-- I freely admit that what first drew me out onto the protruding tattered thumb of the Maine mitten was its cartographical extremity, i.e., its undisputed status as the easternmost point of land in the United States -- regardless of whether you are talking contiguous 48 or complete 50.  But by the time Mount Desert Island had dissolved into the ocean mist, the unexpected benefit of my quest had become quite apparent.  Up here in Washington County is the real Down East Maine: a sparsely populated, predominantly working class area of small farms and craftsmen – just the way the tourist-heavy Mid-Coast used to be 30 or 40 years ago.  And just how retro is it?  Well, the website for Lubec, America’s easternmost town, actually boasts of having no movie theatres, shopping malls, theme parks, stoplights or fast food restaurants. 
        For outdoor enthusiasts, Maine’s “Bold Coast” offers ample adventuresome opportunities -- everything from headland hikes that make you puff to onboard puffin-watching.  Most of those, however, are still beyond the capabilities of our six-year-old daughters, whose tastes turn more to lighthouses and who cultivated a passion for sea glass during our first trip two years ago.  As such, we headed straight into Lubec, home to three lighthouses, and some of the happiest sea-glass hunting grounds in the country, thanks to its nearly 16-foot average tides. 
        Named after the German port, Lubec had been America’s sardine capital through the 1950s.  The last of the canneries closed in 2001, taking with it much of the waterfront’s commercial vitality.  But the stately mansions of those once-prosperous fishing captains on the hill have been converted to B&Bs, and Lubec now maintains a regular -- though low-key -- summer tourist trade, one loosely tethered to the SummerKeys adult music camp.  This year we have timed our trip to coincide with the free Wednesday evening concert in Lubec’s Congregational church, only to emerge afterwards into a driving rain.  Realizing that I wasn’t going to be able to repeat my feat of two years ago when I had roused myself at 4:30 am to watch the sun rise over Quoddy Head, America’s easternmost point, I settle into a comfortable bed to enjoy the pyrotechnics.

        Come morning, the storm has abated enough to take the girls combing for sea-glass, the water and rock-worn shards of bottles, plates, and other such items tossed overboard who knows where and when.  Greens, browns, and whites naturally predominate, but there are enough blues and reds to keep the girls scrambling over the slippery, rounded rocks – no sand can stand its ground here – for the hour before breakfast is served at our B&B.    

        Afterwards, it’s off to the confusingly-named West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, a squat, horizontal red-and-white striped beacon of man’s humanity to his fellow man perched atop America’s easternmost point.  And just how far east is it?  Well, at precisely 66.57 degrees west longitude, Quoddy Head is 3 degrees farther east than Cape Cod, which at this latitude (44.49 degrees north) means over 130 miles.  If you were to head due south, you’d eventually hit Puerto Rico. 

        The swirling mist prevents us from even seeing across the Lubec Channel to Campobello Island, ever-so slightly farther east, but in the Canadian province of New Brunswick.  But it proves ideally evocative for an easy, hour-long hike through adjacent Quoddy Head State Park, first along the edges of dramatic, 90-foot sea cliffs – with multi-colored lobster buoys riding the swells below -- then through an eerie forest of stunted pines and across an Artic bog so nutrient-poor that two of its plants (sundrops and pitcher plants) have turned carnivorous.

        Back in town, we drive across the humpbacked FDR Memorial Bridge to Campobello Island where the Roosevelt Cottage – in realty, a three-story, 34-room gambrel mansion – overlooks expansive Passamaquoddy Bay.  As explained in the introductory film in the visitor’s center, this is not the cottage where the young FDR spent his summers (that was torn down), but the one that his mother, Sara, bought for him, Eleanor, and their two children in 1909.  But it was here that the 39-year-old failed vice-presidential candidate succumbed to the ravages of poliomyelitis in August of 1921, which for years was believed to have been caused by an invigorating swim in the exceedingly brisk (51- degree) waters.   

        By now, the tide has surged back in, preventing us from making our way out again – via a series of steep metal ladders and some very slippery rocky beaches – to the quintessentially photogenic East Quoddy Head Lighthouse, Campobello’s other marquis attraction, which was originally constructed in 1829 and sports a giant red cross.    

        As the sardine swims, Eastport is only three miles north (and ever-so slightly west) of Lubec, but for us to get there requires a 43-mile drive around multi-armed Cobscook Bay.  Located on Moose Island (a causeway yields access from the Maine-land), Eastport bills itself as America’s easternmost city, a somewhat curious claim in that it actually has 50 fewer year-round residents than the town of Lubec.  But it’s definitely the livelier of the two, thanks to its deepwater port and its successful transition from sardines to aquaculture, particularly Atlantic salmon and sea urchins, the latter primarily for export to Japan.  Compared to Lubec’s, Eastport’s waterfront is positively bustling, with several art galleries, three tourist shops, and S. L. Wadsworth & Son, the nation’s oldest ship chandlery.

        Eastport’s most compelling attractions lie offshore, and to see them, we board the Sylvina W. Beal, a 1911 knockabout (no bowsprit) schooner for the afternoon wildlife-watching cruise.  Thanks to those nutrient-churning tides, Passamaquoddy Bay is an all-you-can-eat buffet for a number of marine mammals, and we eventually spot a pair of Minke whales to complement the more standard fare of seals and porpoises.  Back on terra firma, we search out the most compelling marine wildlife of all – a downright menacing whirlpool known as the Old Sow, the result of the incoming tide’s collision with a steep underwater slope.   

        Now just how neat is that?    

IF YOU GO...

GETTING THERE:  Lubec and Eastport are located roughly 240 miles northeast of Portland (115 miles beyond Bar Harbor), via U.S. 1.

TOURS: Three-hour whale-watching and two-hour sunset cruises aboard the Sylvina W. Beal depart from the Eastport harbor www.eastportwindjammers.com. The “cottage” at Roosevelt Campobello International Park (www.fdr.net) is free of charge, but you will need proper identification (preferably a passport) to cross the international bridge.  Private, guided tours of the area can be arranged from Tours of Lubeck and Cobscook, 888-347-9302, www.ToursofLubeckandCobscook.com.)

ACCOMODATIONS: Accommodations in both locations come in two basic varieties: historic home B&Bs and motels. 

INFORMATION: For detailed information about Eastport, visit www.eastportme.info, and for Lubec visit www.visitlubecmaine.com.