Monday, September 19 through Thursday, September 22
Patty woke up in our Airbnb apartment in Halifax on the morning of Sept. 19th (Monday) with the feeling of vertigo that hit her briefly over the summer while we were on Seguin. She tried to carry on as usual and made eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast but she was feeling worse every minute she was upright. The smoke detector alarm going off from the bacon smoke didn’t help either. After we finished eating, Patty eating only toast, she went back to the bedroom to lay down, hoping a little rest would help.
It was drizzling outside but I decided to take a walk down to the waterfront and generally scope out the area of Halifax where we were staying to give Patty a little peace and quiet. I walked down to water and saw three cruise ships docked at the seaport – the Holland America Verdeen, Norwegian Gem, and one other whose name I couldn’t see.
It started to rain hard so I started the mile and a half walk back with the rain increasing with every block until it was pouring. By the time I got back, I was soaked but felt good for having been out in the fresh air. Unfortunately, Patty was not feeling any better. We decided to go to a nearby walk-in clinic to see if she had an ear infection or something that would be fixed with medicine. After waiting an hour or two to see the doctor, she was examined briefly and told that she did not have an infection or any other obvious cause for her vertigo. Just need to wait for it to pass…
We did go to a pizza place near the seaport for an early dinner and then called it an night hoping for her to feel better tomorrow. We also extended our stay an additional night at the Airbnb apartment so that we can get out and about in Halifax and the surrounding area if she does feel better tomorrow.
It rained hard overnight from Monday into Tuesday (Sept. 20) but by morning, it was just very cloudy. Patty was not feeling 100% but she did think she felt better so we went out to walk a self-guided tour route of Halifax. We didn’t make it too far before the street started spinning and we decided to do a driving tour instead. We went down to a place called Peggy’s Cove where there’s a lighthouse and some spectacular views and then back up to the city for lunch at an Irish Pub named Durty Nellies. One look at the name and we knew we had to go there. It rained hard again in the afternoon so we went back to the apartment and just hung out quietly for the rest of the day.
On Wednesday morning (Sept. 21), we left Halifax around 9:30 in the morning, heading southwest. We didn’t get to see as much of Halifax as we planned between the weather and Patty feeling lousy but what we did see, we really liked. Patty felt a little better as we started the day and continued feeling better as the day went along. After stopping in Amherst, Nova Scotia for lunch at a deli inside a health food store, we pressed on, crossing back into Maine at St. Stephens (New Brunswick) / Calais (Maine). Shortly before crossing, we stopped for gas and our credit card was rejected (again) for a “suspicious activity” alert. It actually worked out though because the gas cost almost exactly what we had left in Canadian cash so we crossed with no leftover Canadian money to hold on to until our next visit.
In Maine, we checked out the town of Eastport and then drove to the next finger of land over to the town of Lubec where we found a very nice room to rent above the Water Street Tavern. It was just like our visit to Ireland several years back where we stayed above Pubs the entire time we drove around the country. The room was adjacent to a common room with a view through a large window across the Quoddy Narrows to Campobello Island (Canada), a big dining table, sofa, chairs, and a kitchenette for us and the two or three other rooms. We had a few beers and dinner at the tavern below – I knew Patty was back on her “A” game when she ordered a beer.
On Thursday morning (Sept, 22), we smelled fresh coffee when we woke up and were treated to complementary muffins and yogurt along with the coffee in the common room. We only saw one other couple and they took their food to go so we had the whole place, and the view, to ourselves. The weather was nice and we looked forward to a day of no rain and exploring.
After breakfast, we crossed back into Canada at Campobello and visited the Franklin Roosevelt family cottage on the island which is an International Park run by the US and Canada jointly. It’s the second International Park we’ve visited, the other being the International Peace Park in North Dakota & Manitoba. There’s no cost to visit the park and we received the last two (free) tickets for “Eleanor’s Tea” which we knew nothing about before arriving. We had just enough time to see a short orientation video and then walk over to the cottage where the tea was held.
We totally skewed the age as the youngest at the tea but it was fun and we enjoyed the company of a couple from Maryland that we were seated with. The man’s father was the Episcopal Minister in Hyde Park when he (the man we were seated with) was a boy and they often came to stay with the Roosevelt’s on Campobello as a family when he was young. He even had some old pictures from then that he shared with us. The tea included a talk by two docents about Eleanor’s life and accomplishments which was interesting, particularly because the two ladies giving the talk were so passionate about her life.
After the tea, we took a short hike to Friar’s Cove (a cobblestone beach) that overlooked a salmon farming operation and a cruise ship in the distance, moored off of Eastport. We didn’t want to push too much with Patty just starting to feel better so we just did that one short hike and then drove up the island for lunch at a fish shack takeout place – I had fish & chips (haddock) and Patty and fish cakes.
From there, we continued up the island to the Harbor Head lighthouse which sits on a small island a couple hundred feet from Campobello Island. The lighthouse island is accessible at low tide across a sandbar and on either side there are iron steps and ladders that go down to the sandbar for crossing. It was high tide so we couldn’t go across but we stood on the Campobello side looking at the view. Within a couple of minutes, we saw two or three minke whales and several porpoises too. These were the first whales we’ve seen all summer and were really excited. Finally, we can check whales off the list. Now if only a moose would come and say hello!
We stayed the night at the Herring Cove Provincial Park on Campobello which was really nice, as have been all of the Provincial and National Parks we’ve stayed in during our visit to Canada. They really put our parks to shame in many ways – both with how nice and how inexpensive they are. This one even had laundry (with an honor box) that we took advantage of. After our huge lunch, we just had a hot dogs and chips for dinner, finally finished the pack of hot dogs we bought somewhere way back when. Patty also cooked up some bacon we had left to use later in BLT’s or something.
Happy Ramblers 
Beautiful pictures! And, I love hearing about your adventures. Makes me hate sitting at my desk though. Glad Patty is feeling better.