Canada/Maine 2014: Scarborough to Home

Wednesday and Thursday, September 24th and 25th.  436 total miles to Gouverneur.

167 miles and camped at Quechee KOA Wednesday night.

Quechee-Pine Valley KOA: sites 90 and 91.

Tim Horton's coffee break stop in New Hampshire.

We left Scarborough about 9:00 Wednesday morning.  The weather was warm and sunny, and the traveling was enjoyable.  We arrived by 1:00, and spent a relaxing afternoon at the campground.

Thursday morning we were on the road by 9:00 again.  269 miles and we were back home in our driveway.

Back home!!

The weather again was warm and pleasant.  The day started off very foggy, but that soon burned off and we arrived home to sun and 75 degrees.  The leaves on the trees were turning beautiful oranges and reds.

Foggy start to the day

Vermont colors

Bridge over Lake Champlain

So, we are home now.  Here is the trip summary:

• Miles driven:  2,189
• Days on the road:  17
• Nights camping:  16
• Campgrounds:  9
• US States visited:  4
• Canadian Provinces:  2
• Trip enjoyment:  PRICELESS!!

Canada/Maine 2014: Bar Harbor to Scarborough, Maine

Sunday, September 21st to Tuesday the 23rd.  181 miles, and camped at Bayley's RV Park, in Scarborough, Maine.

Site 64 A

We left Mt. Desert Narrows Campground about 9:00 Sunday morning and arrived at Bayley's about 1:00.  It was smooth driving all the way.  We called friends Chris and Tim, and they arranged to stop over later for dinner.  We ordered take out lobster, and was it ever good.

On Monday we met Chris and Tim at their house in South Portland for breakfast.  Next up was  a trip to nearby Fort Williams Park to walk the dogs.  Portland Head Lighthouse is also located there.  Construction on the lighthouse began in 1787 at the direction of George Washington, and was completed in 1791.

Susie and Al checking out the lighthouse.

Later we made the obligatory shopping trip to the LL Bean Flagship store in nearby Freeport.  You can't be this close to LL Bean and not go there.  Then back to the Old Port section of Portland to pick up seafood at the Harbor Fish Market for the evening meal.  Mark, Joanne and Jon joined us. Chris has this amazing recipe for seafood chowder, which we consumed until we couldn't eat any more.

The next day, Tuesday, Al and Susie went to Topsham to visit an old friend.  Chris and Tim met up with us and we took the dogs for a walk/run on Pine Point Beach.  The beach rules said we could let the dogs run off leash.  Tim and Chris have a Golden Doodle named Dooley who loves to run and play.  My Zoey and Dooley ran and swam until they were exhausted.  We didn't quite dare let Judy's Zoey, an Alaskan Malamute, off leash because of her hunter instinct.

After the walk, we went to Old Port for some lunch and shopping.  Portland has made a real effort to maintain the waterfront as a working harbor and not let it turn into a yacht club for the rich.

That night it was dinner at Mark and Joanne's house, where we did BBQ chicken and steaks.  Again, we had an another wonderful evening of great food, wine, conversation, and laughter.

Tomorrow, Wednesday we start the two day trip back to Gouverneur, stopping in Quechee, Vermont for one night.

Canada/Maine 2014: Funday to Bar Harbor, Maine

Friday, September 19:  258 miles and camped at Desert Narrows RV Park, Bar Harbor, Maine.

The drive was mostly pleasant and uneventful.  We even caught a glimpse of the Queen Mary 2 at the harbor in St. Johns, New Brunswick.

Queen Mary 2

We did have a slight hiccup at the Canada/US border crossing.  The US Customs Officer asked if we had any prohibited items.  We replied that we didn’t.  They asked to inspect the camper, and confiscated an orange, an avocado and four tomatoes.  The agent was not very nice about it.  Instead of using the incident to teach us about the dangers of citrus disease transmission, he threatened to fine us for not being fully truthful in our answers.  It was not a pleasant experience.  Welcome back to the United States.

Bar Harbor, along with several smaller villages and Acadia National Park are located on Mt. Desert Island.  A small "narrows" separates the island from the the mainland.  There is only one road connecting the island and the mainland.

Sunset over the "Narrows" from the campground.

Sunrise over the Narrows.

The closer to Bar Harbor we got, the more the traffic increased.  Plus it was a Friday afternoon and the start of the weekend.  We got set up at the campground by 3:00, so Al, Susie, Judy and I took a drive into Bar Harbor to check it out.  What a zoo!!  We finally found a place to park, and did some light shopping.  After returning to the campground, we stoked up a campfire.

The next morning we left the campground about 9:30 and headed out to explore Acadia National Park.  We decided to drive the loop road, and saw some beautiful ocean side scenery.  The traffic was heavy, and many of the viewpoint turnouts were congested.

Then we headed to the west side of Mt. Desert Island, where the traffic was considerably lighter.  We had lunch at The Café Dry Dock and Inn, a charming place in the fishing village of Southwest Harbor. The restaurant was in an old and beautiful building.  In fact, the ceiling was the old tin style found in buildings from by gone eras.

Café Dry Dock and Inn

We drove back to the campground for a break, and then drove back into Bar Harbor for the evening.  What a mistake.  There was a cruise ship in town, and the streets were mobbed.  It took us forever to find a place to park.  We picked a place for dinner, and ended up having the most bland tasting seafood meal of the whole trip.  A real disappointment.  While Acadia National Park was beautiful, we have no real desire to return to Bar Harbor.  Too many people and too many cars.  Sorry.

It was too windy for a campfire, so we settled in early for the evening.  On Sunday we head for Scarborough, Maine.

Canada 2014: Funday National Park

We spent today, Thursday, September 18th exploring Fundy National Park and the surrounding area.

The day started with a stop at a small bakery called Kelly’s Bake Shop.  Here we picked up a fresh hot batch of sticky buns.  This amazing little shop produces, on a busy day in the summer, over 3,000 buns each day, along with other assorted baked goods.

Then we drove out to Wolf Point, only to have the road closed before we got to the covered bridge.  Wolf Point was once a huge and thriving logging and lumbering center.  I did grab a picture of the red covered bridge.  We also hiked to Dickson Falls.

Dickson Falls

Covered Bridge on the road to Wolf Point.

We had lunch at the Alma Lobster Shop.  We each ordered seafood chowder, and was it ever good!!

After lunch we stopped at the beach at Cape Enrage.  The wind was fierce, which is probably why it is called Cape Enrage.

Then on to Hopewell Rocks.  Just as we got to Hopewell Provincial Park, it started to rain.  The tide was out, so we decided to take a beach walk anyway.  Boy, did we get wet.  We didn’t stay long, but we did get to appreciate how much the tide changes here.  The difference between low tide and high tide is in the order of 35 to 45 feet, depending on the position of the moon.  These are some of the largest tides in the world.

Dinner was at the Tides Restaurant in Alma.  We had met the chef, Marc Casey the night before.  The dinner was extraordinary.  Al and I ordered sautéed scallops.  Susie had Parmesan Halibut, and Judy ordered a seafood marinara over pasta. All the dinners have been put on our ten best dinners ever list.

Friday we leave Fundy and make the drive to Bar Harbor, Maine.

Canada 2014: Sugarloaf to Fundy National Park

Wednesday, September 17th.  260 miles and camped at Bay of Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Canada.

Site 101 at Chignecto North Campground, Funday National Park.

After a full day of rain Tuesday, the weather Wednesday turned sunny and warmer.  We were on the road by about 8:30.  After a week of traveling along the coast, the trip today was mostly through forested inland roads.  There were moose warning signs everywhere.  In fact, some of the roadways had moose fencing built along the sides to help keep moose off the roads.

We arrived at Fundy National Park about 3:00 and quickly set up at the Chignecto North campground.  We are on sites 101 and 102 with water and electricity.  They are huge and wooded.  Out of 160 sites in our section of the campground, there were less than 10 campers.  Things really do shut down in Canada after the first of September.

View of the Bay of Fundy from an overlook near campground.

We drove down the hill into the little town of Alma.  The tides were out, and boats were setting on the muddy ocean floor.  The next day we go to see them floating as the tides rose.

We stopped at the Tides Restaurant for snacks and a drink.  They weren’t busy, and we got to strike up a conversation with the co-owner and chef, Marc Casey.  What a great visit we had.  Marc and his brother and parents bought the place 16 years ago.  They are originally from Toronto, where he went to culinary school.  The restaurant is open from Mother's Day until Canadian Thanksgiving (Columbus Day in the US) each year.  From October to January each year Marc works a lobster boat with friends.  They snowmobile the rest of the winter.  Marc’s sister in law was tending bar, and we asked her what she does in the winter.  Her answer, “Hockey Mom.”  

We went back to the campground and ended up cooking steaks and sitting around a campfire for the rest of the evening.  On Thursday we will explore Fundy some more.

Canada 2014: Percé to Sugarloaf Provincial Park

Monday and Tuesday, September 15 and 16.

158 miles and camped at Sugarloaf Provincial Park, Campbellton, New Brunswick.  Interestingly, New Brunswick is in the Atlantic Time Zone, so we had to advance our clocks ahead by one hour.

We had sites 46 and 47 at Sugarloaf.

I just couldn’t get enough views of Percé Rock.  Here are a few more.  That rock just fascinated me!

We left Percé just about 9:00 Monday morning.  The drive on the south side of the Gaspé Peninsula was completely different then the north side drive last week.  The southern side is much more developed.  The fishing villages were larger and offered more services.  This side of the peninsula is definitely more tourist oriented with better highways, larger and more frequent rest areas, and most important, more Tim Hortons restaurants.  :-))

Sugarloaf Provincial Park is the equivalent of a State Park in the US.  This park is unique in that it is geared for year round use.  There is a camping part in the summer, and a ski resort for the winter months.  Unlike the RV parks we have stayed in so far on this trip, this one was more private and “woodsy.”  It reminded us of our favorite local park at home, Cranberry Lake State Park.  Unlike Cranberry Lake, however, we had water, electric, and sewer hookups.  The bath house even had laundry facilities.

Crossing the bay into New Brunswick.

We liked the camping sites so much, we decided to sign up for a second night.  Good thing, because it rained most of the next day.  Tuesday turned out to be a good catch up day.  We did laundry and some grocery shopping, along with some reading and napping.

Wednesday we head for Fundy National Park for a couple days.