December | 2021 | Cindy and Art's Travels

…the USA map on the back of our trailer had a lack of states visited in the northeast part of the US.

The USA map on our trailer was missing some states. — With five years of travel we saw that we neglected the northeast USA

So we planned a trip for mid-September 2021 that’d take us from Chicago to Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York also adding the cities of Montreal and Quebec, Canada since we’d be going that way.

Our route included stops in Montreal and Quebec City, Canada

Since Covid 19 is a concern, we had to have a negative Covid 19 test to cross the US/Canada border. We got out tests near home and headed to Port Huron, Michigan to wait for our results. Luckily the results came in a day and we passed through the border without a hitch and traveled the 520 miles to Montreal.

Montreal Canada — Side streets near Montreal’s Place Jacques Cartier are picturesque.

Montreal's Notre-Dame de Bon Secoirs Chapel “the sailors church” — Montreal’s Notre-Dame de Bon Secoirs Chapel “sailors church” has little boats hanging from the ceiling.

Then on to Quebec City…

Mayan exhibit at the Musee de la Civilisation, Quebec City, Canada — Quebec City’s weather wasn’t the best during parts of our September visit, so we spent a rainy day at a Mayan exhibit at the Musee de la Civilisation

Quebec fall color — Some fall color at Parc national des Îles-de-Boucherville.

We left Canada at the Derby Line Port of Entry, Derby Line, Vermont crossing and were back in the USA. Cindy was disappointed that the border guard didn’t extend a “welcome back” greeting!

Our first stops in the US included…

The Flume in Franconia Notch State Park, Franconia, New Hampshire

set-in-the-woods yoga studio Harvest Hosts — We use Harvest Hosts for some stays, this one was a set-in-the-woods yoga studio. While you don’t pay a Harvest Host, you do purchase their goods so we did a 9 am yoga class before breaking camp.

We tour boated on Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire. This is the lake where On Golden Pond was filmed. At one point the guide was showing us an eagles nest and the eagle swooped in right on cue.

Making our way down the coast toward we saw…

the Mayflower II, Plymouth, Massachusetts — We toured the Mayflower II a ship similar to what the Pilgrims came in.

Plymouth Rock and footprints — Plymouth Rock was protected by a guard but there were still footprints in the sand.

Massasoit statue in Plymouth Massachesetts — Massasoit, Great Sachem of the Wampanoags.

While chatting with some other campers we learned about a whale watching boat they were going on. We checked it out and were able to get tickets also. The boat took off from Provincetown which was great because we wanted to visit this town also.

Whale watching off the Provincetown, Massachusetts coast.

Provincetown main street — Provincetown’s main street is lined with quaint shops and restaurants.

Shining Sea Bikeway bike riders — Since we have bikes with us, we like to find places to ride, about 30 miles from Plymouth the Shining Sea Bikeway winds along the Vineyard Sound shorelines.

Making our way to Newport, Rhode Island we set up the trailer at Fisherman’s Memorial State Park. Newport is famous for its Cliff Walk with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the estates of Guilded Age barons on the other. You can’t see much of the mansions from the walk but several are open for tours, we did the Vanderbilt’s Breakers and The Elms.

This portrait of Elizabeth Drexel Lehr hides a sad story. On her wedding night Elizabeth’s new husband Harry Lehr said “I do not love you, I can never love you. … Your money is your only asset in my eyes.”

Next stop Glastonbury, Connecticut and another Harvest Hosts stay.

One of the best places we stayed was a Harvest Hosts, Rose’s Berry Farm, our campsite was between a pond and a planted hillside.

mystic pizza — On our way to the Berry Farm we stoopped in Mystic, Connecticut for a slice at the Julia Roberts movie-famous Mystic Pizza.

We made our way into New York for a stay near Cooperstown, New York and of course a visit to Cooperstown & Baseball Hall of Fame

As we traveled back west to home we enjoyed stops at…

Letchworth State Park waterfall — Letchworth State Park, “the Grand Canyon of the East” no less, the Genesee River roars through the gorge over three major waterfalls.

Haymarket Brewery Harvest Hosts in Bridgeman, Michigan next to a cemetary — At the Haymarket Brewery Harvest Hosts in Bridgeman, Michigan we had VERY quiet neighbors.

trailer USA map with the northeast states filled in — MISSION ACCOMPLISHED…our USA map with the northeast states filled in.

After a winter stay in Tucson, Arizona we wanted to visit relatives and places in the Pacific Northwest again. Leaving Tucson in April, 2021, one of our first stops was Quartzite, Arizona. Since it was mid-April Quartzite was pretty quiet, many of the shops were on reduced hours. We found a place in the desert a bit north of town and set up for an overnight there.

Quartzsite freedom camping at sunset — There were few other campers in the area we chose, a bonus…cell phone reception is outstanding, four bars!

We moved on to Palm Springs to explore some of the mid century modern architecture. Both and Modernism Week and Desert X were happening while we were there.

Palm Desert mid century house — Palm Desert is loaded with mid century homes.

A drive of 300 miles got us to Three Rivers, California and the southern access to Sequoia National Park and the Giant Tree Grove, General Sherman tree and the Scenic Highway.

Named after Civil War general William Tecumsah Sherman, General Sherman is thought to be the largest single stem tree by sheer volume. Believed to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years old, it’s 275-feet tall and has a trunk diameter of 25-feet.

Standing in a sequoia tree — Yep, sequoias are big trees.

Friends of ours had a home on Bass Lake, California and they kindly invited us to stay with them and tour Yosemite National Park which is about an hour from Bass Lake.

Travel bikes in Yosemite National Park — Our friends suggested bike riding around Yosemite.

Beautiful mountain reflection — Yosemite is beautiful.

From there we headed to the Pacific Ocean coast north of San Francisco. Originally we had planned on visiting San Francisco, but Covid 19 had us preferring to avoid big cities. Mackerricher State Park was our stopping point, from there we visited Glass Beach which I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

Glass Beach used to be a garbage dump, it was active from 1906 to 1967 at several places in the area. After cleanups all that’s left are small pieces of beach glass.

Mendicino, California flowers — We wandered around historic Mendicino, California.

Traveling north on California Highway 1 and US 101 we stopped at Jessie M. Honeyman Memorial State Park in Florence, Oregon. One of the first things to do once we hit the coast is get a tide pool chart. We visited tide pools at Heceta Head Lighthouse then lunched at Luna Sea Fish House in Yahats.

Heceta Head Lighthouse tide pools — Heceta Head Lighthouse tide poolin’

Newport, Oregon seals on the docks — We had some noisy lunch companions in Newport, Oregon.

Continuing north we made it to Nehalem Bay State Park for another multi-day stop. There’s a lot to do in the area…

Cannon Beach sunset — Iconic Cannon Beach draws watchers and photographers at sunset.

Tillamook Creamery photo oopportunity — Photo opportunity at Tillamook Creamery.

Sleepy Monk Coffee in Cannon Beach, Oregon

Fort Clatsop stockade — Lewis and Clark wintered near Astoria, Oregon at Fort Clatsop

As we turned east, a wonderful stop was Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, several people had advised us to visit there, so we did.

Cycling Lake Coeur d’Alene on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. — Cycling by Lake Coeur d’Alene on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.

Arriving at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota I was assured by the ranger that we’d see wild life. Well that was an understatement, within five minutes we encountered bison grazing by the side of the road.

Viewing bison right from the car — Like a safari, at Theodore Roosevelt National Park you see the animals right from your car.

Bison wander through the campground — Bison at Theodore Roosevelt National Park wander through the campground.

Almost home, our last night out was a Harvest Hosts, Zymurgy Brewing Co., in Menomonie, Wisconsin. This was out last night out. When we got home to Illinois, we’d covered 5, 167 miles in the five weeks since we started out in Tucson.

Zymurgy Brewing Company in an old gas station — The Harvest Hosts Zymurgy Brewing Company in Menomonie, Wisconsin in an old gas station.

Cindy and Art's Travels

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