We retired September 19 and lsft for New England. We could gaze fondly eastward toward Newfoundland pretty sure we will be back there on Meta Fog next summer.

This trip was about hiking, tenting, eating lobster and visiting old, they go way back, friends.

We had wonderful hiking in Maine. The trails were friendly and the vistas continual. We stayed in Southwest Harbor on Mt. Desert. There were NO t-shirt or fudge shops. Our morning ritual, after crawling out of the tent was a walk to the seawall to meditate on the beauty and get warmed by the sun. Breakfast came out of the cooler, coffee was in town with a good book, then on to the trails about noon. We hiked until we couldn't, then found a little place with wine and lobster for dinner. After four days of beautiful sun, we had thick fog and drove to Schoodic Point for a rest day. We intended to take a short hike but the loop was longer than we thought and dumped us on the road where our car was not. We did not know which the one way road went, or which way our car was. Eventually a car came along (they had actually seen our car and "wondered about it"), so we could set off. This is the stuff that gives our kids bad dreams.

New Hampshire was next and was a series of disappointments. The weather turned cold so we had to dig to find a B&B due to all the people coming to see the "colors" that weren't. The owner was a pathological liar. He set the table for six and kept insisting there were others staying in the house, they had just left, etc. We were right by the stairs--there was no one else. Creepy! Even the bad food was a little suspicious. The hiking was hard. I insisted on plan B when 20 feet up the first trail we found a ladder jambed into the vertical granite rock with rungs four feet apart.  And that was just the beginning.  The ranger had suggested two other trails.  He overestimated us and took us for youngsters as these went either straight up or straight down and weren't even pretty until you got to the top.  Too grueling.  We left and drove to Vermont.  

In Vermont we restored our soles and our souls.  We sat and read even longer in the mornings and took short drives to short walks.  We thought about renting bikes to ride on the wonderful bike system in Burlington on Lake Champlain but the wind was blowing really hard and it was looking  like a bad idea since we had to go more than one way.  Our tent was protected from the wind so we were howled to sleep at night.  The food was great and less pricey than NH.  We were happy.

We have come home to enjoy our lack of schedule.  We have to ask each other what day it is.  We might have to go to the system they use in the hospitals and mark off the days.  What a treat!