Lexington, KY

September 29, 2012

Since back in the US, we have traveled through western New York then down through Ohio visiting friends and family.  Thanks friends and family for all your warm welcomes!!!  We are now in Lexington, KY and I just love it here.    We are visiting Rick and Kim and the kids are hitting it off.  Eli is teaching Phillip lots of things on the iPad and Gwen and Emmy are out in the RV watching movies.  Rick is testing out vegan eating for a month so I am no longer the outlier in a family of meat-eaters.  And I am eating all the wonderful vegan meals Rick is cooking up. Go for it Rick!

Kim was a big organizer behind the Fall Festival at Eli and Emmy's elementary school that we all attended last night.  Wow - it was fun and the kids loved the bouncy, games and pony rides.  Yesterday, Neal and I and the kids took a bike ride to the Horse Park - we watched a horse jumping competition and pet horses.  Mostly, we are enjoying our time with Rick and Kim, Eli and Emmy.  Lexington is a wonderful, well rounded city with lots to do.  We like it here.

We are thinking about our next move.  I am feeling good about the South.  It was getting cold in NY; at night going down into the 40s.  Here the temps are still pleasant and we don't need to put on the heat. Campgrounds are still very active.  We're thinking about Tennessee next and then east to North Carolina and the outer banks.  Then taking the coast down from there.

We've put 3600 miles on the RV and been on the road for two months.

Missing everyone in CT!!!

We have been taking pictures and will post as soon as we get them uploaded.

Gwen Gersony September 2012

Back in the USA!!!!!

September 18, 2012

It’s raining and our experience now tells us, rainy days are good for driving. We have come a long way today.  We started out our day well north of Montreal and are now in Ontario, continuing to follow the St. Lawrence river southwest.  This is becoming a story of the St. Lawrence.  Again, a very different feel here around the Montreal area.  More urban and familiar.  We see many US stores including a couple of Walmarts.   (There are Walmarts everywhere we have traveled in Canada for anyone wondering.)  This is a large highway with little personality  so we aren’t getting the local flavor.

We are ambivalent about where to stay now, stop at a Walmart (they allow you to park your RV overnight) or find a campground.  I’m leaning toward campground.  One last hurrah for Canada.  We’re also both thinking expediency.  We want to get down to Watertown to see family.  We decide to go over to the local road at Cornwall in Southern Ontario.  I’m driving.  This is our first town outside of Quebec and our last town of Canada. It has a different feel to it - industrial town that has seen better days, but I’m glad to be out of Quebec.  It feels more like the States.  We try to avoid the center of town with our big RV and end up going right threw it.  We see children clutching parents’  hands pouring out of a dance class, warm sweaters over pink toile  - laughing and prancing.  This is probably the image I’ll remember of the small town.  It feels good to see such a familiar image.

We leave town and it’s getting dark.  We’re anxious to find something now.  Neal checked ahead on the internet and we know there are plenty of campgrounds around.  We see a campground advertised - open through October 5th.  “Here! “ I say. “Good!” says Neal. We turn down the road and into what appears to be a provincial park along the river. Now we know the US is just across the river! 

The road takes us over a bridge to an island.  That will be nice, an island!   But the island ends and we take another bridge to another island; then another!  Each island has manicured areas, soccer fields, shuttered buildings, closed gates.  And the islands continue on.  We pull over when we see a building with a light on but find no one.  This place has an abandoned feel to it.  On the very next island we find the campground!  And it’s beautiful.  Filled with RVs and some tents.  We pick a spot near the water - our GPS indicates the RV is half in Canada, half in the US!


Next day to Upper Canada, a reenactment village.  Here are some pictures: 

Upper Canada Village

Boarders have been a striking feature throughout the trip.  How can something so human made and arbitrary, create so many differences?  We could swim over to the US in minutes and find a different  currency, culture, communications and legal system and more. As we were driving along 132 in Quebec, I felt we had journeyed deep into the heart of a foreign land but when I looked at a map, I saw that the Maine and the US boarder were only 25 miles away traveling due East!

Next day we arrive in the USA. Hallelujah!  Another sparkling day and no problems at the boarder. Though our trip through Canada was exciting, I’m elated to be home. Cell phone is working again. Cheaper gas and food prices. No expensive, anemic rolls of paper towels. Familiar radio and TV programs.  US currency.  Familiar people and manners. The great sense of personal freedom and power.  I’m a citizen.  Home.  I want to listen to Bruce Springsteen all day!

Gwen's Computer Painting September 2012

What’s Old Is New

September 25, 2012

It’s so great to be back in the States.  I can’t quite explain it, we loved Canada. I suppose the best way to say it is “there is no place like home.”  

Since the US is so familiar, I wonder if the US experience can stand up to the excitement of the Canada experience. Now our nights and sometimes are days are cold.  The leaves are changing - reds and golds beginning to appear. But the US is surprising me - at least subtly so.  The serendipity of our travel in Canada has followed us into the US and its keeping us open to experiencing life on the road with open eyes.  

We come down through the finger lakes region of New York.  Here there are beautiful vistas down to the lake below.  Vineyards abound.  We are trying to reach a wooded campground near Angelica, New York.  But we hit a detour around the center of downtown Angelica because of a civil war reenactment taking place there.  We mistakenly drive into the parking lot and are told we can’t back out, we must move through it, leading us straight to the town green and the ending of the reenactment.  Soldiers and women in period costumes mingle with on-lookers.  We inch along.  Tents are still set up, along with fires and men cooking using implements of the day.  We move along with the crowd.

Eventually, we reach the end of the busiest part of the street and are off to the forests surrounding the town.  This feels really off the beaten path.  We find a friendly and largely empty wooded campground with lots of seasonal trailers - campers who keep their trailer at the campground all summer. The manager says she never gets anyone from Connecticut.  It’s quite local.  But that’s been one of the themes of our experience - it’s all very local, wherever we go.  Most people are not moving around a lot - even in the US. 

Lake Ontario

Neal and Gwen take a bike ride while Phillip and I stay put.  They come back with their report:  “What did you see Gwen?” I ask.  “Nothing.” (She was expecting pizza restaurants and produce markets like the ones in Caraquet).  But Dad has more information about the ride.  It turns out that they stopped at several “stores” along the road that were run by Amish.  One was a man, along with his young son, making leather products - sheep skins, belts, keys chains.   Another was a furniture maker with one piece of furniture in his shop. Neal says it was a custom business.  They were all dressed in traditional Amish clothing.   We also noticed some Amish people in a carriage in Watertown, NY a few days ago - we were told that their population is in Watertown is growing.  I didn’t expect to see them anywhere in NY!  And I didn’t expect to see them so readily, living there lives along side us. 

This all is teaching me, 1) the US is not the culturally homogenous place I tend to think it is, 2) there is so much that is uniquely American that I am just beginning to appreciate,  (Civil war, the Amish for example), 3) the RV, our bikes, and our loosely planned schedule, continues to help us to experience “real life”  and people is the process of living, in the places we visit.

Lake Ontario

More of 132

       



        We are now south of Quebec having followed 132 and the St. Lawrence southwest.  The last few days show how much variation can be observed within 100 miles and a few hours.  We left our campground just south of Rimouski yesterday morning.  It was very cold - 40s and the wind was blowing hard, the sky grey, the water choppy.  Our campground was filled with French families who made their campers into permanent summer getaway spots.  Most had flowers planted and large wood burning stoves outside.  Now, in the cold, they are bundled in fleece and down, laughing and talking in groups.  Yesterday, they promenaded along the waterfront.   Still, some couples and dog walkers stroll along quickly.  I'm thinking "Winter, let's get south fast!"

Quebec, On the Saint Lawrence

We head off along the St. Lawrence to Quebec and are soon greeted by sunshine as the clouds clear and the winds die down.  Sun is sparkling off the St. Lawrence River.  It is warming.  It's Sunday and as we pass through villages, we notice many specialty shops, farm stands, restaurants, and galleries.  When we stop at a rest stop/scenic overview, we see that people have stopped here for picnics - drinking wine and eating their lunch. It seems that they are enjoying their Sunday drive along 132.

Stop along the St. Lawrence in Quebec

As we drive along, Neal and I discuss how much we like Canada and what living here might be like.  It seems so pleasant.  But it is out of any serious consideration as a place to live.  As much as we love it,  it's so far away from everything and everybody we know.   I mused, if I had to escape something, it would be good for that!  But I have nothing to escape.  In fact, I am eager to return to the US, longing for my home country.  Probably, French speaking Canada has heightened that sense a bit.  The language barrier makes things harder and the French Canadians are more reserved and sometimes unfriendly.

We move along.  We have been avoiding cities because they are not especially kid or RV friendly.  That will have to wait for another trip.  We bi-pass Quebec and travel over beautiful hilly farmland punctuated by large steepled churches.  Lots of cows and dairies around here. We find a small campground right off 132 on the water.  It feels like it couldn't be the same river we were on just that morning.  It's calm, and much narrower.  Much warmer here - it feels as if we've gone from Winter to Summer again. We see houses and lights from the other side.  Enormous tankers come floating up and down the river here, just hundreds of feet away from us and our camper.  I'm hearing music coming from the one passing now and as I look out  I am seeing it is a cruise ship!  I suppose one could make an evening of just watching the ships pass by.  The huge tankers make a low pitched hum as they pass.  I lie in bed watching their lights go by or listen to their deep hum.

Sunset on the St. Lawrence

If you are wondering what we are doing on the days we don't travel, it's laundry.  Walking with bags of clothes and "loonies," to the laundry room, then back to the RV for folding, and putting away.  Then cleaning and lessons for Gwen.  Then cooking.  That's how we spend much of our stationary time. But we are doing this in beautiful places and having some fun and relaxing experiences as we drive to find new places where we do these things again.

Well, I don't hear the music from the cruise ship any longer. Tomorrow, we will probably drive to just past Montreal and then back into the States the day after that.  I'll miss Canada but will be glad to be home.  More pictures to come.

Route 132

September 13, 2012

Yesterday was another interesting day.  Still, it shocks me to think all of this was here and I did not know it.  It’s so beautiful and interesting just about everywhere all the time. We spent 3 days in Caraquet, NB.  It is located along the northern shore of the province and is mostly French speaking.  We scheduled a hair cutting appointment with a friend of the woman running the campsite.  We set out to a village 20 minutes away.  We are irritable due to rushing and taking care of business in the morning.  I feel like I’m dragging Neal, but we all need to get hair cuts, so I hope we find this place and it all works out.  

After a few missed turns we find her.  She has a business out of house as many Canadians do.  A small salon in a room near the entrance in her pleasant, modern home.  She cuts all our hair and does a very good job.  Even Neal gets his hair cut.  All of us for 45 canadian dollars (roughly the equivalent of US dollars.) She won’t accept a tip. She tells us she is 5th generation, at least, French Acadian from this area.  She speaks English well.

Finally off to our new destination.  We are headed along the coast through the small villages of northwest New Brunswick.  We stop for gas and at the convenience store - english again!  This, while headed from one french speaking region to another.  We cross a river and we are in Quebec.  Information Center closed, signs only in French.  We ask for  directions and begin winding up a forested road - this feels and smells like the Alps.  All tall pines and fresh air.  But as we wind up, up, up we also realize we must be off track.  We should be on 132 - a major highway.  We should have seen a sign for it by now. Instead, we are passing signs that seem to be saying Steep!  Falling Rocks!  Caution!  This is not 132. We reach a plateau and farmlands.  At a crossroad village with a church we stop and ask for help.  An older woman approaches us from across the intersection. She sees that we’re lost and is coming to help! I smile and wave enthusiastically.  This encourages her.  But apparently she was just crossing the intersection to get to the store and when we ask her for help,  she gestures a bit irritably to ask in the store.  The storekeeper is very helpful and between my few phrases in French and some gesturing and writing, we are told kindly, we need to take a right and a left to get back to 132 West.  

With the new directions, we travel on,  right, left, got it.  Where are we? We are still uncertain about the directions, given the language barrier, but I am enjoying the fresh air and the feeling that I am in the foothills of the Italian Alps. We do find 132 and now go down a spectacular forested road along the Salmon River where we see extravagantly  geared fisherman preparing to fish for salmon.  I’m driving the RV now for the first time.  It’s really no problem on straight roads.  We have the feeling again, of a big adventure, not knowing where we are or where our next campground will be but excited by the unexpected beauty. It’s marvelous. Of course, we will find a campground, but there hasn't been one for a while. 

We  do come across a small campground and stop. The manager of the campground speaks a few words of English.  After my experiences with French over the last week, I have downloaded some French language Apps and am trying to get the pronunciation down.  (Thanks Mona for the impromptu lessons long ago that I have still not forgotten). And there is always the tried and true method of bilingualism - using English and Italian words and giving them a French pronunciation. I’m surprised at the phrases I come up with.  Unfortunately, they make no sense to the confused people I’m speaking with who look at me blankly or gesture frantically at their spouses for help.

We find some tourism literature (all in French) at the campground and now realize the area we have driven through is a popular recreational region called “La Matapedia” where people come to ski, fish, hike, and snowmobile.

September 14, 2012

Overnight we fall into a deep sleep in the cold mountain air but are awakened by passing trains that blow their horns and logging trucks rattling along the road during the night.  We still wake up refreshed in the morning and head forward on 132.  This is the road to the St. Lawrence River and when we reach it, we will be at the northerly most part of our trip before turning southwest.  

Now the road has changed with lots of villages, farms and low country. Today is a day for grocery shopping and gas.  All of this is expensive in Canada.  Gas is the equivalent of roughly $6 a gallon.  A rotisserie chicken is $9. We fill up fridge and tank and then turn southwesterly along the river. It feels disappointing.  It’s a bit overcast and cold.  We stop at a Museum on the river outside a small city called Rimouski.  It holds a de-commissioned submarine built in 1965.  This stop is more for the kids than us.  They enjoy the sub and touch every single gadget  they can put their hands on. Apparently, it’s permitted.  Phillip still manages to pull a label off a dial that has the distinct look of having been glued there in 1965.  On the road again we begin to look for a campground. Now it’s late and it’s cold out.  We find a waterfront campground and stop.  We play with the kids at a playground that has seen better days.  I’m weary. I make dinner and we get the kids to bed.  It was a tiring day.  But this is how travel is.  It’s choppy.  It’s always changing. If today wasn’t so great just wait for tomorrow, it holds something new.

Back to New Brunswick

Hi All,

It's early September. We cross back into New Brunswick from PEI passing over the long Confederation Bridge.  I tell Gwen, "We're leaving the island of PEI going back to the mainland, see?"  She says, "uh, yeah Mom, can I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"  We stop at the Information Center expecting to pick up brochures and maps but find a wonderful museum, restaurant, gift shop, watch tower, board walk winding over marshes, and very helpful and friendly employees.  The museum has an area for children to pick up and various items found on the beach. I don't think I've ever been in an Information Center as nice as this.  I read in the marsh exhibit that mosquitoes are an important part of the ecosystem and are eaten by other insects, ducks, and bats.  And it reassures us that we are making our contribution when we are bitten......   I shan't encourage bites however! I can't tell you how annoying the bugs have been.  We have one little fly buzzing around the RV, but it couldn't  be the same one we've had from a week or two weeks ago.  They must be passing off the responsibility to buzz our RV as we go along, high-fiving each other as one leaves and the other takes over.

We head North along the coast of NB. We notice signs in French.  We go to a grocery store and hear only French!   This is so surprising to me as an hour ago in PEI it was all English and minutes ago at the Welcome/Information Center there was much English.  I am disregarded at the check out when I cannot respond in French.  We keep moving and find a good campsite on the water in Cap-Lumiere.  We are just about the only ones at the campground.  This is now post-season camping and we are finding that during the week, campgrounds are pretty empty and most will close by the end of the month.  Our French speaking hosts are delightful. The cashier from the grocery was not a harbinger of a general attitude.  It's rainy though, and we want to move on to less rain further north.

There is erosion here as there is throughout the Maritimes.  A through road is now a dead-end.  Lighthouses have often been moved back from there original locations.  We get a spectacular rainbow at sunset and I get a picture.  I will post it soon.  PEI is now on our horizon and I tell Gwen, "that's PEI where we were before we crossed the bridge."  She says, "Wow, really?" The idea excites her and I realize she is taking things in and I need to be patient about her having her having her own pace.

As I sit here at our current site looking at the water and the mountains beyond,  Phillip is here with the son of the French hosts of the site.  They are riding bikes and looking over my shoulder.  If there are unusual typos - it's them.  The little boy speaks no english, Phillip no French - I speak little French - we exchange names and they each are getting out their bags of cars now.  Gwen and Dad are out biking.  We started together but while on the bike path, my gears stopped working.  It turns out a screw from Phillip's seat came undone and the bar jammed the gears.  It's fixed but we decided to head back while they continued. Did I mention we are the only guests at this campsite today?  There have been a few others, coming and going.

People here generally speak to me in French.  I am now prepared and say in French, "Do you speak English, Please?"  They are usually bi-lingual but not always.  (I just got a good recommendation from the owner who says her friend cuts hair and can cut ours.  8$ a cut.  Let's see if we can work something out tomorrow.  I've been cutting the kids hair and it doesn't look to good.)  Back to the French.  I've learned a bit about the French speakers here in Acadia.  The French here have a history and culture distinct from the Quebec French.  This includes an unfortunate event where they were forcibly removed from their lands and deported when British and French fought over this land.  Many died and some later returned to their lands.  Some went to Louisiana creating the Cajun culture.  Some can be found in PEI and Nova Scotia.  Most are here in Acadia and in Maine.

I'm glad for the kids' exposure to the new culture and I am loving it. I love the differences and am taking it all in.  We stopped at a Fromaggerie (sp?)on the way back from the aquarium yesterday - they were making the cheese right there - we watched them.  They were making cheese curds that are often used in a very popular French Canadian dish of French fries, cheese curds, and gravy.  I'm waiting for a place that specializes to try it.  I'll really miss these cultural riches when we leave Canada.  But for now, on to Quebec......

Lisa

Thinking about Canada.........

More great things about Canada that I didn't know:

• Chips in credit cards - just pass it over the machine.  They know we are Americans - no chips.

• Currency:  They use 1 dollar and 2 dollar coins - no paper dollars.  They are getting rid of pennies.  They call their dollars "Loonies". 

• Traffic light on Prince Edwards Island that uses shapes (square, circle, triangle) as well as color to indicate action.

• Distinctive nature and culture of each Province.

• Fewer fast food restaurants and chains. Places have more local flavor as a result.

• Charlottetown, PEI has direct flights to JFK.  

Signing off on our rainy day from Cavendish.  To Charlottetown tomorrow, they expect less rain.

Lisa

Hi All,

I hope you like the photos we have posted.  We will get more up soon.   It's raining hard today and we are in the RV catching up with email.

Here is an update:

• After Lunenburg we head straight to Prince Edwards Island (PEI).  They call it the gentle island and I can see why.  The water is placid with sandy beaches and gently rolling hills.

• Take ferry over - I feel we are on a big adventure - out of our element.  There's a family with an Australian Boarder Collie.  Gwen and Phillip make friends with the dog and family. 

• Gwen is very interested in dogs and there are many in our travels.  Popular breeds are shitsus, poms, and peks.  They often come in pairs.   We go on dog petting ventures through our campsites on a regular basis.  We get to know a lot of people this way - and dogs.  One of the things the kids are learning is to be social and friendly.  If there is a dog, Gwen will engage with a big family without me or Neal making introductions. 

• We go to Brudenell River Provincial Park on the Eastern Coast.  There are horses and boardwalks.  But this time, we are meant to have a different experience than the one we thought. No one available at the horseback riding stables (Post season already).  Got to do laundry.  So Gwen and Neal have fun swimming and and Gwen and Phillip make friends with a boy - Khalib - next door and they play hide and seek  and light sabers all day and into night. 

• We travel up the coast to Elmira now having sun sparkling off the water, rolling farmland meeting the sea.  

• Elmira Train Museum.  Phillip says,  "Can this be our house?"

• Reach East Point, the eastern most point on PEI and the farthest east we will travel on our trip.  Walk to cliffs and see ducks and seals in the water.  This is an unforgettable moment.

• Travel to Cavendish - of Ann of Green Gables fame.   Beautiful vistas and beaches, much good seafood.

Regards,

Lisa and Family