Nubble Lighthouse at York, Maine
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Maine/New Hampshire Border
Jun 22 - 27.…Our park is about a ½ mile into Maine - right on the New Hampshire border. We are enjoying the ‘no sales tax’ in NH. We made our trip to Houston and it turned out to be another 2 days of eventful flying!!! We left out of Manchester, NH at 645am & made it to Newark just fine -- once there it was another story. The flights were overfull out of Newark so about 11am we decided to take a shuttle van to LaGuardia airport ($60 - 1 hr ride). We went there because even though the flights were full, the pass rider list was small. By the time we got there that was no longer true. We finally got on the last flight of the day (which was delayed) at 930p. We arrived in Houston at Midnight got our car rental and made it to the condo at 130am. With the time difference we were up for just short of 24hrs. The trip back was just about as bad. We left Houston at 755am with no problems -- again it happened in Newark. We arrived and found out there was a delayed flight to Manchester that we dashed over to try and get on…of course the door had just been closed. Then we found out that our flight at 335pm was canceled and the next one wasn’t until 840pm. Later in the day this became delayed, not leaving until after 1030pm. We arrived in Manchester at 1140pm and back to the motor home at 115am. Luckily there was a Presidents Club in LGA and EWR where we spent most of the days. However, aside from all the flight problems the wedding was beautiful and we sure enjoyed visiting with family! The wedding took place on Lake Conroe - outside on a deck overlooking the water. It ended up being a short trip but worth it!
On Monday we drove to Kennebunkport & the surrounding towns. We saw former President George & Barbara Bush’s summer home. It’s on Walker’s Point right on the ocean. You can park on the side of the road and get a great view of the house, tennis court, secret service homes & his boats (he goes fishing everyday - we just missed him as an office told us he was out a couple of hours before). It’s a beautiful site! We also stopped to see 2 lighthouses - Goat Island Light & Nubble Lighthouse. Also stopped at the Lighthouse Depot which is a large store that has every type of lighthouse item you could imagine. We made a recommended stop at Mike’s Clam Shack were we had a wonderful bowl of Clam Chowder and a Lobster Roll. We’ve heard so much about Lobster Rolls that we had to finally try one. It has chopped lobster with a little mayo put in a hot dog bun that is grilled (it’s like a grilled cheese with lobster instead). It was delicious! Fresh lobster beats the heck out of frozen!!! The next thing we have to try is “Soft Shell Lobster”. We hear it’s even better!
Tomorrow we leave and travel a little further up the coast. We haven’t decided where we will be for the next 2 nights but will be at Bar Harbor on Friday!
On Monday we drove to Kennebunkport & the surrounding towns. We saw former President George & Barbara Bush’s summer home. It’s on Walker’s Point right on the ocean. You can park on the side of the road and get a great view of the house, tennis court, secret service homes & his boats (he goes fishing everyday - we just missed him as an office told us he was out a couple of hours before). It’s a beautiful site! We also stopped to see 2 lighthouses - Goat Island Light & Nubble Lighthouse. Also stopped at the Lighthouse Depot which is a large store that has every type of lighthouse item you could imagine. We made a recommended stop at Mike’s Clam Shack were we had a wonderful bowl of Clam Chowder and a Lobster Roll. We’ve heard so much about Lobster Rolls that we had to finally try one. It has chopped lobster with a little mayo put in a hot dog bun that is grilled (it’s like a grilled cheese with lobster instead). It was delicious! Fresh lobster beats the heck out of frozen!!! The next thing we have to try is “Soft Shell Lobster”. We hear it’s even better!
Tomorrow we leave and travel a little further up the coast. We haven’t decided where we will be for the next 2 nights but will be at Bar Harbor on Friday!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
The end of Massachusetts!
Jun 19 - 21.…On Monday we took the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. The island is covered with trees! We went on a bus tour of the Island that covered all the main towns. The guide was a local so it was very informative. He provided lots of details about the island, - including it’s celebrities of the past and present - and there are many! The homes are all off small dirt roads so you would never know that a ‘famous’ person lived there. We saw the area where John F Kennedy Jr’s plane went down, where the movie JAWS was filmed, and the Aquinnah Cliffs (formally known as Gays Head before it was remaned by the Indians). The cliffs were a beautiful site with Gays Head Lighthouse off to the side (see photo). Tuesday we took another long bike ride and then went to the Nauset Light beach where we watched the tide come in & saw 4 lighthouses. It is truly amazing how far the tide goes out in this area. On one beach at noon we saw a boat anchored on a sandbar with the actual water another 500 yds or more beyond it. When we went back at 800p the boat was about a 100 yards from the shore!
Today we are on the road to Lebanon, Maine which is on the border of Maine and New Hampshire. Friday we fly to Houston to attend our nephews wedding!
Today we are on the road to Lebanon, Maine which is on the border of Maine and New Hampshire. Friday we fly to Houston to attend our nephews wedding!
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Life on the Cape
Jun 14 - 18.…Happy Father’s Day to all. We are currently on Cape Code at an RV Park in Eastham, which is on the outer cape. We were very surprised to see so many trees. The drive all along the cape is covered with trees - so much so that you only get a glimpse of the water every now and then. We drove the back road on the southern cape to Hyannis on Friday. We had lunch on a beach in the Hyannis Port area and walked around the town. Also while in Hyannis we toured the “Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory”. Did you know that it takes approx. 4 pounds of potatoes to make 1 pound of potato chips? If you have never had these chips you need to try them. Saturday we went to Plymouth (America’s Hometown) where we toured Plimoth Plantation, the Mayflower II & Plymouth Rock. The Plimoth Plantation was very interesting - it has the Wampanoag Indian Homesite, the 1627 Pilgrim Village and a Crafts Center. Each area has costumed interpreters living as they did in 1627. The Native people showed us how they built their homes, made canoes, bow & arrows & lived their life. In the English Village the Pilgrims were in each of their homes - cooking actual food in their fire pits inside the home & carrying on conversations as they would have in 1627. You could ask them questions & they would explain how they live, about their trip over & generally anything about their life since arriving in ‘New England’. It was very interesting to learn more of our history. The Mayflower II is a re-creation of the original Mayflower. It was sailed to it’s present position in 1957. On board were costumed role players portraying passengers & sailors from 1620. It was a small ship for a 102 passengers! Plymouth Rock - what can we say….it’s smaller than we thought it would be! It’s really a big boulder - about 4 ft wide and 2 ft tall! However, we still had to see it. After doing all that we drove 40 something more miles into Boston to go to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. We’ve been to Boston before so we intend to drive around it when we leave this area. We don’t want to get the motor home anywhere near downtown Boston as the traffic is awful! Today we biked about 6 miles of the 20 something ‘Rail Trail’ that is connected to the RV Park. We rode to the Coast Guard Beach where we sat down on the beach and waded in the water. Tonight we went to another beach on the bay side and watched the sunset. Today it was 75 degrees - perfect weather! Our Father's Day dinner was surf & turf...we went to the 'Friendly Fishermans' market & picked out a live lobster - they steamed it & we took it home to eat. It was delicious--much better when it's fresh!
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
More State Hopping - NY, CT, RI
Jun 12 - 14.…We left our site in NJ and made surprisingly good time traveling through Jersey, New York and into Connecticut (we did use the toll roads which weren’t too bad but the NY toll bridge did set us back $20.25). We overnighted in the parking lot of America’s largest Casino - Foxwood Casino near Mystic, CT. This is huge complex - It has 3 hotels & Casino, stores, a cinema, over 20 restaurants, etc!!!!! We took a drive to Mystic & Stonington - both quaint Historic towns on the water .
Wednesday we drove down the road about 50 miles to Newport, RI. What a beautiful area - we can see why the elite have homes here! We took a harbor cruise where we saw many sailboats moored in the bay getting ready for a big race this weekend from Newport to Bermuda. We also saw the shoreline that is full of mansions. We walked Bowen’s Wharf & the narrow streets of downtown Newport. Today we walked 4 miles of the 7 miles of Cliff Walk. It’s a 3 ½ mile walk on the cliffs of the Atlantic Ocean. Some of it had sidewalk but much of it was dirt path and huge boulders. The view was magnificent - the ocean to one side and MANY Mansions to the other side (owned by the Astor’s, Vanderbilt’s, & many other extremely wealthy people in the late 1800’s & early 1900‘s)! After our walk we toured one of the mansions - The Marble House. This was a ‘summer cottage’ that belonged to one of the many Vanderbilt’s. It cost $11 million when it was built in 1892. It is quite elaborate with marble everywhere even on the walls. You can tell that no expense was spared! It’s hard to imagine that this was just a ‘summer cottage’. After all this it was time for lunch - - clam chowder & clam cakes near the water. We then made the Ocean Drive where we saw two homes that were used as a “Summer Whitehouse”-- Eisenhower & Kennedy. The Hammersmith Farm that belonged to Jackie Kennedy’s family was used as the JFK as a summer whitehouse. It is also where their wedding reception was held. We are really enjoying the Atlantic coastline. Thursday we move on up the road to Cape Cod.
Wednesday we drove down the road about 50 miles to Newport, RI. What a beautiful area - we can see why the elite have homes here! We took a harbor cruise where we saw many sailboats moored in the bay getting ready for a big race this weekend from Newport to Bermuda. We also saw the shoreline that is full of mansions. We walked Bowen’s Wharf & the narrow streets of downtown Newport. Today we walked 4 miles of the 7 miles of Cliff Walk. It’s a 3 ½ mile walk on the cliffs of the Atlantic Ocean. Some of it had sidewalk but much of it was dirt path and huge boulders. The view was magnificent - the ocean to one side and MANY Mansions to the other side (owned by the Astor’s, Vanderbilt’s, & many other extremely wealthy people in the late 1800’s & early 1900‘s)! After our walk we toured one of the mansions - The Marble House. This was a ‘summer cottage’ that belonged to one of the many Vanderbilt’s. It cost $11 million when it was built in 1892. It is quite elaborate with marble everywhere even on the walls. You can tell that no expense was spared! It’s hard to imagine that this was just a ‘summer cottage’. After all this it was time for lunch - - clam chowder & clam cakes near the water. We then made the Ocean Drive where we saw two homes that were used as a “Summer Whitehouse”-- Eisenhower & Kennedy. The Hammersmith Farm that belonged to Jackie Kennedy’s family was used as the JFK as a summer whitehouse. It is also where their wedding reception was held. We are really enjoying the Atlantic coastline. Thursday we move on up the road to Cape Cod.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Hello from the Garden State!
Jun 7 - 11.…It cost us $21 in tolls to go across 2 bridges but we made it to NJ on Tue. This areas is pretty proud of it’s roads & bridges as there are tolls on most all of them! On Thursday we drove down the coast of NJ to Cape May, the southern most point of NJ (more tolls). We climbed the 200 stairs to the top of the Cape May Lighthouse where we had a great view of the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware Bay. Then we drove up the shore to Ocean City (a popular resort area) where we walked on the boardwalk which appears to go on for a few miles. This area is very picturesque! A whole other side of NJ as compared to Newark where we have spent so much time with work!. Just a short drive up the shore is Atlantic City where we saw the tallest Lighthouse in NJ- Absecon Lighthouse. Atlantic City is full of Casinos & is quite old. It wasn’t nearly as nice as Ocean City (at least in the daytime).
Saturday we drove to Philadelphia (more tolls) where we saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Carpenters Hall, Franklin Court, & the City Tavern. On our tour of Independence Hall we saw the Assembly Room where the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution were signed and George Washington accepted the role of commander in chief of the Colonial Armies. Also in this room is the chair Washington occupied during the drafting of the Constitution. Across the hall is the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which was the first Supreme Court. Both rooms have been restored to look as they did when used by our founding fathers in 1775-87. Did you know that the Declaration of Independence was ‘signed’ on Aug 2nd 1776? The 4th of July was the date that they agreed on the contents!! Carpenters Halls was where the first Continental Congress was held in 1774. While at Franklin Court we went to the B. Free Franklin Post Office which commemorates Franklins 1775 appointment as the first postmaster general. It is still a functional PO & the postmark is the ‘Franklin signature’. Last stop was the City Tavern which is a faithful reconstruction that Adams deemed the ‘most genteel’ tavern in America. It was the site of business transactions, patriot gatherings, & musical performances. While there we tried the beer sampler - beers from Washington, Jefferson, Franklin & Phily Ale. Of course while in Phily we had to have a famous Phily Cheese Steak for lunch. Today we are resting up for our drive tomorrow which will take us somewhere in CT.
Saturday we drove to Philadelphia (more tolls) where we saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Carpenters Hall, Franklin Court, & the City Tavern. On our tour of Independence Hall we saw the Assembly Room where the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution were signed and George Washington accepted the role of commander in chief of the Colonial Armies. Also in this room is the chair Washington occupied during the drafting of the Constitution. Across the hall is the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which was the first Supreme Court. Both rooms have been restored to look as they did when used by our founding fathers in 1775-87. Did you know that the Declaration of Independence was ‘signed’ on Aug 2nd 1776? The 4th of July was the date that they agreed on the contents!! Carpenters Halls was where the first Continental Congress was held in 1774. While at Franklin Court we went to the B. Free Franklin Post Office which commemorates Franklins 1775 appointment as the first postmaster general. It is still a functional PO & the postmark is the ‘Franklin signature’. Last stop was the City Tavern which is a faithful reconstruction that Adams deemed the ‘most genteel’ tavern in America. It was the site of business transactions, patriot gatherings, & musical performances. While there we tried the beer sampler - beers from Washington, Jefferson, Franklin & Phily Ale. Of course while in Phily we had to have a famous Phily Cheese Steak for lunch. Today we are resting up for our drive tomorrow which will take us somewhere in CT.
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