Travels WithJohn and Janice

Travel blog

Every trip we've shared since 2011—filter by where we went, when we traveled, or what we explored.

Showing 12 of 236 posts

Bob Bittner at the DJ console of WJTO, his Bath, Maine AM radio stationUnited States
3 min read2012

Dateline July 25, 2012, Bath, Maine, and the Radio Guy

Out of Acadia and south down the Maine coast to Bath, to visit Bob Bittner, who has known Janice since grade school. They had not seen each other since high school, until Facebook reconnected them. Bob and his wife Raisa, an architect who redesigned their place themselves, live on a stretch of water acreage with a great room and a view from the back porch. Bob has been in the radio business for twenty years and owns two AM stations playing adult standards from the 1930s through the 1960s, drawing from a library of more than 5,400 records. We toured the studio (78s, 33s, and 45s for the youngsters), and the garage, where Bob's lifetime license-plate collection runs into the thousands. And then we waved goodbye, and headed home, the long summer through four Canadian provinces and a slice of Maine quietly closing behind us.

#maine#bath-maine#bob-bittner
Read story
The view of Bar Harbor and Frenchman Bay from the summit of Cadillac Mountain, the tallest peak on the Atlantic seaboardUnited States
6 min read2012

Dateline July 25, 2012, Acadia National Park

From Campobello across the FDR Bridge into Maine, and on to Mount Desert Island for Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. The island is the second largest on the US east coast, with 26 mountains on it, including 1,530-foot Cadillac, the tallest along the Atlantic seaboard. Bar Harbor itself, a Gilded Age resort that once rivaled Newport, was largely lost to a fire in 1947 that smoldered underground through the winter, then was rebuilt. Plus a stop at the Desert Mountain Oceanarium for a hatchery tour with lobsterman David Mills, who explained how Maine's lobstermen voluntarily protect their own brood stock with size minimums, size maximums, and notched females, and why the catch has been growing year over year because of it. Then the history of Acadia itself, George Dorr's 43-year campaign, John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s carriage roads, and the long story of how 47,000 acres got preserved.

#maine#acadia-national-park#bar-harbor
Read story
The Hopewell Rocks at low tide, New Brunswick, the Bay of Fundy's signature flowerpot formationsCanada
8 min read2012

Dateline July 22, 2012, Back to the Bay of Fundy on the North Side, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

Back from Newfoundland and onto the north shore of the Bay of Fundy. The Truro tidal bore turned out to be a small wake of a wave that produced an entire crowd singing 'Is That All There Is?' Five Islands, Nova Scotia, was the most beautiful campground of the trip, with hummingbirds at the fish store next door. The Hopewell Rocks at low tide in New Brunswick. Kelly's Bakery cinnamon buns in Alma. And a meaningful detour: a Fairweather family ancestry mission in Sussex on behalf of John's brother Will, where we found four graves of our forebears, including Hanford Fairweather, who died at age ten and for whom John is named. Then to Saint John, the Reversing Falls, the ferry to Deer Island and on to Campobello, FDR's summer cottage, and the bridge across to Lubec, Maine. Back in the USA.

#canada#nova-scotia#new-brunswick
Read story
Atlantic salmon working their way up the fish ladders at the Salmonid Interpretation Center, Grand Falls-WindsorCanada
8 min read2012

Dateline July 17, 2012, Trinity and Gros Morne National Park

Out of St. John's heading west on the Trans-Canada Highway. Brigus first, the birthplace of Captain Bob Bartlett, the great Newfoundland Arctic mariner shipwrecked at least twelve times, with the 1860 Tunnel that John Hoskins cut through solid rock by hand. Then Trinity, a working heritage community where the Rising Tide Theatre's New Founde Lande Pageant walks you through the village telling Newfoundland history in song and story. Atlantic salmon climbing the ladders at Grand Falls-Windsor. Then Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland's UNESCO geology, where 500-million-year-old ocean floor was thrust up into mountains, and a boat trip down Western Brook Pond, a freshwater fjord with pitcher plants in the bogs and Pissing Mare Falls plunging from the plateau above. Then the ferry back to Nova Scotia.

#canada#newfoundland#brigus
Read story
The view down to St. John's harbor from Signal HillCanada
5 min read2012

Dateline July 14, 2012, St. John's, Cape Spear, Signal Hill, and the Screech-In

Standing at Cape Spear, the easternmost point of mainland North America, with your back to the sea, the entire continent is behind you. Face the sea and the next stop is Ireland. The oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland sits here, kept by the Cantwell family for over 150 years. Then up to Signal Hill and Cabot Tower, where Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901, the receiving end of the same circuit we had just seen the Cape Breton transmitting side of a few days before. The harbor below, the WWII gun batteries, the views of St. John's. Then George Street in the evening for a pub or two, and a partial entry into the Royal Order of Screechers, John kissing the cod, Janice and John both passing on the rum.

#canada#newfoundland#st-johns
Read story
A Northern Gannet soaring along the cliffs at Cape Saint Mary's Ecological ReserveCanada
3 min read2012

Dateline July 12, 2012, Arriving in Newfoundland and Cape Saint Mary's

The overnight ferry from North Sydney to Argentia, Newfoundland. A huge ship, ten decks, cabin with two bunk beds and an easy crossing. From Argentia, a 90-minute drive south to Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve at the southwest tip of the Avalon Peninsula, one of the most accessible great seabird colonies in North America. We arrived in dense fog, almost gave up, and got pointed out the mile-long path to the colony by a ranger who promised the fog would lift at the end. He was right. 70,000 birds in the air and on the cliffs: Northern Gannets, Black-Legged Kittiwakes, and Common Murres. The lighthouse finally came into view on the way back.

#canada#newfoundland#argentia
Read story
The finale of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, Halifax, July 2012Canada
8 min read2012

Dateline July 11, 2012, Halifax, the Tattoo, and Cape Breton

Into Halifax for the Maritime Museum, where the Titanic story still lives because Halifax was the port that received the bodies. A reunion with Roadtrek friends Ann and Ruth, who had just arrived in Nova Scotia. The Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo on Saturday afternoon, with the 1812 Overture and a surprise wedding inside the show. Then over to Cape Breton: the Ceilidh Trail, fish and chips at the Rankin family's Red Shoe Pub in Mabou, a shot at the Glenora single-malt distillery, the Cabot Trail, the Englishtown cable ferry, and a quiet round at Seaview Golf. And finally the Marconi National Historic Site at Glace Bay, where a retired ham operator named James Charlong gave us a tour that turned out to be one of the highlights of the whole trip, partly because John had reviewed Morse code messages for the Army Security Agency a long career ago, and standing at the foundations of Marconi's 1902 transatlantic station closed a quiet circle.

#canada#nova-scotia#halifax
Read story
The lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, one of the most photographed spots on the Atlantic coastCanada
8 min read2012

Dateline July 5, 2012, Nova Scotia, Pictou to Peggy's Cove

Off the ferry at Pictou and across mainland Nova Scotia. Truro at the top of the Bay of Fundy, where we missed the tidal bore by a few hours. Grand Pré on the Annapolis Valley with the Bay's enormous tides going out at our campground. Two wineries in one afternoon, including a Scottish ex-pat ENT surgeon named Jon Muir Murray who had landed in Nova Scotia by way of South Africa and Bermuda. Parker's Cove, a working fishing village where the lobster boats stand on wooden braces at low tide and a fresh two-pound lobster cost $4.50 a pound. Our 13th anniversary, played at Annapolis Royal Golf Club, dinner of lobster and haddock from the village fish market with champagne from Domaine de Grand Pré. Then Shelburne, Lunenburg with the Bluenose II under restoration, and the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove.

#canada#nova-scotia#pictou
Read story
Sunset over the Roadtrek at Crystal Beach Campground, Prince Edward IslandCanada
9 min read2012

Dateline July 1, 2012, Canada Day on Prince Edward Island

Three days on Prince Edward Island over the long Canada Day weekend. The Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick. The Bottle Houses of Édouard T. Arsenault, three buildings made from 25,000 reclaimed bottles. The Wind-Hydrogen Village at North Cape, where wind turbines split water into hydrogen for backup. A rainbow over the Roadtrek at Crystal Beach. Charlottetown and the actual room where Canadian Confederation began in 1864. Lobster sandwiches at St. Peters Bay and an elderly local named Chuck telling us what the place was like in the 1930s. The Prince Edward Distillery, run by a Florida B&B owner and a North Carolina granddaughter of pre-Prohibition distillers. A long evening of cross-border conversation with Chris and Mylissa Greening. Then the Canada Day ferry to Nova Scotia.

#canada#prince-edward-island#pei
Read story
Percé Rock standing out of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the iconic natural arch of the Gaspé PeninsulaCanada
4 min read2012

Dateline July 4, 2012, Gaspé Peninsula and Eastern New Brunswick

Out of Quebec City on Route 132 along the south shore of the St. Lawrence, the long curving drive out to the Gaspé Peninsula. The Appalachian Mountains end here. Pouring rain through the small fishing villages, the side roads called navigateurs threading down to the shore and back, and then the sky clearing in time for Percé Rock, the great natural arch standing out of the water like a ship under sail. A fish market in Cap-d'Espoir, a campsite on the beach at Carleton-sur-Mer, cod for dinner. Across the bridge to New Brunswick at Campbellton for a thunder-shortened round at Restigouche Golf and Country Club. Sensational clam chowder in Moncton. A tree-house campsite in Miramichi. Janice picking a steamed lobster apart on the side of the road for sandwiches. Then the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island.

#canada#quebec#new-brunswick
Read story
The Château Frontenac rising above Old Quebec CityCanada
7 min read2012

Dateline June 20-23, 2012, Montreal and Quebec City

From the wedding, north to Canada. A visit with Janice's cousin Bobbie Dawes in Clinton, New York, a free overnight at the Akwesasne Mohawk casino, and over the border to Camping Alouette outside Montreal. Lunch at Poutineville with David Williams (Parker's cousin, so a Wilson by way of Carol), and with Courtney and Amanda, who shared the news that grandchild number two was on the way. The afternoon at Saint Joseph's Oratory on Mount Royal. Then on to Quebec City for the only walled city in North America, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, the Château Frontenac, the Citadel, and the story of how the British took Quebec in 1759. Plus a garage update from home.

#canada#quebec#montreal
Read story
James and Mary Wilson on their wedding day, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, June 16, 2012Pennsylvania
4 min read2012

Dateline June 16, 2012, James and Mary's Wedding in Gettysburg

Back in the Roadtrek after two weeks home. The garage project is underway in the old carport, the foundation blocks set. First stop, Gettysburg, where our son James married Mary Albin under a beautiful summer sky. Rehearsal dinner at Appalachian Brewing Company. The toast, naming the five women in James's life, from sister Kieran through to Mary. The Wilson family sword from 1944, used to cut every wedding cake since Jack and Grammy. A garden wedding in Hanover. Mary becomes Mary Wilson. Eastern Canada is next.

#pennsylvania#gettysburg#hanover-pa
Read story