July 2023 – Page 4 – RVing With a Purpose

2023 Summer Road Trip Day 15 – Bay of Fundy

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

One of our bucket list places to see on this trip was the Bay of Fundy. It is one of the 7 wonders of North America. We sort of saw part of it yesterday though the fog when we arrived at Cannontown campground. This morning it was again foggy but, you just have to get out there and do what you can. For us that meant walking to Alma, a little town just outside Fundy National Park, to watch the changes in the bay. The Bay of Fundy is known for its fast running tides. It holds the record for the highest tides in the world at 16 meters/53 feet. It is a funnel shape inlet of the Atlantic Ocean and is sandwiched between the Canadian Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. A very small portion also touches the state of Maine. The Bay of Fundy is famous for the highest tidal range in the world. About 9:00am today was the first low tide of the day. When we reached the beach, we walked way, way, out on the dry ocean floor. We saw the large commercial lobster and fishing boats docked at the marina, resting on the ocean floor. We were amazed. There was also a river emptying water into the ocean. Shortly after 9, the tide began coming back in. We stood there and watched the water begin to rise and cover rocks on the ocean floor. We stood there and watched the water get deeper around our feet. This was a new experience for us and was happening so fast. At about 2pm today we were back out at the bay and witnessed the first high tide of the day. Water now covered the ocean floor that we walked on this morning and water was now pouring into the river rather than out. As we watched longer, and the tide began going out again, we witnessed the river change direction and began flowing, as would normally be expected, into the bay. Yes, there are tidal swings every day around the world. However, the changes in the Bay of Fundy are amazing. God’s world is truly amazing! The Bay of Fundy is just so cool!!

You can walk among the boats at low tide, but you’ll get your shoes muddy.

Way out there where the water is is where we walked at low tide

The Upper Salmon River flowing into the bay at low tide

When we first arrived at Fundy National Park it was so foggy we could not see the water. On our evening walk the fog had cleared enough for us to see the bay at low tide. There are actually people walking down there.

Today we saw the Bay of Fundy at high tide – and still foggy.

In the middle of the day, we hiked to Dickson Falls in the NP. It is the most photographed falls in the park. It begins from a spring, forms the falls, and then crosses through the golf course and finally empties into the Bay of Fundy all within the boundaries of the NP. The surroundings are so lush and beautifully green. The area around the falls is noticeably cooler as well.

Much of the trail to Dickson falls is wooden step and boardwalks, but we still had our rocks and roots.

The area around the falls has it’s own cool and moist microclimate.

Today was another wonderful day on our 2023 Road Trip. We walked more than 25,000 steps today and even though we are tired tonight, we enjoyed every step.

We are always looking for wildlife and particularly moose and bear when we are this far north. So far we have seen this groundhog …

2023 Summer Road Trip – Day 14, Travel to New Brunswick

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

There was no rain overnight or this morning. However, there was fog but not enough to bother us. After breakfast we headed to the visitor center one last time, to pick up the Acadia National Park magnet we had decided to purchase. While waiting for the gift shop to open we got our thirty minute walk on one of the carriage trails. From there we headed towards the Canadian border. Google took us on some back country roads but it was a pretty drive. We arrived at the Canadian Border Services at about noon. We presented our passports, answered a few questions about what we have in the RV and more importantly what we don’t have – GUNS. Then the agent welcomed us to Canada. Easy Peasy. From the border we made a quick stop at a grocery store to pick up some produce and a few other items that we wouldn’t replenish until after the border crossing. Then we drove to Sussex, New Brunswick to meet some YouTube friends, Carrie and Dave, of One AdVANture At A Time. If you haven’t watched any of their videos, they do some great photography and videos, all while traveling full time in their class B van with their labradoodle, Roodle. It was so good to see them today, even for just a little while. They were leaving New Brunswick to return to Maine today so we made our paths cross. Next destination was Cannontown Campground in Fundy National Park

Where we did our morning walk in Acadia National Park

We appreciated the quick and efficient border crossing.

Sign at the Fundy National Park Visitor Center.

. Again an interesting and pretty drive. Now it’s time to start exploring the Canadian Maritimes.

2023 Summer Road Trip – Day 13, Fort Knox?

Monday, July 17, 2023

It rained very hard overnight and this morning continued to drizzle off and on but with less fog than the past few days.

For us today was a laundry, cleaning, and maintenance day. It was time. The campground has nice laundry facilities so wanted to get all the laundry done before we leave tomorrow. Cost $4.00 for washer and $1.50 for dryer. Don’t really know if that is good or bad – seemed a little high to us but we are spoiled to have our own machines in Fred. Anyway – it’s done. We also did some cleaning in BB, some meal prep, and grocery shopping.

This afternoon we decided it was time to have a little more fun and we drove back to the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory and Fort Knox. We included a picture of this bridge when we drove to Bar Harbor a few days ago. What we didn’t know then is that there is an observatory in the top of the bridge. We love bridges and this one is very special. The Penobscot Narrows Bridge is taller than the Statue of Liberty. It is the tallest public bridge observatory in the world! It’s the tallest public occupied structure in Maine (42 stories). The observatory is at the top of the western pylon and is 420 feet in the air. The Penobscot Narrows bridge is one of only four bridge observatories in the world and the other 3 are in China, Thailand and Slovakia. It spans 2120 feet from the eastern shore to the western shore and it is just a beautiful bridge. It cost us $5.50 each to ride to the top of the observatory in the bridge, stay as long as we wanted, and then tour Fort Knox.

The Penobscot Narrows bridge from the wall of Fort Knox

Of course, being from the south we thought we knew all about Fort Knox. Max was stationed there at one time. Little did we know, there is another Fort Knox in Maine, named after the same Major General Henry Knox, America’s first Secretary of War and Commander of Artillery during the American Revolution. We learned a lot walking over the fort grounds, which reminded us a lot of Fort Morgan, Alabama. You can find the whole story of the fort, which was never finished or occupied, on line so we won’t bore those of you who have no interest. It is a good story though. It was another good day even if it was a laundry day.

Ft Knox sign

Fort Knox wall. The rusty circles and semi-circles are where guns would have been placed.

The central yard of the fort. The concrete squares with circles in them are food storage pits. The windows above the pits are the enlisted barracks that were never occupied by soldiers.

Interesting RV in the Walmart parking lot on the way back to the campground. It has a Florida tag.

2023 Summer Road Trip – Day 12, Acadia Day 2-Cadillac Mountain

Sunday, July 16, 2023

Today began with rain. We planned to hike Cadillac Mountain today. You can drive to the summit with the proper permit, but we wanted to hike it. The mountain is the highest point on the eastern seaboard of the US at 1,530 feet – not that tall when compared with Mt. LeConte and Mt. Washington but it is pretty steep. From October 7 to March 6, it is the first place you can see the sunrise in the US. And some reports say Cadillac Mountain is the most popular place in Acadia national park. We again took the first Island Explorer Bus to the Visitor Center and after checking radar decided to wait an extra 30 minutes hoping the rain would pass. It did and we began our hike at about 9:35. The rain was over but the clouds remained thick with no sunshine for us today. We knew that we were not going to be able to see much, if anything, from the top but we hike for the joy of hiking. It was a hard but fun hike. There were ripe wild huckleberries along the trail (yum). Occasionally at an overlook we could see Bar Harber and other surrounding landmarks. When we made it to the summit, the wind was blowing at about 35mph and we were in the clouds. We spent enough time on top the re-hydrate and eat some snacks and then headed back down to get out of the wind. It was a fun hike even without the views from the top.

The steps on our left are the start of the Cadillac Northridge Trail.

In some places the trail is across smooth granite …

… and in other places the trail just looks angry.

There is a short detour around part of the trail that is being rehabilitated.

It is muddy and steep in places, but the park has strung ropes along to help hikers up it.

The kairns that marked the trail were helpful in the fog near the top

Some of the wild blueberries along the trail actually survived us passing by.

To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t all just about the hike. Since we couldn’t have the views or ice cream at the summit, we decided our reward for the good hike was lobster rolls. The picture says it all. Shortly after enjoying our reward, it began to rain again. It’s been a very wet spring and summer in Maine. Oh well. It’s still pretty and it’s still fun to see new places.