Day 6 Down East in Maine

Since I already whined about our breakfast deal yesterday, I’ll save you the pain of hearing it again.

I wish the TSA agents at the airport could be trained by the Border agent we had this morning. He quizzed us thoroughly, looked at everyone and then let us through. TSA would do well to profile for bad guys rather than assuming all fliers are bad… but no politics today.

Bob’s Father’s Day present was a very nice policeman not giving him a ticket. Ha. Talk about raising your blood pressure. We were driving along a lovely stretch of countryside, just minding our own business when an unmarked police car pulled us over. Apparently, Bob might have been going a little fast. But the officer said it was possible that his radar gun was off and that Bob really wasn’t driving as fast as it said…and since it was Father’s Day he just wished us safe travels. Whew.

The shore of coastal Maine is just as pretty as you imagine. Of course, it helped that it was a picture book day. Just a bit of fog firs thing and then beautiful blue sky. We realized as we’re snapping tons of pictures that we focus on limited things: water-ocean, lakes, rivers, rain; flowers-all those wild roses and lupine and then close ups of all the same flowers; and each other-how lame we are taking pictures of each other taking pictures… But, back to the countryside. Lots and lots of two or three story homes many built in the late 1800’s (some earlier, but not like VT where we found many built in the late 1700’s), generally with well-manicured yards. I think a Sears-siding salesman could keep very busy up here. Much as Rebecca wanted, we were not able to drive the coast road the entire way. It would be a fun vacation, just by itself. 

There is an elevator that goes all the way to to the top of this tower in less than 50 seconds.

We did find a giant fort to explore at Bucksport by the Penobscot River. We have seen many forts across the country but this one is in amazing shape and absolutely huge. (As I write this they are arguing when it was built… I’ll check for you.) It was fun to walk through. Next to the fort were two giant bridges over the river, an old rusty one, no longer in use and a fancy brand new one with an observation deck in one of the towers. As we discussed visiting the observation deck Matthew and I heard that it was 400 feet. He and I decided it would be much more pleasant if we waited down near the wild roses while Bob and Rebecca rode the supersonic elevator to the top. They told me they took pictures… I’ll see if I can find one.

Ready for a quick shopping spree!

Of course, no trip to Maine would be complete without a trip to LL Bean. We found their store…or should I say giant complex in Freeport and took a quick run through. Much as I’d like to, we didn’t spend the rest of the day shopping there. I love that store! 

Okay, here’s your tip for today. Maine became a state in 1820. So it is not one of the 13 colonies. But you knew that. Oh, and everywhere we went there were 'Don't Tread on Me' flags and posters. Definitely leaning towards Libertarian.

That’s about it for the day. Tomorrow we will be back in Boston and going on the Freedom Trail. No rain in the forecast.