Archives for posts with tag: Maine

The trip of a lifetime…2017!

July 14, 2017 //
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I’ve had a few days now to ponder the wonderment of the overall trip and it’s hard to process it all in such a short period of time because each section, shared with each unique and very important person in my life magnified the journey for us collectively and independently to such a level, that, for me, it feels archaic to try to put it all into words.

Each night, sometime between 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM, I’d post the highlights of each day and some of you who have followed me for years wondered why I didn’t tell more as I’d done in the past. Well, it’s very complexly simple…I wasn’t alone…which engorged my brain with so many visions, insights, lessons, spiritualness and Godliness that all I could do is a summary of the overall picture. After I’ve recovered some more, I’m going to re-read my posts and fill in the blanks because I want to remember all those nuances I left out. Each one was that important to my overall purpose of the journey…spiritual healing.

I adore the women who shared this journey with me…Shirley, Jenni, Stacey…and my special LA Angel and JD. You have blessed me with unconditional love, acceptance, joy, understanding and friendship few are capable of giving in such small quarters…two front seats of a pickup going 80 MPH over 13,500 miles! Yeehaw!

As for the last leg of the trip, it was complete with double rainbows under a blue sky, mountains, valleys, deep-tissue sharing and healing as well as a special treat for my girl. Stacey, She got to see the brick-and-morter school which she attends on-line while working 50 hours a week. I’m so proud of her!

Here are some of those pictures.

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This Moose warning sign is HUGE!

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Stacey just heard someone on the other end of the line! Really? It works? LOL

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Island Falls, Maine

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Found another one for Stacey to get into!

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Hovering clouds on the mountains with Blue sky one minute…

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Rainbows the next!

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Double Rainbows!

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Then back to Hovering clouds!

I am truly blessed to have the fantastic friends who joined me on this trip both in the physical sense or the voyeuristic one…yes I know who you are…that I can never feel alone as I am full by your blessings and prayers.

HAPPY TALES & TRAILS…UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

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Categories life adventures

New Brunswick & Nova Scotia

July 4, 2017 //
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July 3, 2017 – New Brunswick:

Well, yesterday, Stacey and I decided to drive from Bangor, Maine as far as we wanted to into New Brunswick (Canada) toward Nova Scotia until we got tired or ran out of time, and then drive back to our non-cancelable hotel room in Bangor. And, we did just that… via the back roads…and it took F-O-R-E-V-E-R! These roads are rough, to say the least! Couple that with the s-l-o-w speed limits and the unchanging views and one gets a little stir crazy and feeling like you entered the Twilight Zone or a black hole where the wheels on the car are moving but you aren’t! Been there a great deal in my Canada travels. Love the people, though!

The one thing that keeps my interest is the clouds while driving from Maine to New Brunswick and back. They are very heavy, many different types in one single view and low to the ground. The other part that brightened our day was the Canadian Border Crossing grilling! These dudes are intense!

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Canadian Border crossing on backroad Highway 1.

Pretty intense! “Why do you want to drive across the border to turn around and come back?” And it didn’t stop there.

I just answered, “Because I’ve never been to New Brunswick before and that’s what I do…go places I’ve never been to before!”

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However, there was the nicest man who greeted us at the US Border Crossing with the more intense younger dude behind him scrutinizing our ever glance. I answered all the man’s questions before he had a chance to ask as I’d been down this road before with the last four crossings! 2017-7-3 NB7

July 4, 2017 – Nova Scotia:

This morning, July 4th, we checked out of the Bangor, Maine hotel and headed, quite excitedly, for Nova Scotia (via New Brunswick via the quickest land route. On the drive, we had such a great time catching up and chatting, that I forgot to get gas! My brother texted me and when it showed up on my Bluetooth, I noticed the time and looked at the gas gauge. The light was on and I had no idea how long it’d been on! This area of Maine is quite desolate and I was getting concerned about our gas situation when an exit sign appeared. As has been my experience in my travels, not all exits have facilities of any kind!

Exit 276 on Trans Canada Highway 2 will forever be my favorite place in Maine! I can’t even remember the name of the town where it was but we not only got the gas pumped for us but met this group of wonderful men sitting around a table drinking coffee and telling lies! Of course, Stacey and I had to join in! We stood there for the longest time getting to know them, hugged and said we’d see them on the “come around” tomorrow…and we will!

We got caught in the time warp thing again as soon as we crossed the Canadian Border again. Dang! I was glad to hear Stacey say that she’d felt it too because I was beginning to wonder if it was just me. Thank GOD for Stacey!

It took EIGHT HOURS to drive from Bangor to Nova Scotia only to find out how slow it is to get around this province. There’s no fast way to do anything here and I believe it would take a person at least two weeks to see it all. I hear tell there are about a million people living in Nova Scotia. Hmmmm. Not sure where on them marshlands they be living but I ain’t got no authority to discount that population number and don’t care to because I do believe I saw every one of them on the roads as we struggled our way off and on this road and that just to get to our hotel in Halifax only to find out we’d need two weeks to see the area and all we had was about a half of a day.

So, we jumped back into the truck (really? again?) and drove to see the closest historic area called Peggy’s Cove where there is an old lighthouse. It didn’t appear to be that far from our hotel by looking at the map but it took us an hour to get there (expanded to much longer considering the time warp factor)! It only took us about forty minutes to get back. Hmmm.

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Rainbow on drive from Halifax to Peggy’s Cove!

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Adorable Churches all on the drive to Peggy’s Cove

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Finally, I see water!

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The roof  of this church in Peggy’s Cove seemed to glow. This is photo is not altered!

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Quaint fishing village in Peggy’s Cove

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Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse

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Flowers in the rocks!

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The rocks, rain and sunset.

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Stacey & the lighthouse

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Village shop in Peggy’s Cove

Tomorrow? We start to drive back to Georgia. It’ll be a test of every bit of fortitude we can muster to get this done in the time allotted, but knowing Stacey and me, we’ll get ‘er done! July 5th? Albany, NY or bust!

HAPPY TALES AND TRAILS, UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

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Portland and Bangor, Maine

July 2, 2017 //
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Having Stacey with me is totally awesome! We work well together as a team and always have since the first day I met her over fifteen years ago at my last job. I adopted her then on the spot and have brought her into the closest folds of my family because that’s who she is! She’s quite a remarkable woman who I love dearly as one of my Chirrens! I’m so blessed.

I waited until she and I could figure out the order of our adventure even though I’d already booked our rooms out of concern for the upcoming July 4th celebrations. It all worked out fine because when we left Lewiston, Maine today, we drove for about 45 minutes to Portland to explore the wharf area. And explore it we did! I don’t think we really walked all that far as it was over 85 degrees and we were both feeling the heat/humidity combo such that we walked only on the shadiest side of the street and stopped frequently to feel the breeze under the trees.

Beautiful area of Portland!

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Stacey in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall torn down in 1989. She was born in Germany!

Boone’s Fish House and Oyster Room was down toward the water on a side street. They had a four star rating with ten star pricing! Three scallops and two crab cakes were $45.00! Yup, folks. Not for these po’ folks! Tasty but I think we hit the jackpot at dinner for same price!

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Half of the $45 appitizers!

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The other half! Really?

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Wall art

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They were healthy!

We struck it rich when we asked the young man (aptly named Montana) at the front desk where he would recommend us eating. Hi Tides was one of his favorites. We jumped in with both feet and loved every minute of it.

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View of the Penobscot River from our table!

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Salmon Oscar with garlic green beans & grilled asparagus for both of us for $45.00! The view reminded us both of the place I used to go with Mom to celebrate her birthday called Ray’s on the River in Sandy Springs. She always ordered Salmon Oscar! Of course, we had to do the same as she would have wanted it that way!

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View from the River

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Beautiful Bridge over the River

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And a nice stroll along the River Walkway below restaurant after great food! Now that’s what I call ambiance!

Tomorrow? We’re going to get up really early to drive over to New Brunswick to get to Nova Scotia! Nothing excited me about NB except that it was on my way to Nova Scotia. We’ll explore the eastern half of Nova Scotia tomorrow and the western half on the next day when we’ll be staying on the island in Halifax.

HAPPY TALES AND TRAILS UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

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From R&R to Giddy-up time!

July 1, 2017 //
0

Well, that R&R in Lake Placid, NY wasn’t all that when you consider that the fire alarms kept going off and on from the first afternoon and into the evening, and AGAIN in the second afternoon  until the early morning hours of my second night. I was already ragged and they knew it at the front desk…I’d told them…from the hectic drive from Thunder Bay to North Bay.

I kept thinking that it must have been a short in the electrical system for the fire alarms because it started each time we had a downpour each afternoon and night. By the time I checked out, I wanted some money back. The facilities were overrated and chair cushions were embarrassingly in need of cleaning. The worst part was that the Manager said she knew what they looked like! Heck! I would have NEVER have admitted that to a customer paying $116, $134 & $164 for each respective night! I got one good nights sleep…the last one. She gave me a whopping $50 credit.

I’ll say this about that…I’ll drive up the road a little farther up the road to find a Mom & Pop place if there isn’t a decent Motel 6! Enough of this “privileges” points crap! Ain’t no privileges when Motel 6 can give me more bang for my buck than their cheapest chain and it’ll be cleaner too!

Can you tell I was under impressed with Lake Placid? Ugh! Too much of everything with too little quality.

Getting out of town was a good thing for me because I’d be seeing old new territory of Vermont. I’ve loved driving the backroads of Vermont several times in the past of the north/south variety but this time, I was headed east. Burlington, Vermont airport was programed in Tom and we were picking up my next travel buddy, Stacey.

How incredible, I thought, as I headed toward the ferry, that I’d have three different loved ones join me this year for three different parts of my journey! I’ve never had company before and this feels great!

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Upper New York Backroads!

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Love ’em!

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UHH! What’s that?

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This house on the NY side of Lake Champlain definitely has a story to tell!

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Lake Whoabegone? LOL Nah! Lake Champlain!

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Waiting for the Ferry on the NY side!

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Peaceful, huh?

Then, like magic, I’m across this body of water (Lake Champlain) and in Vermont headed for the airport…on the backroads, of course!

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Love this sculpture in the Burlington, VT airport!

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Here she comes!

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YAY! Passenger #3!

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Somewhere in Vermont!

Tomorrow? Bangor, Maine to explore the Maine Coastline and whatever else we want to do until we get over to Nova Scotia! Oh, there’s so much to see and so little time!

HAPPY TAILS, TALES OR TRAILS…YOUR PICK!

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