Janee's Traveltales - Summer 2000

June 25	Finished up Field Day at 1pm local time and tallied our results. Then spent the rest of the day goming out around the campsite.	After 4 hours of sleep last night, we are both tired.
June 26	We drove the 7 hours from DC up to Madison CT. Stopped at McDonald's for Michael to indulge himself in a BigMac and himself and Penny in some fries. We got lost a couple of times, drove all around Nyack New York, had to make some cutely calculated U turns, but made it here intact!	Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Dots are doing great, feeding us well, and we are having a really good time. I took a photo of roses growing by the stone wall and some other artsy photos.
June 27	We went driving around Madison with Auntie Dots today and took some pictures for my friend in Oregon. She toured us around a bit and we went to the huge new Stop & Shop and got some food for us.	Grandma cooked the most wonderful dinner for us: swordfish steaks, broccoli rabe, baked potatoes, and cheesecake with strawberries. Very good day visiting with the folks.
June 28	Woke up early enough to have breakfast with the folks and to see Auntie Dots off to work, then we kissed g'bye and headed north. We went to Newington, CT to W1AW, the home of ARRL, the big organization of ham radio operators in this country. We got a nice tour, got to operate the radio, and got some nice photos.	Then we headed up the highway, sticking to the little roads this day. Very pretty drive punctuated by lovely flowers, quaint little towns, and wrong turns. We had lunch at a Pizza Hut. Tonight we are at Monson, Massachusetts, nice campground called Sunset View Camping Area. Watch for a photo of it in here.
June 29	We took a few pics of the campground at Monson this morning and here is the best one. Then we headed north, traveling along little roads mostly, up through the countryside and little towns of central Massachusetts. We stopped in Townsend MA and had lunch on their Town Green in their gazebo which was built in 1895.	Then we continued on across the southern part of New Hampshire, cutting through Manchester and Portsmouth. We were on only little roads at this point. We stopped in Kittery Maine along highway 1 and did a bit of outlet shopping. Then it was back on the road to the Moosam River Campground at Kennebunk ME, where we had reserved a spot. Here is a photo of Michael doing the utilities dance at this campground.
June 30	We got up pretty early and got on the road by 9. We drove up to Freeport, the home of L.L.Bean and a bunch of other great outlet stores. We drove around a big block twice before we discovered the best possible parking space, we figured. The usual RV parking lot was packed full of RV's which were parked hither and thither without any semblance of a pattern. We found a place on the street, about 4 blocks from the main street.	I was looking for some "baggies", comfortable loose pants, and tried some on at Bean's, but didn't find any. We did get some stuff at Crabtree & Evelyn's outlet store. (Yes, Annette!) and we got Michael some licorice at another store.
July 1	We got up and went to upload our changes at the office and then went back to the site where Michael did a little more patching on the roof. (He thinks that he has that leak licked this time! From there we drove over on 9 to New Brunswick Canada, entering at Calais. During this drive, we were surprised to see a sign that read, "Pavement Ends". Sure enough, the pavement had ended! We drove on gravel/dirt for about 2 miles alongside the road that they were constructing. We just went slowly; it wasn't too bad. The roadway was strewn with the most beautiful wildflowers of yellow, white, purple and pink.	Now, it should be mentioned that part of the reason for our rapid transit to Canada, is that we wanted to "escape" the USA for the 4th of July, always sort of a wild time for camping, with sites scarce and neighboring campers building huge fires from which they light their bottle rockets. We arrived fairly early at New River Beach Campground barely into New Brunswick along the Bay of Fundy. As soon as we reached the Canadian border, the festival atmosphere was apparent. We had arrived for the Canada Day weekend! A thick mist had rolled in off the water, leaving us engulfed in a thick cold fog. Otherwise the day had been pretty, though cool. The temp got down into the 40's that night sending the college-aged campers around us scurrying early into their tents. We were kind of surprised how ... civilized ... the people were, considering their age and the holiday. Are we becoming curmudgeons?