21 May - Prince Edward Island

After a rainy night further up in New Brunswick, we drove over the Confederation Bridge onto PEI....our first time over the bridge and the sun started to shine and the skies cleared for us for a couple of days.  We drove the Island from Tip-to-tip over two days and once again, remarked about how red the soil was and how varied the landscape.  We saw the lighthouses at both ends, however the second day of travel was very WET and windy.....good thing there was a Cafe at the other end for coffee!  It was COLD!  We were left to imagine how miserable  the weather really can be in the dead of winter....the locals complained that they have not seen much Spring yet!

Took a trip into Charlottetown and visited the Government house where we "learned" that he Charlottetown Conference of 1864 was where the first discussions of Union took place.  They are celebrating 150 years this years of that conference that eventually led to our Confederation.  

We also learned about the difference between Maine Lobster and PEI Lobster....ours are MUCH better!  The flavour difference is remarkable!

19 May - Hopewell Rocks

Well, arrived to a campsite where only three of us in the campground.  Its cool and wet, but we do manage to get down to the water to see the "flowerpots".  Amazing structures in an amazing area.  The tides are so great here and I have taken some pictures of our first visit in the afternoon then next day with the low tide....not exactly the highest or lowest tides, but enough to get the picture!

High Tide

Low Tide next morning!

A most fascinating area!  On the low tide day, we wandered around on the beach which had been floded the day before....the rocks and erosion can be seen and hence, the name "flowerpots"....little croppings with trees and grass growing out of their tops.

18 May - St Andrews

Its been a few days since updating the blog mainly due to flakey internet connections, but are back into Canada now and hopefully things will change for the better.  The weather changed on our last days in Bar Harbour and we arrived back into New Brunswick under miserable rainy skies.  Our first night spent in St. Andrew's by the Sea and a little tour through one of Canada's oldest settlements.  Very pretty little town on the water, so in spite of the weather, we did a little tour through town.  Back to Tim Horton's.......yeah!

From here we travel to Hopewell Rocks to experience some huge tide variations. Hope the weather changes a bit for us!

16 May - Bar Harbour, Maine

Our shorter trip up to Mount Desert Island which houses Bar Harbour was a wonderful experience.  The National Park lands on the Island were traveled extensively and we started with two visits to Cadillac Mountain....our first trip up on day one found the highest point on the island  and boy, was it windy and cold at the top.  This area is apparently the FIRST place sunrise is visible in the lower 48 States.....at least in the early months of the year.  Naturally, we had to experience it for ourselves, so got up the hill the next morning for sunrise at 0502....again, naturally, it was cloudy for us, but did manage so sneak a peek of the rising sun!

As you can see, we were not the only ones....it was cold and everyone was taking shelter from the wind along the rows of rock at the top!

The park area is quite beautiful and quite extensive....we were surprised to learn that most of the land for the park was acquired as bequests from private citizens in an effort to preserve some of the natural beauty....of course we are talking names like Rockefeller and the like...

The weather was not exactly spectacular as we did get rained on a fair bit...our trip up Cadillac mountain was the best morning we could have chosen! All in all, our explorations were very interesting and we can see why it is a popular destination!

We had our FIRST lobster dinner in Bar Harbour and everyone really enjoyed the experience!

We will have to compare this experience with a PEI lobster and see if we can taste the difference!

Some of the rocky coast in the Park...this spot called Thunder Rock was impressive with the sounds of waves crashing in!

13 May - South Hampton

After leaving Cape Cod, we traveled North again through Boston, MA and landed in a place called Tuxbury Pond, New Hampshire...we spent a few days in the area, but highlights include our visit to Salem....much more than the town of witches, i might add.  There is a whole other nautical side to this town and many great old houses as we walked along the "Port" area.  The even had a great looking square rigger tied up called the "Friendship"...she was quite colourful!

We toured a local candy shop near the port and sampled some of their traditional candy..it was neat to see some of the old machines that they used to make "ribbon candy"....the stuff we saw as kids around Christmas each year growing up.  Some beautiful park area by the water as well lined with weeping willow trees, but like so many areas we have visited, Spring is just springing all along our route! Leaves are just coming out!

This is a view of one house where the book "House of Seven Gables was penned....a very interesting area all told.

From here we also toured the beaches of North Hampton but the winds were very strong and the wave action was interesting.....some palacial houses along this stretch of beach!

12 May - Cape Cod

Ann Murray sang the song about "falling in love with Old Cape Cod".... it was easy to see what she was singing about...I think Patty Page did the original version of the song....anyway, we managed to heed the songs advice.  From our visit to Plymouth rock on up, it was a great experience.  We actually learned that the puritans from England that sailed over in the Mayflower, actually landed North of Plymouth in a place called Provincetown....we visited there as well and found this out...it was a year earlier than Plymouth before they sailed down the coast and established the settlement there!  Who knew?

Here is the famous "Plymouth Rock" at the waterside in Plymouth.  Note the date on the stone!

I have to sign off right now, but will pick this up on my next session....stay tuned!

OK... the story continues....we have moved again and are now in New Brunswick on our way to PEI in the morning....those blog entries will appear later, internet access depending!

We saw the replica Mayflower in the harbour and had a hard time visualizing the 66 days at sea on their crossing!

We traveled around this area quite extensively and made it up to Provincetown where the first landing took place....pretty much a sand dune type area so no surprise they moved down the Coast to find some fertile land.  There is a huge monument erected on top of a hill there and the views from the top were breathtaking!

Of course, light houses are an interest of mine, so Maye indulged s by finding some to check out along the way.  This one was just down from Provincetown and had alternating coloured lens of white and red.  Quite unique.

In Maye's thirst for information, she picked up a guide book from the Pilgrim Monument and read about a phenomena in the area at a Grist Mill where herring spawn in the river about this time of year...off we went!  Just happened to be the best day of the best year in ages for returning herring and the river was teeming with fish.  We watched as some gulls descended into the area and had their meal of fish!  We learned that these are special Herring Gulls and no other species of Gull has the ability to "fish" and ingest fish of this size in one piece!  Quite a spectacle to behold!

The area had fish ladders built much like what we have seen for Salmon....difference being, the herring come back every year and don't die after spawning....just keep returning for about five years each year at this time.  The figure they wait in the ocean until the stream temp is just so, then up they come.  Fascinating to say the least!

On the way back to our campsite, we visited the Town of Barnstable and checked out the beaches there.  Just beautiful.....our intrigue came from our visit to Barnstable in England a few years back....the British influences in the names were remarkable!

Blue sky, water and beautiful sand.....what more could you ask for!

May 12 - Killingsly, Connecticut

The Stateline campsite here was right on the border and took us on day trips into some great sea side areas again!  We dropped in on Bristol that had a great wooden boat museum and lots of sailing in her history.  Incredible old houses that have been restored and amazing landscapes!

At the museum, they even had one of the America Cup racing sloops parked outside!

Very beautiful town and signs of patriotism everywhere.....even the center line in the streets was painted red/white and blue!  Just loved the area!