June 1st We were off to Onslow Beach at Camp LeJeune, just outside Jacksonville, NC. for 2 weeks. That base is huge, it’s set up like several small “towns”. The area where we went to the gym was over 5 miles away & the commissary was about 10 miles from the campground. The campground is located between the intercoastal waterway & the Atlantic Ocean. There was nothing special about the campground except for the fact you could walk to the beach, which was very nice. We learned a very important lesson while we were there. The GPS does not route you across military bases to places outside. One night we asked a neighbor who lived in the area about a good place for sea food. She told us about a restaurant which sounded close by. I looked up the address online & plugged it into “Sally” (our GPS). About 45 minutes later we arrived at the restaurant. I told Collins that when we spoke to the neighbor she made it sound very close. We asked someone at the restaurant & they told us how to get back to base. We were about 15 minutes away, but Sally didn’t take us thru the base. Now we carefully check things when we go somewhere from a military base. We were very boring at Onslow. One day we went to a Farmer’s Market, which turned out to be a dud. We ended up spending most afternoons at the beach, which was fine with us.
We also spent those 2 weeks being trained by our new little dog Snuggles. She is so loveable & mostly wants to lay in our lap or, at the very least, right next to us. Collins decided we should let her sleep with us. Most of the time she ends up between the two of us, but some mornings I wake up with her on the pillow above my head. She has big eyes & I’ll find her staring at me when I look up.
This was the first place I’ve ever been, where we saw these two things.
Just before we left Onslow Beach, our bedroom air conditioner went out. What a pain!! When you live in an RV all the time, trying to get repairs made can be a trying experience. I couldn’t find anyone in that area to fix it, so I tried calling to Virginia Beach, where we were headed in a few days. I try to rely on other people’s reviews of repair facilities or by asking around the campground. Luckily, we found a repair shop who was willing to fix it the day after we arrived in Virginia Beach. The only problem with that of course, is that we have to pack up the whole RV & disconnect everything. However, we got the AC fixed & were back in business.
In Virginia Beach we made the mistake of staying at a campground just outside the Naval Air Station. Ocean Pines was a very nice RV park, however, jets flew over the campground day & night. We were told they were getting ready to go to Afghanistan. One night I timed them as they flew over the RV. Every 45 Seconds we had a jet go over. This continued non stop for over 2 ½ hours. You couldn’t hear each other talk, it was sooooo loud!
While we were there we drove out on the barrier island between the Chesapeake Bay & the Atlantic Ocean. There were a lot of quaint towns along the way. If we drove it the whole way, we would have ended in Ocean City, MD. Since we were planning to go there a few weeks later, we didn’t drive the whole island.
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| Governor's Mansion |
We also went to Williamsburg one day. It was interesting to see the town & some of the original buildings. We went into the Old Capitol & also the Governors’ Mansion, which was interesting.
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| Foyer of Governor's Mansion |
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| Foyer of Governor's Mansion |
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| Foyer of Governor's Mansion |
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| Foyer of Governor's Mansion |
Another day, we went to Jamestown. I can’t even imagine coming the distance they came on those ships. The settlement was interesting & so was the museum. It really made you stop & think about the conditions our ancestors had to deal with when they first arrived in this country. I sure wouldn’t have wanted to be one of them.
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| Let's cook dinner |
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| Wouldn't want to cross the sea in this! |
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| Making a Canoe |
After a few days of constant airplane noise, I couldn’t stand it any longer. We ended up moving to a campground, called Lunga Recreation Center, on Quantico Marine Base. It was a beautiful setting right on a lake. We could see water from almost every window in the RV.
It was very quiet & had tons of deer, even fawn that still had their spots. We really enjoyed our stay there & may return on our way home. While we were there, we went to the Marine Museum, which was located on Quantico. That was so interesting & makes you really appreciate what our military men & women have done over the years.
We were about 20 minutes to the Metro station into DC, so one day we did that. We spent most of the day at the Museum of Natural History. Our favorite was the gem & stone display. We saw gems we’ve never heard of before. Also saw the Hope Diamond. It's a 45.5 carat blue diamond. It was beautiful! However, it is supposed to be cursed for anyone who owns or touches it.
We also saw a dinosaur display.
Later that evening, we walked over to the Capitol Bldg to hear the Marine Corp band play. It was a fun day.
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| Collins & Karen in front of the US Capitol |
August 29th we headed to Andrews Air Force base, just outside Washington, DC. Collins has long talked of going to the 4th of July fireworks in Washington, DC, so we decided that was where we would go this year. The only good thing we can say about Andrew’s campground was, it was close to DC. We took the metro in one day to go to another museum. It sure is an easy way to get around there.
On July 4th they had a big Independence Day Parade, so we went into town to see that.
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| Karen & Collins with Washington Monument in background |
Since rain was in the forecast for that evening we had to make a decision on where to watch the fireworks. I told Collins, if they had them, we were going to watch the ones in DC. What we ended up doing was driving to Alexandria (figuring if it rained we could leave a lot easier) to a huge hill next to the Arlington Cemetery. You could see the spot where they would be perfectly.
There were a lot of people there, but we were able to get a good spot. We got about 5 raindrops but the show went on! We enjoyed them & that is one thing off Collins’ “bucket list.” We did get a couple of bad storms while we were at Andrews tho & it gave us some power problems.
Wouldn’t you know it, on the night of the 4th our front AC went out. That was bad for a couple of reasons. First, it was HOT! Second, we were planning to leave on the 6th for Ocean City, MD where we planned to meet up with our daughter Pam, husband Aaron & grandkids. Since they were staying in the RV with us, we had to have AC in the main living area. Thank god for the internet & cell phones. We started calling ahead & again found a repair place that would take us first thing the next morning. With that news, we left DC a day early & headed to Ocean City, where we camped in the Repair Facility overnight. We were ready & waiting when they opened their doors the next morning. Luckily, they were able to repair us & we were on our way to the campground within a few hours.
Pam, Aaron & kids arrived that night. They had both couches in the living room & it worked fine. The next day we were off to Ocean City Beach. It was nice, but the waves were really rough & close to shore. After the kids got knocked over a couple times, they gave up on that & played in the sand all day.
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| Ryan & Katie |
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| Ryan & Katie |
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| Collins enjoying the beach |
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| Pam, Katie & Ryan |
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| Pam, Aaron, Katie & Ryan |
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| Karen, Katie & Pam board the giant ferris wheel |
One of the main reasons they wanted to come to Ocean city was to see a “real” boardwalk. We went that night & spent several hours walking around, eating junk food & enjoying the sites. Karen, Pam & Katie took a ride on a huge Ferris Wheel. You could see for miles when you got to the top.
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| Karen & Katie |
It was dark, so it was a pretty site.
The next day we decided to check out Assateague Park. This is the other half of the island Collins & I drove from Virginia Beach. It’s got a great beach, but the most interesting thing about it is that it’s inhabited by about 113 wild horses. They just walk down the road & make themselves at home on the beach. You aren’t supposed to go within 10’ of them or feed them, but I guess some people do, which has become somewhat of a problem. It was interesting to see them.
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Horses on the beach
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| More horses by the water |
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Katie & the horses
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| A crab we found on the beach (we released it later) |
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| Pam, Aaron, Katie & Ryan |
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| Katie & Grandma have a sand sundae! |
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| Pam, Karen, Ryan & Katie |
I was sad to see Pam & family leave, but it was fun having them with us for a few days!
July 9th we heading to Delaware for a couple days. We stayed with Collins’ sister Bea & husband Rod for a couple nights. It was great visiting with them. Collins had seen them at a family thing a couple months earlier, but I hadn’t seen them in years. We had a really nice stay there.
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| Rod, Bea & Collins |
July 11th we headed to Freehold, New Jersey. By that time we knew we were going to have to return to IL for 2 weeks & we wanted a place to leave the RV & also have a place we could do some New York touring without too much trouble. One day we took a ferry to Ellis Island & toured the museum there. When you thought about the immigrants who came here, knowing no one, or the language, with just a few bags of their belongings, you really had to feel sorry for them. Some stayed there for days while they were checked medically, mentally, etc. That had to be a scary feeling. I really had to give people who came here at that time a lot of credit. I’m not sure I would have had the nerve to do it. After touring the museum, we got back on the ferry & went around the Statue of Liberty. It is huge. We didn’t go in. You need tickets to get to the crown & have to order them way in advance. They allow you in the base, but by that time we were tired & could see what we wanted from the boat. I can't believe it, but somehow I managed to erase all my pics of the statue of Liberty, Ellis Island & New York!
One day in New Jersey, we were walking the dog when we met another couple with a dog. We started talking & I realized I had seen them when we stayed at Andrews near DC. They were really nice, their dog is a service dog, because Steve has seizures & the dog alerts him before they happen. We were going to New York City the next day to take a bus tour around, so we invited them along. We spent about 6 hours touring NY, seeing all the main places you would want. We went to ground zero, but because they’re doing so much construction getting ready to open the memorial, we really couldn’t see much of anything. Another day we all drove to Philadelphia. Took another bus tour around that city. Got to see the Liberty Bell. I also erased the Philly pics, too.
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| Katie & Grandma doing a dance |
As I mentioned earlier, we had to return to IL for 2 weeks at the end of July. Our tenant was moving out of our house, so Collins wanted to be there to check things out. I was going to fly back for a family wedding, so we just decided to drive the car home. My niece got married in Bloomington. & Our daughter Pam, granddaughter, Katie & I drove there. It was a beautiful wedding & reception. Katie (age 8) was dancing with all her cousins & had a blast. I called her “the dancing queen”. It was nice to see a lot of the family.
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Eric & Katie (my neice)
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Collins had a lot of yard work to get done on the house before our new tenants moved in. I helped him after I came back from the wedding. There was a lot to do, which made us again realize how much we love our “new home”, which we were happy to get back to on July 8th.
Aug 9 thru 16: Adirondacks: Having heard about this New Yorker’s get away , & watched Dirty Dancing, we were not disappointed. Our RV site, which was located on Lake Champlain, has been in the same family for decades, & granddad, who has to be in his 80’s, still drives his tractor around, checking everything out. When I pointed out that my RV had a slight problem while backing up with the gutters to his rec center, & I’d be glad to pay for the damages, he brushed that aside & was more concerned with the boobo the rig received. Thankfully it’s very minor & easy to repair. Having just come from four days of driving to & from Illinois in the car, as well as 10 days working around & in the Residence getting it ready for a new tenant, we were ready to do a whole lot of nothing. And that’s what we did, save for a trip to the County Fair & a few hours dancing at the RV sites annual party. We also took a trip to a place called Ausable Chasm, which is sort of like a miniature Grand Canyon.
It is a deep gorge with a river running thru it & some great waterfalls.
It was a nice day & we walked all around it.
Another day, we took a trip to Whiteface mountain & Lake Placid, where the winter Olympics were held in the 1980’s. From the top of Whiteface Mountain you see about 45 miles that day. It was a beautiful view.
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| View from Whiteface Mt |
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| View of Lake Placid |
Lake Placid was a quaint town & we were able to see where some of the Olympic activities took place.
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| Lake Placid |
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| Olympic ski Jumps |
We saw the ski jumps, which were really scary when you saw them up close. Those people are crazy!!
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| I think we make a wrong turn somewhere |
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| the main square in downtown Quebec City |
Aug 16 thru 20: Quebec: Our drive from the Adirondacks to Quebec was a real pleasure, with one mountain range & rolling valley after another.(French) Canada However, once we crossed into (French) Canada, our lives became a bit more challenging. First, signs are only in French; no dual languages for the ignorant cousins to the south. Second, no more gallons or miles per hour; you now deal with kilometers for speed limits & distances & gas in liters. We now know how many liters to a gallon & kilometers to a mile. Finally, upon reaching our RV site, the lady at the gate spoke very little English, while we, of course, speak no French. However, we muddled through, found our site & the next day ventured into “old” Quebec.
To say it is truly fascinating is an understatement. This is as close as one gets to being in France without crossing the pond. The streets are crowded with sidewalk cafes, beautiful flowers in the road way circles & small parks throughout the town, as well as a profusion of flower boxes maintained by people very apt at that chore.
One cannot explain the beautiful old style buildings & many cobble stone streets. Everywhere you go there is a statue to one hero or Saint; at one time these were very Catholic people.
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| Cirque Du Soliel |
Aug 20- 27th. We left Quebec City & headed toward Nova Scotia. Much of the drive was really beautiful. We followed the St. Lawrence River for quite awhile, and saw many rolling hills. You see lots of these signs thru out Canada. However, we haven’t seen one yet.
One thing we found interesting, as soon as we crossed into New Brunswick, all the signs were in English & French & all the people spoke English. We were heading toward an area close to Cape Breton. We stayed one night in a truck stop because the trip was over 800 miles & we didn’t want to drive that far in one day. When we pulled into the campground Sunday afternoon we had a very unpleasant surprise! Our car & the back of the RV were covered in diesel fuel. Luckily for us, there was a diesel mechanic staying at the campground. He came over on Monday & took a look. There was a fuel pressure line that had a crack. He tried for 2 days to find the right part. We tried plan A, B, & C. Finally, someone sent us to a diesel repair shop several towns over. We took the part with us & they started going thru their computer, finally finding the part In Quebec City. Since this was now Thursday afternoon & we hoped to leave on Saturday, we ended up having it sent overnight. Luckily, the part arrived Friday afternoon & the guy was able to replace it within about 10 minutes. The good thing for us, besides the luck of having someone there who could fix it, was that we didn’t have to have the RV towed or figure out where to stay, & it didn’t stop us from doing the site seeing we wanted to do. We took the Cabot Trail, which went around Cape Breton. There were beautiful views of the Northumberland Strait & the Atlantic Ocean, Mountains, trees & small towns. It was a long drive, about 6 hours, but very nice. Everyone told us it was a scary drive thru the mountains, but having driven the Smokies & the Rockies, we didn’t think it was that bad. One thing we found interesting in NB, was the modest homes with the most gorgeous views. In the US you would see lots of big beautiful homes overlooking the water & mountain views. Everyone told us it was a scary drive thru the mountains, but having driven the Smokies & the Rockies, we didn’t think it was that bad. The following are pics we took on Cape Breton.
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| Modest Housing |
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| Montmorency Falls |
The falls, at 275 ft high, (and 150 feet wide) are the highest in the province of Quebec and 98 ft higher than
Niagara Falls. The basin at the foot of the falls is 56 ft deep. The falls are at the mouth of the Montmorency River where it drops over the
cliff shore into the
Saint Lawrence River
One day we decided to see Louisburg Fort. One of our neighbors told us it was about an hour & a half drive, just plug Fort into our GPS, which we call “Sally”. Well, Sally decided to take us on the Fluer de lis trail, which is supposed to be a scenic trail on Cape Breton. It took us over 3 hours, on some of the worst roads, to get there.
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| The sign said "narrow bridge" |
By the time we arrived there was only about an hour left to see the Fort. They let you go in for free in the last hour, so we did a very hurried visit of the Fort. We did get to see the main parts & it was interesting.
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| Louisburg Fort |
Needless to say, we took a different route home, which was much prettier & faster.
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| How about a kitchen like this! |
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| Add caption |
Aug 27th- Sept 5th- We left Nova Scotia for Prince Edward Island Saturday afternoon by way of Ferry.
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| Ferry to Prince Edward Island |
When you go to PEI there is no toll, (leaving is another story) so the Ferry Ride was free. It only takes about 75 minutes to cross, otherwise it would have been 4 or 5 hrs, plus that much more fuel. It was a beautiful day & we spent most of the ride on deck, enjoying the scenery, including quite a few whales that never surfaced.
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The RV parked on the Ferry
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| Light House On Prince Edward Island |
We stayed in a nice park that faces a small inlet of water that comes from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We saw 2 Bald Eagles flying around. we were there as hurricane Irene was bearing down on the US, we weren’t sure what to expect. All the weather reports I read said rain & wind, some gusting to 40 mph. It rained all day Sunday but we had very little wind. I did wake up several times during Sunday night hearing the wind blow quite hard. It shook the RV a little, but nothing bad. Monday was bright & sunny but extremely windy.
By Tuesday it was a beautiful, sunny, calm day so we decided to do some sightseeing. We drove to Cavendish, which is the small town where the story of Anne of Green Gables takes place. We went to the farm that inspired the author, then went on to Summerside which is one of the 2 main towns on the island. It’s very typical of a bayside town. They had a Bagpiping College there where they taught piping & Dancing. We went to a mini show there.
I wanted to see one of the red sand beaches, so we took a drive to one close to Summerside. All I could think of as we stood there looking at it was how hard it must be to get that red color out of your towels & swimsuits. It was pretty tho.
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| Lots of individuals had windmills |
There is lots of farming on PEI. Potatoes are one of the main crops here. They also seem to grow a lot of straw/hay we weren’t sure which it was. There were a lot of cows here too. It is really a very pretty island. So many of the homes had lots of flowers growing. There were many of the same that we grew in IL. We also noticed lots of Mountain Ash trees. They seemed to grow wild amongst the other pines, maples, birch, etc. The homes tended to be somewhat larger than we saw in Nova Scotia. The other thing we noticed – many more Canadians fly the flag than US. One day we took a drive to the East Point of the Island, where the St. Lawrence, Atlantic Ocean & Northumberland Strait all come together. We stopped in one small town that had waterfront lots for sale & we wanted to see the view. As you can see, they overlooked the beautiful red cliffs & water.
They were on the St. Lawrence Gulf. I looked up the price on the internet & they were around $90,000. There was 1 lot that was 17 acres for $250,000. It was beautiful, but weather wouldn’t suit us for too many months of the year.
We also went to the east cape, which was where the St. Lawrence River, the Atlantic Ocean & the Northumberland Strait came together. This lighthouse was at the point.
It's amazing how red the dirt is. I took this pic of a new home that was being built.
Another interesting thing we saw were homes with these brightly colored metal roofs. They were very popular in Canada.
Another day we took a drive to Charlottown, which was a little larger than Summerside. It’s on the water & we spent an afternoon wandering around downtown on the wharf area. There were the typical boardwalk shops.
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| We were sampling Moose Light Beer |
The park where we stayed had a Bluegrass & Country Music Festival Friday & Saturday nights. It took place on the grassy area right across from where we were parked. It got really cool in the evenings so we were able to sit in our Captains Chairs inside & watch the whole show. I think we had the best seats in the house.
Sept 5th they closed the campground for the season so we had to move on. We were heading to New Brunswick. We had to cross the Confederation Bridge to get there. It extends more than 7.5 miles between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, & is the longest bridge in the world that spans over ice-covered waters. You really can’t see anything but water & if you’re in the car, you would probably see nothing. It’s only 2 lanes & no shoulder, so heaven help you if you have car trouble.
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| Federation Bridge |
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| Us out to dinner on my birthday |
All the rough roads we’ve travelled have taken some tolls on the RV. As I had mentioned before, we had a break in the diesel fuel line. The day after we got to New Brunswick, I went out in the morning to walk the dog. The man next to us asked me if we knew the cover to our Air Conditioner was off. I said no, that was news to us. Apparently on our way here from Prince Edward Island the front screws came loose, if you remember we had it worked on in July, so they must not have tightened them enough. Since it was windy & bumpy it must have caught in the wind & flew off. Once again, I had to search the internet for RV dealers nearby. I found one about half an hour from us who said he could have it in 2 days. In the meantime, Collins had to cover it with plastic because rain was expected. Also, we found water leaking under one of the bathroom sinks. We both looked at it & determined it was coming from the faucet itself, so we had to buy a new bathroom faucet. Since we have two sinks, it didn’t become an emergency thing. Collins thinks all the bumping along caused something inside the faucet to break. Once we replaced it, all was fine. Hopefully, we’re finished with repairs for awhile!
A few thoughts on Canada. The people were very friendly & courteous. Most of the homes we saw were very modest in comparison to those we’re used to seeing in IL. There is lots of water around the Maritimes! There are a lot of rolling hills, mountains & trees. Gasoline & food were expensive. Most of the drivers actually drove the speed limit. I never got to see a Moose!!
On July 4th they had a big Independence Day Parade, so we went into town to see that. 
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