Having finally arrived in Maine the previous day, we arrived now at one of its northernmost points. Calais (pronounced like callous on your foot) lies right on the Canadian border and Michael was constantly fearful of accidentally making a wrong turn toward the border checkpoint. On our first full day there, our hosts the Morris family took us out to West Quoddy Head, the easternmost point of land in all the United States, to see its lighthouse and catch a glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean as we walked along its shoreline cliffs. Finding a path down to one of its rocky beaches, the girls dipped their feet in water that made Monterey Bay feel positively boiling.

On our way back for the day to Calais, we stopped in at Eastport. Once a bustling fishing port, the village is very sleepy now, though it has a quaint area at the seaside reminiscent of Mendocino. The kids all enjoy ed getting some treats at a sweet shop, and then we all tried a local delicacy at one of the pierside eateries - the whoopie pie. All across Maine as we drove in we saw roadside stands and convenience stores extolling the virtues of this confection, so we knew we had to try one. To a Californian, the closest description would be two large cakey chocolate cookies, slightly stale in taste, surrounding a filling consisting of room temperature buttercream frosting. Between the six of us, we managed to eat half of one. It must be an acquired taste.