UM/After 4 weeks’ vacation there are several things that we have observed that didn’t fit into a single day in particular, but definitely were a recurring theme, so here they are as a P.S. to our blog.

Do you know why the streets in the US are in a miserable condition, even Interstate or important city roads? The government apparently prefers to spend the money abroad for its military and not for comfortable streets or other needs of its own people.

Do you know why “Desperate Housewives” run in the States for an hour while the same one is finished in Switzerland in 40 minutes? After 8 minutes play 4 minutes commercials follow. Conclusion: wait until the DVD is out and one can watch it without commercials.

Do you know what we do when we can drive with only 55 m/h (speed limit by Suzuki when towing its car) and everybody passes us? We count cars, split into US ones and foreign ones. Result: 2 foreign cars (mostly Asian) and one US car. Without pickup trucks this ratio would even be bigger. We ask ourselves how this could have happened to the USA, once the dominating force in the world automobile market (GM, Ford, Chrysler).

Do you know how long it takes to fill the tank of the RV (75 gallons)? You cannot fill it up at one go. If you are lucky the gas station accepts your credit card (many of the stations refuse foreign cards – they ask for the zip code which must be US and it must agree with the address of the card holder). At max you can fill it for USD 100 at one time, but after the second USD 100, it will not accept it for any additional amount. If you are unlucky it does not accept it at all and you must deposit cash in the shop – at least you get the change back when you do not use the whole deposit.

Do you know why you cannot save water when you go to the ladies room? Because the toilette flushes when you enter the cabin, sit down (now that’s a real shocker!), but rarely when leaving it – then you have to move around waving frantically at the motion detector for the really necessary flusher. I’m sure that some day someone will have the idea to put a candid camera in one of those booths. No, no, not what you think: Sharon told me about this one when we were putting together these “jokes of the vacation”. For men it works, but don’t ask me why.

Facts and figures from the weather front: This year there were rain records in Vermont (we were there after Irene’s “visit” and experienced some of it personally) and record high temperatures yesterday Sunday in New England (we were there, too). It has been a vacation where we have experienced extremes. In Maine and from the airplane this morning we have at last seen some beautiful fall foliage – it was like a shining carpet of yellow, gold, red, orange and bronze colors laid out on the earth below us.

Oh, yes we did some traveling today: we got up at 03:45 AM (full moon and Orion beautifully visible), because we had to leave Bar Harbor at 05:00 AM to arrive at the RV storage place in Bangor at 07:00 AM (with a full tank notabene) to check-in for our flight out of Bangor nearby and be back at the RV Service at 08:00 AM to communicate all our repair needs (like the defective dinette slide) and be back at the airport again at 09:00 AM (Bangor has less than 15 scheduled flights per day, whereof 50% directly to NY La Guardia). A lonely airport with almost more Security People (TSA) than passengers!!!! – after a couple of days you would know everybody by name.
Now we are in the Lufthansa lounge at JFK waiting for the flight back to Zurich via Frankfurt.

See you personally soon again

Urs & Sharon

SM/Our last day in Acadia National Park was also a day spent in cleaning the RV, doing the laundry, and packing, because our plane leaves tomorrow morning. But in spite of the work that had to be done, we had to take advantage of the record-breaking weather (high of 82° F with clear blue skies) and beautiful fall day to see the park for one last time. We took the boat to Islesford Island, a small island with 16 year-round inhabitants, most of whom earn their living by fishing for lobsters, just to be out on the ocean one last time and get an impression of life on such an island. But even with that impression, we can’t imagine what it might be like to live here year-round…indescribably beautiful, but also indescribably isolated. On the way, we saw a pair of eagles, as well as some loons trying to get into the air and some more harbor seals checking out the boat.

For the conclusion of our trip, we went to a beaver lodge and dam at dusk where we were fortunate to really see these unique creatures and what they can do to a tree…as I am writing this already “in transit” back home, pictures will have to follow. Here they are:
 

And what could be more appropriate for our last dinner in Maine than another wonderful lobster dinner, which we were able to enjoy OUTSIDE because it was still so warm at 8:00 PM – amazing! We will miss the lobsters when we’re back in Switzerland, but we’re looking forward to seeing friends and family again.

The four weeks we were on the road from New York to Bangor went by so fast, and although we didn’t see many things that we had expected to see, we were surprised by many other experiences that we hadn’t expected. It was a time of learning, enjoying, and experiencing – absolutely wonderful!

SM/OUT!! What point is there in being on an island without going out to sea to get the entire experience of the isolation of an island and the vastness of the sea around it? After going to Schoodic Point for high tide in the morning to see those amazing piles of rocks all along the coast, we headed for Bar Harbor to board a ship at noon for whale watching. It was an incredibly beautiful day, with no clouds, a clear blue sky, glistening ocean, where we occasionally caught glimpses of sleek dolphin fins or curious harbor seal heads popping out of the water. This made the ride out to the area known as “the ballpark” so delightful that we couldn’t have hoped to have it topped, but were we in for a surprise! This area of the ocean is called “the ballpark” by the local fishermen because there are so many fish there that they almost always “hit a home run” when they went out to this area – and true to its name, we also hit the biggest, mightiest home run of all!! Although we “only” saw 2 humpback whales – a mother named Victim because of the damage to her tail fin and her young calf – these 2 whales spent an entire hour circling around, lying and rolling over next to, and diving under our boat! I doubt if it’s possible to get closer to these massive animals than we were – often, because we were on the upper deck (of 3 decks), the whales were so close to the boat that we couldn’t see them because they were hidden by the roof of the 2nd deck or even the lower deck itself. Since I know that this is absolutely unbelievable, I stop writing now and just give you a few pictures to share this absolutely incredible experience with you…

SM/After spending the last 2 days on the tops of the park’s majestic mountains, it was time today to come down from the peak – but even so, there were even more highlights ahead for us! We parked the car in the Fabbri picnic area, and then walked past the Otter Cliffs, 100-foot pink granite buttresses rising straight out of the water, and continued the 2.3 miles to Sand Beach along the breathtaking “Ocean Path”.  We actually ended up walking much further, because we were constantly walking from the path out towards the ocean itself over the massive pink granite stones that looked like gigantic building blocks that had at some point tumbled down, collapsing into this pristine coastline. Around every bend of this trail there was another magnificent view that just demanded getting closer, crossing the tumble of rocks between us, and the glistening ocean. We took the bus back to the picnic area where we had left our car, and enjoyed our picnic before driving to Bar Harbor for low tide.

Why the rush to get there for low tide, the least beautiful time of the day? Bar Island, which lies in front of Bar Harbor, is accessible only at low tide, when the sand bar between the island and the harbor is exposed. We walked across the sand bar, and even though the official “Warning” sign said that we should make sure we leave the island / sand bar 3 ½ hours before low tide to make sure we get back safely because the tide can rise very quickly (they must be either kidding or forced by their insurance company to post such a warning, as it’s only ½ mile to walk!!!), we continued brazenly on to the top of the island, passing by a mother deer and her 2 young ones on the way, where we could look back at Bar Harbor. We even took time on the way back to watch the countless sea gulls dropping their mussels, easy pickings at low tide, on the rocky sand bar to break them open. A stroll through Bar Harbor and a wonderful lobster dinner finished off another perfect day in Acadia.

SM/This morning, we learned all about lobsters and the lobster industry in Maine, as well as many other sea creatures, in the Oceanarium. It was a delightful and informative visit in the only lobster hatchery in the USA, where we were surprised to learn amazing facts like

-       The largest lobster ever caught in Maine weighed 42 pounds and was almost 1 m long.

-       A female lobster can only reproduce after she becomes 7 years old, after which she carries her eggs inside her body for one year before they are fertilized, after which she carries them underneath her tail for another year before they hatch. When first hatched, 80 of these tiny creatures weigh together 1 gram, and in the wild, only 1 of 1,000 lives to become an adult.

-       Maine law requires that lobsters taken out of the sea have a minimum and a maximum size, otherwise they must be freed again. This has proven invaluable in maintaining the stock of lobsters – they have discovered that the older females produce as many as 100,000 eggs rather than the 2 – 3,000 produced by young females, and that often the next “batch” of eggs already begins inside their bodies before the fertilized eggs hatch.

-       Blue lobsters occur about once in a million (they have only the blue genes and not the blue, yellow, and red that together give the lobsters their normal brown color). We saw one in the Oceanarium.

-       Horseshoe crabs have absolutely blue blood, which sells for $ 15,000 per quart and is irreplaceable in the medical field, where it is used to identify contamination of any transfused materials.

In the afternoon, we joined Ranger Todd for a fantastic 3-hour hike up Beech Mountain. He did an excellent job of filling our heads (already full from the morning visit to the Oceanarium) with all sorts of wonderful facts about the plants and creatures found here in Acadia. Although Acadia accounts for only 1% of the size of Maine, half of all species found in the state are found on this tiny (only about 24 km long and wide) island. We were rewarded at the end of the hike by another view of glistening blue waters and dots of islands below us, as well as a magnificent bird overhead (either a very large hawk or even possibly an eagle) and several deer on the way back down. Another day that can hardly be topped…

A Jersey City NJ(9-15), B Lake Mohegan (9-16) NY, C Mystic (9-16) CT, D Eastham (9-17) MA, E Pownal (9-20) VT, F Watkins Glen (9-22) NY, G Glens Falls NY, H Keeseville NY,  I Stowe VT, J and K left out, L Bar Harbor, ME

UM/At last – a change to the better.

Yesterday’s dinner, a proposal of our office receptionist at the RV park in Bangor, turned out to be  a very positive hit (more than once we experienced how well these people know the  local’s restaurants with a far higher than average ratio of cost versus gourmet). In Florida it were baby back rips which fell of the bones, in Bangor it was lobster at Captain Nick’s with a very helpful elderly waiter.

We enjoyed our lobsters in different forms – Sharon with work and I with pasta!
By the way, what I could not finish was the basis for today’s dinner in our RV – delicious again, “enriched” with chicken and accompanied by a Margerita.

The morning in Bangor started with a terrible scare. Several times Sharon and I were talking about the date of our return. Monday or Tuesday of the new week? I emphasized on Tuesday and we planned everything for this (RV return for winterization for example). It turned out that the flight back out of New York was booked for Monday, but the transfer from Bangor to New York only for Tuesday (my mistake!!!). Luckily, but for a penalty of USD 193, I could change the date backwards to Monday. Not to think about the consequences had this flight already been fully booked – a nightmare and anxious moments for me.

After 2002 we returned around noon to Acadia National Park on the Atlantic Ocean side in Maine. The first National Park on the East side of the US, inaugurated during World War I, got its name from regions name between Maine and Montreal: Acadia, not ARcadia as the narrator of a introductionary video in the visitor’s center mentioned.
We participated on three Ranger Programs on Acadia’s highest mountain: Cadillac Mountain (1’500 foot high). Despite the bitter cold weather (northerly wind – bringing the nice weather – with gusts up to 50 knots gave us the impression of being on top of Laax’s mountains in early January), it was filled with tourists. We heard about a hawk counting program, the geology of the area and its early tourism some 110 years ago. Competition between two private persons (the first one carried the tourists by carriage to this hostel, followed by the second one who constructed a railway on the summit) ended for both in a disaster where the buildings were destroyed by fire (unfiltered smoke from railroad?) and bankruptcy.  Today more or less blank rockets remain – with the same beautiful view as ever.

This is a panoramic, 360 degrees picture taken with my iPhone:

Lovely ponds and lakes fill the valley between two mountains, like the Bubble Pond:

Back in the RV “Petrus” reminded us with heavy winds and a strong shower that the bad weather period was not over yet. By minutes we managed to be in the RV and not on the way to it.
Nevertheless, a couple of moments later a beautiful sunset calmed our souls, which we could enjoy together with a cup of hot cider and apple maple liquor and spinach dip with crackers in our driving seats.

SM/We were originally planning to leave Vermont only tomorrow, but the weather forecast was the worst so far…the weatherman actually predicted a “very ugly day”, so we decided that instead of once again hiking in the rain and mud, we would use the day to travel to Maine and hope for better weather beginning tomorrow for our stay in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. And we found out why the weather forecast was not just “rain and wind”, because it really was the “very ugly day” that had been forecast. Pouring rain and wind…when do you know when you’ve been spending too much time in the rain? When…

- you can’t find your sunglasses because you haven’t used them so long

- your waterproof (S)watch has condense water inside of the glass

- tourists don’t stop alongside the road anymore to take pictures of covered bridges and waterfalls along the way (we didn’t either – we were afraid the rain today would destroy the camera!)

- your tennis shoes begin to feel like fins

- when you have finished all the books with you for vacation (and one of them has 604 pages)

- the RV almost gets stuck in the mud of the campsite (thank goodness only “almost” – we didn’t have to be towed out, at least!!)

For anyone traveling towards Vermont for the Indian Summer, however, we do have a tip – we found the current “peak” area en route today – US Hwy 2 through Vermont and New Hampshire had some really beautiful, fall-colored forests (at least what we could see of them below the clouds in the rain). And the good news for both us and for anyone else still in search of Red October, the weather should start clearing up tomorrow afternoon. We are looking forward (hopefully) to a beautiful last week-end of our vacation in Bar Harbor. And the other good news – October is officially pronounced as “Lobster Month” in Maine, so guess where we’re going for dinner tonight???

SM/…or maybe yellow / orange October? After consulting the internet to find out where Indian Summer is at its peak right now, we discovered – full of hope! – that the “peak” was only some 50 – 80 miles south of where we are staying, so we hopped in our car in search of our “Red October”. What the internet failed to tell us is that the “peak” this year is far short of its legendary fame.

Many of the trees that change into flaming flashes of red and orange first each year were already beginning to do so before Hurricane Irene hit, and now have no leaves left to show off their brilliant colors. And as Irene was followed by more of the very warm, moist air that we have experienced the last 2 weeks, Indian Summer has been interrupted, with the completely confused forests changing into yellows, browns, or simply still staying green – all side by side. The mild days, where the sun spreads warmth over the forests like a blanket, followed by cool nights, have not happened so far…and this is what makes the fall foliage so brilliant. While not as radiant as its reputation, there were enough colors to see (even with only occassional sunshine) that we could imagine what it must look like in a “normal” year.

While we didn’t find the brilliant fall forests that seem to be aflame with yellow, orange and red colors, we did find something else we weren’t looking for – complete devastation from Irene. Some of the covered bridges we looked for don’t exist anymore, just swept away by the overpowering floods, and many streets were either washed out or completely new (a remarkable accomplishment after only 5 weeks since Irene).

But worst of all, we saw house after house that had been tossed aside like a doll house or completely crushed by the floods. The worries of these homeless families make our disappointment over the lack of a brilliant Indian Summer seem very small and inconsequential. We returned to our RV, glad to have a roof over our heads and four walls around us, unlike many other families who live in this area.

Tomorrow, we will be leaving Vermont with the goal to reach Bangor, the capital in Maine.

As soon as we were ready today to start our activities, yes, it started raining again and did not stop until late in the afternoon – for some few minutes the sun was glimmerling behind fog and clouds just recently. When I publish this, it is pouring again.

Right after breakfast we tried to push the slide out with a very frightening result: the upper part went out, the bottom remained more or less in the closed position. Not to damage it further, we instantly pulled it back in the closed position. Tomorrow we will try to get in touch with an RV Service closeby, but with little hope that the problem can be solved easily.

Due to the above two reasons we changed our travel plans and will remain less time in Vermont and travel within one day to Maine (8 hours with stops). There we hope to get an appointment at our RV Service, where we intend to leave the RV over the winter time. Ideally they can fix it within a short time and we can finish the vacation in Bar Harbor (at the Atlantic coast) in the RV and not in a Motel.

A Jersey City NJ(9-15), B Lake Mohegan (9-16) NY, C Mystic (9-16) CT, D Eastham (9-17) MA, E Pownal (9-20) VT, F Watkins Glen (9-22) NY, G Glens Falls NY, H Keeseville NY,  I Stowe VT

UM/A gray, cold and windy day welcomed us when we woke up. We had to expect rain and basically wanted to be already on our way when it started. So we fixed the bicycles before breakfast on our car – and it started raining during breakfast! Unhooking and dumping took place in the rain. And the dinette slide (the largest covering the kitchen as well as our bedroom), which made strange noise while moving out and in since New York, cranked while sliding it in and a steel cable looked out when it should have been closed. Alarm: one cannot drive with a slide not completely closed. The blocking cable was to high up to reach it by hand. We had to move the picknick table alongside the RV, I steped on it and at least could push the cable into its desdignated hole. Up to one cm it closed now – enough to travel. But: Saturday and the nearby RV Service (15 miles away) was without technician on this day! With at least 45 minutes delay we started – and it was pouring rain and we were wet and we had cold feet. And the repair of the slide has to wait. Until when, we do not know yet – decision postponed. But in the next campground, Stowe, we did not open it and accepted that we cannot access half of our clothes in the bedroom.

In Waterbury, 5 miles before reaching Stowe, and despite the bad weather, it was pouring people, who were interested seeing Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory, Cold Hollow Cider Mill and Lake Champlain Chocolates.
We visited the first two:

Ben and Jerry, two colleage students, founded it in the seventies and were successful from the very beginning. Fair trade in all respects was their vision from the beginning (local milk, local working people, no chemicals to the best possible extent, etc.). While world-wide known (the factory belongs to Unilever for more than 10 years and benefits from its sales power) it is still relatively small. Children are a major target of them, but with several dozen brands everybody loves the creamy ice cream. Simply the Mövenpick of the US (Sharon’s statement).

Cold Hollow Cider Mill. With local apples it produces a fine cider and related products like syrup. It has a uge store where you can taste various food products produced in the area, including very tasty apple donutes. The store and parking place were so crowded with visitors and cars, that they even needed “flag men” , making sure that the traffic on the stree was still flowing.

By the way: it took us at lest one hour to place our RV in the campground (in the pouring rain): uneven site (front wheels in the air when on jacks), water and electricity in the very far away corner (cable/hose not long enough) required us to move to another site and back-in. Not funny and positive for our mood. And the weather forecast predicts more rain, at least for tomorrow Sunday and partly for Monday, too. To see at least some Indian Summer, we purchased a “would be” post card in the cider shop.