Drive On and On and On

We are slowly on our way back to Wisconsin. Spent last night and tonight in Ottawa enjoying the Parliament, Mint ( Jeff always very impressed with shiny things like $300,000 bars of gold which we all got to lift and touch), Chinatown, open markets and in Rachel's case the mall attached to our hotel. Replaying our trip backwards we drove through Vermont and New Hampshire to get to Ottawa. Hiked around the rim of Cannon Mt. in NH ( got to the top via gondola), and shops by Keepsake Quilting ( too much fabric, I came out with 4 greeting cards).

We stayed overnight in Waterbury, Vermont and went to Ben and Jerry's for the tour. We stopped by on our way out of town the next day for ice cream and JERRY HIMSELF WAS THERE, sitting quietly at a table with friends eating ice cream, shaking hands and having his photo taken with fans. Of course we don't have a camera right now... Rachel thought about having her t-shirt signed but we didn't have a Sharpe pen. Also saw the Trapp Family Lodge. Lots of people there....lodges, condos, cabins, huge, outdoor concerts, wagon rides. On our way to Canada we enjoyed driving through the islands of Lake Champlain.

So, in Maine it was damp, damp and more damp. We couldn't get into our cottage the first night so Rachel stayed with Emily as we could only get a room for two at the East Wind Inn in Tenants Harbor. The Inn is reported as being haunted but we just had a cute wallpapered room with a nice view of the sea.

Saturday was the BIG St. George Day festival. Poor Rachel painted faces for hours ( kids kept asking for painted lobsters) and Jeff and I both helped Emily with crafts. Huge book sale, garage sales, parade, pancakes and a lobsta' dinner. The dinner was served with a huge pile of mussels-tasty cooked with lots of garlic. ( but it didn't agree with me later on!) I did not win the signed Wyeth print at the raffle.

Nate's grandmother invited us to her home on the ocean to watch the fireworks. The fireworks put FDL's 4th of July fireworks to shame.... odd too, as Tenants Harbor has some fireworks on the 4th also, but more on St. George Day.

Our cottage had a great view, it was on a nice rocky cove. I already forgot the name of the cove. It was close to Emily's house. Saw eagles getting fish in the water there. It was OK but not as fantastic as the Memo's home where we stayed last year. Oh, I forgot to mention we met Memo at the Library book sale.

We went on a boat ride and saw; dolphins, seals, puffins, Wyeth's Islands, Steve's house .....Steve.... the former guy from This Old House (Nate went to school with his kids), other famous peoples house that I forgot too. We also pulled up lobster traps and if you need to know, we can all sex lobsters now and explain the difference between soft and hard shell lobsters.

Jeff, Rachel and Emily also went sea kayaking at night to look for the bioluminescent plankton. They enjoyed it but Rachel later said it was kind of scary being 4 miles out in the ocean in the dark. They took me to the pier at night the next night and I got to see it too. Looks like fireflies but under the water. Jeff and Emily climbed Mt. Battie. Jeff looked pretty good at the top--a little pale but he did it. While they climbed, Rachel and I went to Reny's--as soon as Rachel found out they had American Eagle clothes she was hooked.

One sunny day we went to the beach at Popham Beach by Bath. It was SO AMAZING. With my knees I stayed out of the big waves, but the other 3 played in the huge waves all afternoon.

So on our way out to Maine we stopped at Waldon Pond and since it was so close... well I knew it was close but it took us over an hour to really find it, we stopped at Amanda's office and really, really surprised her.The expression on her face was well worth the time we spent in confusion trying to find the building. We also had a great time in Corning, NY at the Glass Museum. We all took hands on classes and either pulled or blew glass. I guess that's all. We are tired and looking forward to being home on Wednesday.