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Writer's pictureTravis

Weeks 6-8: New Hampshire, Maine, and Cape Cod, MA

October 6

Day 37:


Today was an adventure day. We didn’t get out of the RV this brilliant day unitl1:00, but we drove to Lake Winnipesaukee. I had to go there because it is in the movie What About Bob. It was about an hour drive southeast of where we are staying. It’s a beautiful lake. It kind of reminds me of a mix between Lake Minnetonka and Door County. The town we were in was Meredith. A cute town with a walking sculpture  tour. We went down to the lake and Jen recorded me saying a bunch of quotes from the movie.


October 7

Day 38:


Work day. Girls did their school and Jen took Aela to some caves. Eva stayed back with me. 

*Jen's editorial note: Eva and Aela were absolutely sick of each other so I took Aela to hike at the Lost River Gorge.


October 8

Day 39:

  The girls were off exploring while I spent the day working. They went to Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park about a sculptor in New Hampshire and then went to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont. 


October 9

Day 40:


My third day of work this week and my last, because we are going to need an extra day of travel. We decided that I would take off Thursday and Friday for travel. I think we are going to break up the trip to Acadia into two days of driving so I don’t have to drive 5.5 hours through the mountains in one day. 


October 10

Day 41:


Moving day. We are off to Maine. But the trip to Acadia is too far to drive in one day, so we are stopping tonight at an alpaca farm. So long to a wonderful, spacious site. But at least for tonight, the harvest host is amazing. We are so fortunate to stay at these amazing places. 


Misty Acres Alpaca Farm. The owner, Red, was a very hospitable host. We backed our rig right next to the barn. Red offered his outlet so we could plug in rather than running off our generator. Then he let us go into the barn and feed the alpaca. 


He told us that he owned his own construction company until he was 58. Then he “retired” and bought the alpaca farm where he has been for 19 years. He is now 77 and still works the farm every day. 


After the sun went down, out came the northern lights. Wow!  Half the sky was filled with color. 



October 11

Day 42:


Moving day…from the alpaca farm to Acadia. Today we drove from Misty Acres Alpaca to Timberland Acres RV Park. The girls are excited because their aunties are coming tonight at around  11 pm. 


The park is the opposite of the last park we we at. The last park was in the woods and spaced out so far that it was difficult to see the other campers. But here, the sites are right next to each other and there are no trees. The one nice part of this RV park is that it is right next to Acadia. 


The aunties arrived and everyone was excited to see other familiar faces.  


October 12


Day 43:



There is a lot to do this weekend. The aunties are only here for three days and they want to make the most of it. We got up early and got out of the camper by 9:00 to get to our timed entrance for Cadillac Mountain. We drove to the top and walked around for about an hour or so. What a view. You could pretty much see the whole area from there. 


Our next stop was Sand Beach. I think the girls liked that spot the best because they could run around on the beach, skip rocks, look for sea shells and get their feet wet. They would have spent the entire day there if they could. It took some time to get there. The road was at a complete standstill. Cars lined up for what seemed a mile. That was at least a half hour we aren’t getting back. We found the place to park and decided that it was better to leave the car there for the afternoon. After the beach we hiked about a mile to Thunder Hole where the waves crash and the splash shoots up high in the air. Unfortunately the waves were small and we didn’t get to experience the thunder. 


October 13


Day 44:



Today was more exploring around Acadia. Our first adventure was a Lobster Boat ride out in the bay. We first got to see how they harvest lobster and then off to an island where there were seals.


Next we went to the tide pools where we walked out on the rocky shores to find items in the girls junior ranger book. We found live crab and lots of snails…lots of snails. There are so many snails that every step we crushing several of them. Crunch, crunch with every step. We all felt so bad.


Our last destination for the day was Jordan Pond. We wanted their famous popovers. But when we got there, they said they weren’t selling them to-go. The restaurant required us to sit down and eat a dinner. We didn’t want that. Just the popovers. 


October 14

Day 45:


Just another work day. It rained all day. Overcast and gloomy, the girls went to Bar Harbor to shop while I had meetings all day. 


October 15

Day 46:


Work day for me and school for the girls. The aunties left today. After a busy weekend, it was decided to spend the day around the RV. Jen made a delicious mushroom soup for dinner. 


October 16

Day 47:


Work day. Nothing notable happened today. Just work. Girls did school and then they spent the day at the Oceanarium and Education Center in Bar Harbor. They also had a Zoom meeting with their class. 


October 17

Day 48:


Work day. Jen took the girls to Sieur de Monts Nature Center and the Wild Gardens in Acadia. After work, we had to get our stuff ready for the move tomorrow. I noticed that Maine was a little chillier, windier, and rainier than the other places we have been. So, the girls didn’t ride their bikes once during our stay here. 


October 18

Day 49:


Moving day. Today we are heading down the coast to Massachusetts. We are going to be staying on Cape Cod. But the trip is about 7 hours of driving, so we are breaking it up into two days. Tonight we are staying at a brewery in Lyman, ME called Funky Bow Brewery. They had an area for several RVs to stay. We got the only spot that would fit us. The brewery has a dog rule that allows dogs to roam around without a leash. The girls tried to be around them with an open mind, but that didn’t last long. We got a beer and headed back to our rig.


The night was going to drop below freezing, so we had to plan accordingly for how we were going to deal with it. We were not hooked up to any utilities. So, we set up our generator and used the remote to start it every couple of hours through the night to keep our batteries topped-off. The batteries run our tank heater and the fans on the propane heat system. 


In the end, it all worked. We stayed warm. Hope we didn’t annoy the other people around us in the middle of the night with our loud generator. 


October 19


Day 50:


Off to Cape Cod. Today is about a three hour trip (with stops…about four hours). The place we are headed allows us to check in around 2:00. Leaving the brewery around 10:00am, we will get there right on time. Coming from the north and heading south to the cape, we had three options to get around Boston.  There is the straight shot through the city, the first ring around, and the very large second ring going all the way around. Funny thing…they all had the same travel time. Must be the traffic. So, we decided to take I495 around, hoping to avoid lots of traffic while driving our big rig. Well, on the north end of the loop the traffic was really bad. I felt like we were driving through Chicago during rush hour. How? What? It was Saturday. Oh, well. Settle in for the ride. The good part of the road was that I could sit in the middle lane and not have to worry about changing lanes in traffic for a good 80 miles. By the time we got around to the south side of Boston the traffic was a lot less. 


Arriving at our destination we always get nervous. What is this place going to be like? How hard is it going to be to park the rig?  Are we going to get a strong internet signal? Are we going to be parked around annoying people?  After getting parked, I will say that we are pleasantly impressed. Nice wooded setting, spacious sites. Nice weather. Good internet. I am hopeful that this stay will be pleasant. 


October 20


Day 51:




Our first full day in Cape Cod, we are going to explore the area. We took our bikes and went to Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond Visitor Center. From the information center to the shoreline is 1.6 miles and we rode our bikes to Coast Guard Beach. While at the beach, we saw a seal swimming in the waves. 



October 21

Day 52:


Work day. Nothing special today. Just a regular day around our camp. The girls got the day off as Jen pulled some resources together to restructure how the girls school is done. 


October 22

Day 53:


Work day. Jen met with one of her friends, Kim, that lives in the area and they all went out to do some more exploring at Bristol Beach.


October 23

Day 54:


Work day. The girls did their school work and after wanted to show me the playground. There is a Gaga ball court, soccer field, inflatable bouncy mat, and play set. Every time the girls bring me to the park, the inflatable bouncy mat is deflated. So sad. We will try tomorrow. 


When it got dark, we started a fire and tried to make a blueberry crumble in our cast iron pot over the fire. It was fine, I just added too much sugar to the blueberries and it took a little longer to cook it. 


October 24

Day 55:


Last day of work for the week. I am taking off work on Monday, so it will be a four-day weekend. The girls went to Nauset Beach, which is where the lighthouse from the Cape Cod chips is located.


October 25

Day 56:

 

This is the first day of my four day weekend.  What to do…what to do.  Well, we decided to take it easy in the morning.  We have been going, going, going.  it’s nice to not rush today.  But there are things to do.  We had an empty propane tank and we needed to get it filled.  I called the front desk at the park and they don’t fill propane here. Argh.  So, I hunted around and found a place, Taylor Rental.  They do propane refills.  Nice. 


After that, we decided to drive up to Provincetown.  It’s at the end of Cape Cod.  The very tip.  Also, we were going to go to Plymouth Rock until we found out that the place is kinda cheesy and not even the first place that the pilgrims stopped.  They actually stopped in Provincetown first before venturing off to Plymouth.


Our first stop in Provincetown was the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum. It has a great museum that talks about the history of the town as well as the history of the native people who lived here first.


The tower could be climbed to the top for a great view of the surrounding area.  Everyone started up the tower, but shortly it became apparent that it was too high and the girls insisted on going down.  Jen was the one who was able to get to the top to get the great view.  Ask her for the pictures.  I sat at the base and played games with the girls.



After the climb we took the elevator down the side of the hill to the lower part of town and had a late lunch (3:00) at this great place down by the water called The Canteen.  The girls got to play down by the water for a bit until the food arrived.  Of course Jen and I had to get Lobster Rolls.  


We had to walk of all that wonderful food with a nice hike back up the hill to our car for a short drive over to Race Point Beach where we played in the sand until the sun went down.  We saw a few more seals playing in the waves just off shore.  




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