July 21,  2017

 After a stay at a nice motel, we embarked on our journey to Acadia Natiomal Park. The night before we had enjoyed a noisy dinner at an Irish pub in the cute little city of Ellsworth, Maine. Acadia sits on the end of an Ice Age carved peninsula. The Rockefellers took a liking to the place and quietly bought up a large portion of the area around Mount Cadillac. Eventually, they turned over the property to the government and earned the national gratitude. Today some 3 million people visit the relatively small park each year. Many of them were there today including us.

Since we had visited the park before, we did a driving tour up Mt. Cadillac and around the coast road. Despite the crowds, we found some nice views and pictures. We were shocked to see the smog arriving from mid-western coal fired electrical plants from the top of the mountain. It looked like LA fifty years ago. So much for clean coal. We managed to leave and reach the Maine coastal highway that would take us to Canada. A couple hours later, we reached the border. I think the Canadians let us go through easily because of our California license plates. 

We drove onto Campobello Island where President Franklin Roosevelt enjoyed a summer home. The home was large, but it was not a mansion. The bedrooms and living rooms were not larger than any modern comfortable home. In fact, it was homey. He spent most summers there with his family until was stricken with Polio in 1921. He would return on occasion until the European outbreak of WWII in 1939. The visit was moving. Maybe it was the exterior color selection that pretty much matches our Ridge home. More moving was my mental comparison of the present occupant of the White House with FDR. Enough said.

We caught a ferry to Deer Island and another to the New Brunswick mainland. The crossings over the Bay of Fundy were businesslike and efficient. It was somewhat discomforting for us to be parked next to a logging truck on a rocking boat. No harm, no foul. We did manage to watch the tide remove billions of tons of water from this bay that sees a 50 foot tide two times a day.

We finally settled into our shelter for the night near St. John. It is currently under a severe thunderstorm warning. Glad to be inside while the lightening strikes outside.