Visiting Amish country around Lancaster, PA

Left Niagara Falls after lunch on Friday, October 8 and traveled most of the day to reach Lancaster, PA. We had dinner and went to bed early in order to spend the next morning in the Amish country.

Amish home in the country

We traveled to Bird in Hand where we picked up a guide for our morning outing in the countryside.  He pointed out that the Amish people have beautiful homes, all without modern conveniences such as electricity.


 We visited this farm and saw the dairy barn with the cows inside the barn.  They sell the milk and butter to people in the area.  The Amish have small farms and do not use tractors with rubber tires; just the metal ones.  Most of the kids ride modified bicycles they call Scooters.

Schools are very small and located in small communities.  More like home schooling it seems to me.

Pictured below is a "mock Amish wedding".  A couple was chosen from our group to get married by a Mennonite minister.  The ceremony took place in the school house.  Then all the guests stayed for a big wedding feast.

We went to a restaurant at Bird in Hand where we were served food such as found at a typical wedding feast.  The food was very good.

Amish wedding taking place (bride and groom were Dr. Joe and his wife Sue Herod from our group)

 This is an example below of an Amish country home.  The houses were all so neat and clean.  Never saw any junk or clutter in the yards.  They rode in buggies pulled by mules and horses so they didn't have any junk cars in the yards.   Most of the homes had clothes lines attached to cables so the line could be high off the ground.  We saw clothes flapping in the wind all over the country-side.  I wondered if Sat. was laundry day instead of the typical Monday.

Old Amish home

We left the Amish country later in the afternoon and headed back to our hotel to rest and get ready to go to the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, about 20 miles from where we were staying.

It took us much longer to get to the theater than we had planned and we didn't have time to eat at the restaurant at the theater.  We barely got there in time to get inside and get seated before the play "Joseph" began.   It was wonderful!  A magnificant theater and even better play.  Live animals on the stage was amazing.  When we were getting seated I heard someone from the back call my name, and waving. i looked to see where he was sitting and at intermission I went over and there were friends from Elba, AL!

Hershey's Chocolate World

They knew we were going to be there and were looking for us.  They were on a tour also to another area of the country and stopped by Lancaster.

We got early on Sunday, Oct. 14 and drove to the beautiful town of Hershey, PA and toured the town that the chocolate baron built.  Then on to Hershey's Chocolate World.  Toured the factory and enjoyed a fun 3-D movie telling about the history of Hershey.  It was fun watching Hershey Kisses flying toward you as we looked at the presentation wearing 3-D glasses.

Of course you exited the theater into a giant gift shop filled with Hershey products.  I bought our son Bill a giant Hershey kiss for his chocolate tooth.  Later saw them at WalMart for about half of what I paid for it at the gift shop!    

We left Hershey around noon and drove to Knoxville, TN where we spent the last night on the road.  Got up early the next morning and drove through the Great Smoky Mountains toward Birmingham and then home to Coffee County.  A weary group of travelers were happy to get back home in the middle of the afternoon.

We said good-bye to all the friends we had made on the trip.  After 15 days on a bus,  they were almost like family to us!

Niagara Falls - very exciting place

Beautiful Niagara Falls as seen from Canada.  So much water flowing and so fast.  The water beneath the falls is green - not blue as it is usually shown in pictures.  There was a hint of a rainbow among the mist when this photo was made.

Upstream from the falls

This photo shows the water flowing over rocks upstream from the falls.
The mist from the falls can be seen in this photo as the water falls over the ledge.  You can hear the roar of the falls all around the area.  The water never stops!

We rode the boat "Maid of the Mist" up to the bottom of the falls and I admit it was very scary.  They gave us plastic ponchos to wear and you can see in the photo here that my hair is very wet from the mist.

Nell on Maid of the Mist ship

 Jim and I took a tour "behind the falls" before going to the bottom of the falls.
The views were spectacular!  Even on this lookout point, you could feel the mist from the falls.

At the bottom of the Falls

In this picture of the falls you can see how forceful the falls are, creating a heavy mist all the time.  At night they have bright colored lights shining on the waterfall,  We walked along the parkway road at night and admired the beauty of the lights reflecting off the falls. 

The next picture of the falls and park below were taken from our hotel room, 22 floors up at the Embassy Suites.  You could open the window and hear the roar of the falls.  If you look close at the picture below (click to enlarge it)  you will see people walking along the parkway overlooking the falls.  This is where we walked at night.

We had lunch the next day, Oct. 8, at Skylon Tower. You take an outside elevator (see photo) to the top of the tower and the restaurant revolves around the top so you can enjoy views of the entire area.  And the food was delicious.  We had reservations so they were waiting for us and we had tables along the outer rim so we could all see the views.

Travel in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire

We left Moncton, New Brunswick on Wednesday, Oct. 6, and traveled all the way to New Hampshire where we spent the night in the White Mountains.

We had to enter the US Customs and they had us to get off the bus while the guard dogs "sniffed" us and our luggage.  Weren't there too long and they let us back on the bus to go into the US.

Covered bridge in NH

Leaves were not at their peak and it was starting to rain when we got into the White Mountains in VT.  We spent the day looking for moose and actually saw 3 grazing in the woods somewhere in New Hampshire.  The driver stopped the bus for us to take pictures. We saw a pretty old covered bridge along the way when we were traveling across VT and NH.

Tram used as ski lift in winter

Aerial tram that we rode to top

Franconia State Park Visitor Center

We got to Franconia, NH late at night due to rainy weather and two-lanes in the park.  We all went to bed early so we could get up the next morning and leave at 8 am, stopping at Cannon Mountain, NH, to go to the top of the mountains via aerial tram.  It was so foggy we couldn't see very far. The tram closes in the winter for tourists going to the top of the mountain, and  is used by skiers.  We enjoyed visiting the Visitor's Center for Franconia Notch State Park.

We traveled for awhile in western NY, going thru Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo.  The cornfields were very pretty and we saw lots of pumpkins still in the field, ready to be picked up. I called my brother-in-law Guy in Sarasota when we were passing thru his hometown of Chittnango, NY, but missed him.  It was beautiful in that area; rolling farmland.  He left there when he joined the Navy and never returned there to live.

It was dark when we pulled into the Canadian border and the Customs officer came aboard our bus and looked at our passports, and then sent us on.  This time we didn't have to get off the bus or have our luggage unloaded and inspected.  We pulled into the parking lot of the nicest hotel on our trip, the 30-story Embassy overlooking Niagara Falls.  

Arriving at Niagara Falls, Canada, at night

Niagara Falls will be featured next time.  Lots to say about this great place and some good photos.

Nova Scotia - 2nd day - Oct 5, 2010

Nell and Jim Gilmer at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Day 2 in Nova Scotia:  We traveled to the southeastern part of Nova Scotia, including Peggy's Cove and Halifax.  The lighthouse which includes a post office sits on solid rock. We had lunch at a restaurant near the lighthouse.  This little village on the Atlantic Ocean  has less than 50 permanent inhabitants. Many artists come here to paint the lighthouse and other scenes in the village

We left Peggy's Cove and traveled to Halifax, a big shipping port.  Our guide gave us a tour of the city and took us to Fairview Cemetery to see graves of many of those who died when the Titantic sank.
We went walking in the beautiful public garden before we left Halifax to return to Moncton,New Brunswick to spend our last night in Canada.

Public Garden

Fairview Cemetery 

Beautiful Nova Scotia

We arrived in Stellarton, Nova Scotia on Sunday afternoon, October 3, after crossing St. Lawrence Gulf on a large ferry.  We were greeted with a small boy playing bagpipes upon our arrival at the hotel.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, we boarded the bus to tour the beautiful Cabot Trail at Cape Breton, the northern part of Nova Scotia.  Our first stop was at a beautiful little Acadian fishing town of Cheticamp.  We went to Flora's gift shop where we saw hook rugs for sale and samples being worked on.

Then we visited Saint Pierre's Catholic Church nearby in Cheticamp.  This beautiful old church was built by the Acadians in the 1800s.  Our group was invited to come inside the church and some of the group sang from the beautiful choir loft.  It was beautiful!

From the church on the west side of Cape Breton, we followed the coastal trail along the St Lawrence Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast.  The scenery was beautiful. There were several golf courses along the way at Ingonish, and we stopped at a famous one, and used the restroom at a club house there.

We got back to Stellarton, late in the afternoon and spent another night there before going on to Halifax and Peggy's Cove the next day.

More about that later.

Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) Canada

7-mi long Confederation bridge
 from New Brunswick to PEI

On Sunday, October 3, 2010, we crossed the 7-mile long Confederation Bridge to get from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island (P.E.I. as they call it).  Everything was so clean and flowers blooming everywhere.

We traveled northwest to visit a factory where they make preserves.
The company's main site is a restored 1913 butter factory. This building houses the processing operation, a seasonal retail business, a 90 seat seasonal restaurant and a mail order business, all operating as one company. ...The factory was closed on Sunday but we enjoyed visiting the gift shop and walking in the beautiful garden adjacent to the building.T

Ocean side at Cavendish, PEI

iTraveling along the trail were  beautiful sights like the cliffs and
Ocean waves in the photo shown here.n
 site is a restored 1913 

Nell at Green Gables, PEI

Next we traveled to Cavendish, to visit the house used in filming Anne of Green Gables.

ctory. This building houses the processing operation, a 

We celebrated our 57th anniversary in Charlottetown, PEI, at a Lobster Restaurant.  Some chose steak or chicken instead.  Can you believe that?   After we had lunch overlooking the St Lawrence Gulf, we loaded on the bus and drove on the ferry to go to Nova Scotia, an hour-long trip on the water.  It was a beautiful and sunny day.   Arrived in Stellartown, Nova Scotia late in the afternoon and found  the nicest restaurant to have dinner.  Food was great.eason

Lobster for our 57th anniversary, PEI

Ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia

More later about out visit to places in Nova Scotia.ail order bs, all operating as one company.actory. This building houses the procry. This building houses the processing operation, a seasonal retail business, a 90 seat seasonal restaurant and a mail order business, all operating as one company.



.

On to Canada Maritime Provinces -

We left NY City around noon on Thursday, Sept 30  and stayed overnight in Bangor, Maine.  Got up the next morning and drove to the Canadian border to get to Saint John, New Brunswick.

Entering Canada

We were held up for almost 3 hours at the border for them to check us out!  Seems we were supposed to have submitted some "tour" paperwork that nobody knew anything about.  They took one of our passengers aside and interviewed him and finally let us go, after unloading all our luggage and having the drug dog sniff them out.  Luckily we didn't have anything illegal in them and they let us go.     (Click photos to enlarge)

Reversing Falls

Market Place

We travelled to Saint John and spent the night.  The next morning we had a guide to show us about the area.  We went to "reversing falls" which was most interesting.  When the tide goes in and out the rivers will be pushed back.  He took us back the next morning when the tide was receding and going in another direction. We enjoyed going to the City Market Place which has been in existence for over 100 years. We had fun looking around. Cruise ships pull in port here and support the markets.  Tourism is the main industry in the ports.

Hopewell Rocks at Bay of
Fundy

 Our guide traveled with us all day.when we left Saint John and went to the Bay of Fundy to walk on the ocean floor at low tide.  High  tide makes the water rise to 48 ft.at the place we visited.    

Nell walking on ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks

Magnetic Hill at Moncton, NB

We left the Bay of Fundy and drove to Moncton, New Brunswick where we experienced Magnetic Hill.  You drive down a small hill, put your vehicle in park, and gravity pulls it back up the hill (an optical illusion that you cannot see up close).   Then we located a great restaurant for dinner.

I would go walking every morning and found tread mills at all the hotels.  I would go around 6 am and get in my 30 minutes of walking before going to eat breakfast.  I was usually the only person in the fitness room.

Moncton was the last town to visit in New Brunswick, before leaving the next morning to go to another province, Prince Edward Island, known locally as P.E.I.

We always ate breakfast at the hotels where we stayed and most times they were hot buffets. No grits but some great omelets and lots of fruit and rolls.  And of course cereal and juices.  And the Canadian bacon was so good.

There was always a sea of luggage in the lobby every morning around 7:30 a.m.  The men on the bus helped the driver load the luggage (51 bags).  We bought 2 new pieces of luggage for the trip to hold clothes for 15 days.  They were really packed, and heavy.  Glad we had handles and wheels on them.