The McCabe Family Nova Scotia Road Trip 2017

Here are some photos that didn't make the initial cut for the daily posts chronicling our travels. At lunch in Halifax Seen on a building facade in Montreal Old Quebec In red chair in Fundy National Park On the bridge between Calais and St. Stephen Clare with puffin in Bar Harbor On the way to the top of Cadillac Mountain

Our Nova Scotia road trip came to its glorious end when we arrived home on Friday, June 16, close to midnight, after a very long drive of more than 700 miles from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All of us took turns driving home (a shout out to Conor who did some great driving in the Worcester, Massachusetts, area). We made two stops, one for breakfast at Phil & Jeanne's in Vassalboro, Maine, and one for dinner at the Pompton Queen Diner in Pompton Plains, New Jersey. Though, by the sheer numbers alone, not as impressive as our Grand Canyon road trip in 2013 or our Yellowstone road trip in 2016, the Nova Scotia road trip was nevertheless a grand success by all accounts. We traveled a total of 3,787.4 miles, through four Canadian provinces - Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia - and five states - New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Our longest driving day was the last, and our shortest drivin...

At about 8:30 PM, after being on the road for almost 13 straight hours, we stopped at the  Pompton Queen Diner , in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, for our last "official" road trip dinner. The food was excellent. I had the delicious chicken pot pie and, of course, a piece of lemon meringue pie for dessert. We all left full and contented, but eager to be on our way home.

We left Bar Harbor early this morning for home, but we stopped first to visit my brother Phil and his wife Jeanne for a home cooked breakfast to set us on our way home. We also got a chance to tour Phil and Jeanne's new home which replaced their home which was destroyed last year in a terrible fire. It was a great visit, and we thank Phil and Jeanne for their gracious and warm hospitality. We were sad that time did not permit a detour to visit to Phil's Camp in East Winthrop, Maine (where we have stayed the last consecutive 15 years). 

After our late afternoon meal, Suzanne drove Conor, Clare, and me to the trail head for the North Ridge Trail to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, which,  at 1,530 feet, is the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard and the first place to view sunrise in the United States from October 7 through March 6.  Cadillac Mountain was named after the French explorer and adventurer, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, in 1918. Prior to that, it was known as Green Mountain. Over the next one and half hours, Clare, Conor and I hiked the 2.2 miles of trail to the top of Cadillac Mountain, while Suzanne drove the park loop road and then met us at the top. After we got to the top, we all waited for the sunset which arrived at 8:19 PM. For sure, it was a glorious sight to behold. At the bottom At the top! A glorious sunset

When we finished our morning hike, we headed back to our hotel, the Harborside Hotel , for some hot tub soaking, pool time, and general relaxing. After we were all thoroughly refreshed, we jumped in the car again for the short trip back to Acadia and Jordan Pond House , which has been serving popovers and tea since the 1890's when Nellie McIntire began the tradition. The original Jordan Pond House burned down in 1979 and the current building was completed in 1982. Since then, tea and popovers on the lawn has been an uninterrupted summer tradition. As in past years here (we've been coming to Acadia National Park off and on for at least the last 10 years), we enjoyed a late afternoon meal of seafood chowder, salads, cheese board, and of course warm popovers, with lots of butter and jam. Enjoying an early dinner at the Jordan Pond House Looking out toward Jordan Pond Chairs are now green, not red! And Jordan Pond House in the background An overview of the Jor...

We started our day with a full breakfast at Cafe This Way , and then departed for Acadia National Park for some moderate hiking. The park is America's first national park on the East Coast, established in 1916, and consists of 47,000 acres on Maine's Mount Desert Island. Its landscape is marked by woodland, rocky beaches, and glacier-scoured granite peaks such as Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the United States’ East Coast. It is an amazing and wonderful place, and definitely worth a visit. I dropped Suzanne off at Sand Beach for a less strenuous hike, and then drove the car to the trail head for the Gorham Mountain trail, a 1.8 mile out and back trail to the summit of - yes, you guessed it - Gorham Mountain. At the bottom of the Gorham Mountain trail, Conor continued to the car to meet Clare and Suzanne, and I continued on the Otter Cove trail and Otter Cove where I was picked up on the Park Loop Drive. Conor and Clare checking out the route of the Gorham M...

Our first "official" stop today was Roosevelt Campobello International Park . The park is administered by a commission created under an international treaty signed by Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson on January 22, 1964. From 1883, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one year old, until he was stricken by polio in 1921, he spent most of his summers on the rugged and beautiful Campobello Island on Passamaquoddy Bay. Although his growing political responsibilities and health problems eventually limited his visits to Campobello, his love of the island and his long associations with its people left a lasting impression. After he became President, FDR returned to his summer home for three brief visits: in 1933, 1936, and 1939. Eleanor Roosevelt returned with the children and two of her friends in the summer of 1925 and again in 1933, 1935 and 1936. Now known as the FDR summer home, the “cottage” was built in 1897 for Mrs. ...

At 11:20 AM EST, we crossed the USA-Canada border at St. Stephen, New Brunswick-Calais, Maine, and made a beeline for Campobello Island, site of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park. But, as often happens on road trips, we encountered a historic site which we just had to visit, in this case, the Saint Croix International Historic Site . The site commemorates Saint Croix Island, where, in 1604, a French expedition, led by Pierre Dugua, first attempted to colonize the territory they called l'Acadie and the location of one of the earliest European settlements in North America. In 1984, the island was designated an international historic site in recognition of the “historic significance to both the United States and Canada.” We stopped, but the visitor center was closed, so we snapped a few photos and headed on our way.

Before arriving at our hotel in Quispamsis, New Brunswick, we stopped for dinner at JJ's Diner in Sussex, New Brunswick. We were not disappointed, and I was very happy to see homemade pie on the menu. Of course, I had a piece of the blueberry pie topped with whipped cream.