Grandma Camp - NH

Monday, July 21, 2008

Another day of 30% rain.  Given how very, very intermittent my Internet access is, I'm not being nearly as diligent here about photos as I was in Canada and in Acadia, but there still were some classic moments.

Like, when the croquet court we'd set up in the back yard of the Garden Cottage was transformed into a free-flowing river, and J. and cousin S. ran out to reposition the wickets in running water, and played.  First downstream, then upstream, which they both reported as being considerably harder.

Family Nature Camp in

Sunday July 13, 2008

We checked out of our Frederickton Holiday Inn, and stopped briefly for a tour at the Macataq Power Plant...

(not quite as brief as S. would have liked, though J liked the hard hat, glasses and ear plugs very much)

Then we drove a looong time to Bangor, where we dropped Daddy off at the airport Hertz, and continued on to Family Nature Camp.

There, we met up with Aunt L and Cousin S, and all the Cs.  

(Photos forthcoming.  Sigh.)

Monday July 14, 2008

J. began the day by throwing up his pancakes rather alarmingly, so he, S. and I hung close to the dorms while E. and the Cs went on the Geology Walk and Aunt L and S. went kayaking.

Once he changed his shirt and brushed his teeth he appeared to perk up just fine, and we got some good pics of the boaters:

After lunch, we headed over to Jordan Pond.  Both S. and S. conquered the whole 3.1 mile loop!

The really big news, those, occurred as we were enjoying...

 the popovers...

and the tooth finally came out!

We talked about watching the sun set over Cadillac Mountain, but everyone was tired, so we settled in for a little Quiddler...

while the teenagers orchestrated a rehearsal for a Talent Show they're planning.

Tuesday July 15, 2008

Mr. C. got up for the 5:30 Bird Walk.

Nobody joined him, so no pictures.

Later, Aunt L. and S. went off on their Geology Walk, while we and the Cs went to the Carroll Homestead.  It turned out to be a reasonable hit for the full (and varied) crowd.

S. spent the entire time carding wool...

The other kids had a good time with all the Old Fashioned Diversions...

and Mrs. C and I enjoyed talking to the Carroll descendent who was there swapping family tales.

Afterwards, we picnicked at Seawall, where J. did very nicely tidepooling... 

... and where I ran out of camera memory.  (Sigh.)

The Cs and E went off to poke around Bar Harbor; whereas S. and J. and I poked around Southwest Harbor.

We stopped off at the AMC's Echo Lake camp, just to do a little due diligence on other possible options, then returned back to campus to check out the touch tank in the Dorr Museum.

After dinner, we all went together to watch the sun set over Cadillac Mountain...

and some of us went to a ranger-led stargazing program at Sand Beach.  Mr. and Mrs. C and I all thought it was divine.  I could have lain on the sand on my blanket, gazing up at the sky, listening to the waves crash, smelling the salt and listening to Ranger Matt point out constellations and telling me stories from Native American lore and Greek mythology for another two hours, easily.

Not all the kids felt the same way...

but hey.  You gotta try a lot of things, since not much sticks.

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The kids were pretty tired.

Cape Bretton Update

I'm having difficulty this vacation with a) keeping up with multiple cameras; b) finding the time to post at all; and c) finding sufficient blocks of time WITH wireless access to upload pictures.  Right now I'm just going to do text; once I carve out enough time to finish the New Brunswick post I'll try to work on pictures.

July 9, 2008

We had a Last Breakfast at the Rossmount Inn (sigh) and said goodbyes...

We drove a looong time to the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy.  It is, rightfully, considered one of the natural wonders of the world, with tides swinging 20++ feet every six hours through massive stone "flowerpots" carved out of the nearby red cliffs through a combination of erosion and tide action.  You can walk out onto the seabed floor at low tide, gaze up at these massive, Bryce Park-like formations; and later go kayaking twenty feet higher up the cliffs.

The kids loved it.  Turns out the seabed floor is really muddy.

(Visual Thinking)

Mudman cometh:

After lunch we drove another looong time (Daddy was Very Pleased every time we shaved a minute off the GPS' estimate, and we did indeed shave quite a few; but it was still a loooong time) to Baddeck.  We got there just in time for a quick lobster dinner before collapsing into our little cottage with a view.

July 10, 2008

After breakfast in the cottage, we set off for  Louisbourg Fortress.  Well, actually, first we stopped in town in Baddeck; and then when that wasn't successful, in town in Louisbourg, to attempt to deal with laundry.  (I'd been counting on having facilities in our cottage; or if not in the cottage, at least in the cottage complex.  It's been a long time since I've spent time in a laundromat.  J. thought it was totally cool.  In hindsight, I regret not taking any pictures.)

The fortress was quite beautiful, and chock-full of fascinating history about cod (let me take the opportunity, here, to plug one of the most unexpectedly fascinating children's books I've ever read, which I stumbled across years ago and has vastly enriched my subsequent visits to Nantucket, Cape Cod, Portsmouth, New Bedford, and now here); about French mercantilism (more different than I appreciated from British colonialism); about British-French-Canadian history (more focused on religion and cod than you'd think, studying the same era in the US); and trade routes.

The kids enjoyed the dress up, too.

We had a quite delicious faithful-to-the-era, unelectrified lunch (mussels, cod, haddock and, for the younger kids, French Toast):

Wandered around some more: 

Attended a historically informative puppet show:

Flipped the laundry, and had what might have been our most successful Nova Scotian dinner yet, at Grubstake Restaurant in Louisbourg.

 

And since then...

(more photos forthcoming.  I ran out of memory space and have to get contributions from Daddy's and E's cameras.)

July 6, 2008

Daddy and E headed off to Freeport for "bargains" and the rest of us hung out at the lake.

J took us kayaking...

... the kids went swimming (in MAINE!!)...

... and several of us snoozed a bit.

And then -- breaking news!!  -- I, myself, went into the water.

In MAINE!!

Once the shoppers returned, we had margaritas on the dock (an inspired idea, really, as it turned out)...

and halibut for dinner.

July 7, 2008

We (sniff!) said goodbye to J&J, and headed off to visit Daddy's ancestral campgrounds (a little due diligence for J, maybe, next year).

Then we drove, and drove, and drove.

(It actually wasn't as bad as Mapquest warned us it would be.  Still, it takes a long time to get from Sebago Lake to Calais (pronounced, essentially, "callous").  It doesn't take any time at all to get through customs, unless you want to get five passports actually stamped, which needless to say, we did.  If you want stamps you have to clear first in the quite efficient drive-through, then park your car, then all tromp into the immigration station, then wander around until you find somebody willing to talk to you, then answer all the same questions all over again, then wait while each of your pictures is matched up to your faces.

But it's worth it, huh?)

Then we drove a little more, until we reached the Rossmount Inn in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea.  We had dinner at the restaurant -- S and particularly J were too tired and stuffed with car snacks to enjoy it much, but my scallops were divine -- and went to bed.

July 8, 2008

After breakfast, we sallied forth to Kingsbrae Garden.

I had a really great time.  

(Later, at my leisure, I will post on thisdarngarden about my revelation there re: David Hicks.)

As well, while there the garden gave me a flier for a trip sponsored by the Candadian railways.  Here's the concept: a transcontinental train ride from Halifax to Victoria, stopping at twentyfive gardens along the way!  I was speechless.

We went into town for lunch.  ______ had been written up in Lonely Planet; alas, their kitchen was not functioning up to the standards of their atmosphere.

After lunch we stopped at the aquarium...

... returned to the hotel for a quick swim and change of clothes...

... stopped ever so briefly at ________ Point to look at the Bay of Fundy tide pools (we'll have more time tomorrow, but we won't be HERE tomorrow)...

and went back into town for dinner.

It's really, really pretty here.

Just to get things started...

OK, well, I've been fighting a cold and insufficient sleep; so this may not start up to usual standards, but before I forget:

July 3, 2008

We picked up the youngest from camp at three; dropped the dog off around four; and made our way up to Massachusetts for the first night.

There was a lot of traffic and we had to stop at the office to pick up one last piece of electronic equipment; it was close to seven-thirty by the time we got there.

But we had lamb for dinner, and pie for dessert, and it was very, very nice.

July 4, 2008

As is usual, our launch was as smooth as a NASA shuttle.  We aimed to depart by 10:00.  We actually got off by 10:30.  We made it to Portland with a mere three stops (one for gas, one for maps, one for facilities... NASA might have combined more successfully, but oh well) by 1:30.  

1:30 was pushing it a bit for lunch, so we grabbed a few fleeces from the back of the minivan and hurried out for lunch.

After lunched we poked around for a few hours.

Finally we returned to the van... to discover that we'd left the door AJAR the entire time we'd been in Portland.

Fortunately (??) all the electronics were still intact.

We made our way up to Sebago Lake, where the younger kids had a lot of fun rocking the dock while the rest of us attended to very important stuff...

 

A little later, Great Aunt B and Tio J orchestrated a readaloud of the Declaration of Independence, which I thought was an inspired idea.  We had hot dogs and hamburgers and chicken sausages for dinner, and fell asleep listening to the distant booms of family-fired firecrackers.

July 5, 2008

After a delicious blueberry pancake breakfast whipped up by J, we... hung around.  One of the kids actually went swimming.  In Maine!  

Finally after lunch we roused ourselves to go to a local carnival.  Everyone found something to love:

After such strenuous effort, we returned to the lake to recuperate...

... and eat lobsters and clams!