Two Hams on the Road

Sunday, July 10, 2016

We are in Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada.  It’s been cold and rainy since we left Acadia National Park in Maine.

We followed the coast north for quite awhile and were rewarded with views like this.

This particular overlook had some interesting benches highlighted with lobster claws extending above waves.

It was also landscaped with beautiful flowers.

    

We spent the last two nights near Oak Bay, outside of St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

The largest employer in town is Ganong Brothers, makers of fine chocolate.  They have a nice museum, which we toured, and a nice shop.  Steve said the chocolate was very good.  All of it had milk in it, so I didn’t get to taste any.  But they did give me samples of their jellybeans.

We managed not to take any pictures of the museum, but I did take a picture of one of the photos on display.  It’s a picture of the street in front of the factory around 1900.  The muddy streets are a reminder of how tough travel was in those days.  And I can’t imagine trying to cross the street in the floor length dress on the lady on the left in the picture.

This is the view of Oak Bay, a short walk from our campsite.

I realized that I haven’t written about Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

So, here’s Connecticut:

We stopped at Mark Twain’s home in Hartford, Connecticut.  He’s been a favorite author of mine since junior high.  He even made college English more enjoyable.  We had to take 3 English courses, one being freshman English, but we could choose the other two.  I picked Great American Books and American Humor, both of which included Mark Twain books.

The house is a beautiful brick house in what I would call the arts and crafts style.  There is some intricate brickwork on the outside and neat details on the inside, including two fireplaces with windows above the mantels.  Twin flues go up either side of the window.

The downstairs was decorated by Tiffany, yes that Tiffany.  The paneled entry hall is stenciled all over with tiny geometric shapes in silver paint.  It gives the impression of inlaid wood and shimmers in the light.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but here’s the outside.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, lived next door. 

Our tour guide for the house was dressed as Mrs. Twain and one of our fellow tourists was dressed up as Mark Twain, so they posed for us.

One item in the gift store caught my eye.

Some things don’t seem to change.

I’ll try to get Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the next post, but I did want to mention that we managed to get together with John, Enza and their daughter, Milania, in Quincy, Massachusetts.  John is our son-in-law, Mike’s, brother.  We always enjoy visiting with them.  And we hadn't met Milania yet, who reminded us of our granddaughter, Maria.  Visiting family and friends is one of the joys of traveling.

Time for bed!

Take care,

Deb