Bay of Fundy

Roger and Heather’s brother Paul took Saturday to set up their “bouncy castles” at two birthday parties. They are growing this family business. Heather got to stay home and play with the kids!

On Sunday morning we visited Paul and Chanda’s church. From there we left for the famous Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy – where the tides rise and fall close to 50 feet each day. It was quite a drive and then we walked about ¼ mile to the base of the cliff where the water was slowly (actually, quite fast!) moving in. The girls went in their wagon, but on the way back they wanted to climb all the steps. It took a while, but with them going up themselves, it was easier on the “carriers”! The weather was pleasant and it was great exercise for us all! (Chanda had a “bouncy castle” job, so she wasn’t on the outing.)

The rock formation is very impressive – looking up at what the water has done in forming caves and bridges out of rock. It’s the highest tide in the world. The arch picture below was shot when the tide had already come in about 200 yards and will be completely under water at high tide.

In New Brunswick

We made it across the line - they were very nice to us and didn't search the R.V. (we really didn't have anything to hide!).

At my brother's place now. He may be the youngest in the family, but he's no spring chick! At 59 he and his wife adopted 2 year old twin girls. They are live wires, but cute! We had to come up and meet them.

Zeke is 7 (almost 8) and he's a trooper. His thunder was stolen by the twins, but he does real well with it. We played Monopoly for about 2 hours. He ran the bank - real good with numbers (takes after his aunt!!). CatchPhrase is another game he's really caught onto.

Here we are in deep competition!

Roger helped Paul load up his trailer with the equipment for two "bouncy house" parties in a nearby city this Saturday. This is one of the businesses they have. French-to-English text translation is another.

Moose Crossing

Wednesday morning we left Salisbury, MA, fairly early. However, Roger discovered that he didn’t have the rear lights to replace the ones that were burned out, so we had to find an auto parts store. That cost us an hour, but he got them all working.

From there we drove through New Hampshire (about 12 miles) and into ME. We made it all the way up to Houlton, ME – right at the Canadian border. At the welcome center we were told this is the prime time that the moose run out onto the streets because of biting insects in the forest. But we didn't see even one! This Moose-Car Crash stats are in a brochure the Park Ranger gave us. The Moose usually win. 

Now we are situated in a very pleasant RV park, with no neighbors. Last weekend was busy here with Canadians because that’s their holiday weekend.

Miss Winnie stopped dead in her tracks on entering the RV park to allow a turtle with a 12-inch shell to cross the road.


After finding our park and doing a little shopping, we drove into town and found a church with a Wednesday evening Bible study. It was encouraging for all of us.

Houlton, ME, is where I attended grade 1 for ½ a year. I was able to find the brother of 2 of my classmates – although I never would have identified him on the street!

Tomorrow it’s off to Chipman, NB.

Traffic

Yes, we have seen and have been in Traffic. However, traffic going the other way this morning was unmatched – over 20 miles of basically stand still, going into New York. Made WA’s traffic look tame!

As I write, Roger is trying to fix our passenger side rear lights. They burned out in some rain storm (got water inside). He’s looking for spare bulbs he thought he had along. We pulled over into this rest area to eat our taco supper and wait out the rush hour traffic around Boston.

If we had driven through Boston, we would have been completely underground. So we chose to go around the city. However, traffic was still quite heavy (not near as bad as going south, however).

Our goal tonight is Salisbury, MA. It didn’t take long to get through RI!

Plymouth, MA

We decided this morning to take a side trip to Plymouth, MA. In 1994 we took all 6 kids to the Plymouth Rock, but Roger couldn’t remember. So we went again. (Back then we also took the ferry to Ellis Island and climbed the Statue of Liberty.) It was a blustery spring day, so we didn’t stay out long. We also drove by the Plimouth (the way William Bradford chose to spell it) Plantation, but chose to not spend the money to go in ($28/person for one of the exhibits).

On The Road Again

Miss Winnie had a long rest in Annapolis. It was time to hit the road again!

After church and a good dinner with Lila, we headed north to Gettysburg. It was very revealing to see the actual battleground – which covers many acres. There are rolling hills, which would have made moving artillery difficult, not to mention the lack of visibility over the hill. Many monuments and statues have been erected throughout the battlefield areas.

From there we drove to Hershey, PA. Walmart let us spend the night in their parking lot, so we were ready bright and early to go to Chocolate World!! It even smells good…

Hershey’s Chocolate Factory offers a free tour, which we, of course, took! Then Roger enjoyed a chocolate slushy and I had almond joy hot chocolate. Indeed, it was good!

On the way out of town, Roger spotted the Penn State Police museum. He was interested in it, so while he toured, I rested! (Naps are good, even on vacation.)

We stopped next at the Roadside America exhibit, and amazing scale model township. It's like stepping into the 1950's.

 

Driving through Allentown, we found parking and planned to go through the Zion "Liberty Bell Church" . However, we got there just as they closed. An interesting story, so will need to return!!

We spent the rest of the day plowing through Newark and New York City. Quite an adventure! Just an FYI – the George Washington Bridge toll is $42 to take an R.V. over.…and for that price we got to enjoy bumper-to-bumper traffic for an hour. We won’t plan to do that again!

Finally, at about 9 p.m. we found a Walmart in CT that would let us spend the night. So, here we are, having had a good sleep and ready to go.

We agreed that New York has the worst roads so far in our travels. When we entered CT, the roads immediately improved greatly!