Visiting Family / actual date 10-6-14

My first stop in a real house - New Jersey!  I got to spend some time with family and sleep in a real bed.  I was fun seeing my great nephew & great niece along with their parents.

A stop in the action for a picture Stephanie, Donovan (age 5), Elyse (age 2) & me.  

They are bundles of energy but so adorable.  I stayed with them for  4-5 days & ended up picking up some "bug".  I was still able to get out and walk around their neighborhood checking out the houses.  I forget about the trees & plants that thrive back here.  Here are some of the homes near by.

This last one is converted old train depot the is now a private residence.  They kept the old depot sign up which really completes the look.
Talk about old, these next few pictures are at a cemetery a short walk away.  I was interested in some of the head stones, as you can see it has been around for a while!

Sorry if those are a little to morbid for you but I found them interesting.

On a lighter note, dinner time is always fun when kids are around!

And so after a great visit in New Jersey, I headed south on the New Jersey Turnpike which is a "fun" drive.  After about 5 hours of that and the Capitol Beltway (around Washington, DC), I landed in Great Falls, Va. (near Dullas International Airport, a little northwest of Washington).  I stayed with my sister, her husband & their three dogs (one border collie mix & two corgis).

Very relaxing and another comfortable (real) bed.  Hanging out and staying up late then getting up late was just right.  Above the two corgis took refuge in my room while the vac. was being used.  they are really good at relaxing.

 These are better pictures of the herd.

More adventures in Virginia next time, so ta,ta for now.

The last of Nova Scotia / actual date 10-3-14

As I was driving south before crossing the causeway (first picture below) that separates the main part of Nova Scotia from Cape Breton Island, I stopped at the tourist office.  They were very helpful with maps and suggestions of things to see.

They told me about the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in the city of Baddeck.  It is the place where Bell did a lot of his experiments, summered & is buried along with his wife.  He like the area since it reminded him of his native Scotland.  The museum is very extensive & has a lot of his actual prototypes that were donated by his family.  The family still keep a house nearby.  Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures inside, but did spend several hours there.

I then headed for Yarmouth on the southwestern tip on Nova Scotia.  That is where the ferry over to Portland, Maine leaves from & it turned out to be a 8+ hours sail.  It left at 10 A M but by the time I cleared Customs in Maine, it was after 9 P M.  It would have been interesting to look out (even though we were so far from land that you could not see it) but it was very foggy to the point of only being able to see about 100` to the side.

I landed (in the rain) & got a room in Freeport.  The reason for heading slightly north from Portland was to visit the LLBean main store.  It is a outdoor equipment icon that is over 100 years old which means it predates REI and all the others.  It is so big that it`s 8-10 buildings take up an entire city block.  Lots of stuff.....  I bought a pair of rain shoes, just in case it ever rains in Santa Barbara again!!

My next objective was a visit to my niece & family (yes, one of my two nieces who`s inheritance I am trying to spend as fast as I can) (see yellow decal below on the back of my camper).

She, her husband & two kids live in New Jersey.  It is an nice older part with great older houses.

This is for my friends Bob & Suzie in Miraposa - you might notice that I put a Canadian decal on the back of my camper for the trip across the country.  I thought it might endear me to people I met up there but it was not necessary.  They all treated my so nicely, as though I was their next door neighbor.

I will continue with that on the next blog - stay tuned.

On to Nova Scotia / actual date 10-2-14

Time to check out another land mass.  I caught the ferry from Woods Island, P. I. to Caribou, Nova Scotia which took about an hour & $74.00.  It sails from the southern tip of the island near the east end.
I headed up to the northeastern end which is actually an island (but still part of N. S.), it goes by the name Cape Breton Island.  My destination was Cape Breton Highlands National Park which takes up a great deal of the northern most tip of the province.  The tour books compare the drive around the coast to Big Sur drive south of San Francisco, Ca.  I agree with that but the Big Sur drive does not have moose.... no I still did not see any!
Here are a few pictures from my drive up the west side, across the top & down the east side.
The drive is know as the Cabot Trail.  This side going north borders the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

As you can see the land is a little "lumpy" & covered with forests.

I saw this old barn & could not resist a picture of it.  This was before I entered the Park.

It was suggested to me that there was a Cletic Music Center & lunch place that I might make the afternoon session.  I thought why not.  I was a great stop & good music (preformed by a piano & a fiddle).  I stayed about an hour, much fun.

I camped that night near the northern part of the park by a beautiful stream.

 

When I woke the temp. was 40 degrees (when it is 40 outside, it is only 41 inside) but I have several down layers, so sleeping was good.  I was now set to head down the east side of the park (the Alantic Ocean side).  The coast looks even more like Big Sur Coast in Calif.

Below is one of the markers for the Cabot Trail.

The ocean & clowds were really showing off this day as you see in this next picture.  It was overcast but that is better for taking photos.

That enough for now.  If you ever get the chance to see this park, don`t miss it.  It is a long way but........

Orwell Corner Historic Village, P. I. / actual date 10-1-14

I saw information about a historic village that was established on P. I. in 1861 & decided to check it out.

There are 14 buildings that are in their original place & have been kept as they were (complete with everything inside) last used in the mid 20 th century.  I toured: the one room school house; blacksmith shop; carriage house; machine shed & the shingle mill.  I will include a few pictures below.

There was a school group visiting at the time which added to the picture.

Above is a view of the top of one desk with all the markings from over the years.  Notice the hole for an ink well.

This last one is the shingle mill.  Very interesting & there was even a guy working in the blacksmith shop who made repairs to the equipment around the village.
Fun to see how life was 150 years ago in a remote part of the world.  I am glad it was them & not me.
See you on the flip side.......

Heading for P. E. I. / actual date 9-30-14

In case you are wondering what P. E. I. stands for, it is the province of Prince Edward Island.  If you Google or as I do, drag out a map of Canada, you have to look above Nova Scotia.  

I drove east over a long bridge just east of Moncton, N. B.  Everyone there just calls it P. I.

The fog was closing in as I was having lunch before crossing to the island.  I could not even see the island at all.

That evening I it was getting late and I was still trying to figure out where to stay.  While heading east toward Charlottetown along a highway, I began to see old logging roads going off into the forest.  I figured this one looked good & just turned off & drove into the forest about a mile.  It was overgrown some so it looked like no one had been up it for years, perfect.

I finally found a small side area where I could turn around & it went far enough off the logging road to be out of the way in case someone happened along.

 Home sweet home, for the night.  Nothing but the birds & smell of the forest to wake me in the morning.

I even made a collection of fall colors on my back door step in the morning.  I started to Charlottetown, the capitol of the province.  It a quaint little town with some interesting buildings & statues 

It even has a deep water port for some good size cruse ships.

Next time a little more of P. I.  I am done for now.

Another Blog hint - update

Before I said that to enlarge any picture on this Blog you just click the pictures twice.  That was not correct - you only have to click the picture ONCE to enlarge.
As you may or may not know I was having trouble with access to my blog for the last two weeks.  That is solved & hopefully stays that way.  As I now post new blogs I am dating them with the "actual" date they happened.
There may be lapses in the dates do to nothing much happening that day, your know a day off.  Of course being retired that is likely to happen more often.
I am staying with family in Virginia for a couple of weeks, so don`t expect to much being posted.

Enjoy!