Up North

September 10, 2010

Well my friends, all those days of reading about my boring trips has paid off. And enduring all of my boring trips has finally paid off for me as well. I have finally found my stride and I had a very exciting cruise full of adventure and discovery. Well at least it was full of adventure and discovery compared to my past cruises. This voyage was our first to New England and Canada. New England has always seemed like a region I would like, an area full of history and nature, but I had never made it there before a couple years ago. I was right, I love it there.

This cruise was scheduled to go to Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine, St. John, New Brunswick, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Boston, Massachusetts. Due to Hurricane Earl we weren’t exactly sure where and when we would go. The Captain made an announcement before we left saying that we were getting into Portland a half a day early and spending the night there in an attempt to weather the storm. So instead of waking up in Portland on Saturday, we got in at about 3:00 on Friday afternoon. Expecting the hurricane to catch us on Friday night and potentially ruin a Saturday in port I decided to head out as soon as I could on Friday. I was just exiting the gate when I saw a small group of people I know. I’m not great friends with any of them, but I’m friendly with all of them. When I saw them they were all getting into a minivan. One of them stopped me and in his Turkish accent he said, “If you have no plans, you can come with us.” I asked where they were going and they told us that this guy who’s minivan we were boarding is the guy who runs the company that runs all of our tours in Portland, Bar Harbor, Boston, and a few other places. He drove us all around the city giving us a little tour as we went. He drove us out to the Portland Headlight to take a look around. I have been there before, but it is such a beautiful spot that I wouldn’t mind going there everyday. After we were dropped off at the port I waked up to the art district where all of the galleries were open for a special First Friday Art Walk. The streets were full of musicians and artwork. After a stop in the LL Bean outlet store, a few phone calls, and some pizza it was time to get back on board. As I slept Earl passed right over us and the sun was shining by the time I got up on Saturday.

September 30, 2010

As you can see I wrote the above awhile a go. Then I got to distracted and busy to keep up with this. Sorry. Here’s what I’ve been up to for the month of September. I’ve done 2 cruises to Canada and New England and 2 cruises to Bermuda. I went to the beach once in Bermuda and I worked the rest of the time while I was there. However, I’ve been doing lots of great stuff up north. I’ve explored the city of Portland and even went out on a lobster fisherman’s boat. I learned how to bait the traps and decide which lobsters to keep and which one’s to throw back. Bar Harbor, Maine is one of the cutest towns I’ve ever seen. It’s reminiscent of Stars Hollow. Bonus points to you if you got that reference! I took a ship sponsored tour to Acadia National Park on my first trip there and drove the scenic Park Loop Road. I took the local bus there on the next trip and hiked the Ocean Path. It is a trail on the coast. I spend most of my time climbing on the rocks and taking pictures. It is so beautiful there!

Most of my time in St. John, New Brunswick has been centered around the Reversing Falls. This is when the tide in the Bay of Fundy rises so high that it makes the St. John river flow upstream instead of down stream. I took a jet boat ride in the tides last time. The boat does 360s and digs the nose under the waves to get all the passengers soaked. It was less than 60 degrees outside at the time and the water was even colder. It was a freezing adventure, but so much fun!

Halifax, Nova Scotia is a nice place, but not super exciting. I spent the first trip there in the Public Gardens but I went out to Peggy’s Cove the next time. It is gorgeous out there. I think I would have liked it more if I had more time and there weren’t so many old people. It’s all very rocky terrain and if your following people that have a hard time walking down a hallway, it takes them awhile to get along the rocks. I actually saw a lady with a cane out there. However, she had her cane tucked under her arm, and was walking around carrying her digital camera. Interesting.

Boston is amazing, as always. On the first trip I went out to Harvard Square with some great friends. We hung out with the smart kids for the day. On the last trip I worked on the end of the Freedom Trail that I hadn’t been on before. So I boarded the USS Constitution, saw the Bunker Hill monument, Old North Church, and Paul Revere’s house.

Now I’m headed up north for another nine days of adventure. I’ll try to post more details about my adventures later. Much love to you all. Thanks for reading! Check out Facebook for some pictures.