On Route 1

July 11 – I’m not sure I can remember now what all we did today!  We started by loading all of our belongings in the car except for Molly.  Then we headed to the office for another pretty good breakfast.  Bill had another waffle and I went with an egg, sausage sandwich and an orange.  We went back for Molly and then headed off the island to Route 1 south to see how far down the coast of Maine we could make it today.

Bridge over Penobscot River

We didn’t know where we would end up for the night since we had no idea how long we’d stop at places along the way.  I had marked all the lighthouse locations on my map so we’d have an idea of where we were headed.  To our surprise one the first things we came to was this huge magnificent bridge over the Penobscot River.  We saw one of the towers had

Ft. Knox

windows at the top and thought that was unusual.  Once we crossed we pulled over to take photos and learned that you could go up in the tower.  The entry was at Fort Knox State Historic Park, so we back tracked a bit and paid my admission in.  Bill does not care for heights and graciously

Other tower

offered to stay in the car with Molly while I went up.  Awesome!  It’s 50 seconds to the top of the 420 foot tower.  Then you walk up 2 flights of stairs as the oblique tower narrows.  The view is spectacular in all directions.  I could see our tiny little blue car down in the parking lot.  If Bill had gotten out I could have zoomed in on him!

First lighthouse stop was Stockton Springs and the Fort Point

Ft Point Lighthouse

Lighthouse.  I called the number I had to make sure we could see it before heading off the main road.  The man who lives at the lighthouse answered but said it was only sporadically open due to lack of help.  He said we were welcome to visit and take photos and if I sent him a self-stamped envelope he would send me back the stamp for my book.  The lighthouse is on the property of the Fort Point State Park and was easy to find from the signs along the road.  I got my photos and Bill checked out the placards about the 2 forts that had been at that location.

The perfect cow

When we bought our first postcards for Maine there were some with Belted Galloway cows on them.  As Bill was reading the card he noticed they were on a farm in Rockport, which was pretty much right on our way.  I Googled the name of the farm and got the address and as we drove along the narrow road and some fields came into view, boom, there were my favorite cows right along the road.  When I was in Colorado they were off in a field and I never got a really close up photo but today I did.  There was a guy on a bicycle there taking pictures as we pulled up.  Some were along the fence so Bill took my picture with “my” cows.  They are just so unique and relatively few in the US.  They are very expensive to get from Scotland if you can find a farm willing to sell them.  This lady started with a few and now keeps a herd of about 50 and sells their meat, (so sad) and some of the cattle to others who want to raise them.

After Bill finally got me back in the car and on the road we headed south to Rockland where we were thought we would see the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse.  Well as we got closer there were tons of cars lining both sides of the narrow road and wondered if there was a park or something and found that the lighthouse is 7/8 of a mile out at the end of a breakwater and the reason for all the cars is that between 2 – 4 there were Tall Ships passing through.  I did manage to zoom in and get a not great photo of the lighthouse and some of the tall ships as they approached.  It was nearly 2 but no where to park so Bill stayed in the car ready to move if he needed to.

We were pretty hungry since it was way past noon and stopped at a lobster/seafood stand along the road.  The food was good but such slow service.  Thought they were out catching our lunch.  I had steamed mussels again and more cole slaw while Bill had a handmade burger.  Molly sat in the car in the shade while we waited and ate outside under the umbrellas.

Next on my list was Owl’s Head Lighthouse in Penobscot Bay.  We managed to find where we thought it was and Bill stayed in the car with Molly and I walked about ¼ mile to the lighthouse.  It’s very short but on a high cliff.  The keeper’s house is now a little museum and gift shop that according to the notice posted was to be open but was not.  Luckily we stopped at the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland and I was able to get the lighthouse stamp, the museum stamp and the Rockland Breakwater stamp.

Lighthouse at Marshall Point

There were 5 stamps supposed to be available at Port Clyde at the end of a peninsula off Route 1.  Before making the trek I called (trying to use our time wisely) and the person I spoke to said she knew they had a stamp for Marshall Point Lighthouse and they must have the others too.  So we first drove out to the lighthouse where they have a nice museum in the lower level of the keeper’s house.  The light house is at the end of a short pier from the house.  The upstairs of the house is home to someone.  We enjoyed talking with the volunteers there who gave us directions to the tiny town of Port Clyde.  We found the town and the marina where the stamps were.  Well, they only had the one stamp as the rest were on a boat out giving a tour of the other lighthouses.  I picked up a brochure thinking maybe we could get back.  Will see.  I was a bit disappointed.

We sure were not making any fast time on the road.  I knew we would get no where near where we hoped by night fall.  When you get lost on poorly marked roads and signs it takes a lot more time.  Then there is no phone signal to use Google Maps.  I am so spoiled by that feature!  We decided we would try to stay in Bath where the Maine Maritime Museum is and 8 stamps.  I started checking for pet friendly motels and there were 3 in Bath, 2 only took dogs and the other didn’t have any pet rooms left for the night.  I started checking further out and found a place in Yarmouth, about 30 minutes away.  Crap!  Oh well, we knew in these smaller towns it might be a challenge.  We located the museum so we’d know where we were headed in the morning.  Found the motel in Yarmouth, unloaded our things and Molly and went to dinner at the Muddy Rudder.  The location was nice, the place was very attractive, the service was good, the prices were high and the food not compensatory to the price.  Instead of honey butter for the rolls they made sugar butter.  It was sweet but grainy, like they ran out of honey and made do with sugar.  My seafood casserole was 2 huge sea scallops, fish, 2 shrimp and 1 skimpy piece of lobster.  The sauce was tasty but watery.  My sides were fresh asparagus and wild rice.  They had NO seasoning at all, not lemon, butter, salt, nothing!  The wild rice was brown and wild rice.  Bill’s mashed potatoes and asparagus were the same.  They didn’t bring any butter or ask if he needed any.  It was a lot of money for the piano player and nice surroundings!

At least the wifi at the motel was good!  I did some posting but didn’t journal like I should have.  Well, tomorrow is another day!