OUR TRAVELS

Don and I quickly found out what we would hike a mountain for..... wild blueberries, that's what.  More to come on that later. Nine whole days in Concord, NH and not sure what we were going to do with the time..... We weren't unsure for long. Hiking, searching for the best ice cream in town, and visiting with Don's sister Wendy and her husband Don kept us busy, thank you very much! We're so glad that we learned about the website - alltrails.com.  We found gorgeous and challenging hikes in each location where we have landed.  This stop we hit pay dirt!  In Epsom Town Forest, we hiked to Neville Peak and stumbled upon the largest patch of wild blueberries we have ever seen.  Oh, my gosh!  It was so refreshing to eat handfuls of these gems after hiking up to Neville Peak in the heat wave that hit the northeast this week.  We enjoyed it so much we just had to hike to the peak two more times.  One of the days, we added a quick jaunt over to Nottingham Mountain peak then back

Bangor here we come.   Lots to do and see, including family. Don's nephew Michael and his girlfriend Sarah live in Bangor.  We'll see them towards the end of our stay.  Donna's cousin Alan and his wife Maxine live near Bangor in Ellsworth.  Alan reserved a time slot for us to drive up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.  We also drove around the rest of the park including Schoodic Bay.  What a beautiful drive!  Alan has a second home - a remote one room cabin - that he frequents to get some quiet time.  So peaceful there!! View from Cadillac Mountain with Alan...and Harry and Hermione, of course! People were everywhere.  That explains the need for reservations! At Alan's cabin, we even talked to Alan's neighbor - a real lobsterman! Interesting facts I learned about my cousin Alan for the first time:  Even though he grew up in Illinois, he had a wanderlust in his early 20s.  He quit his job and moved to the coast of Maine for awhile.  He'd never been there

Well, I guess Don and I do Tex-Mex in Maine.  We've run into Mexican restaurants in every town we have stayed, so...........we tried it.  It's not the same, but it was decent.  We do miss Fernando's in Richardson, TX.  Chips were close, salsa...needs work.... The fish and chips along the ocean shore were EXCELLENT and so was the view! We took off our shoes to test the waters.  Brrrrr!  How could the kids play in the water for so long?!? Of course, we hiked for fun and exercise. Ran into a fungi (not fun guy... okay that was a bad pun). Not sure if it was a mushroom or some other fungus.  Let us know if you recognize the picture below.  Also, we were warned to be aware of the brown moth caterpillar hairs that can cause serious skin rashes and can be inhaled.  So far so good. Was surprised to find a small cemetery on one of our hikes.  It had gravestones dating back to the late 1700s. Driving through coastal towns on US 1, we stumbled upon the oldest shoe store in America.  W

Rode the rail up the highest summit in the Northeast - Mt Washington - on the Cog Railway.  It was a stressful trip for both of us.  The train went up a super steep incline.  The drop off on one side was terrifying for Donna who is afraid of heights and only scary for Don who isn't.  We both looked away from the window at times.  The views were amazing!!!!! Clouds and fog can roll in at the drop of a hat.....and they did.  The winds were gusty and almost blew us over at the top.  The highest wind recorded in the world was on the top of this mountain at a mind boggling speed of 231 mph.  Yes, folks, you read that right - 231 mph.  Wow! Harry and Hermione were too scared to board the train, so all they got was a picture of them at the bottom.  Lol! We did our usual, if you can call it that - hiking and walking through cemeteries.  Many of the towns we visited over the last few weeks were settled in the mid to late 1700s.  As you would expect, we also saw gravestones dating back that

 Mom was wrong!  You can have ice cream for breakfast and lunch and it won't spoil your dinner!  On our way to Burlington, we stopped for a Vermont maple creemee (really, just a soft serve ice cream) and a large three scoop Ben and Jerry's bowl.  We still found room to have steak, shrimp and a local craft beer (Green State lager) for supper in Burlington.   While in Burlington, the temperatures turned toasty (90+ degrees) and the locals asked if we brought the heat with us to Vermont.  We vehemently denied it.  Over the last few days, we sampled the Lake Champlain chocolates and some more local craft beer (Little Wolf and Lady Bird), of course! We walked through the University of Vermont grounds.  Don't you just love the architecture and the rhododendrons. Driving through the countryside was beautiful and relaxing.  There were dairy farms........ Cemeteries - some close to the road..... Some cemeteries had artistic flair - gravestones in the shape of people, cars, planes, s