Ferry from Digby, NS to St John, NB

The Princess of Acadia (that's a pretty fair sized boat up there, huh?) ferries passengers and vehicles from Digby, Nova Scotia to St John, New Brunswick, about 50 miles across the Bay of Fundy. It's a 3 hour trip and the accommodations are very nice. We spent a short time outside looking for whales and watching the ship leave the dock and start out into the Bay, then watched a movie (Wild Hogs). Then we relaxed in the cafe with cappuccino & coffee. Is this the life, or what???

We drove from Canada to the US through St Stephen/Calais again and are staying at Hilltop RV Campgrounds Saturday night. On to Acadia Nat'l Park tomorrow and some American lobster.

Nova Scotia (New Scotland)

Digby, Nova Scotia, the Scallop Capitol of Canada -- we had lobster & turkey for dinner tonight. I'm surprised they didn't run us out of town! We are staying at Digby Campground until Saturday, June 30, when we'll take the Digby Ferry to St John, New Brunswick. There we will drive back into the US, visit Acadia Nat'l Park & begin making our way to Niagara Falls to meet Chris for the July 4th celebration at the Falls.

Here are a few pictures from Nova Scotia. If some of them look foggy & rainy, that's what we were looking at, too. It can appear pretty eerie with the fog rolling in over the water in the evening, but by mid morning the day is beautiful.

Shediac, NB

We've traveled from Vance's farm in Norton, MA, through New Brunswick and are now camped just below Prince Edward Island in Shediac to reconoiter and decide where to go next. After Boston, we made our way, via Bangor, to the Canadian border at Calais, ME/St Stephen, NB,CN. It took us over an hour of waiting in line to cross the border & we were highly insulted that the border guards were totally uninterested in us as suspicious characters, practically shooing us through the crossing so they could check out someone else. I guess our 'Thelma & Louise' persona hadn't yet reached them.

The city of St John, NB, is the first location we visited to have a noticeable effect from the high tidal flows of the Bay of Fundy & it's called Reversing Falls. There is a small fall at the mouth of the St John River which actually reverses in flow during the tidal changes. Normally the St John flows into the Atlantic, but when the tide is coming in, the water pushes into the river instead.




Further on, the Fundy Provencial Park and Hopewell Cape, give perfect views of the Bay, as it rises & falls every 12 hours. These pictures of low and high tide are pretty descriptive. However, the high tide was just a small one today (32 feet). Another noteworthy; there are 125 steps in one set of stairs we took at the park, and 99 steps in the set at Hopewell Cape where the 'flower pots' were photographed. And we climbed every last one of them!!

Boston-Duck Tour

This is Boston, in three of its identities.

• The old downtown area is absolutely lovely & steeped in history.
• The Duck boats drove us around the old part of town & then out into the river.
• Total relief when we completed the drive out of the city.

Thank goodness for Vance!! We left the motorhome parked and he drove us into the city.

Balfour Farm

Vance, Kathy & Curtis live on Balfour Farm in Norton, MA, where they board horses and give riding lessons, among many other things!! Three dogs, two cats, a hunting hawk & lots of horses live here in rural Massachusetts. They now have a Tioga motorhome parked on the property for a few days, and we're enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, the wild roses and our family. We'll be going to Boston this week to see the Aquarium & ride the Duck Boat.

Old Sturbridge Village

Here's a special treat if you like to explore the past. This is a village put together by two brothers who wanted to preserve the 1790-1840 history of the area. It sits on the Quinebaug River near Sturbridge, MA and consists of 40 period buildings, with costumed Villagers plying their trades; bakery, blacksmith, sawmill, gristmill, merchantile, pottery, tavern, cider mill & farmsteads. They have a beautiful clock collection, wagon rides & river rides. The buildings were purchased over the years, dismantled & reconstructed in the Village. We can't believe that neither Pat nor Judi brought a camera into the Village, but at least we have the brochure :)

Princeton NJ

On June 15th, we stopped to see Rita in Princeton. Lovely old buildings, huge shade trees and of course, the University --- the scenery is wonderful. Princeton is a great place for walking; we had lunch at The Tap Room in Palmer Square, then strolled through some small shops along the streets. Here, too, the influence of the Amish is seen in roadside vegetable stands & markets. I guess Judi was more interested in lunch than photo ops -- she left the camera in the motorhome.

Kinzers & Hershey PA

Yesterday, after leaving DC, we circled Baltimore with no problem and then drove to Hershey, PA and took in Chocolate World at the Hershey facility. Yeah, we bought some chocolate :) Can't go to Hershey, PA and leave without chocolate, can you? We're happy to report, we backed in to the parking lot space perfectly the first time & decided to memorialize the event.

We stayed last night at the Roamers Resort Campground in Kinzers, PA and while we were hooking up the utilities, a horse & cart came by with an Amish woman & little boy selling strawberries. This is Amish country and we saw several of their carriages on the road. The farms are everywhere, with barns & silos, and the whole area is beautiful.

Smithsonian Museum-DC

Pat & I spent the last two days taking in as much as possible at the Smithsonian Museums in Washington DC. It's mind boggling !!

The Smithsonian Castle was the original museum for all the exhibits and now houses the administrative offices as well as select pieces from the other museums. Visiting the Castle first gave us a sample of what to expect when we started out into The Mall. The Mall is an area of several city blocks with a green down the center and the Capitol Building on one end and the Lincoln Memorial at the other.

We saw the Castle, the American Indian Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Air & Space Museum and 3 art museums. Our father's mother was 1/2 Sioux (also known as the Lakota Indian tribe) and we were especially interested in those exhibits. The museum displays are so abundant it's hard to really appreciate what we're seeing at the time. It was a wonderful two days & we recommend the Smithsonian to anyone traveling in the DC area.

Sorry there's only one picture with this entry. There seems to be a problem with the net tonight and I was able to upload only this one.

Living Village-Colonial Williamsburg

Monday, we toured Colonial Williamsburg, a living village where people dress in period costumes and spend the day working the way they would have in the 1700's. We walked the square as we saw the Capitol, which housed the courthouse & the rooms where the legislators of the time met to create laws, the gaol (jail), milliner & tailor shop, apothecary, the blacksmith, the magazine and guardhouse & a silversmith shop. There were many, many taverns, as well. We ran out of time (and steam) and decided to forego the museums and start for DC.

Busch Gardens-Europe Williamsburg VA

6/9/07

Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg, VA has representations of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy & Germany, but the section on Ireland was worth the admission!! Dance & music & castles & leprechauns – doesn’t get much better than that!

Tomorrow we will see Colonial Williamsburg with its living village of costumed trades people, demonstrating how they lived and worked during the 1700's.

Appomattox

6/8/07

Growing up in Florida, the history of our country was a distant learning experience, but visiting Appomattox, VA has been stirring for both of us. The Civil War came to an end in this small town and the 'surrender ground' has been restored after some of the buildings were damaged and fell into disrepair over the years. It's a national park now and it's a solemn moment when you observe the place where Lee and Grant signed their agreement to end the war.

We stayed the last 2 nights at Holliday Lake State Park, outside Appomattox, and again we found a lovely setting, with walking trails, a lake and small animals.

Natural Bridge, VA

6/5/07

We visited the Natural Bridge, Caverns, Cedar Creek Trail & Wax Museum at Natural Bridge, VA, in the Shenandoah Valley. There were lots of steps and lots of beautiful scenery.

We had a campground outside Lexington, VA all picked out, but couldn't find the place, so we stayed in our first WalMart parking lot for the night and had the company of about 5 other RVs and a 16-Wheeler. We decided we needed a battery operated fan, and Walmart was soooo close :) Now we're on our way to Appomattox, VA.

FancyGap

Fancy Gap, VA RV Campground is our current address. Tomorrow, we start up I-81 to see caverns; then to mosey across VA to Colonial Williamsburg & up to Washington DC to re-visit the Smithsonian Museums. We're giving each area 2-3 days for playing tourist and should be on our way to Princeton by June 15th.

Smokey Mountains

Saturday, we drove to Balsam Gap, NC and entered the Great Smokey Mountain National Forest via the Blue Ridge Parkway. Wow, what beautiful scenery, and there were overlooks every mile or so! Lots of photo ops. Alas, driving the mountain roads in a motor home is not all that much fun, so we dropped down to lower elevations so Judi's fingerprints aren’t permanently embedded in the door upholstery. We went civilized Saturday night and stayed in a Quality Inn. Got into some of that rain and wind from the weather system associated with the tropical storm in the Gulf. Now we're at Fox Trail RV Campground in Fancy Gap, VA. How can you not stop in a place named Fancy Gap?? It's a great park, with all the conveniences we could want. Tuesday morning we'll go towards Colonial Williamsburg and play tourist for a while.

Twin Lakes RV-Alpharetta, GA

Thursday, May 31, what a day!! Leaving White Springs, we stopped for brunch & food for the next few days then began this leg of our trip up I-75. Smoke from Okeefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia caused heavy traffic & lower speed limits.

A new experience for us - a flat tire on I-75 just south of Atlanta! Our 7PM arrival time at the rv park was delayed until 11PM. Well, now we know how to handle that little emergency! :)

Friday, June 1, Adam helped us buy another spare tire & we visited the new World of Coca Cola in Atlanta. Very impressive, with 4-D movie, the Coca Cola Polar Bear, a tour of the bottling process and a sample of all the drinks Coca Cola makes for the world. In the evening, we went out for an Italian dinner. Pat & I really enjoyed playing with the two babies, 9 month old Haley and 14 month old Noah.