Continuing on through Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticutt

October 12

After leaving the Boston area, we visited our niece in Massachusetts and a college friend of Bonnie's in Plymouth, MA.  Yes, Plymouth Rock is right there at Plymouth, and yes, it is a large rock:

While it is a rock, it is not just any rock.  It is very important in the history of the U.S. as evidenced by the structure that protects it.

There is also an exact replica of the Mayflower in Plymouth

Continuing on to Rhode Island, we visited Newport, the home to many luxury summer "cottages".  The "small cottage" shown below was built by the Vanderbilt's and is 130,000 square feet.

There were many summer "cottages" built in Newport by wealthy families during the Gilded Age, 1870's to 1900 to show off their opulence.

We moved on through Connecticut along the coast then around NYC on down through New Jersey, around Philadelphia, and into Delaware before crossing into Maryland to see a family friend.  Upon leaving Maryland, we went to the Shenandoah National Park to drive down Skyline Drive.  The views were absolutely gorgeous and unending for more than a hundred miles.  We stopped and hiked at a few of the summit hikes.

We continued on from Skyline Drive to Blue Ridge Parkway which had the same views.  We are already making plans to return because there are hundreds of hikes along the way including many accesses to the Appalachian Trail.

At one of the campgrounds along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the ranger told us there was 160 year old apple orchard on the grounds.  We walked around and found some trees that have not had any spray for at least 100 years, so we picked these:

and thought of our friends, Brandon and Rachael, when we turned them into homemade applesauce:

OBSERVATIONS:
Once upon a time there were Rest Stops along the interstate highway system, but technology is slowly changing that thinking, in a good way.  We noticed this mostly in the northeast states:

Leaving Acadia National Park / visiting Boston

October 5

With Acadia National Park in our rear view mirror, we stopped at a campground ~15 miles from Bar Harbor.  We stayed there for a couple of days catching up on cleaning, laundry, etc.  Here is the view from our campsite, so you can see why we didn't mind a couple of days catching up.

We continued on towards Boston, stopping in Freeport, ME to visit LL Bean which is open 24/7 for 365 days/year.  According to them, they get 3 million visitors a year.  We are not ones for shopping, but the experience is pretty fun.  Once leaving Freeport, we stopped in Wiscasset, ME for lunch at Red's Eats, a place that was written up in all of the New England visitor's book.  The unique thing about Red's Eats is that it is a tiny place with no place to sit down inside, yet the people line up down the sidewalk to place an order for their favorite.  The food we had was fantastic, the lobster roll, (which was already de-shelled so I didn't have to wrestle with it), was declared by several publications (USA Today, Trip Adviser, Maine Lobstermen, and some others I can't recall right now), as the best lobster roll in the state of Maine.

Something else we got at Red's was a home made whoopie pie.  At first I only got one just to try it, but I was back within five minutes to get another one.

Thursday, October 8

We parked our rv at the furthest train station out on the northeast side of Boston and took the train in to walk the Freedom Trail.  This was a very enjoyable activity that brought back to life the historical events that took place and some of the places that were included.  You walk the 2.6 mile long Freedom Trail by following bricks laid in the sidewalk, then when you get to one of the stops, there is a bronze marker embedded in the concrete.

Below is the Massachusetts State House that was completed in January 1798 at a cost of $133,333.  The land was originally owned by John Hancock, the first elected governor of Massachusetts.  It is now the seat of the Massachusetts state government.

the cemetery where Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and the five victims in the Boston Massacre were buried

Boston's oldest surviving public building, the Old State House, was built in 1713.  The balcony was where the Declaration of Independence was read to the people who gathered in July 1776.  

Below is the Old North Church which is Boston's oldest church building.  The steeple is where two lanterns were hung on April 18, 1775 to signal the beginning of Paul Revere's ride, the action regarded as the spark that ignited the American Revolution. 

Paul Revere was not only a patriot, he was an expert silversmith, copper manufacturer, part time dentist, engraver, foundry owner for bells and canons, and the father of sixteen children; 8 to his first wife and, after she died, he had 8 more with his second wife. 

There is a monument for the Battle of Bunker Hill where "don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!" became the famous battle cry.

OBSERVATION:

I had a preconceive notion that Bostonian's could be rude, arrogant, and impatient.  While that may be true of some, our experience was that people would go out of their way to help when they saw people looking at a map or an information board.  My apologies to the Bostonian's.  But they still talk funny.

Back to Acadia National Park

October 4

We intended to stop back at Acadia National Park to do more hiking and are very glad we did.  This hike on the Bee Hive trail ranks right up there as one of my all time favorites.  It was not for the faint of heart as it went nearly straight up.  We met others coming back down after changing their mind; not us though, we were determined to make it to the top.  It was AWESOME!!!!! 

Here is Bonnie on one of the easier parts of the hike

This part got a bit more difficult.  The blue in the picture below is the sky; not the ocean,

and the view from the top was wonderful!

We also hiked across the sand bar at low tide to Bar Island.  It was not all that exciting, but it is fun to be able to say we walked across the sand bar before the tide came back in.

The weather has been cooperating with us and we just did not get tired of seeing the rugged, rocky coastline.

The locals enjoy sailing!  And plenty of space for all.

FDR's summer home in Campobello, New Brunswick

October 1

We re-entered the states then went to Campobello, New Brunswick where FDR had a summer home.  Interestingly enough, you have to re-enter Canada to get there, but it was a very nice island.  The FDR summer home is maintained by the US even though it is in Canada.  Nice house!

We continued on out to the end of the island to see the lighthouse, but is was during high tide.  The warning sign is to remind people that the tide rises quickly.  In the second picture below, you can see where you go down the steel steps to walk over to the island on which the lighthouse is located.

 then you look across the small channel to see the other set of steel steps to climb up to get to the lighthouse. 

 I FOUND THIS ENTERTAINING:

When we returned to the US from Canada, we came into the same customs crossing as when we entered Canada.  I found this quite interesting; when we entered customs, the agent asked us the usual questions of:

• what is your license plate number?  (I gave it to her, although they have a camera focused on the rear of the vehicle)
• do you have any alcohol? (no)
• do you have any pets? (no)
• do you have any fruits or vegetables? (4 limes, a banana, and an avocado)

Then, she said, pull over so we can board your rv.  Upon boarding, they looked around, then looked in the refrigerator.  She reached in and seized the limes and the avocado.  I asked why they were taking them because I purchased them in the states and am just returning.  She said different states have different regulations for citrus and avocados so we destroy all of them at the border crossings.  So I told her, "Ok, I understand regulations, but yet, I can buy them in Alabama, haul them in my car to California and yet nothing happens."  She said, "I didn't say it makes sense, it's just the regulations."  Hmmm, there must be some political trail associated with this maneuver. 

Back through Mahone Bay to return to the US

September 30

As indicated in an earlier post, we stopped in Mahone Bay to walk around the quaint village and get a close look at all the scarecrows.  The whole village seemed to get into the scarecrow festival.

Bonnie discovered the founding families of Mahone Bay 

as well as Anne of Green Gables

I made my own discoveries

October 1, 2015

When we returned through New Brunswick from Nova Scotia, we stopped in St. John because Bonnie’s paternal grandmother was born and raised in St. John, New Brunswick.  We had the address of her house and were able to find it.  We have earlier pictures of the house, but it has since been updated and modernized a bit.

 

According to family history, Bonnie’s grandmother received a piano as a high school graduation gift.  After graduation, she was accepted at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio and brought the piano with her on the train.  Bonnie and I have that piano and I have refinished and restored it and had new key strikers installed and professionally tuned.  (I’ll just have to get our friend, Christy, to come over and play it for us. J )

We did get into rain the night of September and the whole next day.  So, depending on Joaquin, we may have to alter our route.