Been without WIFI for a while!! Burlington and such

 When in Vermont........ you have to tour Ben and Jerry's.  So we did.  No production that day, but free samples anyway!

We stayed in the local Elks Club.  We didn't realize that this was the biggest weekend of their year,  They had a family bar-b-que. Complete with Jumpy house and Elk!  Food and fun for all free. The Elk even posed by the RV's.  Burlington is a neat town.

 We were surprised to find out that only 10 minutes from the Elks club was part of the Burlington Bike trail.  So this morning Jim and I rode North on it.

Just down from the RV was this beautiful site of Lake Champlain.

Jim posing beside the train sign.

Weird Day touring today

 We started off the day to see a "floating Bridge". Well the bridge doesn't float anymore so we too pretty reflective pictures.

 The water in front of these houses is 1900 feet deep per the locals and is made into chunks for carving in the winter.

The off to Barre to tour the Granite  Quarry at Rock of Ages.  They cut out much of the grey granite used for memorials and buildings in the US.

There were samples of various headstones and Jim and David tried some out for size!

A Granite day isn't complete without a trip to Hope Cemetery to see some of the handiwork from the quarry.  This day only reinforced my desire to be cremated.  LOL!!!!  A race car headstone.....REALLY!!!!!

Randolph Center, Vt.

 A view of the Lake at our Campground

 Quechee Covered Bridge was destroyed last year by Hurricane Irene.  A wall 20feet high of water came rushing down the river and destroyed the structure of the bridge.They are redoing it and today we watched as they took off the last section of roof.  The bridge is scheduled to be in use this December.

The longest Covered Bridge is in Windsor.  We drove over it and discovered that we were in New Hampshire!

A relaxing day

 Today we woke up after a night of thunderstorms and decided it was a great day to Kayak the Saco River

Dave and Sherry had a tandem and Jim and I had solo's. What a great day.  We just took a lazy ride down the river.

View of the river..... Peaceful!

Mt Washington, the oldest mountain car drive

 Our poor car, today we drove it to Mt Washington, 6000 + ft mountain drive in 8 miles.  Then we set down to see the view!!!!!

 The view!

Then later we went to the summit.  Only a short hike to the top!  58 degrees up there.  80 + in the valley.

North Conway , NH and covered bridge

 Today was our no car, no drive day. So we walked into town to check out the liquor prices and a covered bridge over the Saco River/

What a beautiful day.  Kids in tubes on the River and just beautiful weather.

Had steak and lobster for dinner at the campsite, a fire, some blueberry wine and the day was complete.

Conway, New Hampshire

 Here we are at the Beach Family Area.  Nice shaded sites on the Sago River.  This place had to be re-done after Hurricane Irene last year flooded the place.  Today we took off on an adventure to meet Pip and Cecile and get back the booze they stored for us while we went to Canada.   We saw a farmers market on the way and stopped in for fresh vegetables and bread.  UMM good

After the job was done we continued up to The Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park.  The flume is a natural gorge at the base of Mt Liberty. The walls of Conway granite rise 70-90 ft and are 12-20 feet wide. The Flume was discovered by a 93 YO woman named Jess Guernsey when she found it accidently in 1808 .

The pool above is a deep basin in the Pemigewasset River.  It was formed at the end of the Ice Age 14,000 years ago by a silt laden stream flowing from a glacier.  The pool is 40 feet deep and 150 feet in diameter and is surrounded by 130 foot cliffs.

Moosehead Lake, Maine

 We arrived at Moosehead Lake to weather that is Maine like.  70's in daytime and 50's at night.  A boat trip in a pontoon boat was just the ticket on day one.

 The Dobbin's who are friends from Florida treated us great, firtst the boat ride and dinner at their home overlooking the lake, then the next day a hike to Moxie Falls.  Beautiful waterfall.

USA after over a month

Muellers and us crossed the border in Houghton,Maine. They must not see many rigs from California cause they wanted to ask them more questions and keep them just a wee bit longer. All is well and we both are across. First stop, Elks Club in Old Town, Maine. This is the town where those great canoe's are made. We arrive in 95 degree heat (remember in Canada it has been sweater and sweat shirt weather). We level the rigs with the help of boards under the wheels of both coaches, put out slides, plug in and.... NO ELECTRICITY! Remember 95 degrees and no ability to even run a fan! Both women veto staying there. So off we go putting everything back and leaving. First a Wal-mart stop in Bangor and a liqueur stop and off we go to Greenville. In retrospect good thing we did things early, cause we arrived in Greenville, Moosehead Family Campground at 7 pm.

Last day in Canada

We decided to stay in Fredericton, NB because it was closer to the border. So we Contacted the Elks Club there and stayed in their parking lot. Real nice people who even come to St Petersburg, Fl in the winter. Imagine that! Before we left we had to go to the meat market to buy some Donair meat and sauce. One last trip to Tim Horton's for coffee and another cinnamon roll and we are ready to cross over into the USA.

Trip to Corner Brook enroute to the Ferry

Here we are eating again! This time a Newfie special--Touton.  It is bread dough fryed in butter or in this case canola oil.  Then you pour molasses on top.  Actually it is good!

 Where have you ever seen a sign like this!!!!!There is supposedly 4 moose per square kilometer!  We have seen 7 moose.

Also another cool sign.  Not quite sure what makes a "tidy town"

Screech- in

 On a drive around town, we spotted this sign.... so we signed up

In order to be Screeched in as a Newfoundlander, you must kiss a cod, eat a "caplet", some Newfie steak which is bologna, and have some molassas bread and repeat the following: When asked " Is ye a Screecher?" reply: "Deed I is me old cock, and long may your big jib draw!"  then with a toast of Screechers rum (in a shot glass) you become a "Newfie"

We even have the certificate to prove it.

Iceberg viewing, whales and more

We saw lost of Humpback Whales and here is a tail "shot" to prove it.

 This iceberg is thought to be stuck to the bottom in 400 feet of water, is estimated to be 175" high and 600" long.  The boat captain says that it will melt away in about a months time.

These are a few of the shrimp boats in the harbor at St Anthony's.

St Anthony. NF

 St Anthony's  is a cute fishing village.  It even has a Tim Horton's (the Canada version of Starbucks).

 Went to L'Anse aux Meadows and really enjoyed the information on the Norsemen.  What I see Vikings who look familiar!

The cove near the Park is peaceful and beautiful

Gros Morne and the Boat ride through the fiords

 We started the day off with a ranger hike to see the fossils.  About 5 minutes into the talk it started to rain like >>>>> so Sherry and I beat it back to the car.  The guys continued on hike.

 This was one of the waterfalls that we saw.   No rain yet!  Just windy and cold!

Just as we got out of the fiord area I looked back and shot the fog beginning to settle into the area.

Hike to the Tablelands

 We learned some interesting geology today.  Including that these mountains came from the collison of the African and North American plates.

 There are also calcite ponds that are formed from calcium seeping out from the rocks.  This pool is forming new rock as it sets there.  With a pH of 14, noone would want to put your hand in there.

 Gros Morne (the mountain) came from an area where pink quartz like rock was found.

The table tops were even harboring snow.  the crevices are so deep that snow is present most of the year. These rocks were formed from the magma that game from deep in the earth.