After departing Beth’s cousin, Susan, and Selbyville (West Fenwick), Delaware, we had long days of driving to Bar Harbor, Maine, where we were booked on The BIG CAT ferry for a three and one half hour trip to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The weather was for rain and potential rough seas, to the point that we received email warnings that The Big CAT ferry could be delayed or cancelled for our target date of July, 29th. The goal was to arrive June 29th in Canada for July 1st, Canada Day; Canada’s celebration of Independence Day that we celebrate on July 4th!
Shelton, CT – Camden, ME July 27-28
The trip North necessitates a “white knuckled Tense drive through New York along with Tolls, Turnpikes, Tunnels and Torrential Rain while still providing some exceptional views of the city from bridges. We stopped about halfway to Bar Harbor in Shelton, CT and stayed at the Marriott Courtyard.
The next morning, we headed to Camden, Maine and stopped along the way in Portland, Maine. Portland is a quaint little town that we stopped to view the harbor. The Old Port waterfront has working fishing wharves and restaurants and shops. The public park, Western Promenade, includes river and mountain views. Nice place for a rest stop! Camden was a pretty town located on the Penobscot Bay on the Midcoastal region. Despite the rain and fog, we enjoyed our stay at The Country Inn. They have a large Hot tub and plentiful free breakfast. The Camden Hills State Park was open but our drive to the top of the mountain was so foggy that we had no view of the area below and could just see the winding road. It appears to be a greta camping/RV area in better weather!
Bar Harbor, ME was our final stop in the United States for awhile. We arrived about two hours before the BIG CAT was scheduled to leave for Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The harbor area is very pretty and we had a scheduled lunch with Beth’s cousin, Sid Bosworth’s son. Jason Bosworth, and his fiancé’ Natalie (lovely lady and couple) work for a Creamery on the square in Bar Harbor and we met for a sandwich before joining them for a delicious ice cream treat.
Full and ready for the BIG CAT ferry over to Nova Scotia, a 3 ½ hour trip, we check-in and prepare for boarding our Subaru Outback and two E-Bikes for a rough trip. Yes, it was a double Dramamine ride plus about $380 U.S. to watch people getting sick and wobbling through the passenger area, hoping to make it to the bathroom. Goodbye United States for the next 33 days!
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Excitement and a bit of apprehension build up on the trip across the North Atlantic. Arriving at around 5:30 PM in Yarmouth, we made it through Customs rather quickly and drove to a restaurant/bar to meet up with our friend from the U.S., now living in Argyle, NS with his sweet wife and family. We initially met Doug Ament with an “out of the box” house swap (Our Atlanta house for his Destin, FL condo in 2007). Doug had a friend’s lake house set aside for our 3 night stay in friend ‘s lake house in Yarmouth. We shared dinner and a beer with Doug and his Fireman Chief friend before meeting up at our lake guest house to settle in for the evening. Anxiety and apprehension lifted! More about Doug Ament and his lifestyle in Argyle, NS, about 20 minutes away in the next Blog!
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