...And Then There Was Nova Scotia!

Latest news! We were on the road again (and the ocean!) this last weekend, 10/4-10/9. This time we drove our truck right up the pier and onto The Cat, which is a badass ferry that goes across the Bay of Fundy from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and back to Bar Harbor. The boat is a hydrofoil, which means its hull actually skates ABOVE the water supported on underwater 'foils' that run just under the surface. This craft is about 300 feet long, accomodates vehicles as big as buses and does the 300-mile run from Portland in just over five hours! It has movie theaters, a small casino and bars and restaurants right on board.

After arriving in Nova Scotia (which is also called by the Canadians 'The Maritimes') we drove around the peninsula to our hotel on the east coast, the White Point Beach Resort. This place is amazing, it has been in continuous business since 1927, at which time the only way to get there was by rail from Yarmouth. Turns out the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, the John Astor family, and many other famous people have stayed there, as the place was a favorite summer destination from the United States east coast for many years. Lots of history there, many interesting and nostalgic photos hanging all over the place, and lots of atmosphere...

As is the standard on this site, see below for photos and captions. Click on any picture for a full-screen view; I recommend it, because some of these are really interesting.

On The Cat, And The Rooster Tails Are THIRTY FEET HIGH...


One Of The First Things We Saw Upon Arrival; Yes, He Is Wearing A Kilt...


This Was Taken Less Than 30 Feet From Our Cottage Door...


The Historic Lodge At Our Hotel...


Th Exterior Of The Lodge...


Us On The Beach...


Taken By St. Mary's Bay, And This Photo Has NOT Been Enhanced Or Edited...


Taken From Inside A Cave At 'The Ovens' (a weird and fantastic geologic formation on the Atlantic where the rocks have been 'folded' and uplifted over 300 million years, and where legend has it that the Native Americans figured out how to take a boat completely through the peninsula to the Bay of Fundy)...


The Cliffs At The Ovens, About 250 Feet Above The Water...


Looking Straight Down At The Folded Formations, About 250 Feet Above The Water...


This One Is For Kevin. 300-Million-Year-old Sediments Uplifted And Folded To Razors' Edges...

ADDENDUM...FOR KEVIN (AND ANYBODY ELSE WHO'S INTERESTED) FROM SCOTTY: This guy at NCSU thinks that the zircon samples in these rocks imply that the currently-accepted model of the mini-continent encounter that created (?) the Appalachians is wrong, that the Nova Scotia-Newfoundland region was accreted in a separate event prior to the larger formation on the Central East Coast. See below link for his C.V. and what I believe is a summary of his hypothesis. Please comment on the blog!

www.meas.ncsu.edu/Curriculum_Vitae_07/HibbardPERS.RES.pdf

Upper Ordovician–Lower Devonian strata of the Meguma terrane in the Canadian Appalachians contain zircon populations, including an important Mesoproterozoic zircon population (1.0–1.4 Ga), similar to those in coeval strata of Avalonia, and strongly suggest contiguous rather than discrete histories for these terranes throughout the Paleozoic. That these terranes were juxtaposed throughout the early Paleozoic is indicated by the absence of a Cambrian–Ordovician accretionary event, the lack of intervening suture-zone ophio litic units, and the similarity of Avalonian and Meguma basement Nd isotope signatures in early Paleozoic igneous suites. As Avalonia had accreted to Laurentia-Baltica by the Early Silurian, these data suggest that the Meguma terrane, like Avalonia, resided along the same (northern) margin of the Rheic Ocean at that time. These conclusions have implications for reconstructions of the northern Gondwanan margin in the early Paleozoic and imply that the Silurian–Devonian Acadian orogeny in Maritime Canada occurred in an Andean-type setting and was not related to collision of the Meguma terrane with the Laurentian margin.


I got LOTS more, but gotta charge the battery now. Be back later.

OK, up and running.

The Fishing Town Called Lunenburg, And They Still Speak German Here...


Again, 30 Feet From Our Front Door On The Second Evening...


The Lighthouse At Fort Point, Liverpool, On The Mersey River...
(NOTE: The main industry here in the 1600s and 1700s was interesting; most of the town's revenue was made by legalized piracy. The ships built here were primarily used to cruise the American East Coast, when America was still an enemy of Britain. They would fire upon and and capture American ships and commandeer them, and their cargoes, to be sold to the highest bidder, with a portion of the proceeds being paid to the British Admiralty as 'Privateering Tax'. Thus, the honored and profitable profession of 'Privateer'.)


The Tidal Power Station At Annapolis Royal...
(ANOTHER NOTE: This generating facility is on St. Mary's Bay, which is an offshoot of the much-larger Bay of Fundy. It generates 20 megawatts of electricity by the simple, and completely pollution-free, expedient of placing turbines on the bay and drawing power from the totally insane tides here. These run four times a day in or out, and at this point raise and lower the bay level by 13 meters, or about FORTY-TWO FEET! They are the highest ocean tides in the world.)


My Favorite Pirate...


The Ferry We Took Across The River To Mahone Bay. It Runs By Winching Itself On A Submerged Cable...

The Great 2007 New Hampshire Journey

OK, Allison says I need to be more conscious of how I do this, i.e. to post more compartmentally so as to enhance readability, so here goes...

We went, over this last weekend 10/28-10/30, to the White Mountains on a 'Foliage Tour'. This author, having grown up in the Mountain West, has treasured a somewhat obnoxious and elitist perception of the Appalachians, the range that includes the area we visited this weekend, as being the old, worn-down, toothless has-beens of North America. I here and now officially apologize to New England for having relegated these ranges to 'peon' status, for assuming that the area was 'kind and gentle' when compared to the Rockies, Sangre de Cristos, etc. The peaks in this area are NOT SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS. There, I said it. The topography in the Whites is every bit as challenging, awe-inspiring and potentially hazardous as anything I have seen; the region's inclines, watercourses, and its proclivity for devasting weather and avalanches make it every bit as formidable as anything we have experienced, with the possible exception of the South American Andes.

Following you may see some photos, just like all previous posts with captions, of our latest adventure. As always, click on the photo for a larger view.

The View Out The Windshield Entering The White Mountains...


Us In The Middle Of Glacial Debris, Swift River...


This Is Really How It Looks, No Kidding...


The Quintessential Sybarite...


The Train We Took To The Top Of Mount Washington (which, by the way, has 'the worst weather on the North American Continent', with a top recorded wind speed of TWO HUNDRED THIRTY ONE MILES PER HOUR, and has a specially-constructed weather station atop the summit with three-inch-thick chains holding it down to keep it from blowing away!). The train uses a ton of coal and 500 gallons of water to get to the top (only a short 3.5 miles) from the base station. Some areas of the track are inclined by as much as 37 degrees (which is REALLY STEEP). This is the FIRST cog railroad ever to go into service anywhere... invented by a New Englander that nearly died of exposure attempting to get to the top of this mountain...


On The Train, And It's Getting Cold...


We Enter The Clouds...


You Don't Need My Help With This One...


At The Top; Wind Speed 78 MPH, Tempurature 26F, Wind Chill -17F, Allison Couldn't Stand Up, And My White-Knuckle Grip On That Rail Is Not Merely To Appear Debonaire...

(Geophysical curiosity: this mountain actually extends INTO THE JETSTREAM, the primary mechanism driving climate in the Northern Hemisphere, as it descends off North America to the Atlantic. This explains the totally insane conditions which include an AVERAGE wind speed of 60 MPH. The highest recorded temperature EVER on this mountain is 74F, and it routinely drops to -40F in the winter. Record low: -84F. Not even the North Pole has worse weather.)


Getting low on battery, but we have lots more pictures, some REALLY cool, from NH. Be back later. Bye.

September 2007

OK, time to change months. We've been here for about six weeks now and still haven't more than scratched the surface of the region, been spending lots of time becoming familiar with the area. We went to Portland yesterday to go to Wal-Mart and Home Depot (that darned boat is becoming kind of an obsession, gotta do some fiberglass repairs now on the inner deck). We forgot the camera (Marion has gotta be disappointed in our continuity) but the port there is just as picturesque and scenic as you might expect. All of you should look up DeMillo's Restaurant (it's actually on a floating 19th-century steamer that has quite a history, and the family owns the pier, the marina and the yacht sales business there); we had lunch on the water and it was really good. We are becoming New England-style clam chowder fanatics, and we have a lot of fun comparing the various versions; everyone does it differently, and all the recipes are espionage/microfilm/cyanide, cloak-and-dagger secrets...

Allison has really settled in at the hospital, and they keep asking her what it would take to get her to stay here, but we are adamant about our travel agenda and we don't wanna be here when it gets to be full winter anyway. These people are very hardy and tough customers, and we are still shirt-sleeve-in-January Texans...

We have a date for Thanksgiving with some RVers we met at the KOA in Gardiner; they are from the D.C. area and have a favorite campground in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, so we are going there on the 17th of November for about 10 days to meet up with them. Then we are gonna leave the rig and the truck there for about a month (the lady has a storage area and is very nice) and spend the first part of December at Michelle and Chad's, see the kids, and then head to Colorado for Christmas at the Broadmoor, as has become our tradition.

About a week ago we moved to the campground in Freeport where we will be until it's time to go to Virginia. It's a small, privately-managed place with lots of tall trees and is closer to Lewiston, cuts about 10-15 minutes off the drive to work.

This ia a wide view of our site at Freeport...


...and here is Allison contemplating her S'More...


Our latest adventure: last Friday we launched from Yarmouth at the public ramp (about 10 minutes from the park) into the channel on the Royal River. That channel takes you directly into Casco Bay and the Atlantic. We motored around Cousin's Island all the way to the ocean side of Chebeague Island; from there the nearest land to the east is Newfoundland and, beyond that, Great Britain. We anchored off the island (after banging across 4-foot ocean swells for about 15 miles) and ate our lunch.

This was taken from our anchorage off Chebeague Island. The boats are lobstermen at a floating service dock, offloading their catch and taking on supplies...


This is the same trip, as I study the depth charts in a concerted effort to a) make sure we can find our way back to the Royal, and b) make it at least [somewhat] likely that we won't become another statistic in the seemingly-unending history of Maine seafaring disasters (I don't fancy the idea of swimming three miles with two dogs attached to my back)...


Side note: we celebrated our first anniversary last week; we went to a hotel called the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport and had a killer Sunday brunch. We didn't know it when we chose the place, but apparently this hotel is quite the very-very and too-too for the cream of New England society. They have a 10 X 10-foot wall completely covered with 4-Diamond awards from Mobile Travel and the place is quite attractive. See below for some photos of that day if you want.

Allison in the back garden at the Harraseeket Inn...


The tRaVelers in the garden at the Harraseeket...


And, last but most definitely not least, a closeup of the Harraseeket garden. Note the the monarch butterfly in the flowers. The day we were celebrating our anniversary, and totally unplanned because we didn't know about it, the garden there was full of THOUSANDS of monarchs. Those of you that blessed us with your presence at our wedding in California last year, as well as those who heard about it, will immediately grasp the significance (for us at least). It turns out that the monarchs show up here every year, for about three days, on their way south from where they hatch in spring in northern Canada. They are on their way to a specific forest in Mexico where they winter. Their presence in such numbers at this place, on this day, was quite magical, verging upon mystical, for us...


I will post more as soon as we have some news or more photos. Bye for now...

OK, I'm back, and it is September 22nd. Allison thinks I should post some observations about living in an RV.

As far as they go, we are fortunate regarding the setup we have. Our 5th wheel is relatively well-equipped and comfortable; we lack for very little compared to a typical sticks-and-bricks structure. In contrast, we have seen some folks taking long-term trips in vans, small campers and one older (mid-60's?) couple TENT-CAMPNG ACROSS THE UNITED STATES! In our humble and hedonistic opinion, such monkish self-denial quite obviously crosses the threshold of certifiability.

Our Living Room...


One dynamic requiring substantial adaptation is the actual lack of space, living and storage. Of necessity, we are obliged to engage in a number of quite innovative solutions to consume every cubic inch available. For instance, if your cabinets are not filled to the upper boundary vertically, you aren't doing it right! You never realize how much space you waste in a typical stationary house till you try to fit life's necessities into 300 square feet.

Our Bedroom...


I have never in my life actually wished I were shorter, and I guess I still don't; however, temporily-collapsible shins would be most welcome adaptations to mitigate the epidemic of scraped knuckles and elbows caused by drying my head in the 6'6" high, 5-foot by 3-foot coffin that comprises the shower area. Ah, well...

The Dreaded Bathroom Area...


More RV Living observations to come; they will be posted as they arrive in my limited consciousness!

Yesterday we journeyed to the only still-active Shaker village in North America (IF, that is, you consider a 'community' consisting of four elderly women and one man a viable entity). They are (were) an offshoot of the Quakers that arrived in New England shortly after the Pilgrims, leaving England and the Netherlands to escape persecution; after reading the statement that describes their creed, one is bound to consider that they may have just been tired of being made fun of (SEE BELOW).

In the museum at the site, there is a strange display comprising a) a list of approximately 30 no-longer-active Shaker communities and each one's date of abandonment, and b) the Shaker guidelines of behavior that INCLUDE CELIBACY AND A PROHIBITION OF MARRIAGE by any practicing member of the sect! One is led, inevitably, to consider the logic involved in such policy, as it would seem self-evident that the sustainability of a culture based upon the above would be in some jeopardy.

The Shaker Village in photos below.

Their Barn...


The Common Buildings...


Their School And Church...


Their Land (when they all croak the can leave it to ME!!)...


I Don't Wanna Play With The Sheep Anyway...


Yes, We Were Both There...

After Arriving In Maine

Time to get you all updated. We arrived in Maine on about the 30th of July, tired but undaunted. Spent that day driving across the Green Mountains in Vermont, the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and for all I know the Chartreuse Mountains in wherever (don't let ANYONE tell you there is nothing to these babies just 'cause they're 'only' about 5000 feet tall; you gotta measure that in the context of the surrounding landscape, and they're talking about sea level. Some of these roads are every bit as hard and challenging as anything in the Rockies).

We got to the Lewiston vicinity about 5PM and found a KOA to rest our weary heads. It turned out to only be about 30 minutes from the hospital, and very pleasant, nice people running it, so we decided to stay there and paid them for a month after the first week.

After we were here about a week, we found a little Bayliner runabout that some kid had for sale, kinda beat-up but has a new 350 V-8 and runs like a scalded rabbit. It turns out that the park we are at is only about 10 minutes from the public ramp at Richmond that launches into the Kennebec River (BIG river, you can drive a small boat all the way from Popham Point in the Atlantic to the State Capital at Augusta). This picture is from us running the river by the Bath Iron Works shipyard...



So, Allison has begun her Maine assignment, seems to like it fine, likes the people. They are somewhat backwater as far as their technology and procedures, and Lewiston is a little run-down (the textile and paper industries vanished about 15 years ago, leaving them kinda high-n-dry economically in the city) but we don't spend ANY free time in Lewiston, there is too much to do over where we are on the river and the coast to even bother...

By the way, we have found out that you can go down the Kennebec, cut over into the ocean through Hell's Gate (this is where the Kennebec and the Androscoggin Rivers join up at Merrymeeting Bay, and the water phenomena called 'heaves' or 'chops' where the currents go over submerged ledges are the damnedest thing you all ever saw) and get through all the way to Boothbay Harbor. We went all the way up the coast just the other day. Quite an adventure, good thing they had a gas station at the Boothbay Marina! There are about 900 million lobster traps in all the bays, each with its own color-coded buoy to denote ownership. It's quite akin to what we imagine negotiating a WWII mine field must have been like; we hooked one with the outdrive, luckily it didn't foul the prop and we just kinda backed off'n it, but I thought I might hafta dive to clear it. Click on the pic below for an expanded view of what it's like.


Another very cool trip(s) we took in the boat was down the river to Bath, to the Maine Maritime Museum. It has a mind-boggling display of a 18th-19th century shipyard, lots of live exhibits and a working sailing vessel, the Sherman Zwicker, that was a commercial vessel until the 1940s. We can use their dock to tie up, and it's something you just can't do in one day, so we have been there three days just to do the whole thing. They also have a shop where you can buy USGS and NOAA depth charts, which we needed badly so we don't hit a rock or a ledge, as these waters are very dangerous if you aren't careful. LOTS of old wrecks on the river and in the bays, you will just be driving along and there's a half-sunken schooner or trawler; they just leave 'em there if it's gonna be too expensive to haul 'em free or if they're too damaged to repair. Very odd, like a freeway where they just leave accidents where they occurred and post notices so you don't run into them...

Our boat tied up at the Maine Maritime Museum. Again, click for a larger view.


I'm not done with the August posts yet, gotta lot more pictures, but I'm about to run out of battery so I'll do more later. Everybody take care.

OK, I'm back. Got some more pictures; I'm just gonna 'caption' them and let ya look...

The bridge over the Kennebec at Augusta from the middle of the river...


The Ancient Mariner in a furry red costume...


Allison and our housemates at the Gardiner KOA...


A Mid-1700s mansion on the Kennebec (note the all-granite construction) that belonged to a 'Paper Baron'...


This is interesting. It's a 'perspective'-style channel light on the Kennebec on the way in from the ocean. It works whether it's day or night. The structure in back is elevated about 10 feet above the front one, and you line up the lights (at night) or the towers themselves (if it's daytime) on your way in, so you don't run up on the scary shoals on either side of the river. This marker set is still in operation after almost 300 years...


This is a Civil War-era fort guarding the mouth of the Kennebec River, as seen from the water. We also visited this place, called Popham Point, by land on another day and sat on the fort's rampart and ate ice cream cones. This is also the site, now being excavated, of the English colony that was founded the same year as Jamestown in Virginia; the only difference is that this one's first winter was so severe that everyone died and the settlement was abandoned. The last entry in the log was something about how no one should EVER live here because the climate was so hostile. Also, the local Indians were so intelligent that they stole boats from the settlement and used them to attack the colonists from the river...


OK, here's the light at Hell's Gate. This is where you turn hard to port heading in toward the Bath Iron Works; the channel is only about a hundred yards wide at this point so big ships heading in have to kinda stop, reverse rudder and turn on a dime to keep from ending up in the woods...


If you look carefully you can see the old pilings in the bay here. This is Popham Bay right on the ocean. This is where, before any highways came this way, the big coastal steamers from Boston or New York would come in from the Atlantic. They would drop off their loads, and then the passengers and freight would be reloaded onto river steamers for the trip north to Bath, Richmond, Gardiner, Hallowell and ultimately to Augusta. P.S. In the background you can see the Seguin Island Light; the ocean, ledges, rocks and shoals here are literally strewn with the corpses of ships that came to grief in 50-to 80-foot seas during storms. Lots and lots of ghosts here...