The Start of July Fourth Celebrations

July 2, 2016

Bridget, Kirsten, Kristina began the Fourth of July Celebration at St. Andrews, a little town near us in Canada on Friday night, while I was picking up my car in Bangor. But I was able to join them for a fun day at Eastport.

We started our day by making a small detour to visit Sipp Bay Preserve where we enjoyed the view, although we were still under clouds and fog. We enjoyed watching a common loon eat a fish, and then forage for more.

Kirsten and Christina

Our next stop was hike a trail just before we got to Eastport. It wound through a forest to overlooks to Lubec and Campobello Island. We also watched large ships serving a salmon farm. As we hiked, the sun finally got most of the fog burned off and the rest of the day was beautiful.

Trail View

Boats tending the salmon farm

The boats were using big hoses to either add something to the fish pens or to take out fish

A closeup view of the hose

The ladies enjoying a view towards Eastport at the end of the trail

By the time we got to Eastport, we had hiked five miles and were getting hungry. But first we had to stop a a wonderful little mustard factory where we sampled mustards and I bought Heavenly Jalapeno and Chipotle honey mustards, as well as a jar of bread and butter fiddlehead pickles. YUM! Then we went to lunch, where I got the best bowl of seafood chowder I think I've ever had. The other women had hamburgers. Kirsten rushed to eat so she could run back and climb a climbing wall before it closed. I got there in time to get lots of pictures of her as she worked on harder and harder trails – the color of the holds defined the difficulty.

Mustard Factory Sign

A few of the many flavors of mustard manufactured here

Visitors can tour the mustard factory at 2:00 and 3:00 P.M.  We planned to come home but got distracted by the festival and didn't make it back for the tour.  But I'll get there sometime.

The waterfront area

The ferry that runs from Deer Island to Campobello Island - hopefully the site of another adventure

Bridget and Christina admiring the controversial statue of a mermaid

Kirsten climbing the hardest side of the wall

Then we visited the vendor craft booths and a candy store before it was time to watch the pet competition which included prizes for the the best rescue animal, for the best dressed pet, as well as other categories. Most of the pets were dogs, but there was one cat, one goat, and one ferret. But the funniest entry was Larry the lobster, who his owners said was a rescue pet. When asked, where he was rescued from, the answer was IGA, a local grocery store. He was also one of the best dressed pets. The judges were so impressed that they decided to add a Best in Show category and gave that award to Larry.

The cutest kid/dog pair

Kirsten petting the pig dressed in a hula skirt and a lei

This was a beautiful Maine coon cat -  I love the look of love the owner was giving it

Another darling pair 

The ferret

Larry the rescue lobster

We'll continue our celebration on Monday, when we will all join Bridget's parents and watch the Lubec July Fourth Parade from her yard, then get fed before enjoying the fireworks.

On the personal front, I'm all excited because I have sprouting milkweeds. My swamp milkweed is up. I had lots of leftover seeds, so on Friday, I hoed a large patch near Bridget's garden and planted the already sprouting seeds. Hopefully, that spot will provide a stockpile of seeds for future plantings around the refuge. And I'm delighted to have a car back. Also I bought a fishing license and a couple of bass lures to use with my fly rod and hope to get in some fishing this long weekend. Kirsten and I had to go to our boss's house this evening to secure his chickens so I'll be getting up early Sunday morning to get this blog posted.

And this morning I found I have milkweeds SHOOTING up.  YEAH!

Happy Fourth. Hope you have a bang-up one.