Weather turning cool again

Saturday was "tax free day" and we took advantage of it. We did our regular grocery/wal mart shopping plus purchased some clothes, shoes and diesel. Diesel is going up again.

Sunday we attended church and later that day Matt and Christina (park ranger) came over for supper. We had such a nice visit.

Monday was a work day. We worked on lean-tos. We moved to the upper loop to work on two lean-tos that are made of large logs. These took a lot more time, effort and paint to complete. Sanding the floors are hard on Allan. He has learned to only attempt one per day. Apple (the lean-tos are named after trees) has an upper support log sticking out much lower than any of the others. Allan was looking down and ran into it with his head and found himself on the ground. Is that what they call laying down on the job?? He has not had any memory loss and frequent checking of his eyes showed equal and reactive to light thank God. The assistant ranger said the same thing happened to him one day on the same lean-to. The work here at times is very physical and we feel it in our muscles and joints but we love this place. We enjoy our job. Some times we are here in the park and have very few campers. It is very quiet and nice to walk around the campground taking in the sights of the forest and sounds of birds. At other times like Wednesday we have lots of people in the campground. This day there were at least 30 college aged Appalachian Trail hikers. It is good to hear youthful voices having lots of fun.

Our weather has had a turn to cooler temperatures. Highs are in the 60's and lows are 30-40's. It is suppose to warm up in the 70's again soon. We are running our heat at night.

Does anyone want a cat? Katie has been sleeping all day and waking up about the time we go to bed. She wants to play. She runs from one end of the trailer to the other, makes biscuits on us, scratches the mirrored doors and windows and licks plastic loudly to keep us up. We have not been getting much sleep. Today is our day off and Allan informed me that I was in charge of our "wild child" this morning. He wanted to sleep in. We did try to keep her awake most of the time we were home so it must have helped. She slept most of the night with us. I guess we will keep her.

Today I decided to do a thorough cleaning of the trailer and Allan decided to leave for a hike up to Pico Mountain. He drove over to Shelburne Pass which is an elevation of 2150 feet and hiked up to Pico Summit which was 2782 feet. He took a wrong turn on the way back down the mountain. They used the same color markings on different trails. He was trying to get back before the sun went down as he did not have a jacket with him. He got back to the truck about 6 in time for a spaghetti supper. He was a tired puppy. Jeanne cleaned windows and walls and woodwork.

From Pico Mountain trail

From Pico Mountain trail

From Pico Mountain trail

From Pico Mountain trail

Allan got a call from the ranger saying the state police were here looking for one of our campers who was wanted for questioning. He was not found in his campsite. It was the same person that Allan had found sleeping in a lean-to that had been reserved for painting the day before. Allan went with the ranger throughout the park shining the flashlights in every campsite looking for the guy. They did not find him. The ranger was very relieved that Allan was here to assist her. Allan has sure gotten his exercise today.

MOOSEVILLE

We continue to work on the lean-tos. The finished ones are a great improvement. Hope the campers appreciate all that hard work.

We went to Brandon for a corn festival and street dance. Of course, all the food was made from corn so I could not eat it due to allergy, but I had eaten before I went being prepared for that. We walked the streets looking at the neat houses in the town. Most are so big and they all had carriage houses (garages now) in back. We did not bring our camera but will go back and get some pictures next time. They had a pretty good band. Some of us old folks got out on the street and did some dancing. Allan and I had not really danced in about a year. It was steamy hot. We met Mike and Rosie while dancing. He is a dance instructor. We left as soon as the mosquitoes started biting.

Today was a rainy day but we had planned to drive to southern Vermont to visit the Vermont Country Store. This is a huge store with everything you could think of, lots of old things you used to buy including soaps and shampoos. There was lots of free samples of cheese, dips, sausage, jams and jellies. It was pricey. We had lunch there which was tasty. The room we ate in was apparently an old bar. The bar was dark, heavy wood and had big mirrors. Quite interesting.

From there we traveled to the Southern Natural History Museum. A lot of their specimens were from back in the 30's and still in excellent shape. We spent about 2 hours there. They had all kinds of birds and mammals stuffed. There were two live owls, 2 hawks and a keister in their raptor center. They had been injured and were not able to be released back into the wild. There was a storm going on while we were there. We were able to watch the clouds with lightning in the distance. This museum is perched on Hogback Mountain overlook. You can see 100 miles and Massachusetts and New Hampshire on a clear day. Since it was raining we are not sure how far we could see. It was a beautiful overlook. We did not have to pay since we are volunteers at a state park.

As we were heading back home we drove through Bennington, Vt. and were surprised to see so many moose. They were having Moose Fest 2009. All the moose were statues located in front of different businesses. We got pictures of a few of them. Still no picture of a real moose.

Busy Day

Saturday was a busy day. I had my hair cut in Brandon. Gail is a horse lady so it is interesting talking with her. We drove to Ruland for our regular Saturday Wal Mart and grocery shopping, and picked up cat food (Blue Buffalo) for Katie and had lunch at McDonalds. Allan and I rushed home to drop off the groceries and headed for Castleton where we had been invited for a late afternoon meal with Kevin and Terry Burke from church. Their daughter is leaving for Southeastern Bible College in Lakeland, Fl. There were several other couples attending this get together, too. We really enjoyed the fellowship and good food and feel blessed to meet new friends. We learned things about the area and wild life also. One couple was leaving soon for a 24 day trip to Europe.

Allan decided since we were so close we should attend the local pro-rodeo. That was enjoyable seeing the horses. Allan said I got my horse fix.

Today we went to church, came home for lunch (salmon, squash and spinach salad) and took a Sunday afternoon nap. Allan worked on the roof of the RV removing stains, polishing and waxing. We went for our regular campground walk. Yancy helped us get our web cam set up. We got to visit with her and Maggie, our grand dog. I took the computer outside so she could see what our campsite looked like and walked to a lean-to and cabin so she could see that, too. It has been pretty warm here in the mid to high 80's for the last several days. Weatherman predicting the same until mid week when highs will drop about 10 degrees. Still not using the air conditioner.

Alabama looks like Claudette may be visiting you. Stay safe.

Boating and Fishing

Thursday Allan washed the RV and I washed clothes and cleaned the floors.

Today is Friday and we decided to take the day off. We drove to Kent Pond across the road from our campground with intentions of putting our inflatable kayak in the water. The lake access and boat launch is closed to install an new launch area. We walked down to watch the men working. It was a hot day and several were standing in the water while they set concrete slabs. We drove down to Colter Pond which is just a few miles down the road and found no one there, so we had the place to ourselves. We inflated the kayak and tried it out. This is only the second time I had been in it. Last time I felt like it was very tippy, but by the time we finished I was feeling right at home. Allan got the fishing pole and tried it out. We saw several fish jumping and a lot of little fish on the edge but did not catch anything. It was very peaceful there except for a rare yell from a golfer. Maybe he made a hole in one. There is a golf course that runs along part of the pond. We saw a hawk flying overhead and swoop down to catch a fish. We should have had a video camera with me trying to get out of the kayak with my bad knees. At least the bank wasn't full of people.

From Colter Pond

From Colter Pond

From Colter Pond

When we got back to the campground Katie and I sat outside for a while. Then we went for our nightly walk.

Katies new bed

Katie has found an out of the way place to snooze which is under the desk on top of our computer carrier. Now this carrier is black and you know what color Katie is so we decided to correct the problem. We found a pink cushy bed which was in the dog section but Katie doesn't know the difference if you don't tell her. She immediately went to it and started making biscuits. We placed it under the desk and she slept there all night rather than sleeping with us. We even got a picture of her curled up in the bed.

From Katie's new bed

We are painting on the lean-tos. This may take a while as there are 20 in the campground.

Frank and Pat from church invited us over for an afternoon visit and dessert today. We thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and fellowship. They have such a beautiful yard. Frank and Pat have a vegetable garden which is producing a bountiful crop. What great garden skills and God's blessing! They share their vegetables with friends. We are happy to be considered friends as they loaded us down with vegetables, desserts and Italian pasta dish. Thanks Frank and Pat. We took a picture of the one way bridge we had to cross to get to their house. All the other bridges have weight limits below our weight.

From Katie's new bed

As we were heading home we spotted two guys repelling off a rock ledge above the highway. We got pictures of them. This is the same place Allan hiked two weeks ago. (He didn't repel).

From Katie's new bed

The Flume and Basin

Friday we checked out of our cabin and drove to the Flume Gorge which is in Franconia Notch State Park. We had an option of taking the bus the first half mile and walking through the Flume and taking the bus back or walking the whole two miles. We opted for taking the bus in and walking 1 1/2 miles in and out of the gorge. The walk through the lower part of the gorge was mainly on boardwalks and many stairs to the top. What a view! At the lower end we saw Table Rock which the rushing water had smoothed the large slab of granite. As we got deeper into the gorge the walls narrowed on both sides and became 80 to 90 foot in height. They were beautifully covered with moss and fern and the sun filtered through the canopy of trees overhead. The water was rushing through with many cascade waterfalls as we ascended up the many stairs. Avalanche Falls measured 45 feet high. We passed a formation of rock called Bear Cave. We ascended to Ridge Path leading to Liberty Gorge. We continued on to Sentinel Pine Bridge and Pool. The pool measures 40 feet deep and 150 feet in diameter surrounded by cliffs 130 feet high. A little farther on Allan went through Wolf Den which is a narrow one way path that involves crawling on your hands and knees and squeezing up through the rocks (Good thing he is so skinny). Jeanne had better sense and stayed on the main trail. We continued on along the downhill trail through giant glacial boulders.

We left this section of the Flume Gorge and drove to the Basin which is another area where the river flows very swiftly through granite rock. In one area there was a small waterfall which landed on a granite rock forcing the water in a swirling motion and cut a cup in the rock which was 30 foot in diameter and 15 feet deep called the "Basin". There were also many unique and picturesque formations in the large stream.

Leaving this area we returned to Interstate 93 which goes through the valley and over the pass called the Franconia Notch. A portion of this interstate is the only two lane, two way interstate in the US. As we proceeded up to the Notch we passed "The Old Man of the Mountain" which was a famous profile of balancing rock that fell in 2003. New Hampshire lost the symbol of their state. We headed to Vermont to pick up Katie and return to our summer home without seeing a moose.



Saturday Allan helped a group from the church we are attending, split firewood for a member who is recovering from a serious illness. When he returned home I could tell by his walk he was very tired. That was quite a physical workout. He took a power nap and washed the truck and started on the trailer. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary of full time RVing by going out to eat at the "Back Behind Restaurant" that is near our campground. It served excellent ribs.

Today we went to church and did some window shopping and grocery shopping. We met our work crew for a pizza party at the office this afternoon and had a great time.

Mount Washington

Thursday morning we drove to Mount Washington in New Hampshire. It is the tallest mountain in the Northeast at 6288 feet per our map. You have four options of getting to the top of the mountain (driving your personal vehicle, riding the cog train, hiking, or taking a tour van). Since the road is very narrow, they would not allow any vehicle larger than a standard pickup so we opted for the tour van. We had a very knowledgeable and experienced guide. He had been doing this for 25 years. He managed to squeeze by cars coming the opposite direction while we hung to the edge of the mountain. We saw some beautiful views. As we ascended the vegetation changed from deciduous trees, coniferous trees to tundra. It was windy and cold on top (48 degrees with wind chill about 40 degrees). Clouds were coming in while we were there, but we had a very clear view of the Atlantic ocean, Canada and the Green Mountains of Vermont. Due to cloud cover we were not able to see New York. They have a weather station year round on top. In the winter even though it snows the wind blows the snow away but leaves a thick coating of ice on top of the mountain. The weathermen work a 7 day on/off shift and ride a snow cat up and down the mountain. The Appalachian trail goes up and over the mountain. The trails are easy to follow in the lower levels where there are trees growing, but in the tundra particularly in the winter when snow is on the ground the trail is very hard to follow. They have devised a way to mark the trail with stacked stones so the markers won't be blown away. There is an old stone hotel that people used years ago on the top. It is open to view by the public. There were numerous hotels built on top, but they all were blown away. This one is made of stone and still remains. Allan saw the cog train arriving on top which he got pictures on his camera, to be developed later. At the base of the mountain we visited a museum of old transportation vehicles from the past that were used in climbing Mount Washington.

We drove the Kancamagus highway and stopped along the way to see several waterfalls. Sabbaday Falls was an easy walk for me and very pretty. We stopped and watch younger kids play in the Swift River.

We found our cabin that we had rented which was in Lincoln, NH. It was small but very adequate for us. Had a bed, bath, couch, table and chairs, small refrigerator and microwave and TV. What more could you want? We heated a vegetarian lasagna in the microwave that I had prepared the night before. I was looking forward to watching some TV since we don't have it here in our campground, but found I became very bored with each change of the channel. We went for a short ride after dark looking for a moose, but only found one in the campground which we got a picture of. Sorry but no picture of a real moose yet. There was a deck in the back which overlooked a creek. The sound of a babbling brook through the windows lulled us to sleep. More adventures to look forward to in the morning.

Best Kept Secret in Killington

On Sunday afternoon we drove to Thundering Brook Falls which is a few miles from our campground. We have not found much information about these falls in any literature or on the Internet so far. They have built a long board walk over the river and marshy area to the falls. Makes a real nice, easy walk. From the boardwalk it is a very short walk on the trail to the falls. As you near the end of the board walk you can hear the crashing water from the falls. We were pleasantly surprised to see the large falls, a well kept secret.



I got a picture of one of our resident snakes at the office area. I named him Fred. Didn't get a picture of Ethel or Little Ricky. They were in hiding. There has been just too much activity around the office and ranger's house with us painting for them to be posing for a picture.

Katie got to venture outside today. She was on the picnic table watching a chipmunk eating bird seed on the ground. Her eyes got big and her tail was swishing and the feet were dancing. But after she thought about it, the idea of getting down on the ground in the mud changed her mind. She was satisfied to watch from the table.
We packed Katies things for her vacation at the condo. She is being boarded while we go to New Hampshire. This was her first ride in the truck since the first of June and she was not happy. The RV is very quiet with her gone. Hope to have some moose pictures to post.

Keeping busy

Thursday Allan drove to Lebanon, New Hampshire to work on the church. The project this week was mostly trim work while Ed hung lights and did electrical work. He returned home on Friday.

We slept in on Saturday morning. Allan went on a 3 hour hike up the mountain while I cleaned and continued to wash clothes. Saturday evening we drove to Coolidge State Park which is about 30 minutes from here for a raptor seminar. This was very interesting. The lady brought a red tail hawk, great horned owl and an American kestrel. They were beautiful animals. Allan had night rounds. The campground is full.

Today we went to church and did our weekly shopping(we usually do this on Saturday) before the rain started. The grocery store was extremely busy. Maybe most people do their grocery shopping on Sundays around here. We stayed in the rest of the day. Allan has night rounds again tonight.

Katie has decided she likes fresh water from the bathroom lavatory.

From Katie at the watering hole

We plan to visit Mount Washington and northern New Hampshire this Thursday and Friday. Maybe we will see a moose and get pictures.

Warmer Days Are Here

Sunday, after going to church we went to Larry and Joyce's cabin for a wonderful afternoon visit. They do a lot of boon docking and have numerous solar panels on their New Horizon 5th wheel. They travel extensively in and outside of the US. We hope to see them at the New York Escapee's Rally in September.

We were able to talk with Paul and Joyce, from Mass., about the rodeo they attended. We exchanged emails and blog info and hope to see them down the road again. They will be returning home in a few weeks and plan to put their house up for sale.

Allan and I have continued to paint on the office and ranger's house this week. It is getting warmer (in the low 80's). We turned on the A/C for the first time for about 30 minutes after we got home from painting. Sean came by to help Allan put the washer and dryer in their new home. Allan built a platform to set the dryer on which will be an improvement over the other setup. If he has a problem with the washer, he will not have to pull out the dryer first. I am so excited to get to wash clothes. The hamper has been filling up quickly. I know what I will be doing while Allan is gone. "This is the way we wash our clothes". One thing I was pleasantly surprised to learn was the washer will hold a larger amount of clothes. Before I could only wash two pair of jeans at a time.

The bear is still visiting us at night. He has found a free lunch and the chains on the dumpster have not kept him out.

Good general week and blessed

Thursday we decided to stay around the campground and get some needed chores taken care of and Allan had numerous phone calls to make.

Friday we stopped at the Sugar and Spice Restaurant for a pancake breakfast. Yummy! Neither one of us could finish everything on our plates. The next stop was the dump to drop off our old washer and dryer. From there, we drove to Lebanon, NH to pick up our new washer and dryer. Allan wanted me to see the church he has been working on so we stopped by there first. I met the pastor and his wife and he showed us around the new building. Allan did not go over this week as 24 guys from Georgia worked this week. They got the electrical, plumbing, sheet rock and sprayed the ceilings and got some interior walls installed. Allan was amazed how much they were able to accomplish in 4 days of work. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch and must have made the girl's day who waited on us. She was so excited to learn that we were from Alabama. She was from Mississippi. We enjoyed our drive and just being together. Life is good and God is great.

Today Allan had to get the washer and dryer into the RV. He was able to pick up the dryer from the truck and walk it to the front door and set it inside, but he found the washer way too heavy to move by himself. Felicia, the newest member of our staff here, drove the mule down to our campsite. Allan was able to slide the washer off the truck onto the mule. Felicia backed the mule up to the RV. A man showed up about that time who asked if Allan needed some help. Thank you God. They were able to get it transferred. We now have a washer and dryer just inside our front door. The cat is enjoying checking them out. Allan has to build a shelf for the dryer before he can install them.

We went to Rutland to volunteer at the Angel Food distribution day that is sponsored by Roadside Chapel AOG, where we are attending, and Calvary Chapel. We had not heard about this before but apparently it is all over the United States. For $30 you can get groceries worth about $65. Not a bad deal. We had to wait a while for the truck to deliver the food, but after it arrived I was amazed at how fast and smooth the process took place. We were able to meet some of the people from the church and get to know them better.

Allan got a hair cut and bought some tools. You men just love your tools. I got a pair of water shoes for use when we take our kayak out.

We had a couple following behind unbeknown to us while driving down the road. We pulled into a parking lot and they got out of their car and introduced themselves, Larry and Joyce Space. They had seen our Escapees sticker on the truck and wanted to meet us. They are Escapees, too. We will be visiting them tomorrow at their house.

We did our evening campground walk and met several people. One was the family and man who had helped Allan with the washer. We also met a couple who were from Massachusetts. They had just bought their second motor home, a Phaeton. They told us about a rodeo every Saturday night in a town not too far from here. We hope we will be able to go some time.

Another work day

It was another work day of painting. We were trying to beat the rain and succeeded. Just as we were walking back to our RV for a late lunch it started raining and has been raining ever since although a very slow rain.(The type you take a nap with and we did).



Tonight was Allan's night to make 10 o'clock rounds. He heard some banging and thought it might be bears again, but none showed up. Of course, he took the camera. I guess they are camera shy. He used the golf cart tonight since it was raining. Uneventful day.

Bear in camp

Allan caught #8 mouse today.

Last night about 11:30 I heard some banging outside. Allan thought it was someone shutting a car door. This morning we found out what it was. A bear or bears were in our dumpsters. They left a mess.



We worked 15 hours today (our combined hours). It was sunny today so we didn't want to waste any hours since we were painting. Things are progressing but it will be a while before we will be able to see much difference on this part of the job. It was suppose to be 81 today although I can't verify that. It was warm but not hot. Allan and I got our Vitamin D time in the sun and received a bit of a tan.

Hail Storm

Thursday evening a bad lightning and hail storm bombarded us. Why do things always happen when Allan is gone? The hail was about nickel size and it really made a racket on the roof. Katie disappeared under the bed. I had transplanted my squash plants today which were not looking too good due to excessive rain and very little sun, but after the hail storm they looked pretty ragged. There are lots of leaves everywhere. I was concerned about the campers with tents, but they apparently made it through ok. We lost electricity for a short time, but when it came back on, the living room/entertainment center and refrigerator still did not have power. I tried to reset the breaker, with no success. I called Allan who was in New Hampshire and since we decided I could run the refrigerator on LP that there was no need in him returning early. Christina, the park ranger, asked me to walk with her on the night rounds. Boy is it dark outside. You can really see the stars if you can find a clear area. The trees here are very tall and form a canopy (over 40 feet above us).

Katie and I had a good time while Allan was gone. I did my daily walking with some extra exploring of trails and campsites. Katie was a good girl. I had work to do outside and she begged to come outside too. She was content to stay on the picnic table taking in the sounds and smells of nature. She has also taken up residence in the bedroom window since I have been leaving it open more. I think it gets more sun.

We were glad to have Allan home. He worked two days on an RV US Maps volunteer project. The pastor was really grateful that Allan came when he did. Prior to that only one man had been working full time on the job. They were beefing up all the rafters for the church that the architect had specified since the new addition had been added. This far north they get so much snow that it can pile up on the roofs and can collapse if they don't have proper support. They were able to finish the rafters. They also finished assembling several temporary showers for the group of 25 men from Georgia that are coming in next week doing the wiring, insulation and the sheet rock on the ceiling of this portion of the church. Allan will not be going back next week since the large group will be working there, but he plans to return the following Thursday and Friday.

Friday night we drove to Rutland to a street function where they closed off a street and had local vendors and a band. We did not stay long as it started raining AGAIN.
Christina had planned to go with us but she got a call about an injured red hawk and agreed to transport it to VINS, a raptor sanctuary.

Saturday was a designated R&R day. Allan was very sore from his two days work of climbing scaffolds and through the rafters. We did our evening walk through the campground, talked with campers and Allan fixed a toilet handle. Christina came by to request the use of our portable generator as the electricity was out at the office. They discovered that a woodpecker had apparently shorted out the transformer so the electric company had to be called. We are sorry to report the woodpecker did not survive.

Today we attended church in Rutland. Good service with lots of praise reports of healing. After the service we talked with several friendly people. We have signed up to help on some projects at the church. We had lunch at McDonalds and did some grocery shopping.

We hiked a new trail in the park. The trails are not flat, but I did pretty good with Allan's help. As usual I had more trouble with the steeper down hill trails. When we returned to the RV, Allan was able to reset the breaker.

Update: Allan is at mouse #7 caught in the basement.

Katies new interest

Monday through Wednesday of this week we worked on the office and the ranger's house scraping and painting primer. We work some extra hours trying to get the primer on before it rained again. This is a big job but it will look so good when we finish. As we did our daily walk around the campground we admired the park that the whole team had been working on. It looks great.

Our new computer and router came in this week. Katie was so happy with her new boxes to explore. She spent quite a bit of time playing in them, but now she is bored. They are off to the recycle bin.

From Katie and her box

Allan left early this morning for Lebanon, NH where he will be working on an AOG church. He will spend the night and return late Friday afternoon. Katie and I stayed behind to try to catch up on some much needed work.

Kayaking

Since our washer and dryer are out of order and we had LOTS of dirty clothes, we made a trip to Rutland to do laundry. We were really shocked at the cost. We spent over $25 to do our weeks worth of laundry. We are glad that we have our new washer and dryer on order. At these prices it will pay for itself in a year.

Saturday we had Alabama visitors. Ken and Judy Conaway, whom we had worked with on many COM church projects had stopped to see us on their way back home. They had been on a project in New Hampshire for the past three weeks. We had a good time cooking out and showing them around the park. They gave us pointers for volunteer work and places to see next year in Oregon.

Sunday we went to church and ate lunch in town. We have found that groceries and eating out is much more expensive here compared to Alabama.

Later that afternoon we got the kayak inflated and launched into Kent Pond, a lake across from the state park. Allan paddled out near an island in the center of the lake that is a nesting area for a loon. He kept his distance so as not to disturb the loon, but was able to observe it through binoculars. He also paddled up the creek that feeds the lake and did a little surfing with the kayak under the small waterfall. It reminded him of the days he used to whitewater kayak.

From Kayaking in Kent Pond

From Kayaking in Kent Pond

OUR FIRST REAL MOOSE SIGHTING

Allan's night rounds were quiet. No real problems except for rain. We worked on the lean-tos and Allan did trimming and weed-eating by the front entrance.

Today we chose to drive to the Burlington area, the largest city in Vermont with a population of 206,000 which is a third of the population of the state. It is located on the east bank of Lake Champlain and on the western border of Vermont. For you Alabamians, our state has over 52,000 sq. miles and ranked 30th in size in the US. Vermont has 9,600 sq. miles and is ranked 45th. Alabama is ranked 23rd in population and Vermont is ranked 49th.

Our first stop was the University of Vermont at Middlebury Morgan Horse Farm. It was established and run by the government to provide Morgan horses for the cavalry.
They breed, raise colts and show their horses of which many are sold to the public. We were shown a short film on the history of the Morgan breed and the farm. There were all ages of horses there to see. One filly born this spring will be raffled off in the fall. Could we buy a raffle ticket? Allan had to tell me there was no room in the trailer and we don't have a toy hauler. Oh well, the hay smelled so good.

Next, we visited the Vermont Teddy Bear Company where they make their bears. They are unique in different ways. Their eyes have Vermont Teddy Bear written on them if you look closely. Their heads, arms and head can be rotated 360 degrees. They have a life time warranty. The company has a hospital department where injured bears go for medical care free of charge. One was laying on a gurney with IV's full of honey. The tour guide used every possible pun related to bears throughout her talk. We found it quite unbearable.

We visited the Cold Hollow Apple Cider Mill located just north of Waterbury. We had some of the best tasting apple cider and also brought some home with us. There was a video we watched about the making of cider. There is no waste. The pulp that is left over is fed to livestock and wildlife.

A country road took us to Moss Glen waterfalls which Allan hiked to see this and got some good pictures. The trail was too steep and difficult for me to attempt .

On the way home traveling I-89 we spotted a cow moose about 300 yards off the highway. We were traveling too fast and unable to pull over so we did not get a picture to prove we saw one. You will have to take our word for it. Hopefully, there will be more and with pictures in the future. We did see a 2 hump camel in a private pasture but we did not get a picture of that either. It was nice to have a sunny day without rain. The temperature was in the mid-70's. Today was a very enjoyable day.

Moose sighting

We saw a moose. Just look at that picture. He stood there so quietly posing for us. He is actually made of wire. Still no live moose.

From moose

On the 4th we went to Rutland for our usual Saturday shopping. I got my hair cut finally. Saturday night we went to the Killington recreation area to watch the fireworks. They had a jazz band playing. Just before 9 o'clock the bottom fell out and poured down rain. The fireworks were rescheduled for the following night.

Sunday we went to church and cleaned up around our RV. It was a beautiful sunny day but we did not return to watch the fireworks. We could hear them in the distance.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Could not see them because we have too many tall trees.

Today was a work day. We cleaned the lower bathrooms and cleaned and scraped on some lean-tos. The park ranger will be off for two days. Allan will be making night rounds for the next two nights for her. Hope things are quiet. We don't have too many campers in the park tonight. We had a beautiful day today but around 6:30 it started raining again.

I finally got the pictures for our last entry posted . There are quite a few of them.

A week in the rain forest

We had a nice cool week with the temperatures between 63-70 all week long. We really enjoy this kind of temperature, but we have also had rain every day. Most of the time it doesn't last long, but other times it rains several hours. Our furnace comes on at night which helps keep things drier on the inside. We worked Tuesday through Thursday this week. I worked in the office on Tuesday night and the rest of the week we worked on the lean-tos preparing them for painting, if it ever dries out.

Today we took an excursion to the north central area of Vermont, near Montpelier. We first stopped at Rock of Ages which is a big granite quarry where we went on a tour. The quarry was up to 600 feet deep. They had four huge cranes that would lift out slabs of granite after they were cut. They used drills, diamond wire saws and primer cord explosives to separate the slabs. These were used mostly for memorials such as head stones, mausoleums and monuments. We saw them cutting, grinding, and polishing along with engraving and sculpturing the granite. Next we visited Cabot Creamery. It was very interesting to watch them make the cheese from start to finish. Different types of cheese were on the sample table for us to try. Yummy. We learned that cheddar cheese is actually white, but they add color to some of it for the people who do not live in the northeast and assume that it is suppose to be colored. We bought a few flavors to take home along with some butter. We went to Ben and Jerrys for dessert today. We took a factory tour and saw how they processed the ice cream and packaged it. We got a sample. Of course, the sample was not enough so we had to purchase some more ice cream. We visited the grave yard where they have markers for the different flavors of ice cream that they no longer produce. (the deceased). Allan got a picture of a replica of the bus they started out with. The original burned to the ground. It produced baked Alaska. One of our benefits of working at the state park is free admission to many attractions like those we visited today.

The scenery on our trip was very spectacular. Most everything we saw today was covered in forest. We were later in returning home tonight but still no moose sightings. We did see a double rainbow. Hope you can see them both on the picture. We love the way the clouds were hanging in the mountains and down in the valleys. It looked like smoke rising from the trees.

New York State

We woke up to rain again. So what is new? Today we left the park and drove to New York state to visit Darrell and Judy Patterson who are working at Lake George Escape RV Park. The drive took less than two hours. As we drove into New York we observed rolling agricultural land which gradually began to change to the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. We walked the campground as they pointed out different RV sites, activities and points of interest. This is a very large RV park set up primarily for families with many activities offered throughout the day. They have full-time jobs here for the summer. This was their day off and we appreciate them sharing their off day with us. They served us a nice meal and dessert and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. We talked about our volunteer work and compared experiences. They have two rag doll cats named Alex and Katie (yes they have a Katie, too). While in the park we also talked to Jesse Haman whom we had met at the RV Dreams rally last year. We missed seeing Ginger, his wife, as she was working the early shift today. We look forward to the time when Darrell and Judy can visit us here in Killington.

Several days ago Katie heard some scratching in the walls somewhere so Allan set some traps in the basement storage area. When we returned from the trip today, he found that both traps had done their job. He reloaded in hopes the family was no larger than two (just part of the life in the woods).

Allan wanted to give a shout out to his friends from American Pipe and Hardy Corp. He hopes their fishing trip went well.

Almost forgot to mention Sunday we were chasing our tail. We drove through the old section of Rutland, crossed a bridge over the river and drove up the road. We found that we couldn't cross back over the river on another bridge because of the height restriction. We drove in circles trying to get out of the area. When we came back to the bridge we had originally crossed we found a sign that said weight limit 3 tons. We are closer to 6 tons. Why hadn't they posted that on the other side of the bridge. We followed the river road until we found a one lane bridge that had no height or weight restrictions posted so we closed our eyes and crossed the bridge. We made it! obviously. We stopped to take a picture of an old "mansion called the Wilson Castle" which was built in 1867. It looked in much need of repair from the road.

Restful days with more rain

Thursday was the hottest day we have experienced here, about 80 degrees. I chose to spring clean the RV, but since we only have 30 amp service I could not use the AC while doing laundry, vacuuming, using the hot water heater and other small appliances. It got to about 83 in the RV. Allan decided it was safer to just leave while the "white tornado" did her work. During this time of deep cleaning I found several things we have been missing. Allan was gone a long time, but he returned with a fishing pole, "my Mother's Day present"??

There was a scratching sound in our trailer while we were sitting in our recliners. I looked into the bedroom and could see the mirrored closet doors moving. Katie had found the closet door open and had taken a nap in there. Unfortunately, Allan had hung up his clothes and shut the door subsequently locking the cat in there. She was happy to be let out. We always try to make sure she is located before we leave for any length of time although this is her first time to be imprisoned in a hidey place.

Our plans for Friday were to drive to Montpelier and Stowe for some sightseeing, but the weather was predicting 90% chance of thunder storms so we opted for a much shorter trip. We drove to Woodstock for lunch and Allan let me shop in a huge English/Western store. It was an old barn that had been renovated. Next door was a stable and show arenas. The 4-H shows were scheduled for the next week or so. On our way back home we detoured the long way up Killington Mountain at the ski resort. It was much cooler with more wind at that elevation. The gondolas were running, carrying bikers up the mountain so they could bike down the mountain pretty fast. Looked like a few may have skidded on their backside, but they were in line to go back up again. Oh, to be young again. What am I saying, I would never do that. I had better sense in my younger years, but not Allan. Later that evening, we drove to Chittenden Dam looking for a moose. It was a very scenic drive, but no moose again.

We drove to Rutland to do our shopping today. As usual the farmer's market was going on. Wal-mart and Hannaford were stopping places along with Petco for some grass seed for Katie. We returned home for beef tips and rice cooked in the crock pot. We had a knock on our door. One of the campers let us know the women's bathroom door was coming off its hinges. We walked over there to fix the problem. It had just finished raining. Feels good outside (66 degrees). Sorry to rub it in for you folks in the hot country. We are headed out for a walk in the campground

Work and rest

Tuesday and Wednesday Allan trimmed more limbs and worked with Cliff from the maintenance dept. on improving several sites. They brought in truck loads of dirt and gravel mix (in Alabama it is called chert) to raise some tent sites that had been flooding. Jeanne trained in the office and helped clean the bath houses. Allan did his first 10:00 PM security walk on Tuesday. He had to ask some campers to quiet down and they were very nice in complying. This park is known for the old growth trees that have never been cut. The trees form a tall canopy and late at night it gets VERY dark.

As Wednesday was our last day to work this week, we decided to sleep in today. Allan slept in longer than I did. I was awakened by Miss Katie who wanted to eat and look out her window to see if there were any bird or animal trespassers. I have taken Katie outside for three days in a row which may not have been the best decision as she thinks she should go out everyday. She sits on the picnic table most of the time and listens to all the bird sounds in the park. She is a happy kitty.

Quechee Gorge

Friday we drove to Quechee Gorge which is about 35 miles from here and had lunch at Farmer's Diner. We checked out a few stores and then walked the rim of the gorge. Allan walked down to the waterfall for pictures. On our way back home we drove through Woodstock which looks like a neat town to walk the streets. We made a stop at Taftsville for more water pictures and covered bridge. Many of the post offices are located in country stores. We needed a few stamps while in Taftsville.

Saturday we drove to Rutland for the big farmer's market. Talked with several interesting people and made a few purchases which included some flowers. We ate at Friendly's Restaurant which is more of an ice cream establishment but serves meals also.

Today Allan worked trimming limbs and I trained in the office and helped clean the bathrooms.

Redneck washing machine

The first order of business today was getting our fingerprints taken at the Rutland City Police Dept. My fingerprints were hard to get the detail. I may have to go back for another try. Allan has been working my fingers to the bone.

Upon returning to the campground Allan and I started back trimming limbs. We are trying to get the campground looking good for all the campers coming in on the 4th of July. We are fully booked. I stopped off at the bathrooms and looked into the mirror finding blood running down my neck. Black flys went for the jugular vein. We were very tired when our work day ended.

It has been impossible for Allan to located the leak inside the washing machine as it has rained almost everyday. He will talk to an appliance repair person tomorrow. It is sitting out in our campsite so it won't leak in the trailer. I took advantage of this clear day and did laundry in our washing machine outside so we are officially trailer trash.

We got some pictures of the office, bathhouse and lean-tos. And the washing machine sitting in our yard.

A short work day

We scheduled ourselves only 3 hours of work today. Allan and I worked together again cutting branches and hauling them down to a dump pile. It required a lot of bending and stooping and cutting overhead. We were tired when noon arrived. Found another moose pile dropping in the campground. So far we have only seen chipmunks, squirrels, birds, of course, and snakes in the park. After work Allan checked out the washing machine. He found a leak but not where it is coming from.

We drove to Rutland to see what was selling at the farmer's market. It is smaller on Tuesdays but Saturdays are suppose to be big. We also learned they close a street in town on Fridays during the summer and offer food vendors, entertainment for kids and music of different styles. We bought two different kinds of lettuce and some kohlrabi. I did not know what to do with it. We got a sample to taste. Tonight I added it raw to a salad and we both liked it. Tomorrow may bring something different. We also bought two doggie cookies for the park ranger's dogs. Sorry Maggie, they would not be good if I mailed them to you or brought them to you in November.

We decided to drive down the road to hunt for moose again. Still no moose. I found it interesting to see quite a number of houses have their Christmas lights still up and turn them on every night. We saw two farmers working hard plowing their fields until almost dark. Sorry no pictures today.

Something we learned about Vermont and Wal-Mart. There are only four in the state.

Another rainy day, after day, after day

This past weekend we took a drive north of here over the mountains. Still didn't see any moose. I wonder if they are really out there. We got a late start so we did not get to visit the Sheldon Museum or the Morgan Horse Farm. We did walk the streets of Middlebury and had lunch in a little cafe. There was a big waterfall in the middle of town. Middlebury College is located there. The college has it's own ski slope several miles away at the gap and have a top ski team. Sean, the assistant ranger at Gifford Woods, spends his winter as head of the ski patrol there.

Sunday we attended church at Roadside Chapel Assembly of God. The pastor was elsewhere that day, but the service was very good. They have very talented worship leaders. We met several people who seemed very friendly. We plan on going back. We explored Rutland some more and had lunch there after church. Sean helped Allan pull the washing machine out of the trailer as it has an internal leak which he has to track down and repair.

Today we did tree trimming along the camp loops in between the rain. There was a thunder and lightning storm this morning. During that time, we spent in the office with more orientation and going over future needs of the park. The ranger let us do laundry at her house.

Training period

We had Monday to settle in and get acquainted with the park and the area. We drove to Rutland which is about 20 minutes away. It has one of the few Wal-Marts in the state. It is NOT a super store. We drove around the town and located a church where we plan to attend on Sunday. They also have a Home Depot and several restaurants.

Gifford Woods State Park is located just outside of Killington, Vt. It was established in 1931 and a lot of the buildings were built by the CCC during the Great Depression. It has 22 tent/trailer sites with no hookups, 21 lean-to shelters and 4 rental cabins located on 285 acres. The Appalachian trail runs through the state park so many of the campers are hikers and they have a lot of day use people using the trails. Today, Gifford Woods contains one of the few old-growth hardwood tree stands remaining in Vermont. Killington is known as a ski resort and a lot of the lodges and motels that cater to the winter crowd.

Tuesday we started training and work. Our schedule is pretty much up to us as long as we work 30 hours between us per week. There is lots to learn and do here. They have everyday jobs like clean up and jobs that need to be done weekly or monthly. And then there are many special projects such as painting and repairing and gardening. We are trained in cleaning the bathrooms, site cleaning when someone checks out of a campsite and cabin cleaning. These will not be everyday jobs for us.
This week beside the routine schedule, Jeanne has done some gardening and Allan has done some clean up around the office and mowing.

Kent Pond which is pretty large for a pond is located across the highway from the state park. We hope to fish and put our inflatable kayak in soon. Tomorrow we are suppose to get our fishing license. This is one of our perks. We can get free use of state parks and their facilities as available and discounts at many attractions. We are planning a day trip on Saturday. The weather is suppose to be sunny and in the low 70's. We have had a number of rainy days here and high temps have been in 50s -60's. We are very happy and blessed with our site, job, area and temperature.

Farmington to Gifford Woods

Friday night everyone gathered around after work for a campfire and hot dog roast. Allan and Ron grilled the hot dogs and the women brought in the fixin's and dessert. Terry and Jake brought home made ice cream. Everyone ate till they were full.

Saturday morning we dumped the tanks, pulled the slides in, connected the truck and jumped the ditch that Allan had dug for the electrical last week. There was a crew of young men who came in this morning to finish digging the ditches. We enjoyed our week with this great group of people. We hated leaving good friends and the project not finished, but we were committed to another volunteer job in Vermont.

We traveled Hwy. 2 from Farmington across New Hampshire into Vermont. Hwy 2 has a reputation of being very rough. There was a short section that was one way and gravel where they were working on the road, but otherwise it was not too bad. Katie continued to let us know when we hit bumps in the road. We stopped at a McDonalds for lunch that had a river running beside it. They even had tables along the river. This is the first McDonalds we had come across that had a stop off for people canoeing and kayaking. We saw Mount Washington with some snow hanging on. We caught Interstate 91 south to East Thetford, Vt where we camped at Rest and Nest Campground. We drove into Lebanon, NH and Claremont, NH to a super Wal-Mart. It was a beautiful drive along the Connecticut River. We saw covered bridges. Allan got a few pictures with his camera, but it will be some time before they are developed.

Today we left for Gifford Woods State Park where we will be volunteering until mid-October. We traveled Hwy. 4 which took us by Quechee Gorge where they were having some type of celebration. There were miles of bumper to bumper cars. We drove through Woodstock which seemed like a neat town. It was busy, too. Before getting in to Quechee we experienced bad roads again. They were like wagon ruts in the road. We traveled slow. The speed limit was 35. Allan found it very difficult to steer. The elevation increased as we traveled toward the park. As we pulled into Gifford Woods we had to put jackets on over our short sleeves. Tuesday the high is supposed to be 52, just the way we like it. We were greeted by Christina, the park manager, and Shawn. They directed us to our campsite the only one with hookups. We walked the park and were very impressed with everything. The bath houses were exceptionally modern and very clean. Besides campsites they had lean-tos which have a roof, three walls and a floor. They have four cabins, also. We haven't seen a moose, but we have moose droppings across the road from us. Katie loves it here. She will love it even more when she figures out we aren't moving so much.

Our trip through Maine and the Atlantic Provinces of Canada were enjoyable but not as impressive as the scenery of New Hampshire and Vermont. I think we will like this place. We will enjoy our days off touring the countryside.

Farmington Conference Center

We reunited with some old friends from Campers on Mission at Farmington, Maine. The project is at the Farmington Conference Center. We arrived last Saturday and will depart this Saturday morning. Most of the group will be here two more weeks and then go to another project in New Hampshire.

The women have worked hard on thoroughly cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms along with painting the bath/showers. They have also been doing some sewing projects. Judy Connoway is leading a Beth Moore study on Daniel for us which is powerful. Earne taught us to bead T-shirts.

Jake and Allan are redoing the electrical hookups for the RV's. They also worked on an electrical problem with the sewage pump and did some plumbing repairs. Wilton and Terry have installed doors and built a covered entrance to the basement. Ken and Bob are adding a deck to the back of one of the buildings. Billy and Ron are installing a partition wall in the girls dorm. This is only the start of the work that will be completed in two more weeks. Lots of achy muscles.

They had well over 100 inches of snow this winter and the snow collapsed the roof of the cafeteria. This has been rebuilt with more work to be completed.

USA bound

We spent the night at a campground in Gagetown, NB. Not much to the campground except they were experiencing lots of mosquitoes. We saw a large black bear on the side of the road. Apparently he had been hit by a vehicle. That must have done a lot of damage.

We did not have any trouble getting through the border, but they did request to go into the 5th wheel to see if we were harboring stowaways.

We are in Herman, Maine near Bangor at Pumpkin Patch RV Resort. It is very nice with flat campsites, cable TV, wi-fi, full hookups. We are living in luxury. I am catching up on HGTV. We made a run to Wal-Mart. We had stocked up on groceries before going into Canada and now our cupboards are rather bare. The temperature is in the 50's with some rain. Really quite nice as far as we are concerned. We will leave in the morning for Farmington, Me. for a Campers on Mission project.

I am adding a picture of a doggie day care sign that was near the entrance of our campground in Nova Scotia. The dogs were running and playing.

From Doggie daycare next to RV campground

Peggy's Cove

We drove to Peggy's Cove and took a lot of pictures. This is a beautiful, rocky coastline and quaint fishing village. We were tired so did not pursue further adventures. Will be leaving in the morning for New Brunswick probably for one day and then back into the US of A.

Halifax, Nova Scotia area

We said our goodbyes to our new US friends and then saddled up for a new location. For the most part the roads were much better today. Jeanne and Katie were much happier. We had a partly cloudy day with a short burst of rain. More eagles were sighted along our route. Allan and I spent some of our driving time making tentative plans for 2010. We have camped near Halifax. We posted more pictures on the last two entries.

Nova Scotia

We had to cross the Confederation Bridge to leave Prince Edward Island. This is the longest bridge over frozen water (the water was not frozen today). The toll was $56.50. A big portion of our cost on the trip from Pennsylvania through the Northeast and Canada has been tolls. This is something we did not budget for this trip. A lot of the roads including toll roads have been in severe need of resurfacing. This has helped me, Jeanne, to decide not to travel to Alaska by land next year. Katie agrees with me. She says MEOW or was that amen.

We drove through the corner of New Brunswick to get to Nova Scotia. We stopped in Pictou for one night and found out we could have taken the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia and save quite a few miles. We drove to the bay front of Pictou and saw Hector which is Canada's equivalent to the Mayflower. About 200 people came over from Europe with the trip taking about 3 months. That was a crowded long three months.

We moved on Friday to Baddeck Cabot Trail Campground and will leave in the morning if weather permits. Saturday we drove the Cabot Trail which takes you through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The first hour of the drive was terribly bumpy and we encountered a relay race in progress. We drove past the runners and the road was lined with people and cars as they cheered us on down the road or were they cheering the runners? As we entered the National Park the road became much better. There was no charge at the Park as we were just traveling through and not using their facilities. The roads included many steep inclines and descents. Our truck did just fine. Allan used the engine brake a lot. We followed the coastline on different parts of our trip. The jagged cliffs and deep blue water made it very picturesque. The hills were coming alive with various shades of green as spring had arrived. We saw a small waterfall. We were hoping to see a moose but no moose appeared. We did see a large gray or silver fox with a big bushy tail. Nova Scotia has many rivers and lakes and coastal inlets. After our return to the campground we decided to take a walk down to the river. It was quite muddy in spots but we enjoyed our trek through the woods. We saw two bald eagles flying over the campground. We got to meet and talk with several campers from different parts of the world. Ontario, England, Maine, Tennessee, and North Carolina to name a few. We also learned that the owners were originally from the Black Forest of Germany. Even though it is very beautiful there, they moved because it was too crowded.

Today we drove over an hour to go to church which was on the way to Fortress Louisbourg. It turned windy and chilly by the time we finished lunch. We bundled up and toured the fort which was quite interesting. It was actually a walled, small city sitting out on the end of the peninsula guarding the entrance to the bay. It was active in peace time as well as war time. It was built and maintained by the French, but the British overtook this area in the mid 1700's. It was a long road up to the fortress and while on the road we saw a large coyote run into the woods.

On our way back we stopped at a falls. It required hiking a ways on uneven ground so I stayed in the truck while Allan got pictures. He returned back just before it started raining. This was an interesting country road. We drove by several farms with different kinds of animals which we have not identified yet. One had cows, oxen?? long horns and long hair. There was a herd of white horses. breed?? There was a kennel with different breeds of dogs. breed??

I fixed some chocolate chip cookies tonight and of course left Allan some raw cookie dough. We are trying to regroup so that tomorrows preparation for leaving will be a somewhat simple job.

Prince Edward Island

We will be on Prince Edward Island for two days. Today we drove around part of the island. It appears to be quite agricultural. It has slightly rolling hills. Many areas have excellent view of the ocean. We saw a fox today. We aren't sure what kind he is. A man told us that they used to breed silver fox here until there was no market for them so they let the fox go wild. Apparently they have bred with the grey and red fox. That might be why this one looks so different. He has something in his mouth. There are no deer or moose. The weather is still cool. Katie is happy we didn't move this morning.

They have great seafood here. We bought a one pound lobster for $7.99 and we bought haddock, Atlantic salmon and sea scallops.

We will head for Nova Scotia in the morning.

Canada

We crossed the border with no problems. The roads in areas are terrible, but it is beautiful and cool. We traveled through New Brunswick to Fundy National Park and Hopewell Rocks. then to Prince Edward Island. We don't get too many TV stations but many are French speaking or Canadian news stations. It is interesting to see what they are experiencing and US news that they feel is important. We were surprised to see the speed limit was 100-110 mph or was that klh? The gas was only 94 cents per gallon or was that liters? The temperature is suppose to be 9 tomorrow. That is pretty cool. That will be 48F. it is below average. The rest of the week should be in the 60's.

Calias, Me at Canada border

We arrived in Calias, Me at the Canada border yesterday. We camped in Robbinston, Me at Hilltop Campground. Everyone is very friendly. Most of the people here are permanent campers for the summer. We have a view of the St.Croix River and Canada from our RV. Today was a very rainy and foggy day. Mid-afternoon it stopped raining and we drove in to get some diesel and groceries before entering into Canada tomorrow.

Our phone and internet service will be limited while in Canada so we may not post anything especially pictures until we get back into the United States.

Acadia National Park and goodbyes

We have toured Acadia National Park by car and the following day we took a 2-hour cruise around the bay to get a different view and see new things we could not see by car. We sat on top of the boat. We had a beautiful day but chilly and windy. Our faces were frozen. We saw many multi-million dollar "cottages". Our trip was blessed with many sightings of different animals which included an adult eagle flying and an adolescent eagle flying and one nesting. I got a picture that you can just make out of the nesting one. We also saw quite a number of seals, one with a youngster riding on his mom's back and many nesting birds on Egg Island where the lighthouse was located. We had an excellent tour guide. This was well worth the money! We were fortunate enough to see a four masted schooner sailing for the first time this season.

On Thursday we drove to Camden and Belfast. We had a bad experience at the Lobster Pound in Camden. Poor service, bad food and trying to over charge us were a few things that describe this restaurant. We had an excellent meal at Young's Lobster Pound across the river from Belfast. This was Yancy and Jeanne's first time to eat a whole lobster. The meal included fresh lobster, clams, corn and chips. There were many cute shops in these towns. We arrived back at the campground to packing and cleaning up, playing some Boggle and then the finale of Grey's Anatomy. What an ending.

Friday we got up early. Yancy and Jeanne rode in the rental car while Allan drove the truck to the interstate. We said our goodbyes and gave final instructions for the final 2 hour trip to the airport in Manchester, NH. She has called several times and made it to the airport, boarded her flight to Atlanta and landed in Atlanta learning that her flight to Birmingham had been delayed.

Bar Harbor, Maine

We have been behind on our pictures for the blog. Check back on last entry. We have added lots of pictures of our trip to Boston.

Yesterday we drove to Mount Desert Island and stopped at the town of Bar Harbor. We walked, shopped and drove around the city. Yancy and I went into two dog and cat specialty stores which were a treat. We did not drive to Bar Island as the road was under water. You can drive there only during low tide.We drove the park loop road. It feels like we are in another country because the views are so different from what we have previously experienced. The coastlines are rocky with some being steep and jagged. They are heavily forested with mountains in contrast to flat topography we saw in Savannah and Charleston. There are very few sandy beaches. Yancy has really enjoyed our trip. It is much cooler here than in Alabama. She is not looking forward to returning to work. The people have been very nice and helpful. We drove up Cadillac Mountain in the middle of the island at 1530 feet. What a view.

Kennebunkport, Maine

Our travels took us around Boston pulling the trailer without any problems. We continued through New Hampshire to Eliot, Me at Indian River Campground. It required following a long, muddy, one lane road with huge holes for about a mile to the campground. We found the sites were too small to pull into and it was very primitive. Allan was outside for only a few minutes and we found 2 ticks on him. It didn't take long to decide this was not the right campground for us. We contacted another campground which had just opened. We were extremely happy with Red Apple Campground. We got several loads of clothes washed. On Friday we drove to Manchester, NH to pick Yancy up at the airport.

On Sunday we got up early and drove to Boston to meet a bus for a tour of the city. Our bus driver was Rob and he took 7 other people from New York, Pa, Ca and Bangkok, Thailand and the three of us on an delightful, informative tour. One of our stops was Fenway Park. They had a special celebration going on since it was Mother's Day and we got to go into the park to take pictures. In front of Faneuil Hall was Quincy Market. This was a long market full of places to eat. There was such a wide
variety of food from many countries. We went to the US Naval yard and museum to visit the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) and WWII destroyer. We saw several old churches including the Old North Church and Paul Revere's statue. Other things we saw included the Old State House (the site of the Boston Massacre), Ben Franklin statue, Cheers bar, Copps Hill burial Ground, Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Ma, site where battle of Bunker Hill was fought.

We moved to Bucksport, Me to Shady Oaks Campground. It is quaint and the owners were very nice and extremely helpful. We drove to Castine to see the Maritime Academy and see the area housing and view of the bay. We then drove to Fort Knox across from Bucksport and explored the granite and earth fort that guarded the river.