We did it!

This picture of the U.S. map shows  we have filled in every state in the contiguous U.S.! We arrived in Vt. this week and that was the last state, except Alaska. We fudged on Hawaii, as we've been there but not with the trailer, duh. Our rule was we had to take the trailer through/into the state.

After crossing back into the U.S. from Canada, we spent a few days in Maine, restocking and collecting items from storage (stuff we couldn't take into Canada). It felt good getting back to  lower grocery prices and fuel.! Next stop was Shelburne, New Hampshire. We found a very nice campground outside of Gorham and stayed a week. A young couple had recently bought the campground and it was a big, friendly and very comfortable camp. And the area was beautiful. We were outside of the White mountains in northern NH and there were plenty of hiking trails, rivers to play in and beautiful scenic drives. The White mountains are also home to Mt. Washington, known as having the highest wind speed in the world and there is also an auto road you pay to drive up. We had at least 3 days of rain while there and the better days had some pretty strong winds, so we never did drive up to the top. The Mt. Washington hotel was built in the mid 1800's and only recently has been restored and is being used. It's very large and luxurious. Of course, there are plenty of covered bridges in the area. We like the area so much, we might consider workcampering or hosting one summer in the future.

Mt Washington Hotel

Then we moved on to Burlington, VT  on the edge of Lake Champlain, and will be here a week. We drove up to some islands in the middle of the lake. It was a beautiful day and area. We found plenty of goodies at roadside vegetable stands and farmers markets. Even a pie! There is another great looking drive that will take us past the Ben &  Jerry's ice cream factory, more covered bridges, small towns, big barns and one road with a 24% grade! It's beautiful, green and cool (temp) here.

What were they thinking?

Today, Mon. we faced the big bridge connecting PEI to New Brunswick. It's 8 miles long, 2 lanes, concrete barriers on each side but no cables or upper support. Bill has some mental issues with bridges, especially high ones, so this will be a challenge. But, we made it, no problems, just a bit breezy up there. Our destination was planned to be up in northeast NB, but most of the side roads in eastern Canada are in pretty poor condition. It's tough to drive and continue to beat up the truck, house and us. So we changed plans and stopped short, along the coast. Then we can get the trans-Canada highway all the way to Houlton, ME. The trans-Canadas are the freeway and usually very good. We wanted to drive the Acadian cape and will do some our second day in Shediac. 


Most of NB from the northeast to the border is peaty or blueberries. Apparently some good salmon fishing too, but smaller, poorer roads so we will skip those. We liked the provinces we did get to, Nova Scotia was wilder and more wooded, loved riding the tidal bore. PEI is called the gentle isle and is pretty peaceful. NB has the Fundy coast and some spectacular coastline.

Motoring around the lake,

We liked all we saw in Canada. The scenery was beautiful, the weather delightful most of the time. We didn't get any of the heat from the U.S. The people were very friendly and helpful and wanted us to like Canada. We saw some different sides of the Atlantic Canada, Scottish heritage and Acadian (French). At times, it was almost like being in Europe with the immersion possible in the cultures. We learned to speak more Canadian (meter, kilometer, lookoff, eh, from away (not from there), Tronno (Toronto) and ran across some things that should never be, like those pictured below. We made some very nice friends, share the road and blogs now and will meet again some day. We really met nice people all around.

Taste just like ketchup.

Didn't try

We probably won't complain about the price of milk, gas, beef, chicken, eggs and certainly not taxes anymore. 8 even 9% is way better than 15% sales tax!

We will be back in Maine soon and will head for NH and Vermont. Canada was a great summer trip and we would do it again. We have to because we missed NFLD.  Look for more blogs from down the road

Music, driving and EH!

Yesterday was chore day and we investigated the town of Summerside, PEI. Not a big town, but then the entire island has a population of only 141,000. We passed a College of Piping, (bagpipes and other Celtic arts), stopped and found out there was a show, Highland Storm, on that night. We decided to go. Well, it turned out to be a wonderful show of dancing, piping, singing and drumming. These weren't college students, they auditioned and were all very good. Unlike a ceilidh (kaylee), this was a professional show. The ceilidhs have authentic music but are more of informal jam sessions. 




The weather has been beautiful after all the rain that followed us here.  We drove 2 of the well marked scenic roads of PEI. The Central Coastal Road takes you along the north coast, through Cavendish which is the home of the book Anne of Green Gables. We've never read those books so we're not caught up in all the "history" or museum things. Maybe it is more of a Canadian thing too. But the coast and small towns are very pretty. Red dirt and cliffs, large very green farms and small harbors. The North Cape Route takes you to the tip of the west end. The big draw there is the wind farm and research center, and the red sandstone cliffs. Basically, these provinces are starting to look pretty much the same. PEI has more farm land than the other eastern provinces and grows a third of all the potatoes for Canada, small round ones. It's very peaceful, and all the bays are lovely and serene.  The photos don't really do the scenery justice.  The beauty is all around you  and with the camera all you get is just the small picture.  To go over a rise in the road and see the vista all around you is just breathtaking.

North Cape, the end.

Our last night on PEI, we treated ourselves to a dinner show at the local theater. The food was excellent and the show, EH!, was very Canadian and funny. There were some jokes we didn't get, but we learned some things too. All and all, our stay on PEI has been very enjoyable. Now we start heading back and tackle the big bridge!