We stayed in Braintree, VT at Able Mountain Campground, which is in the middle of the state. The scenery was beautiful, but not very much to do around us. We did find a couple of interesting things to explore. We took a tour of Rock of Ages, a granite quarry. It was very interesting to see the production facility where they make mostly headstones. Some of the carvings they do are amazing. Then we saw the quarry and learned about how they get the granite out of the quarry. With all the modern technology used, there are only 13 people working in the quarry compared to hundreds of people years ago. They had a granite bowling lane we had to try; David almost got a strike. We also visited a cemetery that was close by and saw more of their work, which was amazing! We did go to the local Elks lodge in Barre, VT and got a full tour of their historic building. Then we visited a sugar house and learned all about making maple syrup. We took some home with us and also both had a maple creamy (maple soft serve ice cream). Charlene drove up from Massachusetts to visit and bring us some items we had shipped to her house. It was so nice of her to drive up and we had a great visit. Our last night we went to Bent Hill Brewery, they had all kinds of weird beers and meatless food. Unfortunately, Kim got sick from all of it and had a terrible travel day.

Our next stop was in Freedom, NH where we stayed at Danforth Bay RV Resort. Wow, this was probably one of our more difficult sites to get into, not to mention it took us over two hours of maneuvering the RV to get out of the site. Why do they plant trees on either side of campsites? We sure are glad Kim had us get out of the site the day before we had to leave. Now for the fun stuff… We took a cog train to the top of Mount Washington, the highest mountain peak in the Northeast. We got really lucky with the weather, minimal wind and we could see forever. The views were absolutely amazing and it was such a great experience. We then went to Flume Gorge State Park. What a spectacular park! The 2-mile hike to see the gorge is well worth it. We spent some time exploring North Conway, a nice town with a great downtown area (lots of little shops) and also ran into a local farmers market there. Then we took a drive to explore Lake Winnipesaukee. We hung out at Weirs Beach for a bit and had lunch. We were truly amazed with all the boats out on the lake. Also, there just happened to be a biker rally the day we were there, so we got in some live music at the rally. Unfortunately, we were in the smart car, but they let us in anyway.

And our final stop for this post was in Trenton, ME. We stayed at Timberland Acres Campground. On the way, we stopped in Turner, ME at SR1 RV to get our new hitch installed on the trailer. This is the one we tried to get while we were in Elkhart, but they let us down. David ended up ordering one and had it shipped along our route. So far, it is a little harder to hook up, but it does give us more ground clearance on our front jacks. Moving on to more exciting things… We were right next to Bar Harbor which is pronounced Bah-Hah-Bah by the locals. We had a full schedule of things to do during this stop. First, we headed to downtown Bar Harbor and explored all the shops along with a stop for some clam chowder and of course a lobster roll. We also found some live music at the Ivy Manor Inn, right in the downtown area. Then we stuffed our e-bikes into the Smart car and headed for Acadia National Park to ride the carriage roads. This was probably one of the best rides we have been on with great trails and amazing scenery. We only had one small problem… David forgot the bike keys, so the start was delayed by an hour while he drove back to the RV to get the keys. Then we had booked a boat tour of Bar Harbor, where we got to see some of the islands (we had no idea there were so many islands), some wildlife and watch the captain pull a lobster trap. We really learned a lot about the area and lobster fishing during the trip. Then we got on the motorcycle and rode to the top of Cadilac Mountain. Wow! What an amazing ride with some gorgeous scenery. We finished the day with a ride around the scenic loop road in Acadia National Park. Once we were back to the RV park, we naturally stopped at the on-site tavern. We met some of the seasonal campers and they were nice enough to invite us to the local Elks lodge for a BBQ dinner and live music the next night. Then Rob and Terri drove down for the day to visit us. Kim has known Rob (known to her as Bob) since the 80’s. Rob served with Frank and Keith in the Navy. We spent the day catching up and visiting Bar Harbor for some more great food and some great ice cream (Terri had whoopie pie flavor). Earlier in the week, we did go out and eat some fresh caught lobster at Thurston’s Lobster Pound right on the docks. We really had a great time in Bar Harbor and we will be back to spend some more time in this part of the US.

We are now back in New Hampshire (southern) continuing our New England foliage tour.

And of course, weird thing along our travels….another funny bathroom sign about what not to flush (see pics), more bathroom door signs that were labeled inboard and outboard, and plenty of play on words with a restaurant called Chow Maine and another called Mainely beef. There were lots of stands along the road selling camp firewood, but one of them advertised that theirs was organic… aren’t they all??? We also found the Climate Change Yacht Club in Brookfield, VT.