Moving on to beautiful Saint John!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Hello from lovely Saint John, New Brunswick!

We were up this morning around 7, and of course, no WiFi connectivity, but then somewhere around shower time, voila! There it was again!  Very odd and hard to figure, as was watching an old-fashioned, low-definition, non-flat-screen TV…boy, we are certainly spoiled, but we couldn’t even really read the graphics on the TV screen. 

A lot of whipped cream...

Beautiful bay on the Canadian side

It was rather overcast outside, and we had some on and off light rain as we left the Whale Watch Motel somewhere around 9 (ADT); it was 8 in Maine.  We decided to skip another breakfast at the Herring Cove Restaurant, and look for food elsewhere…and then we found how difficult it could be to find an open restaurant on a rainy Sunday morning in September in upstate Maine! 

We are definitely on the outside of the tourist season!  (Did I mention in Bar Harbor how many places had signs posted saying “Thanks for a great 2015; see you in 2016”?)

We found driving north from Campobello more than a little depressing.  It seems like at least one-third of the houses had for sale signs in front of them, and many of them needed more than a little work. 

Bridge over reversible rapids

They have some lovely houses here...

In the hour or so that we were driving north to the Maine/Canada border, we didn’t really pass much of anything, with the exception of the turnoff to Eastport which I believe had a gas station, and the very attractive little town of Calais (we think it’s pronounced like “callous” rather than the French way, Cal-A).  We found Karen’s Diner on the main street in Calais and decided to try that for breakfast.  By this time we were famished!  Very basic sort of place, but they were willing to make a BLT for R, so he was happy.  I had a couple of pancakes with something that purported to be syrup…but it definitely wasn’t “real” maple syrup, but the whipped cream on my hot chocolate was delicious!

From Calais, we crossed the river, and voila! Canada again!  And right away, we could feel a real difference – things looked much more prosperous; houses were in good shape and we were actually on a real highway toward Saint John (not Saint Johns, which is in Newfoundland)!  We did take a couple of detours – getting a bit closer to the coast on several occasions; the scenery was spectacular and we very much enjoyed our drive. 

Really liked this one too...

We got into Saint John and our hotel, the Hampton Inn, about 2 p.m.  It’s in an interesting location on the east side of town.  It’s a new hotel, and in the midst, literally, of a very new shopping area.  Within the radius of about ¼ mile, we have a Costco, Best Buy, Walmart, Pharmacy Superstore, Sears, Gap Outlet, and probably 20+ more new stores – and they are still building, right next to our hotel!  Our room is fine; Hampton Inn is comfortable, and we are happy with our flat-screen, high-def TV and powerful internet connection! 

Very interesting sun dial sculpture

Me and Moose...Moose on left...

After settling in (and R making sure the computer was working…) we headed back out to the Reversible Falls Park right in the middle of town.  I am going to put R on now, to explain the reversible falls, as I certainly can’t, but they are definitely something to see!  So, R …

The Saint John River opens into a bay (Grand Bay) just before it enters the Bay of Fundy (open ocean) through a narrow gap.  At high tide, water flows from the Bay of Fundy into Grand Bay, completely reversing the flow of the river.  As the water floods through the narrows, it creates a very powerful rapid.  Six hours later, the tide on Fundy is at low ebb and all the water pushed into Grand Bay flows back into the ocean, again forming rapids in the narrows but in the opposite direction, thus reversible.

M back…see?  Isn’t that simple to understand?  At any rate, we drove through town and found the park, and the water was actually at a slack period – not going in or out, but we walked along the river and read the various helpful information boards that were up.  While we were looking at our various maps, a man came up and asked if he could help us. 

Lily's on Lake Lily

Excellent crab cakes!

As it was, we were planning out tomorrow, but as we left, the gentleman suggested that if we’re new to town, we should see Rockwood Park, and try Lily’s Café on Lake Lily.  So, after cruising around the downtown area a bit, and driving through some really beautiful neighborhoods, (lots and lots of beautiful old houses, many of them in wonderful shape, and some getting some much needed love…truly, this would be an amazing place to live!) we made our way to Rockwood Park.  Another stunning location!  There are several very large lakes in the park, most of them with lovely forests around them; really amazing, right in the center of town!  We took some pictures and then decided to have dinner at Lily’s and see if the stranger was right!

And he was!  As we were very early (just on 5 p.m.) Lily’s wasn’t yet crowded (although they had a group of 50 coming in a bit later…).  We split an order of crab cakes with a cucumber and onion salsa, and they were great. 

R's beef tips and onion rings!

Wonderful lobster roll!

Then, R had their excellent beef tips with mushrooms, peppers and onions along with a huge pile of really good onion rings.  I had an excellent lobster roll, with the best bun ever!  I thought it was going to float off the plate!  I also had a small salad with greens, sliced almonds, goat cheese and dried cranberries.  Truly, the perfect dinner, and we were both too stuffed for dessert (which was unfortunate, as they sounded good!) 

From Rockwood, we decided to go back to the Reversing Falls Park – and oh my gosh – it was incredible!  Water was just pouring in from the bay to the north of the city heading toward the ocean – it was really wild!  What a display! 

So, we watched for a long time and finally decided to head back to the hotel for the night.  We did stop at a grocery store – one that is open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week!  We don’t even have that in Tucson!  What a neat place is Saint John!  So…more reversible bay of Fundy wonders tomorrow!

m

xxx

I am posting the photos on the reversible falls in the next posting!

m