We’re on American soil, after having arrived in New York City on Tuesday at noon. Total travel time of 36 hours wasn’t nearly as bad as it was in 2008, but we had some interesting experiences along the way. More on that later.

My father met us at JFK and we’re currently traveling New England. Tuesday we powered out of NYC, and stayed the night south of Boston. Wednesday, we followed the coastline up through Maine. Today (Thursday) we’re in Belfast, Maine, just south of Bar Harbor. I think we’ll spend the day visiting Bar Harbor and then head to Mount Katahdin – the tallest mountain in Maine.

It’s great to travel this part of the U.S. for the first time with Novita – it’s all new for us all. It’s beautiful but cold! The daytime high has been less than 70 degrees and at night you can see your breath. So far I’m highly impressed with this state; the towns are stunningly quaint – I loved Portland (will have to come back another time to explore).

After today we may start to head back to Michigan following the Canadian border, eventually reaching Niagara Falls, and finally heading back through Cleveland, etc.

I love being a tourist in my own country.