Chicago….something something windy….

Is that really the title of this post?  Yes.  Yes it is.  I put that down, assuming something more cleaver would come to me by the time I was done.  And yet, here we are….

TRISH:

We were now really ‘booking it’ to head west again.  Chicago was the last stop we had specific plans for, as the guys were headed for their last baseball game there: Toronto Blue Jays @ Chicago Cubs.  Dale, as a Jays fan, had been looking forward to this game!  (Not to mention, he had a number of players from both teams on his fantasy baseball team).  You probably belong to one of two crowds – those who know what fantasy sports are, and those who are lucky.  Kidding, kidding.  Sort of.

Birthdays and Bridges and……oh shoot, “Waterpark” doesn’t start with a “B”

 

I was sad to have to leave the Hershey/Lancaster area.  We had just enough time there to realize we were missing out on a lot. (In fact, we did look into trying to extend our time there – but we couldn’t cancel our next night’s bookings over near Pittsburgh, so we continued on.)

Farmlands and Chocolate

I stated on my Instagram one day that when it comes to scenery I have “a type”. I love rolling hills, farmland, old buildings (preferably abandoned and falling over a bit), lots of trees and rocky cliffs are also quite nice. I was in my glory in the maritime provinces with so much character everywhere. Then we hit the states and the winding roads really took their turn making me fall in love with them. And then we hit Pennsylvania.

Turkey Swamp (I saw neither Turkeys, nor a Swamp….)

We were all pretty excited that our drive from Wakeda campground to our next stop (about half way between New York City and Philadelphia) was only going to be about 5.5 hours.  All things considered, that was a “short” day for us!  ‘Present me’ laughs at ‘past me’ now.  We were on the road for about 10 hours that day.  It wasn’t long after we left our New Hampshire campground that we started getting into a lot of traffic and towns/cities.

Is Hampton Falls “THE Hamptons??”

As I’m writing we have just left what was the longest stay of our trip. We’ve been staying at Wakeda Campground in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire and enjoying full hook-ups. And though those are both wonderful treats, I wasn’t sure what I thought when we pulled in. Gone were the beautiful, private, treed spots of the maritime provinces and here we could see everyone else all around us. Yankes were right beside us so that made it easier for keeping track of kids, but I do prefer feeling nestled in the campsites.

The Island currently known as Prince (Edward Island).

As we began to approach the east coast a few weeks ago, my kids started asking “Is this the place where we go over the huge bridge?”  Or, as we crossed any number of “large-ish” bridges:  “Was that the big bridge?”  I had been telling them, before we ever left home, about the big Confederation Bridge that stretched across from the main land (New Brunswick) into P.E.I. and they were imagining the things of fairy tales (I’m pretty sure).

Charlottetown

Ahhhh, Prince Edward Island. I was going to move here once upon a time. I worked for a potato grading company and they were waiting to get a contract with the PEI potato companies. My bosses were well aware of my desire to head out and take a supervisor position when they got the contract. But then I met Erick and switched to a job that was closer to home and so goes life. I believe they did eventually get the contract. Oh well. Someone else got the job. I got the guy.

The guys have had their five baseball games booked for months already and for us girls we had one day pinned down as our day out. A spa day in Charlottetown. (We’ll add a few more days as we go along.) After 2 weeks of sitting in the car I was very ready for a massage! The guys suggested that we go out for supper too so we happily headed out for the day.

I was kinda curious how we were going to do with navigating. Not because we can’t, but these roads are quite different and the views incredibly distracting. Erick and I took about 4 wrong turns getting to the campground. Some due to lack of signage or expecting bigger roads. (Google maps took us onto some dirt roads.) Others due to me being busy taking pictures and not watching the GPS. Can you blame me though? What is with this province being so beautiful?

I feel like PEI is a a mix of the maritime fishing life and the prairies farming lifestyle. Erick and I decided that as much as we loved Newfoundland, PEI would probably be an easier place to adapt to. It is the small town feel I know and love.

There’s something I really notice that is different from the prairies. I can’t quite put my finger on it except to say there’s an appearance of preserving the past and preserving the landscape. Instead of pulling up all the trees to give more field space they stay and define the beautiful patchwork of the many shades of green and yellow with canola, corn, potatoes and more.

Then there’s the abandoned barns and houses. At home they’d be bulldozed. Here they stay and I just know they all have stories to tell. They look like dollhouses. Most of the houses on the island do. So many houses I assumed were abandoned but then I noticed the lawn is mowed and cars are parked. They are simply older homes that someone still calls home. It exists everywhere, but these here in PEI felt different. I wish I could’ve gotten some pictures of them. They were usually hidden in trees along the road.

This one was a bit past being lived in.

It reminded me of the house I spend my first 10 years of life in. We were the last to live in that house. After we moved it sat empty for years and eventually was torn down. That house had so many stories and it was so sad to see it disappear.

That room on the second floor was mine. I remember sitting on the window ledge with my feet hanging outside just enjoying the air.

Anyway, as mentioned in previous posts, we’ve had trouble finding good WiFi signal so we took our laptops with us to the city and planned on a coffee somewhere to work on some blog posts. Though we did find some phenomenal internet speed, we misjudged how long it would take us. Totally good though. We had some amazing treats at Casa Mia Cafe before heading to the spa. Much better than the Starbucks we were going to head for. The “Bloggers Paradise” as Dale called it.

We booked at the Grand Senses spa.

Charlottetown has a bit of a similar feel that St John’s did in Newfoundland, but with a smaller hometown touch. The historical downtown is so pretty and pedestrians rule around here.

Pedestrians only street

The restaurants are all so good and it was hard to decide where to eat. In the end it was Merchant Man for some super tasty curry and crispy lentil tacos. (We shared, of course.)

Beaver Tails were the dessert of choice. Yum! I felt so Canadian.

And then a bit more walking.

Our drive back to Cavendish was too dark to be distracted by the fields and houses so this time it was just the windy road and all the kids already in bed when we got home. A wonderful day.

The Little One Goes East…. Further East

The second portion of our trip in Newfoundland we took the little Twinnebago and headed east to the other coast. This particular adventure was built around our choice for the whale tour which was in Bay Bulls, Nfld just a short distance from St. John’s.

Icebergs, and Vikings, and Whales….Oh My!

When I went to do laundry the other day, I walked in on Sherri waiting for her load to finish in the dryer.  She was in the middle of a conversation with a lady who was from a different part of the province, but who had been ‘touring’ the western portion of Newfoundland with her family.  They had actually just come from the northern peninsula (which is where our family was headed next).  She talked about a dinner they had gone to called “The Great Viking Feast”.  It included a buffet of local foods, and a “show”.  Intrigued, we called ahead and made reservations for the next night.

Meeting Newfoundland

As we are putting together this post, time is passing away on us. It’s tricky trying to find WiFi that is strong enough to handle uploading our pictures and I’m telling you, we can not share about this trip without a lot of pictures. It’s been so hard to choose just a few because this country of ours is just too beautiful.