The Honeymooners Part III

Welcome to Part 3 of our Honeymoon Adventure!

Once again we arose early in the morning, early enough to watch the sun rise over the bay.  We made a breakfast of eggs and sausage to go with our morning fire.  We determined that Kate is a far superior fire starter than I, but I’m stronger. 

We were both in need of showers and we discovered that it was 25 cents for 3 minutes; we only had 5 quarters so we decided the best bet would be to use the handicapped bathroom and share the shower to make sure we both got adequately cleaned. 

Once in the room and in the standard showering wardrobe we took our places.  On one wall was the quarter depository and on the other a dial you cranked to turn on the shower.  I dropped the quarter into the slot and then it hit me.  As an avid pinball playing, vending machine using, Laundromat clothes washing guy, I’m more than accustomed to the sound coin makes when you drop it into a slot where a coin is need to active a device.  This sound was not that sound, this was a loud clank of a coin striking the bottom of a metal cup, or in this case a green impenetrable cylindrical wall mounted storage unit.   That’s right ladies and gentleman, this shower was run on the honor system!  It was too late to turn back now, so I dropped in the 5 quarters and we commenced to showering!

We hit the road smelling fresh hoping to find a Laundromat in Machias, which we eventually did.  It was very nice and clean too!  Once I loaded the washer, we had 23 minutes to kill so we strolled over to Bad Little Falls Park.  It’s a beautiful waterfall right in the heart of the city that is completely obscured by the bridge you travel on going over it. You really need to pull over and walk down to the viewing platform to see it. 

Putting the clothes in the dryers we were able to use the wifi there on the laptop and Kate found us a nice cottage to stay at in Bar Harbor that even had a kitchenette in it.  The rate was so good we decided to book our last two nights there instead of just one and camping the last. 

After folding we popped over the Helen’s for a piece of pie, so what if it was 930 in the morning, it was delicious!  Then we got back on the road. 

Our drive was broken up with stops at Prospect Harbor Lighthouse and the Sullivan Reversing Falls.  Just like in Pembroke we hit the tide wrong at this reversing falls.  It was still quite lovely but not very rapid or reversing.

As we told Sylvia we would, see The Honeymooners part 1, we stopped for lunch in Ellsworth at Sylvia’s Café.  We found Pat and told her that Sylvia sent us and had a good laugh.  Lunch was very good and you could see them fresh breading our chicken, haddock, and onion rings.  Definitely a great place to check out and one I would go back to.  It’s located in a strip mall on State Street and if Sylvia hadn’t told us about it we never would have taken the time to find it and try it out, glad we did!

We checked into Barton’s Motel and Cottages at Cottage number 4.  It was very cute and the perfect place to stay our last two nights.  After unpacking and lounging a bit it was time to hit the road for some exploring! 

First stop was the Atlantic Brewing company for a factory tour and tasting of their fine brew.  What they produce in 1 year, the Budweiser plant in New Hampshire brews in 7 minutes!  But Budweiser tastes like crap and except for the IPA, Atlantic Brewing has some nice, solid brews the Porter and Seasonal Leaf Peeper being my favorites!  After the tour we sampled 6 beers and their root beer and blueberry soda, the sodas were excellent!  The tour and sampling is absolutely free, making it that much better!

Next we drove down to Bass Harbor Head Light.  The light and grounds are maintained by the Coast Guard and while some parts or the property are off limits, they allow you to go right down to the light. 

We drove around the island and into the Bar Harbor so Kate could look at the shops.  This was not mindless browsing though, not at all.  You see while Kate was on her bachelorette overnight excursion in Boothbay Harbor (after she was already Mrs. Labbe) she came across a Sea Bag.  A shoulder bag made from recycled sailboat sails that are pretty neat and come with a hefty price tag too! 

We eventually found the bags, the prices were even higher here, however, she couldn’t fine the one she was looking for.  A wrong turn took us down a lane that brought us to SALT, a gift shop where the owner custom made Sea Bags for about $50 less.  She didn’t have a star pattern, yet, but a quick search of the internet later and the perfect one was found.  We would have to come back the next day to pick it up. 

We strolled down to the Bar Harbor Brewing Company store and I had a tasting of their brews.  Apparently Atlantic Brewing bought Bar Harbor Brewing a few years back.  They both brew their own beers still at their own locations.  The sampling was $3 for 4 brews and that got you a $3 coupon to use in the store.  Again the beers were excellent and after expressing my love for Porters I was offered a fifth sample, this of the limited edition Ellen’s Coffee Stout.  It was excellent.  We bought a 22oz bottle of the Stout and each got a glass as well. 

Earlier in the day we had decided to get pizza for dinner and take it back to the room, the clerk at Bar Harbor brewing recommended Rosalie’s Pizza quite passionately!  We grabbed and xtra large pie, some garlic cheese bread and headed back to the room for dinner and some Little House on the Prairie. 

The pizza was good, I wasn’t blown away by it, but it was very good. 

It was a great end to a full day!

Later Readers!

The Honeymooners Part II

             

             Day 3 was bright and sunny so we started the morning with a walk across the World’s Longest Covered Bridge because why not!  There is a covered walking path along the side and it was begging to be walked on.  One Grocery store we went into had a line of products that were called No Name and in fact had plan labels with No Name written on them! 

                We crossed back into Maine via Houlton and went to Littleton to the Covered Bridge, which means I have now see all the covered bridges in Maine.  Of course now I need to take Kate to see the others, which I will enjoy doing.   We grabbed a 50 pound bag of potatoes in Houlton for only $10!!

                We stopped in Linneus at Grammy’s Country Inn for lunch, as suggested by a co-worker.  She was right the food was great, but the portions were excessive!  By happenstance we ran in my Uncle Dee who is doing work in the area.  It was nice to see him and quite the surprise.

               

              The drive the Calais was the lengthy but broken up by a stop at the Million Dollar View between Danforth and Orient.   

              The village of Danforth also had this wicked nice building that I just had to snag a photo of.  It looked completely out of place with the surrounding buildings.

                Our next stop was to view Whitlock Mill Lighthouse in Calais, the northern most lighthouse in Maine.  The keepers house is privately owned so now the only way to see it is from a turnout and at a distance.

                Perry, Maine has the distinction of being located on the 45^th Parallel that is marked by a stone marker and down the road a bit a funky gift shop that has a stuffed lion!

               

               Rolling into Cobscook Bay State Park right at 5pm we barely were able to get firewood from the Park Rangers as they were just locking up the fire box.  We decided to stay two nights and as it’s off season it was only $10 a night to camp.  We settled on site 49 and commenced to setting up the tent and starting a fire.  Our site was right on the bay and was just stunning!  We cooked up hotdogs over the open fire, it was awesome!

               
            We arose early and made a breakfast of bacon and eggs on the coleman stove.  Today’s adventure started in Eastport at Raye’s Mustard mill.  The only stone ground mustard mill in operation and we were lucky enough to get there while they were making mustard!  There are no photo’s allowed to be taken but it was very fascinating to check out.  We ended up buying two of their mustards that we can’t get locally and tasted great!  Winter Garden and Moose-a-maquoddy Molasses. 

                We explored downtown Eastport finding a fantastic bakery, Moose Island Bakery, reminded us of the old MacDonald’s Bakery.  The chocolate eclairs were huge and only $2!  Our next stop was in Pembroke at the Reversing Falls.  We got there when the tide was too high so we didn’t get to experience it to its fullest.  However we enjoyed watching the harbor seals and eagles.  The tide did go out while we were there and the water went from calm and silent to very loud and rapid. 

                Next we drove to Lubec and West Quoddy Lighthouse which is also the Eastern Most Point in the United States.  The weather was just perfect.  As a matter of fact the was weather has been perfect since we woke up Tuesday morning. Along the way to West Quoddy and back of course we passed Lubec Channel Light, a spark plug style lighthouse.

                Last minute we decided to go to Campobello Island, however we were concerned about going into Canada with the firewood in the van, we had picked it up at the Ranger Station in case they were closed when we returned, and the bag of potatoes.   I went into the customs office and asked about them, they said the we would definitely loose the firewood going into Canada and they were unsure about the potatoes, so they offered for us to leave them on the lawn on the side of the building until we came back!  One of the guys even came out to give us a hand moving them.  Even more hilarious, I told him the potatoes were in a bag marked Long Island, NY but we bought them in Houlton.  He knew exactly where we got them as he used to work there.  He even said they always buy the cheapest bags they could get! 

                Campobello Island is beautiful! As you drive over the Roosevelt Bridge you can see Mulholland Light off the to the left Lubec Channel Light off to the right.  The Roosevelt International Park was stunning!  They do such a wonderful job maintaining the grounds and the buildings.  When touring the Roosevelt Cottage the staff are very well informed with the history of the place and can answer any question you have.  What I really can’t believe is that it is all free! 

               

                At the far end of the Island is East Quoddy Light, also called Head Harbour Light, the only other lighthouse on the Island.  We drove down to it and hit it just at the right time.  When the tide is low the Lighthouse and it’s grounds are accessible, but if you stay at the lighthouse island too long and the tide comes in you will be stranded for 8 hours until the tide goes out.  In this area the tides are about 22 feet which is tremendous! 

                In order to get to the Light we had to go down a sketchy ladder, traverse slippery seaweed covered rocks, walk across the ocean floor, scale an even sketchier ladder, cross a bridge, go down the sketchiest leaning stair/ladder, once again cross the ocean floor, and finally climb another unsafe ladder onto the lighthouse grounds island, and we paid $5 to do so!

                They “Friends of Head Harbour Light” are doing a fantastic job refinishing the buildings.  The Lighthouse is made of wood and was built in 1820, the keepers house was added in 1840.  We paid for a tour of the keepers house and were able to go up into the lantern room of the light.  Just a wonderful experience!  Then off course we had to cross the obstacle course of doom back to the mainland.  I would do it again! 

                Before leaving the island and Canada for the last time this trip we visited the grounds of Mulholland Lighthouse, marking the 4^th lighthouse of the day! 

                We cooked potatoes and hotdogs over the fire and enjoyed the campfire while listening to some great tunes on the IPOD.  The Potatoes were so good, Kate did a fantastic job on them! I really can’t believe just how good they were!

                It was the perfect end of the day!

Later Readers!

The Honeymooners!

                Here’s the blog you’ve been waiting for!  Part 1 of unknown of our honeymoon adventure!

                We left Sunday morning 15^th heading north making our first stop at Bagel Central in Bangor for a delicious bagel breakfast and we pick up a dozen of our favorites to bring with us.  We left the interstate at exit 264 and continued north on Route 11 until we finally reached Fort Kent!  We made excellent time. 

                In Fort Kent we checked out the Fort Kent Blockhouse and the Route 1 monument that signifies the beginning of US Route 1 which stretches all the way down to the Florida Keys.   Kate has now had her photo taken at both monuments! 

                We made our way to Lakeview Campground in St Agatha (pronounced A-gath) and set up our site.  We did a great job too!  It’s a nice campground we got a site with electrical hook up for my cpap machine.  They had very nice showers and bathrooms.  The only downside to tenting this night was that it rained and the wind was pretty intense.   It let up in the morning long enough for us to get pack up and get in the van.

                However, Sunday night we went to the Skylite Drive In in Madawaska!! I will call this my first time ever going, my mom will say that she took us when I was a kid but I don’t remember going so it doesn’t count.  We saw R.I.P.D. starring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges it was great!  You could either listen to it on 88.5fm or they had the old style speaker boxes.  We opted for the speaker box, going old school!! 

              

 We went into the concession stand and spoke with the owner’s wife and son.  Very nice people, it’s rather sad as this is the 40^th year that the drive-in has been in business and it will probably be its last.  With the movie industry switching from 35mm prints to digital it requires both theaters and drive in’s alike to upgrade to a digital projector at $80,000 each.  Sadly they can’t afford it and many other small theaters can’t either.  Recently the Saco Drive In won a projector from Honda who had a contest to give away 5 projectors to drive in’s.  Because of this change many theaters are closing including the Century Theater in Fort Kent.   This same family also owns the Fox Theater in Madawaska and said they will be putting it for sale.  It’s a damn shame that people like this and many others are losing their lively hoods because of a technology change.

                I asked them if they had any magnets or other souvenirs for sale, she said no but she saw a 40 year old bumper sticker under the counter the other day.  After a brief search she came up with it, it looks brand new, and gave it to me!  Her son laughed and asked, has that been under their the whole time? It was so nice of her!

                Monday morning we made our way south on Route 1 and had breakfast at Dolly’s.  The Acadian region is known for their regional food Ployes, and the great people at the Skylite recommended Dolly’s.  Sadly though they don’t usually start serving them until 830am and it was only 7am.  However, our waitress Sylvia took pity on us and fired up the hot plate.

                Ployes are a made with buckwheat and the thickness is between a crepe and a pancake.  You only cook them on one side until done and they are eaten traditionally rolled with either butter, maple syrup, or molasses.  We each got an order of 3 and had one each way.  We both preferred the molasses. 

                Our waitress Sylvia was wicked nice and after explaining to her our honeymoon plans she referred us to a place in Ellsworth called Sylvia’s Café that she owned for 20 years before selling it to the head cook.  She said to ask for Pat and that Sylvia sent us. 

                We traveled along route 1 stopping to photograph some beautiful churches until we entered Canada for the first time in Van Buren.  It was Kate’s first time in Canada and my first time since my French Club trip my senior year in high school. 

                We visited Grand Falls which is beautiful and needs to be seen to truly appreciate it.  Pictures can only do so much.   

               

We came back into the US and at customs had to surrender our contraband cherry tomatoes in order to enter the country.  We continued south stopping in Caribou at Burger Boy, a classic 1950’s burger joint.  I got a Whistler Dog, which is a red natural casing hot dog stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, and deep fried!  Yes it tasted that good!  Kate got the regionally popular pizza burger, a hamburger topped with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese.  It was good stuff!

                We made a stop south at the Fort Fairfield blockhouse and enjoyed the Windmill Farm at Mars Hill.  Some of you may not know this but Northern Maine has a small Amish Population and we saw on riding her buggy down the roadway.  At my urging Kate took a photo, which angered the young lady.  I will add that Kate didn’t want to do it. 

              

              We crossed back into Canada and stopped in Florence-Bristol at Potato World.  We has some real poutin made with cheese curd and not shredded cheese like every place else that advertised it.  Apparently McCain is a Canadian company founded right in Florence-Bristol , New Brunswick. 

                Our next stop was Hartland, New Brunswick home of the World’s Longest Covered Bridge, 1,292 feet!  It’s a impressive site to see people patient navigate this one lane bridge.  Also in Hartland we toured the Covered Bridge Potato Chip factory.  They were kind enough to cook up another batch of chips so we could watch the process down the production line.  We also got a sample bag of fresh cooked chips that had no salt or flavoring on them.  You could eat them as they were, which was delicious, or go to the flavor station and try many different flavors. 

                Because the temperature was dropping down below freezing we decided to get a motel room and why not stay in Canada.  So we checked into the Je Sa Le Motel in Hartland to end out 2^nd day of our Honeymoon.  New Brunswick is in the Atlantic time zone so they are one hour ahead of us.  Kate didn’t think it was such a big deal to go to fall asleep at 815pm, except for us, it was 715pm.  And she was comatose! 

That's all for part one, more to come!

Here's a link to the Skylite Drive in web page and facebook page

Here's the trailer to R.I.P.D. 

Later Readers!