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2014 New England,Canada - Hyams

Created on: 07/27/16 09:34 AM Views: 1407 Replies: 1
2014 New England,Canada - Hyams
Posted Wednesday, July 27, 2016 09:34 AM

One of Shaq's shoes

Above - One of Shaq's shoes at HOF

For this post, I decided to show log from phone with summary following.

Tuesday 22nd  2016

Flew into Bradley International

Naismith Basketball HOF, Springfield MA

Brattleboro VT Welcome Center

Wednesday 23rd

Franconia Notch State Park

Flume Gorge

Old Man of the Mt

Cannon Mt

Tramway

Trails

Black bear

The Basin

Crawford Notch SP

Ridley Trail,Falls

Arethusa Trail,Falls, Highest in NH

Rain,Rain,Rain

         Drove to Augusta ME for lodging

Thursday 24th

Drove to St. Stephen, Canada

Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick, tide

Cape Enrage, Lighthouse

 

Friday 25th

Fundy National Park

Dickson Trail,Falls

Herring Cove,Grouse

Point Wolf Trail,Beach

Upper Salmon Trail to ford of river

St. John,Canada

Water Street, Lobster,Mussels

Walk

 

Saturday 26th

St Stephen Canada

Campobella Int. Park

Peregrine Falcon along road

Acadia NP

Schoodic Peninsula

Cadillac Mt, Gift Shop

Downtown walk,Hungry Whale Restaurant

Jordan Pond scouting

Sunday 27th

Acadia NP

27 mile park loop

Beaver Pond

Precipice Trailhead

Peregrine Falcon nesting

Sand Beach

Thunder Hole

Otter Cove

Jordan Pond area

Carriage Trail,Jordan

Somes Sound(fjord)

Eagle Lake carriage trail

Bar Island Trail,wet feet

Monday 28th

Whale Boat Tour cancelled,headed to Boston

Kennebunkport

Restaurant in Wells close to beach

Famous lighthouse at York

Stayed in Burlington

Lowell HNP,Boott Cotton

Minute Man Statue,Concord, neat

Minute Man Park

Tuesday 29th

Parked at Public Parking near Sheraton

Old Town Trolley

Fenway Park,no entry since night game

Harvard,MIT

Bridge,salt & pepper

Boston Commons, State St

Freedom Trail

Boston Tea Party  area

Harbor cruise

Faneuil Hall

North Bridge Church

Paul Revere House

US Constitution ship

Stayed at Weymouth-yuck

Plymouth MA, Rock

Cape Cod

Visitor Center

Beach?

Hyannis Port

Graigville Beach

Providence RI, driveby

Mystic Seaport

Meriden CT

 

Wednesday 30th

Flew out of Bradley

Summary

This was the New England tour with a side trip to Canada thrown in because I had never been in Canada.  We did the passport hassle but it was worth it and has come in handy.

After flying into the Bradley International Airport (I plan to never fly to Logan) we drove into MA where we stopped at the Basketball HOF.  We were looking to make use of the rest of the day.  We really enjoyed it then continued to the Welcome Center in Brattleboro VT.  We drove the rest of the way to White River Junction to our motel.   This is the only contact with VT so calling it a New England tour is stretching it.  I wish to note hat VT has lots of granite, but we saw little of it.

The next day was the White Mountain Experience.  I had always wanted to go to the top of Mt. Washington either driving or using the cog railway.  We drove to Franconia Notch(Pass) St. Park which is one of the most impressive state parks that we have seen.  After Flume Gorge(gorgeous) and Cannon Mt tramway (saw a black bear) the weather rolled it making it iffy for Mt. Washington.  We did not reserve a spot on the cog railway because it was not refundable.  Trying to beat the weather, we drove to Crawford Notch where we saw beautiful waterfalls until the heavy rain made every trail a waterfall.  We were disappointed but did see quite a bit of the White Mountains and granite in the Granite State of New Hampshire.  Will go back the first chance we get.

This was really the Acadia NP and Canada's Fundy NP trip but I told my wife that it was a New England trip.  From Augusta ME we drove through Bangor ME where we entered Canada at St. Stephen traveling on to Alma for access to Fundy NP.  Tip:  Each day on the Atlantic Coast, be sure to check the tide tables because what you see and can do very much depends on the tides.  The Bay of Fundy at Alma routinely had 30'+ tides leaving strange views of the ocean floor and beached boats.  Up Fundy Bay they have measured 50'+ tides.  I can't imagine that.  We toured our first Canadian NP, Fundy, seeing beautiful scenery such as waterfalls. Hopewell Rocks were impressive at low tide and Cape Enrage was nice but over-hyped.  Heading back to the US we stayed at St. John where were we gorged ourselves on lobster and mussels at a Water Street restaurant.  This was preplanned!

As we returned to the US through St Stephen we started down US1 (those who have been to Key West have been on the southern end of this highway) until we saw a Campobella Int. Park sign near Lubec which led us back into Canada.  Campobella is where President Roosevelt contracted polio.  It was an unplanned but very nice side trip.  Also we couldn't fit into our schedule a trail to the coast around Cutler ME where there is essentially no development along the granite shoreline.

After we returned to US1 we were finally headed to Acadia NP which comes in a few pieces such as Schoodic Pen. in the north, the Bar Harbor piece of Mt Desert Island and the Isle Au Haut to the south(we skipped the last one).  The peregrine falcon story:  About 45 miles from Schoodic Peninsula, we were headed south on US1.  I was driving when I saw a bird flying in the same direction about to pass me up. Lo and behold it was a peregrine falcon, a bird I had hoped to see ever since I found out about its reputation in 50's.  I had hoped to see it in the rocks at Acadia NP but there it was passing me up (I was going 60mph)  The road turned slightly right so I lost contact with the falcon as it seemed to be headed to Schoodic Pen.  So if I say 'as the peregrine flies' instead of 'as the crow flies' you will know why.

Bar Harbor was a quaint and interesting place.  We wanted to book a whale tour but waited because of a poor weather forecast.  The tour was cancelled later so we missed out on all boat tours.  We enjoyed the 27 mile park loop and especially Jordan Pond.  In order to see some features along the coast we should have checked the tide tables for high tide and not low tide.  The carriage trails around Jordan Pond were accessible and very interesting.  Cadillac Mt. and Frenchman Bay were neat.  We were limited in what we did by the rainy weather.  I wanted to try one of the top ten trails, Precipice, that Billl Holly had talked about.  It is a breeding ground for the peregrine falcons and is usually closed the first week of August.  When I saw it I was glad it was closed early.  We saw no circling falcons.  So my only lifetime sighting of a peregrine falcon is the along US1 where the last I saw was its behind.

One of Marilyn's colleagues is from ME.   She directed us to a restaurant in Wells ME where she once worked to get authentic ME seafood.  She also directed us to York to see one of the most photographed lighthouses(she called it lights) along the ME coast.

We then entered MA trying to get to Lowell MA before the historic park closed.  This is where the north took southern cotton to weave into clothing.  We barely got there in time but did see a lot.

Then we went to the Concord MA area to see the historic North Bridge and the Concord River which, by the way, goes through Lowell.  Then it was on to Boston the next day.  There is so much historic in Boston to see that I will not cover it.  I will instead lay the foundation for your touring of Boston.  First of all, find a place to park and leave your car while you use something like an Old Town Trolley to get around.  The guide told us that in Boston, stop signs, red lights, yields and other traffic signs were taken as 'suggestions' by Boston drivers.  I'll vouch for that.   I saw U-turns at will everywhere.  For our tour ticket we had a harbor tour.  Be sure to line up early so you can get a seat on the 'correct' side of the boat.  We were not on the best side so we saw little that the guide was pointing out.  I think the boat went counter-clockwise around the harbor so the ones on the right saw everything and the ones on the left saw next to nothing.  You will never see everything in Boston unless you stay for weeks.  One more comment:  I laughed when passengers on the trolley got off at Fenway, the State Capital and the Boston Commons but no one got off at the MIT, Harvard stop!!!

We enjoyed the Plymouth stop on the way to Cape Cod.  We had a hard time finding access to the beach at Cape Cod.

We saw some granite in MA.

On the way back to CT we drove through Providence RI without stopping so as to get to Mystic Seaport in CT.  I had been there before and wanted Marilyn to see it.  The boat I wanted to tour was out on a tour of its own so we missed that.  Should have checked its schedule.  There is also granite in CT.

So in conclusion, we probably tried to do too much but that seems to be in my DNA.

In that granite is prevalent in every state and province (New Brunswick Canada) I have decided to rename this as 'the Granite Tour'

 
Edited 07/28/16 08:09 AM
RE: 2014 New England,Canada - Hyams
Posted Thursday, September 15, 2016 11:17 AM

For national park visits Marilyn and I usually operate (in the food department) as follows.

Breakfast:  Usually stay at a hotel with continental breakfast as part of the room cost.

Lunch: We are usually deep in a national park down some trail so we pack a picnic lunch.

Supper/Diner:  This is where I have to take Marilyn to a nice restaurant to sample the local cuisine. For example, we had a stay at St. John NB (neat place) so we went down on Water Street where we took pot luck at Steamers Lobster (ranked about 16 for places to eat).  We were in the area where the cruise ships dock.  We decided to get the Lobster/Mussel dinner.  We really made a mess while eating there but the waitress assured us that if we were not making a mess, then we were not doing it right.  Accordingly we must have had an exceptional case of doing it right.

At Bar Harbor, we wanted to compare Maine lobster with Bay of Fundy lobster and to try crab cakes.  Do not remember the restaurant but think one could pick most any ones recommended and be OK.  I think the lobsters came from the same place - Bay of Fundy.

In Boston we picked an outdoor cafe in the harbor area.