Off to visit the Roosevelts, Bogs and Ferries

We woke up at about 7:00 and after getting dressed went downstairs to grab coffee before breakfast was served at 8. Met some of the same people from last night as well as a couple who are eating with us and then going bird watching. They hired a guide and they will be heading off into the wilderness. The guide arrived while we were having breakfast and was an interesting guy.

Breakfast was delicious. Fresh fruit, blueberry muffins (blueberries are abundant in Maine, you see roadside stands everywhere), a baked egg and Canadian bacon casserole with salsa in the center. It was really good! Lots of juice, coffee and good conversation. We took some pictures and then packed up the car and headed across the border to Canada to see Campobello. Went through the little immigration place with no problem. Unlike last year when we needed a passport to get in and out of Canada, this year they are back to just requiring a photo I.D.

The Roosevelt home is jointly owned by the U.S. and Canada even though the land it sits on belongs to the Province of New Brunswick. The house or summer cottage as it was referred to while owned by the Roosevelts. In the late 1800's, the island was originally promoted as a summer resort for wealthy people looking to escape the heat of New York, Boston, Ottawa, etc. The Roosevelt family was one such family. The cottage was purchased in the early 1900s for Franklin and Eleanor. A new wing was added to make room for the growing family. Roosevelt was at this cottage when he contracted polio at 35.

The house was interesting. A huge effort has been made to maintain the house much like it was then. In the corner of the parlor was a huge megaphone that Eleanor used to call the kids into the house. In the kitchen was a huge copper water heater that heated water by the use of the wood burning stove.

We wandered around outside, and then down to the water. I noticed huge plants that turned out to be wild roses. The rose hips were as big or bigger than cherry tomatoes. The flower beds in front were planted with giant dinner plate dalias in incredible colors. The guide said that quite a few of them had been broken from the heavy rains that rolled through thanks to Hannah. Fortunately they were all staked which minimized the damage.

We decided to explore the island a little bit. On the northernmost tip of the island is East Quoddy lighthouse. This is the very distinctive lighthouse with the red cross painted on it. We were never able to find it. Driving around this island was for some reason very confusing. Part of the problem was that some of the roads had been washed out...again thanks Hannah and so when we got to where it was supposed to be on our map, it wasn't. We never saw it. The interesting thing about it is that at high tide it is unaccessible, low tide gives you the opportunity to walk over to it. The walk is apparently very rugged but doable. We finally gave up. We did find an area that was set aside as a bog. I think it was called Cranberry bog. It had wooden sidewalks and descriptions of the many of the various strange plants. Stepping on the ground was very weird because it was very bouncy and water would well up around your feet. There were lots of very strange looking plants including pitcher plants and the flowers the plant produces.

We ended up at Raccoon Beach. There was a fairly substantial stream running into the cove. One thing we both noticed was the color of the water. While it was very clear the color was a very odd coffee brown. It doesn't appear to be polluted just a weird color. We wandered around the beach for a bit and by then we were gettiing hungry. Cal wanted to go back to Cohill's again and I want to see the lighthouse at West Quoddy so we went back across the bridge to eat.

I had a delicious jambalaya with seafood of course.

After lunch we headed east to West Quoddy. The West Quoddy Head lighthouse is one of the more photographed ones. Unfortunately the road was washed out (seems to be a reoccuring theme) and that was the only access. Bummer.

We decided that rather than hang around Lubec we'd take the ferries to New Brunswick. Yes, ferries, one from Welshpool on Campobello to Chocolate Cove on Deer Island and the other from the other side of Deer Island to L'Etete on the New Brunswick mainland.

The ferries were fun. They were open air car ferries and both of them combined was a little under an hour. They both ran on the half hour. Once on the NS mainland we started thinking about a place to stay. It was only about 3:00 but that seems to be the time we begin looking as we don't want to be wandering around in the dark if we don't have to.

By chance (heh) we ended up at the Mariners Inn in Chance Harbour. http://www.bayoffundy.com/mariner/default.asp?id=home/ We ended up on a country road and happened upon the Mariners Inn sign. We decided that if the place wasn't a dump that's where we'd stay. It was far from a dump. Our room was clean and bright with a small deck that overlooked the harbour. The view was amazing! The inn was off the beaten path but that suited us just fine. There was a restaurant on site and that was all we needed.

After settling in we went downstairs and had dinner. I had (gasp) seafood chowder and some grilled scallops. Cal had some little appetizers made with smoked salmon. It was a fairly light but very good. Just what we both needed.

We wandered around until the mosquitoes threatened to carry us off. Then Went up to our room and checked out some of the pictures we've taken so far. Most of the places so far, including this one, have had internet so keeping up with email and such has been a breeze.

The GPS on the laptop has gotten quite a workout, but so far she has done a fairly good job of keeping us from getting too lost.

End of day came early.

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