Kris and I flew to Maine for our vacation. Delta had some great fares from GSP to BGR ( Greenville to Bangor ) but like thousands of others we first had to change planes in Atlanta. There is an old saying around here in the deep south, 'That when you die, no matter which way you go, up or down, you'll have to change planes in Atlanta'. But that is not a big deal to a serious airplane nut like me. We used the park and fly option at the Hampton Inn in Greenville and the security lines are so much shorter at GSP.

For my friends who like me actually keep up with such things we had four flights. GSP-ATL, ATL-BGR and on our return BGR-ATL, ATL-GSP. Three flights were Delta connection flights ( ASA ) and one, our first flight was a main line flight. On a MD-88. Funny the shortest flight was the biggest plane. The long runs to BGR and back were CRJ-701's and the final flight back to GSP was a CRJ-200LR. All the flights were good, the planes were clean, crews friendly and ahead of schedule. Hey we even had to De-Ice in Bangor. Nice service and we had very few bumps. The CRJ-200 was in a special paint scheme. ( left ) Texas, BlueBonnet.

After leaving Bar Harbor we drove north on U.S. Hwy 1 to the U.S. Canadian border. The same road that goes through Augusta, and Columbia. It runs near the Maine coast and the scenery was spectacular. Traffic was very light everywhere and driving the 4-5 hours a day like we did was actually a pleasure. Like it was here 30 years ago.

We crossed the border into Canada at St Stephen, New Brunswick, and drove on to Saint John for a few nights.

At the crossing we had to park and go in to see Canadian Immigration. They were very nice. Looked at our drivers license's and ask the usual things ( biz or pleasure, were we bringing gifts how long to stay, where going ) and he asked if we were driving a rental car. Twice in two differing ways. I guess he was looking for the same answer. Seems they are having trouble with people buying cars and bringing them into Canada for people ( resale ) and avoiding a LOT of tax issues. He then asked our first stop. When we said Saint John, he whipped out a map and showed us the route and said how long, and asked if he could help with Hotels or anything. This was in immigration. Cool guy, but I noticed he had a gun and a bullet-proof vest on.

more later