New England States– Day 4 (Bar Harbor, Maine through New Hampshire to Barre, Vermont) 8-26-19

We checked out of the Belle Isle Motel around 9:00 am and headed to Walmart to stock up on veggies and protein to snack on. A short time later we stopped at a Dunkin’ Donuts, they're everywhere, and ordered a Glazed Stick, Plain Stick, and Apple Cider Donut marked “staff favorite”. We were Sooo disappointed!!! Hands down, not even in the same universe as the Apple Cider doughnut we had at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, Virginia.   

As the beautiful lighthouses and coastlines of Maine slipped away we continued making progress on our six hour trip to Waterbury, Vermont. Driving inland, gone were the many crab and lobster shacks, the frequent wild blueberry stands, and the sea of trees was so thick they appeared to go on forever. Homes and towns "villages" hidden among them waiting to be discovered.

We planned our route to include a stop by the Penobscot Narrows Bridge & Observatory. It is the tallest bridge observatory in the world. Mind you, not the tallest observatory, but the tallest bridge observatory. As Russ has aged, he has developed a bit of a fear of heights. As we get off the elevatory, there is a 2-3 foot wide walkway to the stairs to go up 2 more flights for the full observatory.  The 2-3 foot wide walkway is bordered by floor to ceiling glass walls. Russ felt the height in his bones and stayed closest to the interior wall on the stair climb up to the observatory. This fear is new and it bothers him that he's developed it.

The observatory offers spectacular 360-degree views of the Penobscot River and Bay. A bonus by stopping here is historic Fort Knox. 

Fort Knox is one of the best-preserved military fortifications on the New England seacoast, and has many unique architectural features, as well as a rich history behind its walls.

This 10 inch Rodman Cannon overlooks the Penobscot River and the city of Bucksport.

Enlisted men were right off the kitchen. I don't know why this spot, of all the places we walked through, touched me the most, but I started tearing up. I felt like I could hear the men, feel the emotions in time of joy, sadness, pain, anxiety, hope, despair, faith. I took a moment to visualize the activity, and as I breathed in the fresh air of the day I added smells of freshly baking bread and other dishes that may have been prepared. I had my own little movie playing in my head on high speed. Ya, I'm a little bit crazy like that. Haha!

B Battery to lower portion of the fort

Random bridge in Maine on our way to Sunday River Bridge. If you know which one it is give a shout out. We saw it on our way to Sunday River Bridge.

Our first official bridge stop was Sunday River Bridge, also known as the Artist's Covered Bridge, in Newry, Maine. 

The bridge was built in 1872 and the area felt so peaceful. There was a young family taking photos on the bridge, another family below doing a river hunt, and us running around trying to take photos without people in them. As the family left the bridge, we raced from down below up to the top. On our way up, a couple exited a parked car, heading for the bridge. Russ yelled, "FASTER"! We all raced from one end to the other and took our shots from the top, just before the couple rounded the bend. 

Back in the car, we hoped to make it for the last tour available at Ben and Jerry's Factory in Waterbury, Vermont.  

We arrived at Ben And Jerry’s and made the second to last tour, watched a fun movie on the history of Ben and Jerry's, chuckled a few times, and then spent some time looking at the inner workings of the process. 

At the end of the tour, we were gifted a tiny scoop of Sweet Cream and Cookies that left us wanting more so we bought a large cup of three flavors and chose Cinndoughrella (Brooklynn's favorite), Phish Food, and Coconut Seven Layer Bar (Russ & Alecia's favorite).

We drove to a Price Chopper grocery store Starbucks in Barre, Vermont with our finger's crossed that the “Been There” mug would be there and scored. Being from the Northwest we are used to seeing Starbucks everywhere, but they're a bit of a rarity in some of these New England states. 

We chose Montpelier, the state capital of Vermont, and the smallest state capital in the United States, for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Sarducci's located on the Winooski River. If you arrive at the right time, you might be lucky enough to dine outdoors on their deck. 

Still full from the ice cream earlier, we shared an Apple Salad and an Al Fresco le pizze. The salad was beautiful and flavorful. The pizza was almost flavorless, which seemed odd. We added a dusting of salt and polished it off. The salt really brought out all the flavors. I felt a little bad doing it, like maybe I was missing out on something authentic and Americanizing it, but seriously, it was so yummy with a bit of salt.

After dinner, it was back to Barre to check into the Hollow Inn and Motel that we booked through Hotels.com. A lot bigger than the other places we'd stayed thus far, a little cleaner, not as smelly, but still felt a little sketchy. The managers were really nice. The sketchy feel came from the presence of patrons who seemed to be living there rather than having a brief stay on their way to somewhere else. People hanging outside their rooms that seemed to know each other, but not be together. When we drove through the parking lot, they look at you differently, or maybe it's that they "look" at you. I don't know why it makes me feel so uneasy, like I'm being watched and if they're watching, what are they hoping to see? Anyway, the beds felt comfortable and we slept rather well. Which was great, we needed that!

Road sign of the day: Village Ahead Reduce Speed. We didn't have time to get a photo. Check out 11 of the 36 historic villages in Vermont here. Villages contain fewer than 1000 residents.

P.S.


Our road trip to Barre, Vermont prompted a question: It seems to be quite common for people to drive below the speed limit on state routes (10 mph under), but speed along on freeways (10 mph over). What's up with that?