Bruce drove us to the airport in Omaha and Adam rode along to the airport so we’d have some time to visit with him. We left on schedule, we got to the airport in great time, checked in our bags and ourselves, and went through customs etc. without trouble of any kind.
We flew out on schedule and were crammed in the plane for our flight to Chicago. We had limited time to make the long walk to the gate where we were to board, but we walked fast and reached our area in plenty of time. We boarded the plane for Dublin there without incident.
We settled in for the long overnight flight. The United Airlines served us a tasty supper, breakfast, and beverage. On the Dublin flight, there were 3 seats on each side. Verle sat in the aisle seat, I was in the middle, and a Nora from Chicago, who is an Ireland native, sat in the window seat. It was fun to visit with her – she returns each year to visit family. Her husband died 10 years ago.
The flight to Dublin was an overnight flight, but I barely slept all night.

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Below is an earlier blog of our 2015 Northeast USA Trip

Welcome to the autumn 2015 blog of our seven-week trip to New England and Canada, with Branson “along the way.”

We had been wanting to visit Maine and Acadia National Park, so when several resorts in the Northeast became available, we decided to plan a 6-week vacation there.

We left home at about 7:15 Friday morning, The trees along I-29 in Iowa had gorgeous foliage, which isn’t showing fall colors yet except the sumac, which is starting to show some red. That will all change soon! The ride was fun . The countryside is very wet from a lot of rain lately. By the time we reached Clinton, Missouri, the corn fields had all been harvested. We checked into the Spinnaker Palace View Heights Resort — a gorgeous unit. There’s much storage space, and everything looks new. We love it.

Saturday: We went to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to the Passion Play there. It was a lovely Ozark drive to reach the Passion Play area. We had time to visit the impressive display of old Bibles at the Bible Museum. The first scheduled event was at the Tabernacle constructed on the grounds.

The presenter was an 87 year old Messianic Jew, who had been involved in the planning and construction of the tent and its parts. He is an excellent communicator, and we enjoyed the hour + presentation.

Next was The Holy Land Tour, in which a bus took us from station to station with actors playing their part at the various stops — telling about a cave at Bethlehem, the Sea of Galilee, etc. It was interesting and each message was faith centered. This was followed by a backstage tour, which showed us much about how the passion play scenes were produced, a great buffet supper, a Gospel Sing-a-Long with a talented Pastor Acra Turner in the Jerusalem Chapel, a David the Shepherd presentation, and an excellent “Parables of the Potter” presentation in which the potter spoke of how we are in the potter’s hands — as he fashioned a pot on the potter’s wheel.

The Passion Play started at 7:30. It was amazing! It was totally Biblical and was especially interesting since we had seen in the Backstate Tour how they lift the cross, manage the lights, costumes, animals, and Christ’s ascension. 42 scenes are skillfully highlighted as the play moves along. The ending with the Hallelujah chorus playing was one of the most inspiring things we have been a part of in a long time.

Sunday: We attended the Harvest E-Free Church. This is the same church that we attended last year. The music, sermon, and Bible class were not especially interesting, but the church was very friendly, has a lot of young people, college students, and babies. In the afternoon, we attended a Spinnaker presentation to learn more about what is happening with Capital Resorts, Grand Crown, and Surrey. Trying to get to the bottom of this issue was the biggest reason for our trip to Branson.

Monday: We continued trying to solve the Timeshare Puzzle by going to Capital Resorts to talk with them. I was exhausted by the time we got home, and took a long nap. Later we went to the hot tub which was wonderful — the best yet.

Tuesday: We rode our bikes on the trail along Table Rock Lake — it’s so lovely and the weather was gorgeous.

On the way back, we drove into to a State Park on the east side of Table Rock Lake. A walking path went off from a parking area. I took my walking stick from Everett and we walked a path that went out from there. We walked about a mile out and a mile back — very enjoyable – nice weather, easy path.

Wednesday: We drove back down to Dogwood Canyon to ride our bikes through that lovely area once more (3rd time?). the weather was comfortable/cool/lovely. We stopped at a chapel with a waterfall at the front instead of an altar — lovely for worship – or a wedding.

I asked a park fellow about the big spider-type nests that we see all over this area in the trees. They look almost like a big chrysalis inside. The ranger said that each contains numerous web worms – also called tent worms. They kill the branch, as we had observed, or even the tree if too many get on a tree.

We have gone to the hot tub each day that we’ve been here. This one is big with powerful spray spouts, and no one else seems to be using them.

We brought several books from the Hillcrest church library along on this trip. We expect to have quite a bit of opportunity to read in some of the remote places we will be staying.

Thursday/Friday: We drove from Branson toward Jeary’s Shorewood cottage going through Illinois, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The fall colors are starting to show on the trees, and we enjoyed the drive. We drove in rain, which got to be a real problem as we cotinued, with poor visibility at times with Interstate traffic driving 70 mph. – not fun – but the trees became gorgeous with their fall colors as we drove through the high Alleghenies. Our route took us to the bridge across the Chesapeake Bay south of Jeary’s Shorewood home. It is a toll bridge, and we waited in line for an extraordinary time before we could cross.

We found Jeary’s home by following the GPS address–it was farther into the area than we had realized. It was SO good to see Jeary. He’s looking good, having lost 40 pounds since his stroke. We met Franci, Rowan, Troy, and Franci’s mom. They have “adopted” Jeary and really helped him during the time following his stroke. They met many years ago when Troy started taking lessons to become a helicopter pilot through the West Chester Airport. We ate supper at a Chinese restaurant nearby. It was really good and we had a great visit. Back at Shorewood, they explained the improvements and repairs that they had been making on the place, and it looks great. On Saturday, Franci fixed breakfast for us and again for dinner, and Rowan grilled the meat.

Franci fixed breakfast (she wouldn’t let anyone help in the kitchen) and we got on our way at about 11. The GPS took us through the highly populated area of Philadelphia, Washington DC, and New York on good Interstates and the drive was not hard.

We drove through Pennsylvania’s more rural areas. The fall colors became more breathtaking as we drove north to the Villa Roma Resort Lodges. This is a huge resort area with a major hotel and countless buildings — a lovely place in a lovely area with breathtaking trees all around us.

This is apparently a popular vacation area for people from the cities that we went past to get here. This place is unusual in that they empty our trash and change our towels every day, and clean our unit for free mid-week.

Monday:  We joined a tour of the hotel and grounds — what a place! This is a lovely large hotel with all the comforts imaginable — it reminded me of the train stations of the large cities in Europe – spas, shops, nightclub, every type of activity imaginable. In the evening we went to a magic show – fun and a bit corny, but we enjoyed the different type of entertainment. A large group of people enjoyed the show with us.

Tuesday:  We drove west over the New York/Pennsylvania State line to Forest City, Pennsylvania to ride our bikes on the DH Rails to Trails bike path. It took about an hour to drive the 38 miles there because of the winding roads — what a gorgeous drive — both directions, and especially coming home with the sun shining on the fall colors of the trees! Even if it hadn’t worked to ride the bike trail, the drive would have been worth the time and distance!

The trail is dirt packed, often with crushed rock on top, and has an almost constant uphill climb while riding north. We rode to Uniondale (5 miles) and stopped at a deli for a rest and snacks. A couple came in and we spoke with them a bit. The man’s parents had started the deli, and he had worked there as a child and after that. We asked about all the award ribbons on the wall — they had been earned by the lady who now runs the deli. After we ate, Verle suggested that we ride 2 miles further north to Herrick Center, which we did. We knew the ride back to our van would be easy with the tailwind and downhill slope. Fun — much faster than our uphill ride.

Thursday:  We drove to Scranton, Pennsylvania to visit the Steamtown National Historic Site, a railroad museum. A highlight of the visit was a guided tour of the restored Roundhouse, which still is in active use. I finally understand how the Roundhouse worked.

48 locomotive engines could be worked on at a time, and several are in repair now, including active diesel engines. Through the years the bays have had to be made longer to accommodate the growing size of the locomotives. Another tour of a caboose (led by a very self-conscious young man, who had trouble remembering his script) was fun. A theater, History Museum, many train cars and engines throughout the grounds, and multiple exhibits at the visitor’s center made for a full day. The work of the various railroad personnel, the timeline of the railroad beginning in the 1830’s, and the place of big railroad spenders and unions were all discussed. The museum is very well done and interesting. We enjoyed the leaves during the entire drive back to our resort, again going through Herrick Center, the end of our bike ride on Tuesday.

It rained much of the day on Friday, and we were glad that we hadn’t made plans to hike or bike. We spent the day in our condo, enjoying games, and I wrote a couple of letters.

Saturday: We drove to visit my brother Jim’s daughter, Jennifer Lescott and family, in a suburb of New York City. What a wonderful drive it was to their lovely home. The trees are in their prime and just gorgeous with the sun shining on them, especially the morning and evening sun. The green evergreens and green meadows and black rocks make a lovely contrast. It’s almost more beauty than the heart can hold. This certainly needs to be added to my list of “….and heaven will be even better than this!” But how can it be????  

Jennifer made a lovely lunch for us. Before lunch, Serena and Hannah showed me some of their photograph books, and Benjamin was quite friendly.

They plan to move around Christmas to a home that they have been remodeling. After lunch, Benjamin wanted us to come in and play with his trains with him, which we did. It was really a very special day, one we will not forget. We especially enjoyed the kids and visiting with Beau and Jennifer.

We spent the evening eating leftovers, watching the Husker football team get beat in the last couple of minutes — again — and watching the NU Volleyball team beat Michigan in 4 sets.

The Sunday trip to Stowe was leisurly and EXCEEDINGLY BEAUTIFUL! We were sad to leave the lovely fall leaves in the Callicoon area, expecting fall coloring to have reached the north earlier resulting in less beauty at our destination. It seemed that our guess was right, because we encountered quite a few bare trees. But as we continued, the leaves got more and more beautiful — by the time we reached Stowe, they could only be labeled as glorious!

Verle commented that the time will come when we will be taking our last trip. If this should happen to be it, it couldn’t have been a more lovely drive — for mile after mile after mile. Soon into our day’s drive, we realized that the computer was taking us across Lake Champlain on a ferry. We drove through quite a rural area as we approached the ferry site, and Verle had himself more and more convinced that the ferry wouldn’t be running. We reached there just as the ferry was coming in. We got out and enjoyed the scenery for the 2 mile plus ferry ride — what a lovely time it was!

As we got closer to Stowe, Vermont, we found that the cars were coming our way in a solid stream. They were evidently out to enjoy the fall leaves and for a craft fair etc. in Stowe. In checking in, the hostess said that the leaves usually reach their prime on Columbus Day here, but they are early this year. Stowe is in the mountains of Vermont, and it’s so beautiful with the continuing fall colors on display everywhere. Our condo is on the second floor, so Verle had totes to carry up — not so handy as lifting them over the bannister at Callicoon. The pool and hot tub are next door — it’s great. Maybe we’ll visit it every day!

Monday: The weather predictions were for a week of rain and colder weather starting on Tuesday, so we went out to ride the bike trail that is right in Stowe. It’s along the river, and was a relatively easy ride. We really enjoyed the ride until Verle got a flat tire, and he hadn’t taken his bike repair tools, so he rode my bike back to the car and I walked his bike across the meadow and up the side of the ditch (very hard – had to hold the bike brake, or I’d never had made it.) We were surprised that we had almost reached the top end of the trail, so when he came with the car, I rode my bike back down the trail while he repaired his tire. Returning to our condo, we went to the hot tub again, had pizza and tossed salad for supper, and played Nurtz.

Tuesday – my birthday!  How wonderful to celebrate it here together in these beautiful mountains with all the fall colors! Because of the predicted rain the rest of the week, we decided to ride the trail again to celebrate my birthday. We started at the top, rode easily to the bottom, and had a snack at the coffee shop there.  Vlad phoned from Moscow to wish me a happy birthday and to tell us of their plans to come to Nebraska for Christmas.

As we walked back down the hill to our bikes, I could see a couple standing next to our bikes and stuffing things into a bag. It looked like they were taking the things out of our bike packs. When we got closer, we realized that there were 2 bikes between them and our bikes. They were still standing there, so I joked with them about my false assumption. We started to visit, and Verle told them that it was my birthday. They each wished me “Mazel  tov”, and said they were from Israel. We had a great long visit — they are terribly concerned about the worsening conditions in Israel. The man expressed a great deal of concern for the Palestinians in Israel. He opened up a long holder for his phone to take a selfie of us together.

As we rode back Verle took several photos. We realize more and more that we like the rural and uncrowded areas.

Wednesday: Although the weather was cooler, it didn’t rain as we had expected, so we decided to drive up to the Trapp Family Lodge again as we had in 2007. It was gorgeous up there with the broad view of the mountains and the colored leaves and the mums and other flowers in prime bloom. We went to the restaurant there and each ordered an Austrian dessert. I got a dark chocolate torte and Verle an ice cream sundae dish with hazelnut brittle pieces. We shared them – excellent! On the way back to our resort, we decided to ride the north part of the bike trail again. The leaves are filtering down from the trees and when the wind blows, more come down quickly – it’s lovely but a little sad. However, the hillsides across the way remain lovely. We are so thrilled to have been here for this season.

Thursday:  Though cool, the day was total sunshine and gorgeous. Such a wonderful surprise when we had expected rain all week! We decided to drive up through Smugglers Notch on Mt. Mansfield (4393 ‘) again and hike the Sterling Pond Trail up from the parking area to the pond, elevation 3000′ — the highest trout pond in the state — 880’ vertical rise . It was a beautiful hike, but we found out afterwards that it was rated “most difficult.” (the ratings were from “easiest” to “more difficult,” to “most difficult,” to “experts only.”)

We had thought it was rated moderate in ability. We struggled to get up and down again (it took two hours to get down, and except for the fear of slipping and falling on the wet rocks, it was much faster and easier coming down.)

The lake at the top of the trail was beautiful, but the view was probably not worth the difficulty of the climb. The computer says that the trail is only 2 miles round trip. It’s hard to believe that it wasn’t longer – it sure felt like it. We were pretty wiped out by the time we got back home and were glad to go to the hot tub — it felt so good!
Friday:  We spent the day in the condo, catching up on things and playing games. I spent a long time writing another letter to Chris. The view from our windows is still gorgeous. We watched Marilyn’s movie, Beethoven, and watched Nebraska sweep Northwestern in volleyball.
Saturday: This is a special day for us, because we were able to check out of our unit at 10 and check into a fourth floor unit at 3. We packed a tote with things we need for the rest of the day/night, and transferred everything else to the van. We went to the hot tub in between and drove around. The fourth floor unit is exactly the same and in the same basic location as our second floor unit, but the furnishings, carpets, and bedspreads are new and much nicer; also, the view is even more lovely from up higher. This was SO much better than trying to find a motel between Stowe and our New Hampshire destination tomorrow, and for the same price as a motel. It was a bit chilly, so the fireplace felt really good. We’d almost forgotten how good it feels to stand in front of that kind of heat! We packed in, got comfortable, ate grillers and a baked potato, and I beat Verle at a game of Boggle! We were able to get good TV reception of the Nebraska/Minnesota football game starting at 3:30. SO much better than a motel!

Sunday:  We packed everything up to leave, and went to Bible class by 8:30 at the Stowe Community Church with the high white spire at the bottom end of the bike trail. The Bible class was interesting — it was a shared time discussing the 3 Scriptures that would be the basis of the church service. People shared openly and honestly — one older Jewish-sounding lady told of a phone call from Samuel Von Trapp, in which he expressed concern about Elizabeth (Von Trappe?) wanting to share the stage with him at the 50th Anniversary celebration in Austria this weekend. Evidently she was able to encourage him and all went well. The church service was liturgical, artistic, and personal.
Monday: Well, we did it again! After buying groceries at a Super Wal-mart at Conway, we decided to drive the Kancamagus Highway and the Bear Notch Road back to Attatish Village. We stopped at a ranger station and enjoyed visiting with volunteer Bruce Miller, who gave us tips on trails to walk and bike. We drove on and stopped at the Albany covered bridge parking area. We walked across it and noticed the arch-type construction inside and the granite bulwark underneath.

The Boulder Loop Hiking Trail went out from there — and this is where we “did it again.” It was .2 mile to the start of the Loop which was easy and lovely. Then we decided to continue on the 1.3 mile loop to the “Ledges.” This went up and up but was relatively easy technically until we approached the Ledges. However, the sun was getting lower in the western sky and we had walked a very long way and were getting worried about getting back to our car in daylight, and the trail was too hard to find if it should get dark with us still far from the car. We began to doubt whether the trail was actually a loop, and Verle felt strongly that we should turn back, so we did. Almost immediately, we met Phil and Dena Blank from Kentucky coming the same way we had come.

They said that the trail was indeed a loop, so we decided to continue through the Ledges with them to get back to the trailhead. A REAL hiker came through and confirmed that the trail was indeed a loop, so we continued ahead. There were big boulders everywhere, and as we went through the Ledges, the trail became more technical, at some places as difficult as the Stowe hike. Phil gave me a hand at those spots, and we enjoyed the continued hike. Phil and Dena were gems (Verle called them our angels). We had a number of chats as we continued on to the end of the hike. We found out afterwards that the trail was rated “moderate,” was 3.5 miles long, and the cumulative elevation gain was 900 feet. The mountains are called the Moat Range. We were exhausted and glad to continue driving the Kancamagus Trail and then the Bear Notch  Road back to Attitash Mtn, Resort. There were some great scenic views along the way, so we decided to come back another morning when the sun would be shining on the colorful trees across the way. We continue to enjoy the trees — so VERY beautiful here – still.

Tuesday:  I’ve been enjoying using the infusion cooking unit for most of our cooking on this vacation. The Eureka Springs cross magnet works well to see which of the resort pans will work on the unit. Most of them work here, so I could make taco soup using their dutch oven pan. I’m expanding my list of temperatures to use to cook various items, which is helpful. This morning we had sausage links, fried eggs with cheese, and French toast. We ate at the bar so I could continue frying subsequent slices of French toast while we ate. We’ve also conquered the sticking problem on the enameled cast iron grill by cleaning it more completely with a soft green scratcher.

Verle called the Toyota people at Berlin and made an appointment to have our van’s regular service done today. It was a pretty drive up there with continued gorgeous fall colors. The mountains are quite tall here and the area is so lovely. The Toyoto technicians found a couple of things that needed fixing, so the service job took most of the afternoon. I had a really good, long visit with a Sharon Jaye(?) She is a strong Christian and conservative — she expressed real appreciation for our visit; she doesn’t often get such an opportunity, and we had much of the afternoon to share (after being pretty careful at the start knowing the reputation of the New England states and not wanting to offend her.) Verle also had a long conversation with a fellow, and then both of us had a good long conversation with a liberal who calls himself a socialist — a school psychiatrist who thinks we should just go back to the primitive untouched days like early in our country. He had all sorts of weird views about fracking; but he was fun to talk to. It was good to have the car washed and ready for the rest of our planned driving on this trip.

Wednesday:  We drove back over to the Bear Notch Road to see the views from the other overlooks. Verle had me ride my bike downhill from the Notch — such fun! We hiked the Rob Brook Road in from the south end of the Bear Notch Road as far as the point where two longer trails branched off — easy and lovely.

We drove the Kancamagus Road the rest of the way into Lincoln and back to Fryeberg. The mountain views were lovely all along the way.  Just east of Lincoln was a suspension walking bridge, and we walked across it for a ways. We crossed over into Maine at Fryeberg, and rode the Mountain Division Trail that paralleled an abandoned railroad track for 4.2 miles (to an information center) and back. It was another great day of enjoying the outdoors in this area. The fall foliage is still colorful here, and seems to remain prime at our resort — beautiful. We can’t believe that we’ve had 3 weeks of these beautiful views.

Thursday:  We haven’t been to the hot tub here yet, so we decided to go first thing this morning. Two couples from New Brunswick were in the pool, and one of the men visited with us for a long time — very interesting. There is also a hot tub outside — great! Verle beat me at Boggle again, but by only 2 points. We rode bikes around the resort and the tunnel and the ski lift area on the other side of the highway. We watched “Old Yeller,” one of the videos that we brought along.

Friday:  I beat Verle 100-75 at Boggle–unbelievable. We used the indoor hot tub and then went out and used the outdoor tub. It is really vigorous! In the afternoon we followed Bruce Smith, volunteer at the ranger’s station’s suggestion and went to Diana’s Bath and Cathedral Ledge. The leaves remain gorgeous, and the two sites were so lovely. The .6 mile walk to Diana’s Bath was beautiful and the falls were great.

Saturday: We woke up late and went to the outdoor hot tub again first thing. We really feel stimulated after spending time in the strong bursts of water there! We played a couple more games of Boggle and watched the NU / Northwestern football game — NU played quite poorly and lost.

As we drove away from our lovely resort at Attitish Village, we reflected on our wonderful stay. The trees are still breathtaking even as we leave — unbelievable! Three full weeks of beauty — we never could have chosen a better three weeks to be here! The beauty continues and continues. Who would have thought that this morning’s drive could be so gorgeous? We reached the toll road at about 11 — still a lot of fall color along the way! The 275 miles seemed like a long drive. The further north we got, the more rural the countryside became. Some pretty trees were part of the drive most of the way. We like the Pines that have graceful, long, parallel branches and are a lighter green color than the rest. Also interesting are evergreen trees with short needles that are a golden color-almost the same golden as most of the deciduous trees that are still colorful. We later learned that these are Tamarack (sometimes called Larch) and abound in northern Maine and Canada. We reached our resort for the week — a 2 bedroom with loft log cabin, Bruce would like it!

Monday: After a pancake breakfast, we drove across the eastern Maine border (we had to show our passports that David sent us) into New Brunswick, where we rode bikes along the Trans-Canada dirt trail along the river at Woodstock. We parked in the bank parking lot and rode across the pedestrian bridge north along the river to where the trail narrowed to about a foot wide and muddy. We went back to where we started and continued south to where the trail joined the highway. It was a very enjoyable ride, and our gloves and hats kept us comfortable.

When we got back to the parking lot, we exchanged a $100 bill for Canadian money. We also got advice from the bank clerk. Using the credit card sounds like the best way to go. We drove home and went to the hot tub at the resort — a good one again, with a great stimulating action. I beat Verle badly at Boggle. We watched the two discs of the movie “Titanic” that we had checked out from the resort office.   We’d never seen it before — interesting and quite well done.

Tuesday: We tried to ride a dirt trail at Patten, but gave up after a mile because it was too rocky and muddy and not fun. We drove our car on the scenic road from the south entrance of Baxter State Park and drove the 47 miles through the park. It was a long but fun drive. There is still a lot of color in some areas, and the scenery changes quite a bit from one part of the park to the next. We only met one tourist and 3 or 4 state vehicles — we seemed to have the whole big park to ourselves, which was good, because the road is more like a one-way road! We got home in time to watch the first game of the World Series at Kansas City.

Wednesday: The right lens fell out of my glasses so we phoned an optometrist in Houlton and they tightened the screws on both lenses and didn’t charge for the repair. Kansas City won the second game of the World Series (rather easily). Their pitcher pitched the whole game – unusual!

Thursday: This was a down day for us. We got up VERY late, went to the hot tub (as we’ve done almost every morning), played Boggle again, and started working on our travel blog, completing the first week as we figured out how to make it work.

Friday: Since we’ve only been in the south half of the big state of Maine, we decided that we would enjoy taking the scenic drive all the way around the top perimeter of the state — a 250 mile drive. The most surprising thing for us was the large part of the state involved in raising potatoes. We were surprised to see so much farm ground, often with little potatoes laying on top of the cultivated ground. As in the rest of Maine, we noted many older large houses, often with barns hooked to them somewhat like in Europe; some look like a two-family home. Many of the farms were prosperous with no rocks. There is also a light green low crop that we couldn’t identify. The tamarack trees are gorgeous, lengthening the fall season of color. Much of the area looks like it could be in Lancaster County in Nebraska except for the tamaracks.

Saturday: One of the biggest reasons for this 6-week vacation was to visit Acadia National Park in Maine. At first it looked like that wasn’t going to work out, but Verle figured out a plan to visit the park between our Saturday check-out from Island Falls and our Sunday check-in in Quebec. That worked really well. We observed that we hadn’t seen a moose in our whole time in Upper Maine — but it’s better to not get to see a moose than to hit one.
We had several surprises in relation to our time at Acadia: As we drove through Bangor, we noticed that the fall leaf color was beautiful, and this continued for the whole way down and the day at the park — so lovely and such a surprise after we’d expected the fall colors to already be gone a couple of weeks ago. The other big surprise is that Acadia park is breathtaking, and we really enjoyed our time there. We went to the Hull Cove Visitor’s Center where we learned the actual identity of the Tamarack trees. Folks from northern Maine mistakenly call them Juniper, but that’s an entirely different tree. The Tamarack are the only conifers whose needles change color in autumn and eventually fall off. They remain so lovely and keep northern Maine beautiful, even after most deciduous trees are leafless.

Our third surprise was just how much we enjoyed the day — beyond our expectations. We went to the movie at the visitor’s center. Then we bought an audio tour of the loop road through the park. The bus and trolley haven’t run since mid-October. But it was great for us to drive through at our own speed and stop and walk wherever we wanted to go. The tour went to the top of Cadillac mountain. What fun! It’s the highest mountain on the east coastline (about the altitude of our home in Nebraska.) We made several stops and walks on the way up — breathtaking.

I loved the stop at Thunder Hole even though it wasn’t making a loud noise today. We spent a long time walking all the way around the top of Cadillac Mountain on a loop trail all the way around the top. Wow! We left the park around 4 p.m. A humorous sign said, “Pete’s Pretty Good Ice Cream.” Not wanting to miss any of the scenery, we found a motel before dark in Newport, Maine (using the GPS accommodations help.) The Kansas City Royals won their third game of the World Series (to only 1 for the Mets) so that was fun to watch.

 Sunday: We missed church because we had 308 miles to go and with the change to Daylight Savings Time, we were concerned about possibly getting to our Quebec resort after dark. It was a very enjoyable drive through very wide and deep valleys with straight roads going up and down steep hills at times, with mountains, forests, and rocks. In other areas, there were broad farmed plains. We drove our car on a 1.7 mile trail to an overlook on Ira Mountain – that satisfies Peggy’s off-route driving desires! At a gas station we learned that the interesting road and overlook had been constructed by a local retired contractor who does this as a hobby. He was working at the top of the overlook using a crane moving rocks. He has a second such place on Quill Mountain — Interesting.

We drove in traffic through Montreal and had trouble getting off the right exits, but were able to finally find our resort — and guess what — there are colorful deciduous trees here again!!!!! This is the only 1-bedroom of our whole trip (out of 6 resorts), but our unit is large and very comfortable — a Jacuzzi in our bedroom, a washing machine, and a fireplace that we can’t use unless we buy the eco-friendly wood for $3 a log.

 Monday: The resort offered a reception for the week’s guests. The host started giving his presentation in French, but he was only teasing us and switched to English. He told us about the resort’s amenities, tours to Montreal and Quebec, and walking and riding trails nearby. Most interesting to us is the nearby 100 mile bike Rails-to-Trails “Little Train of the North Trail.” (French: Le P’tit Train du Nord.)
We spent the rest of the day enjoying our lovely “home,” and playing Boggle and Nurtz. Verle worked late into the evening familiarizing himself with the Trail. The weather for the week promises to be mild and sunny, so we may try to ride a lot.

 Tuesday: Our highest priority for the week was riding the Little Train of the North Trail. This trail is widely lauded, and runs for 140 miles or so. We started riding north from Prevost, (“PrevO”), which is the closest town to our resort. The trail is lovely — and there were still some fall colors. We rode some slope up for most of the way, and came to a lovely lake area. The trail goes through railroad cuts and embankments and follows a large rocky “mountain stream.” There are many rocks and boulders.

It was not crowded, but we were surprised to meet so many bicyclers and hikers this late in the year, when the trail is officially closed. We enjoyed the trip up, and looked forward to a faster ride back down. However, riding fast made us very cold and we hadn’t dressed warmly enough. Peggy could hardly feel her hands and was so cold that the ride was no longer fun.

The further toward home we went, the more tired and slower we got, to the point that we could hardly ride. We stopped at a bike shop in a converted depot to warm up.  Thirty miles was evidently too much for one day! With daylight savings time over, we have to plan more carefully in order to be back by dark.  When we finally got back to our unit, we warmed up in our unit’s hot tub, and Peggy was so totally exhausted that she fell asleep in her chair and went to bed soon after supper.

Wednesday: We went to ride the section that continues north from the lake at Val Morin at mile marker 37 (kilometers). We brought plenty of warm clothes this time. It was an enjoyable ride. We knew that the first part of our ride north of Val Morin would be uphill, but it wasn’t too hard and continued to be lovely. We especially enjoyed the tumbling river beside us.

We continued north past Sainte Agathe until we reached the 10 mile mark. The peanut butter bars I’d brought along were a boost, as was the Power Gel that we remembered to eat when we started to feel weary. Much of the way back to the car was downhill and so enjoyable. We drove back to the resort, stopping to pick up a sandwich at the Subway in Prevost. The gal making the sandwiches could only speak French, so it was fun trying to communicate well enough to accomplish our sandwich!

Thursday: What a gorgeous day! Temperatures were in the upper 60’s in northern Quebec. We drove to Mont-Laurier, which is listed as the north end of the trail to ride from there.

We found the trail but couldn’t agree on which way to ride to go back toward our resort. Neither direction worked, so we gave up riding bikes for the day. We couldn’t ask for help because most people speak only French. When we tried to order a  shake from the MacDonald’s (French only) menu, we walked back out without trying to order since there were no pictures for us to point to.  (We were glad that we didn’t try to order by driving through the drive-through!)
On the Interstate back, we came to a traffic jam and sat in it for an hour or two. When we finally were able to drive through, it appeared that a logging truck had lost its logs and they had been loading them back on another truck. It happened at a sharp curve. 
Two ambulances and perhaps a helicopter had gone to the accident scene. We wish we could understand the news to see if they reported on the accident, but local reports are all in French. Oh, my! We were glad to get back to our resort before dark.

Friday/Saturday: It was rainy, as predicted — one of the few such days in our whole 6 weeks. We stayed at our comfy resort, engaged B&B’s for our home journey, played games, and just enjoyed ourselves. We repacked everything for our journey home including our “motel tote.” The big events on Saturday were the Nebraska football and volleyball games. We didn’t know if we would be able to get reception, because our phones haven’t worked in Canada. Happily, we were able to get the audio of the volleyball game on one computer and a play by play listing of the football game on another computer. The NU volleyballers swept Indiana easily. We were glad that Haggerty got to play. Then we switched to the NU/Michigan football game on the audio for the second half. NU football was soundly concerned after a series of late-game losses, and especially after our terrible loss last week to Purdue, a team we’d expected to beat rather easily. Michigan State was ranked 6th in the nation — we had laughed rather hysterically when we heard that the odds makers were predicting that Michigan would win by only a 6-point margin. They must have known something we didn’t know, because we played them fairly evenly and came to the end of the game with the ball and a chance to win if we could make another touchdown. We moved down the field and completed a pass to win the game. We screamed and yelled (hoping we weren’t bothering our neighbors)!

Sunday: After packing almost everything into the car the night before, we left just after daybreak, heading for an Air B&B in Sarnia, Ontario We “enjoyed” the rare privilege of again taking a wrong exit in Montreal and losing probably an hour of driving time because of it. We enjoyed driving through much of Ontario, but it was a rather long day of driving. We reached our B&B before dark. Our hosts are new in the Air B&B program — we were only their third guests. We had a great time talking to them. Wanting to start a regular B&B,  Lynn was very interested in learning everything about Bruce and Marueen’s experiences.

Monday: Scott and Lynn had told us about a city trail along the east coast of Lake Huron near their home. We found it easily using the map they made for us, and rode it, so now we can add Ontario to our list of states, provinces, and countries in which we’ve ridden our bikes.

We crossed the border into Michigan – back in good old USA.  We drove through farm land that looked a lot like home.  We stopped to ride the River Trail in Lansing, Michigan for about a mile to document that we had ridden a trail in Michigan. Fun.

We crossed into Indiana. Just in case we haven’t been able to document a ride in Indiana, we took our bikes off at a MacDonalds, rode around the parking lot, bought a shake for each of us and continued our journey, staying at a very nice but inexpensive Super 8 that we had scheduled in Peoria, Illinois. The sunset was glorious!

A change in Jim’s plans interfered with our stopping in Ottumwa, so on Tuesday, we drove the rest of the way home. Ian and Cole were here, and Dave and Heather came over — how wonderful to see them again and, of course, to be back in our own home after almost 7 weeks since we left. The corn is all harvested here, and bad weather and high wind are supposed to come in tomorrow. Welcome back to Nebraska! 

Conclusion:
As we reflect back on this wonderful 50-day autumn vacation, we realize just how very blessed we are. We have so enjoyed this wonderful time together — so many couples our age do not have the treasured relationship that we enjoy, or do not have the physical health and stamina to enjoy the many activities that have been ours during this vacation.. We have experienced breathless beauty beyond our expectations. In what could have been a season of rain and snow and ice in the northeast part of our country and Canada, we have ridden about 133 miles on our bikes and have taken two (much too difficult) hikes and several others experiencing that beauty. We have spent 3 weeks soaking up the renowned prime autumn colors of New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and throughout the rest of our vacation still enjoying the lingering fall beauty including the golden color of the majestic tamarack trees of Maine and Quebec. We have visited a passion play, museums, and church services. We have had wonderful visits with people from all of these areas including a couple from Israel and folks waiting for general maintenance to be completed on our Toyota. We return home to enjoy a Nebraska winter, with memories of an autumn beyond our imaginations — but it wasn’t just in our imaginations — it has become a part of us. As Helen Keller observed: “What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. A sunset, a mountain bathed in moonlight, the ocean in calm and in storm–we see these, love their beauty, hold the vision in our hearts. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” By God’s grace, we have again experienced the beauty and the wisdom of these words.

As we were driving the words of this song were playing on our car radio, and they continue to play in our minds:

Until then….my heart will go on singing….
Until then…with joy I’ll carry on.
Until the day my eyes behold the City….
Until the day God calls me home.