Tuesday 9/8

We woke today to a cloudy, but not rainy day. Good weather to explore in! We headed toward Alma, NB, which is right outside the park. It was still low tide, so we took a walk on the beach for a close up look at the Bay of Fundy.
Next up was a short walk through a short town. As we crossed the bridge into town I took a picture of the local fleet at low tide. An hour later,after lunch, I took the high tide version.
We drove back into Fundy Park and hiked the Dickson Falls Trail. We were treated to beautiful cascades and a waterfall at the top of the trail..
We finished the day with a hike to Wolfe Point. The hike took us to a deserted beach with lots of driftwood and debris from ocean storms.

Monday 9/7

Today was spent driving up the north coast of New Brunswick. Hopewell Rocks was our first stop. The tides have carved pillars of sandstone into what has been named the Flower Pot Rocks. You can actually walk out to the pillars at extreme low tide. We were there for high tide and a receding tide. We spent the time between tides hiking some trails in the park and eating some delicious seafood chowder!

Our next stop was Cape Enrage Lighthouse. We think that the winds were gusting at somewhere in the 40 mph range. It was otherwise a beautiful day. Our temperatures since arriving in Canada have ranged from 65-70 during the day and 45-50 at night.

Sunday 9/6 – Tues 9/8

Fundy National Park, NB. It took us much more than the 4 hours we had planned to travel between Cobscook Bay, ME and Bay of Fundy, NB. Two hours was spent in Calais, ME at the visitors center launching this blog, another hour at the border being “strip searched” (those guys are nice but they don’t know how to put things back where they found them), and then some really bad roads close to Fundy NP. It was well worth all the miles!

Fri 9/4 thru Sat 9/5

Great campground on Cobscook Bay, ME. Sidetrip on Saturday to Eastport to eat a lobster roll at our favorite lobster stand. Stopped on the way to Eastport to view reversing falls, a fascinating sight. Lots of sast moving water over rock ledges. Stopped again on the way back to ward the campground 3 hours later and it was slack tide. Quite a difference

Wednesday 9/3-9/3

Travel days with overnights at Mashamoquet Brook SP in CT and Bradbury Mountain SP in ME. Early arrival at both campgrounds with plenty of time for exploring.

Thursday Aug. 28,2009- Septemper 1,2009

Friday 8/28)
We arrived in Asbury,NJ in the late afternoon. Our host and hostess Peter and Nicole Amadeo were kind enough to offer us the use of their guest room (as well as the whole house!). They live in what was a one room school house that had a second story added at some point in its long history. You know how we love olde houses!! This started a non-stop visit-a thon with Catie and Sarah! It was Tuesday before we were able to spend some quality time with Nicole and Peter. It was a fantastic visit. Thanks Nicole and Peter , and remember....the light is always on in our guest accommodations!!

Saturday Aug. 22,2009 -Wednesday Aug. 26,2009

Saturday (8/22)
Having spent a week in Georgia, we are now ready to "hit the road". First destination is Grayson Highlands State Park in Va. . We checked into our campsite , ate dinner and then attended a campfire program on owls. The ranger had an owl call, but no luck,the owls must have been elsewhere that night!

Sunday (8/23)
After a breakfast of fresh baked banana nut muffins we attended the campground church service. A local couple presided over it. Many hymns and scripture readings. It was a very nice service. Stayed after the service and talked with the couple.
We hiked to the Visitors Center and organized our trail selections with the ranger. Our first hike took us to Listening Rock, where it is said farmers would go and listen for the bells of cows that had strayed from the herd. Backtracked (down hill..much easier!) to the campground. Not a long hike(5 miles), but feel like we saw alot.

Monday (8/24)
A biking day!! We rode on the Virginia Creeper Rails to Trails Bike Path from Whitetop Mountain into Damascus,Va.. It was 17 miles of downhill/flat terrain. In many spots we followed the river. There were many old train stations and reconstructed bridges along the way. We stopped in Taylor Valley for lunch. We were joined by friends, June and Dalton who live in Bristol, Tn.. Thanks guys for making the trip!

Tuesday (8/25)
Blueberries,wild horses,beautiful mountain vistas! Our plan was to hike the Rhododendron Trail within the park to see the vistas and maybe spot some of the wild horses. The "wild" horses were waiting at the trail head! We then walked into the largest blueberry patch I have ever seen! One gallon of blueberries and one hour later (I became addicted to picking berries!) we returned to the campsite so that I could wash, dry, and bag the berries. Thank goodness Mark had hiked up the Rhododendron Tail and snapped a few pic's.
After a little "campsite" time, we hiked the Cabin Creek Trail and viewed some pretty waterfalls.

Tomorrow we leave for the DC area. We will be staying in an urban national park along the Capital Beltway...Greenbelt National Park.