Thursday, July 29, 2010

It rained a bit during the night but we awoke to bright sunshine and enjoyed another hot, sunny day.

This morning our first stop was the train station at Saco to buy our Amtrak tickets for our trip into Boston tomorrow. From there we headed to the outlet malls in Kittery, which is just on the New Hampshire border.

Boy, talk about a busy place and a weird outlet mall – the road runs between the shops and there are 4 or 5 different areas so you have to keep moving the car. Our first stop was fine and we had no problem finding a parking spot but that was not the case at the next area we wanted to stop – it was a flipping zoo and we couldn’t find a parking spot so drove around a couple of times and headed to the next one. Fortunately we got a parking spot there and managed to find some really good bargains at the Columbia Sportswear outlet so left there happy.

Our next stop was Best Buy but they didn’t have the iPad I wanted so it was on to downtown Portsmouth. We stopped at Albacore Park and saw the Albacore submarine, a submarine that was used during WWII; we didn’t take the time to do an actual tour of it but did check it out and agree that there was no way any of us would be able to sail on something like that.


We got downtown and finally managed to find a parking spot so we could walk around a bit. We went to the Portsmouth Discovery Centre and watched a video on Portsmouth then the lady at the centre recommended we tour the Moffatt-Ladd House which was built in the 1790’s. It was a beautiful home and we really enjoyed the tour.

Portsmouth Brewery Sign


Loved the Name of This Pub

From there it was a stop at Wal Mart then back to Biddeford for dinner at the Olive Garden, which was very good, then back to the hotel around 9 p.m. We sure do seem to put in long days!!!

It is now time to hit the sack as we have to be up at 6 a.m. to be at the train station in Saco in time for the 8:15 a.m. train. I think another long day is ahead!

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

And the gorgeous weather continues although today was a bit hotter and more humid than yesterday, but thankfully there was a nice breeze.

Our first stop this morning was a quick run into Wal Mart to get water plus a few other things we wanted. From there it was off to Old Orchard Beach and the mini golf, what a blast that was and yahoo, I got 3 holes in one; and wow, I was the only one to get any holes in one – just pure luck!!

Next it was a stop at Tim’s for a coffee then on to Prout's Neck and then Cape Elizabeth where there are twin lights. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a way to get close to the lights but managed to get pictures of them from the Lobster Shack where we had lunch. It was a nice lunch sitting at a picnic table overlooking the ocean and after we ate Nan & Kel walked down on the rocks a bit. We drove around the cape looking at the houses and wow, are there ever some beauties!

View of Old Orchard from Prout's Neck


Prout's Neck Post Office



Nan & Kel on the Rocks at Cape Elizabeth


The Twin Lights



We came back to the hotel and Kel & Pat changed into their bathing suits and we were off to Biddeford Pool, a beach the girl on reception here at the hotel told us about. I didn’t bother with my bathing suit as I hadn’t really been too impressed with the beach at Old Orchard Beach but the one today was much nicer, with very little seaweed, and the water seemed a bit of warmer so I sort of wished I had put on my suit, on the other hand it was much cooler at the beach as it was after 5 when we got there so it was just nice sitting there. Nan doesn’t have a bathing suit and hasn’t been able to buy one so we kept each other company on the beach while Kel & Pat swam.

From there we drove around Biddeford Pool and Fortune’s Rock, once more oohing and aahing over the beautiful homes overlooking the ocean and we had to listen to the girls bemoaning the fact that they don’t have rich parents with a nice house on the ocean – poor them!

Biddeford Pool



Fortune's Rock

Back again to the hotel and after a quick change we went to Restaurant 99 for dinner and had another yummy meal.

I don’t know how the days can go so fast but they just seem to fly by, guess time flies when you are having fun! Again, by the time I get this finished I will be ready to hit the hay!

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

We are so lucky that the weather has been behaving and we are enjoying such beautiful sunny, warm days – sure hope it continues but it would be nice if it just cooled off a tad.

This morning we were out of the hotel before 9 a.m. and went to Freeport, home of L L Bean and all their stores, as well as tons of other outlet shops. I wandered around the women’s section of L L Bean then went to Starbucks and used the internet on my iPod Touch and enjoyed a coffee while the others shopped. Kel came back and met me and we went to the L L Bean Home Store, then met Pat & Nan and it was off to the L L Bean outlet store. My, oh my, what a lot of L L Bean stores and I didn’t buy a thing!!

We left Freeport shortly before noon and headed south to Portland where we were going to do the mail boat cruise, a 3 hour cruise of all the islands outside Portland. We finally found a parking spot and then walked about 8 blocks to the pier where we bought our tickets for the cruise, then went to a restaurant for a quick lunch – two of us had clam chowder and two had seafood chowder – all of it being totally delicious.

The cruise was fun with lots of beautiful homes and boats along the way and the mail boat stopped at about 5 islands to unload supplies and passengers as well as picking up new passengers. We sat in a covered area until about the last hour when the sun wasn’t as strong so we could comfortably sit out front in the open.

Bug Light

Old Fort

One of Many Boats We Saw Today

Golf Carts Lined Up At Dock Waiting for Owners to Return

Other Views from the Boat




Once off the boat we worked our way back to the car with tours through a few shops to cool down in their air conditioning as it was still really hot.

Statute of Lobster Man


We then headed for the Portland Head Light, the oldest working lighthouse in the U.S. It is an absolutely gorgeous lighthouse and the keeper’s house, which is now a museum, looked beautiful.



Just a Small Cruiser Going By Portland Head Light


From there we went to Old Orchard Beach where we had dinner at the Clam Bake, it was a huge place where we ordered our food then picked it up when our number was called. Nan, Kel and I had fried clams with French fries & coleslaw and Pat had Haddock & chips and we all agreed that our meals were delicious.

From there it was a quick tour through the Gift Shop then down to the beach, just as it was getting dark, for a walk along the beach. The mosquitoes chased us back to the car after about half an hour but the rising moon over the water was spectacular, a bright orange orb rising up in the sky. Of course, guess who didn’t have their camera with them!

We got back to the hotel shortly after 9 p.m. so another long but fun day. Pat did laundry and Nan & Kel spent some time computering so I am now getting this done when they all have gone to bed as Nan was using my computer earlier.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Monday, July 26, 2010

We are so lucky with the weather as today was another gorgeous, sunny day although it was hotter than I like but guess that is better than freezing cold and wet.

We had breakfast at the hotel as it is included in the price, then headed out for a day of touring. Our first stop was the Lighthouse Shop where we enjoyed browsing through the store and, good heavens, we all found a couple of things that we just couldn’t live without purchasing!! We then drove to Kennebunkport where we admired all the gorgeous houses and got our first glimpse of the ocean. We found a parking spot and walked a bit along the waterfront where we took some pictures and drank in the scenery.

Kennebunkport





We toured in a southerly direction along the coast enjoying the scenery, even though there were throngs of other tourists doing the same thing – imagine that at this time of year!! We eventually arrived at Perkins Cove, a small community along the coast with the usual tourist shops, and gorgeous scenery. We parked the car a couple of blocks away from the tourist stuff (the only place we could find a parking spot!) then walked down into the cove. There is a pretty walkway along the ocean, Marginal Way, and we enjoyed the walk along it and the scenery.

Views from Marginal Way






We returned to the cove where we had a delicious lunch on a covered patio looking over the ocean, then wandered through some shops in the cove and took pictures. I managed to hold onto my money while wandering the stores there but a couple of our group managed to find something that sparked their attention.

Perkins Cove





We came back to our hotel, relaxed for a few minutes then headed to Pine Beach at Old Orchard Beach. The tide was out when we got there so it looked kind of yucky with the seaweed on the beach but we all went down and waded in the ocean for a bit, but Pat was the only truly brave one who actually went for a swim. She and Kelly then walked further down the beach while Nan and I just sat and enjoyed the scenery and watched our belongings.

It was about 8 when we got back to the hotel so we ordered a pizza to be delivered for dinner and it was delicious. We have had a brief chat on Skype with Art in Australia and I am now trying to get this done before I crash.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

This morning I woke up to comments about how loud I was last night, my sister & Kel both seem to think I was doing some serious snoring but Nan said she didn’t hear a thing so I am taking her word and not believing the other two – tee, hee! (I couldn’t figure out when I woke up about 5:30 why Pat had a pillow over her head but didn’t think too hard about it!!). Anyways, I have never laughed so much first thing in the morning and I have promised them I will try to do better tonight and be much quieter.

Nan & Kel Loading the Car this Morning


We were on the road by 9:15 and it took us 9 hours to drive 300 km, needless to say we did some stops along the way. The drive through the White Mountains in New Hampshire was beautiful and we stopped in the Franconia Notch National Forest and walked to The Basin, what a pretty walk and so nice in the woods. The Basin was very interesting and it was so tempting to just jump in the water and cool off! Of course it is all posted “No Swimming”.

Pictures from The Basin Walk






The Basin


Views of the White Mountains




We went to North Conway in New Hampshire and had lunch and spent a couple of hours shopping at the outlet mall there as well as a stop at the L. L. Bean outlet. We all found some good bargains so it was a very profitable stop for us. On Kel’s recommendation we went to the Christmas Tree Shop, which is like a dollar store and again found some bargains there. I have never seen or heard of the Christmas Tree Stores but will stop again if I ever come across another one in our travels.

After a very scenic drive on the back roads of New Hampshire & Maine we arrived at our hotel, Comfort Suites in Biddeford Maine about 6:15 and got checked in then headed out to find something for dinner. We ended up at Applebee’s where we had a great dinner for a great price, I was the only one who has been to Applebee’s but now they all say they will go again as we really enjoyed it.

After dinner we walked over to Kohl’s for a quick look around – no spending there, then stopped at Target where there were a couple of items bought. Then it was back to the hotel to finish unpacking etc., get caught up on e-mails and I want to get this done before going to bed, which will be soon as I am wiped.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

We got away from Nan’s just after 8:30 and were at Kel’s just before 10. We are taking Kel’s car so reloaded our stuff into it and were on the road by about 10:15 a.m.

Entering Quebec


We had a good drive and arrived in St. Johnsburry, Vermont about 7 p.m. The drive through Montreal was quite good and we had mostly nice weather with just a couple of short downpours along the way.

We got checked into our hotel room and then headed out to Goodfellows Tavern for dinner, the gal on the hotel desk recommended it and we had a great dinner and not too terribly expensive.

We are all tired so probably will be hitting the hay shortly. Tomorrow we only have about 300 km (185 miles) to travel so will do some sight seeing and shopping along the way.

Friday, July 23, 2010

We woke up this morning to a completely flooded lot, this is the 3rd time in three weeks this happened, needless to say we are getting kind of tired of this. When we left this morning we had to wade through water half way to our knees to get to our truck.





We left about 11:30 to go to Kitchener where I had an appointment for a lymph massage, then we met my sister Pat at our son’s house and John took Pat & I to Bolton to our daughter Nan’s where we all spent the night. Nan, Pat and I are leaving here in the morning and going to Kel’s where we are heading out on an 8 day trip to Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Should be fun, with 2 sets of sisters and a mother, two daughters and aunt/sister combination.

And so ends a great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

I don’t know how many times I have been going to catch up and then start on something else and never get back to doing the catch-up – oh, such a busy life!

We spent three days in Sarnia after crossing the border and the time just flew by, sure don’t know where it goes. On the Wednesday night John’s brother and sister-in-law invited us for dinner so we had a great visit and a yummy dinner of grilled ribs that Doug did.

Looking Across the St. Clair River to Port Huron, MI


The Bluewater Bridge Between Sarnia, ON & Port Huron, MI


On Thursday we took the trailer to Can-Am in London, our Airstream dealer and had them do quotes on some work we want to have done. We arrived early on Thursday afternoon and got away again about 11 on Friday morning. We ran into a friend from Bobcaygeon who had his trailer in for some work so on Thursday night the three of us went to Swiss Chalet for dinner – sure beats cooking!

Friday was a gorgeous day so we got the trailer parked in a pull through site and started unloading it and getting stuff transferred to the cottage. Thankfully we got a lot done as Saturday and Sunday were not nice days, some rain and cooler.

Friends of ours took delivery of a new 5th wheel and truck in the last month so they arrived on Saturday to try RVing for the first time. They didn’t have great weather for their first time out but they did seem to enjoy it so we hope they have many happy miles and days of RVing. On Saturday night six of us went to the Erie Belle for dinner and then we came back to our place for a visit, a very nice evening and it was so nice to finally have GOOD fish and chips again!

A Wind Surfer in Kincardine


This week has been busy, Tuesday we were in Kitcener/Waterloo for the day and wouldn’t you know it, it was the nicest day this week!! Darn, as I am having trouble finding enough nice weather to get laundry done, I have a washing machine but hang the clothes out to dry. We stopped at our son’s and had a nice visit with him and our daughter-in-law and we are looking forward to seeing them again on Sunday.

Today is wicked – very RAINY, COLD and WINDY, sure hope it clears off later but I think it is to be cold and wet for a couple of days yet, not nice.

Tomorrow we are going to our daughter Nan’s for dinner and all of our children and most of the grandchildren will be there so we are looking forward to seeing them all again as it has been a long time. Our grand daughter is going to Leadership camp this weekend so she won’t be there, hopefully we will see her sometime soon.

We will stay overnight at Nan’s and then on Monday go to Kitchener from her place as we have a doctor’s appointment in the morning then are meeting friends for lunch.

I will sign off and this will be the end our winter journal. We really enjoyed our seven months of travel and were fortunate to see a lot of new territory and meet a lot of new friends as well as renew friendships with folks we haven’t seen in a while. We traveled 24,275 km (15,075 miles) and 13,170 of those kilometers (8,195 miles) were pulling the trailer, and we stayed in 34 different RV parks. Now we have the summer to plan our trip to Arizona next fall!

Monday, April 26, 2010

I didn’t get around to writing anything yesterday as there was nothing to write about – it was a VERY WET, CRAPPY day. I got the laundry done and that was about all I accomplished, it was just a real quiet relaxing day listening to the rain pour down.

We were really glad that we hadn’t bothered to unhook the truck as John would have got soaked hooking us up again. I put a pot roast in the slow cooker for dinner – yummy and that was our day.

It rained off and on all night but had stopped when we got up this morning and within about 15 minutes of leaving the park the sky cleared and the sun came out – yeah. It was a pretty cold day though, especially for us who aren’t used to the cold, I think I saw a high of 15C (60F) but with the sun it was pleasant but there was a very chilly wind.
We stopped in Davidson MI to replace the brake controller, when we had the new one delivered to Yuma John was told that he could replace it with a better model within a year so after driving from Yuma to Michigan we realized that it just wasn’t doing as good a job as it should so we stopped and got the upgrade that they said should be better with the triple axle and wow, what a difference it made. We are really glad we did the upgrade and we also got a new bar to replace the one that had got bent so we should be good on all counts for a while.

We were about 5 miles from the border in Michigan when a pickup passed us, John was watching it come up on us and thought it looked like his brother’s truck and sure enough after he had passed John realized it was his brother. Doug didn’t realize he had passed us and was two lanes over waiting to go through customs but we couldn’t get his attention, then we pulled away from customs just ahead of him so John managed to finally get his attention. We pulled over at the first opportunity and had a chat and he invited us for dinner on Wednesday night so we are looking forward to getting caught up with him and his wife as we haven’t seen them since last August.

Customs was a breeze, a couple of questions and it was have a nice day, sure do like when that happens. We are now set up at Country View Motel & RV in Wyoming and will be here until Thursday when we want to go to Can-Am and get some quotes on having work done on the trailer over the summer.

By the time we got set up we decided it was too windy to grill so we headed back to Sarnia and Swiss Chalet for dinner, we haven’t had Swiss Chalet since November in Victoria, B.C. so we did enjoy it. Nan & Carl had given us a Gift Certificate for Christmas so we used that tonight – thanks for the great dinner Nan & Carl!

I’m not sure when I will get this posted as the internet here is $5/day so I still haven’t decided whether to pay for it or not – the joys of RVing in Ontario – Ontario parks sure are way behind most RV parks in the states – they charge way too much for way too little!!

There is no cable TV here but our TV is working fine on the antenna so the problem in the states was definitely that it doesn’t have a digital tuner. They are going to be required here in Canada next year so I guess we will be looking out for a new TV before we head out in the fall.

Okay, I popped for 3 days of internet so will post this.

And so ends two more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Here I am back again after a few days, I don’t know where the time goes but it flies by and when we haven’t done anything very exciting it is hard to find something to write about.

On Thursday we drove up to Bardstown with a stop at Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. Well, at Lincoln’s memorial the visitor centre and memorial building were closed for renovations so we didn’t see too much, sure wish they would put a CLOSED sign out so that people could avoid the drive to see nothing!

Bardstown had a neat downtown and a lot of museums, all of which were more than we were willing to pay. We parked downtown and walked around and through a couple of shops but there was nothing that caught our interest so we headed home.

When we got back we decided to check out Mammoth Caves and thought this was where we had toured a cave many years ago. When we arrived at the Visitor Centre we realized we hadn’t been there before so went in to see what tours were available. As it turns out this is National Parks Week and we could get an introductory tour of Mammoth Cave for free – we sure weren’t about to say no to that. The tour was starting in about 5 minutes so I hurried out to the truck to put on my running shoes and leave my purse in the truck as I had been told no purses were allowed on the tour. I was just grabbing my camera and case when John came along and told me that there were no camera bags allowed either – go figure! Needless to say neither of us took our cameras as we weren’t about to hike through a cave for an hour with them swinging from our wrists.

The tour was very good and as always, the guide turned out the lights for a couple of minutes, it is hard to imagine how black dark is!! This is the first cave we have toured where there weren’t stalactites and stalagmites so it seemed quite different from that point of view.

On the way back to the truck after the tour we chatted with a couple of women and lo and behold shortly after we got home they pulled in to a small motorhome across the road from us, they had come in after we left in the morning so we hadn’t seen them. We ended up chatting again for quite a while and they had a tour of our airstream, they offered to trade rigs but we politely declined the offer.

Friday morning was pretty quiet then in the afternoon we decided to go to Glasgow and do a final Wal Mart shopping and I also wanted to get a much needed pedicure. On the way home we stopped in Park City to fill up with the cheapest diesel fuel we had seen - $2.869/gal. We then drove by Diamond Cave and yes, this is the one we toured about 14 years ago and sure enough the rv park is still across the road, sure made us feel better to figure out where we had been so many years ago.

This is election time in this part of the country so the landscape is covered with election signs but the ones we found most interesting were the signs to vote for so and so for County Jailer – sure would like to see that job description!

Somewhere during the day we had heard there were tornado warnings out for this area for Saturday so we decided to head out on Saturday morning instead of sitting around waiting for a tornado to come through the area, so when we got back on Friday John got us hooked up and ready to pull out in the morning.

This morning dawned bright and clear and it was sort of why are we heading out, but, oh well we’re hooked up so let’s go. We had a good drive to Auburn, IN with very little traffic through Louisville KY and Indianapolis, IN and we had nice weather until about the last hour when it was overcast and then rained. We are now at Fireside Resort at Auburn and when we were checking the woman mentioned the tornados in the Bowling Green KY area, okay, we’re sure glad we left that are as Cave City is only a bit north of there.

We arrived about 4 this afternoon and the rain had stopped about the time we arrived but it has just now started to pour again, at least we are cozy and dry in our little home on wheels and will enjoy a quiet evening. Again, we don’t have cable TV so might even watch a movie tonight for something different.

Today we lost another hour and are finally back on Eastern Standard Time - the first time we have been in the same time zone as home since last September!

And so ends three more great gifts of days and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Today we broke a week long record – we had no rain! Today was another gorgeous, warm sunny day – sure hope the weather continues like this for the next few days.

We had a great trip from Tupelo to Nashville along the Trace with very little traffic and lots of flowers along the side of the road. For years when coming through Tennessee and Kentucky at this time of the year there are thousands of little red flowers along the roadside and we never knew until today what they were – turns out they are crimson clover and they are so pretty. We stopped at a lot of turnouts along the Trace today so it was a leisurely drive but we did get to Nashville around 1:30 in time to miss rush hour traffic.

Crimson Clover


Fields of Flowers


Along the Trace


This sailboat had just come under the bridge over the Tennessee River and had to lower its mast to get under the bridge.


Then we watched this tug with the barges, it was six barges long and we had no idea how many wide it was but it was quite amazing to watch it go by.





Tennessee was in full bloom and all the trees have their spring leaves but Kentucky is just coming into bloom, still it is real pretty.

Dogwoods In Bloom


Alabama/Tennessee State Line


Life On The Trace and Old Trace



Merriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame died along the Trace and is buried there so we stopped to see his monument.


Downtown Nashville


We are at Singing Hills RV Park at Cave City, KY and will be here until Sunday. This is a Passport America Park and doesn’t have an “it” factor but at $14/night with full hook-ups and wi-fi we aren’t going to complain. There is a nice Phaeton Motorhome beside us and the fellow was talking to John for a bit and gave him a new set of leveling blocks and refused any money for them, now wasn’t that great of him. He is part of a Ministry, not sure what that is all about, so John will make a donation to the Ministry in appreciation.

There is no cable TV here so guess we will be on the computer and reading in our spare time.

Tomorrow we plan on touring the area a bit so we are hoping for a nice day and good weather.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another great day tomorrow.