Every morning we take Jasper for a walk before we hit the road. Good both for him and us.

We have been working our way down the coast of Maine through New Hampshire and are now in Massachusetts. There are some freeways, but mostly a tangle of two-lane highways which we have chosen to drive most of the time. The highways are a “tangle” due to the development of roads from the first roads in the area very early days of our country. Often we leave one small village, and immediately are in the next small village. Each village usually has a beautiful, very high steepled church. The high steeples are probably the reason that Paul Revere got his signal lights from someone in a church steeple.

California has their coastal Highway 1 and so does Maine. It goes along many inlets and over bridges through villages with old stately homes becoming beach houses the more south we go. Like California highway 1 this one is often slow, but with spectacular views. Many homes appear to have been built, almost 2 centuries ago, but lovingly maintained overtime. “ Sure is different than California” Steve said.

We stopped in Portland, Maine and walked around the Harbourfront with their old buildings, cobblestone streets, and lots of stores and restaurants. We had lunch in a restaurant that allow dogs and Jasper had his own personal water bowl.

Got stuck in commute traffic passing Boston—felt like our Bay Area.

If you wonder “where is Waldo? “, he is in Waldoboro ME. 😊

We occasionally see Starbucks, but they are not ubiquitous plus we have only seen a couple of Teslas. A “roundabout“ is a “rotary” here.

We will be in the Cohasset area for several days visiting Steve’s cousin and his wife Kim.

Great trip!

We are still in Acadia National Park. What a beautiful national park. Lots of people here. It seems to be as attractive to visitors as Yosemite Valley and Grand Canyon. Camping fees account for over $600 million a year for this park. Of course, with the “shut down“ the park is not collecting fees.

The tour book says no visit to Maine should be without a ferry ride. Not sure if it is because it is a “must do“ or the only way to get from parts of Maine to to other areas is on a ferry.

We decided to drive over an hour this morning to Stonington to take the ferry out to Isla Au Haut off the coast. Stonington is a charming small fishing village. A great majority of the residents are involved in the lobster business. The surface of the harbor waters are dotted with hundreds of colorful lobster trap buoys.

Great day for a ferry ride — sunny, clear, and calm water. We just did the 2 1/2 hour round-trip. Jasper was allowed to accompany us. Great views everywhere. Some of the scenery reminded us of the San Juan Islands in Washington. In Steve’s opinion more spectacular than the San Juans.

Great lunch on the deck of a restaurant in Stonington. Good day all around.

3.5 mile hike around Jordan Pond

Picnic lunch on the coast

Gelato break in Northeast Harbor

We drove from Augusta to Bar Harbor. Fairly uneventful drive. Stopped in Bar Harbor for lunch. Town is too touristy and crowded. Worst lunch of our trip and expensive. Everything is lobster which neither of us particularly like.

We checked into our campsite at Acadia National Park just a few miles from Bar Harbor. We plan to explore the park tomorrow. We will be here for 3 nights before heading south towards New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

After how cold it was in Vermont, the weather is warmer and delightful.

Look at the mist on the lake at Little River campground.

We headed out destined for New Hampshire. We had to stop at Cold Hollow Cider Mill for hot apple cider and apple cider donuts and another stop at Movement Coffee. recommended to us by Tami and James.

To get from Vermont to New Hampshire and Maine means being on several short highways with different highway numbers. Probably a throwback to when people only cared about getting to the next town.

The campground we had planned for this evening in New Hampshire was full so we pressed on to Augusta, Maine and an evening at Days Inn. We have been on the road for three weeks so it was a treat to stay at a motel. Just finished an excellent Mexican dinner with margaritas.

Today we passed through so many small villages in New Hampshire and Maine. Many of them have cemeteries right in the middle of town along the main highway.

We have been with each other 24/7 for three weeks and all is well except Steve is a paper map person and Steph is a Maps online program person. This causes a lot of interesting conversations. 😂

Tomorrow we head to Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine near Bar Harbor.

Our next destination is Waterbury, Vermont. Instead of taking a ferry across from New York to Burlington, Vermont we chose to drive north then around and down Lake Champlain. Of all the large lakes we have seen on this trip, this is our favorite. We could live on the shores of this lake if the winters were not so very cold

We think no visit to Vermont should be without a stop at Ben & Jerry’s ice cream manufacturing site. We spent a couple of hours on a tour, eating ice cream, and learning all about this incredible company. They even have a “flavor graveyard” with some of the flavors they no longer offer with headstones and all. Ben & Jerry’s has had over 600 different flavors since their inception in 1978. Each year they offer about 95 different flavors. A fun and yummy stop.

We are camped at Little River Campground in Waterbury. Another beautiful campsite in the fall forest on a lake. Vermont has been Steve’s favorite so far.

California has “speed bumps” and “speed humps”, Vermont has “speed tables”. They are a little fatter and flatter than the California style.

We can’t believe the immense number of acres devoted to raising corn in most of the states we have traveled through.

It’s getting colder

Happy October! We woke up to 30° weather—brrr!

We continued our drive through the Adirondacks. The area is full of lakes, cottages, inns, and campgrounds. It appears to be busy year-round when snowmobiling replaces swimming, fishing, canoeing, and hiking.

Along the roads there are firewood stands with bundles for anywhere from $4 to $15. It is on the honor system. You select your bundle and leave cash in the box.

We came to the village of Lake Placid and stopped at the Lake Placid Olympic Jumping Complex. Oh my the ski jumps are so incredibly high! In addition to being a phenomenal skier, you could not be afraid of heights. They still train athletes ( some as young as 12 years old) and year round. They were not training when we were there.

Our next stop was Whiteface Mountain ski area. They were getting ready for an international mountain bike competition. We rode the gondola to the top( 2700 feet) and could see Lake Placid along with much of the Adirondacks.

Camping on the shores of Lake Champlain. Wind is blowing fierce off the lake, but the three of us are warm and cozy in our trailer.

On to Vermont tomorrow.

Drove the New York Thruway

To NY highway 28

Stopped to see the Erie Canal remembering that we learned about it in school. The Erie Canal runs east to west for 351 miles between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. It was completed in 1825 and the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes vastly reducing the cost of transporting people and goods across the Appalachians. The Erie Canal accelerated the settlement of the Great Lakes and westward expansion. Today the canal is used mostly by recreational craft.

We started our drive through the Adirondacks. I always thought that the Adirondacks were high mountains, especially since the 1980 Winter Olympics were at Lake Placid. The highest mountain just over 5,000 feet but most are just over 2,000 feet. The drive through the Adirondacks was stunning— lots of small, charming villages, many lakes that reminded me of the movie “On Golden Pond”, and in the midst of the trees turning beautiful shades of yellow, rust, and orange.

We are at Eighth Lake Campground—a great spot on the lake. Weather is mild,clear and beautiful but chilly in the evening. 

We spent two hours walking around Niagara Falls. We are glad we came to Niagara Falls from the Canada side because from Canada you can see Niagara Falls across the river. From New York you are on top of the Falls and don’t see the full view. The area around Niagara Falls in Canada is very touristy—“ Disney at the Falls”. These photos do not come close to capturing the breathtaking grandeur of the Falls.

There were many visitors there today on a Monday in late September. We wouldn’t like to be there on a summer weekend day. We heard many different languages from all over the world from the visitors as they strolled along the Falls.

Tonight we are at Darien Lake State Park west of Rochester and Syracuse. Weather is very mild and pleasant.

Less you think our trip is all driving, camping and seeing sites, we do stop periodically at a laundromat and grocery store. We have gotten very good and efficient at setting up the Casita trailer and getting ready to leave the next morning. As small as the trailer is, we are very comfortable. 

After a walk on a Lake Huron Beach, we left Michigan and crossed the border into Ontario.

There were a great many semi trucks, heading to the United States on a Sunday, which surprised us with all the tariff shenanigans of the current administration. We have been converting kilometers on speed limit signs and liters at gas stations.

Most of what we saw was flat Ontario Farm land with wheat corn and soy beans.

Around Hamilton, there were big beautiful houses and big farms. There were also several very green golf courses with low undulating hills.

On our entire trip, we have seen very little traffic. It is a nice change from our Bay Area traffic. Instead of “rest areas, Michigan has roadside parks— smaller, very green with restrooms.

We ate lunch at Charles Dickens Pub in Woodstock Ontario.

We are camped at Rock Point Provincial Park on Lake Erie. Very different shoreline than the last three lakes. The shoreline is slabs of rocks with fossils embedded in the stone at this campground.