Acadian Coast

Thurston Campground, Upper Clyde River, Nova Scotia

We had quite the leisure morning since our ferry from St. John's New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia didn't leave until noon. It was quite the swanky ferry too! Complete with wifi, movies, lounges and a Starbuck's cafe. What I liked best is that it was more of a floating museum with all kinds of interesting exhibits about Nova Scotia. There was a concierge on board who had more knowledge of Nova Scotia than I thought was humanly possible to retain. She loaded us up with maps, books, information on all the coves and nooks and crannies of Nova Scotia.

We crossed the Bay of Fundy which is famous for their incredible tides. It has the highest tide in the world, reaching over 50 feet! Every 6.5 hours or so the tide shifts.
Try navigating those waters! Also about 4 different species of whales live in this area. In fact, if you sign up for a whale tour you are guaranteed a whale sighting. As one person told us, "they love to show off, you will definitely see them."

By the time we disembarked in Digby it was close to 3 pm. We decided to drive route 3 which is the slowpoke drive down the Acadian coast through all the "towns." In reality the towns on the map were just groupings of houses clustered together near the sea. This area is beautifully stark and the houses in this area all have the same utilitarian hard scrabble look. Many homes were also proudly flying the Acadian flag.
There are no or very, very few shops, restaurants or services along this stretch.

Once we reached Yarmouth, the terrain definitely changed. Now, instead of a relatively straight coastline with the road hugging the sea, there were tons of long craggy inlets, much like the coast of Maine. We choose one finger to go down and it seemed very remote. The city of Yarmouth was pretty small, seeming like just a couple of blocks long. Again, it had a fishing, utilitarian look, nothing of the quaint look about it.

I planned on us staying at The Islands Provincial Park near Shelbourne. In reading some of the literature that the ferry concierge gave us I noticed that it didn't open until June 13th. oops. Time to try and find a campground after 7 pm. We have no cell and no internet, just the maps and literature to rely on. Reminds me of the days when we first started roadtripping. I located a private campground on the Upper Clyde River, "where the river meets the sea." Ned and I got kind of a kick out of this since every mile or so has a river that meets the sea. We pulled into the campground and as expected it's pretty much a dirt parking lot next to the river. It has showers, a flush toilet and good enough to call home for the night.

We were starving and the owner, Tanya, recommended a restaurant called "Anchors Away" that was just a few kilometers down the road. It also happens to be their opening night. Okay, we'll bite. (p.s. they have wifi which is allowing me to quickly write this blog and post it before heading back to the campsite). The restaurant is so local and very Acadian authentic. Our waitress, who is a delightful Acadian woman, was so patient with us explaining some of the local dishes. Ned had the Rappie pie with molasses, butter and brown bed and I had haddock fish cakes with chow-chow.
The rappie pie is basically a potato starch (grated potatoes that have the liquid squeezed out), layered with chicken then baked for 2.5 hours. Ned said it tasted like chicken pot pie, I thought it just tasted like potatoes. My fish cakes tasted like potato pancakes, (not a big fan) but I loved the chow-chow, which is pickled onion relish.
Everyone in this restaurant are locals and they are all greeted by name as they enter.
Some of the locals asked me where we were from, they said with my tan I didn't look like I was from around here. Haha. The folks here are just so friendly. One couple just invited us to come by their house and see the boat they were building, with their grandsons. "We're just ten minutes down the road." I've included a picture of Ned with our Acadian waitress, Nancy. Adorable.

The Magic of Acadia

New River Beach Provincial Park, New Brunswick, Canada

The last time we visited Acadia National Park was in the fall of 2009. We've always said it was our favorite park and five year later I still agree. What makes this park so cool are the 45 miles of carriage roads. So many National Parks aren't incredibly welcoming to bike riders and this park caters to them. The carriage roads were built by the wealthy elite of New York at the turn of the last century. As they "summered" on this island, the carriage roads were for their viewing pleasure. Every bend has a view of the ocean or is situated next to a pond. The roads meander up and down hills, over bridges, along waterfalls and through the woods. It's simply breathtaking.

We got an early start this morning, partly wanting to take advantage of the break in the weather and partly due to the journey we had planned into Canada. For the next several hours we rode or just stopped to take photos and soak in the early morning quiet and beauty. We ended up riding a good 12 miles. The entire time we never saw one other bike rider.

It's hard to put into words the complete beauty and peace one experiences riding these carriage roads. It's completely quiet, the woods filled with heavy duff and the mist hanging over the ponds. I'm sure optimal conditions would have been to experience this ride in warmer weather and clear blue skies, but it was incredibly surreal to ride in the fog. At one point we came upon a young buck, his antlers just starting to sprout, munching his way through breakfast. Love, love, love this park. I hope we don't wait 5 years to come visit again.

After this work-out we were in desperate need of showers. Fortunately, there is a pay shower station not too far from the park. Just as we entered the building the heavens opened up and boy did it pour! All day long...We couldn't believe our luck in hitting that small window to ride.

We continued to head northeast until we finally came upon the town of Lubec, also known as the most Eastern place in the continental U.S. (So far, Ned and I have visited the most Southern - Key West, the most Western - Fort Stevens, and now the most Eastern. I should look up which one is the most Northern!) The reason for traveling thru Lubec was to reach Campobello, an island off the coast which is part of New Brunswick, Canada.

This was Franklin D. Roosevelt's beloved summer "cottage" where he vacationed as a child and where he took his own family, until he became President. If you've ever seen any movies about FDR, swimming, sailing, etc. most likely it was at Campobello. What I found interesting is that despite this being probably his most sentimental place to stay, he only visited 3 times during the 12 years he was president. Most likely because of his disability due to polio. In 1962 a bridge was finally built connecting the island to the mainland. Before then it was quite an ordeal to get here! "They took a day train from NY to Boston, then boarded an overnight sleeper from Boston to Ayers Junction, ME. The next morning, they, their servants and the luggage (some 40 trunks) took a 15 mile ride on a 1-car train to Eastport, where a boat waited for them for the final leg of their trip to the island."

Today Campobello is a joint International Park between Canada and the U.S. It's jointly staffed and equally funded by both countries. We were able to tour the "cottage": all 14 bedrooms, kitchen, laundry, dining room, game room, porch, etc. My favorite room was the dining room off the porch. In the picture posted below look at that huge megaphone on the left side. It's about 4 feet tall, made of parchment paper so it only weighs 2 lbs., and is therefore light enough for Eleanor to call in the kids for dinner. Ha!

We had to go through a border crossing station to get to Campobello, then cross back into the U.S. We drove due north for another hour, then had to cross again at St. Stephens to get into mainland Canada. While driving up to St. Stephens we passed a marker along the road which indicated that we were crossing the 45th parallel, which is exactly half way between the Equator and the North Pole. (Pretty cool since we were at the Equator a month ago).

We are in a nicely wooded beach campground not too far from St. John. I understand it has a great beach and boardwalk, but between the steady rain and time change it's too dark and wet to really explore. Okay, I'm going to cop to ignorance here. I had no idea that there was an Atlantic time zone in our continent. I assumed all the Maritime Provinces were in the Eastern time zone. It was bizarre to go to Campobello, lose an hour of time, cross over the bridge back into the US and gain it back, drive for an hour, cross the bridge into Canada and lose it again. So, we are now officially 4 hours ahead of California. We no longer have any cell connection so we'll be relying on finding wi-fi when we can. Could take us a bit longer to post updates for the next several weeks. Stay tuned...(The last two photos I couldn't resist. Lobsters and more lobsters!)

On the Road Again

Acadia National Park, Maine (that's the goal)

We had a lovely evening at Chez VW Dealer last night despite one startling event. At about 10:30 pm, we had a tap on our window and a bright spotlight shined on me when I opened the door. Ned had just climbed on to the upper bunk and was getting settled in for the night. A policeman was inquiring as to our squatter situation. When we gave him our pitiful story and told him we had permission from the dealer, he was quite nice. He introduced himself and said he'd be coming through our area several times that night to keep a watch on things. Yep, all night he drove through, my last count was 3 am. When Coltan inquired as to how our comfort and stay was we told him about the police visit. His response, "We call that housekeeping." Funny guy.

Again we were given a loaner car for the day. (It's the Dealer shuttle van, the driver is off on Wed). Kinda fun to drive all these swanky new model cars. We went out for breakfast at a local's breakfast place, called "Lucky Logger's Landing", again recommended by Coltan. (I wish I could type out Coltan's great clipped New England accent as he talks with us. "Take the cah"). It's rainy and drizzly today so unfortunately not great biking weather. The loaner was much appreciated. Today was Coltan's day off, but he swapped days so he could continue to help us out. Guess who's getting a Bach Cello Sweet sent to him when we get home? Love the pictures we took with him.

This restaurant was great. So uniquely New England. On the menu were such things as mac-n-cheese and "American Chop Suey", a dish specific to Maine. I assumed it was some version of the Chinese chop suey we ate as a kid. Nope, it's basically ground beef, elbow macaroni and some sort of tomato sauce. I stuck with eggs.

We were finally on the road by 12:30. Unbelievable! In 26hrs. an auto part from LA was flown out and installed. I'm so grateful this happened while still in Maine and not in the backroads of French speaking Canada somewhere.

The upside of hanging out with locals for awhile is getting tips on things to see and do. Just a ways up the road we stopped at Len Libby's and saw the world's largest chocolate moose, which was indeed a life size sculpted moose, surrounded by some chocolate bears. Pretty funny actually. I seriously doubt that chocolate tasted very good tho.

A little farther north and the next stop was Cold River Vodka Distillery. They use Maine potatoes to make vodka, blueberry vodka and gin. I think they are the only potato distillery in the U.S. It's a really small operation and we got a personal tour from one of the distillers. The best part of the tour was tasting all the vodka and gin afterwards. My fave was the blueberry vodka - delish! (Yes, Ned drove).

Voted #1 lobster roll in Maine by just about everyone is a place called Red's Eats. It's a small little lobster shack in the town of Wiscasset situated on one of Maine's thousands of inlets. What makes this lobster roll so unique is that it is filled with one glorious pound of lobster meat on a roll. No fillers, no celery, no lettuce, no anything. Just lobster. You can get it with either a side of mayo or butter. We opted for the butter and watched the woman behind the counter pour the butter from the kettle heating on the stove into little cups for us. At the height of tourist season the wait can be well over an hour and the line can go around the block for these lobster rolls. The bright side of it being a rainy day today is that there was only a very short wait and that was at 3:30 in the afternoon! We took our rolls back to the van and had an indoor picnic in the rain stuffing ourselves with lobster.

The rest of the day was spent driving up the coast mostly through drizzle and rain. Not the best picture taking day, but we were glad to be on the road again! We are headed to Acadia National Park anticipating a late arrival. Sure hope the weather clears up a bit so we can bike the carriage roads (and take cool photos) first thing in the morning.

Plan B

Grassy Field Behind VW Dealer, Saco, ME

After an absolutely delightful time with Kristy and Leon, we finally rolled out the door and were on our way to explore the Maine coast. I had visions of fishing boats, lobster traps, light houses and wild waves dancing in my head. We got about 30 miles up the road when the generator light went on. (uh-oh) Fortunately we were just driving by a VW dealer and decided to pull in and have Winnie checked out. The first person we spoke with said they were booked up for 3 days and couldn't possibly fit us in. A young man, Coltan, waved us over, listened to our sob story and said he'd find someone to check it out within the next couple of hours. Coltan - our man! He also saw the bikes on the back of Winnie and suggested we might like to take a spin on the Eastern Rail Trail rather than just hang out at the dealer, AND - he even knew about a local seafood shack next to the trail. I think this is one of those situations where you can aptly say it was making lemon-aid out of lemons. Ned and I got in a beautiful 12 mile or so bike ride, had a lobster roll and headed back to our man Coltan.

The good news, yes they diagnosed the problem. The bad news, Winnie needs a new alternator, which wouldn't come in until...tomorrow. Hmmm. Coltan, once again came to the rescue. He gave us a loaner car for the day and recommended some places close by to explore. Coltan also said he could help us out by letting us "camp-out" behind the dealership, in a grassy area, where they park their overflow new cars.
SWEET! Jumping in our new swanky Passat, we used this opportunity to get some laundry done and took a drive to the nearby tourist attraction, Old Orchard Beach.

Old Orchard Beach felt more like the New Jersey coast rather than the typical Maine coast. It was complete with boardwalk, roller coaster and carnival rides, ice cream shops and tattoo parlors. Believe it or not, Old Orchard Beach has been promoted as a tourist destination since 1631!! It was originally promoted as the "Garden By the Sea." The boardwalk and amusement park dates back to 1898 and is one of the last "old-timey" oceanside amusement parks in New England. Normally, we wouldn't have stopped for this type of entertainment, but I must admit it was a lot of fun to do the whole boardwalk thing. Actually, what we enjoyed the most was checking out all the tacky tourist shops and getting a laugh out of the trinkets. (Lobster snow-globes anyone?) Also, the mannequins in the store windows hawking women's bikinis are quite risqué. These are the most well-endowed mannequins I've ever seen.
The day was pleasant in the low 70's, but certainly not swimming in the ocean weather to me. I guess after the brutal winter these Maine folks had they couldn't wait to celebrate summer. There were tons of teenagers in bikinis running around and a couple of brave souls swimming in the ocean.

Upon returning to the dealership several of the mechanics working there gave us a cheer and good-naturedly teased us about camping at the dealership. "Hey, let's see if we can get a bonfire going tonight" and "Maybe we can hook up a band for you guys!". I told them that s'mores were on us tonight and come on by later. These Maine folks are just so darn nice! This is also the most fun I've ever had with a car issue.

We are "camped" right across the street from a movie theatre so we decided to take in a show. We saw, "Million Dollar Arm" and laughed and cried and thoroughly enjoyed it. I know Mom would have loved this movie and I felt her next to me watching along.
As we came out of the theatre, crossing Route 1, and walking into the car dealership parking lot, we both chuckled at our home sweet home for the night. It wasn't the day I envisioned, it's gonna cost us a pretty penny to get Winnie back in shape, but it was still a really great day. We were treated with incredible kindness by strangers, we went on a bike ride, had a good laugh at the movies and now are snuggled safely in bed for the night, right next to several dozen shiny new 2015 Passats. Plan B's can be pretty good too...

Cape Cod and Cape Neddick

Kristy and Leon's Home, Cape Neddick, ME

The day had finally come! Biking a portion of the the Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT) last night was better than I had imagined and I couldn't wait to stretch my legs and really spend some time getting to know this little piece of heaven. We were on the trail by 8:30 this morning and really enjoyed riding through all different terrains. It felt soooo good to just clip along on our bike, riding through forests and alongside meadows. By the time we were done we had ridden about 25 miles.

Some of the highlights were taking a little side trip and riding to the Cape Cod National Seashore. We took a quick tour through the Visitor's Center and then decided to take another bike trail out to the ocean. Some interesting little tidbits I learned - the Pilgrims first landed at this part of Cape Cod. After being on the seas for several months, they were so excited to finally reach land that they hung out here for a good month before going on to Plymouth. And during the 1800's when Cape Cod was predominantly an agricultural community the farmers harvested their hay along the kettle ponds and then transported it by flat boat. According to oral history, many residents fondly remembered the salty taste of the cow milk from this hay.

I loved riding the CCRT. It's my all time favorite rail trail. I definitely plan on coming back again, but next time I want to stay at least 3 days and ride all the connecting trails too. Nickerson State Park and the CCRT rock.

We finally headed out of Cape Cod by early afternoon working our way through Boston and continuing our coastal drive through New Hampshire and Maine. We arrived at Kristy and Leon's house in Cape Neddick by late afternoon. They have such a beautiful home in the Maine woods not far from the coast. This evening we all walked the Marginal Trail in Ogunquit. The waves were really giving us a show, pounding and crashing into the rocks. Apparently, there was an offshore storm making them much wilder than normal. All I know is that I was loving the pounding, crashing, salty, wonderful energy of it all. The 4 of us ate dinner at a great seafood restaurant in the charming village of Ogunquit. Crab cakes and salad - mmmm. It was great spending time with Kristy and Leon and enjoying their warm hospitality. My only regret is that we didn't get a chance to see Ben. How fun to connect with family on the wild coasts of Maine.