Gordonville, PA to the Blue Ridge Parkway

A-NYC; B-Gordonville, PA; C-Gettysburg, PA; D-College Park, MD; E-Crozet, VA

Covered bridge in Lancaster county, PA

October 04 and we are off in the rain AGAIN. Oh soggy, soggy – yuck. Anyway, we drove to Gordonville, PA which is in Lancaster County, PA. We did drive around the area a bit in the rain – it’s a wonderful Amish/Mennonite area – lots of great stores, pretty farms, fresh food markets. We would love to spend a couple of days here, but we only have tomorrow – and that day is our trip into Philadelphia.

THE Liberty Bell

More rain and off we left for the 1.5 hour drive to Philly. It was supposed to be intermittent showers, but it was more like a constant rain/drizzle. We parked in a garage under the Visitor’s Center – a huge facility. First we went to Independence Hall. Here we saw where the first Continental Congress met to put together the Bill of Rights, and where the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence were signed. The one original piece of furniture was the actual chair that George Washington sat in to sign the Declaration of Independence.

In the rain we walked across the plaza to see the exhibit including the Liberty Bell. For both the bell and the Independence Hall we had to go through security – not as extensive as in New York, but still…..

Gordon and Rich in front of Campos

By then it was lunch time and we wanted an authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. The folks in the Visitor Center gave us directions and four blocks later we dined on yummy Philly fare. On the way back to get the car we walked by the US Mint. Unfortunately there are no longer tours, but it was fun to see it anyway.

When we returned to the car we were ‘thrilled’ (not) to pay the $16.25 parking fee. Fortunately we didn’t have to pay for the tours and visits to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, so it wasn’t too bad. On the way home we took a detour of 7 miles into Delaware – might as well add that to our list of states we’ve seen. Finally the rain stopped for tonight at least.

October 6 we left Gordonville and drove to Gettysburg. We only had a few hours so we did what we could. It is a huge site of great importance to the history of our nation. We watched a film about the three-day battle, then a huge Cyclorama where the fighting was brought to life. We then took the 2 hour narrated bus tour over the most important sites of the war. Our guide was a historian who really knew the battles and had lots of interesting facts. Over 5000 soldiers died in those three days. The first two days were won by General Lee of the Confederacy, but the final day was won by General George Meade of the North – this was a big turning point of the Civil War. It was very interesting and we were sorry we didn’t have another day to spend time on the battle fields and in the museum.

From there we headed to College Park, MD near Washington DC. We had rain and some traffic, but still managed to get to the campground just before 5PM.

The Hope Diamond

On Thursday we made our first foray into Washington DC. We were able to catch the bus at the park which took us to the Metro which took us right to the National Mall. We began at the Natural History Museum where we visited the new Oceans display. We found it a bit confusing to go through – no flow to the exhibit; but there sure was lots of information. We also visited the gems exhibit where the Hope Diamond was on display, along with many other beautiful gems from around the world.

SmithsonianAmerican Indian Museum

From there we went to the relatively new Native American Museum where there is a large cafeteria where you can choose foods from many different Native American areas. We spent the rest of the afternoon at that museum – It’s quite a place and had a very nice flow to it. The architecture of the building is very interesting.

Friday we again headed to the Mall – another lovely day. We started at the relatively new Newseum – This is a private museum concerning the history of news, stories that have affected all our lives, and so much more. We took an hour long introductory tour and then spent an additional three hours on our own. The museum flows very nicely and is very modern with lots of interactive kiosks, exhibits on hurricane Katrina, 9/11, photo journalism winners, journalists who have died in the line of duty, and so much more – really good.

Washington DC capitol building

From there we walked along the reflecting pond in front of the Capitol building, visited the Hirshorn Museum of Modern Art (didn’t care for it), the sculpture garden (better) and the National Museum of Art. By the time we finished at the art museum, we were beat and headed back to the RV Park.

Arlington National Cemetery

Being recovered from the first two days, we took off once again for the capitol mall. This time we drove to the subway (free parking on the weekends), then took the subway into the center of town. Today we rode a Tourbus that took us on a nice tour of the Arlington Cemetery. We visited the graves of JFK, Jaqueline Kennedy, and their children; we visited the Tomb of the Unknown and were there for the changing of the guard. And we visited General Lee’s home – Arlington House. The cemetery is so much larger than I dreamed it would be – lots of monuments to various war veterans and a separate area for women in the service.

Korean War Memorial

From there we visited the Korean War Memorial – really powerful and well done. Then the Viet Nam War Memorial – interesting but not powerful. Here there were two large volumes containing alphabetically all the names of the service personnel killed in Viet Nam with their location on the wall.

We then spent over two hours at the Holocaust Museum – this is a very well done and powerful exhibit. But on this day (Saturday) it was full of junior high school students who really weren’t particularly interested and made it very difficult for the rest of us to see the exhibits and read the panels – disappointing.

From there we walked several blocks to the Portrait Museum and spent 40 minutes at the special Norman Rockwell exhibit. These pictures were loaned to the library by Stephen Spielburg and George Lucas. At the end of that, as much as we wanted to keep going, it was after 5PM and we were pooped. We took off for the RV Park.

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum at the airport

Sunday we took it down a notch. We  took off for the new large Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near the Airport. The museum was free, though the parking cost $15. There are dozens of airplanes of all shapes and sizes inside a gigantic hanger. First we went six floors up into the tower with 360 degree views of the airport and surrounding countryside. It took us 3 hours to see everything. The exhibits included many fighter planes from WWII, Viet Nam, Korea. We saw the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan) and the Concorde. There were displays of helicopters, gliders, personal planes, trick planes. There was a huge hanger wing that had the Enterprise – that huge, huge, huge thing and many other space flight displays. Many of the planes were hung from the ceiling of this gigantic building, so there were ramps where you could walk along and look down at planes on the floor and up at planes hanging from the ceiling. There were engines displayed from the beginning of aviation history through those of the present – very interesting to the fellas. It is a wonderful display.

Columbus Day and we were off – around DC and to Crozet,VA – 5 miles from the Shenandoah National Park. The weather was great and the countryside is just beautiful. We keep seeing more and more color, though we’re not into the strong yellows and reds yet. We stopped at Chancellorsville where during the Civil War one of the bloodiest battles took place. It is here that Stonewall Jackson lost his life. There was an excellent film on the battles at the Visitor’s Center. We were amused that acorns were falling continuously on our vehicles – they made quite a noise when they hit – we expected to get pelted with nuts as we walked, but never did.

Shenandoah National Park

The next day we took a drive through half of the Shenandoah National Parkway – BEAUTIFUL !! It was a great day and the colors really were lovely. From the Skyline Drive there were viewpoints to see over each side way into the distance. It is always a bit hazy because of the extensive use of coal here in Virginia, but the views were so nice.

Monticello

Wednesday we said Good-bye to Diann and Rich. Their new house in Casa Grande was completed before expected and they had to head west to get the papers signed before penalties started rolling in. After they left we headed the few miles to Montecello – Thomas Jefferson’s home. The home itself is quite grand and filled with treasures from his trips overseas. He was quite influenced by the French because of his time spent in France as ambassador there. There were also Roman influences. He owned 5000 acres and had 5 operating farms on the property. He loved architecture and had the house built and redone several times to incorporate the new ideas he acquired during his travels. He also had a great love of plants – flowers, vegetables, trees – and had quite a showplace there. We stayed for several hours – saw a film on his life, did a tour of the home, garden, and plantation. The weather was beautiful. The Jefferson Foundation recently purchased a large ‘chunk’ of hill property that used to belong to Jefferson for $15,000,000  (the same amount he paid for the Louisiana Purchase). The foundation purchased the property to prevent another buyer from building condos there in view of the Jefferson Home. Interestingly, Jefferson died $180,000 in debt.

Public chalkboard in Charlottesville, VA

From there we drove the few miles to Charlottesville to their pedestrian mall. It is several blocks long with large trees all along. The most interesting thing was a public chalkboard (probably 40 feet by 6 feet) with chalk and cleaning cloths available. Anyone could write whatever they wanted to, or wipe off anything they wanted to. Don’t know if it cut down on graffiti in the area, but we thought it was a novel idea.

Now we are off to the Blue Ridge Parkway;, Pigeon Forge, TN; and Nashville.

Middleboro, MA to Lancaster, PA

A-Middleboro, MA; B-Mystic, CT; C-Newburgh, NY; D-Lancaster, PA

Monday we drove through Rhode Island to Mystic, CT. It was a very cloudy and sometimes rainy day, but we arrived without problems. That evening the four of us went to Old Lyme, CT to have a lovely pasta dinner with Lee White – our son Jeff’s, mother-in-law.

Large picture in the Mohegan Indian Casino

Tuesday was nasty rainy, but we took off to explore Mystic, CT – it’s a beautiful village on a bay. We spent an hour wandering around Mystic Village – lots of cute shops, nicely landscaped. We also drove a few miles to see the Mohegan Indian Casino – my goodness – it is huge and is decorated in all the Indian themes – corn, trees, wolves, etc. It has several different casino areas, an area of many shops, several restaurants and bars, and a huge hotel lobby with a waterfall two stories high. It was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. No, we didn’t put even a penny in the slot machines – we just enjoyed looking at everything.

Rich, Diann, Ellen, Lee, Gordon

That night we went to Lee’s again for some wine, then she took us to a local restaurant (The Bee & Thistle) where we didn’t eat – we dined. The restaurant is in an old house and has a wonderful cook. Lee is a restaurant critic who writes articles for local newspapers, so she knows the great places. The meal was outstanding and since the owners are friends of Lee, we were treated like royalty.

Nautilus submarine

Finally Wednesday we had a lovely day (between rain storms). We drove to Haddam, Chester, and Essex – three very lovely east coast towns. Many of the homes have signs saying when they were built – many in the early 1800s and a few in the 1700s. We spent some time at the Submarine Force Museum where they have the Nautilus – the first nuclear powered submarine – we could even go through the vessel – very interesting. We finished the day by having a late fish lunch at Flander’s Seafood and Restaurant in East Lyme. Tomorrow we will head inland, so this was our last chance to get some coastal seafood.

September 30 we took off in the rain for Newburgh, NY. The prediction was for thunderstorms and lots of rain all up and down the eastern seaboard. But it was supposed to be even worse the next day. So we decided to take off and hope for the best. We did have a few heavy downpours along the way, but we made it OK. We are getting quite tired of being soggy. All the maps are damp, clothes are damp, - oh, for the southwest!!! But we haven’t seen all we want to see yet, so we’ll put up with WET!!

First day of October and the rains keep coming. We heard reports of lots of flooding in the area, so we ended up staying close to the RV park for the morning. Diann and I got some groceries. Then in the afternoon Gordie and I drove to the West Point Military Academy and saw the Visitor Center and Museum. You can’t go onto the campus unless you go on a tour, and we didn’t have time to do that. The weather report is for a nice day tomorrow – sure hope it’s right.

FDRs home in Hyde Park NY

Yup, Saturday was a beautiful day. We left the park about 9AM and headed across the very wide Hudson River to the Franklin D. Roosevelt 

home and Presidential Library. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and made the tour of the home very interesting. The library was excellent as well. FDR was President for over 12 years and was the author of legislation such as The New Deal and Social Security.

One of the gardens at Vanderbuilt mansion

From there we drove up the road just a few miles and toured the Vanderbuilt mansion and grounds. Here again the tour guide did a great job of bringing the Vanderbuilts to life. The house is opulent and contains much of the furniture, paintings, and accessories that were there when Frederick and his wife, Louise, died. The couple had no children, so the home and property were left to the wife’s niece. She was wealthy in her own right and didn’t want the place. She tried to sell it twice and didn’t get any offers, so with the help of FDR, the US government took over the property and it is now a federal historical landmark. The Vanderbuilts had a huge flower garden to keep the home supplied with bouquets. The garden had gone to grass. But now there is a volunteer group that has returned the gardens to their original state. The gardens weren’t particularly exciting when we were there because of fall season, but no doubt they were gorgeous during the spring and summer months.

Two of the three entrances into the Lincoln Tunnel

Sunday we got up at 6AM (UGH!) so that we could have breakfast at the clubhouse and then board a charter bus for a tour of New York City. We were lucky that it was quite a nice day (a bit cool and breezy though). We had a very good tour guide who talked most of the trip, including the 1.5 hours it took to get to NYC. We entered via New Jersey and the 1.5 mile long Lincoln Tunnel. This tunnel is 90 feet under the Hudson River. Even though it was Sunday, going was slow.

Ellen & Gordon and the Statue of Liberty

Our first stop was the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty. We had to go thru airport-type security on the way to the ferry. We got some great pics of the Lady and the NYC skyline while on the ferry. We had an hour to take pictures and enjoy the statue before boating by Ellis Island and back to Battery Park. 

'Sphere' 

Here the guide showed us a relatively new statue called ‘Sphere’. This large statue sat between the twin towers. When they came down, ‘Sphere’ was damaged but not broken. It stands alongside an eternal flame in rememberence of those who died on 9/11 and hope for the future.

From here we were driven through NYC streets with Mitch giving us facts and info all along the way. We were dropped off at South Street Seaport where the four of us raced 4 blocks to ‘The Best New York Deli’ where we had wonderful deli sandwiches. Then we returned to the waterfront where we were able to go up three floors and take pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Time Square

Back on the bus and we next went to the Empire State Building where we once again went through security and went to the top deck and enjoyed the views of the city in every direction. From there we did some more sightseeing from the bus before heading to Rockefeller Center (OOPS, there was a parade that blocked the way, so we missed it.) So it was on to Times Square (Named for the NY Times Newspaper) where we really got the true taste of New York with the very busy streets, theater district, huge lighted billboards……….and the most wonderful NY Cheesecake – absolute heaven!!!

By the time we got back on the bus it was 6PM and definitely time to head back to the RV park. The tour was a great way to see ‘The Big Apple’ without the hassle of subways or trains. It would be great to spend more time there, but we were out of time.

Ellis Island

Some observations of NYC: It is much cleaner than it used to be. Cars that HONK can be ticketed for $350 (so the streets are much quieter than in the past). The South Street Seaport was wonderfully clean and exciting – NYC had increased its police presence and the city is much safer than in the past. Parking IN the city can be over $8.50 for half an hour (We saw the signs). Mitch told us that minimum cost for a 16 hour period is $25.

October 4th and we are off to the Lancaster, PA and then to DC. It's nasty rainy and we are again wet, wet, wet!!! Oh goodie!!!

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.

Labrador to Prince Edward Islands

A-Red Bay, Labrador; B-St. Anthony, NF; C-Rocky Harbour, NF; D-Louisbourg; NS;
E-Pictou, NS; F-Charlottetown, PEI

We took the 3:45PM ferry back from Labrador to Newfoundland – we were supposed to spend a night in Labrador, but with hurricane Earl threatening, our Wagon Master decided that it would be best to be back at a somewhat protected campground in St. Anthony’s. So we had the next day to do whatever we wanted. It was actually quite a nice day and we got some odd jobs done, grocery shopped, and relaxed. But by evening the wind picked up and overnight it rained really hard and blew like mad.

The next morning we were up for a meeting at 7:30AM and took to the road before 8AM. It was SOOOOOOO windy – just awful. We spent 4 hours in the wind and felt quite relieved when we reached Rocky Harbour in one piece. A couple of the caravan RVs had some problems, but nothing really major. Apparently we were at the edge of the storm.

Western Brook Tours fjord explorer

We spent the next day in Rocky Harbour and most of us went on a 2-hour Fjord boat-ride. The interesting thing was that we had to walk about 1.5 miles in to the boat dock and 1.5 miles back out. They call the water Western Brook Pond. This pond is over 17 kilometers long (about 12 miles).  We found out that here in Newfoundland there are so many lakes that all but the very biggest are called ponds. In the states we would definitely call the body of water a lake – a BIG lake. Before going back to the park we visited The Arches Provincial Park. In the evening we had dinner in Rocky Harbour, then returned to the RVs and played cards.

Arches Provincial Park

Tuesday, August 7 – And we are off again – this time to Grand Codroy, NL. This is our last overnight stop in Newfoundland. It was a very rainy day with some wind, but we drove the 184 miles without incident. We did take time to return to Gros Morne Nat’l Park visitor center to view a half hour film on the park. It was excellent with wonderful overhead views of the lakes, trees, shore, and the rocky cliffs. We also had to make a stop in Corner Brook – one of the larger cities on the island – to do some grocery shopping and car fuses. We didn’t get much in the way of groceries, as we will be returning through customs to the US in a few days, and we don’t want to lose any of the big three – poultry (including eggs), pork, and produce. Though it was raining, it was mild (low 60s).

This evening was a pot luck and game night.

The next day we lined our RVs up in our number order to drive to the Newfoundland-Nova Scotia ferry from Port aux Basque (pronounced Port O Boss). This trip is only 6 ½ hours long, unlike the 15 hour trip to Argentia, NL a week ago. We are fortunate to have a smooth day for the crossing. (And YEA – we can turn our time pieces back half an hour). Though when we arrive in Nova Scotia, we drive through rain as we cover 38 miles to our RV park in Louisbourg. The rain lets up as we all get situated, then starts again.

Sept 8 – It’s raining and cold. But we load a bus in the morning for a trip to the Louisbourg, NS Fortress. (Interesting fact: A fort consists of soldiers only; A fortress consists of soldiers and their families) The fortress was originally built by the French because it was near a port that never froze over, so cod fish fishing and shipping could be done throughout the year. But when the people in the fortress got too prosperous, the English sent an overwhelming number of troops over, they attacked from the rear and overtook the fort, thereby sending the French home. The French returned again for a few years and were once again over-run by the English – the French never returned. Unfortunately, Hurricane Earl had caused power outages and we were able to see only a few of the many reconstructed fortress buildings.

Our afternoon was free to do as we wished (we did laundry!!). Then at 5:30 we attended a Beggar’s Feast held in a tent at the RV park. They put white head covers on the women and tri-corner hats on the men – normally they dress guests in full costume, but we were leaving early to attend an event, so they just did the hats. Dinner included salad, rolls, veggies, beans, cod, and a gingerbread. As with most of the meals in Eastern Canada, all the food is quite bland – no seasonings. It’s good – but not exciting.

This evening we were treated to ‘An evening in a Nova Scotia Kitchen’. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were delighted to be entertained by five excellent musicians who also performed skits. They played the local music – two guitarists, a percussionist (who was also a terrific actress), a keyboardist, and a great violinist/dancer. We hated to see the evening end.

Sept 9, Friday we headed out about 8:30AM and drove the almost 200 miles to Pictou, NS. The RV park got us close to the ferry that we will take to Prince Edward Island in the morning. The four of us get set up and then drive into town where we find a very nice knife shop and one of the better gift shops we’ve seen – and we’ve seen a LOT of them.

Sept 10 and we were up at 5:00AM for the 6:00AM drive to the ferry which was to head to Prince Edward Island (PEI) at 8AM. This is a small ferry that is ‘first come, first served’ – it is the size of the Washington ferries (not large) and 5 of us were left behind. So we had to sit and wait until 11:15AM for the ferry to return. It was cold and rainy and dreary and we were all tired, but eventually the ferry showed up and we made it to PEI and Charlottetown without further incident. We were treated to a Pizza and salad dinner that night at the campground.

Sept 11, Sunday, we had a full day bus trip on another cool and somewhat damp day. We toured the northwest area of PEI. It is so very different than all the other provinces we have visited on this trip. The island has a great deal of farming – not the heavily tree covered and desolate areas of the other Atlantic Canada provinces. There are no moose on PEI. The biggest animal is the red fox or coyote.

Anne of Green Gables house

The first place we visit is the Anne of Green Gables National Park. There is the house, barn, lover’s trail, and haunted woods that were so important in the books. And of course, an extensive gift shop!!!

From there we visited the north coast, but with the poor weather, it wasn’t very spectacular. Then it was on to New Rustico – a cute little village with yet another lighthouse and gift shop. Then it was time to tour some of the countryside, then head to Glasgow Hills Golf Club for lunch. Here we DID have a wonderful meal of fresh green salad, nicely prepared cod, and a yummy cake with strawberries.

North Rustico lighthouse

We then visited the Prince Edward Island Preserve Co – the owner, a Scotsman dressed in a kilt, greeted us and told us of developing the jams and jellies in his ‘gift shop’. Many are made with wonderful liquors. They also sell things made only in Scotland, England or PEI. He said that so many authentic industries are closing  because much cheaper products are made in China, Taiwan, etc.- too bad.

Province House

Our last stop was at Province House in Charlottetown. Here is where the idea of creating a Confederation (which eventually became Canada) was planned. 23 delegates from the British colonies of PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec didn’t wish to separate from England, as they were VERY loyal to Queen Victoria. But they felt that by joining together, they would be stronger against the largely successful country to their south – the USA. We then toured downtown Charlottetown before being dropped off at our RV park.

Victoria sand  castle

Sept 13, Monday, is our last day as a caravan. We are left to entertain ourselves as we wish until 4pm. The four of us spent the day exploring more of PEI. We drove west along the southwest coast thru the small village of Victoria. There had apparently been a beach celebration over the weekend and there was a relatively intact sand castle near the beach. There was evidence of serious erosion from hurricane Earl along the shore.

Confederation bridge - 8 miles long, between
PEI & New Brunswick

We then drove on west to view Confederation Bridge – an 8-mile long bridge that connects PEI to New Brunswick. Before the bridge was finished, the only way onto the island was by ferry. We took pictures of the bridge and the lighthouse nearby, then discovered some good deals at stores near the bridge. We drove on to Summerside, the only city on the island other than Charlottetown. We then returned to Charlottetown where we went to the Gahan Brewery where we sampled eight of their Microbrews. We found them to be like the food – relatively bland. But we had an order of nachos with them, so it wasn’t all bad.

This was the night of our farewell dinner. We were picked up from the RV park and taken to a dinner of Lobster, fish chowder, salad, and dessert – a really good dinner. Following dinner we were treated to a wonderful play – a comedy, drama, murder mystery. The play was excellent –  double meanings, English humor – WOW. There was a hotel clerk named Frieda Heights, and a police detective named Inspector Closley. What a way to end the 33-day trip of a lifetime!!!

We continue our journey down the east coast – next time.