This was the first point in our trip that I was really overwhelmed and astounded by the natural beauty. I felt like we were part of a “National Geographic” expedition. The town of Perce is similar to Bar Harbor; very touristy. Perce Rock is unique and cool but the boat trip out to Île Bonaventure (Bonaventure Island) Migratory Bird Sanctuary is an experience of being embedded in wild nature. Don’t pass up the boat trip.
We went exploring little towns along the coast and found a wonderful little restaurant/craft shop. I ordered a pizza and Becky ordered chowder. Both were different than we expected but delicious. Pizza was brie cheese, bacon, and arugula. I wish I had a picture of Jennie’s grilled cheese sandwich. She generously let us taste a bite. Best grilled cheese we’d ever had. I was 67 years old when I learned there is something called “bacon jam”. Brie cheese and bacon jam make an amazing grilled cheese!
The gardens (and the gardener) have an interesting history; here’s a link https://jardinsdemetis.com/en/
Genesis 28:11 describes Jacob using a rock for a pillow. This would have been a great one…
This was our last stop before meeting up with the caravan group. We did some shopping and eating in Bar Harbor then visited the Hull’s Cove Visitors Center. We drove up to Cadillac Mountain for an amazing vista then drove most of the self guided Loop Drive. I expected Acadia to be more ‘wild/wilderness’. Maybe if we had been there longer and done some hiking it would seem different. But Bar Harbor is now sort of a built-up tourist trap and while the coast is beautiful, the loop drive was packed with slow moving traffic and no place to park. I got the ‘been there’ stamp and I’m done.
(Also called Gaspe & Atlantic Provinces by Adventure Caravans).
In June of 2022, two months after retiring from Schmidt Associates; Becky and I set out on a two month adventure. We took the RV 6,434 miles, over 71 days, from June 19 – August 29, 2022.
We (Duane & Becky) traveled in our 2021 Thor Axis 24.1 RV and Becky’s sister and her partner (Jennie & Roni) traveled in their Winnebago View V RV. We met-up in Indianapolis and traveled together to Niagara Falls and Acadia National Park before joining up with an Adventure Caravan group at “The Pumpkin Patch RV Resort” in Hermon, Maine (near Bangor). There we met a bunch of new friends for 2 months (the 59 day tour package was called “Gaspé & The Atlantic Provinces“. After introductions and a few days prep at “The Pumpkin Patch” we headed north for our first stop; Quebec City.
Map above: the first month’s travels on “the Mainland”
Map Above: the second month’s travels “on the rock” in Newfoundland. The straight black line isn’t accurate because the actual route the ferry took from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Argentia, Newfoundland; curves south under St. Pierre and Miquelon but I couldn’t get it to map the curved ferry route.
There is basically one main road in Newfoundland; The Trans-Canada Highway (1). It goes from Port aux Basques to St. Johns.
The road north on the “Great Northern Peninsula” to St. Anthony is called “The Viking Trail”, Route 430.
We also saw lots of “Beware of Moose” type signs. There are supposedly more moose than people in Newfoundland. We looked for a month and never saw one…
If you want to keep going with posts in chronological order, scroll down a bit until you see Niagara Falls, Buffalo, NY →
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Miscellaneous thoughts and observations (interesting to me, and usually photographed)
Various Photos that have been published to print or to public websites
DADart Photography 