We did it. Not that it really matters or that it was ever a goal of ours, but we made it to at least one of the northern, southern, eastern, and western extreme points of the US. This past week we traveled up to Maine on vacation. And when I say up to Maine i mean we went as far north and east as you can get before hitting Canada. This was to get to West Quoddy Head lighthouse which is the eastern most point in the continental US. We had already been to Key West which is the southern most point in the US and to Utqiagvik(formally known as Barrow) Alaska the northern most point in the US and to Cape Alava Washington the western most point in the contiguous US, so we have completed all point of the compass.
Of course, we didn't go to Maine to complete the points of the compass it was to get away for a week and relax and find some interesting things to see. On the way to the eastern most point we stopped for a night in Portland Maine. On the way out we stopped at Portland Head light which is probably one of the more picturesque light houses.
Then it was a 4-hour drive to Lubec Maine the last hour and a half of the ride was on narrow county routes with more and more woods and less and less houses until we got to Lubec which is a small fishing village across the bay from Canada. We stayed at West Quoddy Station which was right next to the light house. It was an old coast guard stations whose building have been turned into cabins you can rent. It was a nice quiet place to spend a couple of days.
The cabin we stayed in had a large porch with a good view of the bay and surrounding area.
Being next to the lighthouse made it easy to go see it a couple of times. I got a few pictures in the daytime when we got there and then went the next morning to try and get a good sunrise shot.
Heavy fog rolled in right before the sunrise so although I saw some rays of the sun on the water I never did see the actual sun.
Besides visiting the lighthouse, we took a day trip to Campobello Island in Canada. It's a small island just across the bay from Lubec and is filled with a few fishing villages and lighthouses so we thought it make a scenic drive. The other reason we went there was to see the Roosevelt Campobello park.
This is a place where Roosevelt's father had a vacation home and FDR spent many summers. The park is now run by a committee that is made up of both Canadians and Americas. It contains a few houses that have been preserved in the original state. There are also miles of roads and hiking trails where you can see the surrounding forests and coastlines. We took a tour of the main house and drove to Liberty Point for some scenic views. Then went on to explore the rest of the island.
There isn't really a lot to see on Campobello except the coastline which is nice. There is also a very interesting lighthouse called the Head Harbor Light station. This is a light house on the northern tip of the island that you can only get to at low tide. I timed our arrival an hour and a half before low tide. To get to the lighthouse you have to first go down a set of steep stairs and cross a bolder field covered in seaweed. There is a path between the rocks but you still have to be careful not to slip and fall.
Then you have to walk across a gravel beach and up a very rusty set of stairs to a second island.
Then you walk a quarter mile across the island then down another set of step stairs and across a beach through another bolder field covered with seaweed before you get to the actual light house
It took me about 20 mins of carefully hiking to make my way. It was a little slick in places and I had worked up a good sweat by the time I got to the lighthouse but it was worth the trip.
I spent about 15 minutes walking around the lighthouse and taking pictures. It was an interesting lighthouse. It really gets beat up by the weather and I could see a lot of damage to the walls and some of the structures around it. It must require a lot of maintenance to keep it standing. Then I slowly made my way back to my wife and the mainland.
After that we stopped for dinner at a small place by the water before heading back to the US and back to our cabin. It was a fun couple of days at one of the most rural and extreme places we have been. Next stop Bar Harbor and some more scenic coastlines.
