An observatory, a botanical garden, and a maritime museum

After three days at Bar Harbor, it was time to get back on the road.  We’re going home!  Or at least beginning to head south.  But don’t worry, there’s still plenty more that we found to do.

We did a total reset while at Bar Harbor, meaning we adjusted some of our packing and how we wanted things situated in the car for the next phase of travel.  We also needed to restock on a few things such as Diet Coke and salty snacks.  We had passed a Walmart in Ellsworth, Maine, on our way into Bar Harbor, so we stopped there on the morning we left.  We only bought a few things because I didn’t want to pay the deposit for drink bottles that I wouldn’t be able to recoup.  We did find a brand of potato chips (A Taste of Maine) that were really good.

Remember a few days ago when I told you that the front desk clerk at the Eastland Motel had made a recommendation of something to do?  Well this was the day we were going to see to it.  There is a fort in coastal Maine that is called Fort Knox.  It was the original fort, while the one in Kentucky is the second Fort Knox.  This fort held a lot of artillery for the Continental armies during the American Revolutionary war.

But also at the fort sight is access to the Penobscot Narrows Observatory.  This is an observatory in the top of a tower on the bridge that crosses the water right by Fort Knox.  You go up over 400 feet in the elevator and the views are pretty cool.  The story is that when the bridge was being replaced, the wife of the head of the Maine Department of Transportation told her husband that it seemed to her that there was room in the towers to add an observation area, so they did!  The observatory and the fort are run by the state.  There’s a nominal admission fee for both.

I thought the fort was pretty cool.  There were several areas where the walls were lined with red brick that I thought would make a great loft space.  And it was bigger than my parents’ apartment in their assisted living community!

Here are a few pictures from the observatory and of the fort.

We left from the fort headed to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.  This garden is part of the American Horticulture Society’s reciprocal gardens program, so it wasn’t going to cost us anything for entry, so it didn’t matter to me if we spent 10 minutes or 100.  We were watching our time because we had one more stop to make and the weather was beginning to turn drizzly, so we knew we might have to go pretty quickly.  We ended up spending about an hour there and definitely made up the cost of our AHS membership with this visit.

The best part was the dahlia garden was in full bloom, and boy, was she showing off!  The flowers were spectacular!  I think I found another happy spot – definitely another #flowersmakemehappy place!   I think I told every single bloom in the dahlia garden how beautiful she was.  I know I took a lot of photos and even made a video.

Another cool thing that the gardens has are the trolls!  There were two that were easily visited from the gardens while the others were out on the walking trails that we didn’t have time to visit.  They made me laugh and were so sweet… for trolls.

Next we headed to the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine.  We had been told this was a “must do” while in this area of Maine, so we made our way from Boothbay to Bath.  This is a site where many ships have been built over the years and they have a lot of history and several exhibits about the ship building process.  The site has several original buildings from when it was an active shipyard.

One fun exhibit at the museum was based on the works of Maine author Chris Van Dusen who has written and illustrated several children's books.  I've place a hold on the ones that are available at our public library so when we get home, I can take a better look.

We had planned to walk to dinner just a few blocks from the hotel where we were staying in Brunswick, Maine, but it was pretty drizzly, so we asked the ladies at the information counter at the Maritime Museum for recommendations for dinner.  They gave us the printed list but then mentioned a favorite of theirs that wasn’t on the paper.  It was called Margaritas which is a chain in the northeast of Mexican food.  That made it an easy choice for us, so we went there after the museum and before checking into the Brunswick Hotel.  The food was good and so plentiful, we probably should have just shared!  I got the loaded nachos as they were able to make it with gluten-free chips. Oh my!

The hotel was nice and it was located in downtown Brunswick where it looked like there would have been things to walk around and see but the weather wasn’t conducive, so we pretty much just got things into the hotel and hung out for the night.  The next morning, we were headed to Portland, Maine, but before leaving Brunswick, I wanted to check out Wildflours Gluten-Free Bakery, a gluten-free bakery which we just don’t have in our area.  I picked up three different muffin flavors and a maple glazed donut.  So good!  It’s nearly a week later as I’m writing this and I just finished the last muffin.  They were so big that I had to cut them in half!

Next up: another day, another lighthouse, and ice cream for lunch.

~ Cindy D.

Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park

When people would ask us where we were headed on vacation this year, more often than not we would tell them Acadia National Park.  And we were finally there – three nights spent in Bar Harbor along with two days in Acadia.

We stayed at the Bar Harbor Motel after it was recommended to us by friends who had been just recently before we began planning our trip.  This was one of the first lodgings that I reserved and then built the rest of the trip around it.  It’s a good thing we reserved early because many of the hotels and other accommodations in Bar Harbor had been fully booked for months before we were there.

The hotel is cute, very retro-themed.  The property has multiple bungalows, each with four rooms.  Ours was located towards the back of the property, not too far from the laundry room and ice machine.  It was a couple of minutes walk to the front of the property for breakfast or to catch the Island Explorer shuttle.  The room had a couple of chairs and small table on the porch, so we enjoyed sitting out in front of our room each afternoon.

The Island Explorer is a free shuttle bus service that has several routes that take you into Bar Harbor’s downtown, or around to multiple points of interest throughout Acadia National Park.  There was a stop directly in front of our motel, and there was one across the street.  We used the shuttle the first afternoon to figure it out as we had a schedule to keep the next morning and wanted to be sure we knew where to be and when to be there.  From the time we got to the motel until we left three days later, we did not move the car once!

During our time in Bar Harbor, we ate at two restaurants that I had identified as good gluten-free options:  Side Street Café and Geddys.  I was able to have fried fish at Geddys – it was so good!  We also got an ice cream one afternoon; I couldn’t decide on what flavor to get, so I had a scoop of maple walnut and a scoop of blueberry.

On the day we arrived in the area, we stopped at the Acadia Gateway Center which serves as a visitor center and a parking lot where you can catch the Island Explorer so you don't have to drive into Bar Harbor or find parking in the area.  This is where we got a tutorial on how the Island Explorer worked and were able to work out the timing for the places we wanted to go over the next two days.  I was also able to get my passport book stamped and pick up the souvenirs we wanted.

For our first full day at Acadia, I had booked a Carriage Ride for 11 AM.  The weather that morning was perfect.  We got the Island Explorer down to Village Green in downtown Bar Harbor where we then got on the shuttle that took us to Sand Beach which was on the way to the Wildwood Stables where we were to meet the carriage ride tour.  Because we were using the shuttle, we had to pay attention to the time, but we also wanted to make good use of our time.  That’s why we went to Sand Beach before heading to the stables.

Sand Beach is named that because it’s the largest place in Acadia where there is actually sand on the beach.  Although there are also a lot of rocks.  This isn’t really a place you’d go to the beach for a beach day (if you're from Florida), although I guess if you didn’t have any preconceived ideas about what a beach day might look like, you could probably make a nice day of it here.  It was pretty to look at.  Nearby is Beehive Mountain where a lot of people were hiking.

We got to the stables about an hour earlier than we needed to, but it worked out great because we just really enjoyed hanging out in the quiet and the fresh air.  We met several people who came and went while we were there, so that was fun to talk with them.  It kinda reminded us of being on a cruise ship in the way people were easily engaging in conversation.

Our carriage ride was an hour-long trek on one of the Rockefeller Carriage Roads of Acadia.  There were about a dozen of us in the back of the wagon that was pulled by Max and Little Bill.  Although at first I thought our carriage driver said the horse’s name was Moon Blll… which I like better!  They were beautiful gray draft horses, and they were so strong.  During the ride, the guide gave us a lot of information along with some tall tales about the area; he really made it interesting and fun for the kids who were on the tour, too.

The next place we stopped at was Jordan Pond.  This place was so crowded, but to be fair, we were there around 12:30 and it is the only place along the Loop Road that you can get food.  There were a lot of people trying to park so we were glad we were on the shuttle.  But it was worth weaving through the crowd to get to the lawn to look at the pond and its nearby mountains known as the Bubbles.

We got the shuttle from Jordan Pond up to the Hulls Cove Visitor Center.  In hindsight, this was a waste of time because they didn’t have anything different there than they did at the Gateway Center (except the NPS stamp for Hulls Cove was there).

We went back to the Village Green to get the shuttle back to the motel.  While downtown, we got a late lunch and then wandered around the town a bit before heading back to the motel for the rest of the day.

The following morning we had an early start, too, as we were taking the ferry to Winter Harbor so we could get a look at Schoodic Point.  The Schoodic Peninsula is the only part of Acadia National Park that is on the mainland of the U.S.; the rest is over on Mount Desert Island and surrounding area.  The ferry left from near the Bar Harbor Inn on the waterfront.  There were two cruise ships coming in, so we knew town would be busy, so we were happy to be going over to Schoodic for the morning.

The ferry ride was on a smaller boat.  It was windy and cold, so we sat inside on the way over with the idea that we could sit outside when it was a little warmer on the return trip.  It took about 50 minutes to cross; driving over would have been well over an hour.  The Island Explorer runs a shuttle around Schoodic Peninsula that makes a loop six times during the day, so we had to figure out what we wanted to do so we wouldn’t miss the shuttle back to the ferry.  They work in conjunction with the ferry service so the arrival times at the ferry dock coincide with the ferry arrival and departure times.

We got off the shuttle at Schoodic Point which is the main attraction in this part of Acadia.  It’s right at the end of the peninsula and really shows off the ruggedness of Maine’s coastline.  There were large rocks that you could climb out on, and because they were dry, we went out a ways on them.  I wouldn’t have attempted it if they were wet or if there was ocean spray because they could easily be precarious.  We spent about 45 minutes there and then the shuttle came back.  We were supposed to take the 2:30 shuttle back to Bar Harbor, but we really didn’t want to see any of the rest of the area (as a stop, we enjoyed seeing it from the shuttle), so we called and rescheduled to the noon return.

The ferry ride back was, as predicted, better from a wind and temperature perspective, and the sun was pretty cooperative for some pictures.  I sat out back but had to keep my hood on over my head to stay warm.  DH stayed inside for most of the return trip.  It felt so refreshing with the sea air.

When we got back, we got some ice cream and went back to the motel where we did some laundry.  Later we made dinner in the room (microwaved mashed potatoes, turkey, tomatoes) and just enjoyed the cool weather and hanging out on the front porch.  There may have also been a nap or two involved!

Our observations about Acadia National Park:  it was too busy!  They were talking about how busy it has been all year, and they are considering what to implement to help with crowd control.  We wouldn’t be surprised to see timed-entry like they do at other national parks.  We also didn’t get any “money shots” with our photos, most likely because we didn’t ascend to any mountain tops.  This is definitely a hiker and climber national park.  If we were to ever come back, I would book a tour that takes me up to the top of Cadillac Mountain (rather than trying to drive or hike ourselves) so I could see it, but honestly, I’m just as content to look at other people’s pictures who have put the work into reaching the top themselves.  The shuttle service was dependable and we would recommend using it if what you want to do will work with their schedule.  We saw full parking lots and cars parked on the side of the roads around the whole Loop road.  Maybe it’s because of the time of year or because it had been rainy the day before we got there, but you certainly can’t look around if you’re driving.

We left Bar Harbor on Thursday morning, headed towards Portland with an overnight in Brunswick.  But that’s for another blog entry.

~ Cindy D.

Lighthouses and Roosevelts' Campobello Island International Park

After a rainy start to our time in Maine, we woke up to a beautiful, but cool and windy day in Lubec.  I was glad to have a jacket and a hair tie.  Our goal for the day was to get to Bar Harbor where we’d spend the next three nights.  But before that, we had a few things to see and do along the way.

Our first stop was the Quoddy Head State Park in Lubec.  This is where you can see the West QuoddyHead Lighthouse, one of the most iconic lighthouses in the northeast.  It was foggy as we arrived, but we thought that enhanced how beautiful she was while also emphasizing her important historical role in helping seafarers find safe passage.

This is also the site where you’ll find another important geographical marker indicating the Easternmost point of the United States.  We had been to the Southernmost point in Key West, Florida, last year on our road trip, so we thought it only fitting that we made it to the Easternmost point, too.  I actually didn’t know that about this place until we saw the marker.

Our next item on the day’s itinerary was to cross the border into Canada so we could go to Roosevelt’s Campobello International Park.  The crossing and return were both easy and didn’t take much time.

FDR first went to Campobello Island when he was about 18 months old.  His parents loved the island and had a summer home there.  Later on, his mother was able to buy the house next door to their place when the owner passed (and left instructions to give her first option) and his mother gave it to him.  He and Eleanor and their children spent many summer days over the years at the house on what they called “the beloved island.”

It was at this house that one of their sons was born, and it was at this house where FDR was stricken with polio (although they are quick to say he didn’t catch polio on the island, just that his symptoms started there.  After five weeks of being bedridden, he was finally stable enough to be moved to the mainland.  He only returned to Campobello a couple of times after that.

After watching an orientation film, we took a guided tour through the house that was very interesting.  We’ve seen several homes during this trip; this one had the most scenic view – which didn’t surprise me after seeing the view that the Roosevelts protected at their home in Hyde Park, NY.  One of the pieces of furniture had an interesting return story.  It was Eleanor’s desk that she gave to someone in her will.  The woman kept the desk all these years and when she passed away, her will stipulated that the desk be given to the Roosevelt Campobello site.  The docent said a big box just showed up one day that had Eleanor’s original desk in it!  Here are some pictures from inside the house, including Eleanor's desk and FDR's potty chair from when he was a very young boy.

Eleanor's desk

FDR's hat that he left on his last visit.

There are two Roosevelt grandchildren who serve on the board for the site, and sometimes there are Roosevelt reunions held on the property.  That must feel like a wonderful connection to their grandparents.

While we were on Campobello Island, we also went to see the Mulholland Lighthouse that sits just across the water from the fishing town of Lubec, Maine.

When we got back to the U.S., we stopped at the post office so I could mail our son his birthday card.  Then we headed toward Bar Harbor.  We got gas at a place called Archibalds One Stop.  It’s the kind of place where you actually pump your gas and then go inside to pay cash or credit (same price).  It was $4.29/gallon.

From there we headed to Bar Harbor.  I’ll make a new blog post that will combine our days at Acadia National Park instead of doing one for each day.

~ Cindy D.

A rainy day in Maine

Our first full day in Maine started as a rainy Sunday morning.  We attended church services in Bangor and then gassed up the car ($4.15/gal) and headed out to see some more of the state.  At one point in our planning, I had considered driving up to the top of the state where US 1’snorthern terminus is as we had been to the end of the road in Key West last year.  But it would have added at least one extra day for us, so we decided to be practical and just go slightly out of the way.

We headed east to Calais, Maine, where we planned to get lunch from a food truck called Grill on the Corner.  They have baked potatoes (loaded with pulled pork and other goodness) as well as other items.  We often get potatoes like these on Sundays from Hamaknockers, so it seemed like a great idea.  The night before, I double checked the times and location for the truck only to find they had moved from their usual spot as the place had new owners so the truck had to go somewhere else.  I had a phone number, so I reached out and they told me where they would be and that they would be sure to hold two potatoes for us!

While driving over to Calais in the rain, we noticed one of our wiper blades wasn’t working quite right, so when we got to Calais, we stopped at the Maine Visitor Information Center (to use the restroom, too) and DH was able to fix the blade.  Whew!  At least there was a NAPA Auto Parts store in Calais that was open on a Sunday afternoon if we’d needed them.  Also this was the second of four Maine Visitor Information Centers we would visit on our trip (they only have seven).

We found the food truck and got our lunch, but it was still raining and we didn’t really want to eat it in the car, so we decided to drive down to our next point which was the Saint Croix Island International Historic Site, about 15 minutes away.  This is a National Park Service site, the only international one run by the NPS.  It’s where the French landed in what would become the United States.  They have a small visitor center in the ranger station, and they had picnic tables on their covered front porch, so that made a nice place to have our lunch even in the rain.  After we ate, we watched the 3-minute film about the area, and then we walked through the interpretive trail as it was only drizzling by then.  They have bronze sculptures set up to tell the story of the French at St. Croix Island.

From there, we headed to another Atlas Obscura find – and this one was one DH thought was much better than the filing cabinet in Burlington.  There’s a roadside marker at the 45^th parallel – which means it marks the place that is halfway between the equator and the North Pole.  It reminded me of when we stopped to take a quick picture at the Continental Divide when we were out west several years ago.  I like taking notice of things that are geographically significant.  And this wouldn’t be our only geographically significant point of our time in Maine.  It also reminded me that one thing I’d like to do (I don’t like calling it a bucket list) is go south of the Equator.  DH has been as he’s been to Australia, but I’ve not made it – yet!

The rain continued through the afternoon but we finally made it to the motel for the night.  We stayed at the Eastland Motel just outside of Lubec, Maine.  The current owners have had the place for 16 years and it’s obvious that they have put a lot of care and work into modernization as well as upkeep.  The beds were the most comfortable we’ve had on the whole trip up to this point.  And the water pressure in the shower was amazing, unlike some of the hotel chains that modulate the water pressure so you can barely get rinsed off.

My favorite part (besides the great night’s sleep) of staying at the Eastland Motel was chatting with the desk clerk (who also bakes the muffins in the morning and does the laundry).  She moved from Connecticut with her family because they just fell in love with the quieter life of the fishing village of 2,000 people (in summer – they drop to 500 in the winter when everyone else goes to Florida).  I asked her if there was anything we ought to see on the way from Lubec to Portland, and she gave me a great recommendation – something that hadn’t even come up in my research – but you’ll have to wait a few days to find out what it is!

Up next:  Canada!

~ Cindy D.

Welcome to New Hampshire and Maine!

Welcome to New Hampshire!  We spent a night in Lincoln, New Hampshire, preparing to go across the Kancamagus Highway over to Maine.  We chose this route because it’s one of the most scenic drives through the White Mountains of the state.

We had dinner at The Common Man restaurant.  They serve a variety of meals and are well-known among the gluten-free New Hampshire community.  It was another good suggestion from the people of the internet who helped us plan our trip.  I couldn’t decide what to order at first until I thought about it – we’re in New England, so it’s obvious that I should have the New England pot roast.  It was so delicious!

We got gas in Lincoln before heading out for the day as we were going as far as Bangor, Maine, so it would be a long driving day.  It was $4.29/gallon.

The Kancamagus Highway is named for its proximity to Mount Kancamagus.  It goes through the White Mountain National Forest.  The road is windy but is well maintained, unlike some of the other roads we’ve found ourselves on this trip.

There are several waypoints and trailheads along the highway.  Before we left home, I had picked out one that I wanted to stop and see.  It’s the Sabbaday Falls trail – a short walk (0.7 round trip) with slight elevation to a little waterfall.  It was a cooler morning, so as we went into the forest, it got even cooler, so I was glad to have a light jacket.  It was the first morning we felt like we needed them.  The walk to the falls was pretty easy and it was worth the time to go see it.

       

Shortly after completing the Kancamagus Highway, we were in the state of Maine.  This is significant because this is when DH achieved visiting his 50th state!  There was a Maine Tourist Information center just after we entered the state, so we stopped there.  The lady at the desk asked if she could help us with anything, so I told her she could officially welcome him to his 50th state.  She smiled, said congratulations, and then pulled out a certificate for him commemorating his arrival into his 50th state.  She said they get quite a few people coming through that finish their 50 states in Maine.  It was so sweet!  And he was so happy.

When we stopped in Augusta, Maine, later at a Shaw’s Pharmacy and grocery store, we learned that in the state of Maine, they charge you a nickel for every bag you get from a store.  And they also charge a bottle fee for plastic bottles.  We had this happen with cans in Michigan.  I haven’t figured out where we could return our empty bottles to get our nickel back.  I’ve started asking each time I make a purchase if they are going to charge me for something extra!

We eventually made it to our hotel in Bangor, Maine.  We stayed at the Comfort Inn, and it was pretty comfortable.  We also liked that there was a Mexican restaurant, Las Palapas, in the parking lot that offered 10% off to hotel guests!  It made it nice to not have to figure out what to have for dinner after a long driving day.

The next morning was a wonderful surprise for me at breakfast.  Not only did they offer gluten free bread pre-wrapped, they made a gluten-free toaster available for use.  It wasn’t one they just keep out – it has its own shelf in the staff area and is clearly labeled gluten-free.  They use clean gloves when bringing it out for guests, and as soon as you’re done with it, they get another pair of clean gloves to take it and put it away again.  I’ve never seen a designated gluten-free toaster at a hotel breakfast bar before.  It was a lovely beginning to the week we were spending in Maine.

Up next: headed to geographically significant points.

~ Cindy D.

So long, Vermont (and cheese and syrup and a tour of the State House)

Well, dear readers, I know you’ve been waiting to find out whether we made it to see the World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet in Burlington, Vermont.  We had some debate about whether we would attempt to see it the next morning because we had several other things on our agenda for the day, and it was located beyond where we needed to get on the highway.

We drive a Subaru Outback which we love.  In the early 2000’s, I had a conference in Oregon, and DH and our sons went with us.  While there, our rental car was a Subaru Outback.  DH had so much fun driving it and declared then that that would be the type of vehicle he wanted for our retirement years.  We’ve been driving Subarus since 2016 when we started with a Forrester but graduated to Outbacks by 2018 and 2019.  I’m telling you all this because whenever we travel, we always look for Subaru dealerships and let our cars say hello to their cousins.  I know, it’s silly – but on this trip, it seems like there have been Subaru dealerships in most of the cities and towns we’ve been in, and it seems that we always go by them.

Well, in Burlington, we had driven by several car dealerships but had not seen a Subaru one.  We thought there surely should be one in Burlington, especially after how many Subarus we saw driving around the city.  When I was getting our directions for the day, I happened to notice the Subaru dealership pop up on my Google Maps – and it was just two blocks from the World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet – and just five blocks past where we needed to be.  DH wasn’t crazy about it, but I told him we needed to drive by the Subaru dealership so Maisey (our car, she’s Amazing!) could say hi to her Vermont cousins.  And since we’d already be there, we should just go see the filing cabinet.

Y’all, this man loves me so much!  We drove by Subaru, beep-beeped, and then went to see the filing cabinet.  Obscure roadside attraction, check!

There aren’t many ways to go across the state of Vermont that don’t involve an interstate highway or an extra several hours.  So for this day, we started out taking the interstate over towards Montpelier in the middle of the state.  But before we could get to Montpelier, we had a very important stop- the Cabot Creamery store!  It didn’t open until 10:30 AM (thus creating time for us to go see the filing cabinet), so we were there right when it opened.  They had several cheeses set out for sampling along with some jam pairings.  We bought a couple of cheddars including one that is “private label” that has been aged for 16 years.

Next we drove into Montpelier, taking the state highway into town which led us right to State Street where the Vermont State Capitol building is.  It was so crazy that you could just pull up on the street in front of the Capitol, put a few quarters into the meter, and head on up the steps to go inside.  It was such a beautiful day and really gave the Capitol a chance to shine.  And the trees in the yard were beginning to change colors, too.

It’s important to note that our visit was on September 11^th.  When we got to the Capitol, a naturalization ceremony was happening, and there were several people who became U.S. Citizens while we were at the building.  That was very inspiring to see how excited these new citizens were!

The Vermont State House offers free guided tours on the hour, so we were there in time for the noon tour.  The guide talked with us about the history of the building and some of the more notable people who had passed through its doors.  She told us how there was a fire that was caused by the custodian not knowing how to vent and operate some of the heating components.  She showed us the picture of George Washington that was rescued from the fire.  We saw the statue of Ethan Allen.

After the tour, we drove a few miles out of town to visit Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks, a family owned and operated establishment that taps their trees and makes syrup.  They have a place where you can watch a video about the process and, if it’s during sugar season, you can watch an actual syrup-making demonstration.  You can also walk up into the woods where there are some trees that are tapped and see the rigging for getting the sap out pretty efficiently.

Morse Farm also has a store where they offer tastings of the syrup from the very light colored early sugar to the darker, richer flavored end of season syrup.  My favorite was an in-between flavor.  We bought some syrup from there even though we had gotten some at Shelburne Farms.

The best part of the store, though, was they serve maple creemees (and a few other flavors).  We each got one and then sat out on a swinging bench in the yard to enjoy the cooler air and sunshine along with this tasty treat!

By then it was getting near 3 PM and we still had a two hour drive to Lincoln, New Hampshire for the night.  We thought it was a nice way to say “so long” to Vermont.  While we weren't crazy about Burlington, we really did like the rest of the state that we saw.

Up next: Crossing New Hampshire, and DH gets his 50^th state.

~ Cindy D.