Back in the US of A!

Monday, Sep 16, we re-entered the United States, at Niagara Falls, and stayed in the area two nights; it could have been longer!  First day we explored on our own after checking into the KOA on Grand Island, NY, just a few short miles from Niagara Falls.  Then next day (Tuesday), we signed up for a guided tour of Niagara Falls, which took us, by bus, foot and boat all over, around, and under the falls, an unforgettable experience.

  We took off, on a Wednesday morning, across New York and into lower Vermont, taking maybe 30 minutes to traverse the entirety of this small New England state West to East, over-nighting on the Eastern Vermont border.  The towns here in Vermont were quaint and cute, what you'd think of as prototypical New England towns.

Next day we headed across New Hampshire into, soon enough, Southern Maine, and then headed up the Maine turnpike to our Easternmost terminus in Ellsworth Maine near Acadia National Park, arriving Thursday, Sep 19th.  We have settled in here, exploring much of "DownEast Maine", as the locals call it.  Big thing here is LOBSTER, and main menu items are either Lobster Roll or Whole Lobster.  On Tuesday, Sep 24th, we both finally sampled the Whole Lobster at a little dining place called Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound (that's what they call these places, maybe because they scalp you for the privilege by charging by the pound... a lot of it heavy claws and body armor... for the live lobster cooked to serve at your plate).

 To my way of thinking it was quite good; but then again I'm kind of a sucker for seafood, and most particularly shellfish; for instance the steamed mussels and clams were equally good.

In any event, we've enjoyed the week long stay here, including a day trip up to New Brunswick, Canada for lunch in a nice little town on the waterfront called St. Andrews; but there's nothing extraordinary about the Maine Coast; and it certainly, to my view, doesn't hold up to the visual grandeur of the Oregon Coast.  Soon (Thursday, Sep 26), we will be off to Massachusetts on the next leg of our Cross-Continental tour.