Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada

 June 13, 2024 - Thurs

After grabbing some donuts from Dunkin Donuts we headed to Campobello Island, the summer boyhood home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Mulholland Point Lighthouse at low tide with a lobster pound on the right -a place to hold lobsters until the price goes up

The town of Lubec, Maine from Campobello

We were stopped at the Canadian Border because we had basil plants and the soil was something prohibited from crossing so we had to go back across the bridge, through the US Customs, and into Calais, where we attempted to remove the soil from the plants. The larger one was so root bound that that was an impossible task, so I found a woman who lived in town and gave it to her. We dumped the soil of the two smaller plants and easily rinsed off the soil, then headed back across the bridge to Campobello.

Summer cottage of FDR and Eleanor - it intentionally had no electricity or phone 

FDR’s hat and pipe left during his last visit to the home

View from the living room

I was enamored with the wallpaper

Dining room with a smaller table that children sat at until they could master “correct” table manners

The stove, the Presidential model, was gifted to FDR by his mother when he won the election

Hot water heater

Original stove

Bell system for summoning servants

Laundry room

The master bedroom and the room where FDR first became sick 

Hubbard Cottage - neighbors

This is the house I want

View from the Hubbard Cottage - the round pens are for raising Atlantic Salmon

Wells-Shober Cottage

We participated in the free Tea with Eleanor where we indulged in her favorite tea and molasses cookies and learned so much more about this remarkable woman

Head Harbour lighthouse

During low tide you can walk across to the island. The tides rises 5 feet per hour and if you don’t time it right you’ll be stranded for 8 hours

The FDR Memorial Bridge with the lobster pound in the foreground

Lobster claw in the Mulholland exhibit shack

A quick succession of photos as the fog moved in at the Mulholland Lighthouse

We went back over the bridge, had the interior of our van scanned for unauthorized passengers by US Customs, and drove to West Quoddy Lighthouse - the Easternmost point in the US

Spent the night in the Calais Walmart parking lot

Maine and Acadia National Park

 6/8 - 6/12

We arrived at our campsite in Blackwoods in Acadia NP in the evening and arranged to meet up with Madison and Marquan in the morning. After a blessedly cool evening’s sleep they picked us up and we began the drive on the loop. Decided to do the 1.5 mile loop around Jordan Pound - only it was over 3 miles and it began to pour. Nonetheless it was a beautiful hike.

Woodpecker evidence

Loon

Wild iris

Finished the day walking through Bar Harbor and getting dinner at the Thirsty Whale. Next day Matthew and I lounged around the campsite while Madison and Marquan hiked and then they came over to the campsite for dinner.

 
Tuesday we went to see Thunder Hole, only the sea was very calm there wasn’t any thunder

More wild irises

Joined up with Marquand and Madison again and went to Streetside Cafe in Bar Harbor for dinner. Unfortunately it was only meh. Then it was time to say goodbye. But not before Matthew had to tell Madison where to get her very own bug zapper racket, since she seems to be a bug magnet.

Broke camp Wed morning and headed north to Machias, where we did laundry and then drove to a park on the Machias River for an early dinner.

Time to cook up some veggies before we enter Canada tomorrow

While I was cooking, a cyclist sat at the table next to us. I asked Matthew to invite him to join us for dinner since we had so much food. That is how we met Jo - Joachim Gnoyke - a 71 year old solo cyclist who is traveling from NYC, north to Canada, across Canada and then down the West Coast to San Diego, then across the south and back up to NYC! He is amazing! We all tried to get a photo of the bald eagles above us, especially the one that flew by with a fish in its talons, but to no avail.

We said goodbye to Jo after dinner, only to run into him again at the local library as we both updated our blogs. Finally we parted and he rode off north and we drove back to town to our site for the night along the river.

Lupine are all over Maine - although invasive, they are beautiful

Cormorants on a wire

We will be serenaded to sleep by the Little Bad Falls