Since this lovely island was only a couple of hours south of here (and there were three couples to share the fuel expense) we set out to do some ‘sploring on Saturday morning.

We knew we were in for a great day when the view just crossing the bridge was wonderful!


We stopped at the first overlook -

for a view of the harbor….


Wait a minute – what are those big round things in the water?

Turns out those are part of New Brunswick salmon fish farming industry. Inquiring minds want to know. (You did want to know too, didn’t you?)
After a lovely picnic lunch, we continued on to FDR’s summer cottage -



We thoroughly enjoyed the self-guided tour through the modestly furnished “cottage”,



strolled around to the back

and ended our visit with a walk to the beach.


FDR was on an extended vacation at this cottage in 1921 when he contracted polio. In the years to follow he would only return three times, although Eleanor and his children continued to vacation there. Along with the National Park website, here is another site which has much more information about FDR and his connection to Campobello Island.

But FDR’s summer cottage is not the only point of interest on Campobello Island.  We continued up the island

to Head Harbour and the East Quoddy Lighthouse.


We noticed several boats in the harbor, and thinking they might be whale watching boats we hung around for a while to see what we could see. Sure enough, we spotted a school of harbor porpoises and then to our delight a whale surfaced in front of us! We saw him twice as he made his way across the harbor, and never with the camera ready of course, but we were thrilled nonetheless! This fellow popped up long enough for me to take his picture – in fact, he seemed to be waiting for me to take his picture.

The lighthouse is unreachable for most of the day. Since this is located on the Bay of Fundy (remember those huge tidal shifts from the Hopewell Rocks?), it also experiences those extreme high and low tides.

Can you make out the iron stairs on the left side of the island? There’s a matching set of steps where we were standing, and (at your own risk) you can cross the channel at low tide each day. Needless to say, we were just watching the water rushing through the channel – there would be no walking on the ocean floor for us that day!
But all around it was so beautiful


that we were quite content to stay on dry ground and just soak it all in.
It was a great day, but we did have a 2 1/2 hour drive home, so after a stop for some fortification (ice cream), we headed off the island. But I couldn’t resist a photo of the  Mulholland Lighthouse on the southern tip of the island (photo taken while waiting to clear customs), and then one of Lubec, ME waterfront.


We also spotted this interesting dwelling as we were waiting our turn at the border -

Gotta love American ingenuity!

Thanks for coming along on our little history/scenic jaunt back into New Brunswick. I’ll leave you with one last photo that really could have been taken just about anywhere, but was indeed taken in the gardens of FDR’s summer cottage on Campobello Island.

Ah, the perfection of creation!

Hope you had a good weekend, everyone! We sure did!

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

But before they arrived by ferry at the train terminal, they had to be processed through Ellis Island.


Between 1901 and 1910 over 6 million immigrants were processed at Ellis. Six Million. Altogether, from it’s opening in 1892 (though the current brick building was built in 1900) until it closed in 1954, over 12 million people took their first steps to becoming Americans at Ellis Island. On April 17, 1907 a record 11,747 immigrants came through these halls. By the 1920′s the inspection process had moved elsewhere and only a small number of immigrants passed through Ellis Island. It closed completely in 1954.

12 million souls. Papas and Mamas, sons and daughters. Many came in search of relief from persecution, or a chance at a better life. Some came simply with a thirst for adventure. But all left everything familiar, brought only what they could carry, endured a cramped and smelly steerage passage for weeks on end, and then waited on hard wooden benches for their turn to be processed in the Great Hall of the immigration station. All for a chance of life in this Land of Opportunity.
And yet before they even reached Ellis Island, they were greeted in New York Harbor by Lady Liberty herself.

Our hearts were stirred as we tried to imagine the emotions of those immigrants. Fear of the unknown. Visions of adventure. Dreams of better days ahead. Hope.

It was an inspiring day. Whether they arrived on the Mayflower or were processed through Ellis Island, immigrants built this great nation. A visit to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty brought that home in a new and fresh way.
Awestruck.

PS – all the pictures are HERE. Enjoy!

This is such a beautiful area – with lots to see and do! In my next post I’ll try to catch you up with our work here at Living Waters and how we’ve been spending our work days, but for now I’ll leave you with a collage of shots from the stretch of Deep Creek that runs right behind this camp. It’s been so lovely to go and just sit quietly on the banks of this “creek”.
Really, this is our backyard this month.
How blessed are we?!?!

Pssst….there are some additional pictures here!

If you’d like to see more bird, alligator and boat ride pictures – check them out HERE. And special thanks to Marlene who took most of these, but let me play with her camera for part of the boat ride. She’s a keeper for sure!

Thanks for coming along on my little walk down memory lane . I’ll have more to share as I keep plodding though the files, but if you have any favorites from the last year, I’d love to hear from you!

Better get back to that vacuuming!

We decided to come back to catch the sunrise the next morning, so after we picked our spot from the many wonderful overlooks (Bryce Point with its view into the main amphitheater) we headed back home. A nice hot dinner, some good reading and another lovely sunset completed our day.

We left the next morning at 5:30 (for a 6:30 sunrise) and waited with these other good folks for the sun to appear!

And let me tell you – IT WAS COLD! and WINDY! I can’t imagine what the wind chill was – but my 5 layers of clothes and jackets weren’t really enough. But enough whining! Ah, the sunrise ……

Well, actually what was spectacular was the rising sun hitting the canyon walls – my, oh, my, how it made them dance!



After my fingers thawed, we had a lovely breakfast at the Bryce Canyon Lodge before we hiked the Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop trail – “The Best Three Mile Hike in the World!”



It took us right down (and I mean DOWN) to the canyon floor – so beautiful!



And of course, what goes down, must come up! And up we came -

THIS! There were about 4 more switchbacks before we made it too the top. We were certainly out of breath, but we were pretty happy with ourselves. What a beautiful (and heart pounding) hike!
I kept clicking picitures as we returned to the truck (’cause that’s what I do!)-

and I was very pleased to catch this little bird before it took flight!

I think it’s a female western bluebird – but I’m not sure. Anyone out there have a better guess?

After our hike (we did it in just under 2 hours – yes, we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves!) we returned to the campground, got packed up and hit the raod. Since we had such a “nice” early start we were on the road by 11AM! Over three hundred miles later we’re stopped at a nice picnic area and we’re both BEAT! Gary’s already hit the sack, and I’m following close behind. I have a couple of other stories from our Rock Tour, but they’ll have to wait.
Ta-ta!

We drove back to our campground in a round about way to check out Cedar Breaks National Monument. We had heard was a beautiful spot and were considering stopping there (with the rig) once we started heading west to our SOWER project. We’re glad we did a test run. Not only was the “scenic” drive it was on was not really suited for RV driving, but the park itself hadn’t even opened for the season. (Though we could have skied in if we had wanted to!)

It wasn’t even plowed out!
But we did enjoy a beautiful sunset -

So glad we did that test run!

Stay tuned – one park to go
Bryce Canyon!