There were a lot of items on our “bucket list” for this and future trips, and this checked off a bunch of items.? One of the major items was to pick up 8 of the states we had never set foot into together.?? Maine, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont.? I have worked in Boston before but Norma and I have never seen the state from a tourist viewpoint.

New England WHALES

We have had a wonderful time so far, but there is lots more that we want to do.

Next on our check list is a whale watching tour. ?We went to the wharf and bought tickets for Captain John Whale Watching tours which was to last around three hours.

We rode on the boat for about an hour when they sited a school of dolphins following the boat. ?The captain slowed the boat so we could watch them. ?The dolphins put on a show for about 15 minutes, and we then continued on out to sea.

Shortly after this we started seeing spray blow up out of the ocean. ?Some would just slowing swim along side the boat, some would come straight out of the water catching lots of fish as they came up through the ocean waters. ? When they arched their backs and their tales came out of the water that meant they were diving down to catch more food. ?It was kind of funny, but we would be on one side of the boat watching the whales and someone would see one on the other side, so everyone was running from one side of the boat to the other. ?It was a large boat, so thank goodness we couldn’t flip it over. ?We watched them for probably about 45 minutes put on a magnificent show.

We then had to head back to shore which was sad. ?I could have stayed out there for hours watching them.

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LIGHTHOUSES

We saw some beautiful lighthouses while we were staying in the New England area. ?We saw Nauset Lighthouse, Cape Cod Lighthouse, and the Portland Headlight.

We were able to drive to all of these, but there were many more that were only available by hike or boat. ?They were all situated on the cliffs next to the ocean. ?Some have had to be moved because the ocean is forcefully taking the beaches and cliffs away. ?To think that years ago this was the only indication to weary sailors that there was land ahead.

There was one we saw while on the whale watch cruise that a man and his wife lived in -YIKES- it was small and about 5 miles from shore.? Now they have been replaced by solar panels and electronics.

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COG RAILWAY

We got to the Cog Railway on Mount Washington about 30 minutes before time to board. ?We went to pick up our tickets and found out that it was snowing on top of Mount Washington, so we would only get to go up about half way.

It was a little scary because the train was pulled with cogs up the mountain, and part of the grade was 50 percent. ? It went a whole 5 miles per hour. ?We saw a little red fox going up the mountain. ?When we got about half way up the mountain it started snowing. There was already some snow on the ground. ?They stopped long enough for us to take some pictures and then we made our decent back down the mountain.

We wished we could go all the way to the top, but we had a lot of fun anyway.

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MAINE WILDLIFE PARK

We have wanted to see a real moose since we have been here. ?There are moose crossing signs everywhere, but no moose can be found. ?We decided we would just go see the Maine Wildlife Park instead.

There are many Moose Watching tours, but they are expensive and do not guarantee that you will see a moose.

The animals that live at this park have been injured or someone tried to raise them and they became to much to handle so they ended up here.

We were able to see moose, bears, cougars, deer (including a white one), woodchucks (including a white one), a badger, eagles, hawks, owls, and turtles.

This is a very nice place, and they are doing a very good work.

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BEACHES

We have driven out to see quite a few beaches since we have been here. ?Some have been around the lighthouses and have been closed because of all the beach erosion. ? They are either very rocky or a gray sand, not like our white sandy beaches along the gulf.

Up until today the beaches have been very empty, but the temperature decided to go into the 80’s today which brought a lot of people out of hibernation.

We visited Old Orchard Beach in Maine today. ?They have ?a really neat pier, which holds shops and restaurants.

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