Quick Trip

Currently in Wales, MA;  Next stop: Holtwood, PA

Acadia is like no place I have ever been before.  The combination of mountains, water, islands, rocks and foliage was extraordinary.  I chose a few photos to share, but if you're really interested, there are much better ones on the internet.

We hiked along the Ocean Path.  Pink rocks!

Several people put chairs on the rocks and in the overlooks to "read with a view".   If I would have know this was a thing, Johnny and I would have brought our camp chairs.  Look how blue that water is!

We drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain.  Although most people go to watch the sunrise, the sunset was pretty cool too.

Bar Harbor was the stop for the evening.  A very happening place.  We enjoyed the Full Lobster Experience (bibs and all) at Stewman's Lobster Pound.

The next day we did a morning hike around Jordon's Pond.  These were the best fall colors we had seen at this point.

We followed up with a short hike to see the Bubble Rock.  Another good view.

Johnny struck up a conversation with a National Park volunteer.  Laurie and her husband are full time RVers and have volunteered at several National Parks over the last 4 years.  In exchange for their time, the National Parks provides an RV spot with full hook ups.  Interesting story.

She also told us that Acadia has had very warm weather this year.  It was 80 until just a week ago and therefore the trees just started to change color a few days ago.  And it's going fast!  Once a tree gets red leaves, the leaves are off the next day.   The colors are not as vibrant as usual either.
Although we didn't see the change of color we were hoping for, we have had just perfect weather in Maine and thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

We took the backroads back to Portland and drove threw several small seaside towns.  Belfast, Camden, Rockland, Wiscasset.  We could see fishing boats in a small harbor in addition to restaurants and shopping along the shore.   Each one had it's own character, but was also very New England.  Great memory.

Sail on Ye Stately Ships

Next Stops:  Wales, MA and Holtwood, PA

You will all be happy to know that we received our first Downers Grove mail package sent by Kevin Keefe (thank you, Kevin).  I honestly didn't think it was going to work given the number of USPS people I spoke with in figuring it out.  But they came through for me!!!!

Once the rain stopped yesterday we were able to see some of Portland with our tour guide, nephew Kevin Sloan.
Casco Bay is absolutely stunning.  We saw this view from the East Promenade:

A park bench just for him...

We moved on to the Old Port - a quaint area of shops, bars and restaurants.  After a great dinner at Gilbert's Chowder House, we stopped at Portland Lobster Company for a little live music.  It was a Grateful Dead cover band, so interesting people watching.

Today we decided to take a self guided lighthouse tour.  Kevin was able to join us! All 6 lighthouses are within 20 minutes of Portland; pictures of 5 of them below.

This is one of the Two Lights and was built in 1828.  It currently resides on private property.  I couldn't get a good shot of the twin, but we did see it in the far distance.

The above lighthouse is the Ram Island Light. It was built in 1905 and operational until 2008 when it was purchased by a private individual charged with the upkeep.

This famous Portland Head Light is Maine's oldest and is still operational.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow sat here and was inspired to write the poem The Lighthouse  - noted in the title of this post.

The Spring Point Ledge Light is located in South Portland and was built in 1897.

Finally, this is Portland Breakwater Lighthouse, nick named "Bug Light" due to its small size.  It was built in 1875 and is now the symbol of South Portland.

Another lovely fall day in New England!

Made it to Maine

Next Stops:  Wales, MA and Holtwood, PA

We made it to Portland, ME on Thursday 9/28 and immediately met up wit Johnny's nephew Kevin Sloan who has recently started working here.

Cate recommended that we spend some time in Portsmouth, NH so we met our old friend MJ Hotaling, wife of my Inland Steel buddy PFH,  for lunch there.  What a treat!

 We walked around this quintessential New England town for most of the afternoon.  After we toured the downtown a bit we walked toward the waterfront.

It was a perfect fall day.

We drove through Kennebunkport on the way back to the RV campsite to see how the other half lives.  I tried to take a couple of pictures but there were so many people I couldn't get a good shot.  There is a beautiful harbor that was full of sailboats and the homes were gorgeous.

Hot Vermont!

Next Stops: Portland, ME (we are there now), Massachusetts, outside Philly

Vermont experienced some cooler weather earlier in the month, but by late September it was back to summer, like other parts of the country.  One resident told us they hadn't experienced this type of heat in late September in the Manchester area since 1937.  Unfortunately, the weather slowed the process of leaves changing color. Lots of trees are still green, but also still beautiful.
So the Keefes sally forth!
Our first night we went to Ye Olde Tavern that dates back to 1790.  It had many lives as various hotels, but was fully restored in 1976 and opened as a restaurant.  As you can see, the outside was really cool, including the coach house in the back.  I didn't take any photos of the inside (people were eating for goodness sake), but there were many small rooms, creaky wood floors and some original artwork.  The atmosphere was definitely Colonial America. And the food was good!

The following morning we opted for an early morning hike to the Lye Brook Falls in the Green Mountains.  4.6 miles round trip.  This was no nature walk, people.  This was a real hike.  Gorgeous.

We climbed on and over rocks and crossed a couple of streams.

This photo reminds me of the Avenue at Saint Mary's College.

We finally made it to the Falls.  Worth every step.

I loved the way the sun hit the forest here.

It has been 4 days and we are still recovering from this one!  The Hiking Girls would be so proud.

The following day we went to Hildene, the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln (Abe's son).  It reignited my childhood interest in our 16th President and his family.  The last direct decedent passed away in 1975, so the community of Manchester VT has taken over fundraising and management of the huge property which includes the home, gardens, and a small working farm with 12 miles of trails.  Quite impressive!  I loved the gardens.

Robert Todd Lincoln was President of the Pullman company so there is a restored Pullman car on the property.

 I thought the stained glass was particularly breathtaking.

Off one of the trails, but not part of the grounds, is a stone silo that predates Vermont as a state.  Old stuff is cool cause it's old.

After we finished touring Hildene, we took the Jeep to the top of Mount Equinox to get a 200 mile view.  Johnny snapped this photo.  I can't get over Nature.

So, a bit disappointed that we didn't see more evidence of Autumn but still awestruck at the wonder of our country.

Full Disclosure

Leaving for Portland, ME tomorrow!

Are you thinking that Johnny and I are just having fun all the time?  Well, let me give you some insight into the not-so-glamorous and some of the challenging things from the road.

1.  Truck Stops - we have to get in line with all the 18 wheelers to fill our motorhome with diesel fuel.  They don't appreciate us being there and are not afraid to show or tell us!
2.  Sitting in a camp shower in Chautauqua, NY waiting for Garnier 63.5 (light golden brown) to work its magic on my gray roots.
3.  Coordinating with 3 suppliers (Directv, Winnebago and the antenna manufacturer) to figure out why we can't get our satellite receivers to work.  We are missing our sports! We can get over the air antenna in bigger cities, but not the Bears games.  Yet.
4.  Our inverter is not charging our coach batteries correctly.  Most things run on electric, but the lights run on coach batteries so we turn them on as little as possible.  While this might sound romantic to some, when you already can't see well, it's just a pain.  Hope to resolve this in Portland.
5.  The Boston area is very popular for RV parks over the Columbus Day weekend.  We can't find any place to stay Saturday night that's on our route.  We are going to wing it - part of the adventure, right?

All in all, these things are pretty minor.   I love what we're doing and we are having a blast - I feel very blessed.  But I want to share some of the craziness too.  Part of the journey is figuring all of this out!

More pictures in the next post!

RV folk

NEXT STOPS: In Vermont now, Portland, ME;  Wales, MA (SW of Boston)  and Holtwood, PA (W of Philly)

So we've heard that people who RV are very nice and helpful - and we have found that to be true.  We met Mike and Marcia McNamara at an RV park in  Sylvan Lake, NY.  They told us about a boat race on Saturday morning in that little town.  We decided to check it out and saw this:

There are hundreds of speed boats racing to various points on Oneida Lake.  They eventually all meet back at the starting point and party together.  It was a neat little beach community event.

That night  Mike invited us to a campfire at their spot.  We told stories, shared a cocktail or two and laughed a lot.  While Mike was setting the fire up, Johnny told him about our challenge to build a fire at Camp Chautauqua - we just didn't have enough kindling.  I finally went into the woods there to collect enough little sticks to get it going.  It turned out to be a beautiful fire.

The next morning when we came out of our RV, Mike and Marcia were gone, but Mike left a bag of all of his leftover kindling for us.  We couldn't even thank them!

We took off for Syracuse to do the Canal Walk in downtown Syracuse.  It starts at Armory Square, a revitalized part of Syracuse that has an artsy feel.  We learned about the history of this manufacturing city and how it, like so many places, has had to reinvent itself.  There were several cool old buildings and bridges.  These bridges were among my favorites (left side of photo).

The day continued by watching the Bears pull it out in OT over the Steelers.  Bear Down!

Every girl's dream

NEXT STOPS: Dorset, VT and Portland, ME

We packed up the camper and moved on to Oneida Lake just outside of Syracuse on Thursday.  We're moving East quickly as we are trying to get to Maine by early October.

Isn't it every girl's dream to spend a wedding anniversary at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown?  Well, it was mine!
Many of you know that Johnny has played baseball for the DuPage Plowboys for several years.  They follow the antebellum rules.  So he was particularly interested in the history of baseball in America - the players, the equipment, and the leagues that developed.   We saw a glove that looked like the one my dad used for the many years he played baseball.

I enjoyed the exhibition on women's leagues unknown until the movie "A League of Their Own".

As we moved onto the Hall of Fame Gallery, we realized where Johnny's baseball skills came from!

In case you were worried that the celebration ended there, we did have a pre-dinner toast.

And onto a years long dream of ours: dinner at the original Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse New York.  It was every bit as good as we had imagined, although we need more practice at selfies!