One If By Land .. Two If By Sea

On the afternoon of the 22 August we made our way from Fundy, east toward the historic site of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.  The Cliff Notes version of the fortress town is as follows:

1.   1720's French King Louis XV builds fort to guard the last French harbor in Nova Scotia   and to get rich from the cod fishing.  (????)












2.  Fort terrifically designed by French to defend the town and harbor from invasion by sea.

3.   Not so well designed to defend from invasion by land.  (Plus guards were over worked.)

Pulled em right up this trail.

4.  1745  British land their canon here and roll them around to the above lightly defended (but well guarded) East Gate.

He Who dies With The Biggest ... (toys) ... Wins

5.   British take the Fort and the town from the French and send them all packing to Labrador or Newfoundland (or some other very cold place I can't remember).

At least they left the candelabra.

6.   Food quality and table manners suffer drastically.  Fish and chips and thin gruel.
($38 C plus tip.)















6.   1748  British give the place back to the French.  (How characteristically civil of the Brits).

Sassy French Chicken

7.   Frenchmen (and their sassy chickens) happily move back from Labrador.

Governor Lives Here

Normal folks live here
 (with their sassy chickens.)

8.  1758  Brits get P...'d off at the French about something and invade the Fort and town again.  (Same way as last time. You'd think the French would figure that out.)  Guess where the French went again?

9.   This time the Brits level the place to the ground.  Forts, houses, and all, (and ate the sassy French chickens).

10.  1960's  Fort and town reconstructed as a national historic site by Ron Boviard as result of lobbying by French Canadian interest groups.  Repopulated by French reinactors.

11.  2013 August 23  Invaded again.  This time by two Americans, (and again by land), who benevolently did not send the Frenchmen back to Labrador AGAIN.  (And we did NOT eat the sassy French chicken.)

Photos of the pretty little French (Li'chon) wench I found along the way.

































Goodnight From Louisbourg

Time Wharp

 

In another valiant effort to catch up, today's post will cover our 3 days (8/20 - 8/22) in Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia.  The Cabot Trail which encircles Cape Breton, is considered one of Canada's most spectacular drives.  While possibly a bit of a hyperbole, it was very spectacular indeed.

I have to say that when researching the trip, I almost ruled out this loop when warned about the 16% road grades.  That's pretty steep and I had memories of the Funmobile's maiden voyage and having to be towed out of a 1-way river valley road because I couldn't get up the grade I just went down.  Fortunately I ignored logic and we went anyway.

BTW - I do have to express on VERY annoying factor of this trip.  We have been combing New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia now for two weeks.  This is prime moose country and I have counted 2,143 "CAUTION MOOSE" signs so far.  Valerie has stated innumerable times, "You're supposed to be the macho, dominant provider.  FIND ME A DAMN MOOSE."  We did miss to gigantic bulls by about 30 minutes, but that's not cuttin' it.  I haven't given up yet, but my ego is taking a beating.  (Did spot a bear though.)



So without further comment, the following is a selection of some of the sights we encountered.

So... Is THIS good enough for a DAMN MOOSE!

A Pitcher Plant

A "slope fen" 

On The Move to New Scotia

ANOTHER View of Commonly Beautiful Scenery

Yeh. Yeh.  I know I skipped the 18th.  But it was just another day of more awesome scenery, beaches, streams, the deepest green moss-covered forest floor you could ever imagine....  But nothing I could make snarky comments on so I skipped the day's post.


Besides, we're being plagued by connectivity issues (there is none most of the time) and I'm so far behind I need to do some catch-up.  (Today is actually the 26th and I'm post dating.).

You know what it's like having a kid stare at you over
the back of an airline seat.  Well we were eyeball
to eyeball with this critter for 20  km.

So back to fake "today" the 19th of August.  We left Fundy Park for a trip up the winding coast road and on into Nova Scotia, (which is some language for new Scotland maybe).  I say "some language", because every few miles you enter a new country around here.  First is Scottish, then Irish, some Acadian, then French Rebel held Canada.  (More on that subject later.)

I Really Like The Last Safety Tip

Oh yea.  There's a comfortable rock
right over there.  SWIM for it .
QUICK - HURRY.

First stop was up the road away's to Hopewell Rocks from where, (or is it which), you supposedly can experience the massive tide range of the Bay of Fundy.  We arrived at just prior to peak high tide.  Had we the time, we would have witnessed the outbound tide dropping some 6 feet per hour.  Like somebody in  Maine flushed the toilet on Canada.


However, we had a long drive ahead..  A short but scenic walk to the prime viewing point found us just shortly behind a tour bus load of approximately 1.4 billion "foreigner tourists", all of whom needed a picture of each and every other member of the entourage in front of each and every scenic overlook.  (Consider the combinations and permutations of THAT!)

Uh.... Which way to da' beach?

One more step back Ya Ya

We did finally work our way down the 100 and some feet of stairs which take you to the beach, which also abruptly ended in the water 30 and some feet above the beach.  What made the walk thoroughly worth while was watching  Mr Jones pose Mrs Jones at the very last un-submerged stair only to get sloshed by the next wave of the rising tidal surge.  (OK, I tried to do the same thing, but Val wasn't falling for that one.)

Canadians have a wonderful sense of STYLE

The rest of the day was a long drive along the north coast of Nova Scotia with a stop for groceries and finally to Port Hood, a VERY small town on Cape Breton.  There-in is located the RV Park of Sunset View.  (Sounds like a retirement community.) We normally try to avoid RV Parks as they tend to stack the residents on top of each other somewhat like the Robert Taylor Homes.  It however was the only option on this sparsely populate section of coastline, so in we went.  Not too terribly bad, and there was actually a pretty nice sunset.




Good Night From sunset View RV Park

Brad & Valerie

Fundy In The Funmobile

Arrived at Fundy National Park New Brunswick the evening of the 16th, (late due to the afore-mentioned flat tire).  First task of the morning was the drive back 40 km into Sussex to retrieve a new tire.  Small town tire repair shops on a Saturday morning are a thing of beauty. You meet intriguing and inspirational people... and get soaked for $256.  "Ain't that bad Eh.  You'll getcha' VAT back at the border."  I can't bitch since they did send a guy out on the road on a Friday night when he could have been out tippin' moose or whatever they do here for grins.

Then back again 40 km to the park an another 5 km to the town of Alma.  Drive to town was impressive. A long windey/windy road down the mountain overlooking the Bay of Fundy,

Looking Down Onto The Fog Bank Over The Bay Of Fundy

Post Tsunami Alma

The town is primarily a fishing village which also services the park visitors.  Restaurants are generally seafood caught by local fishermen ... when they can get in the water.

For the historical record, August 17th 2013 is our 45th wedding anniversary.  The extended period of this relationship I owe entirely to Valerie's endless patience.  She's still working on that "diamond in the rough" and hopefully won't carve it all into little pieces before she get's it like she wants it.

Our normal anniversary dinner is to go to Catch 35 in Chicago for a romantic, high end seafood dinner and an evening stroll along the Magnificent Mile.   Since Alma does not have Catch 35, I took her for lunch to Alma's finest seafood establishment instead.

And The Moose Got All The Smoochin

Followed By A Romantic Stroll On the Beach (Alone)

I did however whip up a later evening snack of Brad's (now world) famous eggs over easy to make up the loss.

Good Night From Fundy

Over the Border

The 15th and 16th were travel days from Acadia to Fundy National Park in New Brunswick.  Some good hikes, some awesome views, just what you'd want for a vacation.

A few comments and observations on the transition to Canada.

First, the border crossing. As pass the US Customs center on the other side of the highway you immediately notice about six lanes.  Each is lined with an imposing array of sensors, presumably for explosives, drugs, bio-bad stuff, radiation, oranges, bananas, etc.  Contrasting with the Canadian Customs side with a couple of booths, and a pleasant agent - "name, address, cigs, alcohol, ? - Have a nice day."  I guess nobody wants to destroy Canada.  (except maybe the Quebec'ers)

Metric vs English  -  I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a couple of tickets before we leave Canada.  110 is pretty cool fro getting some place fast  -  like jail.  Of course nothing matches evenly on km vs mph.  Hopefuly they don't split hairs because the km markings on the speedo are grey on black.  Following the flow of traffic doesn't work because drivers range from 10 km under, to the speed of light.  Ho-hum, I'll just plead ignorance and be pretty convincing.

Lastly, I won't even comment on Imperial Gallons.

Oh - and I almost forgot the flat tire in the middle of nowhere.  Forty km's from the nearest town.  Only one establishment in sight and it was an ice cream stand.  What luck!  Called the RV Road Assist Service we subscribe to and they had a truck there before I could finish the second cone.

Following is an assortment of pics along the way.

Good Night From Fundy National Park

Day 2 Acadia

Carriage/Bike Trail Bridge

Up an at-em at 10 am.  (Come-on!  I'm retired and on vacation!)  Today's plan was to explore the
Carriage Roads that spider-web Acadia Park.  Originally built by JD Rockefeller Jr in the
mid0-20's, they were intended to allow for restricted use horse and carriage routes not to be
disturbed by them-thar new-fangled auto-mobile thingies. (Or the peasants probably.  Nice to own
your own island.)  They're now converted to bike/hike trails for the masses. (Ha-Ha  Joke's on JDR)

Abandoned Bikes And Hiked - (Foggy)

Biked for a while but soon learned that horses apparently can comfortably navigate much steeper
grades than I feel like doing.  (Ha-Ha Joke's on me.)  So after a while, we locked up the bikes and hiked down a steep rocky trail to the lake for a picnic lunch.  Unlike the Rockefellers, we had tuna and crackers rather than caviar, crumpets and champagne.  Close, but not the same.

Caviar Lunch

After the bike/hike/low-brow lunch, headed off to a second island in the park where we would be

An Orchid Among The Roses

camping for the night.  First about an hour hike out to the end of a rocky point to watch the
waves crash against the rocky shore in the waning afternoon light.  Again, pretty awesome.








Back to camp for dinner and to type up the blog.  Still no connection, so continuing to stack um
up pending return to civilization, (Bar Harbor).











Good Night From Seawall Campground Acadia NP

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

Up and at-em early for a short ride to Acadia park.  First stop the Visitor Center where most of
the residents of the North-East US, and half of the population of Spain, Italy and either France
or Quebec were standing in line waiting to talk to the Rangers about what to see and do in Acadia.
 (Apparently we hit the peak season).

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

We quickly exited and headed for the first hike of the visit which was along a 2.5 mile stretch of an incredibly beautiful coastline.  High rocky cliffs, rolling surf and lush greenery.  A bit of late fog and a drizzle added to the effect.  But comfortably warm.  Five-mile round trip but with lots of side trails out onto the cliffs overlooking the ocean.  It was tempting to just pick a rock and park our butts.

But On a Cloudy Day You can't See Squat

Maybe we'll trade in the Funmobile

Back to check in at tonight's stop in Blackwoods Campground which is inside the park.  Only $10 a
night with the OPP (Old Peoples Pass).  A lot cheaper than the typical $20 - $40 per night at
state and private CG's.  But the NP campgrounds don't generally have electric hookups or showers.
Then off for the highlight of the day, an afternoon and evening in Bar Harbor.  This is an old
port and resort town from the late 1800's.  Very narrow streets provide a challenge for the
somewhat wider Funmobile.  So we parked on the edge of town and hoofed it to where all the good
stuff (shops) is.


And would you have ever guessed... a quilt ship.  Now the one thing I can say about quilt shops,
is that they quite frequently have a comfy seat out front where husbands can check their email in a
stress-free environment.

On to dinner at a no-name, but excellent little grill, followed by an expedition to explore every nook and cranny of every remotely interesting looking shop in Bar Harbor, and there are a LOT of
them. (Shops that is, not necessarily interesting).  I must admit that periodically I would stumble across and intriguing or amusing tid-bit.  A scrimshaw shop (I thought that was illegal), a fudge/ice cream/coffee shop, a specialty store that sold only items made from alpacca wool, (including an interesting thong).  And to answer you question, no, I didn't.

The last shop of the late evening was the best as I waited outside in a cushioned wicker chair
sipping a hot cup of fresh coffee, checking my email and listening to a James Taylor knock-off
playing the outdoor bistro across the street. Not a bad way to end the day.

Good night from Blackwoods CG in Acadia NP.

PS - I have had NO email from work.  I think I have been retired in my absence.  Boo - Hoo

Go East Old Man - Go East

(Horace Greeley was born in yesterday's stop of Amhurst NH)

Our goal today was to reach Acadia National Park by nightfall.  Tha plan was endangered by the
failure of the Funmobile's auxiliariy batteries, which among other things, run the much beloved
coffee maker.  But not to worry.  some things I'll just write off to bad karma, and do without.
but the coffee maker is not one of those things.  In a couple of hours, replacement batteries were
located and installed,the 1st cuppa coffee was had and we were on our way.

The road from Amhurst to Acadia takes you up the coast of Maine past Kennibunkport, (we didn't
drop in for brunch), to Bath ME, (birthplace of my USN alma mater, the USS Brinkley Bass), and
then through numerous small seaport towns with names like Passemequaknick,Omenauwatunut, etc.
(Politically correct acknowledgement of the Indians that were chased out 400 years ago I suppose.)

Along that route, Valerie miraculously produced a small brochure and announces, "Do you know how many quilt shops there are between Bath Maine and Acadia National Park?"  I fired back the only possible response of, "No Dear, but lets try to visit them all!"

MUCH later in the evening we arrived at our planned overnight stop of Lamoine State Park from which we would launch our 3-day visit to Acadia National Park.

Good Night From Lamoine

A Visit From The Griswalds

Today, was another travel day to get to Amhurst NH for a short visit with our niece Krista and family.  Although there were no stops along the way, the route took us across northeast Pennsylvania, mostly through low, heavily forested mountains (or high, heavily forested hills).  Pleasant, if not spectacular.

Then through a small chunk of New York, then Connecticut (sp?), then Mass and into New Hampshire.  That's five states in five hours, Which brings us to a small side story.  The eastern US has numerous toll roads, generally serviced by EZPASS (a more universal version of IPASS). I contend that each state may or may not have reciprocity with IPASS. Therefore, at the first toll booth in each state, I insist on going through the manual lane which is typically backed up with dozens of cars containing old people who don't bother looking for their change purse until they reach the booth.

My insistence regarding this issue is the mortal fear of heading for the EXPASS ONLY lane only to find that the gate will not go up.  Since everyone behind me is probably on their way to work, (and I obviously am not), we would shortly meet an untimely and unpleasant demise at the hands of some enraged New Yorker.

Val on the other hand insists that EZPASS and IPASS are interchangeable everywhere and it makes her nuts when I head for the booth.  And in spite of her being proven right 100% of the time on the past three eastern road trips, the resulting jovial banter does help pass the time.

That said, we arrived in Amhurst in mid-afternoon.  We were warmly greeted by the Hanks family including their two dogs Hershey, an aging Chesapeake Bay retriever, and Harvey a young mastadon.  They claim he is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, but I never experienced a dog with that much strength and exhuberance. Truely impressive.  Turns out he's a pussycat if you just role him over and scratch his belly.

After a scenic drive through old Amhurest and it's 250-year old homes and a wonderful dinner catching up on family activities, we retired for the night.

Good Night From Amhurst NH.

Travel Day

Ho Hum - Nothing to report today.  But just to prove my diligence, here are today's activities:

1.   Woke up.
2.   Cleaned up for breakfast.
3.   Ate waffle (with syrup).
4.   Drank coffee
5.   Packed Funmobile
6.   Left Lexington OH
7.   Drove 350 miles to Walmart in Wilkes - Barre PA to buy new sneakers.
      {Val said I was going to be arrested for transporting bio-hazards across state lines.}
8.   Got lost in Wilkes-Barre PA
7.   Arrived in the Promised Land.  (Actually Promised Land State Park PA)
8.   Wrote Blog

ZZZZzzzzz.

Tomorrow visiting family in Nashua NH.