After 4 days on Prince Edward Island, we began the the initial leg of what will eventually become the great Southwestern US National Park trip. We are stopping in Maine for approximately ten days for various commitments and appointments that could not be accommodated during the summer.
It turns out that Cavendish, on the northern PEI shore, where, by the way, the Green Gables house is located, is only 480 driving miles from our home in Parker Head (i.e., Phippsburg, ME). It seems a world away, and certainly not as close as, say, Atlantic City, NJ (which is 476 miles). Of course this is a matter of perception, involving issues of what is “close” these days and how different, really, Maritime Canadian culture is from the Northeastern US. We had plenty of time to reflect on these and other questions as we made our way from Cavendish to Charlottetown and its Arts Center, and then across the stunning 8 mile-long Confederation Bridge, ultimately to Moncton, New Brunswick, where we spent the night. Moncton is known for its Magnetic Hill – a quirk of terrain in which an apparent upward slope on a stretch of highway is actually a downward slope. So cars appear to be rolling uphill! This is the third most visited natural phenomenon in Canada according to a local press release.
The seven-hour drive from Moncton to Phippsburg takes one through dense spruce forest both in New Brunswick and northern Maine. It is hard to comprehend how much land is devoted to these forested areas – from the car they extend to the horizon in all directions. But, of course, there are towns, occasional farms, cell signals, and Tim Hortons. It is a not unrewarding drive.
Along the way we happened upon yet another great picnic spot, this time by Lepreau Falls in southern New Brunswick. Our standard pattern is to carry lunch ingredients in the car each day and to look for interesting places to stop. Often there is schoolwork left over from the morning that requires a picnic table and felicitous environs. And Baxter always is up for a walk. We have been fortunate to find nice places and to have great weather in which to enjoy them.
Since we have been traveling almost a month, we’ll put together some general thoughts on our experiences so far in our next post.
