footnote: when passing through Bangor on our way to Mt. Desert Isle, we stopped at a Verizon store to update our plan, since Canada was now only a few days away. Up to this point, we had a Family Plan with four phones, Nancy’s cell, my smartphone, and a pair of Home Phone Connect devices for our cabin and Nancy’s mom. Our cells shared 550 min, and unlimited for the HPC devices, within the USA. We had to change our plan because it offered no inexpensive plans for Canada. We switched to the More Everything Plan with a reduced data plan, for about the same price as we had been paying, and added the $15/mo for 1000 min in Canada. Data there will be $25/100MB, so we will just be using WiFi, where available. However, it turns out any cell phone we call in the USA will be charged the long distance roaming rate of $0.50/min! This includes Nancy’s mom, on our own cell plan, so we have to make adjustments for her.

6/24/14 – En route to Canada on route 1! Off the island and a last shopping trip to Walmart and liquor store, and later a last fill of US gas. Briefly stopped in Machias to view the falls and buy some local blueberry products before crossing the border at Calais, across the bridge into St. Stephens. Visited the nearest handy information site for a complete breakdown of navigating New Brunswick. Then off along Canada route 1 and down to St. Andrews for the night, some clouds and pleasantly cool.

We stayed at Oceanfront Camping at the tip of the peninsula, no-hookup tent site for $28. Nice, flat sites, most with hookups, bathrooms very nice, no charge for showers. Across the street is the beach – tide way out when we checked, this IS the entrance to the Bay of Fundy. At the back of the campground you access a paved trail that leads east into a Nature Preserve, but we didn’t take it. That  evening, walked into town for dinner at the Lobster Bay pub and dining. Food ok, but nothing special. A lot of places aren’t open or close early Mondays and Tuesdays. Used Nancy’s Target Visa, accepted everywhere, and no foreign exchange fees. Discover likewise but accepted fewer places. Note Costco’s AMEX has a 2.7% fee, as does BofA Visa. It pays to check ahead.

6/25/14 – Headed eastward on 1 again, stopping at an info center in St. George. Walked across the bridge over the river at the falls there, and steps led down to a fish ladder reaching to the bottom of the gorge, first we’ve ever seen. Lots of fish milling around at the top of the ladder – appeared to be trout, or may be young salmon ready to head out. Meanwhile, Nancy spied a huge bird swoop down to alight on a snag sticking out of the cliff below us on the other side of the gorge; A bald eagle! We found a better vantage point, and he stayed around long enough to head back to the rig for camera and binocs.

 

Picked up some local blueberry goodies at the store (fresh ones not in season yet), then meandered along the Duck Unlimited walking trail between river and swamp. Couldn’t see much most of the way as the view blocked by trees and reeds, but did see a momma duck and brood frantically swimming away from us. Before leaving, we squeezed the rig down thru side streets and across a narrow bridge to see the falls from the lower end of the gorge. Standing on the bridge, the falls were pretty far, but several more large raptors were swooping back and forth across the gorge. Osprey!

We then headed east again toward St. John. It was now sprinkling on-and-off, but after a few missed turns, we ended up at Rockwood Park campground, tent sites here not suitable, so we have hookups for $37. Our site has a cliff-edge view over the trainyard and harbor, better than staring into trees, since it is now raining lightly, and it appears overnite and tomorrow will be heavy enough to forgo sight-seeing. The WiFi is good though!

6/26/14 – Weather reporting accurate.