We stayed at the campground for two nights. During our day in the park, we relaxed in the morning, then explored Port aux Basques and surrounding area. We stopped at a grocery store to get more food and jugs of water. Everyone was so nice. We noticed that all the houses had wooden containers at the end of the driveways, painted all different colors. We couldn’t figure out what they were for, perhaps Amazon deliveries? The slats on one of them was wide enough for us to see garbage bags on the inside and it dawned on us that these were their garbage cans. They look a lot better than the ugly plastic ones we have. They must not have to worry as much about raccoons and bears getting into them.
There are lots of beautiful views of the water and mountains in the distance. We stopped at one place and took lots of photos. When we got back to the campground, we drove the road that continued on to the beach and found a huge sandy beach with huge waves coming in to shore. After walking around and soaking in the sun a bit, we relaxed at the campsite the rest of the night. Carson and I also explored the campground a bit and found the waterfall and also the building with the wifi, LOL.
View from the small bridge in the park. Canadian burnetFireweed This little guy was a continuous visitor to our campsite.A small waterfall in the park. Cute little birdUnfortunately we were not near enough to walk to the beach in the time we had there.A bigger waterfall farther up the creek. Lesser Purple Fringed Orchid (Bog Orchid)We explored the town and stopped at an overlook to go down to the ocean. Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus)Grass-like Starwort (Chickweed)An example of the garbage bins at the end of every driveway.Waves were huge at the beach near the campground. Not too worried about bears. Each campsite had a recycle bin and garbage without lids. When near the ocean, one must try fishy things. There is still lots of room left in the back of the truck. Here is our organizing bins.
We left Kennebunkport and had a long day of driving. We made a quick stop at Bowdoin College where Joshua Chamberlain, a famous civil war soldier was buried. Then we drove through the rest of Maine, easily crossed the border thanks to the ArriveCan app, and then continued on through New Brunswick and into Nova Scotia. We stopped for the night at a hotel in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. The drive was very pretty and the roads were great. This part of the world is gorgeous!
The next morning, we drove for a couple more hours until we got to the Car Ferry to Newfoundland. It took a couple hours to get the truck loaded up, but then we were on the way. We had 4 seats on deck 9 which was just below the top of the boat (the sun deck). During the 7 hour trip, there was some snoozing, some Nintendo Switch game playing, lots of reading and even some cross stitching. We bought a whole pizza for our lunch and got ice cream. Plus Carson and I saw some dolphins, and we all saw a whale! It was actually a pretty relaxing way to travel.
After we got back to the truck and drove off, we got to our campsite at J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park in Port aux Basques which was just a few miles down the road from the ferry.
Canada uses the Metric System, so we needed a cheat sheet!The name of this chicken restaurant cracked me up.Waiting in line to load the truck into the ferry.The boys played Mario Cart on the Nintendo SwitchThere are lifeboats and we had to watch a video.There is a helipad, but we don’t think it got used on our trip.Carson loves ice cream.See those little splashes? Dolphins!We crossed from Sydney to Channel-Port aux Basques.Seating is so much roomier than an airplane.Newfoundland is 2.5 hours ahead of Green Bay.We made it!
A gorgous day, and the scenery got more and more beautiful (gas mileage went down as we went into the mountains though)
We stopped for Lunch at Crowne Point State Park. This bridge crosses from New York to New Vermont.
At the state park we walked around and learned about the French and British Forts that were here back when waterways were the highways, so strategically Crown Point was an important place to control.
The ruins you see are the officer’s quarters. As you can tell, the boys were really impressed.
The other building was the soldier’s barracks where it was once a two story structure.
Fortifications in case soldiers invaded.
Before the British defeated them, the French had a fort here too. Parts of the wall outline was all that is left.
This bridge is pretty new. They took down the original bridge (first highway to connect New York with New England) in 2009 when it was deemed structurally unsafe. They built the new one to resemble the first bridge.
We even ended up on a dirt road at one point. Love our high clearance camper!
Ben & Jerry’s had a big display about John Lewis and his March graphic novels and the importance of voting.
Selfie time! It was hot outside waiting to order ice cream.
Obligatory Carson selfie to send to his friends. I am the advisor of their Destination Imagination group and still on their group chat and they asked for updates since they probably won’t read the blog.
Definitely not as treacherous as the Rockies, but still some steep roads that required Jeff to shift in a lower gear.
At the campground, there were pretty decent shower facilties.
Some places charge for showers and some are free. This one is not free.
The beach area of the campground. It is sandy with a lot of pebbles in it.
Close up of an especially pebbly area.
Sunset at the beach. Saco River is very shallow here and is a place to put in for tubing and kayaking.
We stopped at the Conway Train Depot. Here is the working round house. Brings me back to Thomas the Train memories!
Lots of people at this time because they were loading for
Ice cream selfie!
They had RV and camper parking. Nice!
Getting the campsite set up.
Jeff enjoyed talking to the guys who made this layout.
The details in the scenery were impressive!
Train selfie!
There was a little musuem in the train depot.
I got a selfie with Carson yesterday, now it’s Spencer’s turn.
Josiah Bartlett was the second person to sign the Declaration of Independence. We also know him as the main character in “West Wing TV series. Jeff had to get a selfie when we passed by this elementary named after the founding father.
Instead of getting fast food all the time on our driving days, we are trying to just stop and eat sandwiches, with a side of sausage and cheese and sometimes fruit.
This was our last big driving day for a while. We mostly took state highways so while our gas mileage was a lot less, the roads were absolutely beautiful. We drove through the Adirondacks, and the Green Mountains. Amazing! Each turn was more breathtaking that the previous view. We really do live in a gorgeous country.
It was getting time to stop for lunch when we happened to drive by Crowne Point State Historic Site, where there are ruins of forts from the French and the British from colonial times. The museum was closed, but it was a great stretch break to walk around the area and read the info on the signs (and google things to fill in the blanks).
Our next stop was Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory. Unfortunately, they were sold of out tours for the day (when we went in 2005, it was March so didn’t have to worry about that). But the ice cream was delicious and it was a nice stretch break.
We arrived at the campground and got all set up for the next couple days. It caters to a swimming/tubing/kayaking family crowd, so there are lots of activities in the campground that are available and a rocky sand beach to do all of those things.
Thursday was a relaxing day. It was supposed to rain and storm, so we mostly hung out in the campground and read, swim, and play board games. In the afternoon, we went exploring in the truck and found Hart’s Location, one of the two boting precincts in New Hampshire where everyone comes to vote at midnight. We also went to the Conway Scenic Railway Depot and walked around looking at all the train cars and the roundhouse. There was a small Ben & Jerry’s there so of course we got more ice cream.
Kline Road Trips 