New England! Really!

October 24, 2017

Whew! What a blur! We’ve been 2 weeks back in the US, and I quickly realized I will need to at least keep a campsite journal to keep up with all the places we’re staying and the sights we’re taking in!

We stayed at Too Narrows campground near Bar Harbor, Maine, once we entered the US.

Two narrows

We secured a lovely campsite right on the water and spent a couple of days touring Bar Harbor and the Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor was very tourist inundated due to the cruise terminals, and aside from a lovely lobster quesadilla, we were happy to get back on the dog-friendly bus

Dog friendly bus–Bar Harbor

and head back to camp. Acadia was drop dead beautiful, but again, the lines of cars to get up to the summit let us know this part of Maine is a tourist destination. OK in small doses, but we’re trying to stay off the beaten path most of the time.

Acadia NP

Once we left Bar Harbor, we headed toward a little burg called Wiscasset, and the Chewonki RV Park. The park had a view of the water, hardly anyone there, and no dog leashes required. We drove over to Boothbay Harbor, a quaint, quiet little village for a walk-about shortly after our arrival. We loved the fact that there were more residents than tourists, and the weather was warm and the skies blue.

Lobster at Richard’s

One of the highlights of the trip was spending a day with our friend, Richard, who divides his time between the east and west coast. Growing up as a Mainer, fisherman, and boat builder, Richard provided access to the biggest and tastiest lobster we’ve eaten on the trip. He and his wife, Tracy, have built a sweet home right on the water about 15 minutes from our campground. We took time in the morning to visit the farmer’s market in Bath, ME, another sweet town. I could actually live there, it felt so friendly and arty.  Richard’s hospitality will always be a memory for us there.

Maine has hundreds of miles of coastline, and there’s no way a person could possibly see it all in just a few days or even weeks, so we called it good after 10 days and headed to Newfound Lake in New Hampshire.

Colors on Chamberlain Lake

The colors here were probably the best anywhere. We took a cloudy afternoon and hiked 3.5 miles into Greeley Pond in the White Mountains, and the next day toured Lake Winnipesaukee aboard the Mount Washington, a converted steamboat that has plied those waters for decades.

We then stayed for 3 short days in Connecticut and managed to squeeze in a show with two of our favorite artists, Jacqui Naylor and Art Khu, who happened to be playing a local venue nearby.

We’re leaving this post just outside of Boston, and John has repeated several times that this has been too short a visit for this city!! We could have spent two weeks instead of two days. It would be fun to come back. There is SO much history, and we had no idea the Bostonians would be so friendly! They are seriously proud of their city and want to help visitors in any way they can. If you want a great visit to a major eastern city, start with Boston! PS: The MBTA allows dogs to ride, but not during rush hour, in case you want to take your dog into the city.  Warning: There are squirrels in Boston Commons!