I've been on PEI for a couple of days now, the weather has been great and yesterday I toured the west end - most of that on coastal roads. I've been surprised by the amount of farming, thought it would be fishing that dominated. Managed two museums, walks on the beach - but it general just enjoying the scenery.
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| North Cape Lighthouse |
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| Seacow Pond |
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| Malpeque |
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| PEI is Canada's largest producer of potatoes. |
Lots of churches on the island, the unusual thing - they are wood structures. Impressive!
I've been hearing about the tides in the Bay of Fundy since I was a kid - this area was one of Grandpa Nadeau's favorite places, and when you see the tides in action they truly are amazing! Most of the roads I've been traveling in New Brunswick have meandered along the coast so I've had some great views, but in Saint John I actually saw the tides in action - at the Reversing Falls and it was pretty impressive.
Next up was Cape Enragé De Fundy - this lighthouse has warned Mariners since 1840 of the treacherous mix of the tide, shear cliffs and undersea mountains in this remote place.
Two days later I stopped at the Hopewell Rocks - this place on the Bay of Fundy, claims the "World's Highest Tides" and some pretty amazing rocks to go along with all the water moving in and out.
Crossed into Canada yesterday (New Brunswick Province) land of the loonie, toonie, and friendly folk. Had an uneventful border crossing and my atm card worked (big plus) - only downside, no Verizon so don't expect daily posts as finding wifi doesn't always work with my schedule.
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| The border crossing - Calais, Maine to Saint Stephen, New Brunswick |
Last night I stayed in the New River Beach Provincial Park a nice campground with hot showers! The park sits right on the Bay of Fundy which is known for having the highest tidal range in the world - I missed the high tide, so all you get today are photos at low tide.
After New River I did the backroad thing for a bit,
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| Mill Pond Bridge built 1910 |
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| Pier at Dipper Harbour |
and now I'm in St. John, where I will stay overnight. So far I've walked around downtown, and will check out a few other sights before I head to Walmart for the night.
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| The City Market |
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| Where I used the wifi to make this post |
I've been here in Acadia National Park for five days, an unusually long stay in one spot for me. Why? The weather has been great, plenty to see and do, good campgrounds and it's just one of those special places. Acadia National Park is located on Mount Desert Island and the Schoodic Peninsula, you can travel between the two sections via road or ferry. The Park had its beginning in 1916 and became the first National Park east of the Mississippi in 1919. A unique feature of this park - Forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads, a gift from philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. - no motorized vehicles allowed, these roads are still used by horse drawn carriages (the lady you will see in the video has been riding these roads for 45 years) and today by hikers and bike riders. Also, one other note about the video, the Schooner Margaret Todd is the first 4-Masted Schooner to work in New England waters in over half a century. Hope you enjoy the video!
The Penobscot Narrows Bridge is the first bridge I've driven across and then road UP - the latter, courtesy of an elevator in one of its towers that takes you to the tallest public Bridge Observatory in the world. At 447 feet you get a pretty spectacular view!
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| See the van? |
Special Note: I'm now exploring Acadia National Park until the middle of the week and will be without cell service, which means you will not see daily posts. Back soon.
I hadn't planned anything exciting for today - just a drive from Rockland, where I'd spent the night, over to Freeport, ME. If you're familiar with Maine geography (or like follow my route on the MapShare page) you might say, "but Steve, that's the wrong way" as I'm supposed to be heading to Nova Scotia - my rational (beside the usual Take The Long Way thinking) was that I should really stop by LL Bean, as not doing so would have been akin to skipping Ben & Jerry's when I was in Vermont - couldn't do that! (Hey grammar fanatics - how many stars do I get for that run-on sentence.)
Off I go, and all is well (remember I'm just going straight to Freeport) until I decide to stop at a gallery, because it looked more interesting than what you see every few feet along US1 in Maine.
Didn't buy a thing, but the owners of the Medomak Gallery and I started talking about my van travels (gave them a tour) and suggested that I check out the sauerkraut place nearby (just 7 miles down a background) - so much for direct Freeport!
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| Morse's Sauerkraut - Established 1918 |
Back on the road (after buying my Maine Sauerkraut) I'm doing fine (heading toward Freeport) until I'm crossing the bridge at Bath - look left and see this:
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| That folks is one of the US Navy's new stealth guided missile destroyers |
Hadn't realized that the "Bath" I was approaching was the Bath of ship building fame and home to the Bath Iron Works (shipyard) that has been building ships here since 1884. Unfortunately, you can't get a tour of BIW because of security, but I still managed to spend over three hours in town visiting the Maine Maratime Museum, the Build Virginia Project (replica of the first ship built in Maine) and walking downtown.
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| The Build Virginia Project |
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| Riverside Park |
Leaving the Maritime Museum I was walking to the van and a guy says "that your van" - of course a conversation (and tour) ensue, and he said I might enjoy the drive out to Bailey Island. Not much to see, except for the Cribstone Bridge, because the roads ends at the water - which, of course, is my kind of road.
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| The Bailey Island Bridge (Cribstone Bridge) |
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| No mortar or cement, just heavy blocks of granite |
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| At lands end |
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| Fishermen's Memorial |
After the drive back to US1 from Bailey Island I'm finally back on track to Freeport, until - I get caught in a turn only lane and end up taking a little tour Brunswick and find the Androscoggin Swinging Bridge.
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| It was built in 1892 for workers working at the Cabot Mill in Brunswick, that lived in neighboring Topsham. |
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| The bridge was constructed by John A. Roebling's Sons Company, the engineering firm that designed and built the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City |
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| View from the bridge |
And finally, I did make it to Freeport and the flagship store of LL Bean at 11:00pm - but hey, it's open 24hrs a day, so it all worked out.
