Acadia National Park

 28/29/30 Aug
We drove down to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island on Tuesday – dined in the RV on lobster.

 




We spent most of Wednesday climbing Cadillac Mt.  At 1530ft, it is the highest point on the North Atlantic coast.  The ascent only took 1 ½ hrs and we had a 360 degree view of the whole island plus the mainland and lots of other islands. 

Not a cloud in the sky.  It’s not that Maine is prettier than UK it’s just that the bright light in the sky brings out the colours and makes the sea sparkle and hence everything look so picturesque. It’s also a lot warmer.

The photo of the sail ship was taken from the top of Mt Cadillac at about 4 miles distance.

 

The descent took a bit longer as it was a pretty tough trail.  They provide hand rails in places and the trails are marked with blue paint and cairns. 

 

We caught the bus back from Bubble Pond.  Propane driven buses circuit the island and you hop on and off as required and they are all free.

All the land for Acadia NP was donated entirely by private citizens; a third of the park was donated by Rockefeller family; he also had miles of carriage roads made of gravel which are used for cycling, walking and riding.

 

On Thursday we drove the Park Loop Road of approx. 27 miles visiting other points of interest such as Sand Beach, Thunder Hole and Otter Point.  We spent time wandering around Bar Harbour town and then drove over to the other side of the island.  Tomorrow we are on the move again heading further north to the Canadian border.

27 Aug

We followed the road on the eastern side of the Penobscot River.  Passed Fort Knox, a 19^th century granite building (not the ‘Real’ Fort Knox).  We had iced tea at Castine, a small fishing village on the end of the peninsula.  It has some of the oldest buildings in Maine and is home to the Maine Maritime Academy.  We watched some of the cadet’s parade down to their ship.  We continued down to Stonington on Deer Isle by going over the Eggemoggin Reach suspension bridge.  Stonington is a real working fishing village with lobster pots everywhere.  Our drive took us passed many “studios” of various crafts – painting, photography, woodwork, stonework, ceramics and others – it would take a month just to see all of them. 

I spend a delightful evening with some ladies from the camp site at a card-making evening.  I love listening to the accents from the different states such as Texas, and Florida.

 

Trip to Belfast

26 Aug

Spent a lovely sunny afternoon in Belfast!  The town used to be a major player in the timber and boat building industry 100 years ago. 

We wandered down by the harbour and around some of the streets.  There were many boats and yachts tied up and many more out at sea enjoying the weekend.

 On each street corner there is a seat to sit on – all made locally and each one a different design.  Dropped into a local brewery were Paul bought half a gallon of beer.  Our drive there and back took us along the Penobscot River and we watched a number of cormorants fishing – with some success.

 

 

 

After our evening meal we enjoyed the Ice-cream Social that the camp site organised; Paul won on the “raffle” but he donated the excess winnings back to the local charity.

Bangor Bog and Bat

25 Aug

 

A first this morning – I got up early enough to make pancakes for breakfast (never made pancakes before). 

Check out our breakfast table.........

 

We drove up on Interstate 95 yesterday to Bangor.  Saw a truck have a tyre blow-out in front of us and had to dodge the debris. We discovered the RV starts “beeping” when you get over 70 mph!

At this new campground we met the Maine Holiday Ramblers Club who are here for the weekend with their RVs.  We stopped and chatted and compared experiences with them.

We walked around the Board Walk of the Orono Bog just outside Bangor and then went into Bangor Centre were they are having an Arts and Folk Festival this weekend with music and food and crafts stalls all down the River Front.  It was lovely sitting on the grass bank listening to Irish music and some Blues bands.

 

We popped into Walmart to get some more bedding as the nights are getting a bit cooler now and there was a bat flying around the store.  It was quite large and must have been disturbed/frightened by activity that morning.

 

Bath, Maine

23 Aug
Leaving the RV in the camp ground we drove up the coast road via Scarborough, Portland, Falmouth and Yarmouth to Bath. 

We stopped near one of the many lighthouses along the Maine cost and sat in these seats made of stone with metal supports. 

Bath is a compact town that used to be one of the busiest boat building places along the Maine coast.  We visited the Maine Maritime Museum which was very informative and well laid out.  We saw a couple of jet aircraft doing a mirror loop-the-loop which we assumed was from the Naval Base at Brunswick.

We're Off

22 Aug
We spend the morning walking around Northwood State Park waiting for the RV to have its final work done. 

Thanks to Russ we now have a tip-top RV ready for the road.  We hitch up the car and say our farewells to Russ at Camping World and set off from Chichester, Nr Concord, NH for Maine.  We arrive in Old Orchard Beach on the Maine coast and eventually find the campground but having to ‘turn round’ a couple of times with the RV towing the car has its challenges. 
We took the trolley bus from the campground into the main Centre.  It reminded us of Blackpool.  We wandered around the fun-fair but having just eaten we did not fancy being shaken around too much on the rides, so we headed back on the trolley bus after 10pm – our latest night out since we arrived (gosh we know how to live it up don’t we!).  We note how there are a number of ATMs dotted around the fun-fair so you don’t run out of money!

Sight Seeing

21 Aug
This was our first Day Out today.  I love reading the maps with the UK names such as Exeter, Amesbury, Durham, and Portsmouth and of course – SALISBURY.  A visit there had to be done!

Drove up the coast admiring some of the amazing houses and spent some time in Portsmouth which is a lovely place to wander around.  Had a cup of tea and coffee bought us by a group on a team building exercise who had to get a picture of them buying a coffee for a stranger.  Also spoke to a chap who had driven many British cars in his time including mini, Austin Healey, MGB, and Jaguar.  We have spotted at least a dozen or so Mini Coopers around this area.

We have now completed the final paperwork with the registration of the RV in our name.  One final trip to the Service Centre for some minor maintenance and we will finally be off on our Big Adventure.  

Gone Fishing ......

17 – 20 Aug
We have used this weekend as an opportunity to get familiar with the RV and make it homely – that involves several trips to Walmart – and we now have most of the stuff we think we need. 
This first camp site has suited us fine with a swimming pool and a Beaver Pond for Paul to go fishing.  He caught several like the one in the photo.  In the background of the photo is the Beaver Lodge which we go down to every evening and watch the beaver going about their business “fixing” the lodge.  One evening the Beaver swam right up to us within 15ft!

First Camp Site

We have now moved to our first camp site. Spent a great first proper night in our new home. Weather at the moment is hot and humid but comfortable at night. Raining at present but still very warm.
We haven't been hashing yet but have met up with a "Hare and a Hound" See photo.

Off to do some shopping now.

Welcome to Our new home.

We now have our new home, a 36ft Holiday Rambler with two slide outs. Good job gas (sorry petrol) is cheaper over here; average 7 mpg. The first night that we slept in it the generator would not start so the AC couldn't be run, (temp at night about 78f with humidity running about 60%).  The fun of camping?
Getting one or two things sorted out on the RV and the car.  Off to our first camp site on Wednesday.
Be carefull what you wish for, in the last post I wished for rain, wrong thing to do, we have had thunder storms every day since.
Alison has been having fun "shopping" to equip the rig; although we have been left quite a lot of useful stuff including a posh BBQ and twin camp seats. 
We still need to sort out the paperwork for registering both vehicles which varies from state to state and will visit the local Town Hall on Monday. Comments on this site are welcome so that we know that you are following our adventures.

In the USA

OK - We are now in the US. Flight over was uneventful until we got to Boston, very big thunder storm prevented us from landing, once on the runway we had to wait another 20 min before we could get off.
No problem getting through immigration, very nice man gave us a further 6 months extension to our visa, so we are on plan A. stay in the US until Apr/May 2013 and then go up into Canada for 6 months, reentering the US some time about Sep 13.
First night in hotel (Wed) then travelled up to New Hampshire ( Thu).
Spent most of today (Fri) looking at RVs.
Will now spend w/e thinking it over but will probably go for a 36ft double slide out + car. Photos will follow as soon as we have made our decision.
Temperature at the moment! Daytime 90+ Night time 75+ (Give me some rain)