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Page 3 of 4
A small bakery and a restaurant was our stop for dinner, and we tucked into some of the best fish cakes ever. The eight or 10 tables and booths were filled with islanders enjoying their meals and (perhaps more importantly) catching up on the local news. Since those present obviously knew each other, communication table-to-table was active—much kibitzing and much serious connection.
Initially, Penny and I felt like outsiders, but when we questioned our server about a place we had passed called Family Fisheries, many of the patrons joined in to tell us about it. We were told that it is a restaurant, that the seafood is the best in the country—and that it was closed that day to host a baby shower. Then they went back to talking among themselves about the baby shower and the expected new island resident.
What is particularly poignant here, in these small communities of totally laid-back people and lifestyles, is that Campobello, NB, and Lubec, Maine, seem to have created their own happy world. They appear neither American nor Canadian, but combine the best of the two countries. There were no thoughts of Homeland Security issues here, or terrorists or drugs or smugglers….
Penny and I travelled back and forth across the Franklin D. Roosevelt International Memorial Bridge, each time going through a border check. Nothing was easier or more pleasant. It made perfect sense to us that if any group of people was going to be sensible about this whole border patrol thing, it would be here, among Mainers and New Brunswickers.
Totally relaxed and feeling spontaneous, we were drawn to Monica’s Chocolates on the Lubec side, walking and wearing off the chocolates on the Campobello side.
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