The skies turned a little gray and cloudy, but it never rained the whole rest of the day.
We got out of the campground slightly later than we'd planned, but it was ok. Fort Knox was only supposed to be a little over an hour away and just about the halfway point for getting to our final destination for today. The drive to the fort was really beautiful, again, with the leaves seeming to be brighter and bolder colors this morning. The road left a lot to be desired as it was very narrow and very bumpy, but then amazingly when we went from one county to the next, they cleared up and weren't too bad the rest of the way. When we got to the fort, we found ample RV parking and we paid our admission for both the fort and the observation deck on the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. The observation deck on the bridge is the tallest of its kind in the world. I think something like 420 feet.
Fort Knox was built after the War of 1812. I think it was conceived in the late 1820's, to be a line of defense against another invasion by a foreign country, but work didn't start on it until 1844 and when work ceased in 1859 it still wasn't completed. It is a really nice-looking stone structure, but we read that no ships ever threatened to come up the river and after the Civil War with its advances in weaponry, the stone fort was pretty much obsolete. It was very impressive to see the layout and the cannons though. And troops were stationed there during the Civil War and for a short time in the Spanish-American War.
 |
| Town of Bucksport as seen from the fort |
We were impressed particularly with Brynna for facing her fear of heights and going up into the elevator and out onto the observation deck on the bridge. It seems like she might've conquered this one because she did great.
In Maine, it seems that a lot of places will not allow you to leave your dog in your vehicle, even the trailer. The RV park doesn't allow it and neither did Fort Knox State Park. The nice thing is that Heidi was welcome to go wherever we did at the fort as long as she was on her leash. The problem was that she couldn't go up in the observation tower so we had to take turns going up so that one of us could stay down on the ground with her. It really wasn't a big deal though and she loved going all over the fort with us.
 |
| Notice observation windows at the top of this pylon. |
After these two adventures, we drove on to Hadley's Point Campground, where we'll be the next few nights. We got setup here and then went and talked to the very helpful lady in the park office and she marked several spots on the area map for us and gave us advice on which lobster pound to go to. There is one right on the water that she said everyone goes to and it has a nice view, but she said it was very expensive mostly due to the view and there was another spot she recommended less than a quarter mile further up the road with a heated dining area and cheaper prices. She told us about several spots not to miss inside Acadia National Park and marked them on our map so we can make a well-informed plan for the next few days.
We had missed lunch, only having some pretzels for snacks on the drive from the fort, so we decided to head straight to Down East Lobster Pound for dinner. We were all fairly adventuresome except for Sky, who just wanted to order Kraft Mac'n'cheese from the kids' menu. Brighton got seafood chowder which had lobster, scallop, shrimp, haddock and potatoes in it. Brock and Brynna both ordered the 1 lb lobster dinner with corn on the cob, and Spencer ordered the 2 lb clam dinner because he loves Grams' steamer clams. I got a lobster roll (which is kind of like a lobster salad because it has a little mayo mixed in and is served on a bun) because I wanted to try lobster, but didn't want to do all the cracking. It was definitely an experience that we're glad we did, but I don't think it was anyone's favorite. Brynna tried really hard, but found it pretty difficult to eat. Brock was enjoying his until he pulled the tail off and this yucky green stuff came out. Skylar almost couldn't eat his mac'n'cheese after that. Brock asked the waitress about the green and she said it was the lobster's liver, some people like it and some don't. (She was actually very nice and helpful with us about how to order and how to eat stuff.) We also learned from her that we were eating soft-shell lobster due to the time of year. I guess the lobsters molt in the Mayish time frame and it takes a good 6 mos. for their shells to get hard, but if you buy them right after they molt, they might look big, but you won't get much meat out of them. Even Spencer, our seafood lover, said his clams weren't really like the steamers he'd had with Grams and he ate about half of them and then said he'd kind of lost his appetite. They had a big, tough neck piece sticking out of their shells. Brighton ate all of his chowder, but I was sitting across from him and his face didn't look like he was super happy with it. I think one of the favorite things at the restaurant was that they had a blue lobster in the tank which was kind of like a pet. The waitress said they are rare, like 1 in 2 million or something like that.
After dinner, we really had the urge to drive to see the actual ocean since we'd made it all the way to Maine. So we went exploring a little and found a little fishing pier area to view at least a little part of it. AND, once again, we arrived just at sunset. Glorious.
 |
| Drive back to campground on Pretty Marsh Rd. (appropriate, huh?) |
No comments:
Post a Comment