1 Giant Blueberry, 2 New Friends & 3 Pretty Lighthouses

Bar Harbor, Maine
Timberland RV Park


The weather started out cold and foggy.  We were glad we chose today for an all day road trip. We got an early start and stopped at the Worlds Largest Blueberry to get some snacks for the drive.  Glenda picked out some blueberry treats and we were on our way.

Oh, and we met two new friends.  I think they were in a blueberry pie coma?

 

A cute doll (?) hanging on to the crab traps.

 

Our destination was the small fishing village of Lubec, Maine.  It is the northernmost point in the US.  That makes 3 we've been to now and only leaves SW California.  You think since we're from California we've been there.  Go figure. We lived hours away though in the Northern CA mountains. 

Lubec was a couple of hours of driving from our campground but there was so much beautiful scenery on the coast to see along the way.  The fog was very thick here and made for the best pictures.

About an hour down the road the sun started coming out and it even warmed up a bit.  Steve & Curt were off to find a couple of geocaches hidden near a trailhead so Glenda, Hurley and I hiked a bit.

We didn't get far and we noticed this very recent floral memorial off to the side of the trail.  Maybe it was someone's favorite hike.

   

The trail was very lush in some spots and very rocky in others.  It had a very nice sweet, boggy smell.

Half of a robins egg on the ground.

We're glad the sun is still out so we can walk Main St. 

Cute and colorful.

 Of course they have a brew pub! Who doesn't these days?  No matter how small the town or how far Northeast, there they are. 

 

It had a shabby-hippy vibe to the place.  The owner had painted lyrics to poems and songs all around the ceiling and on the walls.

 

"The Revolution Starts Now"

by Steve Earle

I was walkin' down the street
In the town where I was born
I was movin' to a beat
That I'd never felt before
So I opened up my eyes
And I took a look around
I saw it written 'cross the sky
The revolution starts now
Yeah, the revolution starts now

The revolution starts now
When you rise above your fear
And tear the walls around you down
The revolution starts here
Where you work and where you play
Where you lay your money down
What you do and what you say
The revolution starts now
Yeah the revolution starts now

Yeah the revolution starts now
In your own backyard
In your own hometown
So what you doin' standin' around?
Just follow your heart
The revolution starts now

Last night I had a dream
That the world had turned around
And all our hopes had come to be
And the people gathered 'round
They all brought what they could bring
And nobody went without
And I learned a song to sing
The revolution starts now

 

I really liked the song.  Very Tom Petty-ish.  You can hear it HERE   And onto the beer.

Neither Steve or Curt cared much for the beer, but the owner was a delightfully quirky gal that swore like a sailor! She sure had some great stories of the area.

Glenda and Curt

The Lost Fisherman's Memorial

We had lunch at Frank's Dockside.  A nice little Italian place.  We all had sandwiches or burgers and they were very good! 

Cute little "library".  We've seen these all over.  Take a book, leave a book.

 

A short drive over the bridge and we're in New Brunswick, Canada.  We were so worried about Steve's prior incidence many years ago in Canada that we forgot all about the firewood that was in the back of our truck.  Not allowed.  They just told us to turn around and drop it off somewhere and pick  it back up later.  No problem.  They even let me in with my expired passport.  Yes, more importantly, we did check first on the US side to make sure they'd let me back in!

Little surprises that birds dropped along the way.

 

There were two lighthouses here we wanted to see.  We went to the far tip of Campobello Island and took a short trail around the edge of the water to get a better view. 

Our first view. 

The  Head Harbor Lightstation was built in 1829.  The tower's wooden, shingle clad exterior is painted white with a distinctive red cross. The 51' octagonal structure is tapered and the original lantern was replaced by the current cast iron model in 1887.

 

An absolutely gorgeous lighthouse and setting.

 Hurley agrees.

It is separated from the mainland by a small strip of land and is accessible only at low tide.

One more interesting fact:  Campobello was the childhood summer home of Franklin D. Roosevelt and where he was stricken with polio.

We wondered what these "things" were in the water just off the coast.  They are not oyster farms.  Turns out they are Atlantic Raised Salmon farms that take 2 years to grow.

 

Curt spotted an Eagle being chased around by some angry seagulls.  We were able to get a little video.

 

Before leaving the island and crossing back into the good ol' US of A, we visit the Mulholland Point Lighthouse.

Looking across the bay at Lubec, Maine. 

 

The lighthouse was built in 1885 and the tower is 32 feet tall.  It is no longer a functioning lighthouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yay, they let me back in!  After picking up our firewood we headed to our last lighthouse with plenty of time before it got dark.

 

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse

 

Just when you think they can't get any prettier!  Located on the most eastern point of the continental United States, West Quoddy Head Lighthouse is an amazing spot to see the first rays of sun in the country.  The original tower was built in 1808 under orders from President Thomas Jefferson.  The lighthouse tower that stands today was built in 1858.

The sun was going down and it was getting colder and windier!

 There it is!  The Easternmost point in the United States!

 

Glenda and I took a walk down to the shoreline and on the way passed this tree that looked like it swallowed a giant dog bone.  Actually, it must be some type of tree disease because many of them had some type of growth like this. 

The waters off the coast of Quoddy Head form the open end of Canada's Bay of Fundy which divides New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The shape of the bay causes extremely high tides that rise and fall almost 16 feet in 6 hours. Fishing for Herring, Cod and Lobster are big here.

As we walked back towards the lighthouse we saw stacked rocks among the colorful cliffs.  This beach is covered with smooth rocky stones instead of sand.

The lighthouse tower peeking out.

 

 

I noticed something at the top of a rock outcropping that needed more investigation.  It looked like a small person from below.  I climbed up and it turned out to be another pile of stones.

 

 

 

What a long, great day it was!