Headed Home Through Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia

We left Freeport, ME headed to Bristol, CT. I selected this campground for 2 reasons. 1) we needed a stop around 300 miles from Freeport and 2) we have never stayed in CT and this was a good opportunity to stay in a new state. We have stayed here before, but not in the MH. The campground was Bear Creel Campground and it was attached to an amusement park (Lake Compounce). Of course that was of no interest to us. We had a nice long pull through site and we didn't even need to unhook the car.

It was kind of an odd location as we were next door to a landfill site and we could hear a very large fan running all night. It didn't disturb our sleep and it didn't smell. The CG had cabins and tepees to stay in. I don't know what they looked like inside, but they looked interesting on the outside. The CG wasn't crowded at all for a Saturday. I guess school was in and the kids were busy elsewhere.

 Crossing the Hudson River we had a nice view of the exclusive houses on the river bank.

The worst part of the whole trip coming home was the condition of the roads in CT and NY. They were in such poor shape that it felt like you were on a roller coaster and it almost jarred you brains out. Two States with very high taxes and the condition of their roads were horrible. This is a one picture that you can see the road. YIKES. It was so bad poor little Finny threw up and I can't blame him one bit.

The next stop was at a KOA CG in Williamsport, MD. It sounded nice on the internet, but it was way the heck down a narrow, winding dirt road along a creek. It was a bit tricky to maneuver  from the office to our site, but again we had a pull thru and didn't have to unhook. I decided to take little Bentley for a walk around the CG. Two little boys about 3 yrs. old came running over to see him. They were so cute and excited to see a kitty in a stroller. We walked around to the front of the CG by the office and we found an enclosure with chickens, roosters and goats. The chickens did their best to entertain Bentley and the roosters crowed to show off their vocal range.  Bentley was thoroughly entertained a a bit nervous.

  The chickens were all different and when they started to fight Bentley and I decided to go back to the MH.

 In the morning as I was warming up the car and getting ready to leave, David spotted a bunny sitting underneath the car. We brought him out some lettuce so that he could have a proper breakfast. He obviously was another of the CG hosts pets that lived there. So cute.

Our last stop was in Wytheville, Va at the KOA CG. We have stayed here a few times before and it is always convenient. They even have a bowling alley at the CG ad some nice activities. We are always only here for overnight, so we've never used any of the amenities. The site we were in were in a  new area, was extra long and nice and quiet. We arrived about 3:30 and since we were so close to downtown Wytheville we would go check out the local quilt shop Batiks, etc. It was located in downtown Wytheville in an old building. The shop had lots and lots of batiks and some other fabrics. There was nothing I needed or was looking for, but I noticed some fabric the I bought at Chattanooga Quilts in 2013 to make Emma a dress. I couldn't believe they still had that fabric and that it was $13.00 a yard. Yikes, that fabric wasn't $13.00 in 2013.

When we were ready to leave the next morning something scared nervous little Finny and he went to his safe place. Poor kitty, everything scares him. Maybe he was anticipating another rough road trip through NY.

We arrived home on Tuesday and the kitties were pretty happy to be home and so were we.

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Freeport, Maine

When we stay at the camp in Oquosssoc we always take a day to drive down to Freeport. This time we re staying in (or rather near) Freeport which gives us a bit more time to hang out there. The whole town of Freeport is a major shopping outlet mall, but as outlet malls go there are very few bargains. It is also the home of L L Bean and their many stores.

Our CG was KOA Freeport which was out in the country and down a long, winding dirt road, It was very open and spacious with baseball fields, pools, a large playground and a little kids train and some ponies that stay there. There were pull thru  campsites out in the open for people wanting to use their satellite set ups and nice shaded cozy back in campsites for more privacy and cooler spots. We had a pull thru spot and it was plenty big.

We got there early afternoon, so that after setting everything up, we had time to drive to Freeport.

Yep !!! L L Bean was still there. Many years ago it was 1 big store, but now is broken up into the main store, hunting and fishing, home store and bike, boat and ski. There is also an outlet store which we like to visit also.

The old L L Bean outlet was torn down and there is a new outlet shopping mall in it's place. The new outlet is much nicer than the old store and there are a few bargains to be found. I love the quality of their goods. They last forever, but once you find something you like, they will discontinue it. The only thing I found this time was some long sleeve T shirts for winter. David found a couple of shirts too.

The town basically looks the same with a few stores moved to new locations. The quilt store there had moved to a new location. It was very nicely done and they had a nice variety of items from fabric to EPP tools and some nice patterns and quilt samples on display. The town also had a new and very, very nice yarn shop with an enormous amount of yarn. I did find some great sock yarn there.

I love the architecture there. The buildings and houses look so interesting.

One of the stores we had to visit was Wicked Whoopies. They used to be on the other side of town, but are now across from LL Bean's main store. The Ben & Jerry's stand that was on the side walk in from of LL Bean is now around the corner on a side street, so they have probably lost major business,

Then there is the Mangy Moose store that has been there for many years. It was good to see they were still there & carrying the same sorts of things like T shirts and Mainey decor.

We had dinner one night at Gritty McDuff's and the meal was good. The next night we had a light supper in the MH (too many whoopie pies during the day). UGHHH

On our last day we ate at Linda Beans's restaurant.David had haddock (as usual) and I had a cup of lobster stew and fish tacos. The fish tacos were not great. I don't think they know what goes in fish tacos, other than fish. It had lettuce and tomato. This is the CUP of lobster stew. It was terrific and full of lobster. When you hear the word "stew" you think potatoes, carrots, celery, etc. But real lobster stew only has cream, butter and lots of lobster. This was the real deal. I've been waiting all of the vacation for a good lobster stew.

 Finnegan enjoyed the new bed on the dashboard.

We are heading towards home and will be stopping in Bristol, CT on the way back. Nothing to see, just an over night stop.

Bar Harbor, Maine

These are a couple of pictures from Eastport CG that I forgot to post.

This sign near the dock says "See a Whale, Ring  the Bell". Unfortunately, we didn't see a whale here, only a seal.

We took out time getting ready to leave since we only had to travel about 150 miles to Bar Harbor. We found a convenient pull off right down the road to pull over and park to hook up the car. We were laughing about the time we were in Lancaster and were trying to find a place to hook up the car. We use walkie talkies to communicate when he's in the MH & I'm in the car. We kept talking about looking for a Walmart to "hook up". Anyone else with a walkie talkie would think we were doing something else beside hooking up the car to the MH. I'm surprised the police didn't meet us at the nearest Walmart. 

 We arrived at the the KOA CG in Bar Harbor. It was actually at the very beginning of the island, so we were away from  the traffic and touristy area which was in downtown Bar Harbor. It was also right on an inlet with great western views of the coast. The CG was pretty big and a little crowded for a holiday weekend. Lots of people walking dogs and lots of kids. The kitties didn't appreciate that at all.

We noticed in their brochure that they had Dakota the Lobster Dude at the CG. Right at the end of our row was the food truck with the Lobster Dude. It was a little red air stream trailer set up like a food truck. The had lobster dinners, lobster rolls, chicken salad, ice cream and items that you could eat there or take back to the MH to eat. We decided on lobster rolls and took them back to eat. It was a short day, but we were tired.

Lunch/dinner was delicious, but I think I've had my fill of lobster for a while.

The next morning we decided to head into Bar Harbor town area for the day. David wanted to have breakfast at Jeannies Great Maine Breakfast. We haven't been here in many years, but we do remember it being pretty busy. Well, it seems everyone else wanted breakfast at Jeannies too. We put our name on the list, and they had a fairly fast turn over. The breakfast was very good. After breakfast we decided to walk around the area a bit. It was packed with people. As it turns out Bar Harbor is a cruise ship destination and there was a ship in port. The side walks were so crowed you could hardly get through. We found a shop with really cheap T shirts ($5.00) and bought a couple for souvenirs.  There seemed to be nothing to look at, but people, people people, T shirt shops and jewelry stores. There was nothing here we wanted and it was not enjoyable at all.

  When we commented to the lady at the check out about how busy it was in Bar Harbor she looked at the ship schedule and said, "you're lucky, there's only 1 ship here today. There will be 2 tomorrow". We headed back to our car even though we had time left on our meter. Not a  fun place for us.

 After breakfast we decided a nice ride around the island would be good. The roads weren't the best, but it was nice riding through the forest areas and looking at all the trees, ferns, houses, and inlets.

 It was a beautiful drive and we even found a quilt/yarn shop. Their fabric was not great, but I did find some gray sock yarn that was nice.

 There were quaint little harbors all around the island and it was a nice ride after the tourists in Bar Harbor. We also found a Mardens just north of our CG. I see people raving about the quantity of fabric they have in their stores, Well, yes this Mardens had tons of fabric, but it was all crap fabric. You could tell just by looking at it. The colors were dull and the images not clear. Very poor quality, but they had tons and tons of it for $5.00 a yard. We did find a couple of kitty beds for the boys. Bentley has started riding on the dashboard of the MH, so we picked up a nice bed for him for $12.

 The next day we decided to go to Acadia National Park. We were here many years ago when Ryan was about 10 or 12 and we took a ferry from Bar Harbor over to Nova Scotia for a vacation.

 We went to  the visitors center for a map and info and then took a ride to Cadillac Mountain. Again, there were tons of tourists.

 The views were really spectacular and you could see the 2 cruse ships in port. They couldn't actually dock there, but would tend the tourists over to the port.

                                             It was a good visit and we went back to the CG early.

 I decided to take Nickie for a walk around the CG. When we were coming back we passed a lady and man sitting outside with their cat. The cat was just loose and not in a carrier or on a leash. The kitty came running over to say "Hello". He only wanted a pat on the head and he was good. The lady said he does this to all passer bys and will even jump on the KOA drivers golf cart for a nice head pat. They said there's no problem with him running away and he loves everyone except the little dogs on a leash which he chases out of there. He was a beautiful orange/brown short haired sweet kitty.

A nice CG, but a bit too busy for us.We appreciated the fact that it was away from most of the Bar Harbor traffic. Next up------Freeport, Maine

Lubec and Campobello

We had brought our passports along so that we could go to New Brunswich, Canada and visit FDR's summer home, Campobello. It was right across the bay, but we couldn't get there from Eastport. We would have to drive to Lubec to cross the International Bridge into Canada. It was about a 35 to 40 minute drive to Lubec on not so great roads.

                                      Customs into Canada was just on the other side of the bridge.

                                                         Pulling up to the customs window.

                         Campobello is a shared National Park between the USA and Canada. We saw a short film before going to the grounds. I had no idea that FDR's parents bought the property when FDR was a baby and that he spent many summers there sailing, swimming and enjoying the out doors. I knew that he did that, just never connected it to this place. This is where he was when he realized he had polio. He also spent summers here with Eleanor and his children.

The house and grounds here are beautiful. The house doesn't look all that large from the outside, but is quite a big house, although the rooms are small by today's standards.I believe the tour guide said 33 rooms. I took a LOT of pictures, too many to post on the blog, but these are a few.

        This was a large sitting room. Eleanor like to sit at this end near the fireplace with her knitting.

 The dining room was good size. They had a large family and there was a little side table on the left for 2 off to the side for the 2 boys that always acted up at the dinner table. The table is set with their simple everyday dinnerware.

 The tour guide has been giving tours here for 40 years and knew the Roosevelt children personally and knew a lot about the family and the house. He did a wonderful job giving us a tour and lots of information. The kitchen had 2 stoves, one wood which was used the most and a kerosene one that smelled up the house and wasn't used very much.

                                                 There was a small eat in kitchen area.

 This was a 3 story house with beautiful stairs and more that one set of stairs per floor.

                                                      A pretty roomy bathroom for the day.

                              One of the many bedrooms, They had a couple downstairs where FDR stayed when he had polio and many bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. They had guest rooms, the children's rooms and all of the servants had their own room upstairs. This was quite unusual in the day since most servants stayed in the attic or basement.

FDR like to lay on the chaise lounge and look out over the bay. I can't blame him for that one.

               You could look across the bay at Lubec and  Eastport and it was a terrific view.

      The back of the house had a large screened in porch and another open porch. What a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the view.

         The lawn had a gorgeous dahlia garden. These were the most perfect dahlias I have ever seen and each one was a different color.

 After visiting FDR's home we drove down to the end of the island which wasn't very long and it only took about 40 minutes. At the end of the island was the lighthouse we had seen from the lobster boat when we went on our little whale watching cruise. There was no fog today and the views and lighthouse were spectacular.

You could only access the lighthouse at low tide when you could reach the bottom of the stairs.

                                                            Lovely views and a perfect day.

 Afterward, we drove back to the other end of  the island in search of the other lighthouse which was right next to the International Bridge and facing Lubec.

      Back through the US Customs we went and in to the little town of Lubec.

            Lubec seemed even smaller than Eastport and they were having a Pirates Festival here too. When we stopped for lunch all the waitresses were dressed in Pirate garb and there were Pirate flags flying.

                                                    Not sure what kilts have to do with Pirates?????????

                                                     Love all the old buildings here.

  It looks like the town hardware store has had a face lift. Gotta have a hardware store.

                                           We saw the Lubec Brewing company, but it was a dud. Just a few locals sitting on sofa's chatting and a few bottles of beer in a cooler. Disappointing.

                                   On the way out of town we saw Monica's Chocolates. HUMMMMM. She has a unique story. Monica is from Peru and didn't speak English when she moved to Lubec, Maine with her husband. He subsequently passed away and so she had children to support. She began making chocolates to support herself and her family using recipes she had learned as a child in Peru. A true American success story.  Her chocolates are wonderful and she greeted us at the door with free samples of her bonbons. Yum. Of course we had to buy a couple for later.

                                                                   Monica's

Also, in town I ran across a knit shop with some gorgeous yarns.  These are my next 2 sets of socks to knit and something to do while we are riding. How perfect is that?

Next up ------Bar Harbor.