Prospect Bay And Eastport Maine and Mustard

We have spent the last four nights in Cobscook State Park right off  Highway 1, which follows the coast of Maine.  We are working our way up to New Brunswick. 

 

From the park we are able to visit many of the small fishing villages along the coast.   

I want to be this mans best friend, He’s unloading his catch of lobster.

No fancy sailing or motor boats in the small fishing harbors, all working boats.

Everywhere there are lobster traps. 

Eastport, Maine is a small village consisting entirely of islands, and home to Raye’s Mustard Mill. 

    

The sign on the side of building reads Sundown Casket Company.  I wanted Mike to check it out, maybe they were making a casket.  He said If I wanted to know what was going on inside I would have to do it myself.  That was not going to happen.  Maybe they are making caskets maybe not.

The woody was parked outside the casket company.

Eastport had a busy harbor with all the boats and fishermen on the pier.  They are fishing for mackerel.

Ray’s Mustard Mill is located in Eastport and is the last remaining traditional stone ground mustard mill.  

Four generations of the Raye family have been grinding mustard on the coast of Maine since 1900.

They have won many national awards for there mustards.  The Food network  featured them this month on one of their shows.  Opps forgot.

Another great day.

 

 

Arcadia National Park and Bar Harbor

Monday August 9th

On our way to Arcadia National Park we stopped for lobster at Young's Lobster Pound, on the wharf in Belfast Maine.  The lobster was so fresh just caught less then an hour before it was prepared. 

 

Young’s is a wholesale lobster business that happens to prepare lunches for the public.  Thank you Bob and Molly Pinner for telling us about Young’s, it was the best lobster we have had. 

We got up early we thought.  Headed to Mount Desert Island in Arcadia National Park.   10,000 people got up before us and had the same idea.  The one place we were able to stop was Cadillac Mountain, every other place was full, no parking places left. 

Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the Atlantic Coast at 1528 feet.  If you stood here at dawn you would be the first person in the country to to the sunrise. 

The bridge heading to Arcadia National Park, which is the 10th most visited national park.

After our tour of Arcadia we headed to Bar Harbor, another tourist town.  Never imagined the town would be so over run with people.  More crowed then Camden and Rockland.  I did not know that cruise ships stopped in Bar Harbor.  You know how many people are on the big ships, thousands.

 

We did manage to have a glass of wine on the harbor, and watch to ships come and go.  Another perfect day. 

 

Camden Maine

Sunday August 8th

So far most of our time has been spent in Rockland Maine.  The town of Camden is only a mile from the state park we staying at, we decided to have breakfast in town Sunday morning. 

These are not your quite coastal towns they are small towns with lots and lots of tourist.  More then you can imagine.  Don’t get me wrong the towns are wonderful just so crowded you can hardly move.  We got up early, but not early enough, parking was difficult to say the least, but we managed to find a place within a reasonable distance. 

 

We got lucky we got a seat on the patio of Mariner’s Grill.  I had the best lobster omelet I ever tasted, of course it is the first one I’ve had, it was so good.

The views from the patio were not bad either.

This little fellow wanted to have breakfast with us, but he was having a bad hair day. 

 

The pictures just do not do the town justice.

After breakfast we drove to the Rockland Maine lighthouse and breakwater.  We were told it was a must see, but no one mentioned it was a mile walk each direction on uneven granite boulders.  Not complaining it was well worth the walk.

You watched where you were stepping at all times, the cracks would swallow a small child or break the ankle of an old lady.

An old picture of the lighthouse.

A new picture taken from the front.

 

The Maine Event

Saturday August 7th

While in the Camden, Rockland area we stayed at Camden Hills State Park.  There are over 30 miles of hiking trails most are easy hikes.  We drove to the summit of Mt. Battie which is located inside the park.  The views of Camden and the Atlantic ocean were breath taking.

You are able to climb to the top of the tower for ever more spectacular views of the are.

In the evening we went back to the lobster festival for the Clint Black concert. 

 

The seating area before the concert.

The seating area tickets were $35.00 which I didn’t think were to bad.  It was first come first in.  We paid $8.00 for general admission to the festival grounds and you could find a place to sit or stand.  We found a balcony of the bar across the street from the concert, perfect seats. 

We enjoyed the concert very much, had a lot of fun and laughs.

You know Mike, he has to makes new friends were ever we go.  Kathy a native Mainer. 

Rockland Maine Lobster Festival

Mike has been waiting weeks to sink his teeth into some fresh Maine Lobster, and today was the day.  For 63 years the town Of Rockland has been hosting the lobster Festival.  Not only is their lobster served from 10 in the morning until 10 at night, there is a ton of other activities.  Parade, cooking contest, Coast Guard tours, Navy ship tours, Pancake breakfast, lobster crate race,  just to name a few. 

 

The steamer in the second picture will cook 1600 pounds of lobster at a time.  Fresh Maine lobster, just out of the cold Maine waters, are cooked here for feasting in the eating tent.

 

Wait that’s no lobster,  he’s part of the dynamic dead fish display. 

The festival is held at the harbor.  Lots of boats were pulling in all day.  Mike wanted to rent us a boat, he thought it would be just the right size for me to row around. 

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Black Beard showed up in the eating tent and raised a little havoc.  King Neptune with his royal followers.   

Before leaving the festival we had to stop and have something to quench our thirst.  

Saturday nights entertainment is Clint Black at 8pm, we plan to attend if I can stay up that late. 

Having just a great time. 

 

Hanging Out In Northern Maine

Tuesday August 3rd, 2010

Full service gas stations what an oddity. This is the first time in our travels that we have run into nothing but full service gas stations.  Fill-err-up, check the oil, wash the windows, and kick the tires, all for $2.91 a gallon.  Less then $4 something we paid for gas in Canada. 

We are hanging out for a few days in Bangor Maine, doing laundry, shopping, and getting hair cuts.  Just the normal everyday stuff.

It’s funny how little things in life can make your day.  Being on the road so much and stopping at laundry mats, we have become a little fussy as to where we will wash our clothes.  some laundries are dirtier then my clothes and only half the machines work, I have walked out of many with just one look inside.  The Laundry Basket in Bangor Maine is the nicest and cleanest laundry we have in.  Mike liked it, it had a big screen TV hanging on the wall.

One more day in Bangor and we head south to Camden Maine.  We have reservation at the State Park for 4 nights. 

 

Back In The States and A Fair

Friday July 30, 2010

We reentered the states thru Fort Kent Maine.  The border patrol was not as happy to see us as we were to see them.   Exit the vehicle and take any pets with you, go to the office.   Well that was a surprise and a first for us.  They asked us a lot of questions, mostly do you have fire arms, or did you purchase anything in Canada that you want to declare.  Over and over they asked these 2 questions among others.  They checked the MH and truck inside and out, but were very nice about it.   We felt they were doing their job keeping us safe.  

We drove about 40 miles into Maine and stopped at a Wal-Mart in Presque Isle for the night. 

We had planned on staying only one night, but then we saw a flyer for the Northern Main Fair in town.  International tractor and truck pulling were on the list of events.  Mike thought it was time I see a tractor pull, what A guy, he’s always thinking of me.

The object of this event was to pull a wagon with a weight as far as you can. I don’t believe speed had anything to do with it.  Big supped up tractors, little yard tractors, old trackers and new ones they all participated.

After all the excitement I was hungry for some fair food.  I had a corn dog and Mike went off on his own and had a Scottish Egg, what  is a Scottish egg, and are you sure you want to try it.

The midway.

A hard boiled egg with pork sausage around it and deep fried.  Not so good.

After we ate went to check out the animal barns.

What the heck is this, and do I need one.

They had a free show with Bengal Tigers.  I hate to see animals like this caged, I just think it is very inhumane.  Maybe when they are home they have a really big area to run in.   Okay my little rant.

 

And that was our day.