When we got to Maine we couldn’t wait to get some lobster, so we found this place in Bass Harbor. We enjoyed some very delicious Lobster Rolls. We loved all the multi-colored Lobster trap buoys.A quaint typical harbor view.There were some very cool boats at this harbor too.
acadia national park
One of the Maine (get it?)things we wanted to see was Acadia National Park and it did not disappoint! Although it’s relatively small compared to some other National Parks, it is a beauty all it’s own! Here’s a view looking out over the many islands in the Maine harbor.The massive granite rocky coastline here is awesome! The typical Maine rocky shoreline.This woman sitting gives you some concept of how massive these rocks are.Even the steps they provide in some places are made of the same pinkish granite.Even though this area is mostly solid granite, the vegetation survives and even thrives!It seemed a bit strange to me to see pines and ferns growing together; a very diverse eco-structure I guess.A shot of the iconic Maine coastline!These plants and flowers are somehow growing out of solid granite! They find any little gap or crack to get a foothold.This was kind of cool; one strip of black granite in all this pink granite!Just offshore, this lobster fisherman setting his traps. Do you see all the trap buoys? We read that there are about 3000 lobster boats here that are allowed up to 800 traps each. That’s a LOT of lobsters!More of this beautiful area.Further along in our tour of the park we saw Thunder Hole. The first time Jan and I saw this; not very thunderous!However, on another visit a few days later with our friends Claude and Hope, it was much more active. Watch out people, don’t get swept out to sea!This is the sign at the entrance showing just how thunderous it can be. They close it for obvious reasons when it gets like this, although I would imagine some adventurous (aka stupid) people jump the barriers at times!Here’s an artist capturing the beauty of the Maine coastline!No caption required; beautiful!Here’s Claude taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. Notice the warm clothes? Very chilly winds that day.And here we were a couple of days later at the same area and it was beautiful weather!Jan, Hope and Claude enjoying the views despite the chilly winds!This was a beautiful part of the park that is apparently not visited as much for some reason. We loved it. Remote and quiet except for the sounds of the ocean.After a long day exploring the park it was time to eat! We went to Union Lobster Pound for dinner. Here we are waiting for them to open, enjoying their river front views behind the restaurant.The view was very tranquil.They had quite a selection of lobsters from 1 1/4 lbs. to this monster 3 lb. one!Claude enjoying his feast!I opted for the wood planked Halibut; it was delicious!Jan opted for the seared sea scallops; also delicious!We usually don’t order desert but I couldn’t resist this Maine Blueberry pie with cheesecake whipped cream topping! So decadent!After dinner at the same place the next night, we had the waitress snap this picture of the four of us. It was great to see Claude and Hope up in Maine for a few days!
While in Vermont we stayed at Moose Creek Campground. It was a beautiful site right on the creek!Our view for the week!And we had these daily visitors. Two or three groups would float by every day! Pretty awesome!On a suggestion of the camp owners, we visited “The Bird Man”. He was fascinating! He lives alone and he loves making these small birds that he carves from a single piece of wood!Here are just a few of his beautiful creations, they’re amazing! He sells them too, and for way too little money: $11-$13 depending on size.His living room is his workshop. It looks a jumbled mess but he knows right where everything is (pretty much!)His kitchen had this great wood burning stove next to a stone chimney he did by hand.His yard was also beautiful! A very interesting man but if you do go visit him don’t expect to get in and out in a hurry, he loves to talk!Also near by our campground was the Dog Chapel. The man who built it did so as a place for people who love dogs to visit, bring their dogs to the dog park and leave notes and/or pictures of the dogs they’ve lost. The front of the chapel; no those are not real dogs they’re carved wood!The inside of the chapel is covered everywhere with sticky notes and photos of peoples beloved pets.Notice the angel dog in the stained glass?Even the church pews have carved dogs on each end!A view looking out from the front of the chapel.Even the weather vane was a depiction of a dog!There’s even a guard dog on each lamp post base at the base of the driveway! A very cool tribute to man’s best friend!
rock of ages granite quarry
I remember visiting this place with my dad when I was very young. I’m sure it wasn’t the huge operation it is now!The quarry itself doesn’t look much different. A bit deeper I’m sure though. They’ve been mining granite here for over 100 years and their geologists tell them there’s enough granite to mine for at least another 4200 years! That’s a LOT of granite! This is the largest deep hole granite quarry in the world! At present it’s about 600 feet deep.They cut the granite using water cooled cable saws. It takes about 5 weeks to separate just one of these huge cubes of granite weighing thousands of tons.Here you can see the cable saw at work (see the wet area and the stream of water coming out from the saw cut?)On the road up to the top of the quarry we could see some of the giant blocks along the way.There’s a great view from up on top. That’s a debris pile you see in the distance.Back at the plant they’re busily cutting, carving and polishing the stone into beautiful headstones, memorials and statues. Outside they even have a granite bowling alley! Back in the 1950’s they experimented with this idea to replace wooden alleys. Unfortunately it was too hard and the bowling balls would sometimes shatter when they hit it!I had to try it! They use plastic pins and a foam rubber bowling ball for this demonstration alley!If you must know, I threw two gutter balls! It’s hard to use a foam rubber bowling ball accurately!
covered bridges
We couldn’t leave Vermont without visiting at least one covered bridge!Obviously not used in quite awhile but still pretty cool!
on to new hampshire!
In New Hampshire, our campground we were planning to stay at was, let’s just say, not as advertised! Jan was able to get a refund and get us this great spot in another place instead. It turned out to be a better location for day trips.
castle in the sky
We visited this fascinating house after learning about it from brochures we found. It was built in the early 1900’s but had many very modern amenities I didn’t know even existed back then!This gorgeous view is probably why it’s called Castle in the Sky!These stone planters everywhere follow the “castle” theme in their appearance.The grounds were beautifully maintained as well.One of the modern conveniences; an intercom system throughout the house!The range was coal burning.Much of the upstairs had these skylights in the ceiling!The secondary sink in the kitchen was pretty cool too!There was this pipe organ built into the house. The music was piped throughout the house. Some interesting decor!They were in the process of renovating some of the rooms. This was the owner’s “get away” room under the main stairs. He could go in there and no one would know he was there!These “Needle” showers were pretty interesting!A beautiful granite fireplace front!
winnipesaukee rail and boat tour
They even have this party caboose you can rent out.Getting ready to board.After a tour on the train we stopped at this pier to get the boat part of the tour. After that tour ended back here we would take the original train back to the station.Our tour boat, the Mount Washington.On our way out of the harbor we could see the train we would be taking back later in the day.The views along the banks of the river were not unlike the views we saw on our Thousand Islands tour in New York; lots of expensive homes!And back to port where we once again rode the train back to our original station. Fun day!
and last but not least… more covered bridges!
This is a newer one but still cool!Notice this one has steel I beams underneath.As we went out onto it, this cool Chris Craft boat went under it. Very “On Golden Pond”! It belongs to the Inn where the movie was filmed. This was a really long one, one of the longest we’ve seen.Can you read the sign? There’s a $5 fine for driving faster than a walk across this bridge!This last one is really cool! Notice the structure, very interesting I think!
