Hartland NY - Erie Canal

We're in New York, near Niagara Falls. We'll be going there tomorrow. This is from the side of the Erie Canal. This part of New York is really pretty. Very bucolic.

Boston - And an Ear Infection

Tuesday I had a slight earache - figured it was swimmer's ear and gave it some drops. Wednesday it was worse, and got much worse as the day progressed. Last night I felt like someone had taken an ice pick to my ear. Plus, it was full of fluid. If I held my nose tightly and blew gently (like you would to equalize pressure on an airplane) Jim could hear my ear squeaking across the room. So, this morning it was off to the ER. It's not swimmer's ear, it's an inner ear bacterial infection. I can not believe how bad this hurts. Vicodin is my new friend.
So, my beloved is at the grocery store without me. A line of T-storms is going through the area, and we're leaving in the morning. So, that is all from Bean Town.

Boston - Touring

Whee-doggies it was warm again today. We did a trolley tour which was good. Then we had lunch. Lobster rolls and Pellagrino Orange soda. Really good.

After lunch we did the inner harbor boat tour. This is Boston from the water. Today we learned that 65% of Boston is built on fill, and that there used to be 3 hills, now there is only one. The other two were leveled to make fill. Reminds me of Seattle and the Denny Regrade.


I did not get good pictures today, we're going back tomorrow to see Old Ironsides and more Boston. Maybe they'll be better.

Boston MA - Big Dig and Russo's

Well, I have spent the last two months bitching and moaning about it's too cold, it's too wet; now I'm complaining about it's TOO HOT! Boston started a heat wave the day we got here. Today it hit 96 degrees with a lot of humidity. We wimped out on sight seeing and took a drive in the nice air conditioned truck. We drove up into Boston just to see what we'd see on I93, which was part of the Big Dig. If you're not familiar with the project, it's pretty amazing. It took 14 years to do, it involved tunneling under rivers and the subway system, all while keeping the elevated highway it replaced up and running. Every support structure for the elevated highway was in the way of the new tunnel. This is a before and after shot, after is better.


The bridge is also new, I love this style of bridge. They look like art.


So, after seeing the bridge we decided to head back south, via Russo's Marketplace. I have never seen so many vegetables and cool stuff in one place. They have cheese (Jim was ecstatic, more stinky cheese), a deli, prepared food to take home when it's too hot to cook (did I mention it's really hot?) and the bakery. Oh! the bakery! I love a good grocery store, if you're ever in the Boston area, do go.
There are many plants and flowers.




Four types of eggplant.

Lobster mushrooms.

It's a really cool store. JB at Urban Drivel suggested it, and I am heartily glad she did.

Tomorrow the plan is to get up and take the commuter train in to the South Station. From there we will walk to the Boston Harbor Hotel and we will climb aboard a Beantown Trolley. It's one of those narrated tours that you can get off of when you want to, or not. The uninterrupted tour is 2 hours. Duration will also depend on how hot it gets.

Maine - Acadia Park and Bar Harbor

Yesterday we drove down to Acadia National Park. On the way down it was interesting to see a steady stream of traffic going north. We looked at each other wondering if it would get worse as the day went on (it was already pretty terrible), or what. The lady at the Visitor's Center told us it's the vacation pattern, people come for the week and leave Saturday morning. There would be a corresponding people surge that afternoon in the opposite direction.
Acadia National Park is on the Mount Desert Island. Champlain named it that because there's not a lot of vegetation at the top of the island. We went to the restaurant at Jordon Pond in the park. It was quite good. The patio of the restaurant looks out over this view of the lake. It is said to be the clearest lake in Maine and is the water source for the full time inhabitants of the island.


There were frogs and tadpoles. The tadpoles were in various stages of becoming frogs. Speaking of frogs, there was an interesting piece on CBC the other night on what is causing a global decline in amphibian populations. It's pretty chilling. An article discussing it is here.



There are 45 miles of carriage trails through the park. They were built by John D Rockefeller because he wanted a place to ride. This is the old carriage house.


We drove up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. It's about a 1500 foot elevation. There were several people on bicycles riding up it. The view from the top is spectacular.



Then, it was on to the tourist mecca that is Bar Harbor. It was everything we thought it would be. Cute, very very cute.



There are many shops catering to the tourists.


The Harbor Inn.


Big expensive boats in the harbor.


The sailboat on the left is a Swan. She's a beautiful boat, she'll go any where you want to go. Jim thinks she's a Swan 82 Semi -Raised Saloon.


Is that a cool little boat or what?


Working boats.

On the way back to the RV we stopped for a half pound of lobster meat and a tub of crab meat. Really really good, and no dissection required on my part. Tomorrow we're up and out, heading for Boston.

New Brunswick - Bay of Fundy

Greetings! I now have enough bandwidth to display the sights of New Brunswick. We stayed in an RV park in Moncton. There are many seasonal people, and some of them have just done a bang up job of putting in decks and landscaping. These people were across the aisle from us, and had a lovely little encampment.

Wednesday we went to Hopewell Rocks which is on the Bay of Fundy. This particular section of the bay is known as the Chocolate River. The tide goes out in about 3.5 hours. It's very impressive how quickly it moves in and out. The interpretative center said that basically the bay is a washing machine with all that water moving up and down in the bay. The Hopewell rocks formations are known as the Flowerpots. At high tide the water will be at the level of the wide part at the base of the rock. When the water comes back in, people run out and kayak in the area.


This is a picture from the web of the water coming up.


Lot's o'beach available.




This is why it's called the Chocolate River. People came back just covered in mud.


This is from another view point. Pay attention to the water level.


This is the same overlook about 75 minutes later, water has come back.


After the Hopewell Rocks we headed out the Acadian coastal scenic route. It was spectacular. This is a beach we stopped at on the way to Cape Enrage.



This is the Atlantic Ocean, no shore breaking waves! It's really interesting, any water movement is due to tidal surge.


The lighthouse at Cape Enrage. This shape is called a square taper.


And this is the fog horn.


We could see Nova Scotia from the lighthouse. That expanse of Canada is essentially uninhabited. It's just amazing how much of Canada doesn't have people all over it.


Looking up the coast.




We walked down to the beach to look (unsuccessfully) for fossil rocks, there's a company that harnesses people up to rappel off the cliff. It looked like fun.


This is representative of much of New Brunswick. Really bucolic.




Thursday we went to the grocery store in Moncton. We were looking at a bag of cheese curds and we asked the deli lady if that was the cheese used in poutine. She said yes, that's what was used in Quebec poutine, in their pitiful version; but that they had real Acadian poutine. So, what could we do, we had to buy a poutine rapee. The outer layer is grated and mashed potatoes mixed together, the center is salt pork that has been soaked and then minced. The poutines are shaped and then boiled for 3 hours. Not to dis-respect another culture's food, but I gotta believe this is an acquired taste.

So, we're in Bangor, Maine. We're going to nip down to Bar Harbor and the coast line. We have internet and 65 cable channels. Woo-HOO!