Trans-Labrador Highway Trek: Day 14 - St John N.B. to Acadia National Park, Maine

Our first night of camping so far for this trip went well! Pat discovered at his first race for the season at Shannonville that the thin air mattresses only need 20 puffs of air. When it is put at the bottom and the sleep pad on top, you don't get cold & you have a bit of cushion too.
Lots of light out overnight from the full moon.

Back on the Hwy 1 toward the Maine border. A really nice drive, not too much traffic, still strong winds but nothing too intense, we drove about 2 hrs before getting into Maine.

The coastal road (highway 1 again) was much more busy, being Father's day, Sunday drivers, etc. We found the signage not as good as in Canada.

Decided to cook at our site since many of the local eateries will be packed later. Picked up groceries at the IGA on highway #3 that heads south toward the park.

Highway #102 is the one that leads to the Seawall campground, the same spot we enjoyed 2 yrs ago. I am finding that we naturally gravitate toward those places we experienced fun & happiness at in the past. Guess that's human nature!

Kind of deflated our buoyant mood when we checked in & were told we also had to pay for a park pass that would be valid for a week. No other options for folks like us who are passing through/non-residents/senior/retired.

We were tired after our run of 334 km, didn't feel up to driving around to find another so we sucked it up & paid. If you are planning a visit to the area & wish to spend a week or so discovering it's beauty & wildness, then it would be grand to purchase the week's pass. I thought about pulling up to some random family heading south as we left heading north, to see if they could use our pass but I felt uneasy about it. With all the recent shootings, the person I approach could be carrying a weapon & be trigger happy, not knowing what I wanted....

I find most people we come across on our travels both in Canada & the U.S. are friendly & helpful. I have a warm memory of a trip to Boston to meet up with Pat's brother John & wife Kathleen from Ireland. We flew in and took the "Big T" (transit system) all over the city. One time we were standing looking at the transit map & a fellow came up & asked if we needed help to find our way! We'll be back some day Boston.....love the pubs & the Irish spirit!

Back at the Seawall campground, it was getting later, although somewhere on our travels today we switched back to EST from Atlantic time.

Bonus! Time for a relaxing walk to the seashore & naturally Pat brought along a bag to collect sea snails in.....to cook back at our site. His biggest concern was not what the park officials might say seeing him collect these or if there was any bacteria in this area's water. Nope! Biggest concern was do we have a needle, pin or safety pin that he can use to pull the wee buggers out of their shell to eat when cooked!

Pat cooked us up a delicious steak dinner & we had a sunset stroll nearby. The campground is still very clean with flush toilets & fresh water but no services.

There is something about being near the ocean that lifts my spirits. May be because I am a Pisces. Fantastic way to camp, fresh sea air, can hear the Bell buoy clanging in the distance & the full moon. Dad's battery radio is with us on all our travels so we don't have to rely on hydro to get weather updates and we can groove to local tunes. A memorable day indeed!