MAINE

In August of 2018, Ramona & I decided to try a motor coach trip to Maine and Eastern Canada.

Bar Harbor

On the way to Bar Harbor during a road trip that included Maine and parts of Eastern Canada, we stayed a couple of nights in Saco, ME. We had dinner at a nice family restaurant nearby. The Rosa-Linda had a very good chicken parmesan dinner but our very friendly attentive server made the experience very pleasant. The next morning we headed for Bar Harbor.

A town on Mount Desert Island, Bar Harbor runs along Maine’s Frenchman Bay. It serves as a gateway to the mountains and cliffs of neighboring Acadian National Park where we took a couch ride to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Although the day we were there was foggy, we saw glimpses of the majesty this mountain provides.

Located in historic downtown Bar Harbor, is a restaurant that caught our eye because of its rooftop seating, allowing us to have a nice view of the downtown area, The Cherrystones restaurant was a great spot for people watching but, better still, the food was exceptional. I had the best clam chowder I had ever had, and the salad was very good as well. We did not want to eat more because we were looking forward to a lobster bake we would be having that evening.

Mark, a some times guitarist, a sometimes chef, was, today, our guide on a tour of Acadia National Park. This area protects the natural beauty of the highest rocky headlands along the Atlantic coastline of the U.S. Mark provided a nice overview and showed us some its glorious landscape.

Whole Maine lobster, Native Mussels, Corn on the Cob, Cole Slaw, Bread, Blueberry Cake, all part of the included cost of our tour, was good but not exceptional. Even the extra cost of ordering a martini did not make the lobster or corn better but the slaw and cake were pretty good.

The following day we entered Canada, on our way to Nova Scotia.

Halifax

A long days drive from Bar Harbor Main, culminated at our evenings destination, Halifax, in Nova Scotia, Canada. Here, we stayed at the Chateau Bedford Hotel, a place I wish we could have had more opportunity to enjoy.

Next morning, after a nice breakfast, we met our Halifax guide, Lyle, who showed us the highlights of the area. We visited Peggy’s Cove, where we wandered this ocean side area. Then a walk along a rather touristy shore avenue, a beer, some, not so good onion rings, and then off to visit a casino where we would have our included buffet dinner. Mostly only pasta selections, the dinner was disappointing. Rather than gamble during our remaining time there, Ramona and I chose, instead, to stroll the boardwalk along the waters edge outside. Enjoyable and we sure needed the exercise after all the large meals we had been experiencing.

Then, back to the Bedford Hotel.

New Brunswick

Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy, touching the upper corner of Maine, is found, primarily, in Canada between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It is known to have the highest tides in the world. We arrived at Hopewell Rocks Park on a rainy morning, walking the beach where, later that day, the water could be over 50 feet above our heads. Despite the dreary weather, we could see breathtaking cliffs, sea caves and gigantic and unusual rock formations.

Having walked a few flights of stairs down to reach this interesting shoreline, having completed our journey, we now had to climb back up in order to find shelter, dry off a bit, enjoy a meal at the locations rustic restaurant, and then climb back in our coach towards further adventures.

On our way to our next hotel we, unfortunately, we stopped to “enjoy?” three boring hours at the St. John Market Square. Very few stores of any interest. Fortunately, we found a nice little cellar pub in the lower level of this market where I could enjoy a good martini and Ramona a strange concoction of something she thoroughly enjoyed.

Then on to our evenings dinner at a tour included meal at a steak & rib house restaurant where our “special” menu offered no steak or ribs. We had fish & chips.

Kensington

Built in 1902, St Mary’s Church in Kensington, is an architectural and acoustical treasure. Our guide told us its style is “French Gothic” but it is the rib-vaulted ceiling and wood of fir, pine, spruce, maple, and birch used throughout the building, that achieves a wonderful acoustics that has now repurposed this beautiful structure as a music hall. This is the perfect setting for voice and instruments to celebrate wonderful music. It has been said that the natural acoustics of St. Mary’s rates as one of the top ten places to perform in the world.

Cavendish

Home of “Anne of Green Gables”, a novel written by Canadian Lucy Maud Montgomery, is a small town, whose primary industry is tourism.

Kings Landing

Although Kings Landing is not and never was a real village, it does represent an area where Anglo-American Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies, who were called the United Empire Loyalists in Canada; Scottish, Irish and English immigrants were early settlers. In the period houses that were moved to this area, employees welcome visitors, go about daily chores, cook period meals and create period crafts, all while in costumes appropriate to the time period of their area.

There are also "trades" buildings: these are the shops and businesses that the local men would have owned and operated, many of which would have required a period of apprenticeship/training for those employed there. Examples would be the Print Shop, a Sash and Door Factory, a Carpenter Shop, a Blacksmith Shop, etc.

Of course, any good historical site needs to have a dining hall as well. Not quite as authentically old looking as other structures, it had reasonably good food for our noon meal enjoyment. The molasses bread was excellent.
We were late to our reserved restaurant. Here we had a great steak and exceptional service.

And then, we left Canada and re-entered the United States. Still far from home, we, now only have to endure the long journey back to Minnesota.

Syracuse

On our journey home, we traveled through the northern part of the State of New York, We stopped to visit a piece of the old Erie Canal. In 1815 DeWitt Clinton, who served many terms as New Yorks Governor, pushed to have a canal constructed that would connect Lake Erie with the Hudson River. It was completed in 1825. Linking cities such as Buffalo and New York City, the canal decreased freight costs as well carrying thousands of passengers to and from Buffalo, Syracuse and New York.

The efforts by mules during construction, led to the famous old song, “I’ve got a mule, her name is Sal – Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal”

Elma

And then, on to Elma New York where we visited the “made in America Store”. An obvious attraction for Tour companies, this store dealt, exclusively, in products that had prominent labels of where they were made. Much evidence of military products, flags and patriotic items suggested that, perhaps, its owners had specific polital leanings.

And now, the final lag back to the great state of Minnesota.