Moving to Prince Edward Island (06-25-13)

Moving from St. John to PEI  wasn’t going to be an all day affair, so we stopped in Moncton along the way.  Moncton is one of the best places to witness the tidal bore. The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, and in certain areas (rivers), when the tide comes in, it arrives in the form of a wave, called a bore.   

So many people come to see this phenomenon that they built a viewing park and someone came to give a little explanation as to what the bore is.  We missed by one day the tallest bore of the year, but it was still cool.  When the moon and sun line up perfectly, the pull makes a higher tide and a taller bore.  The tide in nearby Hopewell Rocks was 44.3 feet.

This is the bore as it passed us:

It was actually really awesome to see. Once the bore arrives, the river rises about 26 feet in an hour. That was cool to watch too. For a while. Then we left. I took two videos of the bore as well, but the campground Wi-Fi blocks certain websites at peak use times and YouTube is one of them. If I stay up late enough to try again later, you’ll see the two videos here:

                                          

Once we left Moncton, it was a short trip to the bridge over to PEI.  Paul and I both smiled at this sign that we saw along the way.  They sure do grow their moose big up here!

Once we were over the bridge, it quickly became clear how beautiful the island is. 

In many ways it feels like going back in time a bit.  Much of the land is farmland, and Lupin grows wild along all the roads, and picturesque harbors seem to be around every corner.

We took the day and drove around parts of the island, because frankly, it was cold, windy, and spitting rain every once in a while, so we didn’t feel like doing anything else.

We did brave the coast to go check out PEI National Park, and bought an annual pass so we can spend as much time as we want in the Canadian National Parks. The red sandstone here makes for a dramatic look along the coast.

We had to make it back early enough to have dinner and head out to a show.  The town we are staying in, Summerside, is home to the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts.

They put on a show all summer long, called Highland Storm, which technically opens for the season tomorrow night.  Lucky for us, we found out they do a dress rehearsal the night before they open, and we were able to get tickets to that.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the show, which was a combination of bagpipes, drums, dancing, and singing, with a little comedy thrown in too. Very entertaining, and some of the performers were quite talented. Many of them compete on a national or international level.




Tomorrow we head to a provincial park for about 5 days and I know it has no Wi-Fi, so I wanted to get this posted before we leave. That was more frustrating than usual, since the campground system wouldn't let me even upload my blog using my usual software, Live Writer, so I had to do it the old fashioned way. 

St. John, New Brunswick Canada! (06-25-13)

I did some research before crossing the border into Canada, and as a result, we crossed with no produce in the trailer at all-  It was tough to get a straight answer on what is allowed, so I figured it was easier to say we don’t have any. Of course I made sure I had the cat’s papers available, as well as our passports.  We have to declare all meats, so I made sure they were all in the original package, and we ate whatever wasn’t, before we entered Canada. We are only allowed to bring 2 liters of alcohol, so we had to drink that all up too. I stressed a fair amount over it all, and I am sure Paul thought I was a little nuts, but then the day we crossed, I was totally calm, because I had done everything I could to follow the rules, so if there was a problem, so be it. 
It turns out they asked us where we live (fulltime in the trailer) which led to “do you have any firearms”?  Answer: No. She was very skeptical and asked several more, related questions, such as “You fulltime RV with no weapon??”  Yup.  “Do you have a concealed weapon permit?” Nope.  After several questions about where we had lived before our retirement, and when we were last in Canada, she told us to have a nice vacation.   She didn’t even glance at the cat, or the back of the truck.

Once we were “in”, we could relax and focus on learning all things metric while we drove the 92 kilometers to St. John, New Brunswick. At least the exchange rate for the dollar is about even, so we don’t have to do math when see a price for something, unless it’s priced per fill in the blank.

Great fuel prices, eh? (just practicing my “eh”).  Not really too great when you realize it’s priced per liter and there are about 3.78 liters in a gallon.  hmmm. Almost $5 a gallon for diesel.

All of the signs are in French and English, although luckily, in this province, English seems to be the preferred language.










We got a few hundred dollars in Canadian currency while at the duty free shop at the border because they only charge $1 fee for the transaction.  My uncle told us that’s the best place to exchange money.  When we use our credit card here, we get charged a 3% fee.  I called the banks for the cards we use to let them know we’ll be in Canada for a few months.  I also called Chase, which is where we have our checking account, so we could use the debit card at the Costco, which is where we headed as soon as we checked in at the campground.  We got some of the produce we needed there, plus a few other things.  We had stocked up on canned goods and staples in Maine before crossing the border. 

I guess I wasn’t quite specific enough with Chase because when we tried to use the debit card, it was declined.  Nothing would make it work, so we paid cash.  When I called Chase again, they were confused as well, because everything seemed in order- then she read off the card number to me.  Nope, wrong number.  Apparently I activated my card, but of course, we used Paul’s and his was not “flagged” to be in Canada. 

Costco doesn’t carry liquor up here, so our next stop needed to be a liquor store.  I asked where the nearest one is and got directions.  I started to walk away, then turned back and said, “Oh yeah, what’s the name of the store”?  The poor guy looked at me like I was daft and said “Um… New Brunswick Liquor”.   I had to explain that I was fresh off the boat, so to speak and didn’t know the liquor stores are run by the province.


We sure were in for some sticker shock at NB Liquors.  Sam Adams Summer sells for $16 for a six pack, the tequila we usually buy is double the highest price we’ve ever paid, and Paul’s favorite -Smirnoff Ice- sells for $3.40 each.  Paul left me contemplating beers and went to check out the wine selection.  He returned pale and empty handed, so I didn’t ask any questions.  We did buy the Smirnoff Ice though, because in Canada it’s not a malt beverage, it’s actually made with Smirnoff Vodka so he wanted to try it- he likes it better, of course.








I’m sure there’ll be more things we’ll have to figure out as we travel around, but all in all it’s going pretty well so far. It is a strange feeling to realize that are in a foreign country, and we’ll be out of the United States for a couple of months.

Dozer is definitely ready to explore!










The Bay of Fundy:

Part of the reason we chose St. John as a first destination is because I was anxious to get my first glimpse of the Bay of Fundy.

With a peak tidal range of 50 feet in some areas, the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world.  We got a chance to see some of that dramatic change as we drove along the coastline.

 

  Fundy Trail Parkway follows the coast and gives opportunities to  hike, bike and drive along the seashore.  The parkway starts in the small town of St. Martins and travels north.  It’s still being developed, and will eventually end in Fundy National Park.

Although it was a little hazy, I am thinking that fog may be a pretty common phenomenon, so I felt lucky that we could see as far as we could.  At one point the haze cleared enough that we could see across the bay to Nova Scotia.






Tomorrow we leave for Prince Edward Island but we’ll come back to this area to explore more before we head further west.

Acadia Revisited (06-20-13)

When we went on the road 4 years ago, one of our first destinations was Acadia National Park.  Well, 4 years later, we’re back! 

I specifically wanted to hike the Beehive trail again because I remember feeling pretty nervous the first time, but I’ve done a lot of hiking since then and I wanted to see how it would feel.

At 1.6 miles round trip, it was shorter than I remember, but it was still a little nerve-wracking. In this picture you can see two people climbing up the cliff side.

In many places there were handrails and/or iron-rung ladders

But not every spot that I felt needed handrails actually had them. 

Of course, once we got to the top, the views were amazing, and worth a few minutes of anxiety:

 

So, I enjoyed the Beehive again, but it doesn’t come close to my favorite trail, Picacho Peak, in Arizona.

That hike didn’t take very long, and we didn’t want to overdo it our first day hiking after a long winter, so we toured the rest of the park by truck, enjoying the sounds and smells of the ocean while we ate our lunch. I wish we could move Maine further south.  It would be a pretty perfect place to live!

There aren’t very many long hiking trails in Acadia, so if you want to hike for more than a mile or so, you have to put trails together.  We bought the trail map so we could do that. 

The trail we pieced together was about 7 miles long, but we were feeling pretty good, so we figured it would be worth it, to make it to the top of Penobscot Mountain.

Once again, the day was perfect and the views were amazing:

Unfortunately, after hiking to the top of Penobscot Mountain, we found out the trail we wanted to take to complete our loop (Jordan Cliffs Trail) was closed due to nesting Peregrine Falcons. 

We took a different way, but ended up hiking down the other side of Penobscot Mountain, which meant that to get back, we had no choice but to hike back up and over the hill ( we could have taken the carriage road but it would have added 3 miles to our trek.).

In  the end, it was an 8.5 mile hike with 2000 feet of elevation gain.



  I guess it’s no surprise that we decided to take it easy the following day, and drove into Bar Harbor to check out the shops and restaurants.  The day was so beautiful we ate lunch outside with a view of the harbor.




One of the fun things to do in Acadia is ride bikes along the miles and miles of carriage roads in the park, and we were so optimistic that we’d do that, we took the bikes off the rack and put them in the truck so we could go biking at the drop of a hat.  Didn’t happen.  Yesterday we were really too tired, and it started sprinkling later in the day. We figured we’d go home, get some stuff done around the house, then set out this morning with the bikes.  It might have worked, but we woke up this morning to the sound of rain beating on the roof. 


So, instead, Paul is cleaning the “nose” of the trailer, and I am writing my blog.  If it clears up this afternoon, we may go for a bike ride or a short hike, but early tomorrow morning we cross the Canadian border, so we have to make sure we have everything ready.


The only internet connection we’ll have in Canada for the next two months will be whatever we can get at campgrounds and coffee shops. I am downloading maps onto my ipad that I can use offline and our laptop has some mapping software so hopefully that will help. We added Canada to Paul’s cell phone, but service might be pretty spotty.

Visiting, more visiting, and there will be….more visiting! (Boston 06-12-13)

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.”                       
   Henry David Thoreau

It was our plan to do more sightseeing during this visit to Boston but several things have conspired against us.  First, we’re kinda busy, and second, the weather has been really lousy.  It’s rained more than half the time we’ve been here.  In fact, we saw on the news that New York is set to have one of the wettest Junes on record, and I am guessing Massachusetts is right behind them!

We have had an opportunity to spend a lot of time with friends and family though.  We invited Jack and Roseann, who we’ve been friends with for 20 years, over for dinner.  We laughed all night, recounting horrific boating stories with our kids.  Jack and Roseann are getting close to retirement, and we are trying to entice them into buying a 5th wheel.

   


Jess spent one of her few days here with her step-sisters. They all came back to the trailer afterwards for a fire and s’mores.

Jess goofed around taking some pictures and a friend of hers and Stephen’s added some appropriate verbiage.

I went out to dinner with 4 friends who I have known since before I remember.  We all grew up in the same neighborhood. All but one of us are in the picture on the left, taken many many years ago:















We tried to spend some time when Jess was here just hanging out at the trailer:




 

Our son told us about a hike called Purgatory Chasm, and we’ve been antsy to check it out.  However, on the park website it clearly states not to attempt the hike, which is mostly on rock, if has rained or the rocks are wet.  There hasn’t been a really dry day yet, so no hike for us. We did manage to make it to Walden Pond, made famous by poet Henry David Thoreau:




    

I’ve been here a few times, but surprisingly, this was Paul’s first visit. While we were hiking around the lake- about 2 miles or so, depending on which trail you take, an amazing amount of people were swimming the length of the lake. We talked to one woman who said the water temperature is actually not too bad- high 60s.

Paul and I have also been doing some summer planning, even going so far as to make a few reservations!  We’ll leave here on Tuesday and stop in Acadia to hike for a few days before heading into Canada.  

We always find time while in Boston to visit my uncle and aunt, who are two of the best people I have ever met. My aunt is originally from PEI and is Acadian. They are headed up to PEI for a family wedding in late June, so once we are in Canada we’ll head to PEI so we can time our visit with theirs. 

Day trip into Boston (06-05-13)

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on”  -JFK

We took advantage of the semi-nice weather, picked up Stephen and headed into Boston.  Our destination was the JFK Presidential Library.  After being impressed by the Carter Library, I was interested to see the Kennedy one.

I was 4 years old when he was assassinated and my only real memories of him are of those last few days.  I remember looking at the TV and instead of seeing the cartoons I expected, I saw his funeral procession.   I remember seeing the caparisoned horse with the backwards boot (used to signify a fallen leader), and thinking that maybe everyone was sad because the rider fell off the horse. This picture is of Ronald Reagan’s funeral.

First on the agenda was the introductory movie, which gave a synopsis of JFK’s life up till his run for the presidency.













 

One of the biggest challenges of the JFK administration was, of course, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Unbeknownst to most people, Kennedy secretly recorded many conversations that took place in the Oval office.

This special exhibit had several stations where you could listen to excerpts of conversations recorded during the crisis. The conversations start with discussions about the possibility that the Russians are building a nuclear missile base on Cuba.  In the excerpt, you hear the President receive confirmation from military advisors that photos have shown a base being built.

What followed were conversations over the course of the 13 day crisis, that detailed the decisions that were made in the White House, and what information the decisions were based on. Listening to the debate over what, if any action, should be taken by the U.S. was fascinating.  Ideas ranging from attacking Cuba/Russia to waiting and doing nothing, were debated and discussed.  




In the end, the decision was made to institute a military blockade (called a quarantine because “blockade” was considered to be an act of war). A very tense period ensued, until an agreement was finally reached between the U.S and Russia for the removal of the missiles.

The JFK library sits on prime real estate overlooking Boston harbor. The museum was good, but not in comparison to the Carter Library. After discussing it, I realized it was mostly because Kennedy was not President for very long, and of course, he died at such a young age, there isn’t as much material to showcase.

So, now our daughter Jessica has arrived, and a whirlwind 4 day visit has begun.

Sib Trip! (06-02-13)

Part of the reason we are spending so long in Boston, is that all of my siblings (two brothers, a sister and a sister-in-law) live here. Once we knew our dates for visiting, we planned a Sibling Trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

We all met at my brother’s house on Thursday morning, where we piled into the SUV we rented.  We thought the trip would be more fun if we were all in the same vehicle. My brother Ray volunteered to drive, since Paul drives so much on a regular basis. I think Paul enjoyed riding Shotgun!

North Conway is about a 3 hour drive, so we stopped to stretch our legs along the way.

Instead of getting hotel rooms, we rented a house-it had the advantage of giving us a common area where we could just hang out.

We also had no need to eat out for every meal- we cooked most of our own meals, and had fun doing it.
Ray and Paul were our master Barbequers.

With the weather forecast calling for reasonably clear skies and temperatures in the 90s (unbelievably warm for the New Hampshire mountains) we took a van ride and headed up to the top of Mount Washington.  Not the tallest peak on the east coast, but the one with the worst weather!

We were able to see quite a distance before we got to the peak, but once we got to the top, we were in and out of the clouds. 










in the clouds



out of the clouds













 
The wind wasn’t as bad as it usually is, and it wasn’t even that cold, so all in all, not a bad day to go up. 

Once we were back down the mountain, we had a picnic lunch and it was still early enough in the day to take a short hike to Glen Ellis Falls.  It was getting pretty warm by then, but the cold water kept it a little cooler.

My brother Richie is always up for a round of (miniature) golf, so we topped the day off with a quick, but by this time, very hot game of golf.









Our evenings were spent at the kitchen table, playing our favorite card game.  A lot of laughs were had by all!


my sister Debbie won the first night we played



my sister-in-law Dawn won the second night















Of course, you can’t visit a quaint town like North Conway and not go shopping, so Saturday morning we beat the heat and headed to the stores early in the day.  As usual, I didn’t buy anything!

    With afternoon temperatures expected to soar into the 90s, most of us headed to Diana’s Bath, one of the top rated natural swimming holes in the country.  After a short, half mile hike, we arrived at the waterfalls.

It is extremely unfortunate that the water is mind numbingly cold.  The guys dipped their feet in, but I was the only one who went all the way into the water.









Still, it was a great afternoon to relax by the waterfalls.














Sunday came much too quickly, and after a great breakfast at a local restaurant, we started the long trek back home.  We couldn’t resist making one more stop along the  way, though, so we found Lost River Gorge in Lincoln NH.  We all got some exercise hiking up and down the hundreds of steps.

There are numerous caves to explore in this gorge, but I think the consensus from all of us would be that this place is a young person’s place. Many of the caves would be perfect for kids to explore, but a bit of a challenge for us adults!

Back home, we have about 3 days to recover before our daughter Jessica flies in from California, and another whirlwind long weekend begins.