St John, NB to Annapolis Royal, NS

In St. John we stayed in Rockland Park which is an extremely large city park on a hill overlooking  the Bay of Fundy, some of the industrial (think railroad ) areas and what is called uptown (as opposed to downtown), that area with the tall buildings. Farther to the left there is a paper mill, an oil refinery and some other industrial properties.

Rockwood Park is Canada's largest urban park. It was designed by Downing Vaux, the son of the partner of Frederick Law who designed Central Park in NYC. The park offers a 213 site campground,    an Interpretive Centre, lakes for swimming and fishing, an 18 hole golf course, a zoo and a playground plus over 20 miles of hiking trails.

This monument dedicated to the memory of workers who have been killed or injured on the job was unveiled in April, 2011. Canada was the first country to formally recognize a Worker's Memorial Day and since that time more than 80 other other countries have followed suit.

We took the noon ferry from St John to Digby, NS which is a 3 hour trip. Not knowing exactly where we were going or how long it would take we left the park early and arrived at the terminal very early. Shadow had to stay in the RV on the auto level and survived the noise and vibration but it took a long time for him afterwards to stop shaking. On the way we had a cup of coffee and a snack of something which was somewhat less tasty than stadium food. So afterwards we stopped in Digby for a late lunch. Now, Digby is known for their scallops so we had an order of scallops and two pounds of mussels. Some kind of good! That was our dinner, too.

We're staying in Annapolis Royal which is the smallest incorporated town in NS, but with over 130 registered heritage properties, it is one of the largest National Historic Districts in Canada. In 1605 the area was settled by a small group of French explorers led by Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Mons. The French named the new land Port-Royal and built the Habitation as a centre for their operations in Acadie. This lighthouse is built just off of Water Street which is also known as "Canada's Oldest Thoroughfare".  In 1710 the British captured the area and renamed the town Annapolis Royal in honor of Queen Anne.

 

It started raining last night - rained through out the night and there has been a steady drizzle all day long so we didn't do a lot of sight seeing. We did drive through the Fort Anne National Historic Site, walked on the riverfront board walk and then had a tasty lunch at a great German Restaurant and Bakery. Susan had Goulash with Spatzle and I had a Schnitzel sandwich and a bowl of seafood chowder, their soup of the day. And yes, we brought pastries home with us.

This fort has always protected the town of Annapolis Royal.  It was the focal point between the French and the British as they tried to gain control of Acadia. It served as head of the government as the original capital of Acadia and Nova Scotia.

Our last stop was at this strange looking building situated on the Annapolis River. This is the Annapolis Tidal Generating Station, one of the very few tidal generating stations in the world. This station was built in 1984 as a demonstration plant and is the only one in North America. The station generates up to 20 megawatts of electricity at peak output, enough to power up to 4,500 homes. The predictable 12 hour and 25 minute tide cycle allows Annapolis to operate twice a day with each cycle lasting approximately five hours.

Oh, Canada

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While walking to the Memorial Day parade we spotted this little lighthouse over in St. Stephens, New Brunswick. It's built on a wharf in the St Croix River and we found out later that it never had a light and was called a faux lighthouse. Best I can figure is that the old town fathers thought that having  a lighthouse would bring more tourists to St. Stephens. The town is known for it's chocolate factory which we'll visit on our return trip.

The crossing went pretty smooth with customs, maybe because we didn't have anything to declare except that we were now in Canada. St. Stephens is a very nice older (all the towns are old) towns not like the border towns that I've been in Texas and California. It did take the best part of an hour while the custom agents went through, what seemed like, every nook and cranny of the RV. I was very happy to find that that they didn't confiscate the ice cream in the fridge.

Our destination, just a few miles away, was the Kiwanis Oceanfront RV Park in beautiful St. Andrews-by-the-Sea. The park is on City property leased to and operated by the Kiwanis Club. It's provides a nice income and just like other Kiwanis Club's the money's spent on activity's for the kid's. We stayed for two nights and I actually attended a club meeting held in the rec building of the park. The land is the distance is Deer Island and the water is PassamaquoddyBay which is off of the beginning of the Bay of Fundy.

This is their Market Wharf which to me is an amazing structure built on wooden pilings supporting concrete beams with a concrete deck which leads to the parking lot where this picture was taken. This is just about low tide.

That's all slope at low tide - at a beach in front of the Pendlebury Lighthouse which is now dark and undergoing a major restoration project. That's all rocks and stones and while we look for shark's teeth at Fernandina Beach, I was hunting for sea glass here and got lucky - I found a handful, white, blue, green and brown.

We got lucky again on Thursday the day for the Farmer's Market at Market Square which is their waterfront park in front on the wharf.  Susan was in high cotton - she bought Thai spring rolls, Hummus and meat and spinach/feta stuffed flatbread from the middle Eastern vendor and 6 Samosas with different fillings from the Indian vendor. We been eating pretty good since then,  forgot - baclava, yum yum.

This is Water Street, the main shopping area. Probably more than half of the buildings looked they were originally built as homes and then converted, and then converted at some time,   into shops, restaurants  and offices. The street really has a quaint feeling. St. Andrews is one of Canada's oldest and best preserved 18th century towns, a designated National Historic District and Canada's oldest seaport resort. And a fun place to visit.

On the way to St John we were hunting Cricket Cove, a yarn shop in St. George that wasn't there, even though it was listed on the internet and there a road sign on the way promoting the sign. After an up and down on Main Street we stopped a nice lady and she told us "Nope, it's not in St. George". She also told us how to find their other shop in Black Harbor which we did. Susan's feeling very good - a nice morning at the farmer's market and an afternoon in the yarn shop. Now we're all set for St. John.

Memorial Day

 Every town loves a parade and this goes for Calais, too, especially on Memorial Day. The parade starts at the Post Office, down the hill and takes a left turn to the bridge.

 Following the color guard are Army vehicles from somewhere, maybe they're National Guard.

 Then there are some members of the VFW, American Legion and some members of police and/or highway patrol.

They are followed by the Calais High School Marching Band and lastly is an EMS truck.

The band is really good playing all of the armed services tunes and the regular patriotic music.

The band uniforms are blue jeans and dark blue high school colored T-shirts.

At the bridge the parade stops except for the grand marshal and the color guard.

 The American group goes to the middle of the bridge and faces right waiting for the Canadian color guard and officials to march out and face left.

Both sides say a few words for the departed veterans and then each side throws a wreath into the river (right side over the railing).

The American soldiers fire three shots in memory of the deceased veterans and the  bugler on the bank of the river plays taps. Everyone then marches back to respective side and the parade marches back top more tunes from the bank. Very Touching!

Walking back to our car we passed this sign and notice the bottom left - that's a East Coast Greenway sticker. Aren't we part of that back in  Fernandina Beach?

 Almost every village and town that we drove through has a library and again, Calais is no exception. This is one of the nicest library buildings, built in 1892. Shadow liked it, too. And behind this building is a newer addition to the library.

Today was the second day with temperatures in the 80's. Not sure how long it will last but we're finally thawing out.

We still may be a couple of weeks away from full leafage on the trees but this is what we are starting to see.

I call it a Idunnowhatitiseeither.

Lastly, tomorrow we are driving across the bridge into Canada and even though we paid for AT&T Global passport, phone calls will cost a dollar a minute so please don't call. We think we can text and email and we downloaded an app for finding "hot spots" along our way Canada so there might even be a blog.

If everything fails we should be back in the US in 2 - 3 weeks.

Calais, ME

Some people call it CAL-Lay and others call it CAL-LIS but we call it our last stop before we cross the bridge and drive into Canada.

Our last blog came from one of the nicest little campgrounds that we have visited. Lots of grass with minimum of dust and dirt. Four other RVers and one tenter, all with both big and little dogs - Shadow had a great time with all of his new friends. This is our waterfront site at the 9 foot high tide. Low tide looked like the mud bank at FB. It's here that we found out where the term "Down East" came from. This is what they say - in the old days they sailed the boats downwind up the coast with a wind from the southeast  and downwind, southeast was shortened and became "Down East".

We drove off of US 1 on the scenic drive of what is called the Bold Coast. The map showed a light house at Cutler Point  which we never got to see because there its on a Navy base that we couldn't get into. We did see about 30 towers and several communication dishes that a neighbor said were on top of an 80 foot high building. Funny, no one that we talked to knew what went on at the base. The map says US Naval Radio Station.

Then we got up to Quoddy Head State Park and viewed the Quoddy Head Light which along with Portland Head and Nubble seem to be the most popular Big 3 Lights. This light with it's third order Fresnel lens is still operational and is maintained by the US Coast Guard. In 1858 this red and white brick tower replaced the original which built in 1808 and is the most easternmost light house in the United States.

There's a plaque in the yard that says that this is the EASTERNMOST POINT IN THE U.S.A.

This is the bridge to Campobello Island made famous as the location of FDR's summer home. It's now an International Park and we spent our first night in Canada at Heron Cove Provincial Park. It actually snowed here in the morning but with the temp at 37 degrees it didn't stay on the ground.

Leaving the park we drove through the town Lubec and got this shot of the Lubec Channel Light. Susan spotted a yarn shop that wasn't open so Lubec went on our list of stops on the way home.

You can see Eastport from Lubec but you have to drive around the bay to get there. It was our destination for a couple of reasons. Being Saturday we had to get to the  Post Office before 12 to pick up our mail. And the parents of Ann Margaret, my youngest son's wife live in Eastport.  We had talked to them a couple of days before and Ed, the father, was going to the funeral of a relative on Saturday and Sally had  to work on Sunday so they are on our return home list, too. On my son's recommendation we ate lunch at Quoddy Bay Lobster and had the best seafood chowder and lobster roll that we've eaten so far. And their cole slaw hit a home run. Even Susan who doesn't normally eat slaw didn't even leave me a bite.

We over nighted in a campground near Eastport and this morning drove to Calais and we're going through a checklist of items before we go back into Canada for an extended time. One is to sort out with AT&T how we use our iPhones in Canada and how we get the internet, etc. We'll be in Canada for 2 - 3 weeks and the blog may be sporadic or, maybe, not at all.

Can't wait - tomorrow's Memorial Day and there's a parade down to the bridge to meet a parade another parade coming from Canada.

Only 39 miles

To where we are now from where we were yesterday but we drove over a hundred miles getting here. We set up the GPS for our destination and took some scenic highways which really must have pissed off the lady cause she yelled at us the whole time until we got back on US 1. We toured the Schoodic Peninsula which is just beautiful  and contains a small portion of Acadia NP.

We passed the historic towns of Gouldsboro, Prospect Harbor, Winter Harbor and then took this picture of Birch Harbor which really turned us on. In retrospect it seems like all the towns are historic because so much of history happened in the Maine area back back in the 16 and 1700 hundreds.

As we passed the village we spotted a lighthouse that wasn't on our map. After a couple of wrong turns and U turns we finally found some one to ask directions. This is the Prospect Point light and its located on some Navy installation so we couldn't get too close. The sign says that it was built out of wood in 1891 and the other buildings standing are the 1891 keeper's house, 1905 oil house and a boat house. The height of the tower is only 38 feet and before becoming automated it had a fourth order Fresnel lens.

In these areas of small villages I get a little nervous when the fuel gauge gets down to half tank so in Milbridge we stopped for diesel. It was about lunch time and eagle eye Susan had spotted a take out Mexican restaurant just before the gas station. So she walked back to order lunch and when I was finished fueling I drove back and parked across the street in a grocery store's parking lot. I'm not sure what we had for lunch but it was very good. Maybe she'll tell you what it was when she edits this page.
(soft tacos - chicken and chorizo. tamale, and a guaracha.  I had never heard of that but it was yummy = pork, cheese,lettuce on a tortilla like thing and green sauce).


I'm waiting for high tide take a picture of our parking spot. We'll be here for two nights, tomorrow will probably be a laundry day before we continue down east. Forgot to say - we're a few miles south of Harrington.

Bangor

It started last night and when we woke this this morning it was still raining. Not enough to spoil taking Shadow for his morning walk. The weather man said that we were in for a warm front followed by a cold front and the temps would be below normal but didn't say what normal was. Today was our day to drive to Bangor and take Shadow to Petco for a bath and grooming. After breakfast we were able to leave - I say able, some days it's just tough to get going in a small RV - by 9:15 and we were on the road for the 30 mile drive.

We really didn't get to see so much of Bangor since we were on a mission but did pass through it's twin city of Brewer before crossing the Penobscot River in to Bangor. What I remember is that the ships used to sail up the river and haul lumber out of Bangor but that's all gone now. Not a sight of any type of river wharf. What we were looking for was Stillwater Rd and Petco. Our GPS led us to the store and we left Shadow with the groomer after telling her how we "thought" he should be trimmed.

Now we dialed in a Dunkin Donuts that took us farther up Stillwater past the Petco. When the nice lady said that our destination was on the left there was nothing there except for a Walmart. We were going to do some grocery shopping anyway so we stopped at Walmart and walking in we realized that the donut shop was inside of the Walmart store, with no sign. So after shopping we both had a vanilla latte and a donut with our shopping cart right next to our high top table.

Our next stop was back on Stillwater to Edward Jones where Susan was to sign some needed papers. After that we decided to go back to the 5 Guys we had just past and stop for lunch. Finishing small burger it was just past one and Shadow wasn't due to be finished until 2:30.

So, what to do for another hour plus? As we had approached the Petco we noticed a small Nail Salon and Spa and we talked about the need for a pedicure and manicure for Susan. So we went back again on Stillwater and stopped in front of the Salon. Susan went in and, surprising us both, they said "Right Now".

Afterwards we picked up our child and drove back to the RV Park in Trenton The rain had stopped and  it and a light fog was starting to set in.

A wonderful day in Bangor and we enjoyed traipsing back and forth on Stillwater Street.

I wasn't going write a blog today but Susan didn't want me going to sleep at 8.

Acadia National Park

I forgot to show this picture. After leaving Brooklin we decided to stop again at the Millbrook Company Restaurant and Bakery, this time for breakfast. Susan had homemade eggs and hash served with their delicious homemade whole wheat bread with local blueberry jelly on the side. I'm very proud of her because, as you can see, she's now a member of the clean plate club. I was no slacker, having a short stack of blueberry pancakes with a couple of scrambled eggs along with local maple syrup. On the way out we bought some bakery goodies which totaled more than the breakfast.

We're staying in Trenton which is about halfway between Ellsworth and Bar Harbor (pronounced BAA-HAA-BAA). On Saturday we picked up our mail and knocked off one more knit shop while we were in town. Since it was still early we decided to pay our respects to Acadia National Park and Cadillac Mountain. Here we are on top of the mountain and Susan is hanging on because the wind is blowing, she's cold and forgot to put on her coat. There's a great trail around the top the mountain and you can see forever.



                   

Today we went back to the west side of the island and our first stop was the Bass Harbor Head Light, the only light on Mount Desert Island. Built in 1858 high atop a rugged granite shoreline it's one  of the most scenic in New England. The light is listed on the National Historic Register and it's maned by the US Coast Guard.

We drove through Southwest Harbor without stopping since it is Sunday and legendary Hinckley Yachts was closed - we may go back tomorrow. This picture is Northeast Harbor and we didn't stay long since we couldn't find an open coffee shop.

Our last stop was Coffee Hound in Bar Harbor where we walked down to the harbor - it's low tide and it was interesting to see the structures built on both wooden pilings and granite slabs. The downtown itself reminded me of Gatlinburg with it's endless storefronts selling T-Shirts and other touristy items.

Our original plan was to stay three days and then we thought about getting Shadow groomed. Most of the parks that we have stayed in have been dusty and Shadow has played with a lot of dogs along the way. His hair is long and he could use both a bath and trim. So we called a couple of local groomers and all were booked 2-3 weeks out. Finally we called Petco in Bangor (24 miles away) and they could take him on Tuesday. So, that's our plan. A rest day tomorrow and maybe drive back to Southwest Harbor and then Bangor on Tuesday. Oh yes, there's a knit shop in Bangor while we're waiting on Shadow.

Brooklin

Brooklin, ME is just before the resume speed sign on Hwy 175- their downtown consists of a general store that sells gas and pizza, a closed place that used to be a small restaurant and Betsy's gift shop. Amazing enough the clerk at Betsy's, Marsha Wilson, used to live in Fernandina Beach, in. Amelia Park and volunteered with the A I Chamber Music Festival. The town was founded in1763 and was once the home of five boot and shoe making factories and later known for producing canned herring and lobster. One of Brooklin's best known residents was longtime contributor to The New Yorker and author E.B. White whose timeless classics include Charlotte's Web and a few others.

There are two reasons that we stopped at Brooklin, the first being the WoodenBoat School of boat building where they teach both building wooden boats and publish the magazines, Wooden Boat and Professional BoatBuilder. Their mission is to support the building and restoration of wooden boats which is an old Maine tradition. The school is located on the Eggemoggin Reach which is the location of their annual wooden sailboat race.

 The other reason that we wanted to visit Brooklin is because, just down the road, is the Brooklin Boat Yard, a major shipbuilding and boat repair yard in Maine. Here's Susan talking to Shadow with the harbor in the background. She's telling him all about  a former life when she lived on a wooden sailboat in the Caribbean. Probably the parts that she has never told me.

This is a dock next to the shipyard that show how the docks and parts of the shipyard are built on foundations of granite slabs. From the size of the slabs I wouldn't think they are not going to be pushed around in a storm.

This is the newest of the several buildings in the yard, where there office is located and where a major ship building project is going on. We spent several hours in the yard looking at this project and salivating over some of the sailboats that were being stored and/or being worked on in the other buildings. This is close to the start of the season and the crews were busy doing their thing to get the those stored boats in the water.

Now here is the project that they have been working on of over a year an expect to have in the water by mid June. It's a 74' day sailor/racer play toy for very wealthy owner. After one race on the east coast it will be sailed through the canal and berthed in Marina del Rey near Santa Monica.

This is the side of the hull. Those little things on the side  and on the deck are openings, designed by famous designer, Frank Gehry, that will be glassed and allow light into the interior of the hull. The boat itself was designed by the well known naval architects and engineering firm, German Frers.

This shows the huge cockpit and the stern of the boat The pink area is where the transom will be placed.
Now here are some interesting items: I thought that when we started wandering around that we would, maybe not so politely, asked to leave. To the contrary, we met a guy on the dock who we found out was born in Coral Gables, moved to Maine and has worked at the shipyard for the past forty years. He said that we would have no problem, we could climb all over the structure  surrounding the new project and ask questions of any of the workers.We did as you can tell by the pictures.

He also told us that we could walk through all of the buildings and look at all of the other boats that were being stored or worked on.

We had previously asked and been given permission to take the pictures. This was hard to believe since neither of us had heard or read anything about this project. I'm sure that after the boat is launched it will be written up in the the yachting magazines. The cost of the construction was not given but it appears that it could be upwards of $8 million.

After leaving Brooklin we drove through a sweet little town called Blue Hill, stopped at a Hannaford grocery and were able to arrived at the post office in Ellsworth before closing but alas, our package had not arrived. No problem since we are in striking distance to Acadia National Park and we're hanging around for at least three days.

Stonington

This is the second part to yesterday's blog. We left Castine and made our way to Deer Isle and Old Quarry Ocean Adventures, our RV site for the night. It was mid afternoon and we thought we would hang out for the rest of the day and visit Stonington in the morning.

Have you ever heard of Deer Isle Granite? Neither have either of us but we camped right next to the Old Quarry. Today, the granite is quarried on Crotch (yes) Island and barged to this transfer area where it is barged again or trucked to wherever it goes. If it goes out by truck, because of the weight, only one block can be put on a flatbed.

Right next to the granite yard was a long dock for lobster boats and a large building for a company that buys the lobsters from the boats and stores them in tank before trucking them to the processors.

Seems like we're finding that a lot of the small towns that we visit have some type of statutes. This one is on the waterfront and we just happened to park next to it. The plaque says

THIS STONE CUTTER PROUDLY STANDS AS A TRIBUTE TO THE MANY WORKERS WHOSE LABOR AND DEDICATION HAVE MADE THIS REGION KNOWN INTERNATIONALLY AS THE HOME OF DEER ISLE GRANITE

Stonington has a wonderful, busy working waterfront and is said to be the epicenter  of Maine lobstering. There many historic homes, some on the waterfront but many on the hill overlooking the waterfront. I wouldn't classify it as one of prettiest villages but it certainly is picturesque. 

And here's Shadow checking out the waterfront and wondering where all the cars and people are. He just doesn't know about the 'season'.

Castine

After a rest day of cleaning the RV and doing laundry we were ready to move on. Today was going to be a double header since were going to visit both Castine and Stonington, two towns on the list of The Ten Prettiest Villages in Maine.We set the GPS on Castine and by 9 we were off. The countryside was jut beautiful. Lots of pines and the leaves on the hardwoods are just coming out. The country roads were up, down and around and, for the most part, little or no traffic. Now, we're only driving 35 - 40 MPH, and maybe going 50 down hill so even though the distances are close it talking a little more time than expected but we're in no hurry/. Going through the Sedgwick area we drive past a sign for Millbrook Company Bakery and Restaurant. Plenty of outside seating and lots of parking, we make a U turn and stop for a delicious lunch and leave with a bag of bakery goodies.

We reach the village of Castine which really is a pretty village. Settled in 1604 the historic town of Castine is one of the oldest in the nation and the only town on the peninsula to have been occupied at various times by the French, the Dutch and the English.  The town offers a wonderful self guided walking tour of its historic buildings and is also home to the Maine Maritime Academy.

This church was built in 1790.

There is a large park in front of the church that is the location for this statute The inscription reads

IN MEMORY OF THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS FROM CASTINE WHO OFFERED
THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR FOR THE          PRESERVATION OF THE UNION
      1861   -   1865
"WITH A GREAT SUM OBTAINED WE THIS FREEDOM"

Isn't this a great looking lighthouse? The Dice Head Light at the mouth of the Penobscot River was built in 1828 to serve as a guide for mariners headed to Bangor, then leading lumber port. The grounds are open to the pubic but the keeper's house is now a private residence. The site is owned by the Town of Castine.

An interesting day

We left Camden Hills and our plan was to have a short drive to a little campground near Bucksport which is about halfway to our next destination of Stonington on Deer Island. On the way Susan wanted to stop at the Walgreens in Belfast to get a prescription filled. Also, there was a knit shop in Belfast but Susan wasn't too interested in visiting. I wanted to see the waterfront harbor and it just so happened that the knit shop was just around the corner from where we parked. She went to the knit shop and later met me at the waterfront. What a surprise - the harbor was filled with all types of boats and the Front Street Shipyard was the best that we had seen so far.

This shows some of the docks and boats. Those tall things are travel lifts for lifting boats in and of the water

This is a panoramic photo taken with my iPhone but I'm not sure how to spread it out. There is a riverwalk along the edge of the water through the shipyard and to the walking bridge across the river to East Belfast. The main streets of the downtown are filled with buildings built in the late 1800's and so far this is high up on my list of favorite towns.

A little later on US 1 we drove across a bridge similar to the Dames Point bridge on the way to Bucksport. We missed Fort Knox on the side of the river which we will catch on the way home. Unfortunately there is a huge paper mill in town which closed down and the town is having a hard time recovering from the loss of jobs.

Our Rv park was just a few miles more and now we are parked for two nights.