Day 9: Albany, NY to Mactaquac, NB
Day 9: Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Albany, NY to Mactaquac, NB
We had a great sleep last night and I woke up at 6:45 so I could shower before we left at 8:00. We had an 11 hour drive today so we wanted to get started early. We hit some more toll roads to make the journey faster and switched drivers a couple of times so the other could nap. We crossed into Massachusetts but avoided Boston. The highways in the States are great because they all have an option to skirt the city if you want. We then headed north into New Hampshire and we could see the Atlantic Ocean! New Hampshire was beautiful with its brick buildings and I wish we could have explored it more. Perhaps on the way back. We continued north into Maine which was just gorgeous - lots of trees and lush greenery. Not too inhabited either since we passed through very few towns on the I95 towards New Brunswick. We weren't too sure where we were going to camp tonight but Daryl really wanted to get to Canada so we figured we'd decide when we got there. When we stopped at a rest stop just before we hit the border, we came across a Mennonite family - they were all dressed super nicely and the woman was wearing some sort of beanie on her head (I don't know.... I'm not an expert on other weird religions - I just know when something is out of the ordinary). We also stopped and took some pics at Mt. Katadhin (Daryl SWEARS it was spelt that way and since I can't find it on any maps, I'll have to go with it) which was near Grindstone. We switched drivers just before getting to the border (cause I'm much better at looking cute and innocent) and had no problems crossing into New Brunswick at Houlton. Although, she DID ask what citizenship all the inhabitants of the vehicle were (well, Daryl and I are Canadian but we've got 2 Mexicans hidden in the trunk so....I'm not sure about them). Sometimes the border guards are very odd. We also crossed into Atlantic town so it went from being 6:00 at night to 7:00. We got to the information centre just as it was closing (cause it closed at 7) but the girl was really nice and suggested we camp at Mactaquac provincial park which was about 45 minutes away. It took us quite awhile to find but we got to drive along the St. John River which was really pretty. The landscape here is amazing but we have lost our midwestern heat. It was only 16 degrees C when we started to set up camp just after 8. We picked a site that was near enough to the washrooms but far away from other people - in my eyes, a winning combination. Mactaquac is a great park - it's huge! It has a full length golf course on it and a lodge and restaurant on it. It got dark quickly so we had a fast dinner, washed the dishes in these huge sinks by the bathrooms and settled down by about 10:00.
Woo hoo! New Hampshire!
The Maine sign was really far away and there were scary bikers in front of it so this is the best we could do.
Don't I look happy to have my picture taken at a random rest stop?
Daryl at the lookout over some lake in Maine (supposedly we were on Mt. Katadhin).
New Brunswick! We're back in Canada (but everything is also in French here so actually we're in Nouveau Brunswick....don't forget to pronounce it was a snotty French Canadian accent!)
Albany, NY to Mactaquac, NB
We had a great sleep last night and I woke up at 6:45 so I could shower before we left at 8:00. We had an 11 hour drive today so we wanted to get started early. We hit some more toll roads to make the journey faster and switched drivers a couple of times so the other could nap. We crossed into Massachusetts but avoided Boston. The highways in the States are great because they all have an option to skirt the city if you want. We then headed north into New Hampshire and we could see the Atlantic Ocean! New Hampshire was beautiful with its brick buildings and I wish we could have explored it more. Perhaps on the way back. We continued north into Maine which was just gorgeous - lots of trees and lush greenery. Not too inhabited either since we passed through very few towns on the I95 towards New Brunswick. We weren't too sure where we were going to camp tonight but Daryl really wanted to get to Canada so we figured we'd decide when we got there. When we stopped at a rest stop just before we hit the border, we came across a Mennonite family - they were all dressed super nicely and the woman was wearing some sort of beanie on her head (I don't know.... I'm not an expert on other weird religions - I just know when something is out of the ordinary). We also stopped and took some pics at Mt. Katadhin (Daryl SWEARS it was spelt that way and since I can't find it on any maps, I'll have to go with it) which was near Grindstone. We switched drivers just before getting to the border (cause I'm much better at looking cute and innocent) and had no problems crossing into New Brunswick at Houlton. Although, she DID ask what citizenship all the inhabitants of the vehicle were (well, Daryl and I are Canadian but we've got 2 Mexicans hidden in the trunk so....I'm not sure about them). Sometimes the border guards are very odd. We also crossed into Atlantic town so it went from being 6:00 at night to 7:00. We got to the information centre just as it was closing (cause it closed at 7) but the girl was really nice and suggested we camp at Mactaquac provincial park which was about 45 minutes away. It took us quite awhile to find but we got to drive along the St. John River which was really pretty. The landscape here is amazing but we have lost our midwestern heat. It was only 16 degrees C when we started to set up camp just after 8. We picked a site that was near enough to the washrooms but far away from other people - in my eyes, a winning combination. Mactaquac is a great park - it's huge! It has a full length golf course on it and a lodge and restaurant on it. It got dark quickly so we had a fast dinner, washed the dishes in these huge sinks by the bathrooms and settled down by about 10:00.
Woo hoo! New Hampshire!
The Maine sign was really far away and there were scary bikers in front of it so this is the best we could do.
Don't I look happy to have my picture taken at a random rest stop?
Daryl at the lookout over some lake in Maine (supposedly we were on Mt. Katadhin).
New Brunswick! We're back in Canada (but everything is also in French here so actually we're in Nouveau Brunswick....don't forget to pronounce it was a snotty French Canadian accent!)