Thursday, Friday, Saturday, New Brunswick, Maine

This is our last blog post. We are now in West Bethel, Maine. The last two days we spent on Campobello Island, where we arrived by ferry from the New Brunswick mainland. This ferry is so small, it does not have a dock, but pulls up on the beach at a spot depending on where the tide is (Bay of Fundy). We skipped Fundy National Park due to the horrible weather, thinking we should just push on and find better weather, which we did. We love Campobello and understand why FDR did also. We hiked and biked and ate great seafood and enjoyed the FDR International Park and family summer cottage. The lighthouse is a favorite spot for tourists and locals alike. It is a great place to watch whales (we had 10 or so sightings), seals and dolphins. To get to the lighthouse requires good timing to avoid high tide and steady feet to negotiate the steep ladders and rocks. We have been driving all day, in beautiful weather, across Maine. Tonight we will stay near the western border and then push on home tomorrow. It has been a great vacation!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Nova Scotia

I cannot upload photos at this time, so this is just a written trip progress report. We left Meat Cove on Monday as it started raining. We decided to skip camping at Cheticamp due to the weather and pushed on to Whycocomagh and camped there in the rain. We paid extra for electricity so we could watch the "Northern Exposure" DVD we brought along. Tuesday night was somewhat dry and we stayed at Amhearst Shores Provincial Park. We cooked up a nice haddock and vegetable dinner and enjoyed a blazing campfire that night. Today we are also dry, but expecting rain any minute. Our next stop is Fundy National Park.

Sunday, Meat Cove, Cape Breton, NS

We started today with a long two hour hike to the site of a former lighthouse. We saw evidence of lynx and moose but did not see the actual animals. We had a snack sitting on a juniper-like ground cover overlooking the ocean. We did see a seal and maybe a whale. After a four-hour hike, we were tired and sweaty. The temperature today reached into the low 70's. Tomorrow, we head out to Cheticamp and pray the weather forecasts are wrong.

Saturday, Meat Cove, Cape Breton, NS

We decided to spend three full days here at Meat Cove. On Saturday, Hans climbed Meat Cove Mountain with a camping neighbor from Connecticut. What a view from up there. Later, we went to the beach, just below our campsite and Hans was crazy enough to get wet in the cold Atlantic. Kathy added some stones to one of many beach cairns. We also hiked along the stream that caused so much damage last year during a freak storm.

Friday, Meat Cove, Cape Breton

Finally, a break in the weather - and we are at our favorite destination, Meat Cove. We set up camp near the edge to the ocean below. That is the Atlantic behind us. We took a quick hike up "Big Grassy" from which we had a great view of Meat Cove. Can you see the Westy sitting on the point? For dinner, we ate at the camp chowder hut and had fresh mussels and snow crabs!

Friday, Bernie Sanders speaks out

This is worth listening to:
http://bernie.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=617:video-situation-room-sanders-extremely-unfair-legislation-cnn#scroll

Friday, Broad Cove Campground, Ingonish NS

The weather here has been a consistent 60 degrees with an occasional rise to 64. There is a constant mist in the air with scattered showers. In spite of that, we are having a great time. We hiked Broad Cove Mountain from which we could see nothing. There are many local fishermen and so we cooked fresh halibut on our grill. Our campsite is close enough to the Atlantic Ocean that we could hear the waves all day and night. The red sand is nice to walk on. Today, we will meander up to Meat Cove. If we can get up the courage, maybe we'll take a dip in the Atlantic :o)