Thank all the RV gods, there was a week between convergences. That extra week allowed us to re-charge our introvert batteries, tackle the never-ending chores/maintenance list, and get ready for another 10 days of hanging out with people. This is Xscapers’ second annual Mexico convergence to San Felipe. It’s a good destination since it’s only around 140 miles south of the border and RVs are able to make it there and back on one tank of fuel (apparently fuel quality in Mexico is hit-or-miss). Since the attendance is capped by the limited number of spots (~50 rigs) at the RV park, the convergence sold out within a day of opening! The part that really sold us on the Mexico trip? We all would meet at a mall in El Centro, California the night before and convoy together to San Felipe in the morning.

We needed to purchase a travel visa online and get supplementary Mexico driver’s insurance for the RV and car before the meetup. Border regulations states you also need a health certificate for animals signed by a licensed vet within 7 days of arriving at the border but those who have been across the border says border agents have never ask for the certificate. Since the Yuma vet wanted $80 for the health certificate, we decided to be rebels and forgo the certificate (border patrol never asked for it).

Once at the border, we were treated like rock stars! The mayors of Mexicali and San Felipe met our caravan at the border to welcome all of us. Once the schmoozing was complete, we passed through the border quickly and even had a big police escort through Mexicali! The escort wasn’t for safety but for convenience. Trying to keep 50 rigs together through a busy city is impossible, so the police would race ahead to each traffic light and hold all traffic until we passed through, then the next set of escorts would leapfrog ahead until we made it through Mexicali, non-stop! From Mexicali, it was an easy drive south to San Felipe. It was a tight fit but we all made it into Victor’s RV park. Mike was able to book us into the full hookup area (yay electricity and water!) which could only hold a handful of the larger RVs like ours; many of the attendees were in the boondocking area exercising their solar panels and water conservation skills.

Victor’s RV park is located right on the beach so it’s a 30-second walk from the RV to the beach to enjoy the sun, sand, and surf anytime. They even have a little restaurant with cheap and tasty eats and drinks and the main town waterfront was an easy 10 minute walk. We spent many of our afternoons here playing games, drinking, and eating.

A couple days into our stay, Opie decided to make things more interesting, and not in a fun way. During the previous week in Yuma, we noticed Opie started limping, probably due to all the activity at the dog park playing with his new besties, Porthos and Connor. We assumed it was a sprain and limited his activity. In actuality, Opie had partially torn his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) which holds and stabilizes a dog’s back knee. Then Opie got on the beach in San Felipe and completed the job by chasing some birds. We took him to the local vet who did some leg manipulation and confirmed that Opie had torn his ACL. Since San Felipe is a small town, they don’t have the facility for X-rays or surgery so we would have to wait until we got back to the States, and just put him on a severe activity restriction.

Torn ACL is actually pretty common among Labradors and we have experience with it from our previous dogs and fosters. We knew it wasn’t an emergency and just needed to reduce Opie’s activity and inflammation/pain until we could get him to a surgeon. Too bad Opie didn’t understand why he couldn’t go to the beach, take long walks, or run off-leash! While we spent more time indoors than expected due to his injury, we still had time to hang out with other Xscapers. Luckily a few of the gamers from the Annual Bash were also at the Mexico convergence which meant lots more gaming right by the ocean! We learned more new games and taught a few others, and had a great time.

One of the Xscapers brought his RZR and set up an ATV event for anyone interested. It sounded like a lot of fun so Mike and I joined about 25 other people for a half day of zooming around San Felipe off-roading through dirt trails and beaches. This was the first time for me on an ATV and I didn’t realize how fast those things can go! It also takes a lot of core muscles (unfortunately mine are the consistency of jello) to stay stabilized over the washboard trails and tight turns. We had a fantastic time and I would love to do that again; however my body and I were not on speaking terms for the next few days as it was very angry with my attempts to act like a 25-year old.

Since the Mexico convergence was significantly smaller than the Annual Bash, it was much easier to meet new people and hang out, plus the restaurants and clubs were within walking distance, so there was much eating, drinking, and being merry.

The 10 days passed pretty quickly and it was time to go home. A few of the smaller rigs decided to go further south into Baja for exploring but the rest of us packed up for the convoy back to the States. Getting back into the States was just as easy, probably because US Customs really didn’t want 50 RVs to back up the queue to get into the US. After scanning our passports, they let us back in and it was time to take care of Opie. We re-arranged our plans so we could stay in one place for five weeks so Opie could have his surgery, recovery, and follow-ups with the same veterinarian. Off to Las Vegas we went!

We really enjoyed both the Annual Bash and Mexico convergence. There’s a lot of camaraderie and inclusion at Xscaper meetups. I preferred the Mexico convergence due to its smaller size. While there are more activities at the Annual Bash, the laid-back atmosphere and smaller group of the Mexico convergence appeals to me. If our schedule works out, I think we’ll try to sign up for the Mexico convergence for next year. Hopefully Opie will be able to take advantage of the beach next time!

We drove the length of the park and stopped at various overlooks with views of the river and various waterfalls but the majority of the sites were located south, including the three large waterfalls (creatively named Upper, Middle, and Lower falls), museum, and visitors center. Since all three waterfalls are relatively close together, a short easy walk along the trail allowed us to view all three while Opie enjoyed the sniffing/peeing opportunities.

While crowds tend to flock to the big three waterfalls, I enjoyed the Wolf Creek cascading waterfalls, located further north. The Genesse River falls 225 feet through this area over wide ravines in 4 different sections. We could only see parts of the cascades on the Gorge trail and the Wolf Creek overlook but I loved the look of the cascades as it flowed over the rocks. It reminded me of a giant open waterslide, except for the imminent death waiting at the bottom of the falls. We enjoyed Letchworth State Park but we covered all the interesting areas within 2 days of driving and hiking; six days is overkill.

After all this nature, it was time to assuage our adrenaline addiction with a trip back to the rollercoaster mecca, Cedar Point Park in Sandusky OH. Boasting 17 roller coasters, Cedar Point has six coasters higher than 200 ft, and is the only amusement park with a coaster in each height category: kiddie, hyper (200ft), giga (300ft), and strata (400ft). Since we love coasters, we try to visit Cedar Point every 3-4 years. This year, we spent two full days at the park (three nights at the campground). That allowed us to try all the coasters we wanted and to repeat favorites. Since we find the experience often differs in the front and back seats, we tried almost all rides twice to see which experience was better. More importantly, staying at Cedar Point’s campground got us into the park an hour early each day so we could ride the newest coaster with only a half-hour wait instead of the 3-4 hour wait it turned into when the main gates opened.

*Warning, the rest of this blog is geared towards coaster-fiends. If this isn’t your thing, you may find it boring.

In the last 7-8 years, a new type of coaster has been making the rounds. Called a steel/wood hybrid coaster, the ride often marries an old wooden coaster track with a new type of steel track (ibox). This allows a super-smooth steel ride but still has a wooden coaster identity due to the structure. Since it is a steel coaster, all kinds of great inversions, corkscrews, and barrel rolls can be done which feels freaky on a wooden coaster frame. We’ve ridden several hybrid coasters in the last couple years and they have become our new favorite coaster.

For 2018, Cedar Point opened a new steel hybrid called Steel Vengeance. Built on the old Mean Streak wooden coaster frame, Steel Vengeance broke 10 world records when it opened, including tallest (205ft), fastest (74mph), steepest (90 degrees), and longest drop (200ft) hybrid coaster. At 2min and 30sec (5740ft), it’s also the longest hybrid coaster and it really did feel like it went on for a long time! We enjoyed the front seat since it gives great views of the tracks, twists, and turns but the back seats are the best on this one with the super-fast speed and it never stops moving. Steel Vengeance was truly an awesome ride.

We had to also hit Millenium Force, a traditional favorite and the world’s first gigacoaster (300ft). On this ride, the back is ok but feels surprisingly tame after all these years. The front seats are the best for this ride. We feel faster in the front and both of us also experienced narrowing of vision during the first banked turn, apparently common due to the sustained g forces at the beginning of the ride (but that just made the whole experience even cooler!). Mike even did a new trick of catching a gnat in his teeth on this ride!

We were disappointed with Rougarou, the floorless coaster. We rode it when it first came out a few years ago but it’s become bumpy and with the restraints close to the head, we ended up with headaches from banging our heads during the turns and twists. Even though it’s only a few years old, it feels like an old coaster. We were also really sad that Magnum has become a “no go” for us moving forward. Magnum, build in ’89, was the first hypercoaster (200 ft) and we’ve enjoyed it every time we visit. Due to its age, Magnum is now WAY too rough and herky-jerky. In the front car, we often felt like the back was pushing us around and the car felt very jumpy on the track. We both ended up with headaches and the ride only has lap bars!

Top Thrill Dragster, built in 2003, was the tallest coaster at the time and is currently only one of two strata coasters (400 ft). The train is hydraulically launched and moves from 0-120 in 3.8 seconds to climb straight up to 420ft. It’s a great thrill coaster and we think the beginning is the best part of the ride. Both the back and front are great seats for this ride but after 15 years, the track is more bumpy and rough than the last time we rode it.

Maverick is steel coaster that uses linear induction to send the train over the top and halfway through the track. It makes for a smooth quick ride. We did both the front and back seats. The back seats feel faster but we enjoyed the front seats more due to the visibility of the twists and turns.

Valravn is currently the tallest, fastest, longest dive coaster in the world. Dive coasters contain only three rows of seats but 10 seats per row. It also stops the train at the bend of the first 90 degree hill which allows the passengers to look straight down before the train releases for the rest of the ride. Valravn pauses for 4 seconds at the bend of the first hill and then descends 214 ft. The front row gives a perfect view of staring straight down while paused but we found the back a lot more fun since the first drop feels weightless. Overall a really good ride with greed speed and turns.

Now the best for last, Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper, built in 2013, is a wing coaster where pairs of passengers sit on either side of the track with nothing above or below the passenger. Because there is nothing below or above, it feels almost like free-flying. Like suspended coasters, the only seats worth doing are the front seats. Every other seat is obscured by the seat in front but the front gives complete visibility and the sense of nothing around. I love coasters, I love the thrill and stomach-drops, I love the height, inversions, corkscrews, banked turns, bunny hills and completely immerse myself in the experience. Gatekeeper was the only coaster at Cedar Point where I loved the ride but also felt actual fear. I rode in the seat furthest away from the track and therefore felt like there was nothing around me at all. During the loops, spins, and dives, the seat swings away from the track and I feel like I was going to get flung out into space. Mike started laughing during the ride since my usual screams of glee had turned into screams of fear during some of the twists and turns. After the ride finished, Mike couldn’t stop laughing at how hard I screamed during the ride. With the exception of Tatsu in Magic Mountain, this is the only coaster that gave me fear-sweats. I’m so ready to do it again!

And that is how we ended our East Coast tour for 2018. After Cedar Point, we went south to Red Bay to finish off any last warranty work before heading back to the DC area to visit family and friends for Thanksgiving.

Dog Mountain is home to the Stephen Huneck gallery. Stephen Huneck is known for his paintings and carvings of dogs and had built a Dog Chapel on his property in 1997 after a near-death experience. The dog chapel is dedicated to dogs and everyone is welcome to leave notes and pictures in remembrance of their deceased dogs. Dog Mountain is open to all dogs and people and contains a lake, open meadows, the gallery, dog chapel, and trails meandering through 150 acres of land. They also host events and parties, including the summer music series where we were able to enjoy some bluegrass music.

Which one of these is not like the others…

Dog Mountain is owned and operated through a non-profit and they depend on donations and sales. With all the great artwork on shirts, prints, and mugs, it was easy for us to buy a few souvenirs and support Dog Mountain at the same time. I’m sure if we didn’t live in an RV, I would have bought a LOT more from their gallery. We came back a second time since our RV friends Susan and Ken (and their black lab, Jazzy) were in the same area and we were excited for Jazzy and Opie to finally meet. The lab meetup was very anti-climactic as Opie was more interested in the lake and Jazzy in the ball but they did do some cursory meet n’ greet (sniffing of the noses and behinds) but we had a great reunion with Susan and Ken. Dog Mountain is a wonderful mecca for dog lovers and if you’re in the area, don’t pass up the chance to wander around and enjoy the various views, sculptures, and artwork.

With an 8-year-old’s taste buds, visiting Ben & Jerry’s was a requirement for me. Unfortunately we picked a massively busy day so we had to wait an hour before our tour began (no photos allowed on the tour). They start with a short movie about the history of the founders and then move us to an enclosed catwalk above the production floor. Our group got the “special” tour as there were some technical difficulties with the capping machine at the time, which means the assembly line was halted while the techs frantically tried to save the uncapped ice cream from falling to the floor. Our tour guide did explain the process and showed us each station so we could understand how it all worked. The production floor works on a non-stop 72 hour cycle then a 7-9 hour cleaning cycle (federally mandated). After the cleaning cycle they choose to either continue an ongoing order or change flavors. Ben & Jerry’s has 6 manufacturing plants across the globe. The visitors’ center makes the top 15 ice creams and they have one plant that only does core ice creams (the pints with two flavors and a core of flavor goo). The last part of the tour provides a generous free sample of ice cream for us to try. We were given CinnDOUGHrella, cinnamon/caramel ice cream w/cinnamon bun dough, shortbread cookies, and oatmeal cinnamon cookie swirls. Super rich and very delicious! After the tour, we took a walk around the Flavor Graveyard to see all the deceased Ben & Jerry flavors. Mike took a silent moment to mourn the loss of his favorite, White Russian.

Since it was nearby, we drove to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill to sample their tasty wares. We watched, strangely mesmerized, as they took fresh pulverized apples (harvested from nearby farms), placed them in layers on a large wagon, then used a hydraulic press to squeeze out the fresh juice. We sampled the fresh cider and bought half a dozen of the cider doughnuts and a couple mini pies. While the doughnuts had a good flavor, my sweet tooth liked them a LOT better once I drizzled sugar glaze on top.

Making cider

Unfortunately the Cabot Creamery visitor center no longer allows tours through their factory, so we stopped at the nearby Cabot Annex a quarter mile away from Ben & Jerry’s to check out all their samples. Cabot Creamery is a co-op of dairy farmers in Cabot, VT. Started in 1919 by 94 farmers, they created the cooperative to turn the glut of milk into butter and market it throughout New England. Today Cabot is still 100% owned by farm families and exclusively makes cheddar cheese. We enjoyed sampling the huge array of cheddar cheeses (who knew there could be so many kinds!) and left relatively unscathed with only a block of the super sharp and yummy “Vintage Choice Aged Cheddar”, pepperoni, and maple cotton candy.

Another day brought us to the Goodrich Maple Farm House. They provide free tours, but we were lucky enough to receive a tour from Mr. Goodrich himself as he happened to be at the site meeting with coffee vendors to discuss making coffee infused maple syrup and maple infused coffee. Goodrich Maple Farm has been family owned and operated since 1840 when they first started with wooden buckets and huge metal staves. Currently the maple house uses pencil-sized needles that only enter the tree 2 inches deep and are connected via plastic piping network throughout the woods. We already knew that 40 gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup but we didn’t realize that different amber colors are based on when the sap is taken from the tree, not how long the sap is boiled; later in the season creates a darker amber and richer flavor. Plus the freeze/thaw cycle is crucial to creating sap since the tree uses the sap to nourish the buds. We learned a maple tree has to be at least 40 years old before they begin tapping for sap and many trees on their property are hundreds of years old. Just like taking blood from a human, it’s vital to only take a small amount of sap from each tree to allow the tree to stay healthy.

Interestingly we found that other trees can provide sap for syrup but birch sap tastes terrible and black walnut sap is tough to find and therefore extremely expensive. Overall maple sap has the best flavor (I couldn’t agree more) and after the tour/information ended, we got to try the different amber syrups, coffee-infused maple syrup, maple almonds, and maple butter. Of course it’s all a trap since the products are so delicious you end up buying all sorts of tasty goodies!

After fulfilling my sugar fantasies and enjoying the pretty views, we packed up R2 and headed towards upstate NY.

Relaxing at Dog Mountain

Cape Split trail is located inside the Cape Split Provincial park and it’s a popular hike although it was pretty quiet at 9:30am. The trail meanders through a dense forest and opens into a meadow at the very end of the cape. If it was 20 degrees cooler and 50% less humid, this would be an enjoyable hike through a quiet and lush forest. Unfortunately at 80+ degrees and 95% humidity, our hike felt more like a death march through a rainforest and poor Opie had no streams or lakes to cool off. We quickly went through our water supply to keep Opie hydrated and damp to prevent him from overheating. On the positive side, the popularity of the hike means the trail is well-maintained and easy to follow.

After walking a couple of hours in the forest, the trail opens into a wide meadow with gorgeous views of the cliffs and Bay of Fundy. The cliffs are actively eroding and there are no barriers or warning signs which meant this was the perfect place for the squirrels to implement their revenge against Opie, the infamous squirrel chaser. A squirrel popped out of the high grass right in front of Opie, causing his brain to shut off and mindlessly chase the squirrel perilously close to the edge of the cliff. Worse, Opie dragged me right behind him while I frantically yanked on the leash. Fortunately I fell on my behind which halted both of us and put a kibosh on the squirrels’ best-laid plans.

With the exception of the evil squirrels, the cliffs are gorgeous and the view of the outgoing tides is intriguing to watch. We had a picnic lunch at the meadow, enjoyed the view and headed back. Round-trip is just under 8 miles but with the well-maintained trail and relatively easy incline, it’s a good trail for all ages.

While in Wolfville, we met up with an old co-worker and had a great time catching up. We hadn’t seen each other for probably 12 years or so but stayed in touch through Facebook. We caught up on family and business but also had a fascinating discussion on Canadian politics and government. Like the US, Canada has federal and provincial (state) governments, but unlike the US, the provincial governments hold more power than US state governments. Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world made up with 10 provinces and 3 territories and each region/province has very different priorities. Their federal government is responsible for national issues like defense, postal service, and international issues while the provinces are responsible for social/health services, transportation, public education, criminal justice, and local government. My friend summarized Canada as 10 sovereign nations under one commonwealth. Intellectually, I realize there are other forms of democratic government out there and it’s intriguing to discuss the differences and how it affects a country.

After our quick trip to Wolfville, we made the trek to Cape Breton Island, the Northeastern most portion of Nova Scotia. Cape Breton is known for the Cabot Trail, a 185 mile loop, which travels through Cape Breton Highlands Park and loops around most of the island. Since the trail skirts the edges of the island, we could see spectacular ocean cliffs, plateaus, and even glacial valleys when the trail moved inland. To really experience the trail, a few days would be preferable since there are a lot of great hiking trails within the Highlands Park. Since we hit some freak heat wave during our stay, we bypassed the hiking opportunities and just enjoyed the scenic drive and overlooks. Even with just driving, it takes at least 5 hours to complete the trail so bring food or cash. The Cabot trail does also pass by small restaurants and stores so there is some food opportunities during the drive.

We also took a day trip to Louisbourg Fortress, the largest reconstruction project in North America. Originally built in 1713 by the French, it became a bustling center for fishing and trade.  The fortress was attacked twice by the British and destroyed in the 1760s. Archeologists, using detailed records, reconstructed 1/4 of the town and fortress. The fortress reminds me of Williamsburg in VA, a recreation of US colonial times. At Louisbourg, there are re-enactors around the town working and available to answer questions. We saw blacksmiths in action, military exercises involving muskets and cannons, women doing lace-making, and servants grinding spices (those smelled SO good). We walked through the armory, stables, prominent homes, and small shops around the town. The visitor’s center provides a self-guided tour with map and blurbs of each building. Since Louisbourg is a French fortress, every actor spoke both French and English.

After a very full three weeks in Canada, we tiredly made our way back into the US. We did get boarded briefly by a customs officer who confiscated our tomatoes and mini peppers but let us keep our lettuce and half an apple, I guess so we wouldn’t starve? Otherwise a very uneventful border crossing and we made it to Bangor ME to resupply and relax.

Lunenburg is a tiny port town (less than 2 squares miles) off Nova Scotia’s south shore with a population of about 2,300 people. Historically a fishing and ship building area, it’s evolved into more of a tourist destination, especially after being designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995 for its unique architecture and design. Walking through the town, many of the buildings have plaques containing historical information.

The Lunenberg Board of Trade Campground is the closest campground, located right at the edge of town. It’s pretty basic but it has full hookups and puts the entire town of Lunenburg within walking distance of your RV! If you decide to stay here, for the sake of your sanity, make sure you take Bypass Road (route 332) to Sawpit/Blockhouse Rd to reach the campground. We did see a few RVs bravely navigate through the town but it ain’t pretty and Bypass Road is so much easier. Once camped, it’s a quick 2-3 block walk to get into town, although after spending hours walking around town, it’s a workout to get back to the campground since it’s situated at the top of a rather steep hill. Those were the moments when I wished I didn’t have that ice cream cone!

Lunenburg is best known for the Bluenose fishing schooner, a fishing and racing boat. The Bluenose is considered Canada’s most famous ship and has been immortalized on Canada’s dime. Built in 1921, the Bluenose was built for speed both for racing and fishing since the fastest fishing vessel got back to port first and received the best price for its catch. It’s held the record for the largest catch of fish brought into Lunenburg and won the International Fishermen’s Race from 1921-23, 1931, and 1938. The trophy is awarded to the fastest fishing schooner that works in the North American deep fishing industry. Unfortunately the Bluenose wrecked on a coral reef in 1946 and broke apart. A replica, called the Bluenose II, was built in 1963 and still travels around Nova Scotia in the summer and docks in Lunenburg in the winter. Unfortunately it was not in Lunenburg during our stay so we had to make do with photos peppered around town.

With so many vibrant and cheerful colored homes and buildings, it’s easy to walk around for hours just admiring the colors, latticework, and gorgeous doors everywhere while zig-zagging up and down the streets. The pragmatic part of me felt sympathy for the amount of work needed to maintain these wood homes and paint jobs while the nomadic part of me felt glee that it wasn’t my job anymore!

Right along the harbor is the Fishermen’s Memorial which honors the sailors and fishermen from Lunenburg who died at sea from 1890 until the present. Looking at the memorial, it’s eye-opening to realize 1) how dangerous deep sea fishing could be and 2) how many family members perished when one boat was lost. I found the details on the engravings stunning, someone put a lot of thought into the memorial.

Close by is the Ironworks Distillery, located in an old blacksmith shop which still has the original floors—If you visit the distillery, look down at the floors, they have some great character! Ironworks distills in small batches and creates vodka, rum, and liqueur. They provide free taste tasting and enthusiastically answer questions. I easily spent a good 10 minutes talking to the distiller about the process and the difference between the rums. Ironworks even has a few rum kegs aging on a barge in the harbor. Apparently the temperature changes and rolling allow more of the barrel flavors to extract into the rum, providing more intense vanilla flavors. They also sell a pear brandy with a full-grown pear inside the bottle. They place bottles over seedlings and the pear grows inside the bottle. When the pear is ripe, they remove the bottle and fill it with pear brandy. They have a fascinating slide show of the process. We were very good and only bought one bottle of their dark rum although I was eyeing their various liqueurs (rhubarb and blackberry).

It’s hard to believe but the tiny town boasts six active churches. We visited three of the churches: Zion Lutheran church with its ceiling supported not by pillars but crossbeams allowing for an open and airy space; St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, a small beautiful black and white building but unfortunately not open the the public that day; and St. Johns Anglican Church, a stunning church with soaring steeples. St. Johns suffered a fire in 2001, destroying half the church. Instead of building a replica, the church members decided to build on what survived and incorporated as much original material that could be saved, including pieces of the stained glass windows. Since the windows were destroyed, people salvaged pieces and had to jigsaw pieces together and rebuild windows based on old photographs.

Since we had Gary and Dee staying with us, we used it as a great excuse to try the various restaurants in town. The Old Fish Factory above the Fisheries Museum has both sea and land selections and Mike really enjoyed his steak skewer while the rest of us enjoyed the lobster and Digby clams. The Salt Shaker Deli also had some tasty selections, including the seafood chowder, lobster rolls, and burger. Nice light breakfasts were enjoyed at Kate’s Indulgence and No 9, both had good coffee and pastries. There are a LOT of great restaurant choices available, including a Subway which just seemed really out of place in Lunenburg, although they did boast a lobster sub on the menu.

We spent a day at nearby Mahone Bay, a small town with a much busier feel than Lunenburg. It’s another good place to walk around but more for the shops than the architecture. We stopped at the Amos Pewter store and watched a demo of the molten pewter being poured into a spinning mold of shapes, perused a real bookstore (apparently they still exist), admired incredibly detailed quilts, and ate a tasty meal at Oh My Cod!. Yes, we had to eat there just because of the name but the food was very good. It’s a good day trip and it’s only about 30 minutes from Lunenburg.

Even Opie had a chance to enjoy an outing to nearby Bachman’s Beach at Sandy Cove where he and a few hearty Canadians braved the chilly water. The rest of us were content to sun on the beach and just get our feet wet!

Lunenburg has that charming small town feel and surprisingly wasn’t too crowded while we were there. It’s small enough that 2-3 days to explore the town and surrounding areas was just right for us.

We switched R2’s dashboard computer over to the metric system and started to familiarize ourselves with driving in Canada. Apart from the obviously different KPH speed limits (110 KPH is around 70 MPH), we had a surprisingly hard time figuring out what all the symbols meant on the highway information signs! Turns our we’re not the only ones—when I searched the Internet for answers, I found several other articles with similar themes. Take a quick detour and read through this one for a fun look at some Canadian highway signs!

Our base of operations for the week was Sussex, New Brunswick. While not exactly close to anything we wanted to do, it was centrally located enough that we could park R2 there and do a LOT of driving in Red to explore the area. The alternative would have been packing up and moving R2 every couple days which seemed like more of a hassle. We also quickly discovered that while the main Canada highways are generally in excellent condition and great to drive in the rig, most of the secondary roads to the places we wanted to visit were in terrible condition. While driving them in the car we commented on how the road’s patches have patches, and so on. The Sussex KOA was a pretty good place to camp for 6 nights, though we only had 30-amp electrical service at our site (which is going to be a theme during our stay in Canada) so we had to be careful with air conditioner, water heater, and kitchen appliance use.

We made three big excursions from our Sussex home base: 1) the Fundy Trail Parkway; 2) Fundy National Park; and 3) Hopewell Rocks.

Fundy Trail Parkway

The first excursion, at around one hour along winding, bumpy roads, was the Fundy Trail Parkway. This is a non-profit coastal park featuring a 19-mile drive hugging the shore and cliffs of the Bay of Fundy. There are dozens of parking areas along the way, each with trails, overlooks, picnic tables, and attractions like beaches or waterfalls. There’s even a 38-mile trail that runs the length of the park and continues eastward to Fundy National Park, with more than 8,000 feet of elevation gain to deal with! The park is relatively new and the road is still being extended and will connect with Fundy National Park in a couple more years, making the park even more accessible.

A “flowerpot” formation created by erosion from the extreme tides. Also check out the close-up photo below.

Much of the coastal geology in the area is shaped by the massive tides created in the Bay of Fundy. A few factors combine to give the Bay the highest tides in the world… over a 50-foot difference between low and high tide in some areas! You can read more about how the tides work at the Bay of Fundy web site. Visiting anyplace along the bay can be a completely different experience during low tide vs. high tide!

With the park being so far from “civilization”, we were pleasantly surprised to find it nearly deserted during our visit. We stopped at many of the overlooks to take in the beaches, cliffs, and rock formations, and rarely saw another person. Along the way we took a few relatively short hikes to streams, waterfalls, vistas, and across a long pedestrian suspension bridge over the Big Salmon River. Opie isn’t crazy about bridges like that, but he did great and was rewarded on the other side with a fun soak in the cool river water. We bought a picnic lunch (OK, it was a sandwich from Subway) and ate on a bench overlooking Fuller Falls. We stopped by the visitor center to refill our water bottles and Opie was treated by the staff to a dog biscuit which he immediately devoured.

Eventually we made it to the current end of the road (construction of the next segment is ongoing), and took a longer hike to the Walton Glen Gorge Falls Observation Deck that sounded very beautiful in the brochure! Now try to imagine the look on our faces when we finally made it to the end of the hike and were greeted by a fenced in area with a big sign reading: “Future site of Walton Glen Gorge Falls Observation Deck”! With a little creating tip-towing and peering over the fence we caught a glimpse of the gorge, and were able to stick our phones through the fence slats to get a photo, but the falls were mostly obscured from our location. Hopefully we’ll return in a few years and can get a better look!

Glen Gorge

Fundy National Park

Next up was a trip to Fundy National Park to do some real hiking. The drive from Sussex was an easy 30 minutes to the park entrance, then another 15 minutes to our trailhead. The entrance booth was unmanned when we arrived a little after 9am so we pulled into the visitor center to pay the park entry fee and get advice on the trail.

Our goal was to combine two different hikes into one longer loop. The Laverty Falls trail (3 miles out-and-back) and Moosehorn trail (6 mile out-and-back) both start at the same parking area, and both end at Laverty Falls, just following different routes to get there. We decided (after reading advice online) to hike the Moosehorn trail to the falls, then take the Laverty trail back to the parking area, for a total of 4.5 miles.

The first half of the Moosehorn Trail (three photos above) was a steep downhill trek through a pretty forest, eventually turning into switchbacks as we descended toward Broad River. Opie was excited when passed our first of several waterfalls, so he could go cool off (somewhat awkwardly) in the small pools under the falls. Eventually we made it to the river and started the second half of the trail, which follows the river upstream to Laverty Falls.

We love trails that follow rivers! Of course half of that is because Opie is so happy to be wet all the time, but the waterfalls, rocks, scenery, and sounds of rushing water are just wonderful! Much like the Fundy Trail, we found the trail to be almost entirely deserted… our kind of hike! It wasn’t until we made it to Laverty Falls that we started running into people. It seems most visitors just take the shorter Laverty Falls trail directly to the falls and then return the same way, since it’s faster and easier. When we returned via that route we passed dozens of people, and found the trail to be fairly uninteresting, just a way to get to the falls. We’re so glad we took the Moosehorn trail!

Hopewell Rocks

Our final excursion from Sussex was to Hopewell Rocks, which is near the end of the Bay of Fundy and receives some of the highest tides in the bay. The tides have created many interesting rock formations which draw tourists from all over. The tides take around six hours to go from low to high, then another six back to low, for a total of 12 hours for each full cycle. We timed our visit to arrive an hour after low tide so we could still walk the exposed ocean floor and see the full rock formations, but also be able to stick around for a few hours to see how things changed when the tides came back up. The photo at the top of this page is of the rock formations at Hopewell Rocks.

Because the tides are constantly churning up the water and eroding the cliffs, most of the ocean floor/beach is actually a thick, gooey reddish mud. Our sneakers (and Opie’s feet) were pretty gross after walking around, but fortunately there are a couple of shoe-washing stations in the park. If you visit, just be prepared and don’t wear anything too fancy!

Overall we were a bit underwhelmed by Hopewell Rocks. There wasn’t a lot to see that we hadn’t already seen elsewhere, and at 90 minutes each way it was quite a drive. Another contributing factor was that Opie doesn’t really settle down when we go out… he like to be always-in-motion which is why long hikes are so good with him. Hopewell Rocks is a pretty small place and he quickly got bored. This was also the first place in Canada that we ran into actual crowds, probably because of its fame and proximity to the large city of Moncton, so walking him along crowded paths and staircases required our full attention. If we’d left Opie at home we probably would have stayed longer, been more relaxed, and enjoyed our visit more, but even so, Fundy National Park and the Fundy Trail Parkway are much more our style and are places we’d love to re-visit in the future!

Parting Thoughts

Of all the road signs along the highway, this one gave us the most trouble, and we saw it pretty frequently. I’d say you should make some guesses before checking the answer, but I fear it would be futile (though entertaining, so guess away!):

Logo for a new Star Trek reboot?

We had to look it up. It’s the symbol for the Stonehammer Geopark, because “…the Stonehammer logo recognizes some of the many geological features of the park and the connection between people and geology. The central symbol is the trilobite in honour of one of our best-known fossils”. Yep, that was gonna be my next guess.

Consider yourself educated!

Many of our RVing friends stayed at Acadia for multiple weeks and said they could easily stay for longer and I would agree with them. We stayed for 9 days on the MDI side (popular side) and 7 days on the Schoodic Penninsula (quiet side) and still barely scratched the surface of things to do. Acadia spans 3 different land masses: Mount Desert Island (MDI), the largest area of Acadia which also includes the bustling town of Bar Harbor; Schoodic Penninsula, which includes the Schoodic Research Center; and Isle au Haut, a small island off the coast of Maine only accessible by ferry.

For our MDI stay, we camped at Smuggler’s Den Campground in Southwest Harbor around 30 minutes from Acadia’s Visitor Center. We loved it here even though it’s a little further from the main entrance. Smuggler’s Den snuggles right behind part of Acadia, making it easy to hit a few of the hikes straight from the campground, plus there are multiple other hikes within a quick 10-min car drive. Additionally, the extensive and free Island Explorer bus will pick up directly from the campground and shuttle folks to Bar Harbor and the visitor center, and it’s dog-friendly.

About 12 years ago, my parents went on a 3-month cross country trip in their minivan and loved visiting the many National Parks along their route. They were unable to make it to Acadia during that trip so they came to visit for a few days to explore the park with us. We spent one day driving the 27-mile park loop road stopping at the various points of interest and overlooks. We enjoyed the rocky coastlines and mountain views from Sand Beach (no dogs allowed during peak season but people are always welcome to sun and swim here); visited Thunder Hole, best during high tide to see the water crashing into the small inlet; Otter Cliff; and the summit of Cadillac Mountain. We skipped Jordan Pond due to heavy rain so we missed out on the famous Jordan Pond House popovers. When driving the park loop road, I highly suggest starting early in the morning since parking becomes a challenge and a road rage experiment by late morning/early afternoon. Since the Island Explorer bus stops at all points around the loop (except for Cadillac Mountain), it’s a more serene solution than fighting for parking spots.

We also took a nice morning sailing trip on the Windjammer schooner, Margaret Todd, around Frenchman Bay with gorgeous views of Cadillac Mountain, Dorr Mountain, and the various Porcupine Islands. The thick morning fog burned away quickly and the schooner was able to raise its sails (with help from the passengers) to meander around the bay.

It is Maine, which means be merry and eat lobster. A friend recommended Thurston’s in Southwest Harbor and it did not disappoint. They serve top-notch fresh lobster by the pound and it’s quite delicious. Mike stuck with the burger but the rest of us enjoyed lobster and mussels for lunch. If you’re staying in Southwest Harbor, this is definitely a place to try although it does get crowded. They allow dogs on their patio seating and the restaurant has nice views of the harbor and the various lobster boats. We also ate at Testa’s in Bar Harbor where the food was good but a little pricey (not surprising since it was Bar Harbor) and enjoyed multiple ice creams at Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium. The ice cream is also pricey but delicious. They sell lobster ice cream but as interesting as it sounded, I just couldn’t do it. I prefer my lobster and ice cream as separate entities.

Parking is a challenge in Bar Harbor. There are 2- and 3- hour limit parking areas and unlimited parking on some side streets but they all fill quickly. If you drive into the town, try to get there before 10am to find parking. Otherwise, at the risk of sounding redundant, it’s best to take the Island Explorer bus from either the Acadia Visitor Center or your campground (if the bus is available there).

After my parents’ visit, we still had a few more days on MDI so we made the most of it with hiking and biking around Eagle Lake. Acadia boasts more than 45 miles of carriage roads in and around Acadia which are open to bikers, hikers/dogs, and horse-drawn carriages. Motor vehicles are not allowed, including electric bikes. In the early 1900s, John D. Rockefeller Jr financed and directed the building of the carriage roads which would allow non-motorized vehicles to navigate the island and these roads are still maintained by the park today. The roads are crushed gravel and wind around the lakes, ponds, and forests.

We decided to explore the carriage roads by renting bikes at the Bar Harbor Bike Shop for the day. You can call/email 48-hours in advance to reserves bikes but they also save the majority of their fleet for walk-in customers. We showed up in the morning and were able to snag the last small size bike (for me) and a large for Mike, as they were already out of medium bikes by 10am. There is a Bike Express bus that will shuttle bikers from the Village Green in Bar Harbor to the entrance at Eagle Lake but there is also the option to bike from Bar Harbor to the carriage roads. It’s only about 0.5 miles from the bike shop to the entrance of the carriage trails but it is all uphill and a gasper at that. ‘Course we didn’t realize that until we biked up that hill. We made it huffing and gasping to the carriage roads and biked around Eagle Lake, a 6-mile loop with pretty views of the lake and forests. There are a lot of intersections to various other carriage roads so if you have the interest and stamina (we had the interest not the stamina), there is a lot of other areas to explore. Since we spent the day before on a hike, the loop around Eagle Lake was more than enough for us to handle for one day. In my whiny defense, the loop is not completely flat, there are some tough hills to conquer, and my biking muscles are not as well honed as my hiking muscles (ie my hiking muscles have been beaten into submission, my biking muscles are still quite vocal about their abuse). So after completing the Eagle Lake loop, we headed back to the bike shop (all downhill, yay!) and treated ourselves with lobster & burger (guess who got what) and a non-lobster flavored ice cream cone.

One evening, we also follow the mass of humanity up to Cadillac summit to watch the sunset. We briefly discussed catching the sunrise but broke into hysterical laughter at the thought of waking up at 3:30am. Many folks recommend watching the sunset from Blue Hill Overlook which is located shortly before the summit. Blue Hill overlook faces west while the summit area faces east (better for sunrise views). By the time we got there, the parking lots for the summit and Blue Hill were full so we backtracked and still found a nice area facing west to watch the sunset. It is a beautiful sight and I bet the sunrise must be amazing. If you plan to watch either, just make sure you get to the mountain early to snag parking. The Island Explorer bus does not go up Cadillac Mountain.

After 9 very fast days on MDI, we traveled back off the island and over to the Schoodic Penninsula. As a much smaller part of Acadia, Schoodic Pennisula only gets a few visitors which makes for a more peaceful visit. In 2015, NPS opened a campground right inside Schoodic Woods and Mike was able to snag a nice spot for a week here. It has electric and water but no sewer. Usually that’s not an issue for us since we use the campground showers but oddly the campground does not have any showers available. The campground supplies a list of local businesses that provide showers for a fee, but thankfully our 100-gallon grey holding tank and navy showers made it easy for us to make it for a week without dumping our tanks until the end of our visit. The sites are large and separated by lots of vegetation so there’s a nice feeling of privacy in each site. Carriage roads and hiking paths crisscross the campground and the ubiquitous Island Explorer bus is available here too.

Traveling the East Coast, we’ve had to be wary of ticks everywhere we go. Acadia was not an exception but it was the first place that seemed almost proud of its tick population as one of the NPS passport stamps is the tick! Either that or someone has a rather skewed sense of humor.

We drove the 6-mile one-way loop around the peninsula and enjoyed the views of the coastline. This would be a fabulous bike ride as the one-way loop has two lanes so bikers don’t have to fear for their lives. A friend recommended the Pickled Wrinkle restaurant which serves pickled wrinkles (pickled sea snails). I was (mostly) willing to try the wrinkles but they were unavailable making my decision a lot easier to get the seafood stew instead. We also discovered Chase restaurant with cheap but good eats that many locals seem to patronize. I really liked their Lobster BLT there. After a little over two weeks in Acadia, I do believe I have successfully over-lobstered but it was totally worth it!

Next up, a look at our hiking in Acadia…

Boston Minuteman Campground

Since the campground is so close to the light rail/train station, our original plan was to take the light rail to the subway into Boston for some sight-seeing. After a bit of research, we realized it would cost $50 round-trip for the two of us to make it into the city using public transportation and it would take over an hour to get to Boston (minus any wait time for the train or subway) but would only cost $28 to park up to 12 hours right under Boston Common and take the same amount of time to drive in the car.

Boston Common

People are right about Boston though, the traffic is quite horrendous no matter what time of day and apparently speed limits are more like whispered suggestions, and that’s assuming traffic is moving at all.

Thankfully, we made it unscathed and parked with plenty of time before our Freedom Trail tour. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile path that meanders through downtown Boston with stops at 16 points that are significant to US history, mostly the Revolutionary War. There are audio tours and official guides you can buy if you want to do a self-tour of the trail. We chose to book the “Walk into History Tour” through the Freedom Trail Foundation with a tour guide. The tour is a good price (10% off if you order the tickets online) and we often find a guide can provide a lot more entertaining information than an audiobook or guidebook.

Our guide, Josiah Quincy II (born 1744, and lookin’ good!)

Apparently all the other tourists heard we were doing this tour and decided to do it with us, as we were a ginormous group that had to be split up. I guess as we continue further into summer, crowds will be the norm wherever we go so we’ll just have to get used to it.

Freedom Trail tour guides dress as real historic citizens of Boston who were involved in the Revolutionary War. Our tour guide was Josiah Quincy II, a lawyer who shared a practice with John Adams. After the Boston Massacre, he and Adams were the only ones willing to defend the British soldiers even though it went against their own political beliefs because they felt the soldiers should have fair legal counsel. Quincy and Adams were successful in defending the soldiers and most of them were acquitted. Quincy died of tuberculosis at 31 a week after the American Revolution began.

Old State House, also the site of the Boston Massacre

So Josiah Quincy took us on a tour of American history where we visited places like the Massachusetts State House where the dome is covered with 23-karat gold leaf (the gold leaf was painted over in WW2 to make it harder to spot and bomb from enemy aircraft); the Park Street Church, nicknamed Brimstone Corner due to the smell of sulphur from the gunpowder stored there; Granary Burying Ground, the resting place of Paul Revere, John Hancock, the victims of the Boston Massacre, and many other patriots of the American Revolution; and the site of the Boston Massacre. We covered 11 of the 16 sites and there is an additional North End Tour that will cover 3 more of the sites if interested. Our tour lasted a little over 90 minutes and we thought it was well worth the price.

Granary Burying Ground

After the tour, we grabbed some lunch at the nearby Quincy Market, which is basically a HUGE food court filled with dozens of options, and retraced our steps on the Freedom Trail. We enjoyed the tour but since our guide has a lot of ground to cover in a short time, there’s no dilly-dallying. I like to peruse the sites and read all the plaques so we spent the rest of the afternoon getting a closer look at many of the sites and enjoying the architecture and history of Boston.

Since our campground is pretty small, there isn’t a lot of places to walk Opie; however we did find Great Hill Conservation Area around 12 minutes away with a lake and trail, used as a dog park. We spent a few afternoons there so Opie could get his soak on and enjoy a nice 2 mile stroll through some woods. There are a few other conservation areas closer to the campground but none had water for Opie to swim in and that was just unacceptable… yes, he’s a spoiled spoiled brat.

Great Hill Conservation Area

I also got to meet up with an old college friend who I haven’t seen since college. I’m bummed that I forgot to take a picture but I had to share the experience because his company is working on a flying car! Seriously, how neat is that?!? Technically it’s an airplane that can be driven like a car (the wings fold up) and is street legal. They already have a prototype which I really wanted to see but the timing didn’t work out. Now THAT could make for a very interesting towed behind our RV!

After Boston, we enjoyed a few days visiting family in NH. Mike’s brother Gary is super-handy and installed a 30 amp RV outlet for R2 in his driveway for us. We used much of our time there catching up on RV chores, including a complete wash and wax for R2, deep clean inside, and some minor fixes and tweaks.

Gary and Dee have two german shepherds and their daughter has a cattle dog mix so Opie had a great few days playing chase, fetch, and getting regularly soaked in the kiddie pool in the backyard. Plus Gary and Dee own The Bagel Mill, a bagel/bakery shop in town, and their bagels rock! They boil the bagels (like proper New Yorkers) before baking them to get that perfect consistency. Needless to say, we had fresh bagels every morning and took 18 with us when we left. If our freezer was larger, we would have taken even more! Plus the whoopie pies were SO decadent, I think I’m starting to drool just thinking about the food. Even without the baked goods, it was a fantastic time seeing family!

Just before we got to Rhode Island, we headed to Six Flags New England to get our (second) amusement park fix. Six Flags New England has a fair number of coasters but two are excellent and worth riding both the front and back seats. Luckily the park was nearly empty that day so we were able to ride all the coasters and repeat the two we liked the best: Superman (hypercoaster) and Wicked Cyclone (hybrid steel/wooden coaster). I love catching amusement parks during quiet days!

After Six Flags, we headed to Rhode Island to visit a friend. While she lives in Providence (northeast part of the state) most of the campgrounds near the city had mixed reviews so Mike was able to snag a week at Fishermen’s Memorial State Park in Narragansett, which is about as far south as you can get while staying inside the state. While that sounds far apart, Rhode Island is only 37 miles wide and 48 miles long so it only took 45 minutes to drive to Providence from our campground, plus I liked our campground, it’s peaceful, full of trees, and had good places to walk for Opie. There is an older area with water/electric, two areas with full hook-ups (30 amp) and one area for tents only. We were able to get our site through a late cancellation and even though the Reserve America site said our site was 60 feet long, I think someone did some bad math. R2 and Red BARELY fit into the site and by barely, I mean Red would stick out into the road if we didn’t park sideways and very close to R2.

Narragansett occupies a small strip of land right by Narragansett Bay and feels like a small ocean town. In the summer, it must fill up with families interested in the beaches but we’re still early in the season so it isn’t crowded yet. Unfortunately dogs are only allowed on the beaches here during off-season so no salt-water cavorting for Opie. We did find an easy 1.5 path along the bay called Black Point and ends at Scarborough Beach. The trail is flat and hugs the coastline for some gorgeous views of the water, rocks, sailboats, and expensive homes. We, meaning Opie, were able to find pools of rainwater for his own private swimming holes. We also tried Iggy’s Doughboy and Chowder House, an institution in RI. The clam chowder and clamcakes (fried dough with fresh clams) were wonderful and then finished off with cinnamon/sugar doughboys made my entire night. Since Mike isn’t a fan of seafood, he had to settle for their hamburger instead. We know this will be the ongoing theme as we continue north, I will greedily eat at places for fresh seafood and Mike will have to settle some sort of land food menu item. I feel slightly guilty about it but not enough to stop finding seafood spots.

Roger Williams, being weird.

I found Rhode Island’s history to be quite interesting. Roger Williams founded the first white settlement in RI after being banished from Massachusetts for his religious views. He believed in religious freedom, separation of church and state, treating native Americans fairly, and was a staunch abolitionist. The Puritans considered these to be “new and dangerous ideas” and expelled Roger Williams from the colony. When Williams crossed the Seekonk River into Providence, the Narragansett Indians greeted him with “What cheer, netop?” (what news, friend). In today’s colloquialism it means “What’s up, dude?”. Rhode Islanders have adopted that phrase as their own and its even the motto of Providence. It’s a good story that defines a lot of Rhode Island’s culture: very laid-back and accepting of all.

Williams established a colony free from religious and political persecution and other colonies soon followed. He named his colony Providence “having a sense of God’s merciful providence unto me in my distress.” In 1644 several nearby colonies united to create the “Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”. Rhode Island, where Newport and Portsmouth are located, is now known as Aquidneck Island and plantation was an archaic term for colony, hence the official name. Those in RI seem to revel in being different and odd.

We saw some interesting signs and artwork during our stay. Our friend Cindy took us on a walking tour of Providence, including Brown University grounds which houses a giant blue teddy bear embedded with a desk lamp and a sculpted nut tree with a massive boulder cradled in the branches. While the artists describe the work in grandiose terms, I just enjoyed looking at them.

Providence has an eclectic mix of old and new peppered throughout the city. There are some massive glass and steel skyscrapers mixed in with historic buildings, including an old armory. Providence National Bank built in the 50s, was torn down years ago but the city kept the facade with the hopes of integrating it into a new hotel which never happened. Instead of tearing down the facade, Providence shored up the facade with steel beams so now it’s a very pretty front for a rather plain parking lot behind it.

Our visit coincided with the 4th annual PVDfest. PVDfest is a festival including music, artists, food, culture, and a mini maker faire. Also included was an attempt to break an obscure Guinness record for largest choreographed group Bachata, a Latin-American dance. (see, told you RI is a bit weird). The record was established in 2016 in Greece at 370 dancing couples. PVDfest had 520 couples registered but it takes Guinness a few months to verify the evidence before deciding if the record was broken. We also experienced WaterFire, a sculpture artwork of 80 braziers installed on the three rivers of Providence. Several times a year, aromatic wood is placed into the braziers and set ablaze after dark. Music often accompanies the fires and people can hire gondolas to glide around the fires. The one we experienced was sponsored by the Portugese festival and included many Portugese diplomats, including the president of Portugal!

Cindy also took us to a great bar/arcade called Free Play. There is a $5 charge/person ($10 on fri/sat) but once inside, you can play all the games inside for free. They have over 100 classic arcade games like Frogger, Qbert, Joust, PacMan, SpyHunter, Tempest, Gauntlet, pinball games, air hockey, skee ball and a bar! If we didn’t have a time limit, I think I would still be there playing! If you have a love of old video games, this would be a great place to visit. They don’t allow any backpacks and don’t have any storage spaces so don’t bring any large bags or you can’t get in.

I even got extra bonus fun since Cindy is an avid sewist/sewer/seamstress. She’s fantastic with clothes so we spent a few days sewing and she helped me with pattern alterations that I would not have been able to do myself. I miss craft meet-ups with friends so I had a grand time.

I admit Rhode Island pleasantly surprised me. Narragansett is picturesque and peaceful, a really nice place to stay and enjoy. Providence is a city full of quirky history with a lot of fun places to visit and see. If you don’t have a knowledgeable friend like me, RI Historical Society tours was highly recommended for those interested in the history of Providence. The next time we do come back to RI, I would definitely add a visit to Newport to my list.

NYC isn’t RV friendly (yeah, I know…brilliant observation) so RVers, including us, use Liberty Harbor RV Park as home base. It isn’t pretty (it’s an asphalt parking lot with electric and water hookups) and it’s expensive ($100/night) but it’s convenient to the city. If your tow vehicle doesn’t fit in your site, you will have to pay another $25/night to park in the overflow lot but it looked like almost all sites were able to fit an RV and tow, including us. The RV park is located right on Liberty Harbor in NJ which makes going into NYC very easy.

There are two different ferries and the NJ PATH train nearby, all of which will take you right into the city.

A few ways to get from Liberty Harbor RV Park to New York City

The NY Waterway Ferry leaves from the harbor where the RV park is located, making it the most convenient ride into NYC. From Liberty Harbor, it lands at Pier 11/Wall St right near the Brooklyn Bridge (red line in map above). Unfortunately it is a commuter ferry so it only runs M-F 6am-9:30am and 4pm-10pm. It costs $7 one way for an adult and there is a surcharge to bring a bike aboard.

We used Liberty Landing Ferry for our trips into NYC, arriving at Battery Park/World Financial Center Terminal (yellow line in map above). It departs from Warren St, a 1/2 mile walk from the RV park, and is also $7 one way. For $2, it also stops at Liberty Landing (NJ) right across the harbor, where the Statue of Liberty tours start. We bought a 10-pack of tickets for $55 so our cost was $5.50/adult. Liberty Landing runs seven days a week and leaves about every 30 minutes. Plus they allow dogs, bikes, and strollers for no extra cost. We liked this ferry since it dropped us off on the southwest side of Manhattan, making it easier for us to visit the sites we wanted to go to and it was available on the weekends too.

We used the PATH train a few times since the ferry only runs until 9pm and we had to find an alternate route home. The PATH station is located on Grove St, a 3/4 mile walk from the campground. It’s a longer walk but you pass a Krispy Kreme AND Dunkin Donuts on the way making the walk totally worthwhile (random fact: donuts store well in the freezer). The PATH stops at a couple NY subway stops so it’s easy to transfer to the NY subway. Both the PATH and NY subway cost $2.75/person/trip and use the same metro card. It is also possible to use the same metro card for multiple people. Simply swipe the card for the first person and pass through the turnstile. Then pass the card to the next person and they do the same thing.

Surprisingly we found several places to walk Opie even though we were smack dab in the middle of the city. It’s a mile walk to Liberty State Park from the RV park. There’s a pedestrian walkway right by Jersey Ave and from there we can walk all around the park (no entrance fee). We also found the unofficial off-leash dog park at Morris Canal Park, mostly by accident. It’s a grassy/dirt area with a nice view of the NYC skyline and a small water inlet. Dogs can play in the water and fetch in the grass area. And there’s a pretty walk along the Morris Basin Canal if you walk south on Van Vost St past the harbor where many dogs and owners walked. Unfortunately we also discovered a huge population of deer ticks around the harbor in the tall grasses. We ended up picking 8 off Opie in two days AND found 4 dead ones around his bed and ours. Thank goodness for his Seresto collar as all the ticks were either dead or dying. Needless to say, my skin had phantom itches for days!

Since the RV park is crowded and expensive, we had to make the most of the few days we were staying. We visited the 9/11 memorial and museum which is sobering and brought memories crashing back. There are free audio tours you can either download directly to your phone or rent at the front desk. Make sure you bring headphones if you download it to your phone. The memorial is free but the museum requires tickets, which you can buy there or online. While the museum is well-done and I’m glad we experienced it, it didn’t have the same type of impact on me as other places like the WW2 and Civil War museums. We experienced 9/11 and all its after-effects, the museum didn’t teach me anything new but it is emotionally haunting and powerful. The events of 9/11 is still real and raw, I know the history and ramifications of that day whereas the WW2 and Civil Rights were before my time and the museums allow us to delve deeper into their history and gain new knowledge.

“Reflecting Absence” 9/11 memorial comprise the footprints of the Twin Towers, symbolizing the loss of life and the physical void left by the attacks.

We had to also visit some fun places so I dragged Mike to Mood Fabrics, a huge fabric store in the garment district showcased in Project Runway. I was very good and only subjected Mike to 30 minutes of intense browsing before leaving empty-handed! Since I abstained while at Mood, I treated myself by visiting Economy Candy so my candy addiction could be satiated. So much candy not enough credit cards!

Mood Fabrics

NYC has a lot of greenery located throughout the city. With so much noise, people, and (ahem) interesting smells, we decided to experience the calmer, greener side. After weeks of rain, NY finally received a nice day on Saturday, so apparently half of the population felt the same way, making it a tad crowded at the parks.

The High Line, a very neat elevated park cutting through NYC

We visited the High Line, a 1.5 mile long elevated linear park that was built on a defunct railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan. There’s a nice easy walking surface for pedestrians with various trees, plants, flowers, a neat water feature where you can dip your toes in, and benches to relax on. Lots of folks will stop at the Chelsea market to pick up a picnic lunch to eat on the High Line. It’s a gorgeous park but it does get crowded, especially on weekends and nice days. Oh, and dogs are not allowed on the High Line.

Up on The High Line, away from the city traffic

We also met up with family near Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village so we strolled through the park, gawked at the Washington Square Arch, watched kids and dogs splash in the fountain, and enjoyed a gentleman playing Moonlight Sonata on a Grand Piano. It’s probably a great spot to just hang out and people-watch all day but we still had to hit Central Park.

Washington Square Park

Central Park is gigantic (850 acres) and we barely walked a quarter of the length. You can rent bikes but you can only ride them on the main road, not the paths. We decided to just walk the paths and see some of the sights although if we come again, we’d take a guided bike tour to see everything that Central Park has to offer. We did make it as far north as the Conservatory Water to watch people sailing model boats across the water. Model sailing is taken very seriously and we saw some really beautiful boats stored in the Kerbs Boathouse right next to the water. I’d love to see a serious race here, it must be an amazing sight!

Remote controlled sailboats in Central Park

We also visited Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty but since we had a Broadway show the same afternoon, we were crunched for time and only had a chance to do a cursory visit. They do have a large parking lot which costs $7/car. With all our walking in NYC, we didn’t want to walk from the RV park and the ferry would have cost $8 total roundtrip so we paid to park in the lot. We briefly visited the Immigration Museum at Ellis Island and ferried to the Statue of Liberty but that’s all we had time to do. If we visit again, we would sign up for the 90 minutes Hard Hat tour of the Ellis Island immigrant hospital and spend at least 4-5 hours visiting the Ellis Island Museum using the free audio tour guide. If you plan to visit Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty, you should get tickets in advance, especially since the the specialized tours (Crown, Pedestal, Hard Hat) sell out in advance, sometimes up to 6 months!

Lastly we had to hit a Broadway show in NY. Before we went, I asked friends for recommendations and it really sounded like there was no bad Broadway show. From Wicked, Book of Mormon and Hamilton to Kinky Boots and the Play that Goes Wrong, everyone seemed to enjoy the shows. Since Mike and I have never seen a show on Broadway, we decided to go for the classic Wicked. It’s been on Broadway for 15 years and it’s well-loved. A few friends recommended stopping at the one of the TKTS booths where people can find 40-50% off Broadway tickets for same day shows. You can search their website to see what is currently available but you do have to buy them at the physical booth locations. Since we had limited time and didn’t want to gamble on a show or seats, we just bought them online in advance. TKTS is a great idea for someone who has the flexibility (or an adventurous nature) but we couldn’t take advantage of it this time.

Needless to say, after our packed weekend of things to do, see, and eat, we’re exhausted. NYC really is quite an experience and like no other city we’ve visited. There is something for everyone to do. The subway is the best way to get around but remember to download a subway map so you know which line to take and where to go. Google maps became our best friend while we were in the city. We also had to be really careful about transit times. If it takes 40 minutes to get from Point A to Point B, we had to allocate at least an hour in case we missed the ferry or a train. Driving in the city is tough but parking looks near to impossible (or just really really expensive). If possible, stick with the subway and ferries and wear really comfortable shoes.

We could easily spend a full month in NYC and (other than going broke) still not see everything. It’s an amazing city and I understand why people love (and hate) it.