We were having an adventure!

 Even though DH and I both had bursts of wanderlust and cabin fever, we didn't get away from home until after Labor.  Let's go to Nova Scotia!  New Bruswick! Cape Breton!  Downeast Maine!

So we booked passages on the Nova Star, a ferry that sails from Portland, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

This wolf was one of the first amazing sites we saw.  We were taken by surprise; made curious, and encouraged to look for other surprises -- which was an attitude we kept for the entire trip.
























The night before we left, there was a television show about the best bakeries in New England.  One of them was in Portland:  The Standard Baking Company.  
We went in and sniffed. There isn't much that smells better than hot bread or rising yeast dough. 

I had done a little searching about yarn shops (D'oh!) and so we also found Tess' Designer Yarns nearby. Her building was undergoing rennovation which camouflaged the door to the shop, but Tess herself was taking a break on the front stoop.  When I told her I was looking for Tess' yarns she invited me into see the shop.  What an amazing supply of hand-dyed-by-HER yarns.  At that stage I didn't want to lug around additional yarn, but I did buy a kit (to be revealed later) within hours of returning home. If you want amazing fiber blends (from around the world) dyed in amazing colors, check out her store.  They are not your grandmother's yarns!  Nor your local craft suppliers' either.

Even after the bakery and yarn stops we had considerable time before we could join the queue to get on the Ferry.  There was a large free parking area to the North of the dock, so we parked there.... and were startled by the life-like wolves about 10 feet from the hood of our car.

Andy Rosen, the artist, is an adjunct professor at the University of New England in Biddeford, Me. His current work illuminates the tensions and relationships between the nature and the humanly developed environment.










At the same time there was a variety of boating activity.  Some folks were preparing an enormous, sleek Schooner -- either for a sail or for a party.  Others were on harbor tours, small ferries, fishing boats.

There was also a swarm of beginner sailors in small craft.  They bobbed about in the wakes of the ferries and fishing boats and tried to follow the orders of the instructor who was in his own boat.  Apparently Sail Maine has classes for people from 8 to 80 and teaches navigation, pleasure sailing and racing. The dinghies in the photo are "Collegiate 420's," a 14 foot boat sailed (usually) by two people.

We thought we'd see if the Ferry Company was letting cars into the queue.  They were!  So we got out our passports and parked between the lines behind a windscreen.  It wasn't too long before we realized the ferry was coming in.  Some of the other co-passengers leaped out of their cars and peeked at the ferry between the barrier and the screen.

 Is was almost alarmingly large.

 I don't know how many cars took the same passage as we did.  There were also about 30 Harley Davidson riders (who, it turned out, were heading for the Wharf Rat event in Digby, Nova Scotia) and at least five eighteen-wheel tractor-trailor trucks.

 Once we were parked, we took our overnight bags and headed for our cabin where an elephant and a lobster (?) made us feel welcome.
Anchors away!