Got up to another sunny day (which we brought with us!) Had really good continental breakfast with motel owners including 99 y.o. mother!
Decision made to re-enter Canada ASAP to avoid anymore US holiday lodging issues.
Traveled west on hwy 2 to Duluth MN. Hwy 53 north to border. Smoke gradually got worse the further north we went. Decided to stay in USA one more night because of better hotel choices.Read more
Got up to a hot muggy day (by our standards) in Sudbury. Served blueberry bagels & gallons of coffee by Claire. Two women discussed life and distilled it down to the fact that it could be much easier if everyone just listened to them!Started out at 1:00 PM. Late even by our standards!
Traveled west to Sault Ste Marie & crossed the bridgge into Michigan. Border guard was impressed with LFL's comprehensive list of potential items to declare, but decided to ask us instead!
Started west on route 28 hoping to stop in Marquette, Mi for the night. Didn't realize every hotel/motel on south shore booked up solid for July 4th weekend! Kept heading west stopping at every blink town, but no vacancies until found a Ma & Pa motel in Ironwood Mi. They took pity on us and we got the last room at 1:00 AM!
Hot & muggy in Vaudreuil, 31 deg C already in AM. Left for Sudbury, On via hwy 40 & 17. Lots of road construction! Kind of embarrassing having a two lane highway with stoplights in the middle of nowhere as the Trans-Canada highway! Shows that if you don't live in the lower (golden) triangle, you don't count!
Stopped at Claire's house with her, Paulette & Andre. BBQ'd burgers, beer and a swimming pool! Sweet!
1. Sani sewer sucker truck on the highway to Sudbury. Tried photographing the printed message on the back of the tank (sun was against us) which says, "Caution. May contain political promises!"
2. Claire's backyard pool,
3. Backyard gazebo
4. Marie International Bridge between the two Sault Ste. Marie's.
5. Taking a breather between gossips!
Got up to a hot sunny day in Bidderford Maine. Had a seniors breakfast and wasted an entire hour finding Starbucks and a Walmart for supplies. Set out running against the July 4 traffic coming in for the US holiday!
Came back up to Canada following the old nostalgia route 302 that the Heaney, Jones and Rose families followed for decades. Stopped at a metal museum in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Museum was closed but the exhibits that were outside (photos below) were stunning! Made from pieces of mostly scrap cars, they were meticulously welded together, then laquered.
Stopped in Eastman, QC and had supper in a biker bar. I had traditional Quebec meal: Smoked meat sandwich & greasy fries with a deep fried pickle! My dietician will having blood pressure issues of her own!
Made it to Vaudreuil, QC for the night.
582 kms.Read more
Got up in downtown Portland, Me this morning with sunshine and 27 deg C! Finally, summer has arrived. Everyone here says that there was no spring this year in the east. It went from snow & miserable to wet & miserable.
Toured south down to Biddeford Pool. Had lunch at outdoor restaurant overlooking 'The Pool'. Met a couple from Massachusetts and struck up a coversation. Their son plays hockey, and has a premonition that he has some Canadian blood in him somewhere! He celebrated Canada Day yesterday (in Maine). We gave him a Toonie to take home.
1. Panoramic photo of Biddeford Pool basin during receding tide.
2. 'Air mail' bird house in front of cottage there.
3. Cottage that we rented in Biddeford Pool +/- 20 years ago for our family vacation with Mom & Dad, Bronwyne & the boys.
4. Back of restaurant in Biddeford Pool.
5. Local boat running agaist ebb tide exiting 'The Pool'
6. Theatre seats in local movie theatre where we watched latest Spiderman movie. Full meals and drinks delivered to your seats!
Got up to rainy cold morning in Quispamsis, NB. 14 deg C! Windy as hell! Spring hasn't started yet in the maritimes according to all the locals there!
Traveled from St. John NB to Scarborough Me. Toured around Higgins Beach where we (I) used to vacation as kids. Mom went to Old Orchard beach when young.
Stayed at the 'Press' hotel in downtown Portland. Used to be the local newspaper press building.
516 kms.
1. Small town custom body shop somewhere in a blinktown in northern Maine. Willys car dressed up.
2. Blues Brothers caricatures on front of body shop.
3. Typewriter cases decorating lobby of 'The Press' hotel downtown Portland, Me.
4. Carpet with letters sewn into it in the hotel halls.
5. Who da thunk that silver objet d'art is actually the toilet flush controls!Read more
Hell night on the ferry! Somebody didn't sleep because of snoring, and the other because he kept getting woken up by somebody else yelling at him! Had shower and searched ferry kitchens for coffee...lots of coffee!
Disembarked in Sidney NS in pouring rain. Had a few false starts getting out of Syney going south. Ears must have still been ringing from the night abuse!
Rained hard and softly the whole day. Nothing to see with dense fog and low cloud deck. Started south & west on hwy #4.
Stopped in Truro NS to visit old high school & college buddy & his wife. Pete & Ann Havard. Both looked great after 45 years!
Continued on and stopped for night just outside St. John NB.
641 kms.
No pictures taken today because nothing visible worth taking!Read more
Got up this morning to the best breakfast on the trip so far at the B&B we stayed at. A nourishing bowl of Fruit Loops & 4 hr old coffee stewing in the urn....Perfect! Girl working the front desk is named 'Paxton'! Grandma struck up a conversation with the staff lady whose daughter was having a baby soon. Proudly told her about all her grandchildren, and the she fell in love with 'Fenix's' name. She said if it happens to be a girl, she was going to pass on the name Fenix. Might be worth a return trip in a couple of years to see if there's a namesake in Angel's Cove, NL! Lady staying across the hall from us was born in Grande Prairie. Travelling across the country she has spent a month and half in Newfoundland alone
Another early start to the day...11:00 AM....Sigh!
Drove back up the coast to Placentia. Would be perfect for a motorcycle except for the potholes that could swallow a semi!
Walked the boardwalk in Placentia Bay and watched Grandma shop!
Loaded aboard the ferry 'Atlantic Vision'. This time we weren't loaded into the bowels of the ship, but actually drove up & parked above the waterline!
Success!! The wait list paid off for a stateroom cabin! Expensive, but worth it! I have a chance of living a longer life! As Brent put it, "A happy Grandma = A happy ferry!"
40 kms
1. Painted rock beside boardwalk in Placentia.
2. Placentia Bay looking across the 'Gut'.
3. Real 'Mater' tow truck side view in Placentia
4. Front view.
5. Construction of the concrete base on the Husky White Rose drilling platform just beside Argentia.
6. The 'Newfie Bullet'. Sign painted on a handicap trike
7. Roadside figurines on side of road between Placentia and St. Bride'sRead more
Last full day on the `The Rock'! Had brunch with Derrick & Sharon Cove at their house in Maddox Bay. Cozy house he has retired to. Big project finishing the basement, but he has nothing but time now.
Made a side trip to Cape Spear. The farthest eastern piece of land in north america. Weather was cold, rainy & foggy. Next stop going east is England!
Traveled across the width of the Avalon Peninsula from St. John's to next ferry stop in Argentia. Weather turned warmer and sunny. No rooms available in Placentia or surroundings. Sounds like big projects from oil giants including Husky Oil going on. Continued down the3 bay to St. Brides and got the last room in a bed & breakfast inn (CapeWay Inn). Spotlessly clean & comfortable with laundry so my wife can provide her husband with clean clothes!
244 kms
1. Weather against us at Cape Spear national park. There's a lighthouse in the background if you look closely through the fog.
2. View due east from the park
3. View northeast from farthest landpoint
4. Same as above
5. Actual tow truck in Placentia Bay!
6. Sitting around the campfire on the bay has new meaning!
7. Derrick, Sharon & me on the deck of his house overlooking Maddox Bay.
8. Iceburg floating past Maddox Bay in front of Derricks house. Wonder why it's cold wet & foggy!
9. CapeWay Inn B&B in St. Bride's NL
10. "Da Birds Eye" restaurant in St. BrideRead more
This is being recorded after one ceasar, two 22 oz ales & a 12 y.o. old scotch! Thank you for spell check! Traveled from Grand Falls-Windsor to St. John's. Stopped at the Air museum in Gander NL. Very interesting displays. Enjoyed the displays of the 9-11 landings of the civilian and military aircraft that had to land there. Found the displays of WW2 items especially poignant because of Dad's service there during the war.
430 kms
1. Actual V-12 Merlin engine that powered so many allied aircraft during WW2. Same engine in the Hawker Hurricane that Dad flew on his missions on coastal patrol.
2. Description plaque (they forgot the DeHavlland Mosquito!)
3. Actual DeHavilland Tiger Moth trainer. Same airplane that Dad learned to fly in.
4. Piece of one of the twin towers donated to the museum by the Gander city of New York for thank you for their service.
5. Plaque description of the tower piece.
6. Picture of the 38 aircraft landed in Gander NL 9-11.
7. 'Mo' the Moose in Goobies NL.
8. I think he's a male!
9. LFL needs more wine!Read more
June 29, 2019, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
