Last Night in the U.S. (For a while)

Last night as I was writing the blog post, Curt wandered out of the room and was gone a while. There was a pretty tough looking group of motorcyclists staying at the Inn, having quite a loud party out on the deck. Turns out Curt waded right into the whole group and ended up having long philosophical conversations with several of them...about life, about motorcycles, and whatever else they all found to talk about. This morning on our way to breakfast, several,of them greeted Curt like they were lifetime friends! Here's the group shot he took this morning out on the dock:

After I wrote last night's blog post, Curt and I were talking, and suddenly we both felt the axis of our world tilt a couple of degrees. We had just realized that for the first time in years (actually since before we were in elementary school), we have absolutely no obligations. That was a very weird realization for us, and I think it will take a bit of getting used to. This goes beyond work commitments and house/mortgage commitments,  Even the little things are different, like music. I don't have to practice music for an upcoming lesson...I can either play an instrument or not, just depending on what I want to do. This is a VERY strange feeling!

Since this our last day in Lubec for a while, we decided to "do the town", which doesn't take very long in a town this size. First stop was the town center to listen to some friends who invited us to come to their jam. Turns out it wasn't really a jam...it was an open mike, and as soon as we got there one of the guys put his guitar in my hand and said ,"We've been playing for 2 hours. You play something." So I ended up playing and singing 4 numbers, and it was really fun! I've been so focused on classical guitar, and then more recently on mandolin, that I almost forgot how much fun it is to play and sing. 

They want Curt and me to come back next week (with Curt on washtub bass). I'm really looking forward to it. So I spent a couple hours this afternoon working up a repertoire, trying to remember all the chords and words to some of the songs I've performed in the past.

As we wandered around Lubec, we realized that there are only a few little shops in town. Everyone is so friendly here! In one shop called Northern Tides, where we found a pretty pair of earrings made of sea glass, we spent a lot of time laughing and talking with the owners, Jerry and Debbie, and their friends. So of course we had to take pictures all around!

In another little gallery we listened to the shopkeeper's fascinating stories of his time in the military as a morning disc jockey in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The pace is slow and easy here, and people like to take the time to visit and share stories. We love it!

Then we took a leisurely stroll through the last working herring smokehouse and packaging plant in Lubec, which has been turned into a very interesting and informative museum. I won't try to recreate the process for you, because it took us about an hour and a half to grasp the magnitude of it, but I'll offer a few interesting photos of the smokehouse:

Pickling Shed in the distance, smokehouse on the right, skinning and packing shed on the left.

These are the sticks that they used to hang hundreds of herring on, and then stack them up several stories high in the smokehouse. 

And here's Curt playing with the "stuffed herring" at the children's exhibit, showing you how the herring were hung on those thousands of sticks. 

This was used to stamp the wooden boxes of herring with the labels and packaging information.

There's been a great deal of care taken to preserve the history of the industry which kept little coastal towns like Lubec alive through the 1930's and early 40's. It's a fascinating look into the past!

We've been hearing about Becky's Seafood Restaurant for days, and how good it is. So today we decided to try it. Well, it's not exactly a restaurant, we discovered.

But the food was indeed delicious, and the view from the picnic tablr out back couldn't be beat!

I've been telling you how nice everyone is here in Lubec. Here's a sign that demonstrates a bit of the Lubec attitude:

Tonight we've been packing up our things in our room at the Inn, preparing to leave for the campground on Campobello Island tomorrow. But first we'll attend church, and in the afternoon we'll catch a jazz concert at an art gallery here in Lubec. Then off to Canada for a week or so. 

Oh, by the way...we haven't had cell phone service the whole time we've been in Lubec. I don't know what it will be like over the bridge, but I'm guessing that since Campobello Island is even more remote, it will be the same story. So if you need to contact us, email will be the best bet, at least for the next week. There are two places on the island where we can go to check our email daily. If any of you have left phone messages, I don't know when I'll be able to access them. So please try again via email. Thanks!!