The Blair Report

I realize that our last post was early on in Massachusetts which seems like an eternity ago and is many thousands of miles and experiences ago. Here goes the speed of light review;

Boston to Cape Cod, ferry to Long Island, to New London, Connecticut and ferry to New Jersey and Atlantic City,Cape May then ferry to Lewes, Delaware and Henlopen State Park.

Down the Delmarva peninsula (DElaware,MARyland,VirginA) to Chincoteague for a Road Scholar bicycle tour. Then to Virginia Beach across Chesapeake Bay via 20 mile bridge.

Inland to Charlottesville, South on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Roanoke and then Asheville, N. Carolina, Myrtle Beach, S. Carolina and Charleston then Savannah, Georgia. Inland to Okefenokee National Wildlife Reserve.

Through Alabama to Tupelo, Mississippi then south on the Natchez Trace Trail to Natchez, Miss., across Northern Louisiana to Houston, Tx.

Calgary from Dec.13 to Jan.16 (good time with family friends and XC skiing). Arrived in Houston in below freezing temps and freeways closed due to accidents and icy roads. Three nights in Houston waiting for weather then off to New Orleans. Then back to Texas via Kemah, Galveston, Corpus Christi, and North to Austin. From there to Fredericksburg. We are now in Garner State Park South of Fredericksburg heading towards Big Bend National Park.

Some general observations:

Americans love freeways and 4 and 5 level interchanges. Cities are bisected by them. The east coast is flat and close to sea level, made up predominately of sand with off shore islands and vast tidal flats.

The impact of the American civil war was profound even to this day (150 years later). We have not observed or encountered overt racism but have been told that there is a subtle undercurrent. All of the people we have interacted with have been polite and courteous, some more engaging than others.

We are trying to post more pictures on Instagram.

PIctures can be enlarged by clicking on them and dragging a corner.

Bar Harbour from Cadillac Mtn. Oct.5

Hiking in Acadia NP, Maine.

Sand Bay in the background. The sand is 90% shell fragments. Every decade or two a major storm will completely remove all the sand from this beach and the it takes a couple of years to be redeposited.

We spent a day in Acadia NP cycling the CARRIAGE TRAILS (no motor vehicles).  They were built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Rockefeller_Jr. who later donated his substantial land holdings to the federal government in the establishment of Acadia NP. The carriage trails are wonderful.

That reminds me!!! On October 2, our first day in the US we spent an afternoon on Campobello Island NB. We had to go through a portion of Maine to get to Campobello. It was the summer home of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor until politics and health stole him away. Very interesting to be a voyeur in the lives of the rich and famous. This has been an interesting sub theme in our travels – you’ll just have to be patient to hear more.

From Acadia NP we went to Freeport, Maine, the home of L.L.Bean and Freeport’s main employer and benefactor. Quite disappointing. On to North Conway NH, home of the big box discount stores from all over the US but also the gateway to the White Mountains of the Appalachians. It was a zoo but the fall colours were amazing.

On the way to Freeport. Amazing bridge across the Penobscot R.

A view of Waldo across the Penobscot from the top of the bridge tower.

White Mtns.

The view from our campsite in Vermont.

From Vermont we headed for Massachusetts. A world of difference? More about that in the next episode.

Last blog was on October 3 and it is now October 29th. It has been difficult finding time to document our journey and we forget all the places we have been and the chronology gets fuzzy – all the more reason to to be more diligent in updating our blog for ourselves and anyone interested in following our journey.  Below are some pictures along the north shore of PEI.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

From PEI we proceeded to Cape Breton and the Cabot Trail. Very scenic and  lots of elevation changes. A couple of informative ranger led hikes from Cheticamp.  The pictures below were from a hike along the Cheticamp River.

CHETICAMP, CAPE BRETON

From Cheticamp to Sydney for a couple of days and on one of our few rainy days the Miner’s Museum in Glace Bay including going underground into a coal mine. During the coal mining heydays these mine shafts extended for miles under the Atlantic Ocean and many hundreds of feet underground. Sorry no pictures.

Back to familiar ground for a couple of days in St. Andrews, NB before crossing the border into Maine and on to Bar Harbour and Acadia National Park.

VIEW FROM THE TOP OF CADILLAC MOUNTAIN, ANP