WILMINGTON, North Carolina

Any town with a commercial riverfront provides enjoyable opportunities to stroll and sidle up to an umbrella table for soothing dining. We happened to hit Wilmington's lovely boardwalked tourist area in the mid-day 95-degree heat so indoor cool-refreshments proved desirable. From our lovely digs at Jenny's house we mainly ventured out to the beaches. We spent an evening strolling at Wrightsville Beach, then returned for a day-long vigil when Hurricane Earl stirred up hefty waves that side-swiped most of the surfers, toppled a pier-beam that required attention from the Beach Rescue team, and sent a lifeguard charging into the waves to calm a swimmer in distress. We finished off the beach day with appetizers on the deck where we battened down all of our dinnerware to prevent wearing our food from flying. 

A lovely day-trip took us first on the car-ferry to Southport, where we dined on our favorite outdoor-picnic-table-right-on-the-waterfront style lunch. Then, without a map, we ventured to Caswell Beach, which is a narrow strip with houses flanking both sides of the road and sporting only the tiniest public parking area, making the beach a fairly private affair. We decided to drive back to Wilmington and happened upon Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson, a major pre-revolutionary fort on the Cape Fear River that was razed by British troops in 1776. All that's left are crumbled stone foundations dotted along a well-developed trail with lovely waterfront vistas. My favorite part of the trip was passing a swamp with a sign that read, "Don't feed the animals." "What animals?" Benedicta and I said in unison followed by, "Look, there's an alligator," again in unison. Of course, I had to stop the car and get a close-up look. The first sighting was a small alligator that scampered toward me as I made my way to the pond-front. Then she kept her head turning to watch my every step. The second alligator was much larger and fairly disinterested. For me, any travel day with an animal-sighting is a travel day well-spent!

ST. ANDREWS, New Brunswick, Canada

From our home base for the week at the Todd House in Eastport we spend hours staring across the Passamaquoddy Bay at the islands of New Brunswick. If the water was remotely warm we might be tempted to swim across, especially at low tide. Several people told us St. Andrews was a lovely day-trip so we made another trip to Canada on another blissfully sunny day.

On the way up the St. Croix River we stopped at an important monument that is deceptively nondescript - Saint Croix Island. It is a tiny island where the French first settled in 1604 with intentions to colonize North America. It turned out to be a poor choice as the winter ice proved isolating and half the men died during their first year. Once the spring warmth melted the ice, they got back in their boats and resettled in Port Royal, Nova Scotia. You can't actually visit the island due to it's fragility so the U.S. and Canada have dueling monuments on opposite shores. We visited both and preferred the U.S. version only because the narrative signposts are accompanied by life-size statues and the walk is through woodlands rather than pastoral. Both had pristinely clean outhouses - yes, we sampled both. (See photos of Saint Croix Island - one taken from Maine and the other taken from N.B.)

St. Andrews is on a peninsula and in addition to the charming coastal village there are various pebbly beaches as well as numerous historic cannons strategically placed. While wandering one cannon site we noticed what looked like a giant rat stranded at sea on a rock formation. It must have wandered over at low tide and was frantically searching for the way back to dry land. I'm still not sure what it was but I imagine it has safely scampered off the rock by now.

Above town a Fairmont Hotel sits loftily awaiting the well-heeled golfing crowd. Seeing only three cars in the parking lot we decided it was safe to wander in and sample the verandah. I've had many a daydream about whiling away an afternoon at the Fairmont at Lake Louise so I hoped this might give a flavor. Um, not even close. We asked our server, who had just arrived for the season, if she'd been to the Fairmont at Lake Louise. She raved about the beauty there for about five minutes and then we all became subdued as we realized how distantly underwhelmed we were with our setting at the Fairmont St. Andrews. Nevertheless, it is a pleasant town reminding me of Provincetown on a much smaller scale.

The drive back to Eastport offered continued opportunities to pull over and sample the beauty of the St. Croix River. Simply serenely satisfying.

CAMPOBELLO ISLAND, New Brunswick, Canada

Our trip to Campobello Island began at the Riverside Inn in East Machias where we're staying on the upper floor of the Carriage House with a deck overlooking the river. After chilled conversation over blueberry pancakes, where we determined our hosts were still silently embroiled in the domestic spat we encountered upon arrival, we walked it off along the delightful rails to trails riverside path.

Just before the bridge to Canada's Campobello Island in Lubec, we took the four mile drive to the West Quoddy Lighthouse - Easternmost point in the U.S. On this pre-season, stunningly beautiful day we encountered only one man with a dog and one woman with her father during our hour walking the trail and gaping at the gorgeous water views. Right after crossing the bridge to Campobello Island we drove to the far end of the Island to take in the East Quoddy Lighthouse. It's only possible to walk over to the Lighthouse at low tide as the Bay of Fundy hosts huge tidal rises and can leave those with poor tide-timing stranded for up to eight hours. When we arrived the lighthouse was on a private island surrounded by cobalt blue water. We had no intent of returning until we met up with a regular who showed us photos of seals and whales lolling just off the shore where we were standing and assured us that low tide was coming in a couple hours. 

We passed the time at Herring Cove Beach where for the first half-hour we had the entire beach to ourselves. The glistening stones in oranges, browns and blues sparkled in the midday sun as the tide retreated. As we walked along the beach a couple from Denver who own a house on Campobello Island arrived for an afternoon stroll. We began to chat and within minutes Susan and Mida invited us to come see their house. It's a darling two-bedroom with a deck overlooking Friar's Bay. And it's for sale. Yikes!  It's just what we're looking for though we hadn't planned to buy in Canada. We excused ourselves in time to get back to East Quoddy during low tide. What a dramatic change! A fifteen foot drop in the water level allowed us to walk right over to the East Quoddy Lighthouse. 

That little adventure - and it's inherent brush with danger - ramped up our appetite so after stopping for a bit to traipse the grounds of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt's summer cottage, we made our way back to Lubec where we had spotted Uncle Kippy's restaurant. As we crossed the  U.S. Border, and correctly answered a plethora of random questions, the border agent asked if I had another form of identification, proving that my passport photo is so bad I'm hardly recognizable. This second rush of adrenaline within an hour fanned our hunger even more. Uncle Kippy's didn't quite hit the spot so we topped off the evening with a pecan praline from Monica's, a darling Peruvian woman who makes amazing chocolates in her kitchen and sells them in her living room. We're loving the down home charm here ... and hope that our hosts will have patched things up before we go down in the morning for another helping of blueberry pancakes.

ASSATEAGUE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE, Maryland

Assateague Island is a huge barrier island off the coast of Maryland and Virginia and is home to about 250 wild ponies, with a fence separating the herd in Maryland from the one in Virginia. I was hopeful but not expectant of seeing ponies but the hour drive was well worth it just for the beautiful beach free of man-made dwellings. Umbrellas lined the shoreline in a single row and after a mile or so run up the beach I plunged into the surf which had that perfect combination of bobbing and smashing and casting one gradually downshore.




Before heading back to the mainland we hit all three turnoffs - most of the island is inaccessible by road. The hardy can hike down the beach for camping if they don't mind being devoured by mosquitos. Three ponies were grazing at our first turn. I hopped out wearing only my bathing suit and took a few photos before retreating to the car for long pants and a shawl. Whew ... they continued to graze unfazed by the pests. The ponies, being neither fed nor harmed by humans, expressed no interest or fear as I stood several feet away respecting and simultaneously entering their space.

Next stop, the bayside, where more ponies grazed out in the marshes. As we crossed to one of the outer islands we encountered teens hooking the entire necks of chickens as bait on their fishing rods. They explained that this was the best bait for crabs as they illustrated their skill in getting the crab hooked, grabbing their nets and hoping the crabs held on long enough to make the catch. A few times they were successful but all were thrown back in to feast on more chicken necks. Who knew?



As we exited a baby pony was snacking at the entry gate. What an amazing day. Fabulous swimming, wild horses and a delicious bowl of Maryland crab soup on the screened in porch at the Atlantic Hotel in downtown Berlin.