Realising the Dream
Travelog of RVW members Maggie Birchmore and Di Chawner
e-mail: di.mags@virgin.net

Its May 28th and we arrived in Washington DC.  We left the motorhome some 35 minutes away in a campground.  We had some free nights in a hotel due to us so we decided to take them.  Free is good when the room actually cost $399 a night!!

Once settled our first stop in the capital city was the Pentagon. Its quite a plain and unspectacular building whose shape you don’t really appreciate from the ground.  The front however is still being repaired and the evidence of where the plane crashed is visible.  We visited the memorial site and pondered a while about this sad event.   From here we took the metro to Arlington National Cemetery, saw the grave of JFK, the tomb of the unknown soldier and the memorial to the NASA shuttle Columbia.   A walk over the Memorial Bridge and we were then standing, staring at the statue of Lincoln at the Lincoln memorial.  Pictures on TV always make this memorial to look large and imposing - it is. It is a magnificent statue.   We sheltered from the rain for a few minutes and then walked to the Watergate Hotel.  Well we know what happened there!

Well that was enough for one day time to return to our modest hotel. The following day more sightseeing and our first stop was the Capitol building. 

Wow now that is impressive.  What a building both inside and out.  We had a guided tour and were lucky enough to be able to go into the camber of the House of Representatives. Next a quick look at the Supreme Court and then down to that other house, you know the white one.  Passing the FBI building, Justice Dept and then on to Pennsylvania Avenue we finally saw the White House.  We declined an invitation in as we were a bit pushed for time but for anyone who thought that this was a big house, forget it.  It looked amazingly small.  So as we gazed at it guess what, it started to rain.  We are being to believe that the rain is following us.  Well we started our way back to the station and then the heavens opened. Thunder, lightening and torrential rain.  Great.  So under a small umbrella and a less than adequate tree we took shelter.  Finally when the flash flood was 2 inches deep it stopped raining.  So we paddled wet through got to the metro, took the wrong one ended up the other end of town and wondering what we had done to deserve this.

Our next stop onward is Gettysburg, after another big thunderstorm we arrived and saw the Gettysburg battlefield. A place where in July 1863, 165000 soldiers faced each other, fought and 51000 became casualties.  A battle between North and South and won by the North.

Our journey then took us through New York State to Vermont where, in a town called Bennington, we ended up having lunch with a group of four people who we had just met whilst visiting a series of covered bridges.  We had a good lunch and lovely chat.  Then we left and went our way and they theirs, never to meet again.   Funny how things happen.

The next day we were due to move on but it rained, so we didn’t.  Instead we went and had fish and chips in a shop called ‘lil Britain’ which was bought for us by another lady camper who was travelling on her own and who was staying at our campground and had shared some campfire evenings with us. Next we drove to New Hampshire and took a boat trip on Squam Lake where the movie ‘On Golden Pond’ was filmed.

Maine was the next stop and there we had our first fresh lobster roll. Tasty.

Once it had finished raining we finally came to the Canadian Border.  No problems there and our next stop is Saint John, New Brunswick.  We will remember this place as having the worst pot holes ever. Here we saw Reversing Falls, a natural phenomena   ……these Canadians have to do things differently!

Next the first of 7 ferries we will be taking.  This one is the St John, New Brunswick, to Digby, Nova Scotia ferry.  Our first night in Nova Scotia, we were entertained by 60km winds and more rain.  Digby, is known as the Scallop capitol of the world so Mags tried some and, yes, they were good.   We moved on as the weather, still wet did not encourage much outdoor exploration.  We finally stopped at Peggy’s Cove near Halifax.  Beautiful coastline of small rocky coves so picturesque.  We enjoyed our time here despite the changeable weather but as always its time to move on and for us northwards towards Sydney and our next ferry, the big one to Newfoundland.

Before that though we headed off to Cape Breton, a peninsula in northern Nova Scotia.

We found a campground to leave the motorhome in and took to the car.  A couple of nights B&B in lovely accommodation and in fact we found ourselves in accommodation that thoroughly spoilt us with all the comforts of home.  Cape Breton is so different from the scenery seen so far in this area.  It is mountainous coastline, again beautiful views and interesting wildlife.  It was here that we encountered our first moose of the trip.  Such a strange looking animal, it looks as though it is a combination of left overs, a bit of horse, maybe a bit of bison, legs of a deer or elk, and a face only a mother could love.  Still it survives a lonesome existence out in the trees in hot and very cold weather.

We loved Cape Breton but we must move on via Baddeck to the Newfoundland ferry.  The weather has not been too kind to us so far so when it was time for the ferry we were both suffering a bit of trepidation hoping for a good crossing, it is 16 hours after all.

Well that’s all for now, the next instalment takes us to Newfoundland and then on to Prince Edward Island.

Best wishes,

Di & Maggie