Heading Home

Tues, Aug 20

We've had quite a varied day of driving and visiting interesting places.

Clara identified an Amish Village attraction about an hour from Hershey and we headed that way. We didn't have time to really enjoy all that this attraction had to offer, but we did take a tour of a traditional Amish home and spent a few minutes looking at some displays.

Hey Guys! It's me again. The Amish village was super cool we saw how they did not use wires or cars... it was very interesting how they decided to use propane and air pressure to power things.

Mimi and Anna experience an Amish carriage.

Then, we're off the Gettysburg and the Gettysburg National Park.  We only had a couple of hours, so all we were able to do was go to a movie and the cyclorama.  It is indeed regrettable that we did not plan more time at this historical place.  The visitor center and features are definitely the best that we've seen at any National Park in the country.

The movie and cyclorama were both intense and emotional, and the museum is among the best in the country.

Then we had more of a long drive. Finally we arrive at Candy Hill campsite and settle in. They have a pool here and it was fairly empty so we took a swim as the sun was setting and our laundry was going. It was a lot of fun but definitely very cold. 

When we came back to the campsite we started a fire and had some dinner. We then settled in and watch a movie. Bed time! So yeah... that's the end of the day.

Oh yeah! I was supposed to tell you what we do tomorrow... we are going to drive home and find something to do along the way, then have pizza altogether. So yeah... now I am done.

Wed, Aug 21

The last leg of this adventure with Anna!  It has really been fun having her with us for these few days.  We knew she was a great person before this trip, but this adventure with us has confirmed that we have one great granddaughter.  She is always ready to go try a new adventure, makes sure everyone else is happy, and has a constant smile on her face.  We could not ask for anything better!

On one of my walk around inspections of the motorhome at a stop today, I discovered that our mud flap on the rear was coming loose.  I asked Anna to help me re-secure it.  We were quite a sight at the Rest Stop on Interstate 95.

We got to Slade's home around 4:30, figured out how to park a 33 foot motorhome on a 25 foot driveway and had pizza.

Evan joined us for the night as we slept on the street!

This has been a great trip, covering 6 weeks, 2,990 miles on the car and 3,440 miles on the motorhome.

Hershey, Penn

Mon, Aug 19

Last night, we took the bus shuttle from the RV Park to the Hershey Chocolate World.
Ok... Hi people! This is Anna! Papa is making me use italics or whatever they are called because he does not want our stories to be confused. I don't really like it though because it is so... fancy I guess would be the word for it. How about I use this font... it looks sooooo much cooler and plus I'm still in italics so I am technically following the rules right!?!  NOT - Papa

Our home in Hershey.

There must have been a million people there, but we did finally see the "factory" where Hershey's chocolates are made.  That's what Clara had been wanting to see since the first time I heard that Hershey is a destination.
Ok so Hershey is great and there are not a million people here when it's a weekday so yeah... come here it is awesome!!!

I think she was a little disappointed.  It turns out that the "factory" tour is a ride on a moving seat through a simulation of how chocolate is made.
The simulation was still pretty cool we smelled the chocolate and saw so much of it... you were ready for a chocolate bar by the time you were through.

The rest of the Chocolate World  was a giant shopping complex with everything Hershey chocolate. I never knew there were so many Hershey chocolate products.  It accomplished one thing that I'm sure was being subconsciously planted by smell and sight, you wanted a chocolate bar!

The store was HUGE I mean Ginormous! Seriously... there was chocolate everywhere and t-shirt and everything you could ever think of... it was like 3 Walmarts full of candy!

This morning, ANNA WAS UP EARLY and getting everyone else up.  She wanted to get to the rides in Hershey Park early.  We did get there early, and rode roller coasters and other contraptions until around noon.  By then my stomach couldn't handle another up, down, upside down, turning, swinging, jumping, weightlessness, Gs thing. And I think Anna will admit that she, too, was a little queasy. So we caught the shuttle back to the motorhome and all collapsed.  Except the girls recovered quickly and went shopping!
It's true... I was up at seven thirty yelling for everybody to get up... after all in 1 1/2 hours we could go to the park. Papa took quite some time getting ready... he was not ready until 8:50!!! But we still made it to the park bright and early. I wanted to get there early because the park was open an hour earlier to the campsite than it was to the general population. We had to get moving!

So we rode a million zillion rides and then Papa suggested that we do the side winder where it is like a boomerang. You go through the coaster facing forward and then you reverse and do it all backwards. We got sort of wacked out after that and decided to go home.

Up, Down, Upside down, corkscrews, twisting, turning, ugh!

Corkscrew

Upside down

Mimi before the ride!

Mimi after the ride

This is what a roller coaster ride looks like from my perspective

Anna was ready to go back to the park as soon as they got back from shopping, so off we go back to the park.  This time, we started a little more relaxed with a couple of musical shows offered in the park.  Then Anna was ready for some more rides, but this time she had to go by herself. Except Mimi went on one.  Papa - None!!!

So Mimi and I rested up a little bit and then went shopping after having a light lunch... we found matching socks a couple shirts some earrings and most importantly a buckle backpack!!! So I came back super pumped and I decided to go back and do some rides. 

We went back and started slow with 2 plays and supper. Then all ready to go I went on some rides... first with Mimi I did a water ride that I had done earlier with Papa. Then I went on the super duper looper... by myself!!! That was fun. 

Dueling pianos

Mimi and Papa decided it was about time to wrap up so we went up the kissers tower to see the whole park lit up... it's called the kissers tower because the windows and whole ride were based on Hershey Kisses. We do a ride like a ski lift and go on that as our last ride. We get a funnel cake and head out for the night. We were exhausted! 

The park closes at 10 pm.  We left at 9:45.  Kinda glad this is over.

This is still Anna... I'm about to give you a list so I am doing a smaller font. You are welcome!!!
Roller Coasters- 
Sky Rush
Comet
Coal Cracker (the water ride)
Flying Falcon
Trail Blazer
Storm Runnern (The one that Mimi had the terrified look on her face)
Storm Runner (finally got Papa to do it)
Side Winder (the boomerang one that made us sick)
Monorail (tour of the park)
Then we went home and did shopping for about 2 hours
Fusion (the first play)
Dinner
Piano Dueling ( the second play)
Coal cracker (yes again)
Super Duper looper (by myself!)
Kissing tower (view of park)
Sky view (ski lift)

We went from about 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. then 2:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.

Yep pretty long day! Goodnight peoples!

Headed South

Thurs, Aug 15

We are back in the US of A.  The land where our cell phones, GPS, and the right speeds and distances.  It's amazing how much we depend on today's technology - and how much we miss it when we don't have it.

This lighthouse is on the river at the border crossing between the USA and Canada

We had scoped out the RV parks near Bar Harbor and we picked a nice RV park for the evening.  As soon as we settled in, we got in the CRV and headed for town.  We had a choice of going to Acadia National Park or shopping.  You guessed it!  We went shopping. 

Bar Harbor

We are close to Tony and Jill's home, so we called them and we met at the Union River Lobster Pot, one of our favorites.  This make the third visit this trip.

Anna is getting acquainted with supper!

The Girls!

Anna thinks its cool that Papa has to wear a bib!

Fri, Aug 16

This morning we have choices to make.  The girls want to go back to Kennebunkport and they want to go into Acadia National Park, however, we can't do both and do all the other things down the road that we want to do.  They choose shopping in Kennebunkport, about a 4 hour drive South. 

On the way, we stop at the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory.  It is the only bridge observatory in the US, and one of only four in the world.  There are two towers on the 2200 bridge span across the Penobscot River, and one of the towers has an elevator that goes up 420 to a 360 degree panorama of this part of Maine.

This tower of 477 feet high and has an observatory, which is reached by an elevator that is 420 feet above the river

The RV from in the observatory... notice the car blocking us in.

After another 3+ hour drive, we are settled into a nice RV park in Kennebunkport.  The girls take off for the afternoon shopping and I chose to stay at the RV.  I've had enough t-shirt shops.

Sat, Aug 17

First, we had to take the drive to where we could see the Bush Family Estate.  That's obligatory.

The Bush Estate!

That is - after Anna decides to get up!

And we had to get pictures at the cut-outs at the RV Park.

Then we are off on the longest of our drives on this trip.  The girls have decided that Hershey, Pennsylvania "WILL" be on the trip back.  It's not on the bucket list, but the vote is 2 to 1.  So we're off on a multi-state run to Hershey.

We drove all the way from Maine to Pennsylvania! We finally end up in the tri-state area, where New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania meet. We're in Pennsylvania parked at a Walmart less than a mile from New York and New Jersey. Tomorrow, Hershey!

Sun, Aug 18

We're tired of driving interstates highways, so this morning we took a scenic drive along the Delaware River in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.  There are beautiful waterfalls. OK... So that's what Papa says... BTW I;m back! I know you know who I'm is! So Papa turned into this gravel road that has a flashing sign saying no Rvs or Buses... clearly he did not read it because we ended up driving through a very intense road with very low branches looking for a place to turn around. We end up at this recreation area and take the 1/2 mile hike to the waterfalls!

So after the falls we get back on the road. On the road Mimi and I did some latch hooking.... we have made some great progress. Finally we arrive at Hershey around 3. Papa goes in a registers us and we head to our campsite. It is a very nice campground but Papa says that there are way to many people.

We decide to head over to Hershey Park. When we get there we were welcomed by tons of people just walking around and it was a bit overwhelming. We finally make it to the Chocolate Factory and get in line for the simulation. It was a lot of fun, very nice simulation of the process and I learned a lot about chocolate.

When we get back to the campground we have dinner and Mimi and I decide to go shopping at the outlets nearby our campground. We did not pay much attention to the day... so when we got to the outlets we were surprised to find them closed... then we realized that it was Sunday.... Oops!

We then took a walk around the campground and settled in for the night. 

Tomorrow we will be doing lots of roller coasters at the Hershey park and we will be redoing the chocolate factory to get some good pictures for the blog because Papa forgot the camera! So yeah that's it.

P.S.- This is a message for Tony- guess what... I did not say "like" once! 

Anna in Canada - Day 2 and 3

Tues, Aug 13

After revisiting the road to Ministers Island this morning at low tide, when we were able to drive across the ocean floor, we went to downtown St. Andrews and made reservations for a "whale watch cruise".

Road to Ministers Island - Low Tide and High Tide

We had already made reservations for a tall ship cruise at 4:30 PM, but the weather indicated that we would be better off taking an early afternoon cruise on a boat with an enclosed cabin, so we cancelled the tall ship cruise and went on a powered catamaran with a cabin.

It has been cool all day, and this afternoon on the cruise it got very foggy.  It ended up that most of our 3 hour cruise was in the fog, but we still got to see several whales.

Tomorrow we start heading South by taking two ferry rides and plan to end up on Campobello Island.

(Hijacked again!)

HEEEEYY!!! Peoples! I'm baaacck! So it was not just a trip to Ministers Island it was a drive across the rocky ocean floor. As we were driving we saw quite a few people digging up something so Mimi just got out and asked "may I ask what you are digging?" The man said that he was digging clams so we got to hear all about the kinds of clams here. He was digging in a bunch of rocks like I mean seriously how do you tell a clam from a rock? They all look exactly the same!!!

Digging Clams on the road to Ministers Island.  He was staying at the same RV park that we are, so we took him some brownies tonight.

Then we went to cancel one whale watch cruise and get on another one. That turned out to be the best choice because we saw 3 whales for quite a while over 30 dolphins, 2 eagles some other birds a jellyfish :( and a tuna. As we were coming in we passed the boat that we would have been on and I say those people looked really cold and miserable. That boat ride was cold!!! But when we all layered some more a snuggled up we were better.

Yes, it's called Seal Island, but there is no island at high tide

We were dressed for the whale watching trip

We saw several whales

According to that paragraph way up there I guess we will start heading south by taking two ferries!!! Imagine Mimi and Papa's RV on a ferry!!! I know great imaginations!

The lobster girl

The lighthouse at St Andrews in the fog

The sailing ship we were supposed to go out on - in the fog - in the cold

Wed, Aug 14

(My blog is still being hijacked by a 12 year old, very imaginative young lady)

So today was pretty cool. We got up early and I showered. Yep... SHOWERED during the day! (I hate doing that) I was just way to tired to do it last night so yep I SHOWERED! We all got ready and were almost to the point of leaving when Mimi and I realized that we had not gotten any rocks from this part of the bay of Fundy, so since it was low tide we went ahead and got some, yep, just walked down at low tide and came up with pieces of the ocean floor. Pretty Cool!

Then we hit the road for a short 1 hour drive to the first ferry. Before getting on the ferry we detached the CRV so that we could get on the ferry without dragging too much. Turns out we should have detached the hitch too because it dragged a little bit but it was OK in the end. While on the ferry we passed by three dolphins playing and got to see them for a while. FUN!

A happy Papa!

The motorhome travels across the Bay of Fundy

So we got off the ferry (again scraping the tow bar) and started to head to the next ferry, just a short drive across Deer Island. We stopped to attach the CRV again and Papa and I decided to go into a little shop to ask for directions. I saw the ice cream they had there and ran right back to the RV. I yelled in “they have soft served vanilla ice cream cones!” that was all it took to get Mimi and I heading back over to the shop. With Papa's wallet!

When we got the ice cream we started to talk to the lady there about where to get the best live lobster. Apparently the only place to go was down this windy hilly road, apparently the road was the best on the whole island. Well their island must have REALLY bad roads because there was lots of potholes and rocks spraying the car the whole time. Good thing we detached the car yet again and left the motorhome at the top of the hill!

Supper!!!!!! I was not thrilled having live lobster... like can't we buy it already cooked?!?

The place to get the lobsters turned out to be a lobster pound... where they ship all the live lobster for the Kroger grocery stores. We got 2 huge lobsters for Mimi and papa and flash frozen lobster meat for me, I did not have it in me to tear the lobster apart. :)

We then took the RV and CRV to the ferry loading place separately because it would be too much work to attach and reattach the CRV. While we were waiting to load we took the hitch off the RV which proved to be a very good decision. When we got on the ferry everyone was able to get out of their cars! Also the ferry place where the captain sits did this super cool thing. Look at the pics below!

The ferry was actually a barge that was pushed across the Bay of Fundy by a tug boat that is attached to the barge and swings around to reverse and steer

We kinda took up most of the ferry.

So while we were on the ferry we saw a few dolphins and a whale!!! we were very excited to see the whale and the views were great! When we were getting off of the ferry the people were really nice and saved us for last so they could move the ferry up a little more so the back of the RV did not drag as much.

Are we going to get off the ferry on this?

The ramp felt like it was about the same width as the motorhome

We were finally on Campobello Island! We went about five minutes down the road to our RV park. 

One of the coolest signs for an RV park

We were so excited to see that all of the spaces available were absolutely fabulous! We picked a nice long one in the woods away from everyone else. After settling in we explored the island a little which did not take long... it was only 11 kilometers long! There is a real cool lighthouse at the end of the island and at low tide, you can walk to it. It was high tide, so we could not, but we did see a boat come through the channel that you can walk across at low tide.

If we had been here at low tide, we would have been able to walk across the inlet to the light house

When we came back we started a fire and just hung out at the campsite. Around five we finally decided it was about time for dinner. So we had Papa cook the lobsters following Mimi's very articulate instructions, from outside beside the fire. The lobster was AMAZING!! I mean like realllllly good. I split one with Mimi, and Papa ate one all by himself but ate every last piece he could off of his plate. IT WAS GOOD.

I'm not real sure about this!

I think I can!

Yes, I can!

We then went back to the fire and Mimi turned out to be the queen of making campfires! She had that fire going at least 3 feet high and it was very warm for all of us. Papa even took the liberty of hanging up the swing for ME!

The campfire was terrific!

We all sat around the fire and made some s'mores and had a blast. Then Papa and I decided to take a bike ride around the property and found a tether ball in the playground area. You know what that means! It was on! Papa and I played quite a few games but it turned out Papa being taller had quite a few advantages. I'll just stop at that!

We came back and sat around the fire for a little while longer. Then we came in and did some more of our latch hooking. That's all for today, tomorrow will be a big one yet again.... We will be home sweet home in the USA!

Thurs, Aug 15

We start the day in Canada and end the day in the USA.

We got an early start and went to President Roosevelt's summer home on Campabello.  This a beautifully preserved home that the President's family owned and they used as a summer "cottage" - with 18 bedrooms.

Ok this is Anna again... see how weird my head looks? Well the camera was on the auto thingy sitting on the fence. So right before it took the picture PAPA said to get my head in the light and tilted it to that weird angle so just to let the record show... it was not me!!!

We turned right and headed back to the good ole US of A!