Monday, November 1, 2010

Back to the trip.....

Brief synopsis.....A two day mini holiday....many miles away. Up at the crack of dawn on Saturday.......drive a bazillion miles to Bar Harbor, Maine. Stay overnight in Prospect Harbor, Maine which is another hour drive in the opposite direction of our home.

Sunday morning......nice breakfast at the Inn with a lovely couple celebrating their first anniversary. Pack up and begin the trek home from our utterly delightful Downeast sojourn.

So where do we end up??


Every hear of Lubec? (Looooooo-BEC) Check out the fine print on the sign. See the word 'Easternmost'?  Ayuh. It's true. The 'Easternmost', 'Westernmost', 'Northernmost' or 'Southernmost' of anything can't be all that good, can it?

Mr. Downeastdoing stuff: (after checking out of the Inn) "Well, what do you want to do now?"

Me: "I don't know, what do you want to do?"

Mr. D: "Well, it's your birthday trip, what do YOU want to do?"

Me: "Well, we can go to Boothbay Harbor on the way home and walk around town a bit."
(translation: go shopping.)

Mr. D: "I don't like Boothbay Harbor, I've been there before."

(Note: He's been to Bar Harbor before, too, but that didn't stop him from going back.)

By now we have driven north out of the Schoodic Peninsula and are approaching Route One.

Mr. D sees a sign.....'MACHIAS 45 miles'

Mr. D: "Oh, look, it's only 45 more miles to MACHIAS! Let's go there!"

Me: groan

Mr. D: "I'd like to go to MACHIAS and since we're so close, why don't we go there?"

Me: "But we've been to MACHIAS before and there is nothing there!" (No offense Machiasites)

Mr. D: "Oh come on, you know I've been asking to go there."

(Yes, he has said a couple of times in the last few weeks that we should drive up there some weekend for whatever God knows what reason. Doing some quick Math in my head I decide that driving the 45 miles today is better than taking an entire other weekend and driving up there for whatever God knows what reason.)

Me: Stupid Me: "Okay"

So off we go.  45 miles more AWAY from home. (Did I mention that we were a bazillion miles from home already?)

Upon arrival in MACHIAS we see that it's only 28 miles more to LUBEC!!  So guess what?

Anyway, the rest is history, so you might as well enjoy some photos of the Easternmost point in the world.

The bridge to Canada. Thank God we didn't have our passports or we might have ended up in the tundra.

Lighthouse in Canada. 
By the way, (I'm so excited about this...) THAT is a REAL eagle on the peak of that little shed. Not a fake one....it actually moved and later flew away. I never saw one that close!

OK, folks, now get ready for this. THIS is the Main Street in Lubec. Not many Main Streets that the photographer can stand out in the middle of the road, like, forever, and snap this photo.
Many store fronts seem vacant. (Really called Water Street)

End of the world aka end of Main Street. (aka Water Street)


The only open place we could find. Went in for a cup of coffee. The proprietor was sooooo nice, made a fresh pot of coffee for Mr. D AND decaf for me. 


A view from one of the windows in the cafe.


Wild blueberry fields.....

BACK in MACHIAS. (again...) Had to stop at the famous Helen's Restaurant for Helen's famous blueberry pie, supposedly the best in the world!

It WAS very good.

Then the old trustworthy Mapquest told us to drive 20-25 miles NORTH from MACHIAS (we were supposed to be heading south...) to get onto the 'Airline' (Route 9) to "destination Bangor, Maine. No clock, no pools, no pets....ain't got no cigarettes".... and then south on the Maine Turnpike, finally heading in the direction of home. 

It was a wonderful weekend that the blueberry pie managed to salvage. It really was.

Thanks, Birdman.