Always a day to remember...

Friday, September 11, 2015

M in front of Campobello "cabin"

Beautiful building!

Up this morning to the promised rain … and boy, was it coming down!  It was one of those days when it just looks like it will never stop, even though I know (and hope) that it will eventually.  As we only had about 100 miles to go to get to our stop for the next two nights – Campobello Island, New Brunswick, we took our time getting repacked and organized, and were probably out the door a few minutes after 9 a.m.  And again … was it pouring!  We had originally thought we would get off Route 1 whenever we could, to be closer to the coast, but honestly, with visibility so poor and with having to be so careful driving – usually not even being able to drive the speed limit, as things were so wet; I wanted to make sure that we didn’t hydroplane across the road, which was definitely a possibility. 

Stunning garden!

One of FDR's real hats!

Family living room

We did stop at Millbridge to get cash (although we have read that it is possible to use U.S. currency on Campobello Island, we wanted to make sure we had enough of something “just in case.”)  And before we knew it, voila, we had arrived at the Roosevelt Bridge from Lubec, Maine to the island.  (One of the interesting things is that New Brunswick is on Atlantic time, which is one hour later than Eastern Standard Time…but our phones are still on EST…as it turns out, things are basically designated as follows:  Tea is at 3 pm EST and 4 pm AST…to cover all bases, I’m sure!)

More living room

Master bedroom

Special "President" stove for the President!

Stunning landscaping

We drove first past the park headquarters for Roosevelt Park – I should probably state for the record that one of Robert’s favorite movies is “Sunrise at Campobello” which is a story of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt and their children, around the time that Franklin contracts polio (which he did here on the island) until his re-entry into active politics.  We then headed to the Whale Watch Motel, which is one of the only places to stay on the island, and of course arrived during the pouring rain!  (It has rained constantly all day, but sometimes heavier than others … and of course, we arrived during a heavier time!)  Robert, bless his heart, got out into the rain and into the office, and came back with our room key.  Only difficulty then was that we’re on the second floor (naturally…) and there is only the outside staircase to get there.  We eventually decided to just get wet and brought most of our things up to our room.  Room is fine; spacious and it has HEAT, but boy, is the television here awful!  Even with cable!  I think we get about 20 stations, and for some reason, 4 of them are from Detroit!!  I mean, Toronto is closer to New Brunswick than Detroit, and there is only 1 Toronto channel!  Very odd – nothing even from Boston or Bangor, Maine!  It definitely looks like any contact with may have had with the U.S. Open may be over, as the last time I checked the Canadian sports channel, they were showing fishing…wow! 

Decided to head back to the park and see if we could get to their free “Tea with Eleanor” at 3 p.m.  (They have 20 free tickets for their 11 a.m. tea, and 20 more for their 3 p.m. tea.)  However, for some reason, today they have cancelled the 3 p.m. free tea, but they do have tickets available for the $12/each 4 p.m. tea…so…we got tickets for the 4 p.m. tea.  The tour of the Campobello “cottage” (34 rooms…) started with a very good video presentation about FDR and his history on the island.  After that was over, we walked over to the “cottage” itself for a self-guided tour. 

It is really a lovely house, with stunning views over the water and original furnishings, and their docents are amazingly well trained and informative. 

Cottage next door to the Roosevelts; loved the window!

Window from outside

We very much enjoyed the house.  There are walks around the grounds as well as another cottage next door, which we walked around, but unfortunately it’s closed right now.  If tomorrow is a bit nicer, I’m sure we will go back and do some walking. 

As we hadn’t really had lunch, and it was now getting on for 3 p.m. (in New Brunswick) we went down the road to the Fireside Restaurant which is yet another renovated cottage in the area. 

We actually had the place entirely to ourselves, so sat by the window with a lovely view (even in the rain).  We ordered their corn chowder and I had a small goat cheese and beet salad, and R ordered a small Caesar salad.  However, somehow in translation, the corn chowder morphed into fish chowder…suffice to say that R had two nice bowls of it, and I had my salad. 

Fish chowder & R's Caesar salad

A few minutes before 4 we headed down the road to the Wells-Shober cottage and joined four other visitors for tea. 

My goat cheese and beet salad

After getting our tea poured, and with wonderful molasses cookies to munch, two of the park docents gave us a truly wonderful presentation about Eleanor Roosevelt, and her history and accomplishments.  It was really tremendously moving; I got a bit teary eyed in places. 

After tea, we headed back to the motel to settle in and see if we could now get a signal on the computer, which we hadn’t been able to do when we checked in.  We were able to get a signal at the restaurant and now, WiFi at the motel, at least for the moment!!  More later!

Tea with Eleanor!

The rain stopped, and there was lovely Herring Cove!

Back from dinner…an interesting meal at the Herring Cove Golf Club…It was just a mile or so from the motel, so we thought we would give it a try.  And, surprisingly, the food was good!  We ordered dinner salads to start, and my blue cheese dressing was very odd.  However, we had both ordered their 8 oz. rib eye steaks with baked potatoes and cole slaw, and they were perfectly cooked (rare!) and the cole slaw was excellent!  Unfortunately, even though R had the camera, we both forgot to take photos – until we were finished, but honestly, we didn’t think the photo would be very good…and, while we were at dinner, we saw some blue sky up above, and a lovely beach down below!  And, the forecast for tomorrow says we’ll have some sunshine!

m

xxx