Ellsworth, Maine (Acadia) - Sept. 7 - 16, 2007

On September 7th we crossed the Canadian - USA border at Calais headed for Hospitality Woods Campground in Ellsworth, Maine.  Except for the exceedingly narrow gates and the guard booth that tried to eat our right mirror, we had no problem crossing the border.  We drove south on SR 9 past the 17,000-acre Moosehorn Wildlife Refuge - unfortunately, no moose sightings.

Our first order of business back in the US was to collect six weeks of mail - six Newsweek magazines (when news is six weeks old is it still 'news'?), and six other magazines, and so much more.  Catching up with the magazines and other paperwork kept us out of trouble for a while.

The RV park was quite pleasant and included the occasional flock of wild turkeys at no extra cost.  Happily, Bill and Sheryl, our New Brunswick friends, were just a couple of sites away and we were able to get together for dinner before they headed south towards Boston. 

Maine fulfilled our expectations - beautiful rugged coastlines, picturesque fishing villages, numerous inlets decorated with colorful, bobbing lobster floats and stately lighthouses.  The lobster floats inspired us to satisfy our lobster appetite at the Union River Lobster House in Ellsworth, a deservedly popular establishment. 

We selected Ellsworth for its proximity to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor.  Bar Harbor has a lovely location and harbor, but was way too touristy for us, so after lunch and a brief stroll we escaped back to the beauty of Acadia.

Early visionaries, conservationists and volunteers made Acadia on Mount Desert Island possible.  One of the major participants was John D. Rockefeller, Jr. who contributed over 11,000 acres, and financed and engineered an extensive carriage trail network throughout the park.  Today, bicyclists, pedestrians and equestrians use these beautiful, peaceful carriage roads maintained for non-motorized traffic only.  We biked about 20 miles of the roads passing by lakes, forests and meadows.  After our ride we drove to the top Cadillac Mountain for the fantastic views.  At 1,532 feet it is the tallest 'mountain' on the eastern seaboard.

We had a series of rather rainy days while here.  On one of these days Susan left Bill behind and spent a pleasant afternoon browsing books at the Big Chicken Barn.  The former chicken barn has been converted into an extensive antique emporium on the first floor, and has over 120,000 rare, old and used books on the second floor.  It was the perfect place to spend a rainy day.

We enjoyed several scenic drives on the fresh sunny days, including a drive south to the beautiful village of Camden for lunch and a stroll, then on to the Rockville Breakwater Lighthouse.  We also drove north to the Prospect Harbor Lighthouse and Schoodic Point, a very rocky segment of Acadia northeast of the main body of the park. 

The day before we left the area we drove north to the beautiful, barber striped West Quoddy Lighthouse located at the easternmost point of the United States.  We then drove a bit further north to Campobello International Park the site of Franklin D. Roosevelt's 34-room summer cottage.  Campobello is an island in New Brunswick, Canada, but the park is co-operated by the Canadian and US governments.

We arrived in time to tour the incredibly beautiful, warm and welcoming cottage.  We agreed of all the mansions we have toured that this 'cottage' was the most appealing.  It had wonderful views from the wide veranda, fabulous interior light, and felt like a much-loved family home.  We couldn't help but note how much better maintained the International Park is compared to the Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park, NY.

The next day as we prepared to leave our Maine home we agreed that we had not allowed enough time to explore this beautiful state and we must return at a future date.  However, it was now time to head south to Boston to walk in the footsteps of America's 18th Century insurgents - popularly referred to as the Founding Fathers.