Cranberry Bogs to Indian trails

Continuing our drive through the USA from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, back to Buffalo, New York (state).
16-23 September 2010

After Cape Cod, the only thing Mum and I had planned was to vist a Cranberry bog, which we did, and then we found some real treats on our way back to Buffalo to hand the hire car in.

On Cape Cod and near to Cape Cod Mum and I checked out the Cranberry fields and a farmer at Flax Pond Farms taught us a lot about them. The Cranberry growers association has information about visiting Cranberry farms on their website. http://www.cranberries.org/ .

It's time to decorate with and eat pumpkins and squash. 

Still in Massachusetts we did the Mohawk trail, which is a road which closely follows where the orginal trail of where the Indians passed. The scenery was beautiful the whole way. Along the way is a butterfly place called Magic Wings, and considering I am hard to please with butterflies since they where so spectacular in the wild of Bolivia, this place actually gets good marks from me and is worth a visit.

Along the Mohawk trail we stopped at Maple House B & B at Rowe. It was a lovely place to stop for the night. In the morning I did a walk before breakfast (an hour long walk) and the light on the lake was beautiful!  Maple House Bed and Breakfast www.maplehousebb.com

Loving the old fashioned Diners in the USA!

The Corning Glass Museum houses the largest collection of glass things in the world. It is fantastic! The glass exhibits aren't just beautiful, some are very interesting (eg I learnt about Fiber Optics). Even the picture at the back of this exhibit is made from glass. The museum took us 3.5 hours and then we had to leave because it was closing time! The Corning Glass Museum is in Corning, New York!

Drive Thru in America

It is quite known that America has a greater love of Drive Thru facilities than other parts of the world. I have searched for an ATM on foot and found myself walking up to a drive thru ATM to withdraw money. But this Drive Thru in Massachusetts really got my attention....

Incase you can't read the sign I have zoomed in for the photo below...

Yep, Drive Thru Marriage!

Massachusetts - Salem to Cape Cod

Massachusetts - Salem to Cape Cod
12 - 15 September 2010

I remembered learning about Salem in high school, so we had to visit. It is the place famed for the Salem witch hunts of the 1500's. I did a night walking tour and in the morning Mum and I did a bus tour. It's a pretty cool, if goulish, place! I didn't see or hear or feel and ghosts.

From the East coast of the USA, on Cape Cod, you can watch the sun set over the ocean, with sea grasses to pretty the view.

Cape Cod is famous for lighthouses. Here is one.

I particularly loved the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp walk on Cape Cod. But beware of the mozzies!

We also visited Marthas Vineyard but didn't find it as spectacular as Cape Cod itself. And I really don't care for celebrity spotting.

Roadside New England

Roadside New England has some delightful and weird and wonderful things for sale. There must be someone specialising in just about anything you might want. Mostly I think Wow or Cute as I drive on by, rarely do I stop for a photo.

Birdhouses for sale!

In the lead up to Halloween there have been pumpkins for sale everywhere! They often make very pretty displays.

Maine Photos

These photos relate to my previous blog about Maine. But Maine is so beautiful that we took a detour back through it again yesterday.

 

The pond in Baxter State Park where we sat and watched for Moose. 

All we saw was a Loon (it's a type of bird).

On one of the hikes in Baxter State Park. We did two and and a half hikes that day. 

Saw many squirrels!

I believe that is a beaver dam and a beaver lodge. The beaver didn't want to be seen.

A New England typical barn.

The Mountain in Acadia State Park, at Bar Harbor, gives a splendid view.

Horseshoe crabs are such cool animals... look at the way it's built!

In Portland (Maine, of course) the houses are very elegant.

Between crab apples and regular apples there are apples everywhere in New England. You can often just pick an apple, although a bought one might be nicer. This photo was taken on the streets of Portland... the tree was packed with fruit!

The cutest old phone on the streets of Portland! And this is my Mum!

Oh, funny thing, but Mum booked us into a hotel room in Portland with no beds! It was a meeting room with a big meeting table and lounge, kitchenette, and bathroom. Later on they wheeled in some beds for us to sleep on, but it was the only room they had left. The room had a splendid view on the waterfront!

Lenny, the worlds only full sized chocolate moose. Yep, he is made from chocolate!

Boats on the coast of Maine.

The New England Coast in famous for it's lighthouses, so I had to include a photo of one.

Moose searching in Maine

Maine, USA
5 - 11 September 2010 

Photos to be uploaded later.
   One of the "wanna do's" of this trip, for both my mother and I, was to see a moose. On arrival in Maine we drove up into an area of lakes reputed to be a good spot to see moose. The best we saw were signs that warned of Moose Crossing and at the end of that first day I saw what I believe was a line of moose scat going across a road (I had seen examples of moose scat at the "Wild Centre" in Vermont).
   The following day we drove the entire length of Baxter State Park and even got a special moose pass to do a hike recommended as especially likely for moose sightings. But, alas, no moose!
   We gave up. Things like these sometimes just aren't meant to be. And on approach to the coast of Maine we stopped at an animal rescue centre that happened to have a moose (they rarely survive in captivity but this one was brought in 7 years ago when its mother was killed and has obviously adjusted).
   The Kisma Preserve on the approach to Bar Harbor has an interesting collection of animals rescued from private collections, ex circus animals, and roadside and hunt rescues (when the mother is killed and baby rescued). They give guided tours, each animal has a story, and it is definitely worth the stop.
   So we saw the captive moose and we continued on to the Maine's tourist drawcards of Bar Harbor and Boothbay Harbor. Both are beautiful locations.
   Bar Harbor has Acadia Park and it seemed to have more than enough things to keep one entertained for at least a week. I thought Boothbay Harbor was prettier and had more charm. And Boothbay Harbor also has well known botanical gardens that we both wanted to visit.
   But here's our real treat of Boothbay harbor... We were going to the botanical gardens and realized we missed the turn off so I finally found a place to turn the car around. Going back to find the turnoff I noticed a homemade sign that said "Goose Crossing". 'Cute' I thought, noticing that it was goose and not geese that would cross. 150 yards further and a car was stopped in the middle of the road, then I notice another car pulled off the road and the driver out with camera. We look for a flock of geese. But no, not one goose, "it's a MOOSE!" calls mum!
   The moose, I guess, was about 150 yards away and heading quickly away from tourists and for the forest. It was a big surprise to us. It certainly made mum's day, all day she quipped "we saw a moose!".
And yes, we did find the botanical gardens after that and they were just lovely.
   Bar Harbor had another attraction that we really liked as well. It was the Oceanarium. At Bar Harbor's Oceanarium one learns about how they collect the female lobsters with eggs and finally release that lobster and its babies... With about 10 times more survivors than a lobster left in the ocean.
The Oceanarium also has a cool touchpool. I learnt about star fish, moon snails, sea urchins, and the really really cool horseshoe crabs. All in all I was very glad that we stopped at the Oceanarium.

    The coast of Maine is beautiful and traveling after the US labor day means the weather is still ok but the prices are cheaper and places less crowded. I am still hoping we get to see some autumn colour, but really we are a bit early. Still it might happen!

Notes:
05 Sep. Millinocket ME.
06 Sep. Somewhere on the East side Baxter State Park.
07 & 08 Sep. Bar Harbor ME.
09 Sep. Boothbay Harbor ME.
10 & 11 Sep. Portland ME.
Baxter State Park $14 car entry.
Kisma Preserve, Mount Desert, Maine $15 entry.
Oceanarium, Bar Harbor $15 entry all activities.
Botanical Gardens at Boothbay Harbor $10 entry.

Driving across United States

New York (State) trough Vermont and New Hampshire to Maine
30 August to 04 September 2010

   In Niagara, as previously mentioned, I met with my Mum. Ther next day we walked across the border and caught a bus to the Buffulo airport to pick up a hire car I had booked the night before.
From there we starting driving, and we will keep up with our driving tour until about 23 September, as which point we will head to New York city for a week.

Our second day of touring found us at the New York State Fair. It has a (apparently) famous annual butter sculpture... here it is!

The state of Maine is famous for Maple syrup... you can do tastings and it is very yummy. These are buckets that the people collect the syrup in, direct from the trees to be boiled down to what we consume.

The chook on the frm was posing. So I  had to shoot it... with my camera obviously!

One of the items on my mothers 'to do' list was a farm stay in Maine. And the Maine countryside is definately worth spending some time in.

Maple trees.

Roadside side weeds.

This part of the world (New England) is also famous for covered bridges.

Notes:
30 Aug. Syracuse NY.
31 Aug. Syracuse NY.
01 Sep. Tupper Lake NY.
02 Sep. Shelburne VT.
03 Sep. Hollister Hill B & B and farm VT.
04 Sep. Wilson Lake Inn, Wilton ME and lovely and good value motel ($79), on lake. Dinner at Calzolaio Restaurant especially delicious.
05 Sep. Baxter Park Inn, Millinocket, ME.

4 Star Bed Bugs in Niagara

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
28-30 August 2010

   There is a certain irony to backpacking in South America 8 months, staying in cheap accomodation always and then going to a 4 star hotel in Canada (my Mum was staying there as part of a tour) and getting bitten by bed bugs whilst staying in that room. In all of South America I was never once bitten by bed bugs. In fact, it turns out that in 45 countries of travel, much of which has been in the developing world, I have been bitten by bed bugs in Scotland, England, and now in Canada.
   I went to Niagara to meet with my Mum so that we could travel together from that point onwards. I messed  up the dates and arrived a day early, and so spent my first night in a fantastic backpackers hostel (without bed bugs). That was Saturday. On Sunday my friend Mazen from Toronto drove down to have lunch with me and we did the famous Maid of the Mist boat tour into the mist of both of Niagara's falls. It was fun, and great to spend time with an old friend.

This was my second trip to Niagara, but my first on the Maid of the Mist.

There are 2 big falls at Niagara, one completely on the American New York side, the other (this one) straddling the border between NY and Canada. This, I believe, is the more spectacular of the two.

Notes
ACBB Backpackers Hostel, Dorm Bed, Breakfast Included $25. Fantastic Hostel, clean, great info from friendly owner, Great Breakfast, Great location.
Public Bus from Buffalo Airport to Rainbow Bridge Niagara $2.35 (or it seems their is a shuttle service for about $55!)
Maid of the Mist Boat Tour $15.

Lost time in Peru

Lima, Peru
6 - 14 August 2010

   I lost an extra week in Lima that I just realised I never mentioned here. After visiting Cuzco I returned to Lima for what was to be a 2 night stay, an opportunity to say goodbye and do some last minute shopping before taking a flight to New York. As you can see from the dates above, an extra week was added to the 2 days.
   In Lima, before and after Cuzco, I was privelged enough to be able to stay with friends in their house in Miraflores. Just 2 hours prior to my scheduled taxi pickup for the airport I returned to the house from souvenier shopping and had a terrible accident. I tripped over on concrete in the street outside the house and hit the front of my left leg. This leg had just about recovered from the bruising of the mototaxi accident in Iquitos and the same parts of the left leg were now hurting again, only it was incredibly more intensely painful this time. I couldn't stop crying. My pain was intense, I couldn't walk, an I had a flight to catch.
   My friend came home and I was still crying and still stubbornly trying to prepare myself to fly (I really wanted to leave South America). She stubbornly told me I couldn't fly, that I needed to go to hospital. She was right. I had to admit it, there was no way I could fly. In leiu of my imminent flight, I called my travel insurance company first.
   At the hospital they gave me a needle for the pain and took x-rays. The first doctor told us that I had cracked the cap of the bone, but that I would need to talk to a traumatoligist and that he was on his way. The traumatoligist didn't mention any crack (and I didn't think to ask) but just the contusion and gave me a prescription for more needles, painkiller tablets, and only to walk to go to the bathroom for 4 days. After 4
days I returned to get the all clear to fly and the traumatoligist (a different one), when I asked, said he couldn't see any crack in the x-rays, but that I had been in such pain because of where I had hit the
leg in the front. He said I could now fly, to walk but sit regularly for extended periods.
   My travel insurance organized my replacement flight, and lucky for me it was direct.
   I do want to make a comment about my wanting to leave South America. I was so disappointed that I couldn't fly that first Saturday, I had become what I didn't want to be.... Jaded. Often long term backpackers become this. So I wanted a change to a completely different place ... Somewhere that spoke English, had food I knew, had salad on the menu and safe salad, and toilet seats on toilets. My pain from the injury was intense, but I was also shedding tears because I wanted so much to go.
   My friends and hosts in Lima made my staying so much easier of course ... I don't know how I could have coped alone in a hostel.
   I am writing this 3.5 weeks later. Last night I still needed to take anti-inflamatories so it's not over yet. I guess I walked too much yesterday, and I tried swimming yesterday too. I hope that it's good in 4 weeks time, because plan A is to take tango classes in Buenas Aires.

Notes
My travel insurance is with World Nomads. They are definately worth considering if you are travelling long term, and maybe even for short term too. They have great prices and they will help on a lot of things via email... which is really useful while travelling. I just wish they had a Skype ID to call them on. They are international, not just for Aussies. www.worldnomads.com