August 2007 JoJuly 13, 2011bsp;

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August 29 th2007 Cape Breton Island is at the northern tip of Nova Scotia. It’s a large island and makes up about one quarter of Nova Scotia. It is bordered on the south and east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the north by the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We stayed in a town called Baddeck which is just about in the middle of the island. It’s a beautiful little town sitting on the shores of Bras d’Or Lake. The island is covered with mountains. There are lots of valleys, streams and bogs. It’s mostly forested with red spruce and fir trees but the valleys open up to fields with tons of wildflowers. The coast is mostly covered with jagged pink granite rocks, sometimes steep cliffs, and pebble beaches with pink, gray and white rocks (all sizes) smoothed round by the waves. It is a beautiful contrast to the blue seas and green forests. We took a drive around the northwestern part of Cape Breton which encompasses the Cape Breton Highlands National park and spent a night tent camping at a small beach campsite called Corney Brook. Our campsite was on a bluff overlooking a small pebble beach with a rushing brook that came right down to the ocean. It was late afternoon when we arrived and we could see a few pilot whales feeding in the distance. Northern Gannets (sea birds) were feeding off the coast. It’s amazing to watch them as they dive head first into the water from as high as 90’. They tuck their wings to their sides and plunge into the water so hard it’s amazing they don’t get hurt. As the sun set we were assaulted by small biting insects (I presumed they were black flies although Dan said they were bigger than any he’s seen before and might have been flying ants). They were relentless until the sun was down. We both ended up with bites all over our scalps and ankles. The drive around the park was beautiful and very scenic along the coast. Sometimes the road was very steep with cliffs along side. There were small fishing villages tucked away in pristine coves. We drove through a boggy area and finally saw our first moose. She was just hanging out on the side of the road munching away. The back of one leg looked like it was cut and I assume it was from those flying biting bugs. We took a walk through a bog and it was amazing. There are insect eating plants called bladderwort and pitcher plants. There are also one hundred year old larch trees that are only a few feet high. They are all gnarled, twisted and stunted by the cold winters and look like mini bonsai trees. There’s a tranquil, pristine quality to this island that I have never seen before. Life is simple here! Even the houses are simple, four walls and a roof, gravel drives, no landscaping, but sitting in the most unbelievably gorgeous settings overlooking the fields and sea with lush green mountains as the backdrop. It’s no wonder so many artists get inspired by the area and live here. We moved yesterday to Halifax which is on the main land of Nova Scotia on the southern shore. It’s quite a contrast to Cape Breton! The land looks very much like NJ. It’s a large metropolitan area with big stores. We’re camped just outside of town at a KOA. It has a beautiful lazy river that borders the camp and our site is one of the best campsites we’ve ever had.  I was so happy to go to a real grocery store yesterday. We’ve been shopping at small markets for the past few weeks and the selections are very limited, good produce has been almost non existent. It’s fun to walk around the stores and see all the different brands and labels. Everything is labeled both in English and French. The local specialties this time of the year are salmon and digby scallops. Lobster season has ended.  I guess I should mention that the local currency here is Canadian but we haven’t exchanged any money as of yet. Everyone is happy to take American money and give you Canadian change back. We try to use a credit card as much as possible. Their coins are very pretty with pictures of animals on it. They call their dollar coins “loonies” as they have a picture of a loon on them. I think that’s funny! Also, everything is metric here so we have to convert from miles and yards to kilometers and meters. Luckily our GPS can do some of it for us. Today we plan to tour Halifax and the coastal area. Who knows where we will end up! It’s always an adventure for us. Hope you are enjoying our journal entries as much as I enjoy writing them. Miss you all!!! August 26 th2007 Last night was an adventure! We were driving back to the coach and decided to take a drive around Lake Ainsley. I guess I should first tell you that Lake Ainsley is on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. We’ve been here for two days now. Anyway, we were following the directions on our GPS when it told us to take a dirt road. We turned on this road assuming it would be a short one and it turned out to be 6 miles of four wheeling on a very rough partially washed out road. The road was so overgrown that the trees were brushing the jeep on both sides and the top. We were laughing the whole way! That dirt road led to another dirt road, and then another, and then finally after about 45 minutes of dirt roads getting deeper and deeper into nowhere, she (we refer to the GPS as she because she’s a girls voice from Australia- her name is Karen) told us to take a left turn that really wasn’t possible. The road was so overgrown we wouldn’t have made it through. We decided to “wing it” at that point and kept going straight. Of course we eventually came to a dead end and had to backtrack. We began trying all the little side roads to try to get out. They all eventually died out and we had to turn around. Dan even had to get out of the jeep and scout ahead with a flashlight at one point to see if we could get through. Oh, did I tell you that it was now 10:00pm and foggy and dark! We eventually found a road with a sign that said it was a snowmobiling trail and we took that about twelve miles and finally found our way back to the Trans Canada Highway. I think we had been lost on old logging roads as we had seen a few piles of logs here and there. We also saw a two coyotes! They were in the road, one ran into the woods right away and the other ran down the road away from us for about 1/4 of a mile before it turned off. It was running at about a 20 mph clip! All in all, our forty five minute trip home took about three hours, with about 40 miles on dirt roads. The jeep is well broken in now and covered with mud! It was lots of fun!!! I guess I should mention here that we were coming back from the Glenora Distillery. They make a very fine (and expensive) single malt whiskey (it would be called scotch except it can only be called scotch if it’s made in Scotland). Anyone who knows me, knows I am a scotch drinker so it was a treat to tour the distillery and do a “wee bit” of tasting as they say around here. We also enjoyed a wonderful dinner in their restaurant with a lovely bottle of local Muscat wine before heading home. I have to say it was the first really fine dining we’ve done since we’ve been gone. This country has a lot of Scottish influence. I love their accents here, they speak with a very “sing song” lilt to their voices. Of course, it’s still a Canadian accent (which I happen to like a lot) but you can hear bits of Scottish when they speak. The land is gorgeous, rolling hills covered with red spruce trees (very similar to New Brunswick, Canada), there are wild flowers everywhere. There are tons of Goldenrod, Queen Anne’s Lace, Purple Liatris, Lupines, Heather and much more. It’s gorgeous when you drive down the roads as they are lined with flowers and with the dark green backdrop it is quite a striking contrast. We haven’t seen the coast yet but will be taking a drive on the Cabot Trail. It’s a road that runs around the far Northern tip of the island. It’s supposed to be about 8 hours of driving and very scenic. We will take the jeep and we might take a tent and camp somewhere along the way. New Brunswick Canada was also quite nice! We were there before coming here, and only spent two days there but had a good time. The “thing to do” in the area of the Bay of Fundy (where we were) is to go to Hopewell Rocks and see the world famous tides. They have a forty five foot tide change and it’s so amazing. At Hopewell Rocks they have this place called “The Flower Pots”. At low tide you can actually walk on the ocean floor around these miniature islands with trees growing on top of them. The sides of these islands are all carved out due to the water so they are skinny at the bottom and wider on top. Kind of like a huge living urn of trees. You can only be there at certain times because when the tide comes in, it floods the place and it’s all under water. Then people actually can kayak around these miniature islands. The tide moves in and out at about six feet an hour so you can actually place a rock in the edge of the water and in a matter of two minutes or so it’s exposed. It’s amazing to see! While in New Brunswick we also went to Mary’s Point. It’s a small beach on the coast where Sandpipers come to rest during their migration. There were about one thousand birds there when we visited, and one minute they will all be sitting on the beach, and then for no apparent reason will all pick up together and begin to fly around. They stay in a close flock and you can hear their wings beating if they fly near. It’s an important rest stop for them to fatten up and preen because the next stop for them is Ecuador. Quite a far distance away for a small bird to fly non stop! While there we also saw a huge feeding frenzy of Gulls and Night Hawks. They were feeding on flying ants. It’s the mating time for the ants so the queens are out of their nests and yummy food for these birds. I’ll post a few pictures of it. The weather is a bit dreary here but supposed to clear soon. The fog kind of just adds to the ambiance but might not be good for the views on the coast. This morning we’re going to walk down to the river and look for a pair of nesting eagles. Evidently you can see their nest from the riverside here at our camping resort. It’s the Baddeck river and we took a walk yesterday (another adventure as we hiked in mud up to our ankles the whole way-good thing we had our Crocs on) down the campsite nature trail along the river. The river is wide, gorgeous and serene and looks like a good place to kayak. We didn’t know yesterday to look for the eagles nest and hopefully we will get to see it today. For now, I’m off to another adventure. Will keep you posted! Miss you all! PS Thanks Jo-Ann and Bud for all the info/maps and a wonderful campfire. It was nice chatting with you! August 21 st2007 Acadia National Park is gorgeous!!! It’s located on the “down east” coast of Maine and most of the park is on Mount Desert Island. The ocean waters are cold (55 degrees at the warmest) and some of the clearest waters I have ever seen. It’s even crystal clear in the bays and harbors. The island has mountains covered with boreal forests, gorgeous lakes and of course the rugged rocky coast dotted here and there by small fishing/lobster villages. Some of these villages have become tourist areas with lots of crafty shops and good restaurants. We’ve done some relaxing this week which was well needed for me and also some fun touring around. Our first night we drove up to Cadillac Mountain (the highest point on Acadia) and saw a beautiful sunset. We did some hiking a few days. Once we hiked to a place called “Great Head”. It is a rocky area of cliffs that is just off the only sandy beach (aptly named “Sand Beach”) on the island. It was an incredible hike! We started off climbing on the rocks just above the shoreline and eventually found a path that took us up through incredible forests of aspen and birch with huge evergreens and lots of ferns and moss. We stayed right on the coast and ended up on top of the mountain with pink granite boulders covered with green lichen, blueberry bushes and scrub pine trees. You could see for miles and the blue ocean was such a nice contrast to the green mountains around. Another day we hiked the Gorham Trail to the top of Gorham Mountain. More spectacular views greeted us at the top. We met a nice couple named Debbi and Bobby Watson from Georgia at our campsite. We went tide pooling with them one evening. That’s where you go out on the coast at low tide and climb on all the slippery seaweed covered rocks to find tide pools. Sometimes you can find crabs, sea urchins or starfish in them. It was getting late when we got there so we couldn’t stay for long but we did find one starfish and a whole lot of sea snails. I tried it again by myself at low tide the next morning and found another starfish but not much else. We biked around Eagle Lake one day and kayaked a few times. Once in the bay right off our campground and yesterday out in Western Bay. We kayaked around a small island. It took us about 5 ½ hours and we were pretty tired at the end. It took a bit longer than expected and we also hit some rough waves and headwinds coming back to Pretty Marsh (the area we started in). It really was a spectacular trip though! We saw Harbor seals, a dolphin and a few Ospreys. It was amazing to be right in the water with a dolphin. There are still plenty of lobsters around this area so we’ve indulged a bit. There are little restaurants on the side of the road called “Lobster Pounds”. You go in and pick out the lobsters you want, they weigh them and bag them in a heavy mesh bag with a wooden numbered sign on them and then they steam them for you in these huge steamer pots outside.  It’s very casual and beachy feeling and the lobster was good. We’re also eating good Maine blueberries; I even froze some to take with us! We stopped off at a house alongside the road where the owner, Mrs. Martha Perkins, is known through the area for her pies she bakes and sells out of the house. She bakes about 145 every day and sells out by late afternoon. We got a yummy blueberry pie. We’ve also bought Blueberry Ale and it’s pretty tasty. The campsite has been great. We’ve had nice views of the bay and nobody right on top of us. They have group fire pits scattered throughout the campsite instead of everybody having their own and we’ve been meeting lots of people at the campfires. We met Barbara and her son Chris from Yardley PA. They were so nice. We even saw them last night along with Barbara’s husband Bill. At the local Lumberjack Show. We also met Mary Jo and her husband Don and two kids, John and Jordan from New Hampshire and Rick and his daughter Brooke and niece Taylor from Maryland. Debbie and Bobby also joined us a few night’s at the campfire (thanks again for the wine guys). It’s been a social week and so good to hang out with people and chat it up! We’ve had a very fun and relaxing week here but are getting ready to leave this morning to head north to New Brunswick and then Nova Scotia. We hope to see the great tides of the Bay of Fundy tomorrow. It’s a long drive for us today so we have to get going. We might not have internet service or cell service while in Canada so you might not hear from us for a while but we’ll update you as soon as we can. Hope everyone at home is doing well. We miss you guys. PS For all that know our family, Nick and Keith are both doing well. The house is still standing and they are getting along and having fun. Nick heads back to Michigan for school on Tuesday and then Keith will be on his own.   August 16 th2007 Today is a day of rest! We spent the last few days kayaking in Boothbay Maine and moved on yesterday to Arcadia National Park further up the coast of Maine. In Boothbay we kayaked in the bays and one day went out into the ocean and kayaked around the Hypocrite Islands. I have never been in such open water before and it was quite an experience. The ocean swells were pretty large but the kayaks handled them well. We saw Harbor Seals off the coasts of the islands. They were quite curious of the kayaks and would pop their heads out of the water and stretch their necks up for a good look at us. If they saw us looking at them they would go back down again and surface somewhere else. Dan said it was like having little spies around us. We also saw another Osprey nest with both parents and two chicks and lots of Cormorants. They like to stand on the rocks and spread their wings to warm up. The other amazing thing we saw in the bays were tons of starfish. At low tide they were clinging on the rocky sides of the bay. Boothbay Harbor is a beautiful little village right on the coast. There are a lot of cute shops and seafood restaurants. It’s quite a little tourist town! The area has many small bays with tiny towns tucked in among them. Most of them are working ports for lobster fishing. There are lobster traps everywhere you look in the bays. It’s a wonder the boats can move around them at all. On the roads are lots of small stands selling lobster, clams and crab. One night we bought five lobsters and Dan dug up some steamers at low tide in the bay. We had quite a feast! Now, we’re here in Acadia. It’s gorgeous here. We arrived late yesterday afternoon and after setting up camp headed out to the park just to scout around a bit. We drove up Cadillac Mountain (1530 feet above sea level) and stayed up there for a gorgeous sunset. On top of the mountain you can see for miles. There were tons of little islands all around us. Can’t wait to explore them on the kayaks! I could even see Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail; it’s about 100 miles away as the crow flies. We stopped for dinner in the town of Bar Harbor for some clam chowder, lobster bisque and lobster rolls. It’s a very upscale town with lots of beautiful artsy shops and restaurants. We’ll have to go back sometime and explore some more. There’s lots to do here in Acadia but I am feeling exhausted today and we decided to just chill out for a day and rest. The weather is not that great; it’s cool and cloudy and every so often sprinkles for a few minutes. It’s supposed to be better tomorrow. It’s a good day to rest. Dan’s been working on wiring our TV so we can get cable and digital TV together and I’ve been sitting in a lounge chair reading a book and sipping tea. Dan even made me some great blueberry pancakes with yummy wild Maine blueberries we got yesterday at a road side stand. Life in the RV has been fun but busy. We’re really enjoying ourselves and have been staying busy pretty much every day exploring all the beautiful areas this country has to offer. Most days we’re up around 8:00am and start off kind of lazy. Dan catches up with business at home and I do chores, cook breakfast and stuff like that. Then we head out and explore the area. There are so many small bags to pack each day. I’m constantly moving the same things (sunscreen, wallet and money, towels, camera’s, bathing suits, sunglasses, first aid kit, water bottles etc.) around from bag to bag. Depending on what we’re doing we pack different bags, it could be the bike bag, daypack, beach bag, pocketbook, dry bags or any other number of totes to match our activities. Of course these bags are all lying around the RV. Our front seats have become the “catch all” place for all of them. The front deck by the windshield has become the place for guidebooks and local brochures. There are always a lot of those hanging around. They do give us good information and lead us to great things to see and do. Our current campsite is pretty nice. Right now we have a gorgeous view of the bay. We will probably lose that view over the weekend when the place gets busy but for now it’s nice. The water front sites are all reserved for the weekend and we’re not that good at reserving sites ahead of time. I thought it might be a problem a week or so ago and that we needed to do some advanced planning but I hear that we don’t need to worry. The kids are going back to school and things should be easier to schedule.  We’re headed up towards Nova Scotia after this. I’m not sure how many days drive away it is, we do want to stop at the Bay of Fundy. It might take another two weeks to actually get there. (We might even stay here for a few extra days, especially if we have some bad weather) There are lots to explore here at Arcadia. For now, we’re going to go take a walk around the campsite and see what’s around. August 11 th2007 Cape Cod was so much fun! As usual we were busy every day. The weather was nice most days but we did have a little thunderstorm one afternoon and a few foggy mornings. The best part of the Cape for me was going on a whale watching trip. We didn’t think it would be good because it was very foggy, we were even concerned that it was too foggy to go, but they pulled out of port and we headed out to sea. The ride was about an hour and a half to get to the marine sanctuary in Cape Cod Bay where the whales summer over before making their way back to Florida. We really got an incredible show! We saw three types of whales on the trip. Minke whales which are about 30 feet long and kind of look like big dolphins in the water, Finback whales which get up to 70 feet long (and we saw a few really big ones) and of course the Humpbacks which grow to about 50 feet long. The Minke and Finback whales were just swimming around and feeding the way dolphins do, nothing fancy or anything but the Humpbacks really put on a show for us. The Humpbacks were diving down deep, sometimes three whales at a time, and blowing huge rings of bubbles to push the krill and plankton up to the surface, and then they would all come up together with their mouths wide open feeding. There were hundreds of shore birds which would see the bubbles and come flying over to gobble up the food too. They were even sitting on the whale’s heads. You could tell the whales were going to surface by seeing rings of bubbles and all the birds flying to them. Sometimes they were just off the deck of the boat and you could see right down into the whale’s mouths. Their heads looked like some kind of machinery, they even had these big round hair follicles that look like rivets on a tank. After feeding for a minute they would dive back down with the classic tail fluke in the air. They were so big and with their fins they looked like some kind of airplane under the water. There was even a baby humpback practicing diving and spinning in the water. It was quite an amazing experience to see these huge animals. We must have seen 100 whales that day. What a sight!!! After the whale watching trip we headed to the end of the cape and rode our bikes on a bike trail through the dunes and down to the beach. The dunes were huge and it was a bit of work, lots of steep ups and downs. We were constantly changing gears on the bikes. The Atlantic Ocean was beautiful out on the end of the Cape, very clean white sandy beaches and clear water although there was quite big surf and a steep drop off. We eventually made our way to Provincetown which is a cute little hippy community reminiscent of New Hope PA. We had dinner at a little restaurant on the beach, seafood of course, lobster, steamers and lobster bisque that was so good plus a few yummy fruity cocktails too! We even stopped at a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop on the way home. I didn’t know they actually had their own ice cream shops. I thought you could only buy it in the store! One day we went over to the town of Plymouth where they have the actual Plymouth Rock and a replica of the Mayflower. It wasn’t much to see. The rock was much smaller than I expected and it was encased in a masonry type pavilion with metal bars to keep people out. It was kind of weird the way they had it. The Mayflower II was really crowded with a huge line to go see it so we skipped that. Instead we walked out on a huge jetty and just enjoyed the sunshine and the harbor. The harbor was beautiful with lots of sail boats and yachts. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool at our campsite. One night we went to a concert in the town of Hyannis. We saw the Steve Miller Band. They played a lot of songs we remembered from High school in the 70’s. The venue was an outdoor music tent and didn’t hold many people. The stage actually rotated so everyone had great seats and you could walk around outside and still hear the music without having to be seated the whole time. Yesterday we got up early and took our bikes by ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. We had breakfast (eggs Benedict with avocado and tomato) at the original Black Dog Tavern.  (You can look up blackdog.com to see more) and then biked across the island to the Atlantic Ocean and hung out on the beach for a while. It was a gorgeous day, low 80’s and sunny and we really had a nice time. We biked close to 30 miles and ended up having dinner at a restaurant overlooking a beautiful bay. The towns were so cute with lots of Victorian houses. In town there was an Osprey nest with at least one chick in it. I got pretty close to the nest until the mother (or father) flew away squawking loudly. When she came back she was making this weird mechanical clicking sound. The dad (or mom, who knows) came back with a fish in his talons but ended up sitting on a pole and eating it himself. I would have liked to have stayed and watched them for a while but it was almost dark (hence no good pictures) and we had to get to our ferry. It was the last one for the night! All in all, the cape was so much fun. We have to go back again. The quaint villages with little harbors and beaches are so picturesque. So many houses have perennial gardens with gorgeous flowers. Things feel as if they have been this way for a long time without changing and I’m sure it has. There’s not much new development and everything seems to be in good condition and of course the water is really nice too. I say the cape “was” fun because we’ve moved on and we are now in Booth Bay Maine. We drove a bit farther than we would have liked but getting a camp site is tough up here this time of year. We really have to sit down soon and make some actual plans for the next few weeks and make reservations at some nice campsites on the coast. This one is nice enough but it’s not as nice as they can be. We don’t really know what’s around in this area but will start exploring tomorrow. Dan finally got the kayak he wanted so we plan to head out exploring the waterways tomorrow. There’s lots of water around here so we should have plenty to do. We’ve booked this place for 4 nights and plan to head up to Acadia next then up eventually into Nova Scotia (we’ll hit the mountains on the way home). Thanks everyone for all the nice e-mails and messages. It’s nice to hear from friends, family and all the other new people we’re meeting on this trip. We don’t get to answer each one separately (and don’t look at forwards at all) but we do try to include answers to your questions about our trip in this journal. We love and miss you all at home and hope you are having a good summer! Love Barbie Love Barbie August 8 th2007 Sticky! That’s how I describe the last week of our trip! Sticky hot humid days, sticky sandy beaches, sticky lobster and steamers and sticky ice cream. It all adds up to loads of fun and boy have we been having fun! We stayed in East Lyme, Connecticut for four nights and stayed very busy those four days. One day we took our bikes to Newport, Rhode Island and rode around the village and then biked a ten mile loop around Ocean Drive. There are huge mansions interspersed with farm lands along Ocean Drive. It was very scenic! We took a short walk along the “Cliff Walk” which is a walking path that runs along the coast and goes basically in the backyards of many of the mansions. Another day we went to Mystic Seaport and saw the harbor and old ships. We also spent part of a day at the Mystic Aquarium. The Beluga whales were magnificent and we got to touch sting rays. They seemed to like it and came up to the top of the tank to be touched. They are so silky smooth to touch. We went into the bird aviary at the aquarium. It was a huge bird cage that you walk into and the birds are free inside. They give you popsicle sticks with millet seed heads on them and the birds eat off the stick. A few times we were able to get the birds onto our hands. It was quite a lot of fun. One evening we went to the Mohican Sun Casino. We won a little bit playing the poker machines then threw it back playing black jack- easy come, easy go- that’s how it is in a casino! Anyway, we had fun and the building is gorgeous to look at both inside and out. We also went to a seafood festival in Rhode Island. It kind of reminded me of the balloon fest back in NJ. Lots of vendors and the usual things they sell and foods they make except this time, no balloons and lots of seafood vendors. We had great crab cakes and lobster. I got a henna tattoo on my ankle. It’s pretty but will wear off in a week or so. Since our busy time in Connecticut/Rhode Island we’ve moved on into Cape Cod, Massachusetts. We had a nice trip here with a stop off in Bristol Rhode Island to visit with my cousin Troy. He’s going to law school in town and we met him for lunch. I haven’t seen him for a few years and it was really nice to see him. He has a gorgeous place overlooking the bay. We got to see his puppies which are so cute and also meet one of his friends named Brad. Hopefully we’ll get back there again some day. Bristol is a very cute town worth a bit more exploring. For now, I am off to bed, will update you on Massachusetts soon, we’re only here for another day and have to sit down tomorrow and figure out where we’re headed on Thursday. Will post up some pictures as soon as life slows down a bit! August 2 nd 2007 We spent two days in the Shenandoah Valley staying at Endless Caverns Camping Resort. There were very few people staying at the camp so we had a lot of room to ourselves. It was nice to be able to open the shades and windows and leave them open all night and listen to the night sounds. Our site was deep in the woods and the nights were very cool. We had a campfire both nights and it was the first time on this trip we were able to just feel like we were sitting alone in the woods by the fire. Very relaxing!!! We really only had one full day while there and some of that was spent on the computer and cell phones since we didn’t have any service in Virginia. It was really nice to talk to family and friends! We did get to tour the caves though. They were really beautiful and very dark when they shut off the lights. After dinner we took a sunset hike up the mountain to see the huge “Endless Caverns” sign up on the mountain. They have a sign with letters that must be 30 feet tall and you can see it from miles away. On our way down we saw a pretty big black bear. We probably would have crossed paths with him if we were about 30 seconds later coming down the mountain. He just looked up at us and meandered on his way. What a thrill to share the woods with such an animal! After the “Shennies” we headed home. Our son Nick was scheduled to have a small surgery on his wrist and I wanted to be home to take him. We did that on Friday and all went well and as it turned out I ended up spending Monday in the hospital with my other son Keith who broke his nose doing a back flip into our pool. It was an easy fix and he’s fine also. The excitement never ends when you have kids! Hopefully I am done with the hospital scene for a while. It just so happened that this past weekend was also the weekend for the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning. We got to go on Sunday afternoon and see the balloon launch. It was fun! I only wish I had my camera with me (I might post a few pictures from last year so you can see what it looks like). Nick was feeling well and helped on a balloon crew so we chased his balloon and got to watch them put it away. It’s amazing how fast they can blow up and deflate those balloons. It was nice being home for a few days. I didn’t realize how much I missed hanging out by my pool or seeing my friends. On Tuesday a few of us went to “Rices Market” (an outdoor flea market/swap meet). It was a gorgeous day and so nice to just relax and wander around. I also got to go out to lunch a few times with friends. You can never get enough of your girlfriends! I’m gonna miss you guys! Yesterday we headed out of town and up into Connecticut. We’re here in East Lyme at Aces High Camping Resort. It’s peaceful here and we have a site by their little pond. There’s a Seafood Festival nearby and of course Mystic Seaport, The Mohican Sun Casino and other assorted things to do while visiting. My cousin lives in Rhode Island and I am hoping to visit with him one day. We’re headed to Cape Cod Massachussetts after this. As for now, I am going to head out and do something fun for the day. Will update the journal again soon. Hope you are enjoying our journal. Please sign in when you visit. I know we had some technical glitches but hopefully they are all straightened out. We miss you all!!!  Love Barbie

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