July 23, 2008

July 23, 2008

Low tide at Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick today is at 10:30. We are following the same trail as yesterday so we can take identical photos to compare the difference. Wow, we screwed up. The sea recedes way farther out than we imagined. I concentrated my photos on the shoreline when I should have panned farther out. What was once water is now a vast empty mudflat. Farther along we get to the famous rocks of Hopewell where we descend a stairs so we can walk out amongst the now dry rocks. The rocks were a red herring for my photos. They are just a fraction of the water drop. The shoreline is now a good hundred yards farther out and at least another twenty feet down. Amazing!

From Hopewell Rocks we continue our journey west stopping for a few photos in the fishing village of Alma, NB. The large commercial fishing boats here have been left low and dry, sitting on the sea floor way below us. Pretty cool!

From Alma we drive the two hours west thru Fundy National Park to the border and cross into the US with only fumes in the gas tank. We are happy to be back in the good ole US of A. We are tired of high gas prices ($5.60/gal), high beer prices ($12 for a six pack), lousy weather and unfriendly Franco-phones. As expected US Customs searches our RV and confiscates the two oranges in the fridge so we don’t contaminate the Maine citrus crop. Oh how I have missed our wonderful bureaucracy!

Just across the border we stop at the St Croix Island Historical Site. This ultra small site on the international border is dedicated to Samuel Champlain and the French who made their first settlement in the new world here in 1604. It didn’t last. They soon relocated to Acadia (Nova Scotia). Tired of driving we spend the night at a private park just down the road.