And now for the wrap-up!
Day 9: Knowing that a large chunk of Day 9 would be spent driving, we fueled up with some Tim Horton’s coffee and a small box of Tim Bits. We enjoy the fact that you don’t have to buy a huge box of donut holes at TH’s. This was a box of 10.
Our first break of the day came in Oxford, Nova Scotia, the blueberry capital of Canada. We stopped in at the Visitors’ Center to peruse the displays and took a few blueberry and maple products to go. On the way out of town, Chris just had to pose with the world’s biggest blueberry.
Our stomachs were grumbling by the time we reached Sackville, New Brunswick, home of Mt. Allison University. As we rolled into town, we saw that several places were closed on Sundays. We did, however, find the lights on at Mel’s Tea room.
A dozen booths are squeezed into the back of a small general store/soda fountain. The menu was pretty diner-standard, and we decided to order a grilled cheese, cheese dog, and the poutine.
All of the food was tasty and the conversation we had with the cook/waitress/busboy was even better (“Oh no! If I had known you were from Connecticut, I would have tried to get your food out sooner!”).
Eventually we made our way to Fundy National Park. We had driven through a few years ago, and had been yearning to return for a longer visit. As soon as we set up our tent, we hit the trail for some gorgeous views…
…stopping only to snack on our favorite Canadian candy bar:
Day 10: We had hoped to hit up Kelly’s Bakery right outside the park gates for some of their famous sticky buns in the morning, but the bakery didn’t open until 10:00 and we had a lot of ground to cover. So instead we saved our stomach capacity for a stop in Saint John. After walking around the downtown for a bit, we headed over to the city market to look around.
After weighing our options, we decided to go with the fishcakes. We had to wait 20 minutes for them to be made, but it was worth the wait!
Chris also picked up the smallest bag of dulce (a dried seaweed that some folks supposedly eat like potato chips), which turned out to be too large. The salty seawater taste just wasn’t for us.
(We later tried to get the Customs official to confiscate the seaweed, but she wasn’t interested)
Although most folks drive back to Maine via the border crossing at St. Stephen, we decided to do a little island hopping. We first took a free ferry from Blacks Harbor to Deer Island, NB, and then another ferry over to Campobello Island. The East Quoddy lighthouse is at the northern tip of the island and is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world.
Campobello Island’s claim to fame is that F.D.R. and his family used to vacation there. The Roosevelt Campobello International Park is the only historical site/park that is jointly owned by 2 countries.
After touring Roosevelt’s home, we headed across the bridge and back into Maine. We had hoped to stop at Wild Blueberry Land for a piece of their blueberry pie, but were saddened to find that they didn’t open for another week (do you sense a theme here?). We snapped a picture anyway.
Although there were several points of interest closed in the off-season, one of the advantages was that there were plenty of inexpensive places to stay in Bar Harbor, ME. Due to the rain, we checked into a motel and then headed into town for dinner and a movie at Reel Pizza Cinerama. You order your food at the counter, then take a seat inside (either in a regular theater chair or drag a TV tray up to one of the couches in front). When your order is ready, your number lights up on the bingo board.
The pizza choices are eclectic, including toppings like smoked mussels, smoked salmon, and macadamia nuts. We chose something more subdued: the Godzilla with hot sausage, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, and tomatos.
Day 11: Although the weather was drizzly, we managed to get in a short hike at Acadia National Park in the morning. Sadly, however, it was too foggy outside to get any good pictures (luckily we could close our eyes and think of previous visits!). We had no trouble, however, taking pictures of our lunch at the Jordan Pond House inside the park.
The Jordan Pond House is at the top of our list when visiting Acadia, and no visit is complete without one of their famous popovers
A review is forthcoming, but here’s a shot of their blueberry crisp topped with…what else? Blueberry ice cream!
Before heading out of town, we stopped at Mt. Desert Ice Cream to sample a few flavors. We were sad to have discovered this gem post-Ice Cream Tour because it was fantastic! One of the best parts was the inventive line-up of flavors, including everything from Pop Tarts to Doritos! Our favorite (without hesitation) was the Salted Caramel. Words cannot describe…
On our way back south, we stopped one of our favorite Maine eateries, Big Gs in Winslow. We reviewed Big G’s in the past (http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=3657), but wanted to snap some pictures that would do these mega-sandwiches justice. We each ordered a half-sandwich and could only finish half of a half. These pictures are of the Governor Baldacci on rye, with pastrami, ham, pepperoni, onions, marinated mushrooms, tomatoes, and melted provolone cheese on top
and the Mel's Dinner on Pumpernickel, which was a chicken salad sandwich layered with sweet potato fries, cole slaw, onions, and melted cheddar.
By the time we made it to our final destination for the night, we had carved out just enough room for a soft serve cone at our favorite stop: Norway Soft Serve in South Paris, ME. The front lot is packed with patrons in the summer months, but once winter comes around, it changes over to a car dealership lot!
Days 12 and 13: We spent the last 2 days of vacation visiting with our friends Sarah, Amanda, and Kelly and re-visited Tubby’s for some ice cream
and hot dogs
On our way out of Maine, we stopped in Portland, hoping to have lunch at one of our old favorite restaurants, Woody’s. We were sad to find that Woody’s had closed, but were intrigued by its successor: Duckfat. It was as if the Duckfat menu had read our minds, as everything on the menu looked delicious! We shared a meatloaf panini and an order of their signature fries (cooked in duckfat!,
and then tried the churros with spicy chocolate dipping sauce for dessert!
2,500 total miles.
13 days.
5 islands.
3 Canadian provinces.
2 countries.
Whew.