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We’re in Newfoundland: Vikings & Icebergs!
Last summer we were trying to figure out how we were supposed to go back to normal life after Alaska. What other trip would require a similar amount of planning, be as challenging, but also be as amazing? We came up with Newfoundland! And so far, it’s delivering. To get to Newfoundland, we took an ~8 hour overnight ferry from North Syndey, Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques, on Newfoundand’s west coast. We booked a pet friendly cabin so we could bring the Cody kitty with us. I think our ferry crossing would have been much more fun had Cody not been sick in the days leading up to it.…
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Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia has two sections, the mainland attached to New Brunswick, and Cape Breton, an island just off the northeast side. Cape Breton is easily reachable by a short causeway but seems like a completely different world. It’s known for its Celtic culture and music and the natural beauty of its highlands that reminded Scottish and Irish immigrants of home. The Cabot Trail, a 185 mile scenic drive, loops through the mountains, along the coast, and in and out of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We had read that the most beautiful parts of the Cabot Trail were the northwestern and northern sections so we chose the Chéticamp campground as…
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Family Trip to Prince Edward Island & Nova Scotia
Continuing our vacation week with Michael’s parents, we left Bar Harbor early for our 385 mile, plus a border crossing, beeline to Prince Edward Island. It was a long day but the windshield views were great and we made it without any issues. PEI is connected to the mainland Nova Scotia by the 8-mile Confederation Bridge that only opened in 1997. It is the longest bridge in the world that spans an ice covered body of water. As soon as you get to the island the landscape turns to peaceful rolling hills of farmland. As we made our way to Cavendish on the north central coast, we said “Hey, this…
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Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor, ME
Since this was our first time in Maine, our top priority was to visit Acadia National Park. We settled into Hadley’s Point Campground on Mount Desert Island for the first two weeks of June. The busiest section of the park and the town of Bar Harbor are on Mount Desert Island. This was shoulder season so we enjoyed a mostly empty campground with cheaper rates, uncrowded trails, Spring was in full bloom, and we even had a few warm sunny days. The weather was perfect on the Sunday we arrived so we set out to drive Acadia’s Loop Road. We quickly saw how special Acadia is with the forest meeting…
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Winslow Memorial Park & Portland, ME
We’ve finally made it to Maine! Our first stop was Winslow Memorial Park in Freeport, about 20 minutes north of Portland. The campground is in a city park and a little on the expensive side for dry camping, but look at that view of Casco Bay. We loved it. All these islands we’re seeing along the Maine coastline are so interesting. There aren’t bridges but you can see that the bigger ones have houses and even roads on them. The park is very popular with locals walking dogs, kids playing at the beach, and weekend tent campers. It was a rainy Memorial Day weekend but we didn’t mind because of…
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Rhode Trip: Narragansett, Newport, & Providence, RI
We are pretty excited about spending some time in New England this year. At this point, it’s probably the part of the US that we are the least familiar and we’re ready to be overloaded with the charm, history, and seafood! We started in Rhode Island, with Fisherman’s Memorial State Park in Narragansett being home base for 2 weeks. Narragansett is on the southern coast of the mainland, known for its sandy beaches, but mid-May was not exactly beach weather in Rhode Island. We did enjoy the coastal scenery at Hazard Rock as well as the short oceanfront trail to the Black Point ruins. The actual Fisherman’s Memorial and lighthouse…
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A Pit Stop in the Poconos
When we pulled out of NC at the beginning of May, we were headed to New England. We wanted to avoid I95 and take I81 to I84, which meant finding a place on the way somewhere in Pennsylvania for the work week. On our first drive day of the weekend we made it to the sweetest place on earth, Hershey. But since we had visited Hershey’s Chocolate World on our way to NY in 2021, we opted for Lindt and Troegs Brewery this time. I’d had a campsite booked at Promised Land State Park for months, which promised plenty of beautiful hiking trails in the Poconos. But then I started…
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Cumberland Island National Seashore & Back to Florida
After Savannah, we turned and headed back toward Florida for our niece’s confirmation weekend. We had an extra week to fill, and Crooked River State Park, near St Mary’s, Georgia, looked great and had availability. We had a water/electric site, but if we had booked early, there were also full hookup and riverfront sites. St. Mary’s is the gateway to Cumberland Island National Seashore. We explored the historic waterfront downtown, visited the museum and visitor center, and were able to book last-minute ferry tickets to the island. Once on the island, we started the ~5-mile Dungeness Loop trail, which took us to the Carnegies’ former vacation home, Dungeness ruins. The…
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Skidaway Island State Park & Savannah, GA
Is there a sweeter place than Savannah in the Spring? I doubt it, but let us know so we can check that out too! We spent the last week of March at Skidaway Island State Park, 15 minutes outside Savannah. Although the road to our campsite was narrow and curvy, this campground is pure perfection. We loved the trails at Skidaway. We had a marathon weekend day exploring and eating our way through Savannah. We started with a morning coffee walk through the Bonaventure Cemetary where the azaleas were popping! Then we moved over to Forsyth Park to walk around the historic district. Savannah is laid out in a grid…
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More Florida Fun in Naples, Jupiter, & Melbourne
At the beginning of March, we left the Keys and headed to southwest Florida to visit our friends Betty and Mike who volunteer at Koreshan State Park in Estero. I was happy to find out that Koreshan is big rig-friendly. I love being cocooned in these Florida jungle-like campsites but the Brinkley has limited our options a little. We spent most of our time exploring Naples, ~25 miles south of Koreshan SP. Besides shopping and restaurants, Naples is home to swamp buggy races! At some point in Naples’s history, which is located on the edge of the Everglades, someone invented a swamp buggy as a mode of transportation. The locals…
