Monday, September 17, 2018 - Visit to St. Stephen & St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada;

Monday, September 17, 2018 - Visit to St Stephen & St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada  


We had one more place we wanted to visit before we leave Lubec. St. Andrews is not too far from Lubec, about 50 miles, and it proved to be the perfect day for our visit.  The temperatures have gradually dropped but it's still very nice during the day.  

We crossed the border at Calais with no problems, and drove into St. Stephen where we wondered around for a bit before we got our bearings.  Once we found our way to the east side of St. Stephen we discovered the Visitor's Information Centre where we visited with a wonderful young lady.  She did a fantastic job of directing us to things to see and do, and answered all of our questions.  We were quite impressed with her.

As we headed to the St. Stephen International Border Crossing 

 As we drove along the St. Croix River I took several pictures and as we drove through the downtown area as well.

Pictures I took along the St. Croix River while in St. Stephen

Beautiful trees - a little more color here

Downtown St. Stephen

We left St. Stephen and headed south toward St. Andrews.

In the distance you can make out an island the lady at the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) told us about but I cannot remember the name of it now.  (The problem with waiting too long to write a blog post).

We were surprised when we entered the town of St. Andrews, to find the town stretched much farther north than what we expected it to be from the map we had.  We thought there was just a spot at the end of the peninsula - but that was not the case.  It's quite a large community with LOTS to see and do.  You could spend a few days or more here easily.

We found a place to park a couple of blocks from downtown and went in search of somewhere to have lunch.  

St. Andrew's Post Office - a beautiful building

What's this thing?  A phone booth you say?
Dean was excited to see one - it's been a long time since we've seen one - at least with a phone in it - and it still works!

Being a retired telephone man - he had to check it out.

Look at the smile on his face!

The phone office next door.

A beautiful inn and restaurant across the street.

 We decided on The Harbour Front Restaurant for our lunch.  They had seating outside with a view of the bay and their pier on the Bay of Fundy, where we enjoyed watching all that was going on.  

Interesting history of the prior use of the restaurant

The pier at low tide from our table at the restaurant.  Look how low the water is here at low tide.  The Bay of Fundy has extremely low//high tides.  Check out this article regarding the tides.  In this area I believe the tide change is somewhere around 40'.

When we left the restaurant we worked our way down Water Street (their Main Street) to the southern point.  We wanted to check out the Kiwani's Oceanfront Campground - which is where we thought we might stay if we were to pull Bentley to New Brunswick.  

There was a pull off just across the road from the campground where we stopped to watch the tide as it was starting to come in.  I could sit and stare out at the water for quite some time. 

This boat had left the pier where we ate lunch

Here is the Kiwani's Campground that is right across the street from where we were parked above.  The park was near full, and as you can see, RV's were still pulling in.

Another shot of the pullout across from the campground.  The tide does come in pretty quick and we noticed quite a difference in the time we were gone.  This is part of the Bay of Fundy.

Celtic Cross

 If you are intersted in knowing more about the Celtic Cross you can click here.

A beautiful home we saw as we drove around St. Andrews. 

The Algonquin Resort - It was so beautiful!

Deer right in town just a couple blocks from downtown, a block or two from where we parked the truck.

We parked across the street (to the left) from this house.  It was built in 1820, and was the house of Sheriff Andrews.

We had to stop and watch this gentleman working on this beautiful mural.  The picture is of the pier that was part of our view during lunch.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of these two street signs - King & Queen

Another beautiful church.  If you zoom in to the very top it is really interesting.

It took us awhile to find this lighthouse - and then it was at the end of a street.  After we drove down the street we realized there was no parking.  I know at least some of you know what's it like to turn around a long bed dually in a tight space.  It wasn't a quick retreat!  

This house was next to the lighthouse.  Many of the homes, especially along the water, had names over their doors.  This one is "Sea Gull's Cry" 

More shots of the Bay of Fundy

Cousin Todd - if you are reading this - take a close look at the sign above - couldn't help but think of you!  Miss you and we'll see you soon!

At this point we are now back in St. Stephen.  On Budd Ave. at the east end of downtown sits St. Stephen Lighthouse.  Since I love lighthouses, we had to stop.  We parked across the street near their civic center and walked over.

Part of the park area near the lighthouse along the water.

I had to take this picture.  The name of the company doing some work in the area is BIRD - and there is a bird posing on top of the sign.  Do you think he thought they were trying to get his attention?

The downtown area was beautiful with these large baskets of flowers at each lightpole.

Lighthouse from the road

Up close and personal!

 In this picture you can see the large wooden platform where the lighthouse is standing.  As Dean walked along the edge away from the the lighthouse, all of a sudden he felt as if he dropped a bit..  A few inches of the wood plank he stepped on had rotted away - it was a pretty weird feeling, with a drop of a good 25' or more to the water below.  Fortunately it was only a weird feeling, northing more!

This is taken from their pier.  The metal dock below is sitting on the water, with floaters under it.  Can you see the scrapes on the pipe (lighter color on the left) - that is where the platform will be when the tide is in.

Looking down the river to the east.

The following sculpture is called Time and Universe, with a plaque below.

We had a copy of this map, but while we were looking at it near the lighthouse, I noticed the "Blair House Heritage B&B" on the map. Since my son and daughter's last name is (from my first marriage) Blair, and our former Mayor is a Blair (no relation between the two), I had to have a picture of it.  It took us awhile to find it, as the map is not to scale and does not have all the streets on it.  But it was worth the time to find it. 

 Blair House Heritage B&B

Enlarge this one to either xtra large or original size in order to see the scroll writing above the front porch.  Very beautiful work.

After returning to the US, we took Highway 1 back to Lubec.   Along the way, we stopped at this Memorial Park for a few minutes.

Sometimes we just happen on really interesting things.  As we drove by the store below, called 45th Parallel, I noticed signs out front on a globe with 45th on them.  I told Dean I think this has to do with the location - I knew there were different parallels to determine location so I quickly looked up to see where the 45th parallel was.  See Here for what I found out.

45th Parallel Business - I probably would not have given this a second look if it had not been for the building.
I looked up to see where the exact location of the parallel marker was on Google and we went searching for it.  See stone below.

Sign says:  You are halfway between the Equator and the North Pole in Perry, Maine
Not only is the halfway marker here but it is the oldest 45th parallel marker in the US.
What a find!

Oldest 45th parallel marker in the US

Sign at the site of the marker

Here is the stone in its natural setting - right alongside the road.

We had a great day visiting St Stephen and St Andrews in New Brunswick, and our trip throughout Maine has been amazing so far.  We have one more stop before we leave Maine.  Stay tuned for more.