Cobscook Bay, LLBeans in ME and Home - Aug 6 - 9

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Picnicking on the Canadian side to consume tomatoes, avocados and apples before clearing customs into the US. What we couldn't eat did indeed get confiscated, at least in Speedy. Our agent didn't seem comfortable enough to climb in with Nina. Way to go Nina!

It was a trip down memory lane returning to the Cobscook Bay area after about 44 years. The field station where I stayed is still there now owned by Suffolk University but sadly locked tight.

Passing through Washington County, the endless blueberry fields were in the process of being harvested in time for the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival held the 3rd weekend in August. One more festival we will miss but there were countless stands for buying blueberries. The ones we stopped at looked to be maintained by Wyman's perhaps to satisfy those of us who would otherwise be tempted to pick.

Fundy National Park, New Brunswick - Aug 4 - 5

Working our way back south along the coast, we ended up at Fundy National Park for a couple nights. Driving down to the Visitor's Center from the campsite this morning, we realized we were above this incredible fog bank that looked like a mountain range.

We hiked along the Western Coastal Trail for a short while through a mature forest with peaks of the water every once in a while. It was a gray windy day but good for a hike.

I haven't seen "indian pipes" since I was a kid walking in the woods with my mom who knew every living plant.

Tomorrow there is an 80% chance of rain but for us it will be a day of traveling back across the border to the US with the hopes of finding a place to rest for a couple days in Cobs Cook, ME. I came here back in 1972 when I took a summer course in marine biology so am looking forward to seeing the area again.

PEI - July 31 - Aug 3

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Crossing over the bridge to Prince Edward Island was amazing. We spent most of our time on the North Coast which is landscaped with crops of corn, grain (wheat perhaps), lots of potatoes, yards filled w/thyme and mustard fields like this one. The soil, sand and cliffs are a very rich red, quaint harbors and the people delightful. 

We stayed in 3 different parks, two provincial and the third, Green Park, that has been leased out to a private group. This was our favorite with sites right out on the river. We stopped in Tyne Valley for a long anticipated oyster lunch that turned out to be a bad choice. We asked the waitress where one could buy fresh seafood and she suggested trucks parked along the highway. She also told us Green Park was miserable with bugs. We never saw seafood trucks nor were the bugs particularly bad but in fairness to her they were spraying the day we arrived. Another helpful shopkeeper gave us directions to the Burleigh Brothers, distributors of oysters and clams, located on Burleigh Road just off East Bideford that goes out to Lenox Island. 

Life has never been so good! We made 3 trips to Burleigh’s in as many days. The first for a box of 58 oysters that we ate raw and grilled using several different methods. The winner was shucking them on the half shell and putting them carefully on the grill w/a little garlic butter oil that quickly sizzled the oyster to perfection. Second for another box of 70+ clams that went into a wonderful clam linguini and the finale, another box of 40 larger clams for the best clam chowder we devoured last night. Why eat out when we have the best collection of chefs on board! Burleigh’s ships out oysters worldwide and trucks to the Boston area on a weekly basis as Legal Seafood is one of their clients. 

They were in the process of picking, grading, cleaning and polishing oysters that will be used in the shucking contest this weekend as a part of the oyster festival. They start with 2000, drill it down to the 600 that will be packaged in random boxes of 20 each for the 30 contestants that come from all provinces of CA. The winner will go on to an international contest held in Galway. Green Park was being prepared as the site of a rock concert with temporary showers and portapotties for all the tenters coming into the festival. With mixed feelings, it was time for us to move on. 

A note for another trip, the lobstering season in the area we were in is May - June. They were gearing up for the opening up of the west coast (Strait side) on August 9th. All the boats load up and wait for a signal to all leave the harbors at the same time. Again, we just couldn’t stay with a deadline of 8/12 to get home.

Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick - July 29 - 30

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Kouchibouguac NP is a large, beautiful national park on the eastern shore. We would have stayed another day if we could but this turned out to be a long weekend with New Brunswick Day on Monday. We were able to get one 2 night site and one 1 night site with the hopes of a cancellation the second night. Although this didn't happen, they allowed us to move together for the second night.

The park is on both sides of the Kouchibouguac River with the larger, more developed campground on the south side where we stayed. Wonderful bicycle trails throughout. We were able to get a couple rides in. One out to Kelly's Beach with dunes and white sand and a second 17.5 mile run around to the other side of the river and out to Loggicroft where the fishermen's wharf is located.

Acadian Isles, NB - July 27 - 28

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Out on the NE most point of New Brunswick, the Acadian Islands are mostly bogs, marshes and blueberry fields. Miscou where we stayed is 50% bog. It takes 10 years for 1 centimeter of peat to build up. This machine is used to vacuum up the peat. Much of the area is French speaking Acadians but everywhere is bilingual; people and signage.