O Canada, here we come!

We picked up Kate at Deep River, Connecticut, at 12 noon after her morning shift and headed North. I dropped off extra "stuff" at Kate's house to make room for the 3 of us in the RV and off we went! Freeway driving soon put Connecticut, Massachusetts, and a corner of New Hampshire behind us and we were in Maine!

We were all interested in tasting Maine lobster rolls! Did you know it takes a lobster about 7 years to grow to legal size of 3-3/16 (about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs). The largest lobster caught in recent years was 44 lbs and was 3 1/2 ft long! 

Dinner was a delicious Lobster Roll at the Beach Plum. (Yelp is so great for checking restaurants and sites as we go!)

First stop was Freeport ME to shop at LL Bean. We arrived later than planned and "boondocked" in their special RV parking lot. They encourage RVers to come, stay for free, and SHOP! The store is open 24 hours! We hit the store first thing in the morning and got some good bargains!

After a morning of shopping we again headed North, stopping for an interesting tour at the Fort Western, Augusta Maine. This fort was built in 1754 and is the oldest surviving wooden fort in New England. 

We stopped for the night Parks Pond campground in Clifton ME. This was a friendly rv park on a small lake.

The next morning it was on the road to Canada, crossing the border at Calais ME. The GPS did not work in Canada and Karolyn navigated us through beautiful forests to Fundy National Park. The visitor center gave us information about 1) great lobster rolls in Alma, and 2) times for the tides at Hopewell Rocks, and off we went again!

First stop was a fantastic lobster roll at Alma Lobster Shack! We learned that the most succulent ones were the smaller 1 1/2 lbs. We were eating well!

Then we were off to Hopewell Rocks, Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick, for the low tide at 7:00pm. We walked on the ocean floor.

Finally we made it back to the campsite at Fundy National Park!

We saw the fishing boats at Alma completely stranded by the low tide!

I saw many signs for moose, but never spotted a live one. Figured I'd have to settle for this picture with a moose...

Next day was high tide at Hopewell Rocks. High tide was 46 1/2 feet, the highest for 2015! It was so cool to see the water covering by many feet the place where we had walked the evening before. We watched from the steps as the water rose minute by minute!

From there we went back to Alma for lunch... Another lobster roll and snow crab! Then it was on to Saint John on the Bay of Fundy. 

We stayed at Rockwood park in Saint John for a couple of nights. Great little campground on a lake.

We went to City Market in Saint John. There were booths selling everything from produce to clothes to fresh fish to trinkets to pastries to sandwiches to t-shirts---you name it! Colorful mobiles hung from the ceiling.

And Karolyn was happy to discover Costco in Canada!

We saw the Reversing Rapids where the incoming tide actually reverses the direction of the river. We watched as guys on kayaks challenged the waves of the tide vs the river. It took skill to maneuver!

Then it was farewell to Canada and back to the U.S.!

On our way!

I picked up my twin sister, Karolyn, from the Hartford airport and I wanted to show her something she wouldn't get back home in California! I took her to Vermont, not thinking that the last thing she would want to do was drive after being in the plane for so long! But we headed up highway I95 from Connecticut and soon passed through Massachusetts and had lunch in Battleboro VT along the Connecticut River.

We then headed west and stopped at the Vermont Country Store in Rockingham where you can find things I remembered from my childhood as well as some things I could not imagine! There were old style toys, penny candy, soaps from years ago like Fels-Naptha soap that we used for poison oak, as well as tasty Vermont cheeses and maple syrup! Fun. "Remember this?" was the common question!

We made it to Lake Champlain VT in Vergennes where we had a site with a lake view.

We got up early to see the sun rise over the water! Beautiful! Then we took a walk to a point on Lake Champlain.

We had a busy day!  We headed to Burlington first. Then Karolyn had her first Lobster roll at a restaurant in Burlington. Good, but not as good as the one I had in Connecticut!

Then it was a stop to see the Round Church in Richmond, VT. It was built in 1812 and has 16 sides. It housed 5 different denominations, each taking a turn for services. It was later used for town meetings.

Then it was Ben & Jerry's tour and a new favorite ice cream... Carmel Core! We bought some every time we saw it!

No.... Not broccoli... Carmel Core!

We headed south to Emerald Lake State Park in Dorset CT for the night. We had a pretty walk around the lake in the morning. Then it was on to a rv park in East Haddam, CT, near my sister in law, Kate's home. Kate lives in Deep River, CT, which was founded in 1638! Hard to believe for us Californians with white history beginning after the gold rush in 1849!

The three of us start on the trip to Canada tomorrow!

Connecticut & A Taste of Rhode Island

Hi all! It is past time for me to catch up on my blog!! 

The last part of August was spent waiting for an RV service appointment in Danbury, CT.  I have a Mercedes Diesel engine and called several Mercedes service companies before finding one that could take my RV size. So I was glad to get the appointment even if I had to wait! 

I camped for 2 days at Macedonia Brook State Park near Kent in Eastern CT. It was a great spot where I could hear and see the brook babbling. 

It rained quite a bit and I got pretty bored in the camper. I walked around Kent for a bit, but it was mostly antique stores and pricey clothes. I rode my bike between showers. I'm enjoying the folding bike. It fits just behind the drivers seat.

Then I camped a little closer to Danbury for another 2 days at Kettletown State Park. This park had a nice lake but the bacteria count was too high to swim.

So it was hiking by the lake, in the woods, or along a pretty stream for me! The RV was serviced and off I went again, this time to the beach!

Hammonasset state beach is not far from  New Haven. Hammonasset is an Indian name which means "place where we dig holes in the ground," referring to the farming methods used by the local tribe. 

I enjoyed a walk to the beach to watch the sunset. And I got back to camp just before it poured! It was a large campground of over 400 sites on a busy summer weekend and noisy with music, people, and generators! The RV needed a hookup and I was glad to leave early the next morning. 

I was treated to a rainbow! I drove through Old Saybrook and enjoyed views of 2 lighthouses.

I next went to a small, wooded RV campground (with electricity) on a lake near Woodstock, CT. It was peaceful and the people were friendly!

I hiked a bit and swam and floated out on the lake for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing just floating on the water! When I was at Alderson I went on a very different float trip with Julia down the Greenbrier River with rapids and a bruised behind!

The next day I drove the backroads through Rhode Island to Fisherman's Memorial state beach in Narragansett, Rhode Island. I loved the stone fences along the roads!

I was biking and saw a long line at Iggy's Clam Shack and figured it had to be good! I had my first clam cake, a baseball sized deep fried dough with chopped clams. Tasty.

I biked to Wheeler state beach

And to the lighthouse...

On the way back to Connecticut I tasted my first lobster roll! It was hot with butter and a few leeks and oh, so good, from the Sea Well fish market in Pawcatuct, CT.

Then it was time to head back to Hartford area to prepare to pick up my sister, Karolyn, from the airport.