Fall 2015 Trip

States we have RVed in

We just finished a great trip...and added some states to our visited list.  Notably missing was Rhode Island, but now we have an excuse to return.  We ended up driving 3838 miles in 21 days.

Now we are getting ready for our fall trip.

Greenbrier State Park - Hagerstown, MD

Made our way from Watkin's Glen.  As we are driving, I said, "I wonder how far we are from Corning Glass?"  Turned out it was 8 miles ahead.  So we stopped at the Corning Glass Museum.  I was there as a kid, but of course, it's all different.  There were art exhibits, and technical exhibits.  We could have stayed there for a week, but alas, we had a fairly long day ahead of us, so we stayed as long as we could.  We even got to see a glass blowing demonstration.

 

After lunch, Deb drove until she said "I'm done - I am pulling over the next place I find."  Lucky for us it was a  50's style ice cream parlor.  We ate as much as we could but their portions were very large.  So we packed the rest in the freezer.

Our final night, so we had a campfire, ate ice cream and talked about the trip.  Quite a bit of rain...pretty cold - especially in Nova Scotia, and northern Maine.  Some places we would like to return to such as Watkins Glenn and Prince Edward Island.  About 10:00, the ranger stopped by, stared at Drex in disbelief..."Is that a dog?"  "Well, I won't make you move tonight, but keep him inside and be out of here by sunrise"  Somehow, I didn't realize that dogs were not allowed in either the Ash Loop, where we were (7th dry camping night) or the Birch Loop (they are OK in the Cedar Loop which also has power)

Watkins Glen State Park - Watkins Glen, NY

We drove from the most northern part of New York to the southern part.  First, along Lake Erie.  We took a little detour for our morning coffee on the lake.

It was a nice place, but unfortunately suffered from No'itis.  No wading, no swimming, no diving, no..no..no.  Anyway on to the finger lakes region.  First stop was a little wine tasting at Lamoreaux Landing.  It was on a hill overlooking Seneca Lake, and the wines were excellent.

Finally, we got to Watkins Glen State Park.  The campsite is at the top of the hill.  We were in site 50(E).  We walked to the Gorge Trail and hiked all 3 miles roundtrip of the trail.  Definitely worth the effort, but since the campsite was at the top of the hill, it was all downhill there and all uphill back.

 

It had rained for a few days prior to our visit, so the water was just rushing.  It turned out to be the highlight of the entire trip.

Wellesley Island State Park - Wellesley Island, NY

We didn't take the ferry, instead we went north and took the bridge to Rouses Point.  Lake Champlain was gorgeous, as was the St Lawrence seaway.  We ate lunch at a state park along the seaway.

Pulled into Wellesley State Park which is on an island that is half US and half Canadian.  We were camped in a field at site H-9(E), again we were right next to the water but you really couldn't see anything. All of the parks that we stayed at in New York, required a rabies certificate for Drex.  It was fortunate that we brought one for Canadian Customs (who actually never looked at it).

They had a nature center.  We took Drex for a walk to tire him out, so we could go biking.  It actually tired us out too, so we never went.  There is a major storm heading our way.  It has created tornadoes in the mid-west.  There are no alerts for our location, so we decide to stay put and check in the morning.  Of course, it rained all night, but in the morning, the storm had passed to our south and we were going to be following in its wake. 

Grand Isle State Park - Grand Isle, VT

Left the Dalpe clan and the rain, and drove west...we were out of the rain by early afternoon, with nothing but sunny blue skies.  Spent the night at Grand Isle State Park.  I guess I wasn't paying attention, but this was another dry camp(our 6th night this trip).  We are in site T001, with almost a view of the lake, but only if you drive head-in, if you back in, you get a view of the hill.  I've always said that RV Camping is guy thing,'cause if it were a girl thing, you would drive head-in and back out in the morning.  We were suppose to take our last ferry ride in the morning, but it turns out that two escaped convicts are on the other side of the ferry.

The next band of showers came in while we were relaxing outside.  It's been a little rainy this trip.

Paradise Park - Old Orchard Beach

Two days with family.  Lots of talk, lots of campfires, good times.  It was fun listening to people backing in their 5th wheelers in French.  Somehow it is much more exciting!  Bob taught me some good skills.  Pam the grill... It works ! And always use Stump Chump to start a fire.  It's now on our pre-flight checklist.  Bob has a penchant for ice cream and has classified all 35 or so ice cream parlors.  He took us to one of his new favorites:

I always thought of Old Orchard Beach as a beach with a pier, cotton candy, amusement rides etc.  but we got see a more serene side, with a bike ride on the "Eastern Trail" through a beautiful salt marsh...   Hopefully, I'll be able to insert the selfie that Bob took bike riding, since the rest of us forgot our phones.  We finally got that lobster bake that were have been working on since Nova Scotia.  Everybody got two lobsters, a corn-on-the-cob, an onion, and a hot dog to give to the dog.

Got a call from the boys which made it a really nice Father's Day. The weather was gorgeous, but it came down in buckets the last night after we went to bed.  Off on Sunday morning, after a Father's Day breakfast at the Good Times Cafe.

Lake St. George State Park - Liberty, ME

We decided to go to Lake Saint George because it was the right distance and the right direction on our trek...but interestingly, this was a favorite campground of my parents, on our way  to PEI.  I haven't been here since we were on a tenting trip, sixty years ago.  It's a very small campground with no utilities(site 23).  We are right on the water.  When you think of camping by the lake, this is exactly what it looks like.  Deb even got her, once a trip, campfire.
  It was a little chilly, so after a few hours of campfire, we went inside for another episode of House of Cards.  Unfortunately, Deb was still on Atlantic time, so she was awake at 5:00. She ended up playing on the Playstation for an extra hour while I did some internet surfing.  Yup, it was exactly as I remembered it, camping with my parents.

Mactaquac Provincial Park - New Brunswick

Our last night in Canada for awhile.  We are camped in a large field with several other rigs, but they are all weekenders, we guess, because there is no one around.  Took a little hike in the woods, and there was a zip line challenge.  It looked fun, but we had the dog....that's it, the dog....that's why we couldn't climb across cargo nets thirty-five feet in the air!  We were camped across from the hydro-electric dam, on a lake that goes on for miles, very narrow, but very long.

Cavendish campground - Prince Edward Island

We are spending three days in Prince Edward Island.  On day two we bicycled til our legs fell off.  There are so many bike paths here that you could bike for a year and never do the same trail twice.  Today was a cloudy cold day, so we motored to the the westernmost point of the island.  We ended up at North Cove where there is a lighthouse, wind turbines and crashing waves.

Cavendish Bike Trails

Today we biked several trails in Cavendish Park.  The views were spectacular.  Powder blue Forget-me-nots bordered the path of a woodland trail.  At one point I saw a massive bird fly over the bike trail.  For a moment, I thought it would pick Chris up by the shoulders!  Later we discovered that it was a Sea Eagle, of the Bald Eagle family.  We also saw a striking Red-winged Blackbird.

Cavendish Campground - Prince Edward Island

We have made it to o the northernmost point of our trek.  Deb says that we should never venture this far north in June because it is too cold.  So I checked, we are as far north of Boston as Virginia is south and we are roughly on the same parallel as Portland, OR and Paris, France.  But it's only suppose to get up to 16 today.  We have converted to metric pretty well. Yesterday, the GPS guided us carefully to the wrong spit of land and after some diligent internet searching, we found where we were suppose to be.  Deb looked at the GPS and moaned that we still had 32 kilometers to go. Yesterday we found a vegetable store, and got artichokes ($1.49/lb CAD)  and corn on the cob  (it was interesting produce is measured in pounds).  Also on the ferry they measured our RV in feet to make sure that we would fit on a ship measured in meters.  When we got to Cavendish, the wind was howling off the ocean which really brought up the surf.  We took a walk down the spit before dinner. There are kilometers and kilometers of dunes.  Unfortunately, Drex isn't allowed on the beach here, so he had to spend the time sleeping in the warm RV. (We are right on the beach(site 54 E/W), but somewhat in the woods - which helps with wind, but does bring the Mosquitos)

Caribou-Monroes Island Provincial Park - Nova Scotia

Well, we're getting a little smarter.  Before setting up, we decided to check out the sites in the field.  We have the most perfect spot (site 5) overlooking the Northumberland Strait.  It's almost bug less, has awesome views, and we have some internet.  Took a long walk on the beach this afternoon, got so tired we sat at the camper, watched the view and read until dinner.  It's a hard life.  We have been dry camping for three days, and with the new batteries, it has worked fantastically.  Deb even gets an hour or so of playstation in the morning.

This picture could go on the catalog cover for the RV manufacturer.

Tomorrow, we take our third ferry from Pictou (pronounced Pick-toe) to Prince Edward Island.  

Blomindon Provincial Park

Blomindon (pronounced Blah-min-don) park is on the Bay of Fundy.  The tide was a mere 43ft when we were there. We reserved a nice place right in the woods, but the park had killer views from the fields, and the temperature wasn't too hot, so we decided to move. Also the bugs were better, but the only site left was down a grassy slope with no flat spot on the bottom.  I used my handy iPhone to figure out that we were at a 6 degree slant, which made cooking, etc difficult. The view was worth it, though It rained over night and I thought, we may be stuck, if we couldn't get the RV up the wet grassy slope.  We ended up in site Y2 (no utilities).  It was Saturday morning, so we had our special breakfast.  On the second English muffin, the toaster took out the remaining juice in the battery. Well maybe it had something to do with the second batch of popcorn, the night before.  

You can see the difference in tides in these two picture, neither was at high or low tide, Deb was just taking pictures of the view and we saw the difference when we looked at them.

Thomas Raddell Provincial Park - Nova Scotia

We didn't get here until about 6:00 because we took the ferry from St John, which left at noon and arrived in Digby at 3:00.  Once we got to Liverpool, we got off the highway and drove 2 miles, and then  entered the park and drove gravel roads for two miles, and then checked in
 and drove dirt roads for two miles and finally we were right on the ocean.  A very secluded campground with two or three other people.  Site 72 next to the path to the beach (no utilities).  We are on Atlantic time which makes 5:00 come an hour earlier, also make it so it's still light at 10:00.

Rockwood Park - Saint John, NB

The sun came out today.  The Maine coast was sunny and foggy, all the way from Bar Harbor to Canada.  We ate lunch at Cobscook Bay.

Finally into Canada to spend the night in Saint John...did laundry which cost two loonies a load (a loony is a $1 coin CAD) and tomorrow we head to the ferry to go to Nova Scotia on a three hour ride.  I'm excited, but it will be another 5:00 arrival tomorrow.

Seawall Campground - Acadia National Park (2nd night)

It stays rainy and cold, but we are enjoying it.  Went for a bike ride to a lighthouse which helped work off some of the two day feast that we had with family.  After a lunch of wedding soup, a parting gift from Sie, we drove the 27 mile loop around Acadia, with a stop at a blow hole, and a scary trip to the top of Cadillac Mountain.  The wind was howling and rocking the RV, the mist reduced the visibility to a few feet.

Seawall Beach - love Maine!

Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse

Seawall Campground (Acadia Natl Park) - Bar Harbor, ME

Sadly, we departed from the family and headed for Maine.  It is still cold, which we sort of like, and raining which we sort of like, but the two together, not so much... We stopped at the only observation bridge in the U.S. and the highest in the whole world.  445 ft up! We made it to Seawall and settled into their best site, C29 (no hookups)

Surry Lane - Pelham, NH

Two days visiting with family.  We set up the RV on the pad that Lou built many years ago for his Lance.  He filled in a few holes, and we gratefully appreciated it.  We spent two warm days with the sun shining.  Had a fire going in the firepit for 36 straight hours.  There was so much food, Deb and I just moaned when we got back to the camper, or maybe it was camper itself moaning at the additional weight.  Got to see almost everybody, and caught up.  Finally breakfast with the in-laws at a local diner and we were off to Maine.

Promise Land State Park - Greentown, PA

Since I was stationed in Norfolk in the 60's, I have wanted to take the Cape May - Lewes ferry from Delaware to the southern tip of New Jersey .  Deb has no idea why riding ferries is a thing, but fortunately for me, she tolerates it.  Drove thru Philadelphia (we may be buying a new GPS after that), and then to the Poconos. It was Friday night and we normally go out, but we got in a little late and the view of the lake was fantastic.  We sat on the porch of the RV and watched the rain, had caprese and then a dinner entree of Beef Stew.   We ended up at site 111 with just electricity, in the dog friendly loop.

The Cape May - Lewes Ferry in the rain

Cape Henlopen State Park - Lewis, DE

Off on our Northern Adventure.  In preparation for heading to Canada, we lowered the temperature for all of Virginia by about 20 degrees, and added three or four inches of rain.  We feel like we are in Nova Scotia already... Tonight at Cape Henlopen, the site of Fort Miles, a stronghold in WWII, where they actually did fire one shot at the enemy.  It's been a little cold and a little rainy but we got a good walk between down pours.  We got some fresh produce at a local fruit stand...it was all from Georgia...so it was local to somebody. Just for the record we are at site 94 (water. - there is no electricity and no generators on a parallel parking site)