Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Clamming in Frenchmen Bay - Maine

   It's hard to believe that we've been parked for a week already. The weather has been mostly dreary and cold but we still found a lot of time to get out and do the things that we wanted to do.
   When we arrived back in the U.S., there were very few trees that had started to change colors but with the week of off and on cold showers, the colors are really starting to pop which adds another element to an already beautiful area. Unfortunately because of the constant over cast skies and fog which is prevalent almost every morning and evening, the opportunity to take some really good pictures has not presented itself.

   One of the things that Deb wanted to do is to go clamming while we were here so last Thursday we set out to find a place to dig. After visiting the town hall in Harrington, we were told the very confusing rules that this town had just to get a license to dig. I would explain it, but there is absolutely no way that anybody could possibly understand what we had been told, including whoever the idiots were who wrote them.
   The very nice lady at the Harrington town hall did give us the information that we needed. She told us to go to the town of Sullivan about 20 miles southwest of here. She told us that we could buy a license over the counter which is good for one year for just $11, so off we went.
    I didn't know where the town hall was but all of these little coastal towns are very small so I was confident that we would easily find it. We drove thru Sullivan on the main road (U.S. Hwy 1) but did not see the town hall so I turned inland one block over and started back in the direction that we came from. About two blocks down, we passed a young family in their yard but decided to stop and back up to ask them the location of the town hall. After getting quick directions, I asked the man if he knew anything about clamming. A big smile spread across his face and he said that he knew a little bit. I explained that we were from NC and wanted to go dig some clams after we bought our license at the town hall and asked if he would tell us a place that we could go find some. As it turned out, he was the regional director in charge of shellfish for the State of Maine. What are the odds of that????
  He told us exactly where to go, how big the clams would be in that area and then proceeded to tell us where we would need to go to find mussels. The clams were easy to find but hard on the knees and the back. After about 5 dozen, we decided to go down the road to where he said we could find mussels. Holy cow, did we ever find mussels! I could have filled the back of my pickup truck in about a half hour if I wanted to. They were everywhere and you could just walk along and pick them up two dozen at a time.
We collected about 7 dozen, went home and cooked them all up along with the 4 lobsters that we bought for $4.25 a pound. I never knew that a person could get stuffed on lobsters, clams, and mussels. Deb used the leftovers to make seafood gumbo the next night.

   Tomorrow we move to another coastal community south of Portland so, despite the intermitant showers, Deb and I took off early this morning at low tide to dig a bunch of clams to take with us when we go. Jack and Laura Camaratta are flying in from Nashville to meet us on Thursday so we wanted to stockpile a supply for when they are here. After about 2-1/2 hours, we had the equivalent of about 4 gallons of clams in the cooler. Unforunately by then the tide had come in too far for me to collect any mussels to go with them.
   We've been told that we can buy a "lobster car" at the next place where we are going for $50. For that, you get  13 one pound lobsters so I guess that we will have enough to stuff ourselves again!

Friday, September 24, 2010

It's all about the hair

As I mentioned previously I desparetly needed to do something professional with my hair. I took a gamble and made an appointment with a salon that by all outward appearances gave me a good  impression. Heather and I began getting to know each other immediately as you do when you settle into the hair chair. I told her as much as I know about my hair to give her as much of an advantage as possible so as to insure a positive result. She came back with a bowl full of color and applied it painstakingly to all my roots, all the while telling me how she had just gotten out of hair school a mere few months ago.  I am thinking, oh oh.
 We then move on to the highlights. I have been coloring my hair for quite a few years. It is taking her an excruciatingly long time. I know from past experience that color is usually left on for 30 minutes, the color has been on for 45 when she finishes the highlights which are left to process for another 25 minutes. In the mean time Rob comes to pick me up ( I told him to give me about 2 hours) so we send him away. While waiting for the time to pass my scalp is burning and I keep thinking I am about to see big clumps of my hair falling to the floor.  You are probably wondering if at any point I voiced any of my concerns. I said nothing, I was at a loss for words.  She was such a sweet girl, and I did not know what to say.
We then move to the shampoo bowl, after she shampoos she says"do you have a problem with DRY HAIR?"  I am thinking, well I am sure I do now. So we put a conditioning treatment on it, which takes more time and Rob comes again and we send him away again.
Then she cuts my hair and blow dries it with a round brush. I swear to God she had the hottest blow dryer I have ever felt. It takes forever to dry my hair anyway and I thought I would die. Well not die, but it really was awful.  To top it off,  I'm not very happy with the haircut either.

Here I am three days later, I scratched my head today and it feels like a severe sunburn which is what made me think of this today. So this story is for all the ladies out there who can relate.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The nick of time

My God we got out of Cape Briton in the nick of time. Hurricane Ivan just slammed the area we were staying in. Let me tell you they didn't need more rain. You know the whole time we were in Canada we never got a local weather forecast. When you have a satelite dish you can't get anything but US staions.

You may have noticed that the blog has improved in appearance. My computer abilities are slightly limited so I enlisted the help of my daughter-in-law, Robin, who is currently pregnant with our grandchild. Have I mentioned that before? Anyway, I knew Robin would figure it out and she did. Didn't she do a great job? We have officially named her editor-in-chief. Now we just have to figure out how to get little videos on here.

Sara, my hair stylist who did my hair for the last 11 years, set me up with hair color for this road trip that Rob and I could apply when needed. It's a liitle weird having your husband color your hair, especially when he keeps saying ,"why don't you just go natural". Or, " boy, are you gray".  I am not ready to be gray yet!!!!  So today, downtown St.John, New Brunswick, I am seeking a professional. It's a little scary because you never know what you are going to get. But then I guess nothing is scarier than having Rob do it.

Speaking of St. John, COOL city. This is an old harbor city, lots of great old big buildings and churches. Hustling, bustling area where cruise ships dock and people get off and go shopping. Somebodies Port of Call. We are staying at a campground right in the downtown area, one of only two that are still open at this time of year.  The tide that comes in here from the Bay of Fundy raises the water level 25 to 35 feet! Unbeleivable. Everybody smokes cigeretts here. And windy.

 We head to Bar Harbor, ME tomorrow. Back in cell range. Woke up after a horrible dream this morning in which Patrick was saying to me "Sorry to have to tell you this". Then my eyes shot open. Leaves you with a nagging feeling if you know what I mean.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Heading back to the USA

Since the weather was going to stay rainy for a few days we decided it was time to start back to the states. Our Nova Scotia experience was so worth the bad roads and uncooperative weather. The pictures we put on here should speak volumes. We spent all our time in the Cape Breton area. This is the part of Nova Scotia best known for it's 186 mile coastal highway that boasts the best scenic route in the world. We covered about half of it and it did not disappoint. If the weather had permitted, we would have done several of the hiking trails. As it was, we tried to cram everything into one day that was sunny.
We went out on the Gulf of St. Lawrence in a Zodiac to whale watch. Not only did we have Pilot Whales all over the place but the bumpy ride out to where they were was like a carnival ride. I LOVED IT. It was also  great to see this awesome coastline from the sea. It was guaranteed, no whales, you get your money back but it was $78 well spent.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Then we hopped on the scenic drive, took a thousand pictures  and headed back to camp to take pictures of the fantastic sunset. Something odd about being on the east coast and being able to watch the sun set over the ocean.
We are now camped in St. John, New Brunswick. Can't tell you all how much we miss everybody. Since we have a new grandbaby on the way we have been talking about how we will probably change up our future plans. After we figure it out we'll let you know.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Rainy, rainy, rainy day

   We awoke to the patter of raindrops on the roof of the trailer and the weather went down hill from there. It had started out being just a light rain but by late afternoon the wind was whipping heavy rain sideways and, at times, rocking the trailer.

   When we first set up camp anywhere that we stay, one of my jobs is to get the satellite antennae in a position so that it can acquire a signal. When I first did so here, the signal was so weak that we only got a few channels and even those would break up the picture from time to time. The sky was quite overcast which didn’t help but I also made the determination that we are so far up in the northeast that the dish had to point to the southwest at such a low angle to find a satellite that the horizon was getting in the way of the signal. Once I picked the dish up off the ground and placed it on the roof of the trailer, we got a much better signal and were able to get some more channels.

   Why do I tell you this? Simply so that you understand that today, with the bad weather, we were completely cut off from the outside world. It rained and blew so hard in the afternoon that we could not even get a strong enough Wi-Fi signal to stay connected to the campgrounds Internet connection. To be to able to write this blog I had to do it on my word processor and the paste it here later. ( Deb just opened a bottle of Cabernet Franc that we bought in New York so I’m taking a break to play scrabble with her and will continue this later )

   At one point after lunch, I decided that I would get a couple repairs done on the camper. When the tire blew out on the highway the other day, it ripped open the material covering the under belly and there were wires hanging out that I had to tie up to continue the trip.
   I went under the trailer with the wind whipping under it about 25mph and repaired the damage the best that I could do with the items that I carry with us. That took a half an hour so it was back inside for the remainder of the afternoon.
    About two hours before it got dark, the rain subsided and we decided to take the dogs out for a run on the beach. It was a much needed escape for the dogs. Labrador Retrievers love water and both went crashing into the surf of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The beach here is about a half mile long with 400 foot cliffs at each end with a mountain stream running thru it to the gulf. The dogs covered it from one end to the other exploring every inch of it. The wind was blowing constantly and after about a half hour, the rain started coming down in sheets so we had to head back..
    Despite the weather, it was a nice day with some reading, some napping and a lot of time just sitting in front of the fireplace enjoying it’s warm glow but we are definitely looking forward to getting out into the Cape Breton Highlands. Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be sunny and warm.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia

New Brunswick was like being in northern WI or MN. The terrain was the same. The city of Moncton is about 30 miles inland from the Northumberland Straight. So this Tidal Bore that Rob told you about is coming from quite a ways. It actually originates from the Bay of Fundy. One of only two places in the world this occurs and this is the only one that happens twice a day . It really is fascinating. Ok, so Magnetic Hill was so stupid. This spot used to be the actual point of magnetic north, but since the poles are ever shifting, that is in Alaska now. Somebody needs to tell these charlatans.
Don't know exactly  what I expected but Canada does definetly feel like an extention of the US. Moncton had the Walmarts, Michaels,Mcdonald's,DQ's, etc. All the packaging of goods sold are different  from in the states, probably has something to do with imports. Gas is a little more expensive, sold by the liter and they call it the "Imperial Gallon" (4 liters to a gallon) so not something you can easily compute right on the spot to compare.  When listening to the local radio stations it's 95% american music. This part of Canada has alot of French Canadians so everything is in English and French.

We decided to take a drive over to Prince Edward Island, mainly to drive the Confederation Bridge and see a little of the Island and say we did. We took Mollie and Bear with us. The bridge is a marvel, it is 8 miles long, a one of its kind in the world. It is only 10 years old, they used to go back and forth by ferry only. What a way to live!  They are obviously still paying for this bridge as we soon found out because to get OFF THE FRIGGIN' ISLAND WE HAD TO PAY $42.00!!!!  Ok I'll calm down, but some lady had told us it would cost $7.00 so we never paid attention to the signs.  It kind of ticked me off since we are on a budget and all and it was my idea, again and well that was a hell of an expensive bridge ride. I did buy a cute t-shirt for only $8.00  to commerate the experience.

It took us another 7 hours to get over to Cape Briton,Nova Scotia, where we are camping. We had a tire on the camper literally BLOW out that set us back a couple of hours and $195.00 to replace the spare. The people at the tire shop were quite surprised that this tire blew like it did. We pulled into camp with just enough time to set up before dark. Nova Scotia is beautiful!! It is what I would expect Ireland or Scotland to look like and feel like. The wind is just whipping, right here where we are camped, right next to the sea. Years ago, about two years before Rob's mom started to go downhill, she talked about wanting to make a trip to Nova Scotia. She, being a Kennedy had some serious Celtic roots. Well this trip is for you Fran.
This area is steeped in Scottish and Irish tradition. It is going to be fun to explore

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

On to Canada...

   After working my ass off all week at bear camp, I needed a vacation so I was looking forward to heading to Moncton New Brunswick for a little R&R. Deb seemed to have a different agenda after spending the same week in Patten Maine with nothing to do. She wanted to go SEE everything.
   We went to a place called Magnetic Hill. Apparently someone seemed convinced that this 15 ft rise in the ground had such strong "magnetism" that it would actually pull your car all the way to the top so they built a theme park, a zoo and a bunch of tourists shops around it to lure people like Debbie in. Well it worked!
   I don't mean the magnetism, I mean it lured Deb in. As far as the "magnetism", my truck certainly coasted all the way to the top of the hill but only because they had figured out exactly where to place the white post that you are suppossed to park next to on the adjacent hill. Yes, you pay $5.00, drive around the corner to park next to the white post, put your car in nuetral and suppossedly the "magnetism" pulls you to the top of the next hill. Am I the only one who understands that your car will roll down the hill and up the next one????
   Maybe I need to take the idea back to Asheville and build a theme park. I don't have the money yet but if I could get enough ignorant tourists to pay 5 bucks to coast down a hill, I might get enough to do it.
   We didn't buy a T-shirt or a hat.

   We did see a really cool natural attraction that I would have been happy to pay for but it was free. The Chocolate River runs right thru downown Moncton. The water looks just like chocolate syrup but thats not the cool part. Southeast of town is the Bay of Fundy which has the highest tides in the world. When the tide comes in, it comes in so fast that it sends a wall of water about 3 feet high racing up the river. We were on the river when, what they call the tidal bore came up the river. At low tide, the river was flowing southeast. Then came the tidal bore which changed the direction of the river with all of he water flowing up hill in the opposite direction. What is equally amazing is the fact that about 2-1/2 hours later the level of the river was 25 feet deeper, filling the banks to the top.
   When we head back thru there on our way south, I think that I want to witness it right at the bay.

The Bear facts

   Well as you know, I had a little time to bear hunt in Maine. For those of you who don't undertand how special the bear was that I shot , I'll fill you in. There is a record book for animals harvested with a bow called Pope and Young. The minimum skull measurement to make it into the book is 17". Mine scored
20-1/2" so it will rank quite high. There is another book called Boone & Crocket for animals taken with any weapon, rifle, bow, spear, handgun, etc. The minimum is 20" so I will make that book also.
   This bear is what every hunter dreams of when they go to the woods. On the back end, my picture is being used in the next edition of Bow Hunt America magazine in an advertisement to solicit readers to submit articles to the magazine for publication and the story will run in the magazine after the first of the year.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

On to New Brunswick

We finished our time in bear hunt camp, Rob fulfilled his obligation. We made some friends this week and it just so happens they are from the Asheville area, small world. We unloaded about another 300 pounds and sent it back home with them to give to our son, Pat. We definetly brought along way more than we ever needed. Bulwinkle still eludes me, that was my goal, to see a moose. We'll keep looking.
We just arrived in Moncton, New Brunswick. This is a stop for 3 days before we go on to Nova Scotia. From here we may pop over to Prince Edward Island. Everything up here has cooled off, leaves are just starting to change. The four hour drive to get here was nothing but forest for the most part. Very few towns in this part of New Brunswick. All road signs are in French and English. Speed limit was 110km. The exchange rate is even up. We crossed over to the Atlantic time zone.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Big One

You know I was a bit reluctant to come to a bear hunt camp for a week, I don't mind telling you. I envisioned no water, no electricity, boredom, etc. while Rob went to the woods to do his thing. We are on a budget so I didn't know what this would set us back. Rob was here 10 years ago so he worked out with the guy who owns this camp to do maintenance work around camp in exchange for the hunting. Yesterday was the first day in the woods for this week's new group. Rob called me at dusk to say he had just killed a monster bear with his bow. He could hardly contain himself. It took 6 people until about 9:30 to get it out of the woods. The owner of this hunt camp said it could be a Maine 2010 state record killed by a bow. It weighed in at 455 pounds!! I do not want to steal any of Rob's thunder here, I am sure a story from him will follow shortly with pictures. I just want to say watching my husband float around camp basking in all this glory was so worth coming here. This is a once in a lifetime experience for a hunter and I am so thankful I was here to be a part of it.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

From New York to Vermont to Maine

We finished up our visit to the finger lakes area, Cayuga Lake to be exact. We spent a half a day on the Cayuga Wine Trail that has 16 wineries on it. Most wineries offer eight tastings so after six wineries we were ready for a nap. I have to say we tasted some really good wines!
We headed to a friend of ours from Asheville who is currently living in Woodstock, Vermont. He recently got married and this was one of her homes. We had a bit of an open invitation to come and stay but had been unable to get a hold of them to let them know we were on our way.So we just show up and our friend ,Will, has gone to Asheville. We introduce ouselves to Lynn, whom we have never met, and needless to say this could have been extremely awkward. But it wasn't!! She got us settled in and was a fabulous hostess. She called Will and he headed back to Vermont (which is about a 17 hour drive). In the meantime we did a variety of things with Lynn that included eating, going to a Scottish Festival, shopping, gardening and just relaxing. Lynn owns two beautiful Andulusion horses, big, beautiful, pure white horses. They were beautiful all by themselves but then she gave us a Dresage exhibition, and the two of them(Lynn and the horse)were absolutely breathtaking. That same day a friend of hers from the scottish festival had joined us. When Lynn finished riding, this gentleman played the bagpipes for us for about an hour. Here we were in the Green Mountains of Vermont enjoying ourselves in a way we could scarcely have imagined.
That night Rob and I noticed the night sky, it was void of all interference from city lights and no moon. It was extraordinary.
Will arrived two days after our arrival and the four of us spent some quality time together. Some times the best laid plans, are no plans at all. Lynn and Will, thank-you, thank-you.

A little side-bar here. My God is it expensive to live in Vermont!! I went to the grocery store and these people are getting raped!

After our 4 day visit we headed to Maine. We are stayng on a lake right outside of Augusta, the capital city. This is aproximately 40 miles from the coast. It's even hot up here. It's been about 92 degrees every day. Last night we cooked two large live lobsters for dinner, and oh my God, they were to die for!!

Since hurricane Earl is breathing down our necks we are heading north east tommorrow morning. We will get some wind and rain but that's about it, hopefully.
We are going on to Patton, Maine and Rob hopes to do a little bear hunting.