Open road, clouds

The sign we recently passed read: Next services 108 miles

RICHFIELD, UT - - We're camped in a  nice, quiet, shady KOA.  The breeze takes the edge off the 92-degree temperature.  Really!  It only feels like 91-degrees.  It's a dry heat the locals like to tell you.
     Notice there's no windshield wiper in the photo.  That's because Lydia is driving.  We do take turns.  We'll probably head to Bryce NP.  Hopefully, we'll be able to get a campsite.  Bryce is a popular destination.  You don't always realize how many people are on vacation and going to the places you want to go to.   Normally, we'd be working...but not this year.

"The most photographed horse in South Dakota"

Iron Star, Hill City, SD

GRANBY, CO - - We've put some miles on the "Magic Bus" since my last post including a trip through Rocky Mountain National Park, complete with bit of rain/snow mix.  However, what stands out for me over the past three days has been a 'hybrid sculpture" (a sculpture incorporating different articles / materials in the art) of a horse on main street in Hill City, SD.
     The complete horse is exceptionally real looking, but it is the head / face which stands out.  You expect the animal to nuzzle your hand and look for an apple or a lump of sugar.  (Click on the photo to see it in larger format.)

Ho, ho, ho

He's jolly; he's green

MITCHELL, SD - - It could be the perfect pairing:  The Jolly Green Giant and the Corn Palace.  Unfortunately, JGG is in Blue Earth, MN and the CP is here in Mitchell.  The town of Blue Earth (named for the blue / black clay in the banks of the rivers which flow through the area) erected the statue in 1978.  It commemorates the close ties the area has with the Green Giant company.
     The fiberglass statue weighs 4 tons; is made of fiberglass; cost $43,000 to manufacture and stands 55' tall.  JGG gets a red scarf for the holiday season.

Yooper farewell

Any farther and we would have been in Lake Superior

Green chair, fog

Fog art

HUDSON, WI - - We're going to put on some interstate miles heading to Wyoming.  Probably makeit to Sioux Falls, SD or points West.

Ice fishing, Google, pickles and pasties

Storage area

Smile!  You're on Google

Grand Marais, MI

Supper or lunch or breakfast

MARQUETTE, MI - - Yup, we're in "Yoopers" country,  Michigan's Upper Peninsula.   But first, a bit of back tracking:
       What do a lot of Canadians do in Winter?  Go ice fishing. It's cold, it's gloomy, the fish aren't biting so it's time for a beer.  The do their fishing hunkered up in "quaint" shacks set out on the ice.  In Summer they story them in what looked like a poor excuse for a shanty town.
      Not too sure what the Google guy was accomplishing.  The road we were on was endless miles of trees / scrub / swamp / wetlands and more of the same.
     Everyone would like a summer house shaped like a pickle barrel, right?  Anyway, this oddly shaped former abode is now a museum and is actually on the Register of National Historic Buildings.  The owner had a very good lobbyist.
    On the U.P. the comfort food of choice (besides beer) is a pastie.  Think Italian calzone only with flaky crust and filled with potato / meat /veggies / or any number of things.  Actually quite good. 

Nice parking job

Should you really worry about the waves?

Yes. 

TROIS PISTOLES, QUEBEC - - Two days ago we were driving along a stretch of highway bordering the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.  We see sign posts warning that waves can breech the sea wall and make a mess of your  vehicle.  Well, maybe.  Then a bit farther down the road we come across these two boats left high and dry by the waves and weather.  We looked pretty closely at these two boats but didn't see any parking tickets.

A final resting place with a water view

An out-of-water view of the Canadian WW II sub Onondaga

The cemetery in St. Luce

Scenes of La Martre, Quebec

Phare (lighthouse) de La Martre with dandelions and blue sky

An older home with tractor, bay and a chair in the garden

Land's End and more rain

Cap des Rosiers lighthouse

CLORIDORME, QUEBEC - -  Today's plans were rained out.  We had hoped to take a tour boat from Perse to the Ile Bonaventure.  The island is a combined Canadian National / Provincial Park.  What makes it special is that it is home to the largest migratory bird sanctuary in North America.  However, the wind/rain/rough waters kept the tour boats in their safe harbor so no group bird shots and no shots of myself or Lydia turning green or barfing.
     So we headed out and encountered the area's roller-coaster terrain.  The coastal road, the only road around the Gaspe, goes up and down with regularity...sometimes with sign reading 9%; 12% even 14% grades.  In the dry and in a car which handled well the swoopy road would be a kick to drive.
     We're also traveling along a good part of the Quebec Maritime Lighthouse Trail which consists of 45 lighthouse locations.  The Cap des Rosiers light is Canada's tallest (121-feet) and has been standing for over 150 years. 
     You might notice that the photo looks gray.  We parked, ran quickly to a spot to take a picture and ran back to the van before the wind and rain could do too much damage.

Scenes on a rainy day

Snack time...and a view of the bay

Homard (lobster) right off the boat and heading for market.

PERCE, QUEBEC - -  The rain has been steady, but not too heavy.  The wind puts a chill in the bones.  So, 36 miles down the road in a nice Ville named Perce we decided to forgo a campsite in favor of a dry, warm motel.  Fortunately, the motel is a short distance from a very nice bakery / coffee shop.  The results of our first stop are shown in the top photo.
     Later, while walking around in the drizzle we noticed a small craft heading into the harbor with the morning's catch.  You could get seasick just watching the boat slowly come alongside it's mooring in the rough water to unload.

In Quebec, you get to practice your French

Fishing boats nestle behind a breakwater / storm shelter

Lydia looking for new lands to conquer

PABOS MILLS, QUEBEC - - The sunshine of yesterday afternoon has deserted us.  A steady light rain apparently will keep on making things gloomy all day.  We know the drill of early season forays into coastal areas - - both East and West.  So we'll drive on, look for interesting photos and not let the rain bother u too much.

What? You don't drive your tractor to go shopping?

PABOS MILLS, QUEBEC - - We're spending the night in the Parc du Bourg de Pabos..or in plain English (which no one speaks without some French accent)  the town's public campground and park.  On a whim, Lydia tried to see if there was wifi.  To our great surprise there was although it's slow.  That's why you get a tractor parking next to me in the grocery store parking lot.
     We're about 1/4 way around the Gaspe Peninsula.  We've gotten past the heavily built up areas and are now driving through small communities alongside the Gulf of St. Laurent.

Definitely not Florida

The view from Cadillac Mountain

It takes a big man to catch fish barehanded

HOULTON, ME - - We're getting ready to head into Canada and drive around the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec Province.  Before leaving Bar Harbor we headed to the top of Cadillac Mountain for a 360-degree view.  There are times during the year when this location is the first to see the sun rise in the US.  Of course if you want to do that you have to get up early.  First light right now is at about 4am.
     On the way to Houlton we stopped in Eastport to walk around.  Lydia didn't want her picture with the fisherman statue.  We also passed, but did not stop at:  the blueberry house; the sardine museum and the mustard mill and museum.    

Bass Harbor

Bass Harbor,  2pm

Trap bouys

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls"

BAR HARBOR, ME - - We've traveled a bit since the last post: From Booth Bat to Camden  to Bar Harbor and everywhere in between following the Maine coastline.  Now we're in Acadia National Park which covers part  of Mt. Desert Island.  So we've been in and out of the park.  Last night we camped in a NP campground in Seawall which is a the very bottom end of the island.   We also took a ferry ride to Swan Island and back just to be out on the water and see the sights.  Interesting, but not many other boats on the water near us.  Yesterday's sun gave way to gray skies and a brisk wind today.

Booth Bay Harbor (ME) images

Not sure how a tug boat would lead you to a seafood restaurant

Out on the boardwalk, walkway, tiny bridge

The ingredients of a good vacation day.

BOOTHBAY HARBOR, ME - - The rain finally stopped (for most of the day) so we spent some time walking around Boothbay Harbor and checking out the area.  The tug boat in the top photo is real and is quite eye-catching as the draw for the Tugboat Inn. 
     Now if you want a quaint summer cottage with a great view, a dock, and heavy foot traffic right outside your front door, have we got a deal for you.  The cottage was built in 1902, does have water and power and has a wood fire stove in just over 1,000 square feet. The price??  A paltry $795,000.
     What's a harbor without boats and lots of tour companies.  Thus the ingredients of a good vacation day include sunny weather, s sightseeing cruise aboard a sailboat and seeing a lobsterman heading back to the harbor with what might end up as you dinner.

Covered Bridge

One of the scenic covered bridges in NH

Lobstah..as they say Down East

Ahh...lobstah

The view from our table

HARRASEEKET, ME - - Long term readers of this blog might recognize the photo lobster special at the Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster, a place we discovered years ago.  The steam is rising off our lobsters with sides of an ear of corn and 12 'steamers (clams).  The meal was every bit a good as we remembered from our 2009 trip through here.  It was a bit more expensive, but, as John Wayne memorably said:  "A man's got to do what a man's got to do."
     We're right next to Bean Town, aka LL Bean.  If you drive this far you have to stop in.  Snd it's hard strolling through this huge outdoors outfitter not to be really tempted to buy something even if you don't need it. 

Woodstock, Woodstock, Woodstock

WOODSTOCK, NH - - This Woodstock has a McDonald's...with a fireplace! Woodstock, VT would never think of allowing a McD anywhere near the "village." Some of the folks who make Woodstock, NY home would like NH, but not VT While the other half would go for VT over NH.
      We didn't plan on a Woodstock tour, but it seems they just pop up along the way.  We've seen plenty of rolling green hills and mountains since we left  Poughkeepsie, NY visiting my brother.  We've also seen (and crossed) a covered bridge and stayed in two very nice campgrounds.  Lydia has posted a blog about those adventures.  From here, we head to the coast of Maine and, if the weather holds a bit, some good photo opportunities.