping and picnic areas. But the biggest feature is the preserved Bathhouse Row on Central Avenue, the main street of Hot Springs, Arkansas. People have been coming to Hot Springs for thousands of years to seek healing for all kinds of ailments. The last 200 years therapeutic baths and bath houses were developed. It was the original wholistic day spas with gymnasiums, a variety of messages, steam baths, showers and restaurants. The old wooden structures which burnt have been replaced by a row of luxurious stone and masonry bathhouses constructed in the early 1900s. We toured the Fordyce Bath House which also serves as the parks visitor center.
Each day about 700,000 gallons of water—at 143°F—flow from the springs into a complex piping and reservoir system. This supplies water to commercial baths and to free “jug fountains,” where people flock daily to fill containers with the odorless, fresh-tasting, chemical-free water. We filled our jugs!!

We also went up the 216 ft Hot Springs Mountain Tower for a 360 degree view of the Ouachita Mountains.

Now it is finally time to visit Lauren, Justin and our grandchildren in Fort Polk, Louisiana!

Springfield IL and St Louis MO

 

Our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln (R)

The Illinois State Fairground RV Park proved to be a great location to visit the highlights of the land of Lincoln, Springfield, IL. We had just enough time after our long drive from Goshen, IN to visit the Dana-Thomas house designed by architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. This house was built from 1902-04 and is a prairie style design. Prairie houses were characterized by low, horizontal lines that were meant to blend with the flat landscape around them. We learned one way Mr Wright created these horizontal lines was by cleaning out the horizontal grout lines in the brick but not the vertical lines between the bricks. Susan Lawrence Dana was a wealthy woman and gave Mr Wright a blank check to remodel her family’s Italianate mansion. This resulted in a 12,000 square foot, 35 room house on three main levels. Only one room reflected the previous mansion and made fun of the Victorian style. Dana loved to entertain and was a leading hostess in Springfield thus the house was designed for display and entertainment. It is the best preserved prairie style house and contains the largest collection of site-specific, original Wright art glass and furniture. We have enjoyed seeing Frank Lloyd Wright’s creative thinking when it comes to defining space in a building.

We enjoyed driving around the historic city of Springfield and seeing the Old and New State Capitol Buildings and the 132 ft Rees Memorial Carillon Tower at Washington Park.

We visited Mary and Abraham Lincoln’s home of 17 years which is now run by the National Parks. This is the only home he ever owned. The home has been restored to its appearance of 1860 but when they purchased the home in 1844 for $1200 it was much smaller and only one story. They enlarged the home in 1856 to meet the needs of their growing family. When Abraham Lincoln first arrived in Springfield in 1837, he was 28 years old, single, $1500 in debt and came riding in on a borrowed horse with all his belongs in two saddle bags. He was basically self taught only spending a short amount of time in school. He also taught himself the law by reading William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England and was admitted to the bar in 1836. It was inspiring to learn how a man of humble beginnings and great losses became our heroic 16th president!!

 

We made a stop at Lincolns Tomb State Historic Site, pictured above.  It is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd Lincoln, and  three of their four sons.

We learned much more about his life at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. With two excellent movies, a recreated one room log cabin from his childhood home in Kentucky to the White House this is an excellent interactive museum! We left with a deeper sense of his heart and soul and the heavy burden he carried for our nation.

Here are a few of our favorite Lincoln quotes:

I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle.
–February 21, 1861 Speech to the New Jersey Senate

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”

“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”

“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.”

“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”

From Springfield we drove 96 miles to Queen Casino RV Park in St Louis, Missouri on the Mississippi River. The sun was out so we headed to the Gateway Arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. They are currently transforming the grounds surrounding the Gateway Arch which includes biking and running trails, space for outdoor concerts and a new museum commemorating westward expansion. It looked very different from our last visit in 1998 when there was a floating McDonalds on the river. That is gone and now there is a floating helicopter pad and the same Riverboat Cruises.

The Arch is still so amazing standing at 630 feet. It is the world’s tallest arch, the tallest man-made monument in the Western Hemisphere, and Missouri’s tallest accessible building. It was designed by architect Eero Saarinen in 1947; construction began on February 12, 1963, and was completed on October 28, 1965, for $13 million, equivalent to $190 million in 2015. The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967. There is a very interesting movie you can watch that covers its construction. No OSHA laws back then!! Omar’s hands were sweating just watching the movie! (Congress established the OSHA agency under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which President Richard M. Nixon signed into law on December 29, 1970) The Arches foundation is 60 ft deep, the legs at the base are 54 feet wide, and the top is 17 feet wide. You can see 34 miles in each direction on a clear day. We had pretty good clarity. It’s an impressive monument to the vision of Thomas Jefferson and St Louis’ role in the westward expansion of the US. The museum was moved for the new construction work but we were able to see a few things at the Old Court House across from the memorial.

 

Looking out at our RV site from the top of the Arch and from our RV site back to the Arch! 🙂

We topped off our day dining at Pappy’s Smoke House feasting on their famous ribs!!

Indiana Dunes State Park ~ Chicago

9/22-25/16

Indiana Dunes State Park is located 47 miles east of Chicago. It sits along Lake Michigan’s shore and is surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore. This is a very nice state park with large, paved and concreted pads for big rigs. It provides electrical hook ups only but they have large, clean bath houses. The highlight was having our son, Nate, who now lives in Chicago join us for a night. We enjoyed the 1.5 mile three Dune challenge and a wild time paddle boarding on some choppy three foot swells!! Fortunately the wind was blowing on shore so we felt safe. Nate even got a couple of good rides on the waves!

On Saturday, we spent the day in Chicago with Nate’s girlfriend, Ruth. We even had the privilege of meeting her parents, Jeff and Amy, for lunch in honor of Jeff’s birthday. This was our first meeting and we hit it right off! They are easy going, engaging thoughtful people like Ruth. We now have a visual picture of each of Nate and Ruth’s apartments and Ruth’s work (and now Nate’s as well, new job!) on the 25th floor of a tall building across the street from the Trump Tower. She has a beautiful view of the Chicago River looking out toward Lake Michigan.

Nate’s apartment on the Left and Ruth’s on the Right. The bike stacker comes in handy with tight spaces!

We walked through Millennium Park viewing Cloud Gate (the Bean) and Crown Fountain where kids were having a ball running in the water. Maggie Daley Park and Grant Park have opened since our last visit and what creative parks for kids of all ages including us!! Then we cruised down to Buckingham Fountains to see the water display. By the heavy use of this section of Chicago and the 18 mile Lakefront Trail this is a huge asset to the city. Along the trail are beaches, gardens, parks, recreational areas and over a dozen attractions! Nate is thrilled to live about 1/4 mile from accessing this trail!!

Sunday we headed back to Elkhart Campground for one night then spent a week at the Thor Service Center in Wakarusa getting some items fixed on our coach.

Another exciting event and break through is Kay has been driving the coach!! Now that we are in Indiana with a bit more open road and less traffic, Omar was ready to let me loose!! We both feel it is important for me to know how to drive this 40 ft beast with car in-tow and the timing was right. It feels like a huge responsibility and there are a lot of variables to get used to but I am very pleased with the handling and ease of how it drives!! Omar’s sedatives are working because he has remained calm! Haha! We are always happy to celebrate a victory in our marriage and this qualifies!! Cheers!!

A happy Pilot and dark clouds at the Service Center!

While our coach was in the shop at the Thor Service Center in Wakarusa, we took a tour of the Newmar Motor Coach Plant. We were impressed with their process, clean plant, and quality product. Newmar proudly states that a large majority of their work force are Amish and Mennonite which impacts their declaired values which are: hard work, attention to detail, personal responsibility and commitment to improvement. They are a family owned business and currently produce 8 coaches a day!

We had the privilege of joining Omar’s Aunt Mary along with Uncle Claude and his wife Aunt Shirley for lunch at Mary’s home at Greencroft Retirement Community in Goshen. Aunt Mary married Omar’s dad’s brother Ed and we learned Aunt Mary comes from a family of 11 siblings. Her older brother is 101 years old and also lives at Greencroft. It’s always great to see them and we learned Mary’s daughter, Kay (Omar’s cousin), who is a voice teacher, visited the White House with one of her students for Cinco de Mayo. She had a photo op with the President and Vice President.

Aunt Mary                                    Cousin Kay                                    Claude and Shirley

After a week at the service center we spent October 2-8 at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds for the Thor Internationally Rally. This was a great week of learning about maintenance on our coach and meet some fellow Thor-owner travelers. There is a harness track at the fairgrounds and it is always fun to watch them practice.

From here we are headed to Springfield, IL, the land of Lincoln.

Wheeling, West Virginia to Elkhart Indiana

 

September 13-22, 2016

Our travels brought us to Wheeling, West Virginia for one very special reason, Jane Swartzendruber, Omar’s sister. We hadn’t seen her for three years and this was our first visit to her home in Wheeling since she move here 10 years ago! What a joy-filled time we spent together! Wheeling lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains just 59 miles southwest of Pittsburg, PA. Several things converged to make Wheeling a prime industrial center for the state: its location on the Ohio River, the National Road (first government funded road) arriving in 1818, the B&O railroad connection in 1853 and natural resources. It was a bustling town until the Great Depression and the end of WWII when jobs began to decrease. In 1930 at it’s peak the population was 61,659, today Wheeling’s population is about 27,600.

This is Jane, Phyllis and Jane’s WV home.

Jane introduced us to some of her dear friends, Phyllis and Becky and Dick. It’s great to know she has such wonderful support.

We also spent a day at Oglebay Resort, a 1,650 acre park which used to be Waddington Farms, owned by Earl W. Oglebay. In 1926, when Mr Oglebay died, the farm was deeded to the city of Wheeling for the express purpose of public recreation. This highlight of Wheeling has several golf courses, a large outdoor pool, zoo, amphitheater, a lodge, cottages, a lake, ski slope and extensive trails. We strolled around the lake, toured the Ogelbay Mansion and Instiute of Glass museum. Both museums displayed thousands of artifacts from the early 1800’s-1900’s giving us an interesting picture of Wheeling’s progressive history.

In the glass museum, we watched a man who has worked in the business for 48 years make a glass pumpkin and a paper weight. Since we were the only visitors he shared his extensive knowledge and humor with us. It was fun to watch a true artisan at work.

Wheeling is also known for the 1,010 foot Wheeling Suspension Bridge. It was built in 1847-1849 to span the main channel of the Ohio River and is the oldest suspension bridge still in use today.

Three days went by quickly and it was sad to say our good byes but we are grateful for the memorable time we shared with Jane.

After a quick one hour stop for a Freightliner recall fix and one night in Fort Wayne Indiana, we settled in at Elkhart Campground for 5 days. One of those days was for Omar to see an orthopedic doctor to consult about his knee pain. Omar received a steroid shot in each knee to keep him upright until we reach Arizona for a more extensive diagnosis.

We also visited the RV & Motorhome Hall of Fame whose stated mission is to be, “Dedicated to preserving the history and honoring the pioneers and individuals who have made significant contributions to the RV and Manufactured Housing industries”.
The museum features a variety of recreation vehicles dating back 100 years and continuing through the 1980s. The oldest vehicle on display is a 1913 Earl Travel Trailer. We also saw the oldest Winnebago, smallest Airstream ever built and the first Fleetwood. It didn’t take long to go through the museum but it was quite interesting to see the transformation of RV industry.

Another interesting outing was taking a tour at the University of Notre Dame, home of the Fighting Irish Football Team. This four year, research university is consistently ranked among the top twenty universities in the United States. It has grown and changed since its humble beginnings in 1842 by Father Edward Sorin. The first women students were accepted in 1971. Some notable graduates you may know are Condoleezza Rice, Regis Philbin, and Phil Donahue but with tuition and on campus living at $70,000 a year, we don’t know anyone personally who has attended this prestigious university!!!

We did enjoyed walking the beautiful, well maintained campus and seeing some of its highlights such as the Golden Dome, the “Word of Life” mural known as Touchdown Jesus, and the Basilica. The first church met in a log cabin but the Basilica of the Sacred Heart began in 1870, was consecrated in 1888 and has under gone several renovations since. With its impressive stain glass windows, murals, arches, height, organ and brass high alter it was hard to appreciate it in 15 minutes!!

On a fun note, we rode 21 miles of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. We started at Abshire Park in Goshen and rode to Middlebury and back. This is a lovely trail that stretches along rows and rows of corn, farm land, past Amish farms and through wooded forests. We saw many Amish folks driving their horse and buggies and riding bicycles. Their farms are beautiful and Wednesday must have been wash day as each home had the laundry perfectly hung.

From Elkhart we head a bit north to Indiana Dunes State Park.

Upstate NY and Niagara Falls

 

Canandaigua and Niagara Falls, New York September 1-10, 2016

Starting our slow movement toward the west we stopped one night at the Villages at Turning Stone in Verona, New York. This is a very nice RV Park run by Turning Stone Casino Resort just off the I-90. We enjoyed their pool, hot tub, clean showers and a visit to their buffet. Of course we should have stopped at the clean showers!!

Moving on, we stayed at Canandaigua KOA. We aren’t KOA fans but it was Labor Day weekend and this was the only spot we could get reservations, 3 months in advance!! It turned out to be fine as it was a smaller park and very well kept. Yes, there were a lot of kids having a ball and many announcements over the loud speaker regarding events but we spent a lot of time visiting the area and by Monday the park cleared out.
Canandaigua is a very unique town in that the old down town streets are exceptionally wide. Most older towns we’ve seen have narrower streets as they were designed before the advent of the automobile. This area is called the Finger Lakes due to a group of 11 long, narrow lakes. These lakes in central New York run basically north to south and look similar to fingers. The Finger Lakes area is New York’s largest wine producing region with over 100 wineries and vineyards. Their most popular grapes are Riesling and Chardonnay and we don’t care for either one. So California wines are still our favorite, especially the local vineyards in Nevada County, CA!! It is a very beautiful area but they do have frigid winters!!

 

Besides hanging out at Canandaigua Lake and tasting some of the local wines we enjoyed a fun bike ride along the Erie Canal which is an engineering marvel with an amazing history. This 363 mile canal was built by hand between 1817-1825!! It was the first all water link between the Atlantic Seaboard and the Great Lakes. It starts on the Hudson River in Albany, NY and ends at Lake Erie in Buffalo, NY. It made New York the Empire State and New York City the nation’s prime seaport of world trade. The Erie Canal moved people and freight through 83 lift locks from one end to the other in just 5 days rather than 2 weeks by stage coach! The Erie Canal Trail is in what is now the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor run by the National Park Service. It was so fun riding along imagining all the history that took place on this canal. As we passed locks 29 and 30 we had the opportunity to watch a 1959 tug boat go through the locks which only took a matter of minutes. The people on board were super friendly and told us how this boat worked on the Hudson River for 20 years.

From here we moved on to Branches of Niagara Campground and Resort in Niagara Falls, NY. This is a very nice park with 2 nice swimming pools and great showers. We went on a tour that took us on the Maid of the Mist boat ride into Horseshoe Falls. What a great view we had of Rainbow Bridge, and the American and Bridal Veil Falls. We got drenched by the mist of Horseshoe Falls, loved the incredible rainbow it made, and listening to the roaring of the falls!!

After the boat ride, we saw the views from the Observation Tower, 282 feet above the base of the gorge. Or tour also included a brief stop at Whirlpool State Park were took in the scenic views of the whirlpools and rapids of the Niagara River as it charges through the narrow gorge. From here we went to Goat Island and walked the Cave of the Winds. The tour begins with a 175 ft elevator ride down to the Niagara Gorge then its a self-guided tour on redwood paths and decks that are just feet from the base of Bridal Veil Falls. You really get to experience tropical storm like conditions with winds up to 68 mph on Hurricane Deck and feel the force of the falls pummel you! We loved it!!

We also enjoyed walking the viewing areas of goat island at the top of the falls.

On another day we ventured to the Canadian side of the falls and got a close up experience of the rapids at White Water Walk. An elevator takes you down 230 feet, then you walk 240 feet through a tunnel to the level of the rapids at Great Gorge Rapids. There is a 1/4 mile long board walk with stairs leading to 2 observation areas right on the edge of the rapids. The rapids are moving a distance of 2.5 miles at about 30 mph, creating 10 – 15 foot standing waves! It was quite impressive standing there and being mesmerized by the waves form, roll, heave and crash!!

From here we drove south to Kingsbridge Park where it was free to park and rode our bikes about 3 miles on the Niagara River Recreational Trail into Niagara Falls, Ontario. It was getting late but we still enjoyed the views of the falls from the Canadian perspective.

After a bite to eat we headed back to the New York side and briefly saw the falls with the lights shining on them.

We left Niagara Falls and went to Erie, PA for 3 nights. Here we enjoyed Presque Isle State Park. The name means, “almost and island” as it is an arching, sandy peninsula that juts into Lake Erie. The peninsula forms Presque Isle Bay, which serves as a natural harbor for Erie. We rode our bikes on part of its 21 trails and enjoyed and afternoon on one of its 13 beaches!!

It’s a free park and has a rich history and a well maintained light house. There is a memorial here to Oliver Hazard Perry, commander of the American Fleet During the War of 1812. He helped construct six of the nine ships in his fleet and they were built in Erie on this bay. It was cool to come across this historical monument because we had learned about Oliver Perry’s bravery in the Battle of Lake Erie in Put-In-Bay. On September 10, 1813 Oliver Perry’s 9 ships defeated and captured 6 of the British Royal Navy ships. It was one of the biggest naval battles of the War of 1812.

From here we are excited to visit Omar’s sister, Jane, in Wheeling, West Virginia!

Leaving Canada and Back to the USA

Moncton, St Andrews, New Brunswick, Bangor & Kennebunkport Maine August 24- September 1, 2016

After saying good by to Cape Breton, we took 4 days to get back to Maine stopping one night in Moncton, New Brunswick and three nights in St Andrews, NB. In Moncton, we went to witness the tidal bore on the Peticodiac River. The amazing thing about the tidal bore is its predictability. The tide rises and ebbs twice a day every 6 hours and 13 minutes. In this part of the bay the tide rises 25 feet so the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a standing wave of water that travels upstream, against the current of the river. The wave can be up to 3 feet high in this location. Sure enough we arrived 15 minutes early and before our eyes the tide overcame the flow of the river creating a wave that had two surfers riding it!! It was pretty amazing to watch!!

 

The above pictures are pre and post tidal bore. Time frame of about 10 minutes!!!

Ocean Front Site 🙂

 

St Andrews is such a well preserved, clean town. It is easy to ride your bike in a loop taking in all its highlights. The Kiwanis Oceanfront Campground sits right on St Andrews Harbor with a view of Navy Island. It’s a great place to watch the tide rise and fall. On this our second visit, we discovered the old military Blockhouses and batteries built during the War of 1812-14 in anticipation of a seaborne attack from the United States! Though never fired upon they fulfilled their purpose in deterring a siege.

 

The view of high and low tide from the same location are on the right.

Another discovery was Katy’s Cove which is right down the street from the Algonquin Resort. It is free and has the warmest salt water swimming in the region. With clean, white sandy beaches this is a great place to hang out.

We thoroughly enjoyed our five weeks in Canada but America is still the greatest place to call home!!

We spent one night outside Bangor in Hermon, Maine at a friendly, clean, campground called the Pumpkin Patch RV Resort. It used to be a farm and they sale farm fresh eggs for $2 a dozen in the office!!

 

We made it to the Red Apple Camp Ground in Kennebunkport, Maine on August 29 and stayed for 4 nights. Kennebunkport has a reputation as a summer haven for the upper class and is one of the wealthiest communities in the state of Maine. It is also the summer home of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush. The home has been in the Bush family for over a century and is located on its own peninsula called Walkers Point. The Bush Compound has it’s own swimming pool, tennis court, golf green, boat dock, boat house, and about a dozen buildings, including a security guard building for the Secret Service. The main mansion 7,100 sq ft with 12 rooms and a four car garage. It is often referred to as, “The Summer White House”, as President Bush Bush hosted world leaders including Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev for informal and private meetings. The long time owners of the Red Apple Camp Ground had a picture of themselves with George and Barbara Bush in their office. The owners have seen the Bushes on numerous occasions over the years in town and the husband is a retired police man. When the Bushes were in town the Secret Service would hire the local police to help them with their shifts and her husband worked for them. She said George and Barbara are the nicest people. George and Barbara were at their home while we were in Kennebunkport, but all we saw from a distance were the security guards. We appreciate both President Bushes and consider them to be American Statesmen.

We spent two wonderful days on the beach and Kay got to boogie board one day. With her short wet suit it was quite bearable and a complete joy!!

 

We also enjoyed one more lobster dinner before we left the coast. The grocery store had lobster on sale for $4.99/lb and they even steam them for you and put them in an insulated bag. So Omar went off to catch our supper while I prepared the fixings and we shared 3 lobsters in our coach for a song!!

 

 

Sadly this was our only sighting of a Moose on our Northeast Adventure.  Thanks Cabela’s !

Cape Breton – Nova Scotia

 

Cape Breton , Nova Scotia August 18-24

Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, sitting north east of the mainland and connected by the long, rock-fill Canso Causeway. One of the world’s larger salt water lakes, Bras d’Or, dominates the center of the island.
We based ourselves in the quaint town of Baddeck then headed off in our car to drive the 186 mile Cabot Trail. This is a scenic loop around the northern tip of the island, passing along and through portions of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We took in the view at Cape Smokey look out then stopped at Ingonish Bay; one of our favorite spots. We hiked the 2.4 mile Middle Head Trail loop which follows a long, narrow peninsula ending on cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. From this trail you can look back at Ingonish Bay and see the beach, a lake, mountains and a ski resort! We couldn’t think of another place where we saw all that in one view! It was absolutely beautiful!!

Just driving the road is quite spectacular with its steep climbs (over 10% grades) and coastal views. We stopped about half way along the Cabot Trail and stayed one night in a cute, rustic cabin at Hideaway Campground. Even here there were beautiful views from our cabin perched on a hill. From the campground we rode our bikes down a dirt road to a beautiful beach and hiked to a river.

As we continued our drive to the Gulf of St Lawerence side of Cape Breton we took in the views above Pleasant Bay and hiked the 4.7 mile Skyline Trail. This well maintained trail takes you out to the top of a headland with several viewing decks looking out over the ocean and portions of the winding road. It was a cloudy day so our photos don’t convey the beauty.

As we neared Cheticamp, we road our bikes on an old cart path called Le Chemin Du Buttereau Trail. This 3 mile trail was used by seven pioneer families to get from La Buttereau to Cheticamp. We had beautiful views of Cheticamp River feeding into the ocean, old pastures, and the remains of their foundations.

Our last interesting stop was at Les Trois Pignons (The Three Gables) Cultural Center and Museum in Cheticamp to view the famous, wool hooked rugs of Elizabeth LeFort. The museum depicts the history of the Acadian people, gives you a demonstration of the techniques used to make the wool rugs and has a gallery of Elizabeth LeForts remarkable rugs. Many of her rugs are of famous people and hang in important places like the Vatican, White House and Buckingham Palace. She dyed all her own wool and her interesting story can be found at https://www.lestroispignons.com/elizabeth-lefort-rugs/

On another day we drove past the beautiful Bras d’Or Lakes to visit the Fortress of Louisbourg. The Fortress of Louisbourg is the largest reconstruction project in North America. The original settlement was founded in 1713 by the French and developed over several decades into a thriving center for fishing and trade. We learned a fortress is made up of civilians as well as military installments and that is what makes it a fortress not a fort. The fortress was besieged twice before finally being destroyed by the British in the 1760s. The current reproduction maintained by Parks Canada allows you to experience what life was like in the bustling French fortified town of Louisbourg in 1744. Like the Halifax Citadel the fortress was full of people dressed in time period and acted accordingly. We stopped at Sydney which was the historic capital of Cape Breton Island until 1820. After that the colony merged with Nova Scotia and the capital moved to Halifax.

 

 

We enjoyed dinner on the bay which receives cruise ships and has the world’s largest fiddle! The metal fiddle and bow are 60 feet tall and honor Cape Breton’s Celtic heritage and fiddle music. They have fiddle music being played which adds to its uniqueness.

 

In the town of Baddeck we enjoyed strolls on the pier and harbor front and visited the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site. Mr Bell was a communication and transportation pioneer, a scientist, teacher, family man and humanitarian. At age 29 he patented the first telephone with more than 18 other patens to follow. He worked extensively with the deaf including Helen Keller. Why is there a museum in honor of Mr Bell in Baddeck, Cape Breton, we wondered. In 1886, Mr Bell purchased 600 acres to develop his estate called, Beinn Bhreagh, located on a peninsula jutting into the scenic Bras d’Or Lake just 1.9 miles southeast of Baddeck. Many of his notable contributions were made at his laboratories at Beinn Bhreagh such as the Silver Dart, which was the first controlled, powered flight in Canada and the HD-4 hydrofoil that broke a marine speed record.

Cape Breton holds many wonders and we are grateful to experience many of them.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax, Nova Scotia August 14-18, 2016

 

We were greeted at the Halifax Citadel in the year of 1869 by a sober century guard!! He took his job very seriously as the new nation of Canada was just 2 years old. Halifax as a port was still important for the Royal Navy so British troops remained at the Citadel until 1906. After that the Canadian military remained active through WW I and II until 1951 when the Citadel was transferred to Parks Canada. The Citadel was full of men and women dressed in time period who were able to explain their roles and answer any questions.

 

We enjoy the traditional “noon gun” being fired; a 12 pounder cannon and a rifle firing demonstration. There are many areas to explore including an excellent army museum and WWI trench exhibit. Omar naturally enjoyed the primitive mask respirator system and I enjoyed the playing of the bag pipe musician.

 

Some of the items from the museum

We took a day to travel and explore the scenic Light House Trail to Peggy’s Cove, a small rural community on the eastern shore of St. Margarets Bay. Peggy’s Cove is famous for its lighthouse which was first established in 1868. It was lit in 1915 and is still active today. We enjoyed climbing around the huge boulders on the point with many other tourists. Also, we bought some amazing fresh, smoked salmon from a young man selling out of an ice chest in the back of his pick-up truck. It was the best smoked salmon I have ever eaten!!

 

Another significant stop just before you get to Peggy’s cove is a memorial to the 229 men, women and children aboard Swissair Flight 111 which crashed in Margarets Bay on September 2, 1998. The three notches represent the numerals 111. The sight line from the three grooves in the stone points to the crash site.

We took another day exploring on our bikes through the 190 acre Pleasant Point Park at the tip of the Halifax peninsula. This park was part of the Halifax defense system with several artillery batteries, and today you can still see the circular Prince of Wales Tower; the oldest Martello tower in North America (1796). Point Pleasant is also the location of numerous monuments associated with the heritage of Halifax and the sea. The Sailor’s Memorial is a Cross of Sacrifice inscribed with the names of 3,257 Canadian men and women, from the army and navy who were buried at sea as a result of the World Wars. The other one we saw is the ship’s anchor from the aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure which commemorates the men and women who died while serving the Canadian Navy during Peacetime.

There is a small beach with an excellent view of the bay and harbor and we were able to relax and watch a Japanese cargo ship makes its way into the harbor.

Our next stop in the Maritime Islands is Cape Breton.

Nova Scotia -Annapolis Valley/South Shore

August 9-18, 2016
Nova Scotia means New Scotland in Latin and is Canada’s second smallest Province surrounded almost entirely by the North Atlantic Ocean. Nova Scotia was one of the founding four provinces to join Confederation with Canada in 1867. Halifax, the capital city, is a major international seaport and transportation center as well as the economic and cultural hub of the region.

Fort Anne

Our first touring destination was Annapolis Royal but we stayed one night at Scotia Pines Campground just outside of Truro on our way.
Dunromin Campground in Granville Ferry, just over the dam from Annapolis Royal, was a good location for 2 nights but the campground isn’t big rig friendly due to the dusty dirt, narrow roads and very tight sites. Fortunately, the campground wasn’t crowed so we were able to maneuver our 40 ft coach and use the site next to us to park our car. The people here are very friendly and helpful though.

The picture above right is the original computer from the 80’s!

The Annapolis Tidal Station is the first and only tidal power plant in North America and one of few in the world. It was built as an experiment to see if the power of the tide in the Bay of Fundy could be harnessed. This plant was successful due to the make up of the ocean floor in this part of the bay but the easily eroding sandstone in the upper part of the Bay of Fundy made a tidal station impossible to date. There have been environmental issues as well so even though the Annapolis station came on line in 1984 and has a daily output of roughly 80-100 megawatt hours, it still remains the only one on the bay. Their tour is free and interesting.

Port-Royal Habitation

Annapolis Royal is a very small but historically important harbor town and we visited two interesting historic sites. One is Fort Anne which sits on a site that has been fortified since 1629, first by the Scots, then the French and lastly the British. It was still used during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 against American privateers. In 1702 the French began earthen work in a shape of a star and that still remains today. It is an interesting place to walk around but we did not tour the Officers Quarters.

Kay in the local garb.  Cool shoes! 🙂

 

We spent more time at Port-Royal Habitation which is a reconstruction of a 1605 French Fur Trading Colony. Samuel De Champlain, known as the Father of New France, helped this settlement which was the first permanent European settlement north of Florida. Then, in 1608, he established the French settlement that is now Quebec City. Champlain was the first European to explore and describe the Great Lakes area and Lake Champlain is named after him. Skilled, French craftsmen assembled the Port-Royal Habitation by hand before winter arrived. But by 1613 the English sacked every building with a surprise attack. Parks Canada began rebuilding the Habitation in 1939 and it was opened July 4, 1941. It was a very impressive structure and the craftsmanship was amazing.

When we arrived at our next reserved campground, Oakhill Pines Campground, it was clearly not a big rig friendly place even though they claimed it was. We moved on to Rayport Campground in Martin’s River which was a little bit better. The choices of campgrounds and the Good Sam ratings in this area have proved to be poor!! All that aside we enjoyed the charming town of Lunenburg and Mahone Bay.

 

 

 

Above is Malone Bay

Below, Lunenburg

Old Town Lunenburg is one of only two urban communities in North America designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. In 1995 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) placed Lunenburg on its World Heritage List. Nearly 250 years after its first streets were laid, the original plans, the architecture and the uses for common spaces remain intact. It is considered to be the best surviving planned British colonial town in North America. We enjoy walking its old streets with some 400 major historical buildings, eating at the Rum Runner Inn and spending several hours at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.

Scallops in the clam and then at the restaurant 🙂

The very knowledgable tour guide passionately told the history of Lunenburg through its fishing industry. Here we learned about the Grand Banks of Newfoundland which are a group of underwater plateaus south-east of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. These areas are relatively shallow, ranging from 80 to 330 feet deep. The cold Labrador Current mixes with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and the mixing of these waters and the shape of the ocean bottom lifts nutrients to the surface. These conditions helped to create one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. Fish species include Atlantic cod, sword fish, haddock and capelin and shellfish include scallop and lobster. The fishing industry went from line fishing in dories to trawling with swift schooners in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland by the 1860’s. The “Lunenburg cure” of dried cod found steady markets in the West Indies, particularly Puerto Rico. However by the late 1880’s the fish export trade became centralized in Halifax (today an hour away), where fast steamships left directly for the West Indies and US markets. Then a preference for fresh instead of dried fish appeared so beginning in the late 1920s, cold-storage equipment, processing plants and diesel-powered trawlers replaced cod-drying flakes and traditional schooners.
Today, tourism is Lunenburgs’s number one industry as the Grand Banks have been over fished. The history was very interesting and the hard work, loss of life and dedication of the first settlers is incredible. Many men and boys were lost at sea and the women worked very hard growing, spinning and weaving their own material which they then made into clothes.

We also learned about the Bluenose at the museum. Bluenose was a fishing and racing schooner built and launched in March, 1921 to win back the International Fisherman’s Trophy. In order to qualify for this race, the vessel had to work a full fishing season. For a working fishing schooner, speed was a tremendous asset. Those who made it to port first fetched the best price for their catch. The Fishermen’s Race was not a competition for privileged yachts. It was a real race for the hard-working vessels of fishermen who made their living on the sea. Bluenose defeated Elsie of Gloucester, Massachusetts in October of 1921 winning the trophy back. During the next 17 years, no challenger, American or Canadian, took the trophy from Bluenose. She earned the title “Queen of the North Atlantic” and became a Canadian icon. Bluenose came to symbolize Nova Scotia’s prominence in the fishing and shipbuilding industries. In 1933, Bluenose sailed to the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago. The image of the Bluenose has adorned the Canadian dime since 1937 and appears on the Nova Scotia license plate. A replica, the Bluenose II, was built in 1963 by many of the same people who had worked on the original vessel at the same shipyard in Lunenburg. Bluenose II was gifted to the Government of Nova Scotia in 1971 and continues to serve as Nova Scotia’s sailing ambassador. Bluenose II sails out of Lunenburg to other ports of Nova Scota and North America and she was out when we we there.

You can also explore, Theresa E. Connor, Canada’s oldest saltbank schooner. She was built in 1938 in Lunenburg and worked the seas for 25 years. Cape Sable is a steel-hulled side trawler, built in 1962 and retired in 1982.

Moving on to Halifax next!

Prince Edward Island

 

Prince Edward Island August 2-9, 2016

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is the smallest and least populated of all Canada’s Provinces. About half the island is agricultural. Their biggest cash crop is potatoes but they also grow grains, oilseeds, vegetables and fruits. Beef production and dairy are also important industries as well as fishery and tourism.
Our best description of PEI is pastoral due to its rural countryside and lush agriculture. The highest point is a potato field at about 470 ft, although we have seen differing measurements. Every knoll you crest opens up to more beautiful farms, lakes, forests or coastal views. There is an old world feel to the island with a sense of true self sufficiency and pride in their work. The island was only connected to New Brunswick by the 8 mile Confederate Bridge in 1997.

 

Charlottetown is PEI’s capital and largest city with a population of 34,500. Summerside is the only other city and there are seven incorporated towns. Charlottetown is known as the birth place of the Canadian Confederacy as meetings were held there in 1864 to convince PEI to join the rest of the Provinces in a union. PEI finally joined the rest of Canada July 1, 1873. We enjoyed a full day in Charlottetown starting at the historic district with the Province House National Historic Site where we encountered a group of young people dressed in the time period of 1864 when the meetings were held in the Province House. We enjoyed a great conversation with them about the history of PEI and they stayed in character the whole time. Currently the House is being renovated but there is a nice video about its history provided at the Confederation Centre of the Arts right next door.

 

The series of pictures above is of nails partially driven into a large section of a tree!

At noon, The Confederation Centre Young Company presented, “The Voices of Canada” outside for free. This is a very energetic 50 minute performance through story, song and dance about Canada’s rich cultural heritage. These are very talented young people and it is well worth seeing. Afterwards the other group dressed in time period shared a discourse as if they just left the meetings of 1864. It was another fun way to learn about PEI’s history.

Just down Great George Street from Province House is St Dunstan’s Basilica. This is the fourth cathedral built by the dedicated Catholics of Charlottetown and was completed in 1919. At that time it was the largest and most fire-resistant cathedral in the Maritimes. Its ten foot tall crosses on top of the spires is the highest points on the city skyline, and is the most visible landmark of Charlottetown. There is plenty in this historic district to keep you busy for several hours.

 

We also visited Victoria Park and enjoyed dinner before heading back to Marco Polo Land Campground in Cavendish on the Gulf of St Lawrence side of the island. This was a great location for visiting the several locations of PEI’s National Park.

Marco Polo Land

 

 

We spent one day riding bikes in the Cavendish section of the National Park seeing how Lucy Maud Montgomery drew her inspiration for the Anne of Green Gables and Avonlea Books. I felt a bit like Anne Shirley as we road past the Lake of Shining Waters and sand dunes on the beautiful beach. I was hearing Marilla declaring, “Some say its the loveliest property on the north shore”, or something like that. It is a lovely area of the island. The beach is so beautiful we spent another day just sitting on the beach and walking it to take it in.

Part of the National Park also includes Green Gable Heritage Place which is part of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Cavendish National Historic Site. Here we explored the original farm house, gardens, farmyard and walking trails, including the Haunted Wood and Lovers Lane that inspired her writings. L.M. Montgomery was born in New London, PEI and lived with her grandparents in Cavendish after her mother died when Lucy was 21 months old. Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908 and was an immediate success. This series made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. She went on to publish many more novels, short stories and poems. She died April 24, 1942 in Toronto. We also visited Avonlea Village which has replications of houses and shops from the time of Anne of Green Gables. The original schoolhouse L.M. Montgomery  taught in, the Minister’s residence and the 1872 Historic Long River Church are also part of the village. And of course restaurants and shops. It’s a free tourist attraction.

One day we drove part of the Points East Coastal Drive visiting East Point Light House and Basin Head Provincial Park. This beach has what they call singing sand. The sand squeaks when you walk on it but the interesting part of this beach is a bridge that crosses a river made by the receding tide as it comes out of Basin Harbor. They allow people to jump off the bridge and the side walls into the river caused by the tide. After they jumped, the people had to either grab onto a ladder to climb out our drift all the way to the ocean and exit to the side before they got swept further out. Fortunately it isn’t terribly deep but we did see the life guards pull a couple people out. Crazy fun to watch and the beach was beautiful.

 

We spent one more day at PEI National Park in the Brackley-Dalvay area. We walked part Robinson’s Island Trail System which was built with mountain bikers in mind. It has 11 technical challenges including fun ramps and teeter totters. There are fresh raspberries growing along the trail too!

There were more beautiful beaches and Dalvay-by-the-Sea which was constructed in 1895 by Alexander MacDonald from Cincinnati, OH. He was one-time president of Standard Oil Company with John D. Rockefeller. He named the house “Dalvay-by-the-Sea” after his boyhood home in Scotland. It was his victorian summer home and is now a hotel and dining room leased to a private business by Parks Canada. It was commemorated as a national historic site in 1994 because of its architectural significance.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our relaxing week on Princess Edward Island! Its not a place you want to rush around but just soak it in.

 

 

Now we head to our last Province Nova Scotia.

New Brunswick – Canada

 

Hopewell Cape RV Site

St Andrews, St Martins, Hopewell Cape – New Brunswick July 24- August 2

Crossing the border into Canada only took 15 minutes. There were only about 4 cars ahead of us and we were asked a few questions regarding fire arms, pepper spray and alcohol. We did have to turn over a personal pepper spray but they didn’t even ask to look in our coach.

Our first stop along the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick was Saint Andrews “By-the-Sea”. It is a charming, well laid out, clean town with a population of about 1,900. St Andrews was founded in 1783 and most of the buildings down town were built in the 19th century. Kiwanis Ocean Front Campground is right on the bay with an easy 10 minute walk to town. In town there is a pier, shops, restaurants and Pendlebury Light house which was in operation from 1833-1933.

There are several old churches in town and the Algonquin Resort. The hotels guests include Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson, Prince Charles and Diana and virtually every Prime Minister of Canada. Guess that’s why we are in the campground!

I read that once you cross into the Maritime Islands you are on island time and that is exactly how it feels. There just aren’t that many tourist here, people are friendly, they drive slow and don’t seem to be in a hurry. We feel very relaxed and unhurried.

 

We rode our bikes from the campground to Minister’s Island across the 1/2 mile exposed sand bar during low tide. The low and high tide crossing to the island is pictured below.

Once we got to the island we saw the house of Reverend Samuel Andrews who first settled the island in 1783. The island is more well known through Sir William Van Horne, the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who built a summer home in the 1890’s called Covenhoven. The 50 room summer cottage is over 10,000 sq ft and has 17 bedrooms, 11 fireplaces and 11 bathrooms. There is also a grand living room, dining room, billiard room, library, servant quarters and more.

He also built a circular bath house were he painted on the first floor. On the sea level floor there are changing rooms so one could swim in the tidal salt water pool. The pool was filled with water during high tide and naturally heated during low tide.

He also built a huge barn for his Dutch Belted Cattle and thoroughbred horses. They had a creamery where they made their own milk, butter and cheese. He built heated green houses and grew mushrooms, fruit trees and all kinds of vegetables. The produce of the farm, which included pigs, geese, ducks, chickens and turkeys, not to mention the various fruits and vegetables, not only supplied them while on the island but then were shipped by night train to Montreal throughout the rest of the year where he lived. Today Minister’s Islands is a National Historic Site and owned by New Brunswick and managed with the help of Van Horne Estate on Minister’s Island Inc. It was a very fun and interesting outing. We would recommend you ride the Central Trail as we found the Perimeter Trail is more suitable to hiking.

 

The Bay of Fundy

Before moving on to our next stop on the bay which lies between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, here are some interesting facts about the Bay of Fundy. It is consider one of the 7 wonders of North America. It has the highest tides in the world ranging from 11 ft at Nova Scotia’s south west shore (beginning of the bay) and steadily increasing to 53 ft in the Minas Basin (end of bay). The bay is shaped like a large natural funnel; it becomes narrower and shallower towards the upper part of the bay, forcing the water higher up onto the shores. The bay and its tides also cause tidal bores, rapids, whirlpools and rips.

Here are some of our high and low tide sitings for you.

 

St Martins

St Martins is a quiet, old, fishing village on the Bay of Fundy. This village is much smaller than St Andrews with only a few small restaurants, one small market and a few little trinket type shops. It is a 40 mile drive past St John so we would recommend you load up with supplies before you leave St John. We are staying at Century Farm Family Campground which is right on the bay. Adjoining the park is a 3/4 mile long beach. From the front window of our coach we can see the popular sea caves. During high tide you could easily kayak from the campground to explore them. We went to the sea caves during low tide to do some exploring.

We also drove the 12 mile Fundy Trail Parkway. This is another fun way to experience the bay. This parkway has trails, rivers, beaches, waterfalls, look outs and a 275 ft suspension bridge. They are expanding the parkway but for now it ends at Long Beach. It is simply a beautiful drive!

Hopewell Cape

Our next stop on the bay was Hopewell Cape, home of Hopewell Rocks. This is a remarkable place to view the low and high tides of the bay and see some of the amazing rock sculptures, cliffs and flower pot rocks. These sculptures are created by the force of the tides against the red sandstone. The entrance fee is good for two consecutive days so you can return to see it in high tide which we did. During low tide you get to descend a stair case to the beach and walk in and out of several coves admiring the rock formations and cliffs.

We also visited Cape Enrage which is about a 35 minute drive from the campground. This cape received its name due to a reef that extends into the bay from the point and causes the surrounding waters to become violent or enraged during maximum tidal currents. The square shaped light house and fog horn have been in operation since 1838. The current light house was built in 1870. You can take a set of stairs down the cliff to the beach, ride the zip line and rappel on the cliffs. We just enjoy the light house, views of Fundy Bay and stairs down to the beach.

 

While we were in St Martins we met a French speaking couple from the Quebec area and then saw them again at the campground in Hopewell Cape. We enjoyed our time getting to know Real and Joanne and spent the day at Hopewell Rocks with them.

 

 

 

During our visit to Hopewell Cape we stayed at Ponderosa Pines Campground. This is a great location to visit the Hopewell Rocks but we were disappointed in the campgrounds lack of water pressure and sites that are very close together. We ended up leaving a day early and staying in Moncton for one night which put us closer to Prince Edward Island our next location.

Bar Harbor – Acadia National Park

 

Hadley’s Point Campground, Bar Harbor , Maine July 17-24, 2016

Taking in The Bar Harbor Vista

Acadia National Park is the oldest American National Park east of the Mississippi River. It began in 1916 as Sieur de Monts National Monument it was renamed Lafayette National Park in 1919 then given its final name of Acadia in 1929. It takes up most of Mount Desert Island and has beautiful coastal and mountainous areas. Acadia has an extensive, free, bus shuttle system throughout the park and stops in Bar Harbor and several campgrounds including Hadley’s Point. This is new since our last visit in 1998.

We were able to get in several hikes through out the park and enjoyed riding our bikes on the carriage roads built by John D Rockefeller Jr. You can put your bike on the shuttle bus but we just drove to Eagle Lake and rode about 10 miles around Eagle Lake, Jordan Pond and Bubble Pond.

Some of our favorite hikes were the Emery Path which is a partial climb to the top of Dorr Mountain’s east side. It is a well constructed trail of many granite steps with ripe, wild, Maine blueberries growing in many places along the way. This was quite an enjoyable indulgence and reminded us of the book, “Blueberries for Sal”!  We started this hike at the Sieur de Monts Spring area from Tarns Pond. Even though we didn’t do the strenuous hike to the top the views were still spectacular! The Bubble Rock trail to both South and North Bubble and part of the Jordan Pond Shore Trail was another great hike with nice views and blueberries. We did eat lunch at the Jordan House but felt it was a bit over priced.

One day we hiked the 1.4 mile Great Head loop around Great Head peninsula, then enjoyed a picnic lunch on Sand Beach. Sand Beach is gorgeous and the 3 mile Ocean Trail from Sand Beach to Otter Point is a beautiful walk/hike and gives you great views back toward Sand Beach. Thunder Hole is along this trail but the tide was out when we were there so it was more of a groan than a thunder. Still well worth the time.

We learned that Bar Harbor’s name comes from the sand bar that appears twice a day during low tide and leads to Bar Island. During low tide you can walk or drive your car on this sand bar. We walked the bar and trail on Sand Bar Island to see the view to Bar Harbor. It’s about 2 miles round trip.

Here is a snapshot of some of the inspirational people we meet on our journey. This 83 year old woman started running marathons when she was 70 years old. Her husband was a coach and well known trainer in Indianapolis, Indiana and had run many marathons including one in all 50 states! They have 5 daughters and one of them, Deloris and her husband, Craig along with one of their daughters were camped next to us and all of them have run numerous marathons!!

 

Plus we feel like God divinely puts people in our path as trail blazers of information for our future travels. They had just come from the Maritime Islands where we are going next and they filled us with helpful, first-hand knowledge. Thank You Deloris and Craig!
We also drove to Seal Harbor and walked a portion of the carriage roads around Long Pond.

Of course Bar Harbor is known for lobster so I enjoyed what is called a lazy lobster dinner where they dig all the meat out for you!! Omar got a delicious filet of beef and grilled lobster tail. Yummy! Also had lobster salad on another day.

A few things to note about Hadley’s Point Campground. They do not have sewer hook ups, the sites are small, the showers are 50 cents for 7 minutes and the pool is cold and crowded! It’s more of a real campground not so much an RV Park. Boy are we getting picky! Not complaining! 🙂 It worked out fine and was a good location to access Acadia National Park which was our goal.

View from Cadillac Mountain ~ elevation 1528 feet

Now we move on to the Maritime Islands of Canada.

Sunset at Bar Harbor Bay
One Tip: If you want to see any of our photos in a larger format, just click on the picture.

The White Mountains

 

 

Shelburne, New Hampshire – The White Mountains – July 14-17, 2016

Timberland Campground, off highway 2 in the Northern White Mountains along the Presidential Range, was our home during our visit to this beautiful area. We were enamored as began our northern journey into the White Mountains via interstate 93. The White Mountains are part of the northern Appalachian Mountains and the most rugged mountains in New England. The highest peak, Mount Washington, is 6,288 ft. Here in New Hampshire they are proud of their 48 4,000 footers!

Our goal was to drive the auto road to the top of Mount Washington but we learned the weather on top has its own climate zone! We waited for 3 days but did not have the opportunity to enjoy the 130 mile view on a clear day. The mountain was covered in cloud and rain the whole time so we appreciated it from a distance as we road our bikes on the Presidential Range Rail Trail from Gorham along part of the Moose River.

 

We also drove around the mountain on much of the scenic byways and enjoyed the covered bridges, waterfalls, lakes and vistas. We did the short hike to the 64 ft Glen Ellis Falls off Route 16 and Sabbaday Falls on the Kancamagus Hwy, Route 112.

On scenic byway, Route 302, we stopped at Crawford Notch and Omni Mount Washington Resort. The resort was started in 1900 and completed 2 years later by Joseph Stickney, who made his fortune in coal mining and the Pennsylvania Railroad. He used the latest design and construction methods including steel frame and 250 Italian craftsmen skilled in mason and wood working. It was the most luxurious hotel of its day and today is a National Historic Landmark and desired vacation destiny.

The White Mountains reminded us how much we love the mountains and would like to return to this area on another trip.

Here’s Kay taking in the surroundings 0n the Androscoggin River that runs along the campground and our Timberland RV site.