Onward to camp in Las Cruces, New Mexico and a day at White Sands National Monument. The first evening in Las Cruces, we visited the neighboring historic town of Messilla, very cool and enjoyd a great meal at the Double Eagle restaurant and had “award winning” margaritas! We enjoyed the area, another place to spend more time.

White Sands National Monument was beautiful and unique. Naturally we bought sand (snow) sleds and enjoyed the dunes. It was so bright, white sand and desert make it hard for the eyes!

Our next stop, via beautiful Gila Bend, was Tucson, Arizona for three nights at Catalina State Park. While in Tucson, we bicycled, hiked, and visited the Pima Air and Space Museum. And, we enjoyed desert prairie dogs and road runners at the camp site. Here are some images to check out.

We’re heading for the south-west again this year, this time to New Mexico for some new places and old. Our itinerary includes Joshua Tree NP on the trip out, Las Cruces and White Sands National Monument, Santa Fe, Taos, Bandelier National Monument, and Chaco Culture National Monument. We’re traveling with Ann and Bruce Smith and their new 27′ Airstream, Flying Cloud – the first big trip!

The first stop, Joshua Tree National Park was beautiful, especially after a long day from San Luis Obispo. The campground was in the park, well situated and close to hiking. A very interesting landscape, we’ll return!

Heading Home Part Two

Next stay, Jordanelle State Park. We had to wait until after Labor Day weekend to find a camping spot! We hiked in the Uintas and visited Park City, Utah. The Uinta hike was amazingly beautiful, starting from the Crystal Lake Trailhead. I had hiked it with Joe and Margie in 2010 and wanted to come back with Jude, so here we are. Lots of photos, only a part of the many we took, so many beautiful lakes and mountains along the way. Enjoy!

This is the end of the trip, hard to believe almost 2 ½ months went by so fast! Ari and Tommy performed great, weather behaved, and we saw so many new and beautiful places. It was a trip to remember!

Now, where do we go next!

Park City, Utah

Uinta Mountains, Utah, Crystal Lake Trail hike

Uinta Mountains, Utah, Crystal Lake Trail hike

Window, Jordanelle State Park, Utah

Uinta Mountains, Utah, Crystal Lake Trail hike

Campsite, Jordanelle State Park, Utah

Park City, Utah

Jordanelle State Park, Utah

Uinta Mountains, Utah, Crystal Lake Trail hike

Uinta Mountains, Utah, Crystal Lake Trail hike

Jordanelle State Park, Utah

Uinta Mountains, Utah, Crystal Lake Trail hike

Park City, Utah

Uinta Mountains, Utah, Crystal Lake Trail hike

Uinta Mountains, Utah, Crystal Lake Trail hike

Jordanelle State Park, Utah

Heading Home From Nova Scotia

Heading west. Across New York State, some of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and visited Minnesota family. This section had the most road construction so far, lots of roughness. We parked in Faribault, Minnesota at Ron’s house, along with lots of mosquitos, more than even the old timers have seen in a while! We visited Harley and Roma Lee in Lakeville, and went to the Minnesota State Fair with Ron and Bruce. The last time Judy and I went to the State Fair was 45 years ago – hard to believe!

Then on across I-80 through Nebraska, Wyoming, and on to Utah.

Judy bush whacking Bear River SP, Evanston, Wyoming

Wyoming Clouds

Nova Scotia Haddock, Campsite, Evanston, Wyoming

Wyoming Clouds

Judy driving, railroad roundhouse, Evanston, Wyoming

Bear River State Park, Evanston, Wyoming

Fall here, Campsite, Evanston, Wyoming

Cheyenne,Wyoming train station

Lincoln along the Lincoln Highway, Wyoming

Cheyenne,Wyoming downtown

Birthday walk in Evanston

Downtown Faribault, Minnesota

New Hampshire and Vermont

After our time in Maine, we went to New Hampshire and stayed near the White Mountains in Carroll/Twin Mountain. We traveled along the Franconia Notch Parkway, saw where the “Old Man of the Mountain” was, and hiked a beautiful trail. A place to return to.

We stayed next outside of Quechee, Vermont, near Woodstock, another place to spend more time in. We found the home of Calvin Coolidge, a maple syrup farm, and found many interesting little places. We went to our first LL Bean store too!

Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire

White Mountains, New Hampshire

Calvin Coolidge Homestead, Vermont

Carroll, New Hampshire

LL Bean, West Lebanon, New Hampshire

Old Man of the Mountain, Franconia Notch, New Hampshire

Hartford, Vermont

Hartford, Vermont

Calvin Coolidge Homestead, Visitors Center, Vermont

Acadia National Park, Main

Next, Maine and Acadia National Park! We crossed the border from New Brunswick to Maine and saw lots of trees, for miles and miles and miles! We took Highway 9, a two-lane road across Maine with almost no gas stations! Good thing we have a 38 gallon tank! As we neared the area near Bar Harbor, Maine, the traffic got very thick, all of the (us) vacationers. We stayed in the Seawall Campground on the west side of Acadia NP and the traffic lessened. We had a beautiful site as you will see in the photos. The park was diverse and beautiful. We did venture into Bar Harbor the next day, a cute tourist town. Enjoy the images.

Bar Harbor, Maine

Mount Desert, Maine

Southwest Harbor, Maine

Tremont, Maine

Bar Harbor, Maine

Bar Harbor, Maine

Campsite Acadia National Park, Maine

Bar Harbor, Maine

Airstream patterns

New River Beach, Saint John

Now we head west, our Nova Scotia end points achieved, but, lots yet to see! Back across the Confederation Bridge ($66 Canadian), through New Brunswick, down through Saint John, and stopped at the New River Beach Provincial Park on the Bay of Fundy with the largest tides in the world. Check out the high and low tide photos! This was another great find of a park. We were a short drive to Saint John and many coastal coves. We were pleasantly surprised at Saint John, a fun downtown with a lot of character.

Saint John, New Brunswick

New River Provincial Park, Canada

New River Provincial Park, Canada, low tide

Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick

Saint John, New Brunswick – Judy and the Moose!

Saint John, New Brunswick

New River Beach Provincial Park – high tide

New River Beach Provincial Park – high tide

New River Beach Provincial Park Campsite

New River Beach Provincial Park – low tide

New River Beach Provincial Park – tide out

Prince Edward Island (PEI)

Now for Prince Edward Island! We stayed in Amhearst, New Brunswick on the way, too long of trip from Annapolis Royal we found. Although Nova Scotia is not too large, getting around doesn’t happen in a straight line.

To get to PEI, we crossed the eight mile Confederation Bridge, what a structure! We stayed just outside Charlottetown, in Cornwall, about 20 minutes from the downtown. Charlottetown has a nice downtown, a combination working and tourist place. We had the best fried clams ever at a place recommended by a local. I had not expected so many tourists on Prince Edward Island though, it seems to be the vacation place to go for Canadian families. We visited Anne of Green Gables, rode our bikes on the Confederation Trail, and tried to see as much as we could. Next time a week or so! The campground was big but we had a nice quiet site overlooking the Northumberland Strait.

Charlottetown -PEI

Cornwall, PEI – campsite

Amherst, New Brunswick – campsite

PEI Confederation Trail

Northumberland Strait

Prince Edward Island

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Next we went to Annapolis Royal and stayed in Parkers Cove at the Cove Ocean Campground. It was a beautiful place, overlooking the Bay of Fundy. There were few people there, nice! Just a short walk from our site was a fresh fish store and take away. We had the best lobster roll and fresh fish you could ever find! From here we explored the area, explored Port Royal Historic Site, and planned to go to Kejimkujik National Park, but they had fires because of the dry weather and closed the road for us. Bummer. So we headed towards Prince Edward Island (PEI) a day early.

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – campsite

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – low tide

Port Royal National Park, Nova Scotia

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Annapolis Royal, Parkers Cove – low tide

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Parkers Cove

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Port Royal National Park, Nova Scotia

Digby, Nova Scotia

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – low tide

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia – campsite

Port Royal National Park, Nova Scotia – red chair

Parkers Cove, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Parker Cove campsite