Oh Canada!

Before leaving Maine on June 8th, we stopped in Rockland - yet another charming New England town - and visited the Farnsworth Museum. This museum is home to many paintings by Andrew and NS Wyeth. We spent our last night in Maine at a nice RV park/campground in Searsport, along the harbor with scenic views of the area.

Our next destination was St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, but first we had to cross the border at St. Stephen. Oh my! We have never crossed an international border with our house & its contents along with us and they were not happy. We didn't even think about the restriction on the amount of liquor one can bring into a foreign country (USA, CN, etc). Fortunately, although the Canadian customs officials took virtually all of our spirits (after I blithely informed them of the contents of our liquor cabinet), we were told we could retrieve them if we crossed back at the same border within 40 days. Jim was convinced if we left them there beyond the time limit or crossed back into the USA at another crossing, the Canadian Border Patrol would donate the booze to the homeless. My guess was a holiday party.

After our border gaffe, we found a great RV place in Rockwood Park in the midst of the city of St. John. We caught the ferry from there the next morning to Digby, Nova Scotia, across the Bay of Fundy. The crossing was smooth and we stopped and bought some infamous Digby scallops upon our arrival there. We traveled as far as Truro that day and cooked up the scallops. They were probably the best we've ever eaten.

Our first major destination was to Cape Breton, which we had not realized is an island, although still part of the province of Nova Scotia. Weather had been 'iffy' much of the time, however, when we actually drove around the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, it was a beautiful clear, sunny day. The scenery was breathtaking and reminiscent of the coast of Ireland, Northern California, Oregon and Washington (and probably other places as well). We were so glad we drove the extra miles to see this beautiful place.

We stopped at Baddeck and visited the Alexander Graham Bell National Site and museum, which was very informative. We also spent a night outside Baddeck and headed back towards Italy Cross where our friends, Emily & Doug Liot live. We thought we'd take the eastern coast route in order to see some different scenery. After driving for almost four hours on the worst road we've yet been on during this adventure, we gave up and headed back inland to one of Nova Scotia's major highways. We did see a couple of pretty little towns, although the rainy weather and the rough roads conspired to make it a less rewarding part of our journey.

We arrived at the Liot's beautiful home on Monday, June 13th. We met the Liot's while we were serving in the Peace Corps in Romania. Doug worked for Michelin Tires at their plant in Romania during that time and they befriended us (and several other PC volunteers). Emily, an architect, designed their home and Doug, an engineer, built it all almost entirely by himself. The house is located next to Crooked Lake, providing peaceful and calming views. The Liot's dogs - Gilbert (a Corgi) and Sullivan (a big golden Lab) were very friendly. Unfortunately, our JR Terrorists didn't want to play nice, so we had to keep them all separated.

Emily and Doug drove us around to see several coastal areas near their home, including Mahone Bay and the UNESCO town of Lunenburg. We enjoyed Emily's excellent meals and Doug's excellent homemade wine - all of which made for a fun visit and reunion. There was occasional rain during our stay, but overall, the weather was fine for sightseeing. It was a very memorable visit to the Liot's and Nova Scotia.

We were very impressed with Nova Scotia and appreciated the wild lupins that were virtually scattered throughout the province. We learned NS is heavily forested with both evergreens and deciduous trees and the coast is beautiful, wherever one can observe it. Our only regret was that we couldn't fit in a trip to Prince Edward Island or the 4 day music festival slated for August in Lunenburg. We hope to return some day and see both.

We took the ferry back to New Brunswick on June 16th - another smooth sailing - and crossed the border back into Maine on June 17th. We were pleased to retrieve our spirits from the Canadian customs, but not so happy to lose our avocados, tomatoes, orange and the specialty lamb/pork sausage we'd bought in Philadelphia when we crossed back into the US side of the border. At least our Canadian friends gave us back our booze! Those darned Yanks told us they had to throw away - not donate or compost - our food. Oh, Canada. If they don't build a wall, we hope to return.

RV park at Searsport, Maine