Back to the USA

So today is our last day in Canada, it has been a lovely place and we have been really lucky in having such a great time here.

Our route looks like this:

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We left the Future Inn, Moncton at 9.00 (Atlantic Time; 8.00 Eastern) with the temperature at 76 and headed along the TransCanada highway (which here is the NB2) for the last 19 miles on a road we have travelled on in four of Canada's provinces. We went on to the NB1 and headed for the border. We stopped in a little village called Petitcodiac and had breakfast in a Tim Horton's. Drew had his regular breakfast biscuit, with sausage, cheese and egg in a biscuit. I opted to try the breakfast bagel which was sausage, egg, cheese and tomato on a cheddar cheese bagel, very nice. We both had two large black coffees and left our last Tim Horton's in Canada.

The road took us past a place called Sussex and through the town of St John, this St John without the 's is not to be confused with the St. John's that is the capital of Newfoundland - a very important 's as the 2 towns are a long way apart.

Just before St. John it began to rain. For ten minutes around a place called Prince of Wales it became a deluge, making the driving a touch scary. Drew coped well and the conditions improved though it continued to rain until about 10 miles from the US border.

We arrived at the border at Midday (Eastern, the time zone we are now in) and the border guard was very pleasant, no hassle getting across, just a check of our passports and our rental agreement for the car and we were in. We then travelled along a road called the ME9 (ME = Maine) which was long and undulating travelling through lots of trees. Though noticeably these were not the trees we had become familiar with in Canada, these trees were from more temperate zones, someone may even be able to recognise them from the photos and tell us in the comments below. The temperature had again risen to the high 70's.

We stopped at one of the few roadside diners on this road, the Hillside Diner. Though it was a small place run by two people, the waitress and the chef, it had good food. Drew opted for a Cheeseburger with Onion Rings. The Onion rings were obviously chopped and fried fresh and had a lovely texture. I opted for liver and onions (as the menu described it) but it was in fact liver, bacon and onions, tasty and not a flavour I’ve had before in the US. I’m not allowed liver at home unless Drew is away, As offal it is banned from the house, so it was a special treat to have it. It was served with a baked potato and green beans – lovely.
Now we have moved from the land of Washrooms to the land of Rest Rooms there is a clear decline in toilet quality. Not that the US ones were dirty, but they aren’t as sparking clean and clearly well tended as the Canadian ones, they are always a bit rough and ready this side of the border.

We drove on through the trees of Maine and came over a spectacular bridge crossing the Passagassawakeag River at Verona Island.
A few miles later on the ME1 and we arrived at the Ocean’s Edge Comfort Inn in Belfast, Maine at 4.10 p.m.. The hotel really is at the ocean’s edge with lovely views over Penobscot Bay.
I’d read that Belfast had a lovely town centre, so after we settled in to the room, Drew went out onto the balcony to take in the sea views and I headed in to town. Downtown Belfast is a pretty place, well worth the visit, as you’ll see from the photos of the old town buildings and the harbor. I spent an hour there before returning to upload the photos and write this post.