We left Balsam Cove Campground this morning at 9:15. It was only 120 miles up to Hilltop Campground, but we wanted to have time after getting there to go into Canada to find somewhere to exchange US money into Canadian and visit the New Brunswick Visitor Center.
We took US-1 from Balsam Cove up to Robbinston, ME. We found a place about 2 miles north of Whiting where we could stop for lunch before going on to Hilltop Campground. We got into the Hilltop Campground a little before 1 p.m.
Hilltop Campground is a Passport America campground. The Passport America discount is good for 3 nights, but we’ll only be for 1 night. We’re in site #11, a pull-through, with full hookups (30 amp).
After getting settled in, we got our passports and drove to the border crossing at Calais, ME. The campground is about 16 miles from the Canadian border. There weren’t too many cars crossing the border then. We were directed by a Canadian customs officer to park our car and go inside the Customs building at St. Stephen. After waiting only about 10 minutes we were interviewed by a customs official as to our purpose for visiting Canada and how long we expected to be in Canada. The customs official entered our passport information in their computer and we were on our way.
We stopped down the street to exchange our US currency into Canadian – almost $1 for $1. Then we drove to the New Brunswick Visitor Center to pick up maps and brochures. The staff there was very helpful and informative and knowledgeable about the places to visit.
Then it was back across the border and the RV. This time there was quite a long line crossing the border into the US (it looked like workers going to their homes in the US after working on the Canadian side). The US customs officer checked our passports and we explained that we had crossed the border to exchange currency and get travel brochures. Then we were on our way back to the RV.
Our first border crossing experience went without any problems and all of the officials were friendly and helpful.
Today we drove into Ellsworth to the Verizon dealer and switched our cell phone service from AT&T to Verizon and got new cell phones. We also bought a broadband modem for our laptop. We had to wait until our AT&T contract ended on June 10 - it would have cost us $175 to cancel our contract early (they don't pro-rate the cancellation fee). When we were traveling out west last year we spent several weeks without cell phone service. We would see other people using their cell phones when we couldn't use ours & most people had Verizon service.
Verizon was giving rebates on the phones we got ($50 each phone) and a $50 rebate for the broadband modem. The rebates will help lower the cost of having to get new phones. The staff there transferred our contacts from the old phones to the new ones and set up our voice mail for us. We also added a Canadian calling plan to our Nationwide plan because we'll be entering Canada on Saturday.
We also added OnStar as a third phone - we have OnStar on the Vue & OnStar uses Verizon (which is another reason we switched to Verizon). We had let our OnStar subscription expire because the cost of their minutes was so expensive and we called today to restart our service with them.
We were told to not use the broadband modem while we're in Canada because we would be charged roaming fees and that it would expensive. So we only have today and tomorrow to use it.
We stopped by the computer shop and picked up our laptop. There was a setting that was interfering with our getting on the internet and they fixed it. We tried it out before we left the shop and it works fine. They didn't charge us for fixing it (which is good, since that wasn't the reason we took it in there to be repaired).
It was really nice to get back to the campground and have cell phone service!!! And, the broadband service is great - it is an extra monthly expense ($60), but we've sometimes had to drive 40 miles to find some place that has wifi & if it's a coffee shop/restaurant we always buy something. The savings of not having to drive somewhere to wifi may not offset all of the $60 monthly fee, but the convenience is worth it.
Today we visited Acadia National Park which is about 25 miles SE of the campground. We took Tinker with us since we would be gone most of the day.
We entered the Acadia National Park just north of Bar Harbor at the Hulls Cove Entrance and stopped at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center to pick up a brochure and map of the park. Before starting out on our drive through the Park, we watched a 15 minute audiovisual program about the history of the park.
Acadia National Park was established in 1916 by Woodrow Wilson and encompassed 6,000 acres. Today the park covers more than 40,000 acres because of philanthropists such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Charles W. Eliot, and George B. Dorr.
When we left the Visitor Center we took the Park Loop Road down to SR-233 west to SR- 102 and then south toward Southwest Harbor. We stopped at the Seawall Campground to check it out. According to the information on the campgrounds in Acadia National Park our motorhome is too large for them. The size restrictions for Seawall Campground states no RVs longer than 35' and taller than 11'8" and slides have to fit within the site pads. The roads inside Seawall Campground are narrow and the campsites are short and narrow, also.
We then went back north through Southwest Harbor where we stopped at a sandwich shop for lunch. The electricity was out in town because a traffic accident had taken out an electric pole north of town, so the only food available was cold since the restaurant used electricity to cook with. We sat outside at a table next to the restaurant to eat our lunch.
We got back on SR-233 and went south on SR-3 until we reached Sargeant Drive and took it south. We took Sargeant Drive instead of SR-3 because it is a beautiful drive along side of Somes Sound. Somes Sound is the only fjord in the contiguous 48 states. It is a narrow, 168' deep gorge of salt water that was carved by glaciers.
We took Sargeant Drive down to Northeast Harbor then east to Seal Harbor.
From Seal Harbor we drove north through the inland portion of Acadia National Park passing by Bubble Rock, Cadillac Mountain and Beaver Dam Pond. Then we drove south along the Park Loop Road stopping at Thunder Hole. We parked the car and walked down to see Thunder Hole. As the tides come in through the granite channel, air gets trapped and escapes through Thunder Hole putting on quite a show. We got there while it was low tide, so we weren't treated to the show. We continued on to Otter Cliffs which are 100 foot pink granite cliffs rising straight out of the water.
We stayed on the Park Loop Road to go back to Seal Harbor and get on SR-3 to Blackwoods Campground. The limits on the RVs are no longer than 35' and no taller than 11'8", which lets us out. We already knew that our RV wouldn't' fit in the campgrounds at Acadia National Park and that there are 4 low-clearance bridges that would keep us from driving our motorhome there.
After leaving Blackwoods Campground we drove to Bar Harbor and looked at the sights there. Then it was time to head back to the RV. We got gas ($4.099 gal) in Ellsworth before heading back to the campground.
I've created a map showing our route through the Park.
Today we went into Ellsworth to pick up our mail at the Post Office and check on our HP laptop at the repair shop.
Our laptop was ready to go - the fan was apparently clogged and the computer was overheating - which was causing it to shut down. We went across the street to the coffee shop to use their wifi and couldn't get on! After several unsuccessful attempts to get on the internet, we took the laptop back to the computer shop & left it there again. I'm not very happy - one problem was fixed and now there is another one!
We drove into Ellsworth this morning to make some cell phone calls, do some errands and find someplace to have our HP laptop worked on. Our HP has started to shut down after being on for only a short time. Fortunately our old Dell laptop is working and we can wifi with it.
We stopped in at the Ellsworth Public Library to use their wifi and our HP laptop is now shutting down almost as soon as I turn it on. I asked one of the ladies at the library who worked on their computers and she gave me his name and phone number. I called him and got his voice mail and left a message. He called me back in a few minutes and I explained my problem to him. He said he was working out of town and gave me the name of a computer repair service in Ellsworth to take the laptop to.
The computer repair shop, Computers Plus, was only a few blocks away from the library. On the way there we saw the Ellsworth City Hall - a unique large brick building.
We took the laptop to Computers Plus and explained the problem to them and left it there for them to work on. There is a coffee shop, Maine Grind, across the street from Computers Plus that has wifi and we went over there to have coffee and finish our internet browsing.
Afterwords we drove over to the LL Bean Outlet store where we bought a pair of LL Bean Rubber Moc boots for each of us and a small backpack for me.
Before heading back to the campground, we had lunch at Wendy's, stopped at Shaw's grocery and bought a few items and then filled the gas tank on the Vue at the Exxon station in Ellsworth ($4.099 gal)
We left Blueberry Pond Campground this morning about 10:45. We took I-295 north and got off at Exit 28 to get on to US-1. We took that route instead of driving into Freeport to get on US-1 - that way we avoided driving through tourist traffic in town. We stayed on US-1 for the 118 mile drive up here to Balsam Cove Campground. The campground is about 1 1/2 miles off US-1 down a dirt road.
We arrived at Balsam Cove Campground around 1:30 and was assigned site #1 - gravel pull-through site that was extremely unlevel. Mike took a ruler and took photos to show how high off the ground our front wheels would be if we stayed at that site. Mike showed the owner the photos and he took Mike around the campground in a golf cart to find another site.
We're now on site #29 (we were set up here by 3 p.m.) which is pretty level. It's a back-in site with full hookups (30 amp) and wifi. Balsam Cove is a Passport America campground.
The only negative we have about our location is we have no cell phone service out here. We'll have to go into Ellsworth which is about 12 miles from here.
This morning we drove into Freeport to pick up our mail at the post office. We stopped at the Freeport Library to check e-mail. Then LL Bean was our next stop. We've had their catalogs for years and have often bought from them. Mike and I each bought new rain jackets there.
We stopped at Bill's Pizza in Yarmouth for lunch, before going to the Delorme store there.
We've used their mapping software, Street Atlas, in the past. We're using Microsoft Streets & Trips, but use Delorme's gps for the laptop. At the Delorme store they had computers set up where you could "test drive" their mapping software. After checking out their current Street Atlas, we decided to stick with Streets & Trips. Street Atlas has a few things that I like that Streets & Trips doesn't have, but I think we'll wait until their 2009 version is released and maybe get it then.
We enjoyed our stop at LL Bean - we'd always wanted to go to their store and had been looking forward to it.
On our way back to the RV, we stopped at The Brown Dog Inn north of Freeport and made an appointment for Tinker in the morning for a bath.
We left Concord this morning a little after 10:00. We took US-4 east to I-95 and then north on I-95 until York Center, ME where we got on to US-1. We passed LL Bean in Freeport, ME and then turned northwest to Pownal to Blueberry Pond Campground.
We got in here at Blueberry Pond at 2:30 - it was 114 miles from Concord to Pownal. This is a Passport America campground. We're in site #8 - a dirt/gravel back-in that is mostly flat. We put up our portable satellite dish and it's pointing through the trees, but we are getting a signal. We have full hookups (30 amp service); the wifi service hasn't been installed yet. The library in Freeport has wifi. The last 1 1/2 miles of the road to the campground is gravel.
