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Aug. 18 – Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

By on August 29, 2022 in The Pearl
“When a man moves away from nature, his heart becomes hard.” —Lakota Proverb

One day we decided to drive over to Boothbay to visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. There are 300 acres of gardens and natural spaces to explore, which includes a native butterfly and moth house, a children’s garden and a fairy house village, just to name a few of the special features the gardens have to offer.

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Aug. 13-20 Maine Family Vacation

By on August 28, 2022 in The Pearl
“My family is my strength and my weakness.” – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Summer vacations are about having fun, eating ice cream, swimming, playing games, exploring, riding bikes, hiking, experiencing new things, and enjoying good food. But most of all it’s about spending time with family and making lifelong memories. We’ve been doing all these things this summer and enjoying every minute. Here are the highlights of our first few days in Maine.

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Aug. 22 – Peggy’s Cove, NS

By on August 24, 2022 in The Pearl
“It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.” –Jim Rohn

Although Peggy’s Cove is a very very small place and just one cute community we visited on this day, I decided it deserved its own post, because I have so many wonderful photos to share. It’s famed for its picturesque and typically East-Coast profile, with houses perched along a narrow inlet and on wave-washed boulders facing the Atlantic. This unique environment has been designated a preservation area, but yet it’s still an active fishing community.

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Aug. 20 – Ferry to Yarmouth, NS

By on August 22, 2022 in The Pearl
“Dance with the waves, move with the sea, let the rhythm of the water set your soul free.” –Christy Ann Martine 

We drove from Rockport to Bar Harbor and had a chance to catch up with cruising friends we haven’t seen since the spring of 2021. We had enough time to enjoy walking along the shore path before lunch at The Terrace Grille at the Bar Harbor Inn. It was so much fun catching up with Burt and Prue. They spend the summer on their boat in Maine and know all the great things to do and good places to eat.

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Nova Scotia Adventure

By on August 20, 2022 in The Pearl
“What we find in a soulmate is not something wild to tame, but something wild to run with.” – Robert Brault 

We’re hoping that the third time’s the charm. We’ve tried to visit Nova Scotia twice before. In 2016 we wanted to take the boat to Nova Scotia while we were in Maine, but we ran out of time and never made it that far east. Our second attempt was in 2019. That year we planned a road trip to Nova Scotia, but Hurricane Dorian kept us away. Instead we had a wonderful trip discovering New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy. This year our plan is taking the ferry from Bar Harbor over to Yarmouth, NS. The ferry will shorten the time it’ll take us to get to Nova Scotia and give us more time to explore. CONTINUE READING HERE…»

Back to Maine

By on August 15, 2022 in The Pearl
“Don’t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be Happy. So when they grow up they will know the value of things, not the price.” –Steve Jobs
We’re back in Maine, except for a drive through on our way to New Brunswick in 2019, we haven’t spent any time here since 2016. We love Maine and it feels wonderful to be back. We’re here this time with our family to spend a week relaxing and exploring the Camden area. 

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July Updates

By on August 7, 2022 in The Pearl
“Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” -Terry Pratchett

Besides the trips we took to Clayton and Niagara on the Lake we spent a lot of time in July listening to music around the area.

One place we seem to always go each year is Six Mile Creek Vineyard. It’s a small place, but the wine is good and the bands are always entertaining. We took a picnic dinner with us, bought a bottle of wine and enjoyed the music.CONTINUE READING HERE…»

It’s a Way of Life Not a Vacation

By on August 1, 2022 in The Pearl
“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own, but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

We love the life we’re living and many think it’s a perpetual vacation. I’ll let you in on a little secret…living on our boat isn’t like being on vacation. We live on our own boat, not a cruise ship with a full staff. We still have to do maintenance on our home(s), pay bills, get prescriptions filled and make doctor appointments. Just to name a few of the normal life things that have to get done. Everything we do is done in a very small space…less than 600 square feet, which includes our outside space. We have no washer and dryer, no dishwasher, our refrigerator is dorm size with little space for frozen food, our shower is 3’x2′ and we have no comfortable furniture to relax on. Are you ready to join our crew yet?

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July 12 – Niagara Falls

By on July 17, 2022 in The Pearl
“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” ~Aldous Huxley  
On our way home we visited the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. During our first visit to the falls in 2012 we spent most of our time on the American side. We walked along Queen Victoria Park and were amazed again by the power and size of the falls. Queen Victoria Park was opened in 1888 and offers the best views of the falls.

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July 10-12 Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON

By on July 14, 2022 in The Pearl
“Jobs fill your pocket but adventures fill your soul.” -Jamie Lyn Beatty 
July 11 was our 41st wedding anniversary so we decided to celebrate it by spending a little time in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It’s one of Canada’s prettiest towns, located on the Niagara Peninsula at the point where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. The house we rented was in the Heritage District, which is full of colonial-style buildings, cast-iron planters bursting with flowers and horse-drawn carriages. We felt like we’d popped back to the 19th Century. The town had tons of cute boutiques, coffee shops, ice cream shops, bistros, parks and museums to explore.

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