The Wogsland Family Road Trip 2005

Alora and Brittan in Pennsylvania for the first time.

We started off early Saturday morning up I-81 from Tennessee. We passed through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania before turning east toward New Jersey. Alora and Brittan had never been to PA or NJ before.

We got to our campsite at Cheesequake State Park in the early afternoon, and so had plenty of time to tour the marsh and visit the playground before making dinner.

Relaxing while camping in Cheesequake, NJ.

Times Square, New York, NY.

Even the Statue of Liberty has boogers.

Sunday we got up early and rode the train into New York City, seeing quite a bit of the city as we walked 80+ blocks through Times Square, Central Park ("do they have a playground there?!"), to the Museum of Natural History, Little Italy, Chinatown, the World Trade Center site, and Wall Street. On Monday we visited the Statue of Liberty. If you go, be prepared to spend alot of time in security checks and not actually be allowed up in the statue.

After the disappointment on Liberty Island, we headed north on I-95 through the land of many tolls and soon found ourselves in Connecticut, where none of us had yet visited. We managed to hit no traffic on the way, and so reached Rocky Neck State Park in the early afternoon. We were pleasently surprised by the beauty we found there.

Brittan examines beach fauna at Rocky Neck State Park, CT.

We managed to get a history lesson in Salem, MA.

On Tuesday we continued on I-95 into our next new state, Rhode Island. About all we did there was get gas. Next came Massachusetts, where we planned to see Boston. It was pouring in Boston when we got there and the girls didn't really want to walk around another big city, so we continued on to Salem. Salem is a neat little town, but it was very cold. We decided to pass the day in museums. We saw some interesting things about the shipping history of the town, but most interesting was the Salem Witch Museum - our main reason for coming. The girls really enjoyed the history lesson, too.

After lunch we got back on the road and passed through New Hampshire and into Maine on I-95. We stopped in the evening just west of Bangor to camp. Nasty little private campgrounds they have in Maine. We were run out of one and not impressed with the one we stayed at, but we were all pretty tired. We broke camp before dawn and headed for New Brunswick and Canada.

This trash can really says it all about Maine.

Even in Fredricton, NB they have our favorite restaurant.

We got held up at Canadian customs by a nice old man who relished his role as a bureaucrat. After about an hour I finally managed to get him to agree to let us through after talking to my wife and getting her to fax up Alora & Brittan's birth certificates. When he finally got them, he sent us back to US customs to have them verified. The guys at US customs were apparently used to dealing with Mr. Bureaucrat. "What does he mean verify it?" said one to the other. "Just put a stamp on it, that should make him happy." said another. They stamped it and, sure enough, that was enough to let us in.

As with all of our roadtrips, the final goal was a place of primarily geologic interest. Our first two roadtrips in 2000 and 2001 were to Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming respectively. This time we chose the Bay of Fundy after having seen the pictures our friend Scott brought back from a trip to the same location.

The amateur geologist.

Brit walking along the edge of Daniel's Flats. Note the 20 ft deep crevasse through which the bay empties in the background.

We camped at Fundy National Park, which is near Hopewell Rocks, for two nights so we could see the Bay at high and low tide. The first night we saw high tide at Hopewell Rocks and then went to setup our campsite. It stays light rather late that far north in the summer, so we headed out to see a waterfall and explore the beach. On the beach we found some interesting plant fossils in the sandstone. One that we encountered particularly often was a sort of bamboo-looking tree which I later identified as Calamites from the Carboniferous Period. The next day low tide was at 8:55 AM, so we went to Hopewell Rocks early and played there until lunchtime.

After lunch we set out to see the other Atlantic Provinces of Canada. First we went to Prince Edward Island, or P.E.I. as the locals call it. There is not a whole lot there for non-Anne-of-Green-Gables-fans, so I wouldn't recommend wasting the $39.50 on the toll to cross Confederation Bridge. Nevertheless, there are some nice little towns and we did find a playground. Next we headed to Nova Scotia, where the signs are written only in English as opposed to English and French.

Alora plays on P.E.I.

Cornwallis Street in Halifax, NS.

Halifax is on the Atlantic seaboard, so there we found the wind (~100 km/h) and rain somewhat more intense. Walking down the street the wind almost knocked us over. Since this knd of ruled out picture taking, I took a picture of a streetsign you'd be hard pressed to find in any other major American city, but such pictures don't always come out well when driving in the driving rain. We had a nice dinner there before heading back to our campsite in NB. The next morning we decided to cut our cold trip short and head home. The girls really missed Maxwell and I was pining for Cara.

Viewing the St. Lawrence Seaway in La Pocati�re, Qu�bec.

Brittan et Alora en la Rue-du-St.-Louis, Qu�bec.

We headed west before going south this time for a change of scenery and to visit some places we'd never been before. Qu�bec is the opposite of NS: no English signs! Fortunately I still remember quite a bit of French from school. Enough, at least, to read roadsigns and order dinner. We stopped in the city of Qu�bec for dinner Thursday, and I was taken aback by the beauty of a culture I had heretofore only encountered through the lens of annoying French teachers. We will definitely return to Qu�bec.

I got a little "driven" to get home, so we drove over night. We came the rest of the way through Qu�bec to Montr�al. In Ontario we finally turned south onto I-81. US customs didn't have a problem letting us in either. We drove the entire length of I-81 through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and finally Tennessee - the whole distance the road goes! We finally pulled in the driveway 4ish on Friday.

Back in Tennessee after a very long drive.

Last modified on 12 June 2005 by Bradley James Wogsland.