Maine Coastline, Lobster Country

Our Message this morning following the week long theme of The Power of the Cross, was on Genesis 22. It gave me a new sense of power behind Abraham's obedience!

Last week we decided to take a trip out another peninsula beside the one that Bar Harbor is on. The tip of this peninsula is Schoodic Point and some of Acadia National Park. It was a sunny day though the visual distance was rather limited because of fog. We enjoyed the heat from the sun and the cool breeze very much . You'll notice that I did not say COLD breeze! But it has changed some since then, and not for the better. We are hoping these next two weeks are warmer!

One of the roads along this peninsula, to get closer to the bay, was just a gravel one way . It was beautiful and we were glad that we did not meet anyone on this road! There are homes in this area, some smaller and very old which have been restored and added on to in order to connect to a garage or carriage house . And some are much larger . The rock in much of Maine is granite, with a lot of pink and then some black rock that is from infusion of lava from thousands of years ago, which formed layers in the granite. I will show you a layer in another future blog, as this is just cut pieces used a steps.

Lobster fishing is the second largest trade of the area , second only to tourism! The lobster fishing is very restricted and each license issued to one person with one boat. The limit is nothing under 3 inches or over five inches, with the measurement being from eye socket to the starting of the tail. They can not keep any that still have the eggs attached as they are carried for the full term during procreation. All others must also be put back to keep the procreation going so we will not risk losing the supply. The small will only mate with the small and the large with large. They do not intermingle. So it is a lesson all of it's own. When the season began there were so many lobster within about 60 feet of shore that you could almost walk on them, according to our tour guide yesterday. But they are not that near shore now and not as plentiful. And guess what!! It is not much cheaper eating them in a restaurant here than in Ohio!

Another day we drove down Rt. 1 southeast of Bangor, because a massage therapist here at the campground told me of all the smaller more interesting towns along there. Yes, the campground has the therapist come in once a week, for three weeks at least, and I took advantage of it for $10 for each ten minutes. It is the same cost back home and I sure needed it!

There are many interesting homes and businesses along Rt. 1. As you can see, Inns are very prevalent because of the tourist trade in this part of the country. The actual towns were so interesting that I did not take pictures while going through them. But I will do so if we go down there again. We did stop at a couple antique shops and they were as different as night and day, one being like our back home antique malls. The other one had everything from soup to nuts and barely room to walk through. I am sure that the rust and dust was helping hold it up!

We passed the General Henry Knox Museum from the Civil War on that trip. Gary went back down the highway to Ft. Knox where there had been a reenactment today. The actors were just leaving so Gary missed it all. And the Ft. Knox Observatory was closed! Needless to say, he was disappointed.

On the way back up Rt. 1 we took a side trip to see Owls Head Lighthouse which is an active U.S. Coast Guard station. It had a great view and was a good hike for us. So we do get some walking in. Across from the lighthouse was an island where there had been one of the three one-mile markers used by the Navy to estimate speed by prop rotation. The only thing left of these markers is the four rocks where the last one stood up until a year ago.

We also stopped in Rockland, ME to see the Farnsworth Art Museum, which is housed in a library and partly in an old church converted to be safe humidity and temperature for many paintings, drawings, and sculptures of both past and present famous artists. Gary took these pictures because he liked them , but we can't tell you now who the artists were. We don't remember and did not write it down.

Mr. Viencik, we thought of you when we saw these .

Three of the main artist's works in the museum were of N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth. Jamie lives in Maine and is only two years older than we are. Imagine that! We missed a Museum in southern New Hampshire where more of Andrews pieces are, as we were only in the north of NH. It is the Museum of the Currier and Ives. Well, maybe next time.

The Farnsworth Homestead was right next door to the library. Mrs. Farnsworth and her daughters donated all of this for the museum in honor of her husband who was an integral part of the Rockland community.

And last for this time; since author, Stephen King, lives in Bangor, Maine, Gary decided to go past his home for pictures while on the way to the post office. He did this for someone we know who reads all of his books. We really haven't toured downtown Bangor to find out what else is there. We probably will do so before we leave. We may even learn of some places in Maine that inspired some of Kings books.

Travel safe until next time.