Day 52 Wednesday June 27

Raining again but got in a walk along the river before it started. I love this St John as much as the St John's in Fl. Then we headed out continuing along the river northwest through New Brunswick on this great highway - almost an interstate. I was so excited and great views of the river which runs along the Maine/New Brunswick border without the bumpy, rough scenic road routes.

Some weirdo things along the way. The largest axe in the world at Nackawic - go figure but it is the heart of lumbering/paper mills country. Many trucks on the road - hence its high quality I expect - carrying loads of finished lumber. Then to Florenceville. We got a little lost looking for Potato World - don't laugh and came across the covered bridge that is connected to a regular bridge - odd and no mention of it anywhere. We did get to Potato World which was a little disappointing although Florenceville is the French fry capital of the world. Potatoes are just not that exciting but learned a lot.

Of course, poor Jack who was again looking forward to their cafe and its unique potato dishes. He is expecting viccychoise (spell?), potato pancakes, and potato doughnuts. What they had was 6 toppings on French fries, a nicoise salad which does have cold potatoes but I think of as a tuna salad not a potato dish, and some kind of fried dumplings with caramel sauce. Jack did have the potato soup which was good but not the best and I had French fries with bacon and cheese which didn't compare to the fries with blue cheese I had at Hops in Tampa. Canada is #4 in potato production although they sure make a big deal out of it. Know who is first? No, China, then Russia, Poland, and USA.

Oh well. We continued on to Edmundston which is at the border with Quebec and of course raining again. Small town that calls itself the capitol of the Madawaska Nation which is like Key West being the capitol of the Conch Republic - never existed. Madawaska is a result of people really unhappy with division of the area when Maine and New Brunswick border was set so they created an imaginary country. So onward to Quebec City tomorrow. We will be back in Eastern time zone when we cross the Quebec border instead of current Atlantic time so good bye maritime provinces. Looks pretty empty between here and the St. Lawrence and then hang a left and shouldn't be too far to Quebec City. Planning to stay on this side of the St. Lawrence until we get there. Have to get out my French for Dummies although they say everyone speaks English.