Day 10 - Acadia National park

Whew! We just completed a marathon day at Acadia. We boarded the 9:05 bus to Acadia, hiked 3 miles on the carriage road system, saw various lakes and other sights, sat through a US park ranger's lesson on animals of Acadia, returned to the campsite for dinner, then departed back to the park for sunset atop Cadillac mountain, and then a park ranger's lesson on the stars. We arrived home at 11:10 pm. I think we may have pushed the kids too hard because Brandon and Bailey fell asleep while we viewed the stars and the other two were asleep by the time we arrived back at the campsite. The night sky was very clear and I saw more stars than I have in a long time. Even the milky way was pretty visible tonight. After completing the animal and star education lessons, Levi, Seth, and Brandon will get their Junior Ranger badges tomorrow morning and then we will drive up to St. John, New Brunswick. St. John is really a stopping point because the next day we drive to Nova Scotia where we will view the 30 foot tidal change from our RV site on the bay. I'm not sure how accessible the internet will be for the next several days. The campsites in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia may not have access.

July 9 - Boston to Acadia

Most travel days are 4 hours or less, but yesterday (July 9) was one of the longer legs at 5 hours. Everyone did fantastic in the car. I must admit, we did let the kids watch a movie on the DVD player to help pass the time. Yesterday was one of those days when you'd rather be in the car than outside, it was in the mid 50s and raining most of the day. We are hoping for warmer weather today as we venture into Acadia National Park. Two neat things about Acadia: they have the highest coastal mountain north of Rio and they have 57 miles of cobble stone roads that are dedicated for biking and hiking (no cars).

Boston Day 2 - Sunday July 8

Today (Sunday, July 8) we decided to give the kids a little break from seeing historical sights by taking them to the children’s museum. We had read that the Boston’s children’s museum is one of the best children’s museums around so we had planned on making sure we spent some time at it. It is fairly large and had enough activities to keep the kids entertained for 6 hours. Sheri and I had seen a poster advertisement for the Blue Man Group on Saturday as we were walking around Boston. We decided that would be a fun activity for Levi and Seth so we split up after the Children’s museum. Levi, Seth, and I went to the Blue Man Group while Sheri and the little ones returned to the hotel to swim in the pool. Levi and Seth really enjoyed the Blue Man Group. For those of you who haven’t seen them, they are a variety show that includes humor, skits, and music (played on PVC pipes). There is no speaking throughout the entire show. Instead, they use those LED message boards to make statements. Monday we have a 4.5 hour haul to Acadia, but the drive should be really nice through Maine.

Day 7 - Boston Day 1

We had a full day in Boston today, leaving the hotel around 10 am and arriving back about 9:30 pm. We took advantage of Boston's subway and the free hotel shuttle to the closest subway stop. The first stop we made was at Bunker Hill. The entire family climbed all 294 steps to the top of the monument. I was surprised Brandon made it, but he is a real trooper. Bailey took the easy route and rode on my back. At Bunker Hill we got a chance to view a a musket firing where Sheri got a nice picture as the smoke erupted from the gun (see picture link). We proceeded to the USS Constitution, which is the oldest active Naval ship (built in the 1790s). Then we went to Paul Revere's house (built in 1680). A day in Boston wouldn't be complete without a meal at Cheers, so we finished the day with that. One of the funniest moments of the day happened in the morning. After Bailey's bath, I tried to blow dry her hair using the wall mounted blow drier. Unfortunately it appeared broken. After I said, "I don't know what is wrong with it", Bailey proceeded to tell me she knew. It took me a few minutes to figure out what she was saying: "It needs to be plugged in!". Sure enough she was right. I hadn't bothered to check that as my expectation was that all wall mounted blow driers stay plugged in. That moment was good for a family laugh. A second funny moment occurred at bedtime. We have been trying to have everyone state their high moment and low moment for the day just as we are going to bed. Bailey has picked up on this and tonight she proclaimed that her high moment today was playing on the playground. We all laughed because we didn't do that today.

Day 6 - Plymouth (July 6)

This morning (Friday) we woke up and decided to relax before seeing the sights in Plymouth. We went to the swimming lake and enjoyed the water. Seth, Levi, Brandon, and I tried to swim about 100 yards to a floating dock. Brandon being the only one with a flotation device. Brandon started by holding onto my shoulders, which isn't usually a problem. Unfortunately, he was scarred fish were going to bite him so he kept trying to climb up my back to get his feet as close to the surface as he could. That served to force me under. I could handle that until Seth cried, "My arms are tired I'm not going to make it!". Seth grabbed my shoulder and then I couldn't stay afloat. So I threw Brandon off of me (he can swim fine with his flotation device) and we all returned to shore. Thankfully, Seth didn't give up. We realized it was a mental problem more than a physical problem. Within 10 minutes Levi, Seth, and I made it to the dock and Seth needed no assistance. After our swimming adventure, we went to see the Mayflower in Plymouth. They have an exact replica of the Mayflower which was constructed in the 1950s and repeated the journey in 1957. Our RV is huge compared to what 102 people lived in for 3 months. I enjoyed talking with one of the actors on the ship who portrays a women who went across. Because she maintains her 1620 acting role, I couldn't explain where I lived. In those days the Potomac wasn't the Potomac, the Chesapeake wasn't named that either. The closest thing I could reference was Jamestown. We're in the Boston hotel room now, which is about 3 times the size of our RV. We'll tour Boston today and tomorrow and head up to Acadia on Monday.

Day 5 - New York to Plymouth

We had a long journey today. First, I got redirected in the Bronx. Lost isn't the appropriate term since the GPS always lets me know where I am. Redirected reflects the fact that I got run onto an exit because traffic wouldn't let me merge onto the interstate. Then I tried to get creative to avoid an 8 mile backup on I-95 in Connecticut by taking Route 1. Apparently, everyone else had that idea as well. Then we had to make a stop at the grocery store and WalMart (to get a bike tire for my bike). In short, we turned a 4 hour trip into a 7 hour trip. Significant milestones included: New York, mile 342 (we had entered by foot but the RV hadn't touched it until today), Connecticut, mile 368; Rhode Island, mile 480, and Massachusetts, mile 523. The RV park I picked near Plymouth is huge. There must be 200-300 sites. Seth and Brandon took the opportunity to swim in the pond this evening, the rest of us opted for the warmer view of the pond without swimming. We roasted marshmellows tonight. I think we invented a new campfire meal: banana and strawberry flavored marshmellow. We put them both on a skewer and heated them up together. They make a fine combination. Tomorrow we are off to see Plymouth and then we drive to Boston where we will stay in a Hotel for 3 nights. Do you think people at the hotel will look at us funny when we go out to the RV each night for dinner? (Just kidding, we'll probably eat out).

Day 4 - New York City

What a fantastic day in the city!! We walked to a subway in NJ and took it to 34th street (where Macy's is located). Then we walked to Times Square and Central Park and took a cab to the World Trade Center. It looked like it was going to rain all day, but it held off until we were about 500 feet from our RV. We took the kids into Toys R Us and FAO Schwartz. In the evening we watched the fireworks (which Bailey could have done without) from our RV site while it rained off and on. After we went to bed we were awoken by torrential rains. Thankfully we didn't become an ark and float away. We are also grateful Bailey didn't hear the thunder(loudies)or we would have been up all night. One very interesting thing we saw today was this reed boat called the Abora3. A German scientist believes that there were ancient people from Africa who crossed the Atlantic way before Columbus (several thousand years BC). He believes they used reed boats. To prove it, he is sailing from New York to Spain starting on July 11.