Winter Workcamper Job!!!

We got the job at Kartchner Caverns State Park!!  We'll be there from December through mid April.  We are both excited about the prospect of living so close to Brian and Kelly and our friends in Phoenix.   We look forward to having a new and interesting work experience.  I'll be a lead tour guide in the caves as well as working at the gatehouse and meeting all kinds of people from all over the world.  T will probably work in maintenance and be a tram driver and various other things..

We'll be about 30 minutes from Brian and Kelly and about an hour from Tucson and about  3 hours from Phoenix.

If you've never been to Kartchner check out this link.  It's a fascinating and beautiful place.
http://azstateparks.com/parks/kaca/

Wine tasting in NC isn't like being at the Cellardoor

August 28

We went to Childress Winery here in Lexington, NC.  The property is beautiful and the building is magnificent.  T and I enjoyed most of the wines we tasted and even bought a few bottles to take with us.  However, the experience was nothing like being at the Cellardoor.  The feeling of being with friends and relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere just wasn't there.  Oh!  The people were nice enough, but Childress' wine tasting room isn't as cozy as Cellardoor and Childress charges a fee for the opportunity to taste their wines.  Now, I know that's normally what happens at most wineries.  It's just after visiting Cellardoor where the staff takes the time to educate you on their wines and tell you about what foods would go well with the wine, it's going to be hard to enjoy visiting other wineries.  I'll always be comparing things to the Cellardoor.

Childress Winery - Lexington, NC

None the less, I'll still be going to wineries and tasting wine. I'm open to suggestions!

Some of you may want to know if I had any luck with my genealogy search on my visit to Reidsville.  Sad to say, I did not.  I found no land records of my great grandfather, no death certificate and no obituary.  I read through almost 2 years worth of papers spanning the 2 months from the time of this death in both 1891 and 1892.  Newspapers were not anything like we have today.  You have to read almost the entire paper to find any comments about a death.  Obituaries were not grouped together.  I enjoyed reading the paper and was fascinated reading about politics in those days. Benjamin Harrison was president and the paper was full of the same political crap we listen to today.  Nothing changes.

North Carolina & Genealogy Reserach

T is loving being in the Carolinas.  Eating BBQ and fried catfish. The sun is shining and the weather is great, not too hot. Low 80's with a breeze where we are in Lexington, NC.

On our way to Lexington I went to Reidsville, NC to find the grave of my great grandfather.  It took a visit to the local library and a mortuary, but I found out where he was buried, got directions and off I went to see the "family".  What a thrill to see so many Turners in one place, with dates and such.  I can now make the connection to people I have in my genealogy research database.  I didn't have time to do a thorough search, so I plan to go back one day next week and spend the day at the Registry of Deeds and at the Library looking through old new papers to see if I can find the obituary for my great grandfather and any property exchanges.  I can't tell you how excited I am to be so close to all this information.

For those of you who don't know, I've been doing genealogy research off and on since the mid '70s.  For a long time all I knew about my great grandfather was that he was living with another family when he was about 2 years old and I couldn't seem to get any more information on him.  Then I connected with a gal, who is a distant relative, and we exchanged information and I found some of the missing links. That ,along with a cousin who is also doing genealogy research, has enabled me to get this close.

Wish me luck with my research!

Virginia sites

August 22

We left Big Meadow headed for a visit with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. We thought we would be able to walk the grounds, and take in the sites.  However, to do so, we would have had to pay $24 a piece and since we both had seen Monticello years ago and it was too hot to leave Molly in the trailer, we decided to for go walking the grounds.

Photo op with Thomas Jefferson

We then headed to a camp ground just outside of Lynchburg, VA. We stayed at Paradise Lake Camp Ground.  not a bad for $16.50 a night, the Passport America rate.  We went into Lynchburg to see what there was to see.  Not much.

August 20-21

We stayed in Big Meadow campground in Shenandoah National Park on Monday and Tuesday.  We had planed our trip to end at Big Meadow around 1:00pm.  When we plotted out the trip, we told the GPS to go to Shenandoah NP and failed to take into consideration how far we had to go to get to Big Meadow after entering the park.  We didn’t get settled in until almost 4:00pm.   

Along the way we passed through West Virginia.  When I found out that Harper’s Ferry was less than 20 miles away I headed that way. You know me I'm all about seeing historical places. I tried calling T, but had no cell coverage, so he didn't get to see Harpers Ferry with me. 

T “forgot” to fill-up with diesel fuel before entering the park and when he realized how low he was on fuel he was in a panic.  The nearest diesel station was over 30 miles away.  He was beside himself, thinking he would not make it to the station.  I did get him to relax enough to get some sleep.  The next morning he drove to the fuel station in Elkton, VA and I followed in the Miata, just in case he ran out of gas. The drive to the fuel station was mostly downhill and T had 10 gallons of fuel left when he got to the station.   It rained most of the day, so I spent it reading and relaxing.

Driving the Skyline drive alone isn't much fun.  So we decided not to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway.

View along Skyline Drive

August 19

We left Bennington and headed south.  Our plan was to pass through Pennsylvania and drive the Blue Ridge Parkway south to North Carolina.  We spent a night in Wilkes-Barre, PA in the Mohegan Casino parking lot.  We found out that there was a race track behind the casino, Pocono Downs.  Having never been to a horse race we decided to go watch awhile.  It was a harness race.  The horse cantered around the track with a guy in a  thing with a sit and a place for him to put his feet.  I picked a long shot to win on the first race and of course we lost.  Then on the second race I picked a horse to place.  Our horse won!  We were excited and thought we’d won a lot.  The laugh was on us.  We’d bet $2 and our winnings were $2.20.  After that we called it a night and turned in early.

Bennington Vermont

August 17-18

We drove a couple of hours over to Bennington and to Pine Hollow Campground.  We'd been told Bennington was a great little city and Pine Hollow a great campground.  We found the area to be delightful and the campground pleasant.  We met a couple from Switzerland and enjoyed an evening talking about the places we've all traveled and we promised them if we got to Switzerland again, we would look them up.

Ernst & Beatrice

We visited the Battle of Bennington Memorial, drove through a few covered wooden bridges, walked around the town and had lunch at Your Belly's Deli  Great place and one we'd visit again if in the area.

Creamery Bridge in Brattleboro, VT

Of course I had to find a grave yard and was I ever in luck.  Robert Frost was buried in the grave yard and the church was the "First Church Of Vermont".  The church opened in 1805 and still holds services there every Sunday.  As part of the celebration of the Battle of Bennington, an American flag was placed on the graves of every revolutionary soldier with a plaque indicating such.  It's wonderful how small towns celebrate our history and truly honor our war veterans.  Another tidbit about the area is they have an annual Moose Day celebration.  Artist paint and decorate moose and the moose are displayed around the town.

Robert Frost grave stone

Vermont- Ben & Jerry's & Lake Champlain

August 15 - 16

After saying our goodbyes and thanking Bill & Joyce Elliot, the camp managers, for the opportunity to work at Camden Hills, we left Camden Hills State Park saying goodbye to the many friends we’ve made over the past 2 1/2 months.  Though we were ready to leave Camden, leaving our friends pulled on our heart strings more that I though it would.

Mid afternoon we arrived in Dummerston, VT and the Hidden Acres RV Resort.  Not a bad place to stay over for a few days.

On Thursday, we headed north to visit Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury.  The drive north was luscious. So much green forest and rolling hills.  Thus the name Green Mountain area.  We were told that we "had" to see the Flavor Graveyard at Ben & Jerry's.  We especially liked Jerry's slogan, "If it isn't fun, why do it?" We took the tour of the factory, had some great ice cream samples and visited the Flavor Graveyard.  I took a pictures of a couple of the gravestones for the fun of it.

After leaving Ben and Jerry's we drove over to Burlington to take a stroll along Lake Champlain.    We had a bite to eat and T had fun at the Lone Sailor Memorial.  The original Lone Sailer Statue  stands in the center of the US Navy Memorial  in Washington, DC.  In honor of the historical naval actions on Lake Champlain front of the Navy Memorial approved the Lone Sailor at this first civilian location.
We drove out to Ethan Allen's homestead and then after getting directions drove around trying to find Ethan Allen's grave.  After driving in circles and not finding the grave, we decide to head back to camp in Dummerston.

Last Days in Camden

August 12-14

In the last days before we left Camden, we tried to get in as much as we could.  Though we were ready to move on, when it came down to it we were kind of sad to be leaving all the friends we'd made this summer.

On Sunday the 12^th, we went to another great restaurant the Home Kitchen Cafe.  I remember how, when we first arrived in Camden, we thought there weren’t any good places to eat in area, but in the past few weeks we’ve found a few that we’ve enjoyed: Chase Daily in Belfast, Long Grain in Camden, The Bay Leaf Bistro in Lincolnville, The Market Basket in Rockland, and Home Kitchen Cafe  in Rockland.

Home Kitchen Cafe

It took all summer, but we finally went to the Owls Head Transportation Museum.  As expected there were lots of old cars and a few airplanes.  The one T liked the best was a Crosley.  His mom and dad had one when he was growing up.

T and the Crosley

On the evening of Monday the 13^th we had several of the hosts and another camper over for cocktails.  What a wonderful evening it was, sitting around the camp fire, drinking wine, eating cheese and crackers and singing songs while our new friend, Renee, played her guitar. 

Renee played a crazy song "Five Pounds of Possum" and Bernice and I sang and laughed our heads off.  To give you an idea as to why we laughed so hard, here's an excerpt from the song.

O’ my children are hungry, and the dog needs a bone.  Ain’t got a job, and I’m just travelin’ home.  It’s an hour after sundown, and much to my surpriseThere’s five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight.

 Chorus

O there’s five pounds of possum in my headlights tonightIf I can run him over everything will be all rightI will make some possum gravy, what a wonderful sightO there’s five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight

Our last night at Camden Hills, we enjoyed cocktails, wine & cheese and fellowship at Ed & Bernice's place with the other hosts and toasted "the good life" for the last time with our new friends.

Front -left to right: Glo, T, Richard, Jacque and Mary. Back Row: Ed and Renee

Unfortunately I waited too long to take pictures of the camp ground staff, so I don't have pictures of everyone.

Teresa & John

Bill & Joyce, the Park Managers

Canada & Roosevelt Campobello International Park

August 9

Today we decided to do something a little different.  We drove to Canada to visit FDR and Eleanor at their little cottage on Campobello Island in New Brunswick Canada.  Unfortunately, we were too late to have Tea with Eleanor, which is served every afternoon around 3:00 pm. The drive was a little over 3 hours, but as almost any drive along the coast of Maine the views were breath taking.  For much of the way it was the same route as our drive to Schoodic Peninsula. Of course Molly went with us.  It was her first trip to another country.  She loved the new smells and all the green grass.  

From 1909 to 1921, Franklin, Eleanor, and their children spent summers in the cottage, adding to it to accommodate their growing family. The Cottage contains 34 rooms including 18 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.

FDR's Cottage

View from cottage back porch

President Roosevelt once called Campobello his “beloved island.” The view from his house spans a vast lawn which slopes down to the bay, across to Deer Island, and into to the horizon.

After leaving the cottage we drove around the island and out to see the East Quoddy Lighthouse, also known as the "Head Harbour Lighthouse", the most photographed lighthouse in the world. One of the fun and unique things about it is though there is no road to out to the little island from Campobello, you can walk out to the lighthouse at low tide, if you dear.  The tides in the Bay of Fundy are some of the highest tides in the world.  The tides rises as much as 28 feet.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late to attempt the walk out to the lighthouse.  If you walk out and miss the tide you are stuck on the island for at least 8 hours.

East Quoddy Lighthouse

 Another remarkable day in during our stay in Maine.  Of course at "home" in Camden it was foggy and wet most of the day.

Farewell Party

We had a little "Farewell Party"at my favorite place.  Can you guess? Can ya? Can ya?

Mary, Bernice, Glo, T & Ed in the back.

Of course it was at the Cellardoor Winery.  All of the hosts here at Camden Hills except two got together and tasted wine, ate fruit, nuts and cheese and crackers while T got more education on wine.  T enjoyed the wine almost as much as he enjoyed Crystal, the gal who was teaching him about the wine,  Crystal was a sweetheart. She was patient with him and when she asked him what type of wine he liked, his response was, "I don't like wines that make me pucker."She smiled and began to bring out several wines for him to taste.  If he didn't like one, she didn't count it in his "six" to taste.  I think he will be a wine drinker going forward and I won't always have to drink an entire bottle by myself.  Now having said that, he still loves his Vodka Tonics, but from time to time he'll have wine with me.

Crystal & Glo

Why a farewell party?

T & I have decided it's time to move on.  Another couple arrived today to take over our hosts duties, so we are free to leave.  We both have thoroughly enjoyed our summer in Maine, though we are ready to see new things.  We will be leaving our "home" here in Maine next Wednesday and going to Vermont for a few days before heading south.

Ultimately we'll get down to the Keys and spend a couple of weeks in Key West, but that won't be until sometime in late September or early October.  We have friends to see in other parts of Florida and will be visiting them along the way south.

T the Cellardoor and Enjoying Wine

T is beginning to enjoy wine.  Yesterday he went with me to the Cellerdoor Winery for their wine pairing.  When we arrived, we'd missed the first pairing event, so we went over to the tasting bar and Kathy took the time to explain the wines to T.  T was game and tried 4 wines.  Then when we went to the pairing room, he got to taste 4 more wines and experience how wine and food go together.  He REALLY enjoyed it.  I think it was an eye opener for him.    After which, we bought some lunch and a couple of glasses of wine and sat on the patio out back and enjoyed the calmness of everything.

 Then we wondered down into the field and found a couple of lounge chairs and took a nap. 

We then joined a group back up at the barn for a tour of the winery.  We met the owner Bettina and found out the story behind the Cellardoor logo.

Early in the 20th century, a hopeful traveler stopped at our 200-year-old farm. Upon taking his leave, he carved this symbol on a door in the barn as an invitation to others to discover for themselves what he had found here. Acceptance, cheer, purpose, belonging, welcome — this is what the door mark means. Wherever you find this doormark, you find friends. 

How neat is that?  While on the tour we saw a couple we'd met back in Virginia in June, George & Robin.  They were one of the couples who taught us to play pickleball.

Cellardoor logo

Love Birds

After spending an incredibly relaxing afternoon at the Cellardoor, we took off for a ride around the countryside.  Wouldn't you know, I forgot to put gas in the car and when the light came on telling me I needed gas, T's calmness went away.  We drove for a few miles looking for a gas station, then I decided to ask "Rhonda", the GPS where I could find a gas station.  She told me I was less than a mile away from one.  So off we headed in the direction she sent us.  There was nothing at the spot but open space.  We ask Rhonda again and again she sent us off to nowhere.  After driving almost 30 miles with the light on, T was bouncing his knee trying to maintain calmness and telling me I needed to pay attention to the gas gauge.  I decided to stop asking Rhonda.  I headed into the direction I knew I would find a gas station though it was farther away than I wanted to drive.  Along the way we found a gas station and all was well.  I had 2 gallons of gas left in my car.  I could have driven another 40 miles.  No sweat.  NOT!  Toward the end there I was wondering if I would run out of gas.  Rhonda now has the name Wrong Way Rhonda. Though most of the time she's right on, she can sometimes cause us to drive around aimlessly.

The day ended on a positive note when we met a couple staying in the park and enjoyed some more wine and snacks before calling it a day.

Can life get any better?!!

Random Photos

I'm having loads of fun with my camera and thought I'd post a few random shots for viewing.

This is actually a small clump of rocks with standing water.

Ocean on a foggy day.

Looking across the bay from Colonial Pemaquid.

Sitting on bench in Belfast Harbor

Belfast Harbor

Sunset from the ship.

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse & Belfast Harbor

August 2

The fog rolled in early this morning and stayed with us all day.  Not wanting to stay indoors we drove to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Bristol, Maine.   We toured the lighthouse, Colonial Pemaquid, the cemetery there and Fort William Henry.  The lighthouse was built in 1827 and is still in operation today.

Colonial Pemaquid dates back to 1607, before the pilgrams came to Plymouth.  Interesting how history changes as one gets older.  Every year historians find "new" old things that change history as we knew/know it.

Though it was foggy, I got a few good pictures.

Pemaquid Lighthouse in the fog.

Pemaquid Lighthouse on a clear day.

Colonial Cemetery

1707 - Angel image at top

Fort William Henry 1692-1696

August 1

The weather was awesome today!  We drove up to Belfast after "work" had lunch at Chases Daily, a vegetarian restaurant that was is so popular that we had to wait 30 minutes to be seated.  It was well worth the wait. Even T enjoyed the meal.  After lunch we went down to the harbor, sat on a bench and ate cookies.  What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!