New Brunswick and Nova Scotia

Moncton – Moncton is the near Fundy National Park. We spent a couple days there seeing all it has to offer. We saw waterfalls, visited Hopewell Rocks, saw the high and low tide in Alma NB, and just enjoyed the scenery. One day we visited an old carriage factory that the owners basically just closed the door and left. All of the equipment, tools, and materials were there. They built carriages and even hearses. We spent one night at a local dinner theater. It was a fun evening. We also were able to see a tidal bore, basically a wave created when the tide and the river meet.

Carriage factory

Halifax Citadel

Halifax Citadel

Finally found a moose

Fundy National Park

Fundy National Park

High Tide at Alma

Same boat at low tide in Alma

Hopewell Rocks at low tide

Peggy’s Cove

Peggy’s Cove

Peggy’s Cove

Tribute to fishermen

Maritime Titanic Exhibit

Tidal Bore

Now we are in Halifax. It rained a lot today. We visited the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic(has a Titanic exhibit) and a market. The market was way crowded and not my cup of tea. On the way back to the RV park we stopped at Peggy’s Cove. There is a really nice lighthouse there, and the rock formations are unique. We also saw a stone carving by William deGarthe. It is an incredible tribute to Canadian Fisherman. We also stopped at the memorial for Swiss Air 111. Swissair Flight 111 was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland. This flight was also a codeshare flight with Delta Air Lines.

On Wednesday, 2 September 1998, the aircraft used for the flight, registered HB-IWF, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Halifax International Airport at the entrance to St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. The crash site was 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from shore, roughly equidistant from the tiny fishing and tourist communities of Peggys Cove and Bayswater. All 229 people on board died—the highest death toll of any aviation accident involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-11^[2] and the second-highest of any air disaster to occur in Canada, after Arrow Air Flight 1285. This is one of only two hull losses of the passenger configured MD-11, along with China Airlines Flight 642.

The initial search and rescue response, crash recovery operation, and resulting investigation by the Government of Canada took over four years and cost CAD 57 million (at that time approximately US$38 million).^[3] The Transportation Safety Board of Canada‘s (TSB) official report of their investigation stated that flammable material used in the aircraft’s structure allowed a fire to spread beyond the control of the crew, resulting in a loss of control and the crash of the aircraft.^[4]

Today we visited Dartmouth and went back to Halifax to see the Citadel. It is still an impressive fort though it never saw action in any war.

After Halifax, Gary and Lynn are going on down the coast, and we are headed the other way. We will soon be headed back to the states and to Derek and Michelle’s house.

Points North

We next spent about a week in the Boston Area. The first day we drove into Boston in the car. We had to pay $37 to park. We took the Hop On-Hop Off Bus to get an overview of the city. It was money well spent. We also did a narrated boat tour of the city. It was interesting also. On Saturday, we got a little smarter and took the commuter train into the city. We did the 2 1/2 mile Freedom Trail and toured the USS Constitution. On Sunday, we drove to Quincy and toured the USS Salem. Gary was aboard the sister ship off Vietnam so he was able to give us a great tour with anecdotes along the way. We then toured the John Adams and John Quincy Adams homes. The trolley managed to have a blow-out, but we still got to do the tour on a replacement trolley. The next day we again took the train into Boston and visited the JFK Library.   The building is beautiful and the exhibits were great. Our weather has been very pleasant.

Yesterday, we drove to the Bar Harbour, Maine area. It is raining today, but Gary and Lynn braved the weather to see one of the tall ships,the L’Hermione, a replica of the 32 gun frigate that brought Lafayett to America with news that France would support us during the Revolutionary War. This is her maiden voyage across the Atlantic. The crew is in period costume. If the weather clears, we may go tomorrow. We went to dinner at a lobster restaurant that served 1 1/4 pound lobster with corn on the cob, coleslaw, and a dinner roll for $14.95.

Well, the rain did not clear. Instead we went to the Tidal Falls and to Bar Harbour for dinner (lobster again). The next day we toured Acadia National Park. The area is beautiful and Cadillac mountain is the tallest mountain on the east coast. (a little over 1,500 feet).

On the 17th we left for Canada. We stayed in a gorgeous city park in St. John, NB. We sat out on a lake for drinks and attended a festival downtown. We ate fish and chips in downtown watching the people out the window. On Saturday, we drove a route that featured lighthouses. We had lunch at a little pub on an inlet, where we saw $4oo,000 boats. The pubkeeper said that one local boat called “Waterfront Property” cost 1 million 2 thousand. We ate at a not so good Mexican restaurant downtown. Today, it is raining. We are going to a movie later. Tomorrow we head for Moncton.

John Quincy Adams home

 

Boston Tea Party Site

USS Salem in Quincy

Boston Harbor

Finally to the Coast

 

Harper’s Ferry

Harper’s Ferry

Harper’s Ferry

Antietam

Mystic Seaport

The Nautilus

We traveled to Falling Waters, Pennsylvania, on July 1.  We spent a day at Harper’s Ferry and another at the Antietam Battle site.  Both were well worth the time.  We didn’t do much of anything on the fourth.  There were fireworks around, but traffic was pretty bad.  On the 5th we traveled to the Promised Land (Pennsylvania State Park, that is).  We stayed in a nice state park that sported eagles’ nests and a nice lake.  We played golf at a really pretty wooded golf course.

Yesterday we came to Groton, Conn.  We spent time at the Seaport at Mystic, visited the submarine the Nautilus, and ate a lot of clam chowder and fish.  Tomorrow we will go to Boston.

Still moving east

Well, finding internet in the east is no easy task. I am writing this on “word” with hopes that I can copy it and paste it on wordpress at McDonalds or some place.

I think the last time I wrote, we were in Nashville.

From there we headed for Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the home of Dollywood. The first day there we just looked around and went to a pretty good magic show. We ate dinner at a catfish place with unlimited “vittles”. We spent one beautiful day in Smoky Mountains National Park. The next day we woke up to rain. We had prepaid for a white water rafting trip, so we headed out there to see what would happen. By the time we got there, the sun was out and it was a great temperature. We had a really good guide on the river and had a super time. They classified the rapids as 3’s and 4’s. We classified them as 2’s and 3’s, but it was fun anyway.

From Pigeon Forge, we traveled to Front Royal, Virginia.   We were able to spend an entire day at the Smithsonian. Gary and Lynn lived in the DC area for quite a while, so they were able to guide us to the metro and get us off the metro at the Smithsonian stop. You could spend days there, but we did a rapid tour and saw three museums in one day. Don Yegan was in the DC at the same time, but we didn’t know it until we were back at Front Royal so we didn’t get to see him. We knew that Mike and Linda Mongeon were on their way to Texas from Vermont, so we shared that we were in Front Royal. They were able to spend the night in the same park we were in, so we got to visit with them for one evening.

Now we have arrived in Falling Waters, West Virginia. The internet is lousy here, too, but we do get satellite.

We will start touring around here tomorrow. The farther east we go so far, the less humidity we have. The temperature is in the mid 80’s and very comfortable today.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Luray Caverns

Smithsonian