Nova Scotia Day 4

Left Calais, Maine headed for the Canadian border around 9:00 this morning. The AC was working great! a cool 63 degrees.  No trouble getting through customs so the vacation officially began.  The first thing Jim looked for was the speed limit sign.  To his delight it was 110!!!!  He set the cruise control and off we went.  Okay Mother-in-Law, start breathing again, it was 110 kilometers (68 mph).  Just had to have a little fun.  The first stop was St. John, New Brunswick

Here we are at the Visitor's Center. 

This is a view of the Bay of Fundy, home of the highest tide in the world. The St. John river is actually reverses during the high tide.

Next stop Nova Scotia!. The first trail we decided to take is called the Glooscap Trail.  It is named for the native people of this area. By this  time we were running on empty and stopped to fill up Old Red with more go juice.  Gas in Canada is between $1.21 and $1.35 per litre. Good thing we have smart phones on board because we wanted to know what that was per gallon.  Ok, I won't keep you guessing, it is $4.69 per gallon and we complain about $3.60???

Here is Jim and the Bay of Fundy Wing

These pictures show how low the tide gets.  Can't vouch for the movie above, the button turned on me without my knowledge or consent.  It just looked like a picture on the camera.  The boats can only come and go during high tide. Guess they have to be on time or they will be stranded.

Took what was listed as the coastal road to our hotel, only saw the water a few times but that was okay because it was a pretty curvie road.

Nova Scotia Day 2 & 3

Day 2

After yesterday's heat be got up at 5:30 and was on the road by 7:00.  The cool air didn't last long, it was short sleeves and suncreen by 9:30.  We rode for 12 hours and around 750 miles.  We ended the day north of Boston in the town of Haverhill, MA.  We had a good dinner and went straight to bed.

Day 3

Yesterday about wore us out so we slept until 6:00 this morning and had a leisure breakfast. Got on the road around 9:00 and was on the lookout for a Wal-Mart. ( I left the cable for the camara hooked up to the computer at home) Found a Target and Best Buy, no cable so a card reader will have to do. We left the interstate in Bangor, Maine and rode through the mountains. Absolutely perfect weather with a temp of 81 all day, no clouds that I could see and black tail deer everywhere.  Stopped early in Calais, ME to rest up for the remainder of the trip.  We will post pics tomorrow if we have internet.

Nova Scotia

Day One

Goldwing filled with gas---check.

Trailer loaded with everything except the kitchen sink---check

Ipod with 6000 + tunes---check

Cup holders loaded with ice water---check

AC set to 70--- Not until we reach Canada!!!

We pulled out of Red Bank at 1:00 Friday afternoon with the AC setting in the mid 90's. It is funny how the AC on a motorcycle uses the same thermostat as the air. We made really good time until about 30 miles outside of Roanoke, VA. We hit road construction for about 10 miles. We started looking for a place to stop when we hit he 400 mile mark. Lexington looked promising for hotels and restaurants so we took the exit only to find out we had to go 3 miles from the freeway to the town. After unexpectedly riding through the campus of VMI (Virginia Military Institute) we finally found a place to call home for the night. Tired, hot, and hungry, we walked next door to Applebees looking forward to a nice dinner in a cool restaurant but as luck would have it, the AC was broken!! Oh well, at least we had a nice dinner.  Planning on getting out early tomorrow to beat some of the heat.  Hopefully we will have pictures in a day or so.  Check back often.

Day 3 The White House

Liz made arrangements to get tickets to the White House for the 10:30 tour. We were given a list of do's and don'ts. We were to be there about 30 minutes early with nothing but our ID and a cell phone that was turned off.  No cameras, purses backpacks' NOTHING!!!!  Because there was no place to leave our belongings, Liz insisted that Tanner and I go in while she held the backpacks.  It is a self guided tour so they allowed us to go in early.  We had barely gotten inside when two Secret Service Agents walked by with none other than the First Dog, Bo.  Tanner was so thrilled!!!!!!!  During the tour, we overheard the security guards talking about something going on but we didn't think too much about it until we got outside .  There we were met with barracades' police cars, and a multitude of other agencies.  We were to meet Liz in the park across from the White House but it had been evacuted.  Luckily we had cell phones and met in the gift shop up the street.  While there we found out that a suspicious package had been left at the Embassy across the street from the White House.  Later that morning, Liz received a call from the congressman's office saying they were sorry our tour had been cancelled and that it had been rescheduled for the next morning at 7:30 a.m. 

   

Day 2 continues

Next stop the Capitol. Liz made the arrangements through the Texas Congressman Ralph Hall. We had our picture made with him and two members of his staff took us on a tour.


 

The human bridge, Tanner.

Just had to take a picture of my favorite food, Chocolate, in it's raw form of course.

Next stop, the National Botanic Garden! All I can say is Beautiful!!! i will show you a few examples if the interent cooperates.

While at the museum, we went to the resturant to sample food from the different regions. I of course has a fry bread taco with buffalo chili. To our great surprise, a group of young adults came in and there was Travis!!. He is attending a leadership conference at the American College. I just had to have my picture taken with him.

I was a little disapponted about the amount of information on the Cherokees. The exhibit contained information about Sequoyah and had a few artifacts but not much on the Trail of Tear

Gold! Gold! So this is what the white man white man saw and decided they had to have it. The Indians were just using what they had to create their accesories.

Okay, here's the scoop. We didn't get back to the hotel last night until around 9:30 and my battery in the camera was completely dead. I had to charge it a little in order to download the pics. Then the internet wasn't being kind so I decided to wait until this morning to finish the post. Well as you can see it didn't like being put on hold so it wouldn't let me add anything to it so here we are, day 2 continued. Here is my little Indian nephew Tanner in front of a whaling boat used by the Northwest Coast Indians.

Day 2 Washington D.C.

OK so the pictures are out of order. Here I am at the Department of Education and the one below is Liz and Tanner at the American Indian Museum.

The first day of sight seeing began this morning around 9:15. We purchased tickets for the Metro, which is the subway system for D.C. While walking to the National Mueum of the American Indian, I decide to stop in at the Department of Education. I figured they needed my input to straighten out the No Teacher Left Standing Act.

Washington D.C.

The Washington D.C. adventure began at 7:00 a.m. on June 20. With 2 Garmins and a set of written directions, Liz, Tanner, and I left Chattanooga. Nick (Nuvi) and Sally (Zumo) seemed to hit it off just fine with Nick calling out directions in a loud, forceful voice and Sally being very quite but just as bossy. We rolled along just fine until we reached Knoxville, then the honeymoon was over. Nick said to continue on I-40 and Sally wanted us to take US11. Since Sally had recently had her maps updated, we chose to follow her. Unfortunately, the road led us in a circle and Sally was dismissed in favor of the forceful Nick. A few hours later Nick decided to take a nap and was confused when he awoke. That meant only one thing, back to the written directions. We arrived right on time. We went by The American University where Travis is attending a leadership conference and then on the the Hyatt Hotel which is located directly over the Metro. Tomorrow will be a busy day so off to bed we go. Tune in tomorrow for pics of the American Indian Museum and the Capitol.

Last wedding cake

I made this cake for a dear friend's 50th Wedding Anniversary .

Day 8 White Mts. in New Hampshire

View of Rangeley lakes on the way to the White Mts.

Coos Canyon. Can you say cold water??

 Sign posted at Coos Canyon.  This is a favorite of the local ATV club.

I'd hate to see the old one.

Fianlly a covered bridge.  This one was built in 1872.  Another person at the bridge told us that this bridge was one of the most photographed covered bridges in Maine.

Glad Daisy isn't a one room school house.

Another covered bridge, and yes, that is "covered bridge wing" you see.

Day 7 Rangeley, ME

Where is Rangeley, ME ??  Here's your sign.

A view of the small town of Rangeley, signs for ATV parking all over.

We stayed at the Rangeley Inn which was built in 1907.  The following pictures

show some of the original furnishings and decor.

The temperature today was a cool 64 - 66.  The morning temp is expected to be in the

low 50's  Glad I brought some warm clothes.

Day 6 Acadia and Beals Island

Acadia Wing

Picture from the summit of Cadallic Mt.  It was a little hazy but still a beautiful day.

The temperture today went from 75 to 81 then dropped to 66. Reminded me of the

Oregan Coast. 

Everywhere you looked you saw lobster boats

or sail boats.

We weren't exactly dressed for the beach.

Islands to the left, islands to the right. 

Lobster boats mean lobster rolls.  We enjoyed fresh lobster rolls

on Beals Island.

This is the walker hound that belongs to the owner of the roadside stand on Beals Island.

She reminded us of our beagles so we just had to get a pic. 

Day 5 Maine

For anyone who didn't know, Jim's Dad was a Captain in the Merchant Marines

so he is very interested in ships.  We spent the day at a martime museum

in Bath, Maine.  This is a picture of a wooden fishing vessel built in 1942.

The volunteers on the ship asked where we were from because they couldn't read my shirt.

I told them it was written in Cherokee so they didn't think I was a terroist anymore.

You can't get lobster any fresher than this.  We are staying in an American owned motel 7 mi. from

Acadia National Park and the owner suggested eating at his neighbor's house.  He is a lobster

fisherman during the day and he sells them at night.  We also had fresh clams.  No butter needed

for any of this.

Jim just removed the tail and really ticked off this lobster!!

Now for the lobster's revenge!!

Dessert!  Fresh Wild Maine Blueberries.  These are so sweet we can't stop eating them.