June? No. JULY? No. AUGUST?! Yes!
Holy hot summer, where have we been? Apparently, we've been finding more interesting things to do as opposed to writing a blog post. We hope you've all found more interesting things to do this summer, rather than reading this silly blog. But now that the beach towels are dry and the sand has been removed from every nook and cranny, we've realized that the blog has been left unattended and could use some love.
Since our last posting, our heroes have moved even farther north into New England than we have ventured before. But, we begin in New Jersey where every beach seems to have a distinctive personality. Our desires brought us ocean side where lighthouses and boardwalks lay in wait. A visit to Cape May lighthouse started our summer and the quaint little town, of the same name, was full of shops and boutiques to entice us with Jersey treasures. We found ourselves using the word "quaint" with frequency over the summer, as every location we had stayed in revealed a collection of nostalgic and historically significant buildings restored or rebuilt to give visitors the feel of small hometown hospitality. Our tour of Cape May was made special by meeting up with our high school friend, Danielle, who frequents the area when she travels to the beach from Philly.
We also visited Oceanview, Seaside and even Atlantic City. The boardwalks in these cities have drastically different atmospheres. Seaside was a casual and quiet stroll with shops pushed off to a centralized location in the middle of the boardwalk keeping the atmosphere of the boardwalk calm and relaxing. Oceanveiw was a more traditional boardwalk with energy and a vibe that screams "fun". Families and friends can stroll the games and shops along the beach while individuals can take a bike ride or a run among the excitement. Unfortunately, we found Atlantic City's energy to be tense and full of anxiety. The city's boardwalk seems tired and worn out as vagrants and questionable groups gave us the feeling of walking down a long dark alley in the middle of the day. During our New Jersey stay, Gracie did find herself spending the night in the hospital while doctors looked into her sickly and lethargic behavior. Turns out she was stopped up and needed more fluids in her diet. Upon her return home, she was introduced to a new screened in, sitting area that we attached to the outside of the living room window. Now, Gracie gets to sit outside the window at her leisure and we've added more wet food to her weekly diet.
Massachusetts was full of more of our nation's history and those quaint little towns. Walking through the living museums in Plymouth was, by far, the best time we had. They really gave us the feel of living in the 17th century, right down to the hard English and Welsh accents.It was easy to become immersed in the simplicity of life and the challenges of being in an unknown world. Today's humans think they have it hard dealing with trite issues, where our colonial ancestors dealt with famine, disease and the threats of the indigenous occupants of our eastern seaboard. It was truly a humbling experience. Chatham was another favorite little town to visit and walk around the local shops. A quiet town on the southeastern shores of Massachusetts, its charm was everywhere among the crowds and Cape Cod style homes.
There is something about Maine that draws you in and keeps your eyes fixed open to soak in "the way life should be". We spent a little over a month in Maine between Ogunquit, pronounced 'oh~GUN~quit', which was located near the southernmost tip and the town of Ellsworth, near Patten Pond, up north. We spent the weekends exploring the coastal towns on Route 1, following the path described in a book of Maine that Tez purchased years before. Lighthouses and forts were among the most traversed sights that we stopped to see. With every location, you cannot help but pause and breathe in deep the air around you and finally exhale a sigh of contentment. Maine was also a great place to make new friends. John and Deb gave us a hometown connection while we stayed in Cape Cod and showed up at our site in Ogunquit. John, a native of San Diego exchanged newbie experiences with us and we enjoyed sharing Triple Cities experiences with Deb, a Binghamton native. We hope to see them again in New York before they trek out to South Dakota. We also conversed with Raj and Tiffany, from Oklahoma, at our campground at Patten Pond. They were also at Moody Beach in southern Maine. It was nice to have them pull up a chair and share their exploration of Maine and their endless miles across the country. We also got the chance to find a spot around their fire ring to enjoy a final night's dinner and even more conversation. It was a beautiful time in Maine, from the banks of the West Quoddy Lighthouse to the back roads of Chester where the elusive great beast of the North Country continues to evade detection. Yep, I am sorry to report that we had no moose sightings, even though we adhered to the suggestions of the local experience. Tez remains vigilant and will continue her quest.
With just three weeks away from our arrival in New York, we set idle in Massachusetts, again. With less than 24 hours under our belt here in Sturbridge, we are finding this campground trying at times. Tez says, "she is being tested." This particular campground appears to cater to the rambunctious children category of RVers. I have repeated that "mass-holes" truly exist and the last two hours of travel into this state have proven that. It was a tense drive and I am looking to leave it in the rear view mirror. With our hometown so close to us, we can smell the Rossi's fragrance from here, and it is hard to resist the temptation of just packing it in and laying rubber to the road towards Broome County. It's getting close to family time and we can smell that, too.
Where ever you all are, we hope you are comfy in the increasingly crazy temperature fluctuations and we appreciate all of you for tuning in to our little blog spot. Happy travels!
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