Day 8: Acadia (continued) and St. Stephen, New Brunswick

Okay, I should be able to do this one because it was just today.

First on the list, the iPod played two of my Top 5 songs of the 80s today - The Promise by When in Rome and Life in a Northern Town by The Dream Academy. I double dog dare anyone to tell me they don't like these songs. Warning: retribution will be swift and unyielding. I'd seriously suggest lying to me.

While it did rain over night, today was partly to mostly cloudy when we got up and headed out to Acadia. We got there, paid our fees and were on our way to Cadillac Mountain about seven hours later than a sunrise would have necessitated. The views up there rocked like granite. Get it? Rock? Granite? Oh forget it. From there, we made our way down the Loop Road to Sand Beach and did a portion of the Ocean Path hike making it down to Thunder Hole - a hole in the rocky shoreline eroded by the waves that sounds like thunder as the water crashes in. It's quite awesome. It drizzled a bit on us on the way back, but that was it until we had another downpour as we got into the car. Gotta give a shout out to the man upstairs for keeping us dry.

Our off-itinerary stop of the day was:

Yep. Since Pat got us those passports lickety-split, we were putting them to good use. Why just cross the border once, when you can go twice? You can never have enough maple leaves, curling and "aboots" in your life. We read that St. Stephen is the eighth busiest border crossing along the entire US/Canada border. Okay, there's Vancouver, Detroit/Windsor and Niagara Falls? What other five rank above St. Stephen? And how busy can they be? Because we were the only ones in line going in and out when we were there. Poor #9. But good for us.

We stopped at the Welcome Center on the way in to inquire about local eateries. Julia was told by the original flavor Listerine swiller that he was not allowed to answer that. Very informative about your town, sir. Thanks, jackweed. She asked him why he couldn't have an opinion (being that Canadians are so free and all) and he stumbled over his words as she walked away. He chased her down and started listing places, that rule breaker! So we went to Carman's Diner where Julia dined on a lobster roll (lobster meat on a hot dog bun with mayo). I chose the oddly named chicken burger, which I thought was just the Canadian way of saying grilled chicken sandwich. Not so. It was one those crappy chicken patties served in a grade school cafeteria near you made of processed chicken parts, discarded cardboard boxes and landfill material.

WARNING: DO NOT EAT. Thank the Lord for mayo and bacon to kill the taste. Bad choice on my part...kinda like forgetting the tollbooth Ziplock and passports.

After...quote..."dinner"...end quote, we found the Loyalist Burial Ground on King Street and stopped to check it out. Basically, all of the English jerkfaces who fled the Isles yet, for some reason, remained loyal to Fat George during the American War of Independence, fled like school girls after the ragtag group of 'Merican soldiers opened a 55-gallon drum of whoop ass on their red coat wearing buddies. Like those draft dodgers of the Vietnam era, they high-tailed it to Canada. Since George still owned that property after losing Boardwalk and Park Place and these peeps still had his back, he threw them a bone of some New Brunswick, Baltic Avenue-type land and they built a city on rock 'n roll, blah, blah, blah. Long story short, as they bit the dust, they were buried here.

After thoroughly tagging and otherwise desecrating the graves of the traitors/yella bellies, we toddled down to the riverfront and hung out for about 17 seconds before jumping back into the Avenger for the 2-hour drive back to Bangor. We made it home in a flash and here I sit. And here's the rest of the story...

Departure time: 9:30 a.m. EST (from Bangor to Acadia)
Arrival time: 9 p.m. EST (back to Bangor from NB). Yep. Door to door from Bangor to Acadia (including two hikes, short ones, but hikes nonetheless) to St. Stephen, NB in under 12 hours. TAKE THAT PAPA THOMAS. I assume your doubting days are behind you?
Today's mileage: approximately 357 miles
Total mileage: 2,952 miles (and with Mapquest telling me that we have 1,430 separating Bangor and the homestead, I think it's absolutely clear that 4,000 miles will, indeed, be eclipsed in a 10-day period. I win. Game over. Nothing but love for Papa T!
Tolls paid: $0! (still a total of $63.70). God bless the state of Maine and the province of New Brunswick for your non-tolling ways!
iPod Playlist: Songs That Make Dave Happy (525 down, 39 to go and then what?)
Playlist highlights: (yet again, there are more than just a few)

• Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
• Wishing Well - Terrance Trent D'Arby
• Dance With Me - Prince
• Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
• Moondance - Van Morrison
• Baba O'Reilly - The Who
• Cowboy - Kid Rock
• Close to Me - The Cure
• Little Bit More - Jamie Lidell
• The Promise - When in Rome (click to watch)
• Afterglow - INXS
• Life in a Northern Town - The Dream Academy (click to watch)
• Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
• Breathe Me - Sia

Number of Times Bono has mocked us with a U2 song on the playlist: 27 - He might be just about finished with his mockery of Dave. I still truly hate that man.

Fun Photo of the Day:

The crowd sadly disperses after hearing that

Dave is not signing autographs today.

To see the rest of the photos from Day 8, click HERE.

Next Stop: Day 9 takes us 539 miles and 9 hours away to Binghamton, New York - home of the Chicken Spiedie sandwich. I will eat no less than 17 of them.