Mt. Cadillac

Glorious Maine

 

John and Lucy
Sunset at Sunset RV Park

We had always intended to get to Maine this summer to escape the heat in the south, but Lubec would never have been on our radar if it weren’t for the fact that our good friends and fellow Workampers, John & Lucy, from Barberville were working for the summer at Sunset Point RV Park.  And as the name suggests we had some awesome sunsets as we were able to pull in our coach so it faced west overlooking the inlet.   Lubec is a small fishing village all the way out on the thumb of the state and is the easternmost town in the US.   The first day we enjoyed an easy one mile walk into the village which has several good restaurants, lots of kitschy seaside shops, and a great ice cream stand.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Watch the amazing time lapse video of the tides in Johnson Bay – our inlet.  It was awesome to watch how far out it would go each low tide.  Especially at the new moon.

 

 

The West Quoddy Head Lighthouse stands on the easternmost point of the US and we ventured there twice, once by car and then the second time by bike on a foggy morning for their lighthouse festival.  This area is also home to the Passamaquoddy Indians and was made famous by the movie Pete’s Dragon.  We kept our eyes open for Elliott but he seemed to stay put in his cave while we were there exploring the rocks!

 

 

We had 9 glorious days enjoying friendship, good food, awesome views, great hiking and a little history.  Sunset Point is a very small RV park on one of the inlets of the Fundy Bay.  It was perfectly situated to explore the area and to travel across the border into Canada to Campobello, which has the only International Park owned and operated by both Canada and the US.  This beautiful island was the summer home of Eleanor and FDR.  The Roosevelts spent most summers on the island from the time FDR was a small boy until his death in 1945.  We spent two wonderful day delving into history and hiking the trails.  At the Roosevelt International Park we toured FDR’s home, had tea with Eleanor, and took the FUN tour exploring what life was like on the island for the family.  We had a delicious lunch in the Prince Cafe and wandered the beautiful gardens.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Our second day over the border we spent sightseeing the rest of the island, driving the back gravel roads, hiking out to Liberty Point and then on to the Sunsweep Sculpture.  There are three of these sculptures across the nation which align during the summer solstice.  We timed our second trip to coincide with the evening low tide as we wanted to hike out to the Head  Harbour Lightstation.  You can only access this lightstation during the low tide as you have to cross the seabed and climb several rickety ladders up and down to reach the bit of rock where the lighthouse sits.  After our strenuous adventure we wandered over to The Pier Restaurant in Wilson’s Beach for an awesome dinner. 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

We also spent lots of quality time visiting with John and Lucy celebrating July 4th together, having a traditional Maine Lobstah boil, and a taking a whale watching trip up around Campobello Island.  We were lucky enough to see 2 eagles, lots of seals, porpoises, jellyfish, and sea birds plus we found Breadknife one of the Minke whales that frequents these waters.  The local fisherman have named each of the whales according to the shape of their dorsal fins.  

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

And Breadknife!

 

We highly recommend that if you are ever heading north to make this part of Maine part of your journey.  Though the roads in the area make for a rather bumpy ride, the weather was perfect with cool mornings and evenings with highs only getting into the 70’s.  It was so peaceful with idyllic walks, so many wildflowers, such beautiful scenery, and lots to experience.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

We continued our Maine adventures with a trip south to Acadia National Park.  Here we stayed at the Smuggler’s Den Campground in Southwest Harbor which is on the west side of the island with trails leading right into the park.  We could only get a site for 4 night so we made the best of our time with a drive around the Park Loop Road in the eastern section of the park, going up to Cadillac Mountain, stopping at the Thunder Hole, and then down to Seal Harbor for lunch.  

 

 

Again, once we had gotten off the more heavily traveled tourist areas we found a unique village.  Seal Harbor is very tiny with only one restaurant, the Lighthouse Inn,  but it was a great one!  And right beside the Lighthouse Inn was the most epic bookstore, The Naturalist’s Notebook.  The displays were the most engaging, enticing, colorful, and dynamic  presentations of books I have ever seen.  My children would have loved this place and it would have cost us a fortune!

 

 

The next day, hoping to get away from the worst of the summer crowds, we decided to stay in the western section of the park.  We were planning on an all day hike, packing a picnic lunch and hiking up to Flying Mountain Trail and across the ridge.  However, after our 600ft climb we found the next section of the trail was closed due to nesting peregrine falcons so we took a more direct path back to the car down Valley Cove Road.  Since we had more time in the day we drove down to  the Wonderland Trail and hiked out onto the rocks to examine the tide pools.  

 

 

During the breaks in the rain on our last day we hiked the trails leading out of the RV park down to Echo Lake then on to Long Pond.  Both were encased in a thick fog but it made for another magical way to get our 10,000 steps in for the day! 

 

 

Our last night we finally braved the summer crowds and went into Bar Harbor for dinner.  If you are into lots of nightlife and tourist shops galore, this town is for you.  So many B&B’s, hotels, restaurants, bars, and way overpriced souvenirs.  For us we will keep to the trails and finding the more out of the way places like Seal Harbor!

Our final stop in Maine was a one-night stop in Bethel.  Occasionally we book places just because they are on our route and and easy in/out to get us back on the road the next day.  And sometimes we wish we had booked more time!  We stopped at the Bethel Outdoor Adventure Camp right on the Androscoggin River.  They have a small but very serviceable campground but their main business is canoe/rafting/float trips down the river.  We did not have enough time to float away the heat but we did venture over their suspension bridge to take a one mile hike around an island in the river. 

 

 

We spent only 14 days in Maine but we saw so much and had so much quality time with friends and exploring this beautiful state and we only scratched the surface!  This is one place we will have to return to as we continue down the road.

Next up Vermont!

 

Till then,

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “Glorious Maine

  1. Wow! Just looking at all the pictures of the places, sites, and things was near exhausting!! You guys are doing it big time!

    1. And now this week we are resting trying to recover from all that activity!!! 🙂

Comments are closed.