Sept 2007 Journal

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September 30 ^th 2007

It’s Sunday the 30th of September and we just got back from hiking Mount Washington! We’ve been watching the weather for the past few days hoping to get a nice enough day to tackle the mountain, and finally, today was the day! The weather on top was in the mid 40’s, mostly clear, with only a little wind. A perfect day to summit! (check out the weather charts in the pictures- the left chart is for Mt Washington and the right chart is for the valley temps- quite a difference up on the mountain)

Mount Washington is located in the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire (aka “the Whites). At 6288’ it’s the highest peak in the northeastern United States. We hiked the Tuckerman Ravine Trail from Pinkham Notch Visitors Center. The trail was 4.2 miles to the summit with an elevation gain of 4266’.

The first 0.4 mile was a skip and a jump, then we passed Crystal Cascade Waterfall and the trail headed straight up, very rocky, until mile 2.3 where we came out at the base of Tuckerman Ravine and the Hermit Lake Shelters. There are shelters to sleep about 100 hikers here. At this point we had our first good views of the ravine we were about to climb. It was breathtaking! There’s a caretakers cabin and emergency first aid supplies located here (you can see the cabin at the bottom of some of the pictures looking down from the ravine).

From this point we climbed 1.3 miles, first following a stream and then up and over “the headwall” which is a steep rocky cliff section in the ravine until we came to Tuckerman Junction. Twice along the way we passed emergency supplies cached away in case of accidents. From here the last 0.6 miles of the trail heads up a very steep, all rock slope to the summit of Mount Washington. On top there’s a restaurant, bathrooms, a weather observatory, train stop and a museum which used to be an old inn.

 It’s weird getting to the summit because when you arrive, there are lots of cars, a scenic train, and tourists bundled up in winter coats. It’s so bizarre to hike so far in such pristine solitude and then pop out in an area like this. The tourists all teeter precariously on the rocks near the summit sign waiting to get pictures taken, meanwhile the hikers are all dressed in light clothes climbing all over the rocks. These rocks are nothing compared to what we just came through and they seem quite easy to hop around on!

We hung out on the summit for about an hour, had some cocoa, took some pictures and then hopped on a shuttle that took us down the auto road, (which is quite a spectacular drive in itself as it winds down the narrow mountain road with cliffs on one side). This is my kind of hiking, easy on the knees, all ups and no downs! All in all, a great hike and a great day!

The past few days have been busy too! It was cloudy with a bit of rain for two days, so one day we did the “tourist thing” and drove the scenic Kancamagus Highway to Franconia Notch State Park (a notch is the area between two mountains). In the notch we toured the Flume Gorge which was an 800’ natural chasm with waterfalls, scenic pools, glacial boulders and Wolf’s Den Cave. There were wooden walkways and stairs all through the gorge. It was an amazing place to walk through! The Wolf’s Den Cave was a short squeeze through a small rocky cave. It was optional to take, but of course, adventurous as we are, we did it and it was fun!!!

We also did a few short hikes while in the park, one to Bald Mountain and then on over to Artists Bluff. There were great views of the notch from these spots. Another place called The Basin was fun to walk through too! It was a small hike down along a river where a huge stone basin was formed by swirling water. This area is so beautiful and scenic with the changing colors on the trees.

Yesterday we spent some time shopping, going out to lunch to a cool pizza restaurant inside a large hotel which also houses the local EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) store. It’s so weird to walk through a hotel lobby to get to EMS. There are so many outfitters and outdoor shops in this area. EMS even has a climbing school here in town! We spent about an hour watching some climbers climbing Cathedral Rock just outside of town on Echo Lake two days ago. I think it’s a popular place to climb.

Yesterday we found a corn maze and spent about 45 minutes trying to find our way out. It was actually a lot of fun playing in the maze. We’ve really had fun in this area and could spend a lot more time just hiking on all the trails. They seem to be everywhere! Tomorrow we are headed to the town of Meredith on Lake Winnipesaukee. It’s only about an hour south and it’s supposed to be gorgeous. Hopefully we can do some kayaking. It’s been a while since the kayaks came out to play!

September 27 ^th 2007

We had a great time exploring the area around Stowe, even though we didn’t spend too many days there. On Monday our first morning in town, we visited the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory. We had a tour (but couldn’t take pictures) and got to taste their new flavor Pumpkin Cheesecake. It had a swirl of graham cracker crumbs running through it and is very fitting for the fall season. We also visited the Cabot Cheese Outlet Store and tasted lots of different cheeses, plus, we visited the Vermont Chocolate Outlet Store and tasted chocolates, some had maple syrup and honey in them, yummy!

We rode the bike path in the afternoon and it was so enjoyable and picturesque! It’s only five and a half miles long with an easy uphill grade that runs from the center of town out through forests, farms and meadows.  It follows a stream, crossing it many times on small bridges and passes resorts, shops and restaurants along the way. The downhill ride back was really fun!

On Tuesday, Dan spent the day having a private fly fishing lesson. The owner of the fly fishing shop in town took him north, almost into Canada, and spent the whole day teaching him everything about fly fishing. They caught quite a few fish, all salmon, and Dan got a great education. He really loved it!

I spent Tuesday hiking and exploring the area. My first hike was up to Tailors Lodge. It’s on the Vermont Long Trail and I took the Mansfield Trail up to it. It was an easy uphill hike past Lake Mansfield and up into the forest. The best part of the hike was passing a beautiful beaver pond when I was close to the top. It was in a small valley with steep rocky walls. The trees were so colorful and sitting in the middle of it was a huge cone shaped beaver lodge. It was the coolest thing, and had obviously been there for a while as it had grasses growing on it.

Taylor Lodge was a very large shelter for thru hikers on the Long Trail and could sleep at least 30 hikers (at times, we could have used a shelter that big on the Appalachian Trail)! It had a nice view of the Nebraska Notch. While there, I met a day hiker named “Kathy” and we chatted for a while about the area. Before I left the lodge I explored around for a different trail that supposedly led to a nicer viewpoint. I finally found it in the opposite direction I had been looking, it was well worth the search.

I did two more hikes that day, one to Moss Glen Falls which was only a half of a mile off the road and another up a ridge to Pinnacle Meadow. It was getting late and I didn’t have time to go to the peak but there were beautiful views of the valley and Smugglers Notch Ski Resort from up on the meadow.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was cloudy and overcast when we woke up. We drove down to the Winooski River and Dan tried out his new fly fishing knowledge while I sat on the riverside and read a book. On the way home we decided, spur of the moment, to pack up and move to New Hampshire and that’s just what we did! We moved to the White Mountains to a town called North Conway. It’s a huge tourist town with tons of outlet shopping. We’re close to Mt. Washington which we hope to see if the weather holds out. It rained all night last night and is supposed to be cloudy and rainy for a few days. We’re headed out to do some hiking today. I’ll update you again soon! Miss you!

September 24 ^th 2007

We finally left New York State and headed back into New England! We spent two nights just outside of Burlington, in the town of Colchester Vermont. Burlington is a college town on the shores of Lake Champlain. There’s a wonderful waterfront park and the University of Vermont is in the center of town. There’s also a very cute shopping area called “The Church Street Market Place” and lots of Bike Trails all around town and along the shores of Lake Champlain.

On the way into Burlington we stopped by the town of Shelburne and visited and toured the Vermont Teddy Bear factory. I have a Vermont Teddy Bear, so of course he came in for the tour with us! It was a quick tour but very informative and Mike our tour guide made it lots of fun.

We spent Saturday at the NSRA Northeast Street Rod Nationals. They had about 1500 street rods, muscle cars, restored vehicles and antique vehicles all manufactured in 1977 or earlier. Many of them were very old and restored beautifully. The colors and paint jobs were amazing!

Before leaving town yesterday we took a nice bike ride along mostly bike paths into the Burlington Waterfront Park where we stopped at a restaurant called “The Skinny Pancake”. It’s a creperie and all they make is crepes! It’s a great concept, very different for a restaurant to only make one product! They have breakfast crepes, snack crepes, lunch/dinner crepes and desert crepes. Dan and I both had crepes with spinach, onions, ham, cheese and egg (Dan had roasted red peppers too)! They were so good and such a change of pace from regular breakfast food!

We made a very easy move yesterday to the town of Stowe Vermont which was less than an hour away from Burlington. On the way we saw an interesting thing on the highway! It seemed as if someone forgot to lock his boat onto the trailer before heading out on the highway. Somehow the boat ended up off the trailer and about 30 feet up into the edge of the woods on the side of the road. I’m sure it was going to be a huge hassle getting it back. Hopefully it wasn’t damaged on its “flight”!

Stowe is gorgeous! It’s a resort town tucked into the mountains in northern Vermont, close to Mt. Mansfield and Smugglers Notch Ski Resort. Yesterday we took a drive to the ski area and took a ride on the Alpine Slide. You ride up on the ski lift and then get on a sled and ride down. The slide is about ½ mile long and winds through the woods down to the base lodge. The sleds have brakes so you can control the speed down the mountain. It was so much fun!

The trees are starting to change color although I think peak color is still a few weeks away. The weather has been gorgeous for the past week. Not too hot and not too cold with plenty of sunshine. There are lots of things to do in this area. Dan plans to do some fishing, there’s a really nice bike path in town that winds through the fields and farms, plus there’s plenty of hiking. We’re also hoping to get to the local Thai restaurant tonight. It’s been a while since we’ve had Thai food and we are really craving it. I don’t know how long we’ll be here in Stowe, we kind of have to move quickly through New England or we won’t get to spend any time in Michigan. We’ll update you on our whereabouts again soon!  

September 20 ^th 2007

The last journal entry pretty much sums up what we’ve been doing for the past week. We spent three rainy days at Lake Sebago in southern Maine. We did a lot of hanging out watching TV, Dan did a little fishing, we saw a movie, thoroughly cleaned the coach, and went out for a lobster dinner.

On Wednesday the 12th we moved to Lake George camping resort, planning to meet up with Dan’s brother David, Patty our sister in law and nephew Dylan, but Dylan broke his wrist on Tuesday night and they had to spend Wednesday getting it casted and set (he’s fine now and doing great with his cast)! Dan and I spent Thursday afternoon hiking up French Mountain. It’s a small mountain about a miles walk from our campsite. It’s very scenic and overlooks Lake George. The trail up is pretty steep but not too long. It took us a half an hour to climb up and seven minutes to come down. It was so steep that it was easier (probably not safer though) to run down as gravity just pulled you down the mountain.

 Patty, Dave and Dylan made it up on Thursday in time for dinner and we also got to spend Friday with them before moving on. It was great seeing them, we only wish we had more time and that the lake was a little calmer so we could have rented a fishing boat. We did have some nice campfires together, and Dave, the iced Bourbon was pretty darn good!

We moved to Athens NY (about 30 miles south of Albany) to see Dan’s other brother Scott and his girlfriend Barbara on Saturday. We planned to spend the weekend with them but Scott ended up staying all week and it’s now Thursday the 20th and we’re still here at the lake in Athens. It’s nice not to be on a schedule in times like this! We’ve been busy but Dan and Scott are still managing to find time to go fishing. In fact they even got a private fly fishing lesson. Dan met a man named Bob in Lake George and as it turns out he lives near Scott’s lake house and offered to come out to the lake and give the guys a free lesson. It seemed that they learned a lot during the lesson as their casting vastly improved!

Scott and Barbara have been finishing up a beautiful log home here on the lake, and we’ve spent the past few days helping out with the landscaping. We moved a lot of rock and created gardens and borders with it. It was hard work but it looks really good (luckily Scott was able to borrow a skid steer to help out with lifting the stones, and Dan was experienced operating one)! One night they took us out to an organic restaurant called “New World Home Cooking” and we had a really good dinner. We also went out to a cute place called “Yannies III” on the Hudson River and sat outside to eat.

Yesterday, Dan and I took the day and drove up to Albany to check out the new LL Bean store and do some shopping. We we’re surprised when we got back to find out that Dan’s father, Shelly, had driven up. We all had dinner together last night. It was nice to see Shelly, we haven’t seen him since July when we were in Myrtle Beach.

Dan and Shelly are playing tennis today and we’ll stay one more night so we can see Survivor (we have good satellite reception here) before moving on. I’m not sure where we’re going as of yet. We’ll know by the end of the day! I do know we are headed back to New England to explore a little more before heading towards Michigan. We rushed down to NY last week and missed out on seeing Vermont and New Hampshire! The weather’s been nice this week and the trees are starting to change color so we’ll probably get to see some nice color changes over the next week.

We’re seeing some e-mails on our Boy Scout Troop’s web site and are feeling a little sad to miss the first trip of the year next weekend. It was one of Dan’s favorites and it’s good to see that Mr. Browne is setting up the zip line and that new leaders are running trips. Please spread the word to the Troop that we said “Hi” and we miss everyone, we hope it’s a great year! Don’t forget to update us on the trips and goings on of the Troop. We love to hear from you!!!

September 9 ^th 2007

It’s been a busy few days! We headed out of Nova Scotia a few days ago and headed to Baxter State park in northern Maine. The drive was long but made easier by a hitch hiker we picked up around Moncton, New Brunswick. His name was Jeremie and he was 22 years old and traveling to a Jazz Festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He had his backpack and guitar with him. It was great talking to him along the way and really helped to kill some traveling time (I’m sure he never in his wildest dreams expected to get picked up in a huge motor coach).

We ended up stopping in town to do some grocery shopping and to get my bad haircut fixed. It’s not easy finding a good place to go get a haircut and the place I went to the day before in Truro Nova Scotia really butchered me. Luckily I found a woman who did a good job. We also finally got to try McLobster sandwiches from McDonalds. We had been trying to find them for a few days! They were yummy, just like a lobster roll, but not available everywhere.

We stayed in Katahdin Shadows campground in Medway Maine for two nights and spent the day between hiking “the mountain”! (You’ll have to read the previous journal entry for details of our hike). Yesterday we made a move to southern Maine on Lake Sebago. It’s the second largest lake in Maine and we’re staying at a resort campground called Point Sebago Resort. It’s quiet and raining here today and a good day to relax. We might take in a movie and I might actually get a chance to clean the RV. It’s been a while since it got a good cleaning and the dust is really building up.

Our plan is to stay here until Wednesday morning September 12th and then move to Lake George where we will meet up with Dan’s brother Dave, his wife Patty and our nephew Dylan. We’ll stay a few days with them and then travel a little south in NY to see Scott and Barbara (another brother of Dan’s) and their new house. After that we’ll probably head back to New England for a little more exploring before heading up to Niagara Falls and over to Michigan to see our son Nick. Of course, anything could change, the next week is pretty set but after that we’ll see what really happens. For now, we’re here in Maine and plan to do a little kayaking, hiking, biking and maybe a trip to Mt. Washington. Could be another huge hike!

September 8 ^th 2007

WE DID IT!!! On Friday September 7th we climbed Mt. Katahdin! It took a little blood, some (actually a lot) of sweat, but no tears!

Mt. Katahdin is in Baxter State Park in Northern Maine. Baxter Peak, which is the highest point on the mountain, and the northern end of the AT, is 5267’ above sea level (we started hiking at 1090’). It’s the hardest climb of the whole trail, and boy was it a doozie! It was only 5.2 miles to the top but most of it was straight up! That’s over 4000’ elevation gain in 5.2 miles, the round trip took us 10 hours. It was the hike of my life!

We woke up at 4:45am and left our campground, which was about 20 miles away from Baxter Park, at 5:05am. There was a lot of excitement in the air as we drove, along with the sunrise, towards Mt. Katahdin, the Holy Grail of Mountains for AT hikers. We arrived at the park just before 6am, registered, and headed to Katahdin Streams Campground where we would begin our hike. On the way to the campground we spotted a moose standing in a bog happily munching away on her breakfast. She dipped her whole head into the water to get the plants. We got out to take pictures and she wasn’t bothered by us in the least.

Around 7am we were finally parked and ready to hike! The trail started out easy for the first mile. It ran along Katahdin stream, which was flowing nicely and had a few nice looking swimming holes. We came to a log bridge where we had breakfast and after that it was all uphill to the summit.

The trail became progressively steeper and narrower. The woods were so thick with evergreens and foliage on either side of the trail that it would be nearly impossible to penetrate and get off the trail. There were lots of rocks and stone steps, all leading up, up and up! 2.8 miles into the hike we reached the treeline at 3400’ (that’s where it’s too high for trees to grow), and then the real climb began!

When I say “climb” it was actually more like a vertical rock scramble, and a long one at that! For nearly a mile we clawed our way over and around huge boulders (some as big as our motor home), climbing ever higher and higher. The wind was really blowing, there were steep drop offs on either side of us and at some points there were metal grips bored into the stone, put there to help us hikers up and over the larger rocks. It was the scariest and most challenging thing (both physically and mentally) that I have ever done in my life! All I kept telling myself was “just concentrate on going up-you’ll figure out how to get down later"! At one point a small airplane flew by and it was just about eye level with us. The end of this section was kind of like a “saddle” between two peaks where the mountain dropped off on each side.

At 3.6 miles and 4600’, we reached “the Gateway”, the edge of the plateau, and the hiking got a bit easier. It was still very rocky but the rocks were much smaller and the ground was relatively level, the plants and grasses were all very small. There were signs posted along the way to “stay on the trail”, the trail was even roped off in some areas. The tundra is very delicate up there on the mountain and they (the park service) are trying to protect it. Believe it or not it was at this point that I ran into an old hiking friend from 2006. Her trail name is Bluebird and it was so crazy to meet up with her on the mountain. I knew she was hiking in the area but had no idea she would be there the same day as us. It was great seeing her, and Bluebird, if you see this, CONGRATULATIONS ON A FINISHED AT THRU HIKE!!!!

There was a spring about a mile from the summit (at 4627’) called the Thoreau Spring. It’s named after Henry David Thoreau who was the first to climb this mountain (in 1846). It was amazing to see water pouring out of the ground so high up! After the spring, the trail got steadily steeper until we finally made it to the summit. There were about 20 people, at the top, some thru hikers finishing their roughly 2200 mile journey, some family and friends of the thru hikers that were brave enough to hike it and a few day/section hikers like us. Everybody was happy, excited and scared as heck to have to climb back down what we had just climbed up! It was very windy at the top and the clouds were billowing by at really high speeds. Visibility was ok but not perfect. We stayed on the top for a short time, just long enough for a quick lunch and some pictures. It looked like a possibility for rain and we needed to get past those boulders before they got wet!

The trip down was actually easier than we thought. We had expected it to be much scarier heading down the steep boulders but I didn’t look off the edges, kept focused on one boulder at a time, and one by one they went by. Most of this part I did in a sort of crab crawl position with my hands and feet on the rocks and my back facing the rocks. There was a lot of sliding down on my rear end. The rocks were very rough, which made for good grip, but also tore up the hands (right now, my legs are covered with bruises and my ankles got pretty scratched up but other than that, and a lot of sore muscles today, I made it through unscathed). Dan did great as expected and bounced right down the mountain.

We stopped by the stream on the way back and I stripped off my pants and hopped in. The water was freezing and within seconds I was numb. It felt great and spurred us on to finish the last mile of trail. We finished just around 5pm. It was a long, but very exhilarating and satisfying day. I’ll post some pictures of the hike, but just know they don’t do it justice at all. If you look closely in some of the pictures you can see people on the mountain and that will give you a bit more perspective on how truly huge this giant granite monolith really is. Enjoy, I’ll update you on the rest of our RV journey in a day or two (this mountain deserved its own page).

September 5^th 2007

We’re staying in Truro, Nova Scotia tonight. Just moved today from Annapolis Royal which is in the Digby area on the Bay of Fundy. The area is known for their Digby Scallops which are delicious. Digby is a small town in southern Nova Scotia which is at the beginning of a long thin peninsula known as the “Neck of Digby”. At the end of the “neck” are two islands accessible by short (five minute) ferries. The first is called Long Island and the second is Brier Island. We took the jeep out to Brier island, which is only about 3 miles long, and drove down a rough dirt road to a cove where there were lots of migrating shorebirds then headed to the other side of the island for a hike out to Seal Cove and the lighthouse. It was close to high tide so the colony of seals that lives there were all in the water (They like to fish as the tide comes in). We could see their heads pop up to watch us from time to time but that was about it. We ended up having a picnic dinner on Long Island and saw a gorgeous sunset before heading back to the main land. The sunsets on this side of Nova Scotia are beautiful every single night!

They were having their annual Wharf Rat Motorcycle Rally this weekend in Digby. It was a lot of fun walking through town and looking at all the bikes. We went into town twice The first time was after our ferry ride, the second time for Dan’s birthday dinner at the Scallop House. We had a difficult time getting into town the second time due to a motorcycle accident. We arrived at the accident scene just as the emergency vehicles were arriving and the road was shut down in both directions. A motorcycle had blown the front tire and then hit a camper which was traveling in the opposite direction. The motorcycle caught on fire (driver jumped off and was injured but not too badly) and the camper ended up driving off the road up onto a hillside. It was amazing to see how far it drove up the hill. I’ll post a picture of it (it’s not a close up as we were stopped pretty far away but you can see the white camper up on the hill on the right side).

The rest of Dan’s birthday was spent touring around the national park named Kejimkujik. It’s a beautiful park with lots of hiking trails, canoeing/kayaking and camping. We took a few hikes, one to an area that was a very old Hemlock forest. Some of the trees were hundreds of years old and at least one tree was over 400 years old. There was a boardwalk covering the ground so hikers don’t disturb the roots of these ancient trees. The ground was covered with moss and lichens and the most glorious mushrooms in bright oranges and yellows. We planned to go back the next day and kayak to a campsite and stay overnight but the weather was pretty chilly and windy and we hung out at our home base instead.

We also spent a few days in the Halifax area last week. Halifax is a rather large city and the big thing we did there was go to the casino. We played some blackjack and won a little money then had dinner and planned to gamble a bit more but the tables were all full. They only have a few dozen tables so I guess they fill up quickly (It’s a very small casino). We still ended up winners and had a free dinner. It was a fun way to spend the evening.

Our campsite in Halifax was one of the best we’ve had so far. It was a KOA (Kampground of America) campground. We’re usually very happy with them. Our site was big and spacious and tucked into the woods. The campground was also right on a beautiful river and we spent one afternoon floating around the river in a canoe. It was very relaxing.

There are also quite a few small fishing villages south of Halifax so one day we took a drive out to see them. We stopped at Lunenburg which is a cute little tourist town right on the water. It’s a very old town and the roads are narrow and all the homes and shops are painted bright colors. The Bluenose II sailing ship is docked there and we had a tour. It’s an amazing, beautiful vessel. The original Bluenose is actually pictured on the back of the Canadian dime! Both the Bluenose and Bluenose II were designed and built in Lunenburg. The Bluenose won numerous races and Bluenose II is built to the exact specifications as the first although it doesn’t race, it just tours around.

After Lunenburg we visited Peggy’s Cove which is a tiny town of 40 residents. There is a lighthouse which actually houses the local post office. The houses are a bit more spread apart than in Lunenberg but are still painted all kinds of colors (Peggy’s Cove is the town that first responded to the crash of Swissair flight 111 on September 2, 1998. It crashed right off their shores and the local fishermen were first on the scene. There’s a memorial park just outside of town). The landscape is very unusual in the area of Peggy’s Cove. Glaciers left lots of boulders all over the ground. It’s so strange to see these huge boulders just sitting everywhere you look.

Today we took a ride on a zodiac raft on the Shubenacadie River. When the quickly rising tide meets the down flowing river it causes a tidal bore which appears as a huge six foot wave moving upstream. You can actually watch it move! The zodiacs go to play in the waves! The water and air were both cold so they suited us up in rain gear and headed the boats down stream to meet up with the incoming tide. The boats ride straight into the huge waves and they crash over the bow of the boat. A few times the boat was filled to the brim with muddy water. After playing in the waves they took us to a small river to go mudsliding. Only a few people on the boat got out and slid in the mud but you know Dan was right there with them! He said it was the best part of his day. The best for me was seeing six bald eagles within an hour or so. (If you take a look at our pictures you can see how much the tides change in a matter of a few hours. Close to the end of the section of pictures from Nova Scotia you see a picture of a wide river with muddy banks and just a small piece of railing in the lower part of the picture-this is when the tide is close to low. Next, look at one of the very last pictures and you will see the same river, with the piece of railing in the picture, only this time the river is filled up with water! It’s only been a matter of a few hours and the change is dramatic and the tide is still coming in, not quite high tide yet! Amazing tides here!)

We had planned to head out next to Baxter State Park in Maine and camp there for a while, explore the park, and climb Mount Katahdin, but that might not work out because we found out we needed to make reservations months ago, to not only camp in the park but even to visit for the day. There’s a chance we can drive in early and wait on line to get in (they only allow a few people a day into the park) but we still have to find out more about that. I think we will at least spend a few days camping and hiking in Maine regardless of whether it’s in Baxter park or not. We’ll keep you posted of our journey in either case.

Traveling in the motor coach has been a lot of fun. It’s so nice to have our home with us wherever we go. It’s nice and compact, easy to clean and very comfortable. We really love it! We haven’t had any mechanical problems for quite a while and that’s a big plus too! The jeep has been coming in quite handy. We take the top off whenever it’s warm enough and Dan loves to go four wheeling. We’ve been a few times now and it’s amazing to us how tough the jeep really is. A few days ago we almost thought we would be stuck down in a valley for the night but the jeep managed to get us out! A huge thunderstorm rolled in and we were way out on some really rough old ATV trails (See pics) We got down a very long steep hill and found out that we couldn’t go any further and had to turn around and head back up the hill (which was now a small slippery river). It was pretty intense but the jeep handled it well. After that day Dan decided we should keep some provisions in the jeep just in case we do get stuck for any length of time. It’s probably a good idea!

Nova Scotia has been fun and it’s beautiful (and chilly)but it’s getting time that we headed back to the US. There’s a lot more country out there for us to explore! We’re not sure if we’re leaving tomorrow or staying one more day. We’re going to try to get haircuts tomorrow morning and might head over to the Jost Winery for an afternoon tour. We’ll see how we feel in the morning and go from there! It’s been a busy day and I am getting sleepy so I’ll close for now and write again when I can. We’ll update you as soon as we know where we’re going!

Past Journals

July 2011

June 2011

September 2010

May 2008

April 2008

March 2008

February 2008

December 2007

November 2007

October 2007

September 2007

August 2007

July 2007