Beaches, Battles and Bears

Its been 9 days since our last blog entry.  In that time, we have travelled down Long Island, through New York and some of the Civil War battlefields, and along the spine of the Appalachians.

We spent a wet day in Groton, CT, visiting the USS Nautilaus, the first nuclear powered submarine. Suddenly our camper van felt terribly spacious.  A ferry over to Long Island saw us celebrating Tony's birthday by the sea.

Having explored the length and breadth of Long Island, from the rural villages of the Northern tip to the affluence of the Hamptons (where we were reduced to sleeping in a car park) - we moved on to the urban contrasts of New York City (where we were reduced to sleeping in a hotel!)

We had great fun in Central Park - check out Liberty's hula action - she looked the part but it was all rather ineffective!  We hadn't mentioned the Statue of Liberty to the girls, but they spotted her the moment we stepped on the Staten Island Ferry. There was much excitement about the multitude of "Liberty" products in New York, but none were worth photographing until....

Onwards, ever onwards, visits to the Civil War battlefields of Gettysburg, Antietam and Harper's Ferry proved educational for all. Harpers Ferry, a preserved 19C village on the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, was also the site of John Brown's pre-war insurrection -  though not his grave.

The last couple of glorious autumn days were spent in the Shenandoah National Park...

New England

After weeks of packing, unpacking, reorganising, disorganising and general chaos we finally left Ottawa on our grand tour, last Saturday. Francesca had planned ahead and organised a sleepover for our first two nights – comfortable beds, home-cooked food and even a hot tub, all courtesy of Anne, Judd and Morgan in Burlington, Vermont. So a huge thank you to them from all of us, but we aren’t sure how much it has eased the transition to living in a large tin can!

The foliage and weather were spectacular but the rain, chill and even a little snow set in whilst we pottered across New Hampshire and Massachusetts to Cape Cod.

We spent a couple of very English days on the beach before heading off for New Bedford, MA, a 19th century whaling town and the inspiration for Moby Dick – one of the girls’ current favourite stories.

Yesterday was spent visiting Newport, Rhode Island and its ostentatious, ‘gilded age’ mansions, very much at the other end of the spectrum to the working fishing wharves of New Bedford.

For those of you who are interested, the girls have even begged for more ‘mummy-school’ on a Saturday! Long may it last...

Getting Ready...

It is the girls' last day of school today and we are starting to pack up the 'famous van'.

2 more nights in proper beds....