Our Easternmost Adventure

In June, we spent a week in Lubec, Maine, sharing a rented house with three of our longtime friends. Lubec is a coastal town in Downeast Maine, and is the easternmost town on the continental US. Dave, our friend Marge and I drove to Lubec; Bob and Monica flew in from Mississippi.
We took our time driving up and stayed overnight at the Kennebec Inn in Bath, where we had lovely rooms and a really delicious breakfast the next day. Staying in Bath gave us the chance to have dinner with my college roommate, Peg, and her husband Chris.


Peg is a school librarian (who knew we would have similar careers?) and a photographer; Chris is a cabinet maker, which doesn't begin to reflect the magic he performs on pieces of cherry.
We visited them at their home(and Chris' workshop) the next morning before continuing on to Lubec.




Here I am with my two Margarets: Peg and Marge.
Peg and I are sparing you the musical renditions of our Alma Mater and other college songs!


The house we rented in Lubec was in town on a hill overlooking Johnson Bay. The view was spectacular, and we were lucky enough to have a week of perfect weather, good for exploring and for eating and hanging out on the deck.




This little plot of lupines was just out our front door. After many years of reading Barbara Cooney's Miss Rumphius to my students, I was happy to see lupines in person. I brought some seeds home, too, so I could have some lupines in NJ.





We spent the week enjoying lighthouses and lobster; a trip over the bridge to Campobello Island, Canada, where FDR's family vacationed and where he was diagnosed with polio; and just relaxing together, something the five of us don't get to do very often.

Mulholland Light on Campobello Island

West Quoddy Light in Lubec
(Despite the name, it's the easternmost lighthouse in the US because
East Quoddy Light is in Canada, on Campobello Island.)

East Quoddy Light

This is the life!

Our first night's dinner had to be lobster.....


And lobster rolls at the New Friendly Restaurant in Eastport were so good we went twice!

Dave and Bob were very happy to discover Cap'n Vinny's Bold Coast Smokehouse where they bought smoked salmon, smoked mussels, smoked everything and Marge and Monica and I were equally happy to find Monica's Chocolates (no relation, lol.) We all took home edible souvenirs. Yum!

At the end of the week, we said goodbye to Bob and Monica and headed back to NJ. On the way home, we stopped in at Dot's in Lincolnville to have lunch with my cousin Carole who lives in Camden. Carole and I don't get to see each other very often. (Thank goodness for Facebook!) We had a lovely visit which was much too short. ( A couple of weeks later, my cousin Linda and her family vacationed in Maine and met Carole at Dot's for lunch. It's getting to be a tradition!)

Carole and me at Dot's

I took some some hand sewing with me, but I never even took it out of the bag. And I think this is the first trip in a long time during which I haven't stopped in any quilt stores! But even though it was fabric-less this trip was a success in every way: friends, family, scenery, weather, food and relaxation. That is the perfect vacation.