Here we are just outside of Eastport, Maine in a grand, quiet, somewhat unknown campground with very poor internet connection – and a somewhat confusing way of keeping time (we’re right between the eastern and Atlantic time zones).  Thus no checking e-mail or doing other things that have become part of my regular morning routine.  So, instead, I spend an hour or more watching the sun come up.  It was truly amazing and I did write about it in my personal journal.  But I don’t want to bore you with it.  Tell you what, if you’re like me and kinda take for granted that the sun will come up every day, get up early one day, find a great spot, and watch the sun come up.  I mean, truly experience it.  But make sure it’s a great spot.

So where are we – well, we are in a place that says it’s the farthest eastern point in the U.S., which means that the sun hits here first as the earth makes it daily rotation around its star.  We are at the Seaview Campground and Cottages located on Passamaquoddy Bay just outside of Eastport, Maine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passamaquoddy_Bay).  Found this campground looking in the Woodall’s/AAA campground book for something just outside of Canada.  What a hidden treasure.  Owned by Basil and Sue Pottle – she runs the place.  May 15 – October 15.  Big rig to tent friendly – with 9 full furnished and supplied cabins ranging in size from studio to a 3 bedroom that has a washer and dryer.  And, on Saturday nights, an on-site restaurant and bar – The Old Sow.  If you put your name down early, you can get prime rib.  So Saturday night we treated ourselves – splurged actually – on a prime rib dinner for Rick and a lobster roll/clam chowder dinner for me.  And drinks – I got a strawberry daiquiri which was heavy on the daiq and light on the uiri.  Rick got two fingers of Doers scotch on the rocks with a water chaser.  And, for dessert, a small helping of chocolate lava cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Yesterday (Sunday) we tried to walk 20,000 steps to make up for Saturday night.  Didn’t quite make it.  But maybe today.  We are staying for three nights (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) – maybe we need to stay longer.  It’s “a piece of heaven” – as Sue and Basil have written in their small brochure.

On Saturday, we had a lot of fun getting here from Mount Desert.  We drove U.S. 1 and the drive was grand.  Many fewer cars on the road – a less-populated area with fewer visitors and, of course, it was Saturday.  So we had fun and took our time.  A farmer’s market provided us with a beautiful head of broccoli, a small watermelon (with yellow, seeded flesh – so tasty), and a homemade loaf of bread baked by a guy who didn’t mind spending time talking with a fellow baker – Rick.  I think that’s the main thing Rick misses.  Goldie doesn’t have an oven, so he can’t bake breads and cookies and other tasty (and maybe we shouldn’t eat it anyway) foods.

Back to our drive.  WE FOUND WILD BLUEBERRY LAND.  We first stumbled across Wild Blueberry Land (www.wildblueberryland.com) on our trip to the Bay of Fundy back in 2005 or 2006.  I have to look up the dates.  We drove up through the farthest eastern part of Maine (Downeast Maine to the people who know), up through Lubec into Canada.  Saw FDR’s Campobello and the Bay of Fundy.  Dutifully reported back to Mom Annette because she had insisted that we come up to see that fantastic site of the tremendous tidal fluctuation.  And there, as we traversed Rt. 1 and 187 in Columbia Falls, ME was this GREAT BIG BLUEBERRY edifice.  And it’s still here.  When we first came through it was only a few years old, having been built in 2001.  And now, 2016, still going.  Hope it’s there when our grandkids (or great-grandkids) decide to do some trekking on their own.  The BEST blueberry pies and other blueberry-laced delicacies.  Wild Maine Blueberries – if you haven’t tasted them, you don’t know how good blueberries really are!!!

Postcards purchased, two slices of freshly baked pie stashed in the refrigerator, bladders emptied and back on the road we go.  After all, we’d like to get to our next overnight location in daylight.  But it’s getting time to eat – our stomachs are starting to mention it to us – so as we drive through Machias, Maine, I see a sign that says “Jasper Beach – 10 miles”.  Ten miles takes 30 minutes or more since it’s a windy, narrow road through some little towns.  But we find it – large handmade sign points us down an even more narrow dirt road.  No large rocks protruding up through the road “surface” to tear up our undercarriage (Goldie has very little clearance), so let’s go.  And we did.  End of the road is a large dune of stones – with a jeep sitting atop it.  Cars parked along the side of the road.  This must be it.  Find a place to park and out we go – climbing to the top of the dune to see the rocky beach below.  We are just outside of Buck’s Harbor (“THE BUCK STOPS HERE”, the sign said as we drove very slowly through – it was a town event day) on Machias Bay which is a subset of the Gulf of Maine.  Interesting tides (more about that in my next blog post) deposited what I think must be the largest amount of rocks EVER at Jasper Beach.  Looking down the stone dunes we see another vehicle, seemingly stuck.  And in talking with the jeep atop the dune, we learn that you have to be a local to know where – and where not – to drive on the rocks.  Seems the tide is coming in and stuck vehicle may end up floating out to sea (or sinking).  We don’t stick around to watch – and obviously can’t help.

So back we go to Goldie for a pb&j lunch.  Two women of a certain age walk by to their car and stop to chat about Goldie.  Didn’t get their names but – we now know the name of a plumber to call back home because he is the nephew of the older sister.  Yep – small world.  A casual walk-by and shared greetings led to a “where-is-home” and “of course I know where Walpole and Langdon, NH are – I have a nephew there who is a plumber”!!!!  Amazing.

Finally make it to the Seaview Campground and Cabins in time to spend better part of an hour getting the right spot.  And deciding that splurging for dinner at a restaurant that is only open one night a week made good sense.

So – here we are on Monday.  One week into our trek and we’ve drive a whopping 487 miles.  Rick’s ahead in the ongoing cribbage tournament – something we do ONLY when we trek – and I’m loving the fact that I can reach the highest cabinet in our home.  J

Today we are going to explore Eastport and other areas around here.  There’s the largest whirlpool in the western hemisphere that begs to be photographed and Minke whales needing spotting.  Tonight we will decide what we do tomorrow.  And, hopefully, we will find some good internet connections so that I can upload some pictures in the next blog posting.

Enjoy the journey…Dona and Rick