We spent the rest of the week in New Jersey. We did Atlantic City on Thursday. It was interesting, but not our favorite stop. Plus, we both lost money at the casino. The Trump Taj Mahal is cool looking from the outside, but we decided all casinos look and sound the same once you get inside. The boardwalk was neat, but there were quite a few down & out people. Oh yea, we took the train into Atlantic City too. We are in Cape May, NJ. Very pretty, historic Victorian town. One of the prettier towns we have been in. Today we are taking the ferry boat from here to Lewes, Delaware. Then onto Ocean City, Maryland. Then Chad & Carlynn's in Richmond, VA.

Comments from Eldon & Larry: None - they are relaxing back at the campsite. I'm outside at the camp office hot spot - beautiful weather by the way!

Gee, we're getting good at riding trains into cities. Today we took the train into the historic area of Philadelphia. The station was about 20 minutes from our campground. Highlights of the day were the Liberty Bell and seeing the actual chair that George Washington sat in when signing the Declaration Of Independence. All the sites are close together and nicely run by the National Park Service. Commercialism has been kept out it. (the chair picture is George's chair)

Comments from Eldon: You could feel the history - from the architecture to the streets to the monuments. Everything was free too - our best tax dollars are to the National Parks. The Philly cheese steak was as good as I've heard.

Comments from Larry: Once again, spent the day in the container. They let me out when they get to the campground at night - whoop-de-doo - too many dogs around this one.

The plan for New York City worked out perfect. Easy train ride to Grand Central Station, a few block walk to Times Square, hop on a double decker tour bus, see all the famous sites, hop off at Battery Park, ferry around the Statue of Liberty, hop back on the bus, see more famous sites, take the train back, back at the camper 10:30. It was fun to see all the things you read and see about New York City - what a lot of people though. We are in New Jersey near Philadelphia. Now that we're pros - we are taking the train into Philly tomorrow. Hope that is as successul!

Comments from Eldon: I enjoyed New York much better than L.A. It is a walkable, enjoyable city. I wouldn't say I LOVE New York, but I LIKED it.

Comments from Larry: I think these guys are seeing how long I can stay alone in a container. At least the campsites are nice. Last night I was in New Jersey black bear country - lucky for the bears, we didn't run into each other.

Yesterday we spent most of the day at Old Mystic. It is a reproduction of 1800's fishing & whaling area. My main impression was the whaling men were a brave bunch - those whaling boats that went out with the harpoons from the bigger ship were tiny. We are now near New Haven, Connecticut. Rainy, windy weather so we took our first whole day off and stayed in today. Tomorrow we are taking the train into New York City. The campground owners assured us it is pretty simple. It's a nearly 2 hour ride in; the train will drop us at Grand Central Station. Will let you know tomorrow night or Sunday how it goes!

Comments from Eldon: Just hoping we pull this New York City thing off - as Missy said, I need to wear my tennis shoes because people will be walking all over me........

Comments from Larry: Glad for a day of NO travel. I'm in a woods by a trout stream - too bad it's raining.

Staying at a KOA tonight in Mystic, Connecticut. KOA's always have Internet, so I'm all set. Plymouth Rock was not that big........it is more symbolic than anything. It wasn't even the first place the Pilgrims landed and they didn't engrave the 1620 into the rock until 1800. The National Monument of the Forefathers was totally cool - we never heard of it before, they don't advertise it much. Why they didn't put it by Plymouth Rock, we don't know, but it is a cool statue. It was done by the same guy who did the Statue of Liberty. We went to Cape Cod next. It is a peninsula - the whole boot that sticks out of Massachusetts. Provincetown in the very tip is where we spent the night. It was the whaling center in the 1700 and 1800's - now a popular whale watching place and tourist mecca. The National Seashore takes up most of the peninsula. Today we went to Newport, Rhode Island. We toured the Breakers - the Vanderbilt mansion. Wow----talk about wealth. More than 70 rooms and they had 40 servants. The tour was cool and glad it was saved in the 1940's from destruction. It is maintained now from tourist dollars and some of the Vanderbilts still vacation in part of it. We did the Cliff Walk. On one side is the Atlantic Ocean and the other the Newport mansions.

Comments from Eldon: Plymouth Rock was not real impressive. I thought the Pilgrims would have found a bigger rock to land on. The Mayflower tour was interesting; I can't believe 102 people with animals crossed the Atlantic in that little boat. Cape Cod reminded me a bit of the U.P. - beautiful driving. Newport was the epitome of foofoo. The opulence of the rich is unbelievable. Between the marble mansions, the America Cup races and the polo -give me a break.

Comments from Larry: Things are better since we left the Haunted Campground. Provincetown was relaxing and Mystic is just as good. What is it with humans and Halloween, anyway? Black cats are THAT scary.

On Friday we traveled to Gloucester, Massachusetts. This is fishing village where the Perfect Storm was filmed. It is working, fishing community - they don't really try to capitalize on the movie. We didn't do New Hampshire justice - we just drove along the coast and New Hampshire doesn't have much coast. Yesterday went to Boston. We were smart tourists and took the ferry from Salem to Boston. In Boston, we walked the Freedom Trail and took the trolley. It worked out fine and we didn't have to do any city driving. We stayed in Gloucester 2 nights. Today we planned to go the Witch Museum and the Maritime National Historic Landmark in Salem. Salem was absolutely packed. Guess October is a great time for a city that capitalizes on the witch theme. The line was down the street to get in the Witch Museum and we couldn't find any where to park for the Maritime. So we ditched Salem and traveled to Plymouth via the Boston Grand Prix Route, as Eldon calls it. It was time to do mega laundry and clean house (boy is that easy!) We have to include pictures of our campsite - this family friendly campground is really in to Halloween. These pictures show the campsite next to us. Tomorrow is Plymouth Rock and Cape Cod. Comments from Eldon: Gloucester was exactly what I expected - a very cool old fishing port. I saw many boats similar to the Andrea Gail and the Hannah Boden. These were the boats in Perfect Storm and also went to the Crows Nest which was the sailors bar in the Perfect Storm. Since I'm a fan of the book and the movie, this made my day. Boston was interesting. Paul Revere's home is the only remaining wood house in historic Boston.Comments from Larry: Cindy & Eldon promised me a wooded campsite; they failed to mention it was haunted. This campground is spooky! Tomorrow I see Plymouth Rock where the first cat landed in America (so Eldon says).

Looks like we can't do pictures tonight - maybe tomorrow.

Eldon took this shore picture from the couch in the camper.

Yesterday was "Maine-ly" a rainy, driving day. We did stop at Red's Eats for a world famous lobster roll in Wiscasset. The sandwich had more lobster in it than our whole lobsters at the lobster bake. We've both decided we've had enough seafood for the time being (tonight in the camper Zatarain's Red Beans & Rice was served). We went to the L. L. Bean store in Freeport. Now that is a bigggg place. Today we traveled from Freeport to Portland to the Portland Head Light, one of the countries oldest lighthouses. We also stopped at Kennebunkport. A pretty little town but oh so rich. Wow, talk about big beach houses.............Tonight we are staying at York Beach. The campground is on the beach. We are in the back row because ocean front was over $80.00. Still had a nice beach walk when the tide was out. Since most of Maine's coast is rocky, this sand beach is very popular. We plan to leave Maine tomorrow, probably just drive through New Hampshire, and head for Gloucester and Salem Massachusetts.

Comments from Eldon: I am a very lucky person. I wake up every day to more new and mostly beautiful places. I owe Karma. The lobster roll yesterday was to die for, but believe it or not, I'm about as lobstered up as possible. I'm looking forward to a thick, juicy cheeseburger. But that would be sacreligious on the East Coast, so I guess I'll have fish and chips. Tough life.........

Comments from Larry: This ocean site is too close to the road and I hate cars, especially after riding all day. But the view out the window is nice and Eldon's lap is cozy. I might owe Karma too.

Acadia National Park is another winner. The rugged, rocky Maine coast is very picturesque. (Brenda, if you want to paint vistas; this could be the place for you!) The beautiful weather added to the day - I even wore shorts. We took the shuttle around the park. We could get off wherever we wanted and hop back on. We packed a lunch and ate at Sand Beach. It was the only place on the ocean that wasn't rocky. The sand was coarse and the water was ice cold. In late afternoon, we went into the quaint town of Bar Harbor. It was very busy as a huge cruise ship was in. Cruise ship people can fill up a small town in a big way. We decided to try a Maine lobster bake for supper. You sit at picnic tables with others and they serve it in all in a big pan (like a cake pan). A good end to a good day.

Comments from Eldon: Acadia was very scenic with the rugged coast line. More rugged than the West Coast but the views weren't as spectacular. It would have been cooler had I seen this before the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but this was beautiful nonetheless. Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak, is only just over 1,500 feet (no altitude issue there). The lobster dinner was succulent - you get to pick out your own lobster - 2.75 pounder had my name on it - it was huge and tasty.

Comments from Larry: I spent the day in the camper. But I found a spot of sunshine and was cozy for my long nap.

Having trouble with pictures - will try again.......

So, we're first in line at the ferry yesterday. We're listening to the radio, just killing time. When Eldon starts the truck to get on, the truck won't start. So..............we got a jump. He left the truck running as long as we could until boarding. We were the last ones on. We enjoyed the 3 hour ride, even saw some porpoises playing near the ship and a beautiful sunset. We mistakenly assumed the battery would be charged, but no, wrong, we had to get another jump and were the last ones off the ferry. Eldon thinks we got more for our money as we were on the ship the longest. Larry didn't think so. Since we needed a new battery and we do not appreciate Canadian prices and taxes, we decided to drive into Calais, Maine last night. For the first time ever, we were Walmart campers (if you can call it camping). There were about 7 other campers in RV row. Not really our idea of camping, but it worked it out. At 8:15 (yes, Eldon was ready to go at 8:15), he had the Walmart guy give us a jump and by 10:15, we had our new battery and made our way to Bar Harbor. Tomorrow we check out Acadia National Park, which should be beautiful. And we might have to eat lobster again, because we haven't tried Maine lobsters yet. The pictures are mainly of our different campsites along the way and the ferry sunset and a salmon farm.
Comments from Eldon: Murphy's law with the battery; what could go wrong, did go wrong with the battery. But it all worked out and I discovered Walmart campers are cheap but friendly. A couple acted offended I didn't ask them for a jump. Maine is looking good and I'm looking forward to Acadia tomorrow for another notch on my national park belt.
Comments from Larry: I don't like Walmart camping - too much concrete. I don't like ferry boat rides either. They stuck me in the bottom of the boat by a fishy smelling semi-truck - plus the noise was scary.

This will be a short one since I'm at the campground office. No pictures since I don't have my camera with me and no comments from Eldon and Larry. They will have to catch up later. Yesterday was mainly a driving day through central Nova Scotia. Pretty drive, but we missed the coast. The bad thing was the horrific wind. It lasted all night long too. We didn't sleep much because we were being shook around. Felt like I was in the perfect storm.

Sunday - got disconnected yesterday. Will make this short too as we are ready to leave campground. We are catching the 4:00 ferry today as yesterdays was cancelled due to a mechanical problem. Digby is in the Fundy Bay, so it has the major tide fluctuation too. Pretty interesting. Made fresh scallops in the camper last night -yum - and I didn't think I liked them before. They say Digby has the major scallop catch in the world. That's it for now...................