From Canada to Florida To Texas

Our 5th wheel in front of the Pensacola, Florida lighthouse

And so the curtain falls on our 8th year of living and traveling in our 5th wheel.  What a great year of travels this has been for us (our best year so far!).  As we settle in for a couple of months in an RV park in Dickinson, Texas (between Houston & Galveston), we give thanks for all of the great places, friends, and relatives that we were able to visit, for safe travels (no breakdowns on the road – not even a flat tire), and for no health challenges. 

We didn’t realize how time flies, but it has been 3 months since our last update when we were leaving Prince Edward Island (PEI).  Here are some of the highlights of our travels during these 3 months on our way back to Texas:

·       After leaving PEI, we spent a few days in New Brunswick mostly tracking down lighthouses.  There are many rivers around St. John, NB and we got to cross many of them on small ferry boats (most of which are free).  In addition, we rode ferries to Grand Manan Island, Deer Island, & Campobello Island.  Grand Manan is a great island to vacation if you want to live in the slow lane for a while.

·       We next crossed the border into Maine and headed for Acadia National Park.  This is one of the best National Parks in the East (except that it is so popular that it is crowded).  Not only did we drive thru the park and up to the top of Cadillac Mountain for great views, but we also took a boat trip out to see 4 lighthouses.

·       After Acadia, we meandered down the coast taking photos of the lighthouses that we could see.  Most of the lighthouses in Maine are on islands (some close to shore, but many are miles off the coast).  Out of the more than 60 lighthouses in the state, we managed to photo only 40 of them.  In order to see the others, we will either have to get a boat of our own or spend a lot for special lighthouse ‘cruises’ or charter boats [none of these options look real attractive to us].

·       After leaving Maine on our way to West Virginia, we traveled and camped in 3 states that we had never been in before (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut).  It was in West Virginia that we reached one of long term goals – that of staying overnight in an RV in all of the 49 states that you can drive to.  We haven’t found pontoons big enough for our 5th wheel to sail to Hawaii yet.  Maybe we can fly there someday & rent an RV.

·       While spending time in West Virginia, we made an overnight trip into northern Virginia to visit National Park Service (NPS) sites, visit Arlington National Cemetery and Mount Vernon.  Most of the time we get 1 or 2 passport stamps at each of the NPS sites – but at one of the places (the headquarters for many of the DC area parks), we hit the jackpot and got 35 passport stamps.  We could see the Washington Monument from Arlington, but did not travel into the city (we are saving that for next year).  We even got a bonus when we found 2 lighthouses on the Potomac just outside of Washington, DC.  One thing we found out is that traffic in northeastern Virginia is really congested (to say the least).

·       After leaving West Virginia, we drove along the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and about 3/4ths of the Blue Ridge Parkway with our RV.  It was great to be able to drive the relaxing roads away from all the traffic.  The speed limit was 35 to 50 mph and there were lots of curves and ups and downs, but it was worth it.  We did not try to drive the part from Ashville, NC to Smokey Mountain National Park due to low tunnels and extreme climbs and descents totaling 9,000 ft. in this section.  After not seeing any real fall foliage colors in the northeast earlier and thinking that we had missed it all, we were rewarded with fantastic colors while traveling on these highways.

·       While traveling on the Blue Ridge Parkway we got off at Lexington, VA and took a side trip to the New River Gorge National River area in southern West Virginia (a place we had never heard of).  What a beautiful area with multiple overlooks and the drive on Interstate 64 was also quite beautiful decked out in fall colors.

·       We then headed to Florida to attend a rally in Bushnell where people with trailers made by the same manufacturer that made our 5th wheel (New Horizon) gathered for a few days of fun, to learn about maintenance items, new products, etc.  This is the 7th one that we have attended since picking up our 5th wheel at the factory in Junction City, KS in September 2002.  One of the highlights of the rally was open house where we could visit each other’s trailer and see all of the different configurations these custom built trailers have.

·       On the way to the rally, we stopped at the great Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge to see the alligators, swampland vegetation, etc.  We have just started our visits to refuges for passport stamps and have already collected over 60 of them out of the over 550 refuges possible.

·       After the rally, we spent a week in Flagler County, FL working on a Habitat for Humanity build with 2 other couples from the rally.  We had an enjoyable time, accomplished a lot, and felt a few muscles that we had not used lately.

·       On our way back to Texas, we visited Florida State Parks and saw some Manatees and then camped on some of the barrier islands off of the Florida Panhandle (St. George Island and Santa Rosa Island where Ft. Pickens is).  What beautiful sand there is here and we even got to see the Blue Angels out of Pensacola practicing over Santa Rosa Island.

·       Then, we made it into New Orleans.  After living so close for so many years in Texas, this was our first time to visit here.  We spent one day in the city, seeing the New Orleans Jazz NPS sites (including, by chance being there for the Grand Opening of the performance hall in the Old Mint – with a band & dancers in Mardi Gras costumes – great music and fun).  We then spent a couple of days outside the city visiting 4 sites that are part of the Jean Lafitte NPS site (this includes the Battle of New Orleans site, multiple Acadian Culture centers, and the Barataria Preserve with hiking trails etc.).  We even managed to see 3 lighthouses bringing our total for the year to over 300 and our lifetime total of over 900 – It now looks like 1,000 is in reach.

·       After leaving New Orleans, we meandered our way up to Hope Arkansas to visit the Clinton Birthplace Historic Site.  With this, we reached another milestone of ours.  This was our 85th NPS site visited this year and overall our 301st site (out of a total of 397 possible).  We have now visited all of the sites in the continental US that are west of Indiana and south of Tennessee.  This leaves only the northeast to complete (maybe even next year).  We really don’t think that we will ever get them all, since some require extensive cost and travel (examples: American Samoa, Guam, and some very remote places in western Alaska).

·       In review of our travels, we boarded boats 51 times during the year (some vehicle ferries, some passenger only ferries, and some tour boats) and we did not get seasick.  We also rented a car 30 times to minimize fuel expense and have a more comfortable to ride in and easier to park vehicle.  With a car, we could more easily travel to get to lighthouses etc.

Plans:

·       2012 - After ‘visiting’ with our doctors, dentist, etc and with family in Northern Texas and in the Denver area, we plan to head back next year to the far northeast for up to 3 months during the summer in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.  We have visited these islands before, but only visited a small part of them – plus we hope to see some icebergs.  We will then meander back thru the northeast of the US and try to ‘complete’ visiting the NPS sites there.

·       2013 - We are planning to slow down for awhile and try volunteering.  At this time, we are leaning toward helping out in a National Wildlife Refuge somewhere.  If we do, then we will have to learn a lot more about birds.  During the year, we might even fit in a trip to finally see Hawaii (of course to see the lighthouses, NPS sites, & National Wildlife Refuges).

Hope you all have a great holiday time.

Country road in New River Gorge National RIver area West Virginia

Greens Point (Letite Passage) lighthouse - New Brunswick on way to Deer Island

Curtis Island Lighthouse - Camden, Maine

Inquisitive deer along Blue Ridge Parkway - Virginia

Marshall Point lighthouse - Maine

Along the trail in Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge - Maine

Portland Head lighthouse - Portland, Maine - Plus in the distance (under the clouds to the right) is the Ram Island Ledge lighthouse

Spring Point Ledge lighthouse - Portland, Maine

Mabry Mill along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Cape Neddick (Nubble) lighthouse - Maine

Great Falls - Potomac River - just ouside of Washington, DC

Autumn stream scene - In Blue Ridge Mountains

Alligator (with its reflection) in Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge pond

Southwest Reef lighthouse - Moved to park in Berwig, Louisiana

Cypress trees (and knees) in Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge - Louisianna

Grandview panorama - New River Gorge National River

Traveling along the Gaspe Peninusla, New Brunswick, & PEI Coastlines

Landing gear down and wings deployed for a landing in the Northern Gannet colony on Bonaventure Island along the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, Canada

What a whirlwind of activity it has been during the last 6 weeks.  We have traveled around the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, the northern coastline of New Brunswick and around the coastline of Prince Edward Island in search of and finding more than 110 lighthouses and enjoying many other activities.  Here is a summary of our travels:

• The Gaspe Peninsula (part of Quebec Province) follows the eastern shore of the St. Lawrence River and wraps around where the river expands and becomes the Gulf of St. Lawrence).  The road around the peninsula follows the beautiful coastline and we saw some really great lighthouses.  The road gets more hilly as you round the top of the peninsula and becomes pretty steep in places (many hills were 12 to 14 % grade and one long hill was 17% grade).  The Appalachian Mountains continue into Canada and end at the northeastern corner of the Gaspe Peninsula at Cap Gaspe.  The International Appalachian Trail starts/ends here (and there also just happens to be a lighthouse there).   Cap Gaspe is also in Forillion (pronounced ‘for-ee-yaw’) National Park – one of the most beautiful Canadian parks.
• After staying in a beautiful campground in  Forillion,  we traveled a short distance down the eastern part of the peninsula to Perce.  Just offshore is a famous rock formation (Perce Rock) and Bonaventure Island.  We took a boat ride out to the island and then hiked to the far side where we experienced the highlight of our last few weeks.  It was here that we were able to watch Northern Gannets up close in the largest Gannet colony in the world (estimated to be 150,000 birds) – what a great ‘racket’ they made.  When we visited New Zealand in 2008, we were enthralled watching the Australasian Gannets there and we had just as an enjoyable time watching the Northern Gannets take off, fly, land, and sleep.  These very large birds (only the Albatross is larger) lay one egg and one parent always stays with the egg (or hatched chick), while the other one goes out fishing for food.  It is quite some site to watch the mutual fencing ritual that the pair does when the parent that was out fishing returns. 
• After completing our loop around the peninsula, we followed the northern coastline of New Brunswick in search of lighthouses and we were well rewarded in finding all of them – some required going down some rough roads and some hikes to reach them.  We also camped and hiked in Kouchibouguac  National Park (pronounced ‘KOOSH-e-boo-gwack’).  While traveling in this province we saw lobster boxes, mailboxes, telephone poles, and some houses painted in blue (with yellow stars), white, & red – the colors of the Acadian flag.  It was here in New Brunswick in one dark period in history that the French Acadian people were forced from their lands and deported to France with some eventually ending up in Louisiana - The Cajuns. 
• We ended up our stay in New Brunswick camping at Cape Tormentine near the start of the Confederation Bridge.  This 8 mile long bridge was completed in 1997 and replaced the ferry that docked in Cape Tormentine.  Today, you can reach the west part of the PEI by the Confederation Bridge or the east part of the PEI by ferry out of Nova Scotia.  You pay only when you leave the Island (either by ferry or by bridge).

Our most distant destination this year was PEI and it seems that we saved the best till last.   This is truly a special island and we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.   The Island is small enough that you can ‘get your hands around it’ and feel at home.  Here are some highlights of our PEI visit.

• With our reaching PEI we have now reached one of our long term goals of visiting all 10 provinces in Canada in an RV (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland/Labrador, and PEI.  In addition we have visited 2 of the 3 northern territories (Yukon & Northwest Territories).  The only remaining territory is the new one that was created in 1999 – Nunavut – which was split off from the Northwest Territories.  Since this remote territory can only be reached by boat or by plane, we have absolutely no plans to take our RV there.  Technically, we have been in Nunavut when we waded in Hudson Bay in Manitoba, since the Nunavut boundary runs right along the coastline there.  Maybe in the far future we might fly to Iqaluit (the capital) just to see what it is like.
• You really get that small community feeling wherever you go.  Even the ‘big’ town of Charlottetown only has a population of 33,000 and the Charlottetown ‘metropolitan area’ population is only 60,000.  You can drive the 163 miles from the farthest NW point (North Cape) to the farthest east point (East Point) in about 3 1/2 hours. 
• The Island has 61 remaining lighthouses and we managed to photograph 59 of them (of the two we missed - one is on an island and cannot be seen from shore & the other is on private property that you can’t get to). 
• The dirt on the island is red (caused by the high iron content) and the soft cliffs (which erode easily) along the coastline are red.  Unpaved roads are red and we went down numerous ‘red dirt roads’ in search of lighthouses.
• This is Celtic country and there are nightly ceilidhs (pronounced kay-lees) that you can attend (most for a nominal cost of $10) where you can enjoy fiddle, guitar, accordion, & piano playing, plus singing, step dancing, and storytelling.  The tradition is to enjoy ice cream & strawberries at intermission time.  We enjoyed these so much that we attended many of them.
• One of the really big attractions here is Anne of Green Gables.  L. M. Montgomery grew up in the Cavendish, PEI area and wrote a series of books – the first one being Anne of Green Gables published in 1908 (which is a story about a young orphan red-headed girl with a great imagination that grew up on a farm named Green Gables in PEI).  Here on PEI you find historic sites, museums, restaurants, a musical with the Anne theme and of course countless souvenirs (especially Anne dolls that seem to be everywhere).  Many Japanese tourists come here to visit PEI  since Anne of Green Gables was included in their school curriculum after the 2nd WW.
• Farming is the main business on the island.  The big farm crop is potatoes and they even have a Potato Museum which shows all of the varieties grown here.  It seems that some of the best French fries in the world come from PEI potatoes.  Of course, they rotate their crops and can only grow potatoes once every 3 years on the same land.
• Fishing is also big business and one of the ‘must do’ things here is to go to one of the Lobster Suppers where appetizers, mussels, and desserts are included.  We went to 2 of these, but only Cathy had the lobster and mussels.
• Another twist to the unusual weather this year.  All the local people here complain about how wet and cold it has been here this summer.  Usually, they have sunny and warm days with a day or 2 mixed in with showers.  This year, it has been many days with showers with a nice day here or there.  Fortunately, we arrived at the right time and have seen more nice days than wet ones and the temperatures have been great for us (with highs mostly in the 60’s and low 70’s).
• One of the ‘must do’ things here is to take the Cows Creamery Factory tour and of course have some of their really super ice cream.  In addition, their whimsical T-shirts (which are printed here in the Creamery) are a big hit.  Some of the T-shirt slogans are/have been: ‘Dancing with the Steers’, ‘Cowy Potter’, ‘Dr. Moolittle’, ‘The Amoozing Race’, and ‘The Little Moomaid’.  They bring out 12 new T-shirt designs each year.
• PEI has 1 National Park along the north central coastline and with the very original name of PEI National Park.  We camped here one night, walked along the beach, & took photos of some of the birds.
• Charlottetown is known as the birthplace of Canada.  It was here that the first gathering was held in 1864 which led to the Canadian Confederation in 1867 and which has evolved into Canada as we know it today.  Charlottetown is also the capital of PEI.   In our continuing quest to visit all of the provincial & territorial capitals in Canada, we visited Province House where the legislature meets.

Well, our time here on PEI is coming to a close.  We had planned to leave today, but are waiting 2 extra days until the remnant of hurricane Irene passes by (it is forecast that we should only get about an inch of rain and winds about 40-50 MPH).   Our plans have us crossing the Confederation Bridge and then finding lighthouses along the eastern and southern coastline of New Brunswick (including taking a ferry out to Grand Manan Island) before wandering inland down to Florida for a New Horizon RV rally at the end of October.  Then we will head back to the Texas area for the winter months.

Hope this finds you all well.

La Martre Lighthouse on Gaspe Peninsula

Haut Fond Prince Lighthouse in the St. Lawrence River

Ile Verte Lighthouse near Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec

Point-au-Pere Lighthouse on the Gaspe Peninsula

Pot a'L'Eau-de-vie (Brandy Pot) Lighthouse near Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec

Pointe a la Renommee Lightstation on Gaspe Peninsula - Marconi installed the first maritime radio station in North America here in 1904.

A small White Satin Moth (Leucoma Salisis) with neat black and white legs in the grass at the base of the Cap Des Rosiers Lighthouse

Coastline at Bon Ami Viewpoint in Forillion National Park

A Red Fox near Cap Gaspe in Forillion National Park

View from our campsite of the Perce Rock at sunrise

I know I can fly - Just let me try (Northern Gannet)

Nesting gannets as far as you see

A Northern Gannet parent and chick taking a nap amidst all the chatter in the colony

Point Escuminac Lighthouse on northern shore of New Brunswick

Port Borden Range Rear Lighthouse with the Confederation Bridge in the backgound

Sometimes small is beautiful - This is Howard's Cove Lighthouse on a hill overlooking the harbour on PEI

New London Lighthouse on PEI

Up to Riviere-du-Loup on the St. Lawrence River

       Crown Point Lighthouse on Lake Champlain – A memorial to the French Explorer Samuel Champlain.  Side note:  This lighthouse/memorial has a sculpture by world famous A. Rodin on display out in the open in a public campground (instead of being in a museum under lock and key).

We are now taking a break in our travels along the St. Lawrence River in the Canadian Province of Quebec.  We are definitely in French speaking country where most of the people speak French with some speaking bilingually with basic English.  It makes shopping interesting with the use of hand language and pointing to things.  Quebec province requires that children with French parents go to French school with only 1 hour of English required per week.    The road signs are only in French, but we can figure out most of them.  We do appreciate those people who try to communicate to us in English.  We wish that more emphasis had been placed on our taking foreign languages when we were going to school.

We have had a really great last 2 months in continuing our quest of National Park Service Sites, seeing lighthouses, and a week flying back to Texas for our eldest grandson’s high school graduation.  We have had a couple of problems (but nothing that has slowed us down).  The main one was to replace the brake actuator for our trailer hydraulic brakes in New Jersey.  The company that had made ours went bankrupt and so we had to have one made by a different company shipped to us.  I installed it and it worked the first time!

Here are some of the highlights of our travels:

• We started by crossing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel.  This 20 mile long complex consists mainly of long causeway-like bridges and 2 tunnels under the shipping lanes (note:  The toll was $28 for our truck and fifth wheel). 
• We then traveled along the Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware coastlines on the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay seeing numerous lighthouses.  We then crossed into New Jersey where we stopped at a campground which served as our base for our trip to Texas and then sightseeing in the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas.
• Our trip back to Texas got off to a slow start when our flight out of Philadelphia was delayed for about 4 1/2 hours.  This was the day after a big hail storm hit DFW airport and over 80 planes had to be inspected before they could fly.  Since DFW is an American Airlines hub and our flight was with American, many flights were delayed or cancelled.  After we got under way, the rest of our trip was great - going to the graduation, great visits with family and friends, and the flight back went without a problem.
• Once back in New Jersey, we rented a car and traveled all the way around the coastline of New Jersey seeing almost all of the lighthouses there.  The ones we skipped are in the middle of Delaware Bay and require a special lighthouse boat tour to see these (something that we have added to our bucket list for in the future).  Our path took us to Cape May (the most SE part of New Jersey), Atlantic City, and Sandy Hook (the most NE corner of NJ – where we could see New York City across the bay).  On the way back to our campsite, we visited Thomas Edison’s National Historic Park which included his laboratory and Glenmont home in West Orange.
• On another day, we drove into Philadelphia area to take photos of a couple of lighthouses (on the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers), visit Edgar Allen Poe’s home, and visit Valley Forge.  School kids did not get out for the summer here until the end of June and multiple busloads of noisy kids must have had an outing the day we went to Valley Forge.  This was not one our most peaceful and enjoyable park visits.
• On another trip, we rode the train into Philadelphia and visited the Independence National Historical Park where we saw the Liberty Bell, toured Independence Hall, and Congress Hall (where the Congress met thru the 1790’s), went by the Betsy Ross house, and visited multiple Ben Franklin sites (including the first Fire Department and Post Office stated by him).  Quite a popular place with waiting lines etc.
• After traveling close to New York City on our big New Jersey loop, we decided to take a more westerly course and see the SE part of Pennsylvania.  While there, we saw the beautiful Delaware Gap Scenic River, Hopewell Furnace Historic Site (where they made iron stoves in the forge there in the 1800’s), and Steamtown Historic Site (which of course was all about trains – steam engines, a large turntable, and cabooses).
• Then it was up thru New York state on our way to Canada.  Along the way, we visited the Vanderbilt mansion, FDR’s Springwood home, the FDR Presidential Library and museum (the first of its kind), and Eleanor Roosevelt’s Val-Kill retreat home in Hyde Park, NY.  Note: This is Dutch country up here and you see a lot of ‘kills’ – which is the Dutch word for a body of water (literal translation is riverbed).
• We then stopped at Saratoga where the turning point battle of the Revolutionary War was fought.  It was here that the British-led forces surrendered for the first time in British history (the only other two times were at Yorktown, Maryland at the end of the Revolutionary war, and in the Battle of Singapore in WWII).
• Then it was on up the Hudson River to Lake Champlain.  Along the way we took photos of 4 lighthouses along the Hudson River.  We then rented a car and drove around Lake Champlain taking photos of the lighthouses there.  This lake played an important part in shipping and trade since you could sail from New York to Montreal by going up the Hudson River, thru a canal, across Lake Champlain, thru another canal, and then down the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence.  Special note: In 1998, in Senate bill 927, Lake Champlain was named one of the Great Lakes – so to the geography buffs out there, there are now 6 Great Lakes.
• Then it was time to cross over into Canada.  We crossed at a small crossing (not one of the main ones) and we didn’t zip thru this time - our truck and fifth wheel were searched – but, as expected, they found nothing.  We stayed in the Montreal area where we again rented a car and drove up and down the St. Lawrence River from about 40 miles SW of Montreal up thru Montreal and then to Quebec City – of course taking photos of lighthouses.
• Then it was on to Levis, QC where we visited the Levis Forts National Historic site.  The place was almost deserted and we had a very peaceful visit.  Just 2 days before, this place had been packed with people when Will and Kate dropped by for a visit.  It might have been fun to be there, but parking really would have been a problem for us since the fort is in a residential area with no street parking.
• Finally, we made it to Riviere-du-Loup where we are camping for a week.  It might be hard for a lot of you to imagine cool weather, but the highs lately here have been in the upper 60’s to low 70’s.  Hope you are not suffering too much from this year’s intense heat.
• Along the way, we enjoyed great visits with friends in New Jersey, New York state, and Vermont.  Cathy even got to go to the Vermont Quilt Festival (the largest in the northeast).  Trivial note:  Diesel fuel cost the equivalent of $5.19 per gallon this week.

In summary, in the last 2 months, we have sailed past the 700 lighthouse mark and added over 75 for a total of 740.  In addition, we visited 6 National Wildlife Refuges, and 17 National Park Service Sites.  We think that it is about time to slow down a bit since we have reached cooler weather, and so our pace thru the rest of Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and then back to Texas in November (via Florida) will not be quite as hectic.

Hope you all are doing well.

             'Red Spotted Purple' Butterfly seen in Delaware Gap Scenic River area

 Dingmans Falls in Delaware Water Gap Scenic River Recreation Area

         Wild  horses roaming near our campsite in Assateague National Seashore Park.  Earlier, they had come thru our campsite.

Washington's Headquarters in Valley Forge

             Isle La Motte Lighthouse on Lake Champlain

   Roebling Aqueduct over Upper Delaware River - This used to be a canal filled with water and operated from 1828 to 1898 - now it is a vehicle bridge.

   Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse  - off the coast of Lewes, DE

          Twin Lights (Navesink) Lighthouse - Two lights in one building - Located in New Jersey near New York City - used 2 lights so it could be distinguished from other lighthouses in the area.

Liberty Bell in Philadelphia

                  Sandy Hook lighhouse - The oldest lighthouse that is still standing in the United States - Put in service in 1764 - Located n New Jersey near entrance to New York City.

 Roundout Creek Lighthouse - On Hudson River at Kingston, NY

    Barnegat Lighthouse on Long Beach Island in New Jersey

     Killdeer in Fenwick Island, DE

Lindenwald - Martin Van Buren's Home in Kinderhook, NY.  He was the 8th President of the US.

   Solanges Canal Lower Entrance Rear Range Light - Used to guide ships into the canal - Near Montreal

        Sainte Anne de Sorel Front Range Light - On the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and the City of Quebec