Our first full day in Maine started as a rainy Sunday morning. We attended church services in Bangor and then gassed up the car ($4.15/gal) and headed out to see some more of the state. At one point in our planning, I had considered driving up to the top of the state where US 1’snorthern terminus is as we had been to the end of the road in Key West last year. But it would have added at least one extra day for us, so we decided to be practical and just go slightly out of the way.
We headed east to Calais, Maine, where we planned to get
lunch from a food truck called Grill on the Corner. They have baked potatoes (loaded with pulled
pork and other goodness) as well as other items. We often get potatoes like these on Sundays
from Hamaknockers, so it seemed like a great idea. The night before, I double checked the times
and location for the truck only to find they had moved from their usual spot as
the place had new owners so the truck had to go somewhere else. I had a phone number, so I reached out and
they told me where they would be and that they would be sure to hold two
potatoes for us!
While driving over to Calais in the rain, we noticed one of
our wiper blades wasn’t working quite right, so when we got to Calais, we
stopped at the Maine Visitor Information Center (to use the restroom, too) and
DH was able to fix the blade. Whew! At least there was a NAPA Auto Parts store in
Calais that was open on a Sunday afternoon if we’d needed them. Also this was the second of four Maine Visitor Information Centers we would visit on our trip (they only have seven).
We found the food truck and got our lunch, but it was still
raining and we didn’t really want to eat it in the car, so we decided to drive
down to our next point which was the Saint Croix Island International Historic Site, about 15 minutes away. This is a
National Park Service site, the only international one run by the NPS. It’s where the French landed in what would
become the United States. They have a
small visitor center in the ranger station, and they had picnic tables on their
covered front porch, so that made a nice place to have our lunch even in the
rain. After we ate, we watched the
3-minute film about the area, and then we walked through the interpretive trail
as it was only drizzling by then. They
have bronze sculptures set up to tell the story of the French at St. Croix
Island.
From there, we headed to another Atlas Obscura find – and this one was one DH thought was much better than the filing cabinet in Burlington. There’s a roadside marker at the 45th parallel – which means it marks the place that is halfway between the equator and the North Pole. It reminded me of when we stopped to take a quick picture at the Continental Divide when we were out west several years ago. I like taking notice of things that are geographically significant. And this wouldn’t be our only geographically significant point of our time in Maine. It also reminded me that one thing I’d like to do (I don’t like calling it a bucket list) is go south of the Equator. DH has been as he’s been to Australia, but I’ve not made it – yet!
The rain continued through the afternoon but we finally made
it to the motel for the night. We stayed
at the Eastland Motel just outside of Lubec, Maine. The current owners have had the place for 16
years and it’s obvious that they have put a lot of care and work into modernization
as well as upkeep. The beds were the
most comfortable we’ve had on the whole trip up to this point. And the water pressure in the shower was
amazing, unlike some of the hotel chains that modulate the water pressure so
you can barely get rinsed off.
My favorite part (besides the great night’s sleep) of
staying at the Eastland Motel was chatting with the desk clerk (who also bakes
the muffins in the morning and does the laundry). She moved from Connecticut with her family
because they just fell in love with the quieter life of the fishing village of
2,000 people (in summer – they drop to 500 in the winter when everyone else
goes to Florida). I asked her if there
was anything we ought to see on the way from Lubec to Portland, and she gave me
a great recommendation – something that hadn’t even come up in my research –
but you’ll have to wait a few days to find out what it is!
Up next: Canada!
~ Cindy D.
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