Most people were surprised when they learned we were going to Maine for ten days.  Why Maine they asked.  What are you going to do there?  Well, it turned out there is a lot to do in Maine.  And I noticed lots of people doing lots of things.

Want to see?  Click on any photo to see more details.

They capture the beauty.

They play in water.

They go fishing.

The make sand castles.

They read.

They share the moment.

They put toes in the ocean.

They look for whales.

They search for beach treasure.

They enjoy the view.

They explore mountains.

They watch waves.

They lean into the wind.

And sometimes they text.

I can’t show you everything we saw in Maine.  As I’ve said frequently, you need to go there yourself and explore.  But here’s just a few more instances of things unique and/or fun that we ran across in our travels.

Did you know that Maine is the biggest exporter of wild blueberries?  You would if you visited Blueberry World and talked to the owner for a bit.  We noticed her shop as we were heading somewhere else.

Blueberry Land!

It’s kind of hard to miss, or to resist!  Inside were all things blueberry.  We bought a few things and talked to her for a bit.  She and her husband have a few hundred acres of wild blueberries.  They used to be university professors, but they’ve ‘retired’ to become blueberry farmers.

She’s concerned that they can’t do it forever, that help to ‘rake’ the blueberries in the field is getting harder to find.  She’s worried about foreign investors buying up all the farms.  She’s wondering if she should develop her land, turn it into a subdivision.  But she’d lose the wild blueberries, the view, her lifestyle.  She says the only way they make it is through sales direct to tourists, that the blueberries going to processing plants don’t have enough profit margin.

Buy a pie!

We wished her and her 80 year old husband good luck.

Later in our trip, as we were driving through a small coastal town we saw this:

What’s going on over there?

We learned a long time ago on our travels that if you see a crowd headed somewhere you should just fall in and see where it goes.  So we turned around, parked the car and wandered up onto the bridge as well.  Turns out the crowd was watching lobster boats race.

Who’s going to win?

Now I ask you, where else but Maine could you see such an event?

And all along the way we saw pretty things, interesting things that just didn’t fit into any particular blog.  But I thought you’d enjoy a few more shots.  Wouldn’t you?

We saw lots of fishing shacks.  Some looked like they were being used.

Anyone home?

And some didn’t.

Long abandoned.

We saw lots and lots of boats on trailers in yards.  Some had some pretty neat names.

Resting on land.

I wonder how people are making a living if their boat is in the yard.

We saw beautiful buildings too, a school sitting in a field of clover….

Summer break.

…and a church along a river in a tiny town.

Church bells rang.

And finally, these birds just made us laugh.

Linear birds.

I hope you chuckle too.

Soon I hope to give you an idea of what people do while in Maine.  There’s really too much to share.

But I’ll try.

Chainsaw man.

Pretty lake along the way.

Just a short post to show you Moxie falls, another aspect of Maine.  We drove two hour north of where we’re staying near Lisbon (I think we were only a couple of hours from Quebec!) where the country  begins to roll with small mountains, and there is a beautiful 30 foot waterfall.  It was way back in the woods, so after we applied the usual sunscreen we layered on bug spray.  It’s a lovely combination.

Walking in the woods.

The woods was cool and green and beautiful.  But nothing compared to the falls.

Moxie falls

The upper part of the river was beautiful too.

Pretty cool.

We had a very good day.

Woodsy.

Last night we stayed in a quaint cabin that had Wifi – –  but it was so slow I couldn’t finish this post, much less publish it.  So this one’s a day late.  I’m sure you’ve all been waiting with baited breath!  We stayed at Moody’s which is an institution around these parts.  The original cabins were built in the 20’s and more were built in the 40’s, when they also added running water and electricity.  No air conditioning, though there is a lovely little screened porch on the back and you can sleep with the windows open, listening to the breeze in the trees if you don’t mind the mosquitoes too much.

Built in the 20’s.

Moody’s diner is down at the bottom of the hill and has been in the family for at least three generations.  The food is down home good; I recommend the rhubarb strawberry pie.  Highly.

Moody’s Diner, where the cooking is homemade.

Anyway,  yesterday we headed inland, on our way to Fort Knox.  You know, where all the gold is housed.   As we got close we saw a beautiful bridge over the Penobscot River.  It’s unlike anything I have ever seen before.

Bridge art.

What’s even more amazing is how narrow the cable system is.  Here’s what it looks like from the end of the bridge:

Not being an engineer, I think this is something of a miracle!

And in the top of one of the towers, which look like a skinny version of the Washington Monument, is an observation room!

You can go up to the top!

How cool is that!  And you just know that we went up there!  How could we not!   This is the way the bridge looks from the observatory:

Narrow bridge over ‘The Narrows.”

The towers are 447 feet tall (The Washington Monument is 555 feet tall).  From the observation tower at the top you can see views like this:

Beautiful!

Amazing.

Fort Knox from the top of the bridge.

After we were back on the ground we went to visit the fort.  It’s an engineering feat from another generation, and fascinating in a whole different way.  Built from 1846 -1866 it’s a wonderful example of forts from that era.  It’s all pretty much still there, the parade ground, the barracks, the officers quarters…

Parade ground in the center.

…and the tunnels below and behind the walls, filled with dark damp memories…

Underground tunnels.

…and maybe the ghosts of soldiers past.

Did you hear something?

We spent a long time at Fort Knox, exploring all the nooks and crannies, thinking about what life might have been like back then, the conditions soldiers lived and died under.

Windows watching.

It seemed strange to see the old fort with the new bridge in the background.  An interesting contrast.

New and old together forever.

Then, because we could, we stopped by a lighthouse.  Just for you, because we didn’t want you to have lighthouse withdrawal.  After all, we are in Maine.

This is the Fort Point lighthouse.

Someone lives here, wouldn’t that be fun?

It’s part of a State Park, but we found it on a road along the coast without going into the park.  It has beautiful flowers, and sits high above the sea on a bluff.  Such a pretty spot.

Angles.

So that’s it for yesterday.  Today we overdosed on lighthouses.  I’ll post more on those tomorrow.  Or later.  Sometime anyway; it all depends on wifi.  Most of you know how that goes.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of the Penobscot Bridge, Fort Knox and the lighthouse!

Sunshine and flowers.