We are driving down to Maryland today and we had to laugh because we had 6 weeks to spend in the New England area and we weren't able to find time for Nyc. If we really wanted to I am sure we would've made it a priority but cities just get too expensive and we had a blast visiting and meeting people in other random places off the beaten path.
We've had a busy last 10 days or so up here running around. We stayed with Timmy and his friend Debbie, who may join us traveling out west for awhile. They came down to the Mountain Bike World Cup festivities in the catskill mountains. We met up with racer Rick and Ray. There was this block party with street acts, people on unicycles, and a guy showing off some bike tricks. We even got into some karaoke that night at the brewery. The next day Rick got to do his downhill bike race. Then the pro cross-country guys & girls raced. There were people from all over the world. The racers were badass too, riding hard for over an hour on some tough trails up and down the mountainside. The downhill racers were sick too. They have guts. The trails that they go down are insanely gnarley. They get there bikes carried up on the ski lift but there is no way I'd go down those trails. Give me a hill to climb over that craziness. I love going down mountain bike trails just not ones called "graveyard"
We stayed Sunday with my Jeff in Northampton, Mass. It's a funky artistic town that has a similar feel to Asheville NC or Burlington Vt. A couple of our favorite places. Jeff and his buddy Paul were great hosts. They took us hiking and swimming in puffer pond. Then we went and he treated us to this awesome Indian dinner. That town has some great street music. Plus Paul and Jeff were friends with them so we hung out for awhile. Then the church choir started singing across the street which seemed random late on Sunday night. Why not though I guess. The next morning we went for breakfast and Jeff thought he lost his key from the time he parked to putting money in the meter. We searched for 20 minutes or so before giving up and going to eat. We came back and it was in the car door. Haha
Judy burnt the hot dogs
Andrew & Clayton getting the boat ready
We left the hills and went down to the ocean. We had perfect weather in Stonington Borough, CT and we spent a few days with one of moms best friends from high-school, Judy. We've never met her or her family but she has 2 kids our age and we had a blast with them. We met Andrew and his cousin Clayton and they had margarita supplies ready for a boat ride. We got along great with them and Nicole. We had adventure filled days exploring islands, riding on the boat, body surfing, jumping off docks, kayaking, searching for clams, while enjoying some drinks and yummy treats. Oh and we had a taste of heaven. Lobster rolls are probably the best meal ever. We also had some clams, mussels, and scallops. They spoiled us a bit. It was so nice spending a few days at the same place. We could've easily stayed a whole month.
Jumping off the Dock in CT.
Sailing with Ryan in Rhode Island
We left another amazing place to go to another great place. People ask us where our favorite place and it truly always seems like where we are at the time is it. We feel like our uncle Bob and everyday is the "best day ever." I think it's a pretty good way to live life.
InRhode Islandwe met up with James, Ryan and Mike. Ryan and James are just finishing up their cross country trip and Ryans dad has a sailboat. They took us out for a few hours and then we went to one of his friends birthday party. That was a fun day with some good people. The next day we went for a ride on the guys bikes to get lunch. We had hot dogs the day before and wieners that day. Apparently the wieners with the meat topping are only legal in RI, and there is a difference between weiners and hot dogs. I just took his word on that. They both tasted good to me. That and the frozen lemonade was another Rhode Island speciality.
View of Thimble Islands from Mr. Claypool's house.
From RI we went back through Conn. and stayed with Dan Claypool, a business friend of Dads. He just moved into a house on top of the rocks overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful. I slept outside on the hammock the first night, well most of the night. The mosquitoes finally got the best of me around 4am. It was beautiful with the bright full moon shining over the boats in the harbor. We rode our bikes and went for a boat ride around Tumble Islands. Which are multiple islands with houses on them only accessible by boat. We grilled out with Mr. Claypool and his dog Jack and had a nice relaxing evening on the ocean.
Originally the plan was to be on Boston on the 4th of July and everyone talked about how amazing the fireworks were. We missed them, but totally enjoyed the city anyways. Cities are tough with having a car. It cost about $10 in tolls just to get into the city. We found parking that evening for free along the Boston commons and we walked along the freedom trail and along the harbor for a few hours. I was actually picked to help out 2 street performers do juggling acts and stuff. Annie and I might just make our own act and support our traveling addiction for years. Haha. well we need to figure out what our own talent would be first. It's our only wee problem.
We met up with our couchsurfer host in Harvard square. Andres is doing psychology research studying happiness. He was fun talking with him about different studies they've done and taking our own personality tests. He showed us all around the campus and Harvard business school. It's a beautiful campus to just sit along the river and watch all the people rowing.
Amazing Seats at Fenway Park
Friends we met up with after the game
We also went to the Sam Adams brewery and dad hooked us up with a guy he does business with in Boston who has season tickets to the red sox, behind home plate! It was awesome. It's so fun to go to a packed stadium where everyone is into the baseball game. There are no t-shirt and hot dog throws and games between innings. People are there to watch the game. The sox ended up hitting 6 home runs. It was amazing to watch the ball fly buy over the green monster.
Acadia national park is beautiful. The only problem is that the clouds and fog are so thick at times you are just looking into white nothingness. At the summit of Cadillac mountain we would be the first people in the US to see the sunrise. So Annie and I woke up early on the 4th of July and drove to the top. We took our sleeping bags out on the rocks and watched the clouds brighten. We would've been looking out at the Atlantic ocean. There were a lot of people up there hoping for a beautiful morning but everyone left not long after "sunrise." Annie and I were left up there by ourselves taking a nap. The rocks were more comfy than our car which was were we slept both nights in Bar Harbor. It was a surreal nap on top of the mountain. We were in a cloud and couldn't see more than 100 ft. So Im only pretty sure we were by ourselves. It was super quiet and all the cars were gone by the time we left to get some breakfast at 7:30.
That day we hiked over 10 miles back up to Cadillac mountain and down and around some other peaks. It finally cleared up that afternoon around 3 and the views were breathtaking. Hiking along the water and climbing along the cliffs were so much fun.
That evening we were back in Bar Harbor for the fireworks and we met a lady from the area and she couldn't believe that we hadn't been out on the water yet. Her husband manages a cod farm and she volunteered him to take us out to feed the fish the next morning. He sent us out with his crew and we learned all about the cod industry. It was actually pretty cool. They are the only cod farm in North America and they have hundreds of thousands of fish. We got to see some dolphins and had 2 bald eagles come so close to the boat trying to see of we had any food for them.
We drove down to Portland and we splurged and split a twin lobster dinner. Portland is a pretty cool city and had a bunch of breweries that we checked out. They have a Maine brewery trail and if you get to so many they send you a free hat or t-shirt. We figured we needed a souvenir from Maine and that was our best option. Haha.
We were Canada bound the evening we finished climbing mt. Katahdin in Maine. We had about 4 hours to drive to Moncton New Brunswick where we had a couch surfer we were staying with. When we crossed the border they took our pepper spray. The border control said we "won't be needing this in Canada." Thankfully all the people we stayed with were awesome. The first time we needed gas the sign said 121.9 assuming that meant $1.21 a liter I still didn't know what to expect to pay. I wasn't even completely sure of the exchange rate let alone how many litres are in a gallon. I filled up it was $70 on the screen and I went in to pay. (small town didn't have pay at the pump) the cashier charged $20 I told her that couldn't be right but she double checked and said that was it. We left with a full tank of gas. Unfortunately it was only a one time weird mistake on her part. A gallon of gas has 3.79 litres. We had to pay up to $4.75 a gallon at one time.
Mark @ the old triangle
We didn't know anyone in Canada so we couch surfed the whole time. Sleeping on couches, floors, foutons, and private rooms. We had a bunch of great hosts. In Moncton we stayed with Charles, the French Canadian, and his mushing dog Rollo. We Hung out with some of his friends and he was a great tour guide and took us all around the bay of Fundy, which has the biggest tides in the world. Then we got a real taste of the Maritimes hospitality with Thomas. He made us some amazing lobster and clam chowder. Drank some Nova Scotia wine and stayed up talking all night. We went on a hike then Im search of some caves but our directions just led us around in circles. Halifax we surfed at a house with some other German surfers. Annie and I did our own thing most of the time. The reason we came to Halifax was because of Crosby. After the first 10 minutes walking around town we found the sports hall of fame mainly dedicated to the kid. They even have the famous dryer. Then we met Mark and had plans of going out sailing. Unfortunately the weather was rotten and cold and we didn't get the boat out. We were able to catch the buccos on tv because they were playing the blue jays. Mark also introduced us to putain. Basically a delicious dish of fries and gravy. We ended up staying a couple days longer than we originally thought. We had to experience our first Canada day in Canada. We went up to the northern part of Cape Breton to a small town on the lake Whycocomagh. It was beautiful and we stayed with Joel, Julie and their family. We went to a hostel for a bonfire that evening to celebrate. Joel also showed us this sweet jumping hole in the woods where we jumped 20 some feet into the coolest water you can imagine. After that we had to head south so we could get back into the states for the 4th of July. We made it to St. John. The couch surfing community is so cool. Annie had talked to Laughlin about staying in St. John a few nights before, but we didn't think we were going to make it there. Then at about 9:30 on a Saturday night we send him a text and he was like "of course". He was house sitting at this beautiful place right along the water, and we stayed there for the night and went mountain biking the next day. St. John was a cool town, it got a lot of smack talked on it for being dirty..... it was pretty foggy all along the water while we were there, but the park we mountain biked in was beautiful. So all in all we loved Canada.
We've had a busy last 10 days or so up here running around. We stayed with Timmy and his friend Debbie, who may join us traveling out west for awhile. They came down to the Mountain Bike World Cup festivities in the catskill mountains. We met up with racer Rick and Ray. There was this block party with street acts, people on unicycles, and a guy showing off some bike tricks. We even got into some karaoke that night at the brewery. The next day Rick got to do his downhill bike race. Then the pro cross-country guys & girls raced. There were people from all over the world. The racers were badass too, riding hard for over an hour on some tough trails up and down the mountainside. The downhill racers were sick too. They have guts. The trails that they go down are insanely gnarley. They get there bikes carried up on the ski lift but there is no way I'd go down those trails. Give me a hill to climb over that craziness. I love going down mountain bike trails just not ones called "graveyard" 
We've had a busy last 10 days or so up here running around. We stayed with Timmy and his friend Debbie, who may join us traveling out west for awhile. They came down to the Mountain Bike World Cup festivities in the catskill mountains. We met up with racer Rick and Ray. There was this block party with street acts, people on unicycles, and a guy showing off some bike tricks. We even got into some karaoke that night at the brewery. The next day Rick got to do his downhill bike race. Then the pro cross-country guys & girls raced. There were people from all over the world. The racers were badass too, riding hard for over an hour on some tough trails up and down the mountainside. The downhill racers were sick too. They have guts. The trails that they go down are insanely gnarley. They get there bikes carried up on the ski lift but there is no way I'd go down those trails. Give me a hill to climb over that craziness. I love going down mountain bike trails just not ones called "graveyard" 
