When we last spoke, I was lamenting over the fact that I had accidentally deleted all of the pictures on my camera from the beginning of our Maine vacation. Well after a lot of teeth gnashing, googling, and a late night trip to a Walmart in the next town, most of them were recovered. Yea! So I can now tell you about our trip to Maine with some pictures.
Wednesday morning we headed north with the destination of Bar Harbor about three hours away. We had no time table, so we stopped wherever and whenever we wanted. We stopped to watch a flock of wild turkeys. We stopped to buy snacks. We stopped to admire leaves. And we stopped at a "must see" tourist trap, I mean attraction, Perry's Nut House.
Perry's Nut House has been around forever (1927) and is one of those places that people stop by mostly for nostalgic reasons. That and the homemade fudge. One of my friends remembers stopping here every year as a kid on the way to visit her grandmother and said we had to stop. The store was full of candy and trinkets. Every interesting bumper sticker you've ever seen could be found here. Every toy that your kid just had to have, but fell apart as soon as you got out the door could be found here. However, it was definitely worth the stop for the chocolate covered peanuts we got.
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| It was hard, but we made it out of here with only a small bag of chocolate covered peanuts. |
After our fun browsing at Perry's nut house, we continued north to the Penobscot Bridge and Observatory. This bridge spans the Penobscot River and has a 420' observatory in one of the bridge pylons. It has an amazing view of the area, that is, if you are not afraid of heights, which I am. And Ward isn't. So we both went to the top of the tower and I clung to the inner wall waiting for the next elevator down while Ward was enjoying the 360 degree view of the area. When I got to the bottom, I walked around examining rocks and plants while bracing myself against the wind from a front that was moving in. Ward came down later all excited about the views and engineering of the bridge. I guess you might say, a good time was had by all. Sort of.
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| The bridge is a cable suspension bridge and the elevator for the observatory is located in the base of the near pylon. |
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| This is one of the pictures Ward took from the tower. He is looking straight down on the bridge. To help you gain perspective, the white dots at the end of the bridge are cars. |
Next to the bridge is Fort Knox historic site. The fort was named was named after Major General Henry Knox the same general that Fort Knox, of gold fame in Kentucky, was named after. The fort was built in the mid 1800's was made mostly from granite. Granite does not easily break down and this is the most intact fort I have visited.
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| They were getting ready for a fright night at the fort and were decorating for it. These pumpkins were not frightening, but some of the other things we saw were. |
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| The walls were in as good of shape as they were when the fort was built. The granite was cut from a nearby area and was transported down the river to the fort. |
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| Across the river from the fort was the picturesque town of Bucksport. The town of Bucksport was burned down at one point by the British when they had control of the river during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Because of this, a fort was planned for the area in 1825 but it was 1853 before it was totally completed. While there were troops stationed there during the Civil War and Spanish-American War, the area has not been threatened again since the fort was built. |
Note:
We got home yesterday from the trip. It was a great trip and we had a good time. I hope to continue posting about our trip as we took it.
However, reentry home has been hard. One of my cats is sick, but recovering, Another one is looking bad. I hope that we can turn him around. I have a funeral to attend for my cousin in another state and both Ward and I have to work this weekend. Other than that, there's the normal stuff of paying bills and laundry. But such is life.
In the meantime, I have been trying to catch up on your blogs. I am reading, but not commenting much yet. But I will. Soon. Until then you probably know me well enough that you can imagine what I would say.
