Monday, August 20, 2018

After a good night of rest we all awoke refreshed and ready for another day of adventure.  Mary Jane had prepared us a delicious hot breakfast, and soon we said our thank yous and good-byes and we hit the road for we weren't sure where. :)   We had decided that , although we had an idea of things we'd like to see, we were going to "ad lib" it.....and enjoy the ride!

   

And what a ride it was today!  We headed north on Route 95 to Bangor ( we learned it's pronounced bang-gore. It really should have an "e" on the end😏) Here we filled the car with gas, and ate the fresh cherries and plums in our cooler, in preparation for crossing the border. (However, when we got there, they never asked us about fruit!) 

It was also here that we met the most handsome man......😁

Now that's a big man.....😍

As we said good-bye to "Paul", we turned East on Route 1....
It was a GORGEOUS  day to drive!

We passed by beautiful bodies of water!

We passed through many little towns, with many flags flying......and as I was exclaiming , I got my mix talked up and said "Look! Every flag has a pole!"

O Beautiful, for spacious skies.....🎝🎝🎝

We saw a lot of stately old,  well-loved homes.......

And then some that were just begging for some TLC!

We came to a little village called Columbia Falls.  We pulled over at the bridge and saw these rapids.  As we were audibly wondering if this is the falls, a gentleman was walking past to the post office and stopped to ask us if we were looking for the falls.

He then directed us to a small gravel road where we drove off the road for several hundred feet where we could look back upstream, and see the falls.

                              

 And While we were back there, we looked down over the bank and saw what could have been a painting!  This abandoned skiff nestled in amoung the reeds....

The miles rolled by as we discussed all kinds of things, punctuated with gales of laughter!! (and we all agreed....what is said in the car, stays in the car!😊) And then we rolled past this interesting looking building.  As we left it in the rear view mirror we realized it was a blueberry place!  About 3 or 4 miles down the road, Marie mentioned that she really could eat a piece of blueberry pie! One by one, we all said "So could I!" So we turned the little CRV around and headed back!

And they even had the "Welcome Back" sign out for us!!

 The shop was filled with all things blueberry.....

                                           

Soaps....

Potholders....

Teas.... and much more....

And the BEST home-made blueberry pies!!!
The pies are made with WILD blueberries, which are about the size of petite green peas,
and have a much bolder blueberry flavor than cultivated ones. It took me back 40 years to when we lived in the bush in Northwestern Ontario, and picked our own wild blueberries!
Margie bought one small blueberry truffle. Hours later when she ate it, the whole car had this delectable blueberry aroma which lingered for quite some time!

We each had a piece!  It was delicious, and worth the turn-around in our journey!

Marie thought she might just taste hers, and save the rest for later.  
But after one bite,  there was no turning back! 

We learned that wild blueberries are an every-other-year crop. At the end of the season, they burn off the fields and then harvest them again 2 years later. 
Below is one of many fields we passed as we drove.

Before long we arrived at the Easternmost town in the USA, Lubec Maine. We drove across the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, went though customs, and found ourselves on  the beautiful Campobello Island. 

Greeting us was the East Quoddy Head lighthouse.

Campbobello Island was the beloved vacation home of FDR.  The house below, on the Bay of Fundy, was where the Roosevelt Family  called home during the summer months.

Before our tour of the house, in the last tour of the day,

we enjoyed the delightful flower gardens! 

 Someone knows how to grow dahlias!

This is the back of the house, toward the Bay. The Rooselvelts were given this house by FDR's parents.  They added the 10-room section to the right, which was called the children's section.

There are lots of picture windows, revealing lovely views, such as in this sitting room.

Here is the dining room where the family ate their meals.  

Two of the little boys ate at the children's table in front of the windows.

The dining room where the "help" ate. 

The kitchen.

One of 14 bedrooms. The beautiful delicate coverlets were hand crocheted by one of the help.

She called it her winter work.

The school room where the tutor taught the children. Yes, even in summer.

The children's bathroom.

The above is just a sampling of the enormous 24 room house!

The front porch.

We knew it was high time to find a place to lay our heads for the night.  As I drove, Margie made some phone calls.  We stopped at every motel as we headed back the way we had come to the island. And we discovered there was "no room in the inns". So we stopped to pray, and headed down the road. The next motel we got to was Redcliff Shore Motor Inn.  AND they had two rooms with two double beds each!! We knew it was an answer to our prayer! Thank you, Jesus!  And not only did He give us a last minute place to sleep, but it was lake-front!

Redcliff Shore Motor Inn...with rooms across the back along the lake. (not shown)

The twilight view from our deck!

Upon our inquirey, the hostess directed us to Eastport to the Chowder House for dinner. 

It was a 20 minute drive, but well-worth the ride! 

We enjoyed delicious seafood alfredo! 

This is taken from the deck of the Chowder House,

The lights in the distance on the right are the lights on Campbello Island, across the Bay.

Because of the rugged coastline, we drove several hours from the island to our place for the night.

                                We enjoyed a beautiful ending to a beautiful day!