Day 7 - Portland to Manchester to Fly Home

Beautiful Fall Foliage in Maine

Mother wrote the post on our flight home.  It is entirely her post this time...

"We are on a plane right now heading back home after experiencing a delightul and fun filled trip through the 3 New England States.  The trees and leaves were at their gorgeous peak, the the Atlantic coastline was rugged and beautiful.  It is rather sad to leave it all behind but memories will remain forever.

What a wonderful trip Mick and Jan provided for me.  May God bless them for their gift of generosity and time spent with me."

The truth is, Mick and I feel blessed to have travelled this journey with Mother, admiring God's beauty through the wonderful scenery and colorful foliage, but most of all enjoying Mother's delightful company!

Day 6 - Bar Harbor to Portland, Maine

Looking at the Tall Ships at Camden Harbor

Lobster Buoys

We awoke to a beautiful and sunny day.  We hated to leave Acadia National Park - it was so beautiful.  We drove down Highway 1 in Maine to Camden.  Camden is a neat little town, known as the jewel of the Maine coast.  It is a beautiful place.  The harbor is lovely and has lots of tall sailing ships.  We found the bed and breakfast that Jan & Mick stayed in for their Anniversary trip a couple of years ago.  It was a beautiful place - with wonderful antique furnishings.  The name of it is "A Little Dream".  The caretaker gave each of us a delicious blueberry muffin to enjoy - wrapped in plastic with a pink bow.  We then drove to Camden and walked around the harbor area watching people on the ships.  Then we drove up to Mt. Battie which overlooks the town and harbor of Camden. 

From Camden, we took a back road to Rockport, Maine.  Along the way we saw Curtis lighthouse, a group of wild turkeys, and belted galloway cows (called Oreo cows due to their coloring - front and back black with a stripe of white in the middle). 

Next, we drove to Owl Head lighthouse.  Along the way, we saw a bay with many lobster boats.  Clearly Owl Head area was a big lobster fishing wharf.  We saw many Lobster bouys decorating walls of buildings and roadsigns.  This area of Maine (Rockport, Rockland) is the big Lobster fishing area in Maine.  As we were walking to the lighthouse, we saw many lobster bouys in the water, and a few lobster boats busy setting and checking their traps.  We enjoyed seeing the Owl Head Lighthouse, and also enjoyed the walk to it along the wild Maine coastline.

Mother was overwhelmed by everything she has seen.  She especially came to see the colored foliage that so many people have talked about.  She certainly did, but much more as well -- from the Trapp Family Lodge, to  the wild and rugged ocean and coastline, to enjoying the group of people from Bay Bridge Community, to attacking her first full lobster meal, to learning all about lobster fishing -- it was all a fantastic experiece.

Day 5 - Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine

Mother and her Lobster at Stewman's Lobster Pound in Bar Harbor, Maine

Boo-Hoo on the Twins from last night.  But the Twins and overcast (sometimes damp) weather didn’t dampen our spirits or slow us down.  It was off to Acadia National Park today.

First stop, Cadillac Mountain.  It is the tallest peak in Maine (1500 feet), and the wind almost blew Mother into the ocean.  Then, it was on to ‘Sandy beach’.  The beach was nothing like South Carolina.  The tide was high, and the waves were large and forceful.  We watched for a while.  Beautiful!  Next stop, Thunder Hole – WOW!!  It was very rugged and mesmerizing!  It is called Thunder Hole because the sound of the ocean hitting the hole in the rocks sounds like thunder.  From there we went to Otter Point.  We loved watching the waves crash against the rocks and splash.  We really enjoyed the rugged and scenic coastline.

We topped the day off at Acadia with a Carriage ride.  At first, Mother wasn’t so sure she wanted to go, but when the hour long ride was over, Mother looked at the carriage driver and said “Aren’t we supposed to go for an hour?”  The time went so fast.  The 1 hour horse drawn carriage ride was “around the mountain”.  Mick, Mother, and I went, and also a group of 10-12 wonderful and fun people from Birch Bay Village Retirement Community.  Were they fun!!  They started singing “Comin' Round the Mountain”.  Then Mother suggested “You Are My Sunshine”.  Even the carriage driver, Mitchell, joined in the singing.  We saw beautiful fall foliage on the carriage ride.  Mother says she is thinking about retiring with that crew from Birch Bay in Maine (HaHa).

Finally, we went back to Bar Harbor where we went to Stewman’s Lobster Pound.  Mother ate her first full lobster – like a pro – wearing a bib and drinking a beer.  Yum!!  It was great.  Then Mick found a neat drive over a strip of land that goes to another island and is only out of the water in low tide.  It was fun drive, and we found it funny that our GPS thought we were driving in the ocean!!

It was a great day today, now – we have a baseball game to watch – GO TWINS!!

Day 4 - Stowe to Bar Harbor

Church in Stowe, Vermont



Rain, rain, go away.... despite the rainy day, we still saw beautiful fall foliage.  We altered our route some to take a more direct route due to the rain.  The leaves seemed even brighter today, and we thought we saw more vibrant reds. 

We saw a neat covered railroad bridge, Fisher bridge, in Vermont.  We also saw many more white steepled churches nestled in the valley against the beautiful fall color.

We made it to Trenton in Maine by 6:00 and stopped at the Lobster pound.  Mother and I split a lobster roll and Mick had lobster stew.  We are going to nestle in for the night and hope to watch the Twins Win!!  Until then, we will watch Mother's favorite show... W _ _ _ L    O _     _ O R _ U N _

Mother says she is anxious to see the Atlantic coastline in Maine tomorrow.  Oh yes, Mother was also texting Judy tonight - yes, Mother is turning into a 'techie'.

Day 3 - Stowe, Vermont

Mother at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory

Mother said we had a "Little bit of heaven on earth this morning" due to the beautiful day and scenery at the Timberholm Inn, and the huge and delicious breakfast.  After breakfast we went to tthe Trapp Family Lodge.  At the Trapp Lodge, the 'Hills were alive with the Sound of Music', and beautiful fall colors, and gorgeous mums and flowers.  We saw the graves of the Captain and Maria Von Trapp and several of their children.  It was a beautiful and interesting morning.

We then went to the Apple Cider Mill and watched them make apple cider.  We also tasted the cider and ate some apple cider donuts.

Next, we went to Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory and tour.  The grounds were beautiful and we had a great tour.  The samples of mint chocolate chunk ice cream were delicious.

By the time we left, it was a beautiful sunny day, so we drove up Highway 100 to Highway 108 through Smugglers notch near Mt. Mansfield.  The fall colors (leaves and trees) were breathtaking.

Then we went back to Timberholm Inn and sat outside watching the birds and enjoying the serenity.  Dinner tonight was at the "Shed" (along with Chilean wine "Concha Y Toro - for Fr. Richard) and Raspberry and apple pie to follow.

Day 2 - Fly to Manchester and Drive to Stowe, Vermont

Waterfall along Highway 100 to Stowe, VT

We are all hungry as bears tonight.  The leaves were so beautiful we forgot to eat.  (Also, there are no McDonalds here).  We woke up at 4:30AM to catch our flight to Manchester, NH this morning.  Enroute to Stowe, VT, we saw Quichie Gorge, and the Simon Pierce factory.  Mildred bought 8 hand-blown wine glasses at $55 a piece (Hahahahaha!!)  She says she wasn't even interested, but they were very beautiful.

We saw 3 covered bridges and many beautiful little white-steepled churches by the side of the road.  We were enjoying the Lord's beautiful scenery so we didn't have time to stop and pray.  We drove on highway 89, and then took route 4 to hwy 100 north to Stowe.  On highway 100, we saw a beautiful unexpected waterfall, and almost missed it because it was getting dark. 

It is 8:15 now and we are in Stowe finally having a meal after a very busy day.

Day 1 - West Union Sausage Supper

West Union Sausage Supper Day

We had the best sauerkraut meal today at the West Union Sausage supper.  We had a great time... the weather was beautiful, and we saw and visited with many friends and the Ben Poepping family.  We also played bingo and Jan hugged Uncle Freddies 'stunt double'.  She thought it was Uncle Freddie with dyed black hair, but as she was hugging him, she looked over his shoulder and saw the real Uncle Freddie... YIKES... Hahahahahaha  We got a good laugh out of that.

We left Sauk Centre at about 5:00 and are staying in the County Inn and Suites near the airport.  Tomorrow, we will get up early (at 4:00) and catch a 5:00AM shuttle.  Mildred is eating all the free chocolate chip cookies so the hotel is losing money on us.  She says they have the best oranges here -- they are free too!!   She says the cookies are a little hard - she had to dunk them in her free cup of coffee.  Oh, by the way, we are taking a FREE shuttle to the airport tomorrow morning!!