needing help with Canadian trip

[Carl V]

Originally Posted by neparker

- NS: Edison museum in Baddeck, NS

It's more like the Alexander Graham Bell museum.

[neparker]

Originally Posted by Carl V

It's more like the Alexander Graham Bell museum.

oops! thanks for the correction.

[patrick crawford]

thanks to all of you who gave me much needed information. since i'm in the very beginning of the planning stage and nothing is written in stone i now have some valuable info to chart my course. my aversion to metro areas may very well cause me to reconsider visiting the falls (i saw it once as a kid and doubt it's changed a lot besides becoming much more crowded).

thanks again

p@

[Scamper Jim]

Don't forget the must-see Whirligig Festival in Sherburne, NS. Videos of it are on youtube. Some are quite clever.

[neparker]

I completely forgot North Cape lighthouse on PEI. It's a experimental wind farm with a nice restaurant overlooking the ocean, a hiking trail and a very fascinating museum. Another place I thought we'd be in and out of quickly. Not so!

[Uplander]

Patrick Crawford, Since I have traveled most of the route you are going to be traveling (last summer visiting both my son inSouth Carolina and a trip up to coastal Maine) I will suggest a route that avoids metro city traffic as much as possible and give you some scenic driving. It will involve a few extra miles over the Interstate 95 route that looks direct but the traffic is horrendous and the last place you would want to tow a trailer through...delays upon delays...a road even truckers avoid at all costs.

From South Carolina get on Interstate 81 northbound and stay on it until you reach Scranton, Pennsylvania there take Interstate 84 eastbound through New York (avoiding the New York City traffic zoo) on into Connecticut and on into Massachusetts (still on Interstate 84 look for Interstate 90 eastbound toward Boston...take I90 a short distance to exit for Interstate 290 take that to Interstate 495....this will connect you to Interstate 95 (bypassing the traffic mess around Boston. You will enter Maine on Interstste 95 but for part of your trip up to your entry point into Canada you will use Interstate 295 in Maine then return to I95......at this point you have a few choices..one is to exit I95 onto route 9 in the Brewer, Maine area...route 9 will bring to to Calais, Maine where you can then cross into New Brunswick, Canada to take route 1 on through to Nova Scotia....this is the most direct route...it avoid most of the metro areas and believe me I have tried over the years to find a stress free route for the journey you are about to undertake. Your driving time will be measured in days...not hours. My personal recommendation is to join AAA the auto club with there RV membership then you will have access to Free Camping Guides for the United States and Canada. Paper maps of every state and Canadian provincial area you plan to travel through (the paper map details are most helpful). AAA offers "Trip-Tik" travel planning services at no cost. Lastly, if you do not have a GPS I strongly suggest you get one. I have always used "TOM TOM" and my current GPS came loaded with complete mapping for the U.S. And Canada. I paid about $100 at Walmart and it included free lifetime updates via the Internet.

Save these routes as they might be useful. I have been traveling to Maine every year for over 20 years...enjoy your adventure...allow plenty of time.

Happy Camping!

[Mitzi Agnew-Giles]

Researching "eggs" also a newby, but in 2007 I bought a tent bigger than my first apartment, rented a van and took the grandchildren (13 and 8) north with the spring for the month of June. Climax was Niagara Falls. We stayed in the KOA on the American side and signed up for a guided tour of Niagara. The guided tours get to jump the lines. We visited the whirlpool, the gorge, the Maid of the Mist (where my 8 yr old granddaughter posed with young Japanese ladies who were impressed with her Hello Kitty outfit) Cavern of the Wind, and one other I can't remember. Didn't have to hassle any parking and our tour guide was very knowledgeable. The next day we crossed into Canadian Niagara. We went to the Brick World, which is all things Lego. Scads of Lego constructions and 3 different sizes of Legos stashed for your construction pleasure. This had mainly been for dear Grandson's delight but bith granddaughter and I enjoyed this immensely. Talked to a staff member who said that adults outnumber kids in the visitors 3 to 1. I hope you enjoy your trip as much as we did. PS When /If I ever go back to Maine I am going to go visit the Old Sow whirlpool near Deer Island also. Biggest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere!

[Dudley]

Funny, Norm mentioned the Hopewell Rocks. One of them collapsed a couple of days ago.
Hopewell rock collapse

no stopping mother nature and the power of water!