JUNE 18-SALEM, MASS.

After another interesting 2 day road trip along highway 2 and then interstate 95 through Maine and an overnight stop at the local China-Mart, we arrived at Minuteman campground outside Boston in Littleton. What a great little campground, formally a KOA but now privately owned. We got site #6 and parallel the forest with ample room between our neighbors, nice spot:) Our first day trip was to Salem, the home of the witch trials. We actually did not do any of the witch thingeys but still managed to enjoy the day. Stopped in to the house of seven gables which was the main "character" of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel by the same name. Interesting, especially the construction with low ceilings to retain heat and the secret staircase. Toured the area by trolley which was not needed but took you out to the his little island which looked out the bay to Marblehead. Anyway the wharfs where owned by Mr. Derby and he saw the economics of the early shipping/trading arena and became the first millionaire in America....no biggie, I think there are several in my retirement community, at least they act like it:) Toured the "burying place" and saw a marker for John More-a Plymouth pilgrim, now that's history!

JUNE 7-15; PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

We left the rocks and headed further North to PEI. Our arrival was marked by crossing the Confederation bridge then driving to Cavendish KOA. Cavendish is the hometown of "Ann of Green Gables" fame. We decided to stay here 10 days in the hopes of good weather and relax along the beach and warm up and shake our colds.....NOT! We had 3 days of sunshine only, 2 days of fog and the rest where windy and dense clouds.

We did a lot of driving around the island, stopping at small shops and boutiques. The island has a mystique that lures you further in the longer your here. Lets see, what did we do, well for one thing we never went out for more then 5 hours which allowed us to rest up and recuperate, several days we never left the motorhome. There are some unique stops along the way:

* Lighthouses-we spent 2 days traveling to look at them, while not anything special the scenery along the way was nice. The North cape had a windmill farm and a restaurant where we watched the lobster boats working their traps out in the ocean while we had lunch:)

* The Cheese Lady-we where introduced to this little spot by our neighbors here and they make Gouda cheese at their little farm-excellent.

* New Glasgow preserve company-we bought several bottles of jam-blueberry and my favorite, strawberry and rhubarb. We ate at their little cafe and had an excellent light lunch. 

* New Glasgow Lobster supper- 5 course meal (seconds on everything but the bug). Seafood chowder, mussels, salad, drinks, lobster and as much pie ala mode as you wanted-I only had 2 pieces of blueberry:) I love blueberries and the wild ones from Maine and Canada are the best! I WILL miss them.

* Sue and I went to Charlottetown for the musical-Ann of Green Gables-very talented cast and a fine evening out.

*Spent an evening at Summerside and had a Whopper at Burger King (dynamite-a burger!) then went to the harness track for some small town horse racing. We had met the owner of a horse in the 3 rd race while at the beach in Cavendish and since I am an omen type guy I bet it-he won and paid 12.80! Sue and I had a blast people watching and betting the nags. We left after the 50-50 drawing and still had the same amount we walked in with, another good day, eh!

* The bottle house-we stopped at the "bottle house" for the $5 tour of several buildings built out of bottles. This roadside attraction became a great legacy for this fellow's family. After his death his wife made a living off of it and now his elderly daughter runs it, still in the family and paying the bills! They had the best little gift shop on the island, we bought several items of distinction.

We had several other things lined up but the weather stopped us or the attraction was not opened for the season yet. If we come back here again it will be in July. We also where scheduled to go to Nova Scotia but the events/musicals/festivals do not start until late July when the weather is warmer. So there will have to be a future trip planned for this area. All in all our stay here was memorable and we are now virus free. We keep changing our plans due to weather concerns but we think we will head for Fredericton (New Brunswick) for a few days and then return to the Southern Maine coast for places unseen then head for upper New York at Saratoga Springs, Finger Lakes and Niagara Falls. 

JUNE 5&6; HOPEWELL CAPE-THE ROCKS!!!!

Well we went up the coast about 3 hours and setup camp at Ponderosa Pines campground. Small but adequate for a short stay and we had a beautiful lake/pond to look at. On the trip up the coast we drove through a portion of Fundy National Park, mostly forest until you DROP to the coast. At that point there was a scenic overlook where while we took pictures we met another traveling group from Germany. Andrew, Heinrick, Unta and Securest. What wonderful friends we made, they might come to Arizona in 2 years then we will go to Germany:) They stayed at Ponderosa with us, this is the ONLY campground at the rocks! We had dinner and wine afterwards, shared pictures of Yellowstone with them and generally enjoyed the company:)

The rocks where very KOOL, much better then I thought after my disappointment at the reversing falls. e took shots at what was left of high tide the afternoon of our arrival and went there first thing the next morning to catch low tide and walk on the beach. We where allowed to take the dog and she had a ball:) Highly suggest this stop in New Brunswick if you are ever close! We left in the morning for another short drive up the coast and into Prince Edward Island, we will be there relaxing for 10 days, Sue needs to regroup and I need to learn to relax and smell the roses, or in my case, swat the mosquitoes:(

OMG, I almost forgot!!! We also went to Cape Enrage Lighthouse. The ride there was half the excitement!!! It took about 35 minutes from the campsite and we went by the infamous "Ha Ha cemetery!! What a great site and it was done by a school teacher and student volunteers (college). they run a gift shop, restaurant, repelling and kayaking service! Check those pictures out!

JUNE 1-4; ST. JOHN & ST. MARTINS

Crossing the border was a snap this year, only took about a 20 minute wait in line and answered 5 short questions. We hightailed it to St. John, home of "Chutes Reversible" or the reversing falls if your American. They look more like reversing rapids-not entirely what I was looking forward too. I wanted to take the jet boat tour but , as in many other instances, we are here before the "season starts":( Too bad!

However, we did check out the old fort from the war of 1812 (forgot everything I ever knew about that one) and it was a gas:) It is called the Carleton-Martello Tower, evidently the British where very fond of this fortified defence (french, eh). The Canadian Parks personnel are very friendly and knowledgable, they even let me try on the coat and cap of the era, man those guys where small back then!

We spent one morning touring downtown St. John and it's farily lively and being rebuilt. There is a mall and a Hilton Hotel. We shopped in the City Market, the longest running market in New Brunswick, and bought some steaks, seafood and produce. Do any of you know what a "fiddlehead" is? Looks like a green bean with an intense spiral at the end and taste between spinach and aspargus. 

Today we took a day trip to St. Martins. We saw 2 covered bridges, several sea caves and a lighthouse. Also, along the coast there where millions of polished rocks from the tides of the Bay of Fundy, Sue and I spent an hour searching for just the right rocks for our expanding waterfall! You will notice in one of our pics that I did my best impression of the "headless horseman". Now we are on to the Hopewell Cape to see the world famous hopewell rocks that have been eroded through time by the endless tide differential from the Bay of Fundy. World famous because you have probably seen these rocks on the side of a U-Haul truck near you!

JUNE 1-3; LUBEC, MAINE-CAMPO BELLO ISLAND

We took a short jaunt North from Bar Harbor, 84 miles, that took almost 3 hours on the roughest paved road I ever have driven on (highway # 1). There are two lighthouses here at the Northeast tip of America and the only International Park (Roosevelt Campobello Park). The park is the actual summer cottage and grounds of FDR and is run and staffed by Canadians and Americans, it's reached by crossing the bridge at Lubec and crossing the bay onto the island of Campobello. The park museum was fabulous and the park staff very informative, we learned more about FDR and this was the second time on this trip (DC being the first when we stumbled on his memorial).

The other reason we went there was to see the East and West Quoddy lighthouses, one in Lubec and the other on the island. Reaching the one on the island was an adventure because you have to wait until low tide, cross a bridge, climb down 2 ladders and up one then cross the rocks! I met two volunteers who where starting the trek and they showed me the ropes. The West Quoddy lighthouse is the Northeastern most point in the USA...awesome!

Our campsite was at a little park called Sunset Point and what a wonderful view of the back bay we had. The manager was named Hobbs and is known as the "Mayor of Sunset Point", at 86 he was quick as a whip with the jokes.

We ate down the street at "Uncle Kippy's " restaurant and for a seafood joint they made great pizza! (on the advice of the "Mayor").