my travels in pixels

Acadia National Park Along the east coast Southwest Harbor still looking for those reflections Acadia national park is near Bar Harbor in Maine. Even though I looked a long time ago, we couldn’t book a campsite in the National Parks campgrounds as they were full. I rang an RV park that had good reviews and they said they didn’t take bookings but they had 400 sites so it shouldn’t be a problem. We got there on a Monday and drove round and round this huge campground. Lots of sites yes, but not a lot for us. We finally settled on one that gave us plenty of room, although it was on a bit of a slope. Luckily we didn’t arrive on a weekend or we might have had trouble getting a spot. As people can choose their own site, you get smaller campers taking spots that should be reserved for much larger ones. Like Zion and Bryce national parks, there is a free shuttle bus to try and persuade people not to drive their cars. As an added incentive one of the stops was at our ca...

Boothbay Harbor, ME What a lovely area this is. Ram Island Light We have taken time here to slow down. Apart from walking around the town, having a beer at the local pub looking out on the water, we took a boat ride out in the harbor to see the puffins at Eastern Egg Rock. All the puffins left here and they decided in the late 70's to try and encourage them back. They put a number of mating birds here, left some wooden replicas to make it look like there were a large colony here. It took a number of years before the first chicks were born and now they have 150 mating pairs. It was called Project Puffin and is the first restored Pacific Puffin colony. Looking back into the harbour Burnt Island Light Laughing Gull Cuckolds Light Atlantic Puffin The first time we have seen a group of puffins We couldn't go on the island and shooting these tiny flying footballs from a moving base so far away from them was very difficult. They fly at 4...

Salem, MA Fort Pickering Light, Salem In the summer of 1692, hundreds of people in this area were accused of practicing witchcraft, which was considered a crime at the time. The hysteria spread through communities as far north as Maine. These events become known as the Salem Witch Trials as the court was held in Salem Town. Although the Puritans, who were Protestants that tried to reform the Church of England from anything Roman Catholic, believed in witchcraft, none of the accused were actually a witch. Yet 20 people were put to death. They were victims of fear, superstition and a court system that failed to protect them. These events symbolize the tragic consequences of intolerance and injustice. All people had to do was lay blame for a loss, illness or death which they said was caused by witchcraft with the local magistrates. If the complaint was deemed credible, the magistrates had the person arrested and brought in for an interrogation, where the magistrates pressed ...

Boston, MA Most guides get dressed up in costume, but ours didn't It took us nearly eight hours to drive 238 miles, the traffic was slower than walking pace at times. What a way to spend my birthday, I didn’t time that very well. There were about four tolls ranging from $2.25 to $24.75. Three of them took cash but the $25 one is going to send us a bill, which is a pain as we will have to get a mail posting before we leave the US and I don’t know how long it takes to get sent out. The toll roads were in excellent condition, so that’s some compensation. the roads in Boston are narrow After coming onto a parkway there was a flashing sign that said high vehicles take the shoulder. I assume that meant to go around the corner without falling over. The next bridge was too low for us and we had to go off the parkway and come back on. Not long after this we stopped off at a rest stop but couldn't park anywhere. So we just stopped in the roadway. Alarm bells should have...

New York City, NY Fulton Station We nearly didn't go to New York because a friend of ours missed the turn off and ended up driving his 5th wheel into Manhattan. Yikes! he still has nightmares about it. After some soothing, Lindsay reluctantly agreed as long as we made sure we knew where we were going. The closest RV park to NYC is in Liberty Harbor in New Jersey. Basically it’s a carpark turned into an RV park, so no ambiance whatsoever. At $97 a night, it’s the most expensive place we have been to but at least we got a day free for staying 7 nights. Inside the Oculus station To say the train system in New Jersey or New York is unfriendly is an understatement. We needed two tickets, one for the PATH which took us across the river to the four billion dollar Oculus train station, then one for the New York subway. The subway is confusing, dirty, old and horrible. There are so many exits and entrances for the same station that you never know where you are going to end...