PEI, Canada and south to Massachusetts

Confederation Bridge between PEI & New Brunswick

On September 14 we said our final good-byes and the 4 of us headed out on our own back to St. John, Nova Scotia. We crossed the water on the longest bridge over a waterway in the world – 8 miles long. It crosses the Northumberland Straits. The day was again rainy and cold, but we had an uneventful drive back to the Timberland Acres RV Resort where we had begun our caravan adventure. We spent the afternoon kind of chilling out and getting organized for going over the border. I cooked up chicken and pork so it wouldn’t be confiscated as we went through customs.

The next day we drove back to the USA customs location and made it back into the USA with no problems. I did loose parts of a lemon and a lime and a few cherry tomatoes; and we had to open our outside storage bays for inspection -  but we had no other problems at all. We drove to Ellsworth so we could spend another day visiting Bar Harbor. The first thing we did after getting set up was to go grocery shopping. We had greatly reduced our refrigerator and freezer supplies so that we wouldn’t loose anything at the border. It was nice to be able to get fresh produce and some meat again.

September 16 we were thrilled to wake up to a beautiful sunny day. We headed into Bar Harbor and enjoyed shopping in all the little shops, even though two cruise ships were in the harbor and all their passengers were also in town. We also visited two breweries before heading the the Fish House Grill on the Bar Harbor pier for dinner to help Diann celebrate her birthday. And did we ever have a wonderful dinner!!! WOW. Three of us had fried scallops – 6 huge scallops with veggies and corn bread. Rich had a seafood combination that he felt was one of the best fish dishes he’d ever had. As we ate we enjoyed watching hundreds of cruise passengers loading launches to head back to the ships.

That night we had LOTS of rain and woke up in the morning to yet another cold wet day. UGH!! We left the park early (7:40AM) so that we could drive to Bangor so both rigs could get serviced (oil changes, etc). While the work was being done, we went to Dysarts for a wonderful breakfast. We were back on the road and heading south by noon. We drove to Saco, ME – just 15 miles south of Portland, Maine. We were assured the weather was supposed to improve by the next day.

waterway between Kennebunk & Kennebunkport

And Saturday the weather was beautiful!!! We spent some time in the town of Old Orchard Beach – lots of cute shops (most were closed because of Yom Kipper). The fellas enjoyed visiting a car show. Then we drove to Kennebunk and Kennebunkport – the towns are separated by a short bridge over an inlet, so we were able to stroll through both towns. The New England area is so quaint and beautiful – we are enjoying it. The trees are just starting to turn, but there isn’t a great flush of color yet. We ended our day at Jimmy the Greek’s Pizza restaurant where we enjoyed beer and way too much good pizza. It’s the first time we’ve had the crust choices of white, wheat, or multigrain.

Maine notes:

            One of their favorite terms is ‘wicked’ (ie. wicked good)

            There are 64 lighthouses in Maine (second to Michigan which has over 100)

            The state animal is the moose

Wicked good - commonly heard in Maine

The next day we headed to Portland, ME. It was another nice day and we decided to take the 90 minute trolley town tour. We were able to snag a tour as soon as we got into town and we had a very entertaining driver. We toured town and a couple of the beautiful neighborhoods and even visited Portland Lighthouse in Port Elizabeth – it is the second oldest lighthouse in the United States. The rocky shoreline there is spectacular.

Whoopie Pie

We strolled along the waterfront for a while and then went into Gilbert’s ‘Chowdah House’ where we had wonderful fish or clam chowder. We are getting really spoiled with all the great seafood here. Before leaving town, we purchased a Whoopie Pie. We have heard folks on TV mention them, but never knew what they were. The one we got was HUGE – two huge chocolate cookies with a mound of frosting in between – kind of looked like a huge double-stuff Oreo cookie. The thing was dessert for 4 of us.

Then we took off for a short drive to Freeport, ME where we visited the flagship LL Bean store – it is HUGE!!! It is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. We found it was in an area of lots and lots of outlet stores, so we had fun shopping the bargains.

The next day was a free day for us. Diann and I found a local gal that had time to cut our hair. It had been almost 10 weeks for me and I was VERY shaggy. Now it's REALLY short. It was a nice day and we got odds and ends done – we are ready to head out again in the morning.

September 21, Tuesday, and we are off again. We were fortunate to have a relatively painless drive to Middleboro, MA. From there we will visit Boston and Cape Cod and wherever else we decide to go. The weather is improving and we should have nice weather for sightseeing.

Boston State House

September 22 – Lovely weather as we headed to Boston. We drove the 45 minutes to a subway parking garage and with the help of a very nice station attendant, we took ‘T’ (as it’s called here) into the center of Boston. From there we took the Old Town Trolley for a tour of the town. It was a hop-on hop-off deal, but we decided to ride it the full 90 minutes to get oriented and to see where we might want to visit. Boston has lots of historical buildings, lovely parks, and lots to do.

Fanueil Hall

After traveling the city once, we stopped at the waterfront where we grabbed a bite to eat and then boarded a boat for a 45 minute tour of the harbor. Then we were able to walk a couple of blocks to the famous Fanieul Hall and Quincy Market before heading back to the subway for our trip to the car and the drive back to the park.

Paul Revere House & cobblestone street

The next day we again took the 9:30 ‘T’ into Boston where we had picked out several places we wanted to visit. Fortunately the trolley tickets were good for two days. We first stopped at the North end where we walked the cobblestone streets and visited the Paul Revere House and across the street, one of the oldest churches in Boston. We were interested that Paul Revere was a highly trained silversmith, had 16 children (with two wives), and that he was politically quite active.

USS Constitution

From there we hopped onto the bus again and visited the National Park where the USS Constitution tall ship is on display and being refurbished. We toured this beautiful ship, the visitor’s center, and a nice maritime museum.

The original Cheers where TV series was filmed

We hopped on the trolley again and went to the original Cheers (TV show) bar/restaurant. We had to wait about 45 minutes, but we did have a beer and lunch there. We were quite pleased to find that unlike so many famous places, the staff was great and the food and prices were even better. Excellent experience and lots of photos later we headed back to the subway on our way back to the park.

Homes on Martha's Vineyard

Friday, Sept 24 we headed southeast to Woods Hole where we parked, then boarded a shuttle bus for the 10 mile ride to the ferry dock. In 45 minutes we arrived at Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard where we boarded another bus for a   2 ½-hour island tour. The towns were quaint an interesting, We had a half hour stop at the Aquinnah Cliffs and lighthouse – just time for a restroom break and a bite to eat – not even time to look for a little trinket. We enjoyed the tour, but most of the island is covered with trees and grapevines (hence the name Martha’s Vineyard). The lovely houses along the water are not visible from the road. And it was an overcast and misty day, so we weren’t as impressed as we thought we’d be. At the end of the tour, we boarded the ferry for the 45 minute trip back to the mainland, boarded a shuttle bus to our car, and drove the hour back to the park.

Cape Cod National Seashore

Saturday we drove the length of Cape Cod. It was a beautiful day. We spent some time driving around Hyannisport, enjoyed the Kennedy Memorial at Barnstable, then drove along the Cape Cod National Seashore. It happened to be National Lands Free day so there were lots of people out enjoying the beach and the park. 

Pilgrim Monument

The end of the road is at Provincetown – a wonderful quaint little town. It was bustling with people – there were lots of shops and restaurants. Also in town was the very tall Pilgrim Monument – this was the place the pilgrims landed before deciding to go on to Plymouth to create their settlement.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

We were lucky we went to Cape Cod Saturday because Sunday was overcast, windy, and cool. We headed to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in south Boston. The library sits facing the beautiful Boston Harbor – the perfect setting considering how much JFK loved sailing. The library is arranged so that you move through the exhibits easily. JFK was President only 2+ years, so there weren’t the extensive exhibits like we saw at the Reagan Library. But it was nicely done. There were lots of videos of news conferences and important issues during his presidency. As we completed the exhibits, we returned to the vast view of Boston Harbor where along the bike path in front of the library there was a bike ride with many riders.

Plymouth Rock

From there we drove south to the town of Plymouth where we saw the monument containing Plymouth Rock and the reconstructed Mayflower II. It was windy and cold so we didn’t stroll through the town like we would have liked. But we visited the oldest museum in the country (Pilgrim Hall Museum) where we learned more about the pilgrim’s story. 

'Faith' - notice Gordie standing at
bottom to see size

Our final stop of the day was the statue Faith – a gigantic statue that looks like the statue of liberty without the lamp in her hand. It is the largest free-standing granite statue in the world (216 X life size). We were told that it took 30 years to build. It is actually the statue that inspired the creation of the statue of Liberty. What made it especially fun was the fact that ospreys have built a nest on Faith’s head so that it looks like she’s wearing a crown. Also, lightening broke off the pointing finger, so when the finger was replaced it had the addition of a lightening rod.

The weather is wet and cool and is supposed to be this way for a few days. We are thankful for the many good days we've had. Now it's on to Mystic, CT; New York;  and Washington D.C.