September 2, 2013 - Part 2

The next leg of our journey was an interesting one.  My friend Mrs. Smith went camping with Mr. Smith at West Musquash Lake in Waite a few weeks ago and she said it was the prettiest lake she had seen in Maine, with clear water 20 feet down.  It's not far off Rt 1, which we were traveling on our way to Caribou in the northern part of Maine, so we took a little side trip to West Lake, as it's known to the locals.  I know this, because we had to stop and ask the locals for directions.  :)  In our defense, the GPS was worthless at this point and come to find out, the Gazetteer labeled the access road incorrectly. 
 

 

With the help of the locals, we literally drove right up to the lake.  :)

The lake is indeed beautiful, as evidenced by these pics taken in sequence from the right side of the cove to the left.

And the water is indeed clear, even though the rain must have stirred it up a bit.  BTW, it's really hard to take pictures while holding an umbrella.  :)

There's nothing quite like Maine back roads for an adventure!

September 2, 2013 - Part 1

 

You can see in this picture of the Coast Guard Station garage that a clerestory was added on during the renovations, not only to give guests a grand view of the bay, but also to aid them in owning the claim to "first resident on US soil to see the sun rise in the morning."  The owner claims you can see the sun 1/10th of a second earlier from his clerestory than from West Quoddy Head Lighthouse.  :)  That's one of the reasons we wanted to visit Lubec - to make that claim.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with us, as it was cloudy and drizzly this morning, but apparently it's not unusual for fog to obliterate the view anyway.

The spiral staircase leading to the clerestory soothed Jed's feelings a bit, after not being able to go up in any of the lighthouses we had visited.

The view from the clerestory, looking back to the right of station and garage.  It looks like a Christmas tree farm, doesn't it?

This is where we would have seen the sun rise, had it decided to show itself today.  That's the roof of the Coast Guard Station garage and the original Coast Guard Station in the background.

This is the Coast Guard boathouse, which was not included in the sale of the station.  I would have loved to poke around in there.

Jed reluctantly descending the spiral staircase on our way back down to reality.

Saying goodbye to the ocean and the clerestory (seen in the upper right hand corner) and the deck where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset last night.  On with the adventure! 

September 1, 2013 - Part 13

The sun was shining brilliantly and low in the sky for these last few photographs.

Mulholland Point Lighthouse, as seen from Campobello Bridge, on our way back to the US.  

They let us in!  

Silly border patrol.  :)

September 1, 2013 - Part 12

In the cove on the west side of the lighthouse, we found this heron perched serenely on the rocks.

Serenity is a fleeting thing, especially with Jed around.  :)

He wanted to see how close he could get before the heron took to flight.  It wasn't close.  :)

September 1, 2013 - Part 11

 

Our last stop on Campobella Island was Mulholland Point to see the lighthouse there.  The lighthouse was decommissioned after the bridge spanning the Quoddy Narrows, connecting Lubec to Campobello, was built in 1962. 
 

 

View of Lubec Narrows from the lighthouse grounds.

It was so good to see the sun shining!

Jed is never happier than when he finds binoculars to look through - especially if they're free like these were!  That's Lubec, Maine in the background.

This was Jed's view through the binoculars - the Campobello Bridge.

These steps lead down to a small cove just to the east of the lighthouse.

These old weir posts block off the entrance to the cove.  The posts would have been strung with net, and any fish that came into the cove with the tide would have been trapped when the tide went out.  There are old weir posts scattered all around the island.

September 1, 2013 - Part 10

We ran across a harbor on the east side of the island, along Head Harbor, that was so secluded and deserted it was actually eerie.  The water was almost perfectly still, showing off gorgeous reflections.

September 1, 2013 - Part 9

After leaving the lighthouse we continued our wandering, pausing the enjoy this scene of neat and tidy lobster buoys.  You don't see that very often. :)  We're thinking they must have been freshly painted and drying on the line.  Each lobsterman has a unique paint pattern so he can distinguish his buoys (and the traps they are attached to) from the hundreds (if not thousands) of other buoys scattered about the coastline.

This is just one of many beautiful little coves around the island. 

This is the same cove, but I got closer so I could see down to take a picture of the beach.  

It's amazing to me how lighting can change from one picture to the next.

September 1, 2013 - Part 8

After tearing ourselves away from the gracious hospitality of the Roosevelts, we wandered about the island with the goal of heading to East Quoddy Head Light (also known as Head Harbor Light).  The lighthouse is on Head Harbor Island, a separate little island off the northern-most tip of Campobello Island.  Except it's not an island all the time - during low tide you can walk across on a sand bar.  Unfortunately we didn't keep an eye on the tide, and by the time we got to the lighthouse we didn't have enough time to get across, look around, and get back before the tide covered the strip of land.  Although I wasn't entirely upset about the situation when I saw the rusty ladder you have to climb to get up the hill off the sand bar.  I'm assuming there was an equally rusty ladder on our side of the sand bar as well.  :)

 

Close up of the lighthouse.

 

This little guy was perched at the very end of the rocks on Head Harbor Island.

 

This is a view of Head Harbor, looking back towards Campobello Island.  I really think there is nothing more beautiful in this world than pine trees at the coast.

 

We didn't see any whales but there were plenty of seagulls around.

 

And that, my friends, that little spot perched on top of the old weir posts - that's a bald eagle.  Click on the pic to enlarge it and see for yourself.  Although if you can't tell for sure, you'll have to take my word for it...it really was an eagle.

September 1, 2013 - Part 7

We passed the Welcome Center on the grounds and were intrigued with this massive piece of driftwood mounted to the side of the building.  As improbable as it sounds, it appears to be one single piece of wood - we couldn't find any evidence of it being otherwise.

This vintage photograph of the cottages along the shore shows how the landscape has changed.  When FDR was living, there were no trees to block the view of the ocean from the cottage.  (click on the image to enlarge it)  I'm not sure, but I think FDR's cottage is the one on the far right, which would make the one in the center the cottage belonging to James and Sara, FDR's parents, and the one on the far left a cottage belonging to a neighbor, which is now the site of the famous "Tea with Eleanor" gatherings created for modern-day guests.

This photo montage is mounted over the reception desk of the welcome center, along with FDR's birch bark canoe made by Passamaquoddy Indian Tomah Joseph.  Joseph lived in the Reserve at Pleasant Point, Maine, across the bay from Campobello.  He worked for the Roosevelt family for many years as a hunting and fishing guide and general handyman.  The bottom left-hand corner of the montage features a photo of FDR in this very canoe.

Close-up of the canoe pic.