Oct 10-18, 2024 NCL Gem Canada and East Coast Cruise and Excursions

 I had a wonderful time on my NCL Cruise. We stayed at the Westin in Montreal for one night. Then, we took a 3 1/2-hour ride from Montreal to Quebec, where we boarded the NCL Gem for 8 days. Day 1 We boarded the ship and dined at Cagney's Steakhouse

Day 2: Was sea day
Day 3: Our first excursion was to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, we spent four hours walking around the town with a group of about 13 people.
Day 4: Our next stop was Sydney, Cape Breton Island, NS. It was an overcast day so we didn't spend much time there. We did not buy an excursion.
Day 5: Our Excursion was to Halifax, Nova Scotia. In Halifax, we rode to Peggy's Cove and stopped to see the Lighthouse. We stopped at Kempsters's for dinner where we enjoyed a lobster roll with salad and blueberry pie. We stopped at the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site and the Maritime Museum.
Day 6: Our excursion was to the White Mountains by Conway Scenic Railroad and bus. We loaded onto a bus for a 2 1/2 hour ride from Portland, Maine to Conway, New Hampshire. We rode the train up to the White Mountains. It had snowed the day before the mountain tops were covered in snow.
Day 7: Our last excursion was a bus ride to Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor. We rode back into town where we enjoyed a Lobster Bake. Our menu was a lobster, with potatoes, corn, and Blueberry Pie.
Day 8: We docked in Boston, Mass Harbor, and took American Airlines from Boston to Washington DC to Huntsville.

We had a great time. The weather was cool but not cold. The food was great and we enjoyed the excursions. We saw a 70's show and game show.
We met people from Chicago, Montana, Indiana, and Georgia. Some of these people we ate with, had excursions, or met on the ship.

✈️✈️✈️1994 ~ Feb 19-22, Trip Berwick, Maine, to visit a friend

I am looking forward to seeing my friend, Velma, and the snow-covered grounds of Berwick, Maine (This is the first time I ever flew by myself)

Waiting for my flight to Portland MA 

Day 1: Wednesday, February 19, 1994

So, to prepare for my trip, I packed cuddle duds, sweaters, coats, gloves, jeans, & boots.

Maine is located as far northeast in North America as you can travel to the United States.

The average temperature for this time of the year is F. 35  And the average snowfall is 12.

On February 19, I flew on Delta Airlines from Huntsville, Al., to Atlanta, Georgia, and from Atlanta, Ga., to Berwick, Maine.

Velma was waiting at the airport when I embarked on the plane and she greeted me with a hug. 

We collected my luggage and we rode to her apartment.

I unpack, we eat lunch and then we head out to see the sites.

We stop in Somersworth, New Hampshire, for what I do not remember, which borders Berwick, Maine on the Southwest side. 

The major routes that pass through Berwick are 6, 9, and 236. Berwick is 1/2 hour from the ocean and one hour from the mountains.

Velma said they have just built our first Walmart store here in Berwick.

We stop at the Insurance Company where Velma works and she introduces me to her co-workers.

Our next stop was a large building that houses a crowded, quaint tavern, on the second floor, there was no elevator and we had to walk up several steps.

Velma took me to visit her friends at the police department, which was located at 11 Sullivan Street Berwick, ME. 03901. 

That night we went to a Country and Western club where we danced to the Boot-Scootin' Boogie.

Riding in Berwick Maine

Town Hall of Berwick Maine

Portland Airport

Portland Airport

Traveling to Boston, MA

Day 2: Thursday, February 20, 1994

Today we are going to visit Velma’s daughter, she lives in the Bay area outside Boston, which is about an hour's drive.

Velma’s daughter greets us at the door and she proudly shows us her newly remodeled old home.

Her home has two bedrooms upstairs, and the living area is downstairs. 

It has a view of the bay and has several large oak trees growing in her backyard.

We are served lunch and after lunch, we ride into Boston.

The traffic is terrible in Boston, and it is easier to park and ride the T.

So we park head for the ticket counter and board the T.

 The T is the first subway ever built in the US it has some awesome graphics on the walls. 

“FIVE CENTS FAIR LASTED TWENTY-FIVE YEARS”

“PARK STREET – THE FIRST SUBWAY BUILT IN AMERICA”. 

1897 is the year on the subway wall. 

Boston has the oldest subway and bus system in America, the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority). 

A ride on the MBTA or to the locals “The T,” is an adventure visitors to Boston should try. 

We get off the T and walk around, stopping at one of the indoor malls (where we all grab a cup of hot chocolate) and then walk to Cheers Pub to eat dinner.

“Bull Finch PUB” Cheers is located next to Hampshire Hotel on 84 Beacon St. Boston, MA. 0210-3421 and the telephone number is 617-227-9605. 

We order cocktails while waiting for our food to be served.

For an extra four dollars, you can get a souvenir glass that has “CHEERS” BOSTON written on the glass.

Velma and I each paid the extra four dollars for the souvenir glass.

There is a picture of Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, and Rhea Perlman hanging on the walls of Cheer.

Velma and I get our picture taken standing in front of this picture.

Tourists still flock to Cheers the Beacon Street Bar, which was the inspiration for the Cheers television series, this series ran for eleven years. 

In 1989, when I was at MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida, I had the opportunity to play a part in the making of a skit of Cheers.

At that time, they would choose volunteers from the audience to be in the show.

By the time we left Cheers, it was dark. We walked up Beacon Hill toward the Capitol Building stopping to take some pictures. 

From the Capitol Building, we could see the frozen pond in the park below.

People were ice-skating on the frozen pond.

As we walked back to the T, we could feel the cold wind as it whipped around the tall building. We rode back to Velma’s daughter's house where we spent the night.

Riding the Subway T

Riding the Subway T

Riding the Subway T

Riding the Subway T

Riding the Subway T

Velma and I at Cheers 

Velma and I at Cheers 

Velma and I posing next to the Cheers Gang

Velma and I have a drink before dinner at Cheers

We are having a drink before dinner at Cheers

Capitol Building Boston MA

Capitol Building Boston MA

Day 3: Friday, February 21, 1994

It has always been a dream of mine to take a sleigh ride in the New England area.

For some crazy reason, I have always associated the Christmas Holidays with snow, and a sleigh ride in the New England States. 

Maybe it was the Saturday Evening Post print of a snowball fight by J. F.  Kernan. Or maybe the Deadman’s Hill sleigh ride by Norman Rockwell. Or maybe it was a Victorian Christmas by Thomas Kinkade, where you can feel the warm yellow glow from the windows of each and every home as you watch Santa ride down the street in his sleigh.

It was my last night in Berwick and we still had not taken that sleigh ride. So, we drove to Maple Brook Farm where they have sleigh rides but were closing up for the day.  

I said please take us on a sleigh ride, for tonight is my last night in Maine, so the owner hooked up his draft horses and his wooden sleigh.

Maple Brook Farm is also known for its potbelly pigs, and while the owner was hitching his draft horses for the sleigh ride, he let us hold the squealing, squirmy pig.

It was a night I will never forget. 

It was a full moon that shone down on the forbidden snow as we rode through the woods on a snowy night. 

The only signs of life in the snow were the wagon wheels, and hoof prints of the large workhorses as they slowly pulled the wagon (sleigh) through the snow. 

What a wonderful way to end my visit with my friend and to have a childhood dream come true. 

My wonderful trip to Berwick to visit my friend has now come to a bittersweet end and I have to return to work.

Maplebrook Farm 

Maplebrook Farm holding Potbelly Pig 

Maplebrook Farm holding Potbelly Pig 

Posing in front of Horses and Sleigh 

Taking a Sleigh Ride

Maple Brook Farm 

Day 4: Saturday, February 22, 1994

Velma drove me to the airport in Portland, Maine where we said goodbye.

My flight is headed to LaGuardia Airport in New York.  

 “The LaGuardia airport is located on the waterfront in the Borough of Queens, New York City.  LaGuardia handles mostly domestic flights and is only 9 miles from Midtown Manhattan. It is named after Fiorello LaGuardia, the former mayor of New York. It is the smallest of New York’s three major commercial airports.”  

At the airport in LaGuardia, I bought my daughter a T-shirt that said, New York.

One of her dreams is to visit New York City.  

I made a quick telephone call home to tell my husband that I had landed in LaGuardia and I was waiting for my flight to Atlanta.

While I was on the telephone, there was an announcement, that said, because of the weather everyone flying to Atlanta had to board another plane. 

I looked around and everyone was gone, they had boarded the plane. I almost missed my flight.

I quickly boarded the plane and I was seated between two men. 

The man sitting on the right of me was from New York and he had moved to Atlanta, Georgia. 

The man on the left of me was from France and he was now living in the United States.  

The man from France and I struck up a conversation and we talked the entire flight to Atlanta, Georgia. 

During the flight, we were served dinner and the man from France and I kept talking.  

The man from Atlanta, Georgia said, “ I have never heard two people talk as much as the two of you.” The man from France was going to Atlanta and needed to know more information about Atlanta, so he struck up a conversation with the man from Atlanta. 

The plane landed in Atlanta I said goodbye to both men. 

They said goodbye to me and they started walking and talking to each other. 

I walked to the waiting area for my flight to Huntsville, Alabama.  

That flight took a little over one hour. 

My husband was waiting to pick me up at the airport.  

My trip had been quite an adventure where, I got to visit my old friend, to take a moonlight sleigh ride; to eat at Cheers in Boston, and to make a new friend on the flight home.

February 19-22 1994 Berwick, Maine

Delta Airlines 

Leave Huntsville International Airport (HSV)

Arrive at Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

Leave Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

Arrive, Berwick, Maine Airport 

Leave Berwick Maine Airport

Arrive at LaGuardia International Airport 

Leave LaGuardia International Airport

Arrive. Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

Leave Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

Arrive Huntsville International Airport (HSV)