TravelStream™ news feed for member cincy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/cincy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:50:46 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251942445/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251942445/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251942445/tpod.html Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:50:46 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Bar Harbor, Maine, United States

Wednesday, September 2, 2009, and we are finally at our destination of Bar Harbor, ME – gateway to the Acadia National Park system.Today we left St. Andrews about 10:00 a.m. We had a light breakfast, and headed out south east to the US town Lubec, ME.  Lubec, the most north eastern town of the US, has a bridge going to Campobello Island, a Canadian island housing what was the summer home of Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) and his family.FDR's parents bought the beautiful retreat when FDR was a child.  FDR fished and golfed on the island as a boy.  Due to his passion for golf, he built and designed a golf course there, which still is a working club.  He brought his wife, Eleanor and his five children there quite often.  He would sail on ships to access the island (there was no bridge at the time).  He even came to Campobello on a war ship at one time.  It was on Campobello that he developed polio.  He was very interested in politics as history shows, and was President of the US for 12 years and 40 days.  After being stricken he only visited Campobello three times, since he was too busy with his presidency to go on extended vacations.We toured his home, which was really quite beautiful overlooking the bay.  The house had been sold to Armand Hammer (former President and CEO of Occidental Petroleum), but was gifted back to the US/Canadians as an historical house that would be open to the public free of charge.  The furnishings were all authentic to the Roosevelt’s, save for four pieces of furniture.  We were all quite impressed with the house, and understood how they had come to love the Campobello Island.We had lunch across the road at the Lupine Inn and Lodge.  The food was quite good, and recommend it if you’re ever in the neighborhood.  It was now time to take the ten mile car trip down to the end of the island.  At the end was their lighthouse that we had seen on our whaling trip.  At this point is where we had seen the whales.  Not to anyone’s surprise, they were still there with their tell tale sign of a water spout in the water, followed by their large bodies breeching within our sights.  It was such an amazing sight to see, and we were all happy to catch a glimpse of them again before leaving Canada.It was now time to return to the US pass the border patrol.  The guards there were quite amazed that we didn’t have too much in the way to declare, but let us go over without incident.  We had about a two hour trip to Bar Harbor, and were a little tired after the day so far.  We arrived about 5:30 p.m., checked in and decided to go downtown to find a restaurant for dinner.  We finally decided on a dock-side location on the wharf called Stewman’s Lobster Pound.  Three of us had hamburgers (they missed them on our trip) and crab and fish sandwiches for the remainder of us.  It is now time to retire to the Bar Harbor Motel to rest up for tomorrow’s activity of touring Acadia National Park.Good night from Maine, home of great lobster and Acadia National Park!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251849838/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251849838/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251849838/tpod.html Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:05:38 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada

Tuesday, September 1st is almost over, as we sit in our cottage writing our last travel blog from St. Andrews, Canada. Tomorrow we will travel back to the US eventually ending our drive in Bar Harbor, Maine.                    Our day started out leisurely, not rushing and getting ready at our own pace.  The only scheduled event was to take a whale boat tour at 2:00 p.m., so we weren't in a hurry.  We stopped at a local coffee shop for breakfast, a trip for a few groceries, and arrived back in the cottage to rest up for our whale watch.We were instructed to arrive at the harbor at 1:15 p.m. in preparation for our tour.  About 1:45 p.m. we boarded our boat called the Island Quest.  We had about 32 passengers, on a medium size boat.  Our boat pilot was Captain Chris, and the two mates were Andrew and Alana.  Captain Chris said we would sail out into the sea for about 30-45 minutes before any sightings.  We cruised by a large rock full of harbor seals basking in the sun shine on our way to what was hoped a sea full of whales.  We weren’t disappointed.  The crew sighted a pod of fin whales.  We also saw humpback whales, and a huge North Atlantic Right whale which was (Capt. Chris told us) unusual for the Bay of Fundy.  We stayed out in the area for about an hour floating and touring this area for other whales.  We all agreed we got our monies’ worth for the whale tour, and it was well worth our time.After the boat tour, it was the dinner hour and someone recommended a restaurant in the area.  We arrived to the chefs standing outside waiting for service on their stove, so we walked to a pizza place down the street.  We were not disappointed.  The food was great and especially the ice cream parlor across the street for dessert.We all boarded back into the van for a trip back to the cottage for the evening.  The tide is very low, but is slowing making its way back to its higher tide level by night fall.  We are headed to Lubec, ME tomorrow where we hope to take a bridge to Campobello Island, a summer home that FDR traveled to as a child/adult.  It is there that he was stricken with polio.  After this trip we will make our way back to Bar Harbor, ME for the evening.Oh Canada we loved you, and we will make our way back to the good old USA!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251681133/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251681133/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251681133/tpod.html Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:22:34 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

It is Sunday evening, August 30, 2009. We were too tired to write anything last night, so we had a "skip" day.  There wasn't a lot that we did on Saturday.  We did rise early, and took a scenic drive along the North Coastal Highway.  It was scenic, but there was not much to speak of as far as highlights were concerned.Some in the group did a little wash at the corner Laundromat.  We had seen an advertisement for an Italian restaurant not far from where we were staying called Rachel’s.  We all agreed that we had had better Italian fare at other places, and we were not impressed.  It had been raining all day.  I think it was because of Hurricane Danny.  It rained harder than I have ever heard it rain in my life.  I heard from someone in Halifax that they got a total of five inches.  I was a little apprehensive because the Gulf of St. Lawrence was within eye shot, and I wasn’t sure if it would flood and send us all into the gulf.  Upon waking someone noticed the tree outside our cottage had fallen on the deck.  So our day began once again at the local Tim Horton’s for coffee and bakery fare.  It was misting and dismal outside.  We began the trip to New Brunswick, but we had to take the Confederation Bridge, a toll bridge.  They make you pay as you leave the island, and not for coming into PEI.  We stopped for lunch in Alma, NB at The Tide Restaurant.  We had a good meal, and it had a nice picturesque setting.  We then proceeded to our stop at the Bay of Fundy to see the Hopewell Rocks.  It is a series of rocks on the floor of the Bay of Fundy resembling Flower Pots when the tide goes out each day around 3:00 p.m.  We walked down about a 1.5 miles of trails leading to the floor of the sea.  It was pretty interesting, and we took some pictures there.  We were then on our way to Saint Johns, a port city which ranks as New Brunswick’s largest city, its major port, and its principal industrial center.  It is also Canada’s largest city in terms of area, and is perched on steep hills.  The setting is said to be among Atlantic Canada’s most unusual.  We arrived at our accommodations called Homeport, a historic B&B with approximately 10 rooms.  This historic home sits on a hill with a view of the Bay of Fundy.  It was built in 1856 and is really two houses that were combined into one.  It is really interesting, and we can’t wait for the homemade breakfast in the morning.We received a recommendation from our host of several places to eat dinner.  We chose one on Market Square, a hot spot of dining places and the New Brunswick University.  It was called “Billy’s Seafood.”  We really liked the seafood there, and recommend it highly.Well it’s getting late, and we will be on our way to St. Andrews-by-the-Sea tomorrow for two days of sight seeing and hopefully a whale watching tour.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251811469/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251811469/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251811469/tpod.html Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:27:57 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada

Hello our virtual travel friends. It’s Monday, August 31, 2009, and we are here in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, New Brunswick. We arrived early this a.m. after a full breakfast at our B&B, the Homeport. We were told the breakfast was from 8:00-9:00 a.m., and since we do not miss a meal, we were there promptly before the appointed time.We were served a combination of muffins, scones, fresh fruit, yogurt, and an assortment of breakfast drinks. For a hot entrée we were served French toast with blueberries, ham, and melon.We all climbed into the van for a short trip to St. Andrews (approximately 1 ¼ hour). We arrived and decided to check out the information center to get the needed information for our two day stay. We want to take a whale trip, so we gathered the information and headed to the dock to check them out. Nancy wants to take the most adventurous boat, which lacked sides to the boat and you had to wear these bright orange floating suits. Of course Dee did not want to wear that "orange" suit, and felt that she was too old for such an adventurous outing. So we settled on the medium size boat, and a captain who has many years of experience with those dangerous whales. So tomorrow we will be leaving for our whale watching trip about 2:00 p.m. We were told there are many whales, dolphins, seals and birds (Ady is afraid of birds, just like her niece Jessica, so hopefully we don’t encounter any of them).We then took a stroll down Water St., which has many shops to explore. It was nearing the lunch hour and we spotted a small restaurant called The Gables. We had a nice lunch there, but the service was rather slow. It was now time to locate our accommodations for the next two nights. We are staying at the Sea Side Beach Resort – a series of cabins/cottages right on the St. Croix River. Ady, Sam and Dee are in a small two room cottage, with Ron and Nancy next door in a one room cottage. Our accommodations are very basic, but the view is to die for. We are right on the shore, and have a perfect view of the shoreline. The water is tied into the Bay of Fundy tidal waves, with the water going out about 3:00 p.m. and returning about 6:00 p.m. It’s interesting to walk on the shore, and then see it rise almost level with our cottage. There is this old broken up boat next to our deck that has washed up from Hurricane Bill. It will have to sit there until November when the tide gets high enough so it can be moved back to its home across the bay.Tonight we ate at the Fairmont Algonquin Resort Hotel close by. It was a very pretty Tudor style hotel, with a nice golf course attached. We ate in the Veranda Room, and had a mixture of steaks sandwiches, lobster gnocchi and a chicken dish. Back at the cottage, we watched the beautiful sunset and the sea coming back to the shore. It was getting rather windy and cold, so we went inside to play some cards before turning in for the night.Well it was another action packed day for us, and we will retire early to get an early start for our big day on the sea to catch some glimpses of some giant whales.Good night from St. Andrews-by-the-Sea!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251508411/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251508411/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251508411/tpod.html Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:16:26 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Well it's Friday, August 28, 2009 and we had a jammed packed day of activities. We tried to sleep in a little bit this morning.  Nancy, the first one up, tried to take a shower, and there was no hot water.  Sam, Dee and Ron were to follow without any difficulty.  Ady, however, had no hot water.  She waited awhile, and it came back, but as a trickle.  We did ask at the desk, and they were refilling the swimming pool and attributed our lack of water to that problem.  Oh well, we’ll see what tomorrow brings.               We had breakfast at a restaurant in New Glasgow which was recommended by my Frommer’s guide called Café on the Clyde, an "eclectic" restaurant, which was really, really good.  Sam had a piece of homemade raspberry cheesecake, which he said tasted out of this world.  Others had frittata/blueberry pancakes/sausages, which we all found to be quite delicious.  This restaurant would surely be a repeat performance, if we couldn’t find anything else.  We then went to the Anne of Green Gables Museum, a replica of the home and area of the famous Anne of Green Gables book written by Lucy Maud Montgomery.  It was interesting to see the house and surrounding out buildings and walk along the Haunted Trail mentioned in her books.  The guys’ enthusiasm and interest waned after about a half hour, and waited as we finished the tour.  After this trip we went back to the cottage to regroup for the rest of the day.  We loaded back in the van for a trip around the north shore park area stopping at some wonderful picturesque scenes.  The waves were rather high.  We were amazed at the dark sand on the beaches.  There were some sunbathers and swimmers in the area, and we were surprised because it was windy and cold in our estimation.It was nearing dinner time, so we scouted out some recommended dinner spots.  The first, Fisherman’s Warf advertised a Lobster dinner (or other entrée) and 60 foot salad bar for $30.  Some of us weren’t that hungry, so we traveled to another place called the Carr’s Oyster House.  The food was marginal, and the service was terrible.  After dinner we went to what’s called the Boardwalk for a little shopping, and some of Canada’s best ice cream at “Cows.” Well we are watching TV now, and winding down prior to going to bed for some needed rest before we embark on tomorrow’s adventure.  Good night from The Gentle Island!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251417974/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251417974/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251417974/tpod.html Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:16:34 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada

It is the evening of Thursday, August 27, 2009. We have just arrived from our long journey from Baddeck, NS to Cavendish, Prince Edward Island (PEI).  We began by checking out of the lodge this a.m., and journeyed to Tim Horton's outside of town for coffee and breakfast.  We stopped at a Souby’s to pick up our provisions for the next three nights on PEI. We then traveled to Caribou, NS to catch a ferry boat to the island. The Canadians have an excellent ferry system.  We did not have to pay to go over, but to get out we will.  When we leave, however, we will travel over the Confederation Bridges which costs about $42 for a car/van.We arrived at the ferry dock to find out the boat had just left and we would have to wait about 1 ½ hours for the next one.  We all decided (except Sam) to take a Dramamine, because the waves looked rather big, and we didn’t want a repeat performance of our CAT experience.  We loaded on the boat, which could accommodate about 400+ cars.  Our trip was smooth sailing, and went rather fast.                We decided to travel to Charlottetown prior to going to our destination of Cavendish.  Charlottetown is a rather large college town (PEI’s capital), and had dinner at a restaurant on the water called "The Lobster on the Wharf!."  The food was ok, small portions, big prices.  We then all loaded back into our van to travel about 45 minutes to the Sundance Cottages, our ultimate destination.  We were all quite surprised by the PEI landscape.  There are a lot of dairy and horse farms.  There are more rolling pastures than the trees we encountered on NS.  It appears there is more money on the island than in NS.  The houses were more elaborate and well kept.  We are staying in a four BDRM house/cottage with two BTHRMS, kitchen, living room, fireplace etc.  We are happy with our accommodations, and will be spending three nights here to relax and travel around.We have noticed that Hurricane Dan is on its way to PEI.  Hopefully we don’t meet him up close and personal.  Well, hope you folks in Cincy are doing well.  Catch you later, Hey?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251333080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251333080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251333080/tpod.html Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:39:29 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada

Today is Wednesday, August 26, 2009. We all had a comfortable night at the Green Highlander Lodge. We rose early to get ready for our 8 hour trip on the Cabot Trail. We had a light breakfast downstairs in the Yellow Cello, operated by the owner, Bill Stephens. At 8:30 sharp we boarded a 15 passenger van operated by Bannockburn Tour Company. Our driver’s name was Gary, a local of the region. Gary had been a guide for the past five years. Before that he managed a hotel in Baddeck, but due to a snow mobile accident (he was hit by one going 100 MPH) he had lost half his foot. So that accident ended his hotel career.We picked up four other people; a girl from Australia, a guy from Toronto, and a couple from Finland. The couple from Finland saw our van and asked if there was room to go to a small town on the trail where they were hiring a whale boat to take them to some remote island. The island was surrounded by rocks making it a very dangerous drop off. Hopefully they made it OK. The tour was very interesting. We learned a lot about the history and culture of the Canadians. They may get free health care here, but they may have to wait 6 months to get seen by a doctor. The government is more involved in their lives than the US. They pay an enormous amount of taxes – on everything! Gary let us off at the scenic points for photo ops. The water was very choppy, and it was very windy. We were on the lookout for moose, but of course we didn’t see any today. Gary said there was an occasional black bear in some of the locations, but NO we did not see one of those either. We stopped at a remote restaurant along the way at the Mountain View Rest Stop. Their special was a lobster burger (lobster salad on a hamburger bun) which was rather tasty. After our lunch we were again on our way around Cape Breton. The scenery was gorgeous, with a lot of fir trees covering the mountainsides. Gary said that some of the trees were infested with some insect that could kill a rather huge tree in about five days. It looked as if some of the area had been hit by a forest fire, but it was this bug blight. The town’s folk felt that a harsh winter would hopefully kill these pesty insects. We made a stop at Flora’s gift shop along the way. There was a woman there making homemade rugs. Her handmade rugs, coasters, etc… were very pretty, but pretty expensive. We then had about an hour left to go before arriving back at our lodge. We all felt we had learned a lot, and were appreciative of our Canadian guide, Gary, for showing us such a beautiful side of Nova Scotia. We had dinner down the road from our accommodations, called Telegraph House. Alexander Graham Bell was a frequent visitor at the inn. He stayed there prior to moving to his house at a different location. There is a museum dedicated to Bell in the town. He lived on an island in this area, and he and his wife are buried there. His family still owns the property, and it’s off limits to the public. Our dinner was delicious. Some of us had the scallops from Digby, and the others had steak. We walked along the main road, stopping along the way in the occasional shop. We are now back at our lodge, relaxing and talking about tomorrow’s activities. We will travel by ferry and ride across The North Cumberland Strait to Prince Edward Island, the land of Anne of Green Gables. The boat trip is 1 ½ hours, and hopefully no one will get sick this time. We have Dramamine just in case. We will be staying for three nights in Cavendish, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We have a four bedroom cottage at the Sundance Cottages. To all of our USA friends, G’day or G’night!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251248475/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251248475/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251248475/tpod.html Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:38:11 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Canada

Today is Tuesday, August 25th. Happy Birthday to our Bro, Pete.  Hope you had a great day.  We awoke early this a.m. and had a nice continental breakfast in our hotel.  After loading up the car, we walked across the street to "The Citadel," a famous Nova Scotia historic landmark which was considered the command post and landward bastion of Halifax's defenses.  It was considered the city’s principal British naval station in North America.”  They had an interesting tour which we took, and learned a lot about Canadian history.We then began our trip to Baddeck, NS.  We traveled along scenic highways as well as some inhabited areas.  We stopped at Truro a small town at an Italian restaurant called Frank and Gino’s.  We all had pizza and salads, which we all felt was very good for Italian fare in Canada.We then began the remainder of our travels to Baddeck.  We reached our destination about 5:00 p.m.  We are staying atop a restaurant called the Yellow Cello.  The lodge has three rooms and a common living area, which is called The Green Highlander.  It’s a nice place, and meets our needs for the next two nights that we will be staying in Baddeck.  Tomorrow morning we have scheduled a tour of the Cabot Trail.  Our tour van is picking us up for our 6-8 hour tour of the trail, which is considered one of the most scenic and spectacular highways on the continent.  It will run through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, stopping along the way for pictures and lunch. We walked along the Bras D’Or Lake, visiting a few shops along the way.  We saw a sign at the Linden Inn which was advertising lobster for $19.99.  A man was playing Celtic music on his guitar on the porch.  We ate inside and Sam and Nancy had the lobster, and the rest of us had fish/steak.  We then walked back to our lodge but made a stop for homemade ice cream at the local ice cream parlor.  We are now vegging out and getting ready for our long day on the trail.  Hope you are all having fun back in Cincy – later!!  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251166848/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251166848/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251166848/tpod.html Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:30:39 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Our day started out with a few donuts in our room. We crossed the street about 500 yards for the access to The CAT, a huge catamaran which travels approximately 55 mph. It can carry approximately 220 cars. The boat was huge. As you may know, or not, Hurricane Bill had traveled this same route the day before. We did not come to the realization that the seas would be very rough, and that was an understatement. The boat pitched to and fro, side ways and every which way. About a half hour into our trip multiple people were getting violently sea sick. Two people in our party were turning green at this point. Guess who, give up? Hint – Not Sam, Dee or Ady. People were using multiple barf bags, and the retching was making the rest of us sick. We heard after we arrived that the Halifax residents call it the "Vomit Rocket" – how appropriate. After our arrival in about 3 ½ hours, we arrived at Yarmouth with a 3.5 hour drive to Halifax.The roads were fine. We stopped at Lunenberg, a small historical town about the half way point to our destination. We had dinner at the Grand Banker Pub, overlooking the bay, which had quite an array of seafood.The fog from the sea was engulfing the area, so we decided we better hurry along to our final destination. It took us about 1 ½ hours to Halifax. We have accommodations at the Cambridge Suites Inn, a nice boutique type of hotel in the downtown area. Halifax is a rather urban metropolitan city, with tall buildings, contrary to the sprawling country side we traveled prior to arriving. The town is noted for biotechnology and an array of academic institutions. After our check in we decided to visit the local casino (surprise!). We didn’t lose too much, but Nancy was the big winner on the Wizard of Oz (Dave are you jealous?). We are back at our hotel, and then we will be on the road tomorrow to Baddeck, NS, where we will take a tour of one of the most scenic routes in North America, the Cabot Trail for the entire day. Nighty Night!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251111943/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251111943/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cincy/2/1251111943/tpod.html Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:09:19 -0400 Canadian Maritimes Exploration

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Bar Harbor, Maine, United States

It's Sunday evening, and we now have a few moments of breathing room to let you know of our many trials, tribulations and interesting experiences since leaving Cincinnati on Saturday morning. The biggest hurdle was finding out that our boat ride to Nova Scotia was canceled due to Hurricane Bill.  We had to reschedule our boat trip to sail out of Bar Harbor instead of Portland, as well as our hotel accommodations.  As many of you know, poor Nancy was not able to be checked in on line like the rest of us on Friday.  We finally found out that there was an extraneous SR after her name.  Delta officials thought she was a nun, instead of a "terrorist."  So … our flights were fine, pretty much on time.  We picked up our Town and Country silver van, with automatic side doors.  We were thrilled, because last year I got tired of swinging that @#$% door shut all the time.  We checked into our Holiday Inn on the Bay in Portland.  There were two weddings going on, and we tried to crash them to get some free dinners and/or cookies but they denied us access. (LOL).  So we decided to explore downtown Portland, ME.  We were mostly surprised what a happening downtown area they have there.  We walked until we found a suitable restaurant.  It was called Sebago.  They had a decent menu, and we were happy to find a cool place to eat since it was really hot on Saturday in Portland.  After dinner we decided to walk back to the hotel.  We stopped at an overlook during our drive around town.  We saw some women digging for something on the shoreline.  Nancy decided she wanted to ask what they were doing.  She started walking on the slippery stones, and she did a half-gainer on the rocks and landed on her backside.  We were frightened at first that this would be the end of our vacation, but she just jumped up like nothing happened.  She then found out the women were digging for snails.   After this we decided to go back to the hotel.   We had some “free” drink coupons for the bar in the hotel, so we met there until Nancy and Ron said they were tired and left for their room at 9:00 p.m.  They sure are party poopers!  We decided to meet in the lobby for breakfast at 9:00 a.m. the next morning before setting off to Bar Harbor, ME.  The guy at the front desk recommended a place called “Becky’s” for breakfast.  It was a nice place along the water.We then left for our 3.5 hour trip to Bar Harbor.  Along the way we decided (on the recommendation of Nancy) to take the scenic route to Acadia National Park/Bar Harbor.  Fortunately for us we did, because we heard that 11 people were swept into the Atlantic Ocean due to the high surf at the park.  We had wanted to see that, but because of taking our time, we missed it.  Thank you Nancy for saving our lives!!!We checked into our hotel, the Bar Harbor Motel.  It is a nice place.  We have a two room suite with Nancy and Ron in another room in another building.  We took the free Island Explorer to downtown Bar Harbor to check out all the shops and restaurants.  We bought a few things.  We stopped to get some ice cream, and then headed back to the hotel.  We played some “Pass the Ace”, Sam won both games!  We decided we needed some provisions and traveled to a grocery store about 30 minutes from our hotel.  As you probably know from our last trip to Alaska, our provisions include an assortment of junk food, donuts and pop. Well, we’re relaxing in our hotel room watching Andy of Mayberry and a baseball game. Guess who has control of the remote?Tomorrow we wake up early to catch our ferry, The CAT, to Nova Scotia, a three hour trip.  We heard they have a casino on board, so some of us will be occupied during the time.  Nancy and Ron left for bed – it’s 9:00 pm again!We heard Hurricane Bill should be gone by the time we get there.  We also saw on the news that Halifax had some loss of power, so here’s hoping they have everything worked out by the time we get there.  Well, good night from Bar Harbor!
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