Seeing the World

Today sees a drive into Vermont.  State four of this six state extravaganza!  Home to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

I did toy with the idea of visiting the factory.  But concluded that it was a little too far out of the way, would cost a silly amount and despite the free sample at the end wouldn’t give value for money.

Notwithstanding in my world factory v nature is an easy win for the latter.  As yesterday’s walk to the waterfalls proved.

Trees, chipmunks and streams pre-empted the main attraction.  A rocky, twiggy uphill path the challenge.  And we failed.  A “1.2 miles” sign was misleading.  We headed in the right direction, me using a much needed walking stick.  We stopped regularly to lighten our water bottles.  But we pressed on with the heat reaching us through the tall trees of our trail.

90 minutes later I sent Chris on ahead to see what was around the next corner.  More nature.  No waterfalls.  We gave up.  Not a hope in hell that 1.2 mile sign was accurate.

We descended happy.  But we’re disappointed to miss out on the main attraction.  Which, it turned out, was just a few hundred yards further on.

What Makes a Great Hotel on a Driving Holiday?

My accommodation selection mantra for these trips is simple.  Seek out free parking, wifi and breakfast.  I’ll sacrifice breakfast for a good price saving though.

Additional optional criteria come in around location.  I prefer remote, but not so remote that there’s nowhere to eat nearby.  I like a big room but in reality if you’re arriving late, staying a single night and leaving early it’s not important.  Night life is well down the list as collapsing on a bed and perusing the wifi seems to be my usual tired man approach.

Last night we discovered something of a gem in the middle of New Hampshire.  I’d prebooked it using Topcashback to earn commission and Hotels.com to gain free night credits.  But it started ticking boxes at a rapid rate.

While not cheap, it was well priced.  The car park was empty as we rolled in late afternoon.  The receptionist almost certainly the owner – not being a chain seems to score bonus points in my undocumented view of what’s great.

The welcome was friendly.  There’s a hot tub and pool.  A games room.  DVDs to watch in your room.  A series of cuddly toy animals lined the stairs.  As we entered the room for the first time it felt pleasing.  Not large at all, but just kitted out with furniture that felt homely.  Lacking a coffee machine but the mini travel kettle has been brought into service for the first time on this trip.

It struck me that I quite liked the fact you needed to go inside a lobby and corridor to get to your room.  Our last four nights had shared a convenience of being able to park outside a front door to a motel room where the larger structure has been reminiscent of a prison camp despite the mod cons inside.

Our New Hampshire home isn’t the Ritz.  But it’s got a warmth and welcome worth so much more to us.  We also met up with some fellow Oldham fans last night.  Because why wouldn’t you share time with people you’ve never met before, but sit within 100 yards of on a Saturday afternoon, when you’re all 3,000 miles away from home?

It was a fun evening.  Some interesting efforts at music from a stage.  Good food and good company.

Today will be travel or hot tub.  Not decided yet!

They Do Like Calling Things Washington

Somewhere from deep within I found a positive spirit.  If it’s always been there it’s been a little timid.  Dark moments of depression and anxiety have clouded my life at times.  You’d expect a death sentence to bring out the deepest sadness, not the pragmatic lets get on and enjoy life approach that I’ve somehow found.

I’m not really sure where it came from.  I think it materialised in the period where I discovered that my treatment was going to extend my average life expectancy from six months to thirty two months.  Seven months on I’m rather grateful for that.  Had the prognosis remained so short I think I’d have crawled away into a corner and disappeared quietly.  Death in service benefits from work actually incentivised me to die before redundancy on 31st May.  Without the afatinib drug I’d be feeling a little miffed to still be alive today!

Amidst the positive approach I do get the occasional morbid thought.  I’m not looking forward to the painful bits to come and final decline.  Equally I still hope for a cure or at least a better treatment.  It’s so close, but in a week that the boxer Errol Christie slipped away a couple of years after revealing his non smoker lung cancer I realise that the odds remain stacked against me benefiting from the next big thing.

I remember Errol Christie well and read a few parts of his cancer story yesterday.  He vowed to “fight” the disease in March 2015.  It’s a phrase I find difficult to comprehend.  I’m not sure how you fight it.  You take your treatment and your body then decides how successful that treatment is.  How long it lasts for.  How well you respond.

My understanding is that positive thinking won’t increase my life expectancy.  There’s precious little evidence to suggest it will.  What will be will be.  I accept that.  But what positivity will bring me – has brought me – is an enhanced quality of life.  Despite the disease reducing my mobility.  Despite hurting my back.

I can’t fight what I can’t physically stop.  I can’t out-think the disease in my head.  I like the image of my drugs zapping my tumours.  But that’s medical magic working within me.  Not my mind over matter.

I’m convinced a positive mindset has significantly improved my life.  We can all learn from that.  Long may it continue.  Alas, I am very much accepting of the reality that it can’t extend my time.

50 Shades of Green

I’d planned on two days for Acadia and Cadillac Mountain.  But we’d done it in less than a day so an early drive from Bar Harbor to Augusta, the state capital.  A pool afternoon to come in the 35 Celsius heat then!

The two hour drive revealed rather a lot of trees by the highway.  At this time of year they’re as many shades of green as I’ve seen.  New England in the fall is doubtless as spectacular as they say, when the autumnal browns take hold.

But in June it is perhaps a little predictable to this Englishman.  Beautiful to a point.  But maybe not different enough to wow me.

Still, the quiet and open roads remain.  My love of the American highways rekindled after the stress of city driving.  And free parking is back in play!

How’s the Health Holding Up?

Make no mistake.  Visiting the USA with terminal cancer is an uninsured risk that I am very aware of.  The land of the free is anything but when it comes to health care and even a few nights in hospital here could decimate my redundancy money.  A couple of years ago I was hit with a $2,000 bill for a tooth abscess in Vegas which was basically a couple of hours in the Emergency Room.

While insurance will cover new conditions, it’s possible that they could turn around and tell me something is a side effect of my medication or find another way to wriggle out of a claim.  So I’m wary.  Chris knows to get home and leave me if circumstances dictate.  I know to book a fresh flight and get out of Dodge if I’m declining but not immobile.

So while Chris himself labours on in good spirits despite some sort of throat infection, I’m carefully monitoring my own “performance”.

Bells palsy remains a secondary concern.  My right eye is sore and remains permanently open.  Driving can, after a time, become difficult.  Light glare occasionally painful.  I bought a pair of shades in Salem but they broke within hours.  Chris shares his.  I’ve also discovered that while eye drops are ok my pasty eye gunge  medicine provides better protection on the road.  It’s a good job my right eye is useless in the good times.  A damaged left eye would be the end of driving for me while the palsy persists as it provides 90% of my vision.

A couple of weeks back I was convinced my tumours were back.  Fortunately the hip/lower back pain faded and the hospital blood tests and X-Ray found nothing to worry about.

That same pain has returned though.  My rarely used supply of painkillers has been employed for the last few days.  In my head it’s a growing tumour.  In truth I don’t really know.  In my head the afatinib zapped it last time after a few days.  Here’s hoping to a repeat if it is what I think it is.  My side effects from medication dropped completely after arrival in Boston.  In the last two days the spots have returned slightly.  Maybe this is a sign that the drug is working harder.  Who knows?

In the meantime, while worried, I just get on with it.  The experts weren’t in a rush to get me in front of them last time.  So unless there’s a dramatic deterioration things carry on as planned.  And the pain is dramatically less intrusive than what I went through last year.

At least my gammy toe seems healed!

Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor

I’ve never heard of Acadia National Park before. It’s impressive though.

I paid $80 for an annual pass to all the American national parks, rather than $25 for a single visit. A statement of intent to return soon. And if I don’t a farewell gift to a foreign nation’s parklands that have a natural beauty that has provided me with so many magical memories over the last few years.

Acadia itself is small. But really pleasant. A 1,530 foot mountain may not sound impressive but it’s the first place in the USA to see the sun each day due to its eastern location. Moderately bleak views over the many islands of the nearby ocean as well as a series of lakes mighty close to the sea but not saltwater. Surrounded by large amounts of never ending greenery.

The English Lake District is probably the best UK comparator. Acadia has more immediate coastal access and pretty harbours nearby. The Lake District is bigger and perhaps a little more spectacular.

But this is the first time on land since touching down that I’ve thought “wow”. As we’ve headed north the traffic has thinned out and the coast has become more interesting, even intriguing. It’s more like the South West USA without the canyons!

History lessons are marked out throughout the park as well as maps highlighting views off islands in Frenchman Bay.  I’m intrigued by Bald Porcupine island and what inspired that naming!  The bay itself named after rather unsporting French sailors who used to hide their vessels behind the many islands before attacking English ships as they came past.  Rather unsporting of them.

If you visit the top right corner of the USA Acadia is definitely worth a day.  The peak of Cadillac Mountain worth seeking out.  And tiny harbour towns like the inappropriately name North East Harbor, which sits on the south west corner of its own part of the island, worth dropping into for a brief visit.  Bar Harbor is pretty and ice cream expensive!  At least car parks were, at last free!

The generosity of the wether has continued.  Acadia’s lowlands affording us 87F in local money which is 30C back home.

Long may it continue!

Seeing the Second Biggest Creature on the Planet

The drive from Kennebunk to Portland took 45 minutes.  It should have been less, but I overrode the sat nav and headed north out of our motel.  Mistake.  U turn needed.  A late Denny’s breakfast which included a pot of hot water and a tea bag.  Unwrap and dip it yourself.  Does nobody outside Britain know how to make a good brew?

Then down to the harbour.  I selected the bargain $10 a day parking next to the $4.50 an hour gig.  This trip has become a car parking rip off fest!

A queue at the whale watching booth and $98 later we were on the boat!  This was on my Iceland list, but the large mammals rather inconveniently didn’t hang out in March.  We tried Gloucester 48 hours earlier but the ocean going locals thought the sea was a bit choppy and cancelled.  It was a glorious day!

This time our boat chugged out into the harbour.  Or harbor as they spell it this side of the pond.  We admire the lighthouses, islands and oil terminal while the captain shared tails of who had owned various islands at various points in time.

As the vessel entered the open sea I began to snooze, aided by the gentle rocking motion.  We spotted a porpoise who legged it rapidly.  Then another – same outcome.

Nearly two hours in and we were beginning to think the whales were gone.  Then sight of a water spout.  Got one!  A couple more spouts and then this huge beauty surfaced.  Majestic.  Beautiful.  And then gone.  An arching dive and lost to us.

It wasn’t a blue whale.  As a kid I’d been taught that blue whales were extinct.  Fortunately not the case and the largest mammal that even existed still survives today.  But the expert in the cabin told us that the Fin Whale we’d just seen was the second biggest creature on the planet.  And very much endangered.

A couple of Mink Whale put on an entertaining side show but the Fin Whale was the main draw and surfaced again a few minutes later.  Blowing water out of her spout a few more times and then a little wiggle just for us before diving again.  Another wait before returning to the surface for an impressive swim to demonstrate just how beautiful this creature is.  Then the final dive.

And that was pretty much it.  Whale seen.  Job done.  Memory made.  A “better” whale than I ever expected to see.  A real result.  A long drive to Bar Harbor followed.  A great day drew to a close.  Happy.

Hotels – Getting What You Pay For

It’s already night four of this trip.  4am wake up call local time.  I feel jet lagged but this is a common interruption hour for my sleep pattern.

The first three nights have seen us stay in two Hilton hotels.  Large rooms.  Tasty, status attracted, free breakfasts.  Room service facilities.  Practical comfort in identikit boxes with little character.  And £700 spent in total.  Ouch!

Last night we left Massachusetts, drove through New Hampshire and fifteen minutes later ended up in Maine.  Three states in no time at all! The roads were quieter.  The highways tree lined.  While I can imagine the fall being more impressive than the greens of June I’m still yearning for the West Coast.  But the Avios would never have got me that far!

Most of the hotels around the picturesque Kennebunkport and Porpoise Cove were also pricey.  I reverted to my usual “seek out a bargain” methods and we’ve ended up in a perfectly acceptable and comfortable £55 motel.  Well, £56 after the pound weakened against the dollar the night before.

There’s no kettle, coffee machine, food or anything.  But there are two beds and a shower.  And a handful of eateries nearby.  I’d be going stir crazy after a week, after all, the accommodation blocks resemble a Nazi prison camp.  But one night allows me to call this place a rustic stopover.

We ate out in a sports bar / fish restaurant last night.  Valet parking.  I forgot to tip at drop off but recovered things on collection.  An hour of enjoyable baseball banter with the offspring.  Boston v Detroit.  Predictable comparisons to cricket.  Laughing at the nonsensical exaggerated motions of the umpires.  Gradually getting to understand that the game has its own version of no balls and wides.  And despite my love of five day test cricket wishing the baseball guys would stop arising about chewing their gum  and get on with the game.

Food was good too!

Gloucester and Rockport

As Theresa May discovered there were politicians in Northern Ireland we enjoyed our last Hilton hotel breakfast of the trip.  A magnificent cooked to order omelette followed classic American waffles.  We then loaded our bags into the car and headed for Gloucester.

The plan was to hop on a boat and see whales.  The reality was a little different.  The morning boats had all departed earlier and the afternoon boats had all been cancelled due to an iffy weather forecast.  With the sun still shining as I write I’m a tad miffed.

We found a visitor centre and were enthusiastically told about the historic town’s wharfs, docks and a walk around the place.  So we set out eagerly.  Yes there was sea and boats.  But also light industry, like a paint factory.  It became clear quite quickly that despite the positive write-ups online Gloucester just didn’t have what we wanted.

Yes, there were a number of attractive looking eateries.  But the experience was a bit like trying to convince yourself that Fleetwood is an exceptional destination of great natural and architectural beauty.  We returned to the car, handed our all day $5 parking ticket to a grateful local and headed to Rockport.

This was different.  And great.  A bit like a Cornish harbour surrounded by wooden construction houses that were all shops and restaurants selling high quality tourist wares.  We ate a stuffed clam each while watching others down giant red lobster!  We also found an appealing shop called the fudgery.  The 1/2lb purchase won’t last us long.

Rockport might not have been big.  There weren’t any fairground rides to see.  But it had a bright, airy and happy feel about it.  We spent a fair old time there chilling.  Admiring the houses.  Enjoying the sea air.  Dad and lad doing nothing together.

It’s a great feeling.  Porpoise Cover later.

Salem – Where They Didn’t Burn Witches!