As petrol was more expensive in Canada we were running on fumes when we got to the US border. The border crossing took a little bit of time but not too many hassles just loads of questions to make sure we were not going to stay long term. Once in the US we stopped for petrol, about $20 cheaper then Canada for a tank.
Day 1: Up early for a big day ahead. Chris let us in to have some showers that were amazing, he also showed us around his screen-printing and embroidery workshop. It was very cool to see all the technology being used to print t-shirts.
Feeling fresh we made our way to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbour for the day. We stopped off at the visitor centre for some maps of the park. We decided to do 2 hikes and hoped we could get both done in one day. First stop was ‘Sand Beach’ and the ‘Beehive’. The beach was lovely but as it was still a little overcast too cold for a swim.
We then made our way up the beehive that was a little bit like a cliff hike. It was loads of fun a 1 mile round trip up the side of the mountain with ladders and rails. There were a few people on the hike but it did not bother us too much as we got to stop and enjoy the views out over the ocean. After the hike we made our way to our second hike on the way stopping at the ‘Thunder Hole’ where we climbed the rocks near the ocean and explored the rock pools (not that I found too much).
Arrived at the 'Pond House' the location of our next hike, it was super busy so had a little bit of difficulty finding a park. The one we did find poor Hank was parked on a bit of a lean. Marc thought he was going to tip over but I assured him that he would be fine. We found the hike trail and took off, luckily we passed a group who told us to go the cliff trail to the top of the mountain as it was more of a challenge, so we did. The trail was crazy we probably hiked along and up the cliff for about an hour. Our legs were shaking at times and some times we lost the trail as the little blue dots sometimes went missing but we always found the trail again. We loved it and had loads of fun even though at times it was scary. Once we reached the top the views were beautiful it really was an awesome hike.
After all of the hikes we were pretty tired so made our way to the last stop Cadillac mountain. Unfortunately when we reached the top of the mountain it was covered in cloud so we missed out on the main view but at least we got to see a small part on the way back down.
It was late afternoon by this stage so we went to bar harbour to go find somewhere to eat and camp for the night. Bar harbour was a really old tourist town with loads of places to eat. Marc found a local brewery with free samples so had some beer and of course left with a 6 pack . The beer was really good actually my favourite was the blueberry ale. After a walk around we decided everything ws a little too pricy so we decided to go back to the main highway and try a lobster pound where they cook lobsters in big brick caldrons. However it was getting a little late for people in Bar harbour (everything closes at 8pm??) so we could not sit down to eat which made the whole experience a little more difficult so we decided to give it a miss and drove back to a BBQ place down the road. The BBQ place was good at least it was open till 9pm. To sleep we stopped off at a picnic area for another night of free camping.
Day 2: Meatmares, last night as we ate so close to bedtime Marc and I both had meatmares, horrible weird dreams caused by eating too much meat (which BBQ will do to you). A little tired, packed up and took off down the rest of the coast of Maine. The drive was really pretty we passed old school houses and even stopped off at an antique store for a look. For lunch Marc had planned to stop off at ‘Reds Eats’ for the best lobster roll in Maine. We arrived to a huge line of people out side a little red shack by the side of the road. We had to line up for an hour just to order. The wait was not too bad as we met a couple from long Island who assured us it was worth it. We finally got our 2 lobster rolls and some fried shrimp. The lobster rolls were amazing, massive with about a pound and a 1/4 of meat in each roll and a dish a melted butter, Marc was in heaven. I struggled to eat it at first, as there was more meat then roll. We loved the lobster rolls they were really awesome, well worth the wait and the fried shrimp were delicious too.
The rest of the afternoon we continued down the coast and made our way to Brian’s house at Milford NH, just past Manchester NH. The GPS took us down some weird back roads but we finally found his place. Brian and Samson (his black Labrador puppy) greeted us at the door and welcomed us in. After a tour of the house we made our selves at home for the next 4 days. That night we kicked back had some beers, burgers and relaxed. Except for one job Brian had for us to do which was change a light bulb outside of the house which was really high. To do it without a ladder we had a pole and a suction cap device to get the light bulb. Marc and Brian tried for a while with no success I laughed and then they told me to show them how it was done. So I did and had the light bulb out within 2 tries, sometimes its hard being so talented.
Day 3: Went to see the New Hampshire speedway and some warm up races for the Izod. The speedway was just over an hours drive away we left relatively early and stopped by Brian’s brother’s house to drop Samson off for the day. The Indy’s were already in practice when we got there and were super loud. We made our way to the track with little drink coolers in hand as you could take your own beers; which we thought was awesome. The oval track was pretty cool; you could sit anywhere you wanted. We found some seats up near the start line and watched what was left of the Indy practice, but here had been a crash so the practice had halted for a while for clean up. We hung around for most of the day checking out the sponsor tents, drinking bud light limes and watching the qualifying until mid afternoon. I was the designated driver so did not drink as much as the boys. At the end of the day we got to see the modifieds race. The race was loads of fun to watch very fast and loads of bumper to bumper driving. However also a little slow at times with a few crashes and race holds. We left before the race actually finished as there was a big crash with 10 laps to go.
On the way home we picked up Samson at Brian’s brother Darren and his wife Erica’s house. The stop turned into a bit of a visit, Brian’s family were super nice, Erica made me a bracelet as she loved to bead and after we ordered some pizza and then got to enjoy some fireworks.
Feeling fresh we made our way to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbour for the day. We stopped off at the visitor centre for some maps of the park. We decided to do 2 hikes and hoped we could get both done in one day. First stop was ‘Sand Beach’ and the ‘Beehive’. The beach was lovely but as it was still a little overcast too cold for a swim.
We then made our way up the beehive that was a little bit like a cliff hike. It was loads of fun a 1 mile round trip up the side of the mountain with ladders and rails. There were a few people on the hike but it did not bother us too much as we got to stop and enjoy the views out over the ocean. After the hike we made our way to our second hike on the way stopping at the ‘Thunder Hole’ where we climbed the rocks near the ocean and explored the rock pools (not that I found too much).
Arrived at the 'Pond House' the location of our next hike, it was super busy so had a little bit of difficulty finding a park. The one we did find poor Hank was parked on a bit of a lean. Marc thought he was going to tip over but I assured him that he would be fine. We found the hike trail and took off, luckily we passed a group who told us to go the cliff trail to the top of the mountain as it was more of a challenge, so we did. The trail was crazy we probably hiked along and up the cliff for about an hour. Our legs were shaking at times and some times we lost the trail as the little blue dots sometimes went missing but we always found the trail again. We loved it and had loads of fun even though at times it was scary. Once we reached the top the views were beautiful it really was an awesome hike.
It was late afternoon by this stage so we went to bar harbour to go find somewhere to eat and camp for the night. Bar harbour was a really old tourist town with loads of places to eat. Marc found a local brewery with free samples so had some beer and of course left with a 6 pack . The beer was really good actually my favourite was the blueberry ale. After a walk around we decided everything ws a little too pricy so we decided to go back to the main highway and try a lobster pound where they cook lobsters in big brick caldrons. However it was getting a little late for people in Bar harbour (everything closes at 8pm??) so we could not sit down to eat which made the whole experience a little more difficult so we decided to give it a miss and drove back to a BBQ place down the road. The BBQ place was good at least it was open till 9pm. To sleep we stopped off at a picnic area for another night of free camping.
Day 2: Meatmares, last night as we ate so close to bedtime Marc and I both had meatmares, horrible weird dreams caused by eating too much meat (which BBQ will do to you). A little tired, packed up and took off down the rest of the coast of Maine. The drive was really pretty we passed old school houses and even stopped off at an antique store for a look. For lunch Marc had planned to stop off at ‘Reds Eats’ for the best lobster roll in Maine. We arrived to a huge line of people out side a little red shack by the side of the road. We had to line up for an hour just to order. The wait was not too bad as we met a couple from long Island who assured us it was worth it. We finally got our 2 lobster rolls and some fried shrimp. The lobster rolls were amazing, massive with about a pound and a 1/4 of meat in each roll and a dish a melted butter, Marc was in heaven. I struggled to eat it at first, as there was more meat then roll. We loved the lobster rolls they were really awesome, well worth the wait and the fried shrimp were delicious too.
The rest of the afternoon we continued down the coast and made our way to Brian’s house at Milford NH, just past Manchester NH. The GPS took us down some weird back roads but we finally found his place. Brian and Samson (his black Labrador puppy) greeted us at the door and welcomed us in. After a tour of the house we made our selves at home for the next 4 days. That night we kicked back had some beers, burgers and relaxed. Except for one job Brian had for us to do which was change a light bulb outside of the house which was really high. To do it without a ladder we had a pole and a suction cap device to get the light bulb. Marc and Brian tried for a while with no success I laughed and then they told me to show them how it was done. So I did and had the light bulb out within 2 tries, sometimes its hard being so talented.
Day 3: Went to see the New Hampshire speedway and some warm up races for the Izod. The speedway was just over an hours drive away we left relatively early and stopped by Brian’s brother’s house to drop Samson off for the day. The Indy’s were already in practice when we got there and were super loud. We made our way to the track with little drink coolers in hand as you could take your own beers; which we thought was awesome. The oval track was pretty cool; you could sit anywhere you wanted. We found some seats up near the start line and watched what was left of the Indy practice, but here had been a crash so the practice had halted for a while for clean up. We hung around for most of the day checking out the sponsor tents, drinking bud light limes and watching the qualifying until mid afternoon. I was the designated driver so did not drink as much as the boys. At the end of the day we got to see the modifieds race. The race was loads of fun to watch very fast and loads of bumper to bumper driving. However also a little slow at times with a few crashes and race holds. We left before the race actually finished as there was a big crash with 10 laps to go.
On the way home we picked up Samson at Brian’s brother Darren and his wife Erica’s house. The stop turned into a bit of a visit, Brian’s family were super nice, Erica made me a bracelet as she loved to bead and after we ordered some pizza and then got to enjoy some fireworks.
Day 4: Off to Boston to check out the city and walk the Freedom trail. It was about a 1.5-hour drive from Brian’s place to downtown. The drive was pretty easy with not much traffic, but it was a Sunday. We made it downtown and found a park for $10 near Boston Common. Boston was a really old city with loads of history. To begin we walked around Boston common and stopped in at the ‘Cheers’ bar for a drink. The freedom trail was really interesting lots of churches and historic buildings, it was impressive how much red brick had been used in all of the buildings. The churches were really different as well all white and no statues or stain-glass windows like in most traditional churches we have ever seen. For lunch we stopped off at the Quincy Market. It was super busy but we still managed to get some good food, Marc got a clam chowder in a bread bowl and I got a Boston Cream Pie which was bloody huge. Originally for lunch we were going to stop in at Sam Legrasses however a lot of downtown Boston was closed on a Sunday (a little disappointing).
After lunch we stopped in for some beers at an old bar and then continued on the freedom trail following the red brick path. As it was getting late we did not make it to Bunker hill so we turned around and made our way back to the car passing an Italian street market, the aquarium and another pub before we returned to Milford. That night we kicked back again and watched a movie.
Day 5: After so many big days we had a quiet morning while I organised our stuff and caught up on some emails. It was pouring outside so we were not missing out on too much. Around lunchtime Brian took us to meet his parents just down the road in Nashua after a quick visit we then went into Nashua for lunch. We went to a place called 'Nashua Gardens', a really cool sports bar with kick ass sandwiches mmm. After lunch it was still raining so we went a couple of doors up to a brewery to sample some of the local brews.
That evening we went back to Brian’s after picking up a crazy cheap bottle of 'Sailor Jerry’s' at a liquor store. It was so cheap as NH don’t charge taxes on liquor, as the government owns all of the liquor stores, love it!
Day 6: Our last day in Boston we went to the baseball. Brian had decided to give it a miss, so we left mid morning and made it into Boston around 12:30pm (the game started at 1pm). It was a little hard to find a park as most of the paid parking was $50, which was crazy. luckily we found some free parking a few blocks away from Fenway park. Next task we needed to find tickets as the park only had limited seats and a huge fan base the games were always sold out. We found a scalper out the front of the stadium and got some bleacher tickets for $50 each, not great seats but at least we got to go, next time I think Marc and I will be much better at haggling the price down. Fenway Park was really old but super cool. As we could not see too much of the game from our seats, we wondered around a bit to get some food and look at souvenirs. By the 7th inning the red soxs were beating Tampa bay so we wondered down to the lower levels to check out the game a little closer. It was much cooler seeing the game up close.
After the game we made our way back to the car that was still were we left it. As it was mid afternoon we decided to go and check out Harvard University in Cambridge. Cambridge was not too far away from the Ballpark but with traffic it took a little bit longer. Harvard was very old and grand and walking around the grounds Marc and I felt very learned. It was around 5pm so we did not come early enough for a tour but the grounds were easy enough to walk around and see. After walking around Harvard we walked over to the shopping district of Harvard square for a look at the shops. After Cambridge we headed back to Milford for our last night before we left for New York. Back at Brian’s we had a quiet night packed up all of our stuff. Next morning we said our good byes to Brian and Samson, we had so much fun and it was a massive help having a place to crash and a local to show us around.
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