Several days after 9/11 we decided to move on with a little change in plans ~ don’t visit targets such as NYC, DC, etc…

So we drove. Drove from Niagara Falls to Toronto ~ home of BNL if you didn’t know.

The closest RV park to Toronto was a 45 minute drive out of downtown. We love downtown areas and Toronto is one of the cleanest big cities we’ve ever been to. This shot is in the CN Tower in the worlds highest observation tower. A little freaky days after 9/11 but we figured America was under attack and this tower was a thin target and why not anyway.

Canadians are way into their Moose ~ this is one of many adorning the streets of Toronto.

We also visited Africa. Do you remember when we were in Africa?

Heading north of Toronto on the St. Lawrence river ~ the only river in North America that flows north.

We stayed in Carrying Place on the St Lawrence River which is an American / Canadian border. About three in the morning we became convinced that there was a ground assault happening but it turned out to be opening day of duck hunting season. Fear sucks.

Somebody told us to go to Gananoque because of its beauty ~ we went and stayed one night but were told not to hook up to the water without boiling it because of sewage seepage. So we left after living on our water tank and went slightly south to Kingston which is also a little bit larger of a city and stayed in a great city park with hookups. We LOVE Kingston, Ontario and Tim Hortons.

Fort Henry was a really cool tour at night ~ spooky tour. Haunted place. Creepy hallways.

We also rented a boat to tool around the region known as Thousand Islands. We ended up at Boldt Castle where this guy built this castle for his honey but she died before it was finished and it was never moved into but they saved it for a museum and tours.

That were way too expensive for five so we hung out on the docks and peeked through the fences.

Turns out this castle is on American soil and since we boated over there, we had to check in with US customs on Boldt island.

They kept Kesley ~ we miss her.

Boating around the castle was a view of the boat house ~ the boat house!

We really enjoyed our boating adventure through the Thousand Islands and only broke down once which is pretty good for a boat. The gas tank wasn’t hooked up right and Greg was able to figure it out before the boat company had to come save us. Once we were back on Canadian soil to return the boat we were very tired, loaded the car, and went to the RV ~ then remembered we were supposed to check in with Canadian customs at the marina. Oops. We called them and got thoroughly chewed out and are probably on some suspected terrorist or drug and gun smuggling list in Canada now.

So we fled so fast that we missed the Vermont state line.

Safely deep into US territory we were able to stop once again as travelers. This is actually the opposite side of the NH sign above. Weak. Really weak. And lazy.

We made it to the Atlantic coast for the first time ever in Portland, ME!!!

Portland, Maine is a cool little town with an awesome waterfront.

They had these pieces of the Berlin Wall…

and its wisdom.

We stayed in this great RV park in Maine during the peak Fall season for colors. They close all the RV parks up north for winter and we got lucky to because the guy hadn’t shown up to blow the pipes so they let us stay for a few days. At night it got really creepy and we heard these wailing sounds not too far away.

Turns out there was an elk farm nearby and elk make really weird noises.

After they closed Maine to RV’ers we headed south to shut down Massachusetts.

Seriously ~ shut down in late October. RVs just don’t work when they’re frozen. We stayed in Salem, Mass for our first time at an old Coast Guard station. This is the view out the back of our RV window where the kids found lots of starfish.

Apparently it’s illegal to touch the starfish…

the kids are now living in dungeons as witch heretics for worshiping starfish.

We took the dogs to visit the graveyard and rub gravestones off the beaten path.

Wow!

Spooky.

Not really.

So we’re chillin’ in Salem and Greg’s dad calls ~ at the time he was a Police Chaplain in Austin, TX and he wants to meet us in New York City to help him out as a volunteer with the recovery efforts. We had changed our plans to NOT go to NYC, but couldn’t resist the opportunity to help.