NE States Road Trip Part 3.....Day 3...Maine and New Hampshire

I know the writing is hard to see but I love when places post history. This was pretty cool. 

It's the morning of Day three, October 10th, our 30th wedding anniversary, the whole reason for this trip! We woke up, packed up, headed to the breakfast room and enjoyed a simple breakfast before heading out. 

On this day we were heading up to spend most of the day in Bar Harbor and Acadia National park areas before heading before heading across to New Hampshire. One thing we discovered, and it could be because of the area we live in, but we found that while yes, the foliage was the real show stopper, the rest of it was very similar to where we live. Bar Harbor reminded us of our own beach towns of Seaside and Cannon Beach. We didn't spend much time in shops (except I bought one shirt) because 1) they were similar to shops we could go to anywhere, 2) We didn't have a lot of time to dawdle, and 3) we didn't have room to bring much back with us. With that being said. It's worth the trip there. 

We left Searsport and I opted to wait to find coffee til we got to Bar Harbor. It was a bit of a foggy morning and we were a little bummed because we knew we were probably missing some great scenery, especially as we crossed over one particular bridge that seemed like perhaps it was over a gorge or over some water. Okay, I looked it up. It is called the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and it is over the Penobscot River. It is located near Fort Knox but unfortunately that was closed so we couldn't go. It would be on my list of places to visit though. We typically left our hotels around 8 or 9 and the downside with that is a lot of shops or other tourist sites aren't open that early.  

Penobscot bridge, which sadly was fogged in. 

We arrived in Bar Harbor and headed out to find the coffee shop I chose, Coffee Hound, located in The Stadium. I'm not the best at following a walking map and we ended walking the opposite direction, so we just walked around the area by the water, before heading back the way we came. I found the coffee shop and we purchased a popover, a cinnamon roll and I got their Sandy Beach Latte, which was a double espresso with oat milk and maple brown sugar. Yum. Popovers are popular in that area. It was really good. After walking around the town a bit, taking some photos, buying a shirt and a postcard, we headed back to the car to head out towards Acadia National Park. We discovered while driving, that one of the most popular areas to drive, Cadillac Summit Road required a permit, which of course we didn't have and they were sold out for the day. Well, we figured we'd just see what happened. Along the way we stopped to take a picture of a stand of trees, there was a gentleman there taking photos and we struck up a conversation. If someone has a camera and seems willing to talk, I'll talk and ask questions. He was from Florida but travels to the area every fall...these are the people you want to talk to...he said "skip going into the park, it's way too crowded, just drive the loop around it and it's just as pretty". He was right. Even though the loop was busy, you could pull off the road at any point and get out to take photos. 

Here's where we really did realize that the coastal areas of the NE States is very similar to our beautiful coastline. The fall colors made it stunning, but it wasn't much different from home. 

We loved the exterior of this Inn. Called the Ivy Manor Inn, it was originally built in 1939 as a residence and converted into an inn in 1996. It had awesome front lawn gathering areas. 

My regular coffee photo I sent to my girls. 

One thing that is always beneficial is to take time to talk to the locals or those who have traveled the areas often. They usually have the best advice to give and some pretty great stories. We discovered this at many of the places we visited and most people are more than willing to talk to you, give you tips and advice.

The Maine coastline is different in many ways than the Washington and Oregon coastline, but also somewhat similar. I loved the unique rock formations. 

I loved this little shanty on the water. I was curious about it...does someone live there? What is it used for? 

You find many artists along the routes, painting the coastline to the fall foliage and everything in between.

The sunny days were the days that the colors really were vibrant and stunning! 

I caught this bald eagle through the front windshield. I did a lot of quick shooting through the windshield, with many failures and a few successes. 

After driving around for awhile, and satisfied we had seen what we wanted to see, we headed out of town. We have friends who just moved to Hampden, Maine and we wanted to stop in real quick to say hi to them. On the way, we stopped at a little off the road hole in the wall restaurant called Smokey's for some Lobster Rolls. It was really good. I had a lobster roll and coleslaw and my hubby had some brisket, baked beans, and clam chowder. From there we made little pit stops along the way to take pictures of the scenery. We stopped briefly in Bangor, Maine just to get a few photos, before continuing on to our friends. We stayed for about an hour to see their home and they took us for a little drive before we headed out on an almost 3 hour drive to our next destination, which we would arrive at after dark. 

I came to the realization as we drove around, that many of the photos you see online are taken from drones because there just are not "high" places to get certain shots here. I'll admit I was a bit sad. I'd say I want to get a drone, but I don't trust myself with one. I'd probably crash it. As I edit photos, I also try to keep things as true to the way my eye saw it. Sometimes it can be easy to go overboard and in doing so, give an unrealistic idea of what it truly looked like. This is fine (taking creative liberty) as long as you disclose that fact. 

The history is so evident in these states. So many old farm buildings, churches and homes. Absolutely amazing. 

Apparently Bangor, Maine is the birthplace of the lumber industry and Paul Bunyan. This 31' statue is reputed to be the tallest statue of Paul

I'm drawing a blank now on what this building it used for. I failed to capture a picture or write it down. That was one lesson I learned from this trip. DOCUMENT. EVERYTHING!!!

My hubby captured me doing what I love. Taking photos. 

I believe this is the Hammond Street Congregational church, in Bangor. Built in 1833 and restyled in 1853. 

We arrived in Gorham, NH shortly after 6pm, checked in to the Mount Madison Inn and Suites, (we were staying here 2 nights) got settled and decided to take a walk to find some food. When you spend the majority of your time in a vehicle, it's nice to get out and move the legs. We found a great pub, about a mile and a half walk from the hotel, simply called the Public House Eatery. We shared their five minute fries...twice fried french fries tossed with truffle oil, topped with mornay, chicken, bacon, parmesan, and scallions...oh my goodness!!!! It's a good thing we walked. These were amazing. We also shared a Blueberry Gorgonzola salad which had candied walnuts, gorgonzola crumble, fresh blueberries, red onion vinaigrette. That was so light and fresh. We shared a blueberry lemonade which was blueberry vodka, lemonade, and  crushed blueberries. Very good. We headed back to the hotel where I did my "search for a coffee shop" before heading to bed. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin