... thursday i joined roger on his "all the towns in maine in one summer" wanderabout ... we did all of waldo county, minus palermo because it was getting late ...
... while taking a break in winterport i snapped a birthday present picture for my dear friend, dee dee ... that's the penobscot narrows bridge in the background ...
... friday adrien and i went on a little wanderabout of our own ... we lolligagged route 137 and various back roads through albion, freedom, unity, and liberty, to finally arrive at the coast in belfast ...
... on route one we visited the world famous "perry's nut house" ... how odd, that i've lived in maine for forty-two years and raised two children here, yet i'd never visited this well-known tourist trap ...
... we bought some nice rocks for liz to share with her class ... i was particularly bothered, however, by the display containing aN egyptian mummy ... the young man behind the counter explained, "well, it's not really anyone famous or anything like that, it's just a plain ol' mummy" ... somehow that upset me even more ... this, i don't believe, is a particularly proper thing to do ...
... in stockton springs we left route one and took back roads out onto cape jellison, where we visited the fort point lighthouse ... adrien was quite surprised when i offered up that i'd no recollection of ever having been to this point on the coast, but, upon reflection, i've found memories of having been here a long, long time ago ... i'm pretty sure the reason i couldn't make the connection is not the amount of time involved, but rather that the last time i was on this headland the fog was so thick that the ocean wasn't visible ...
... adrien urged, "you've got to get a picture of these flowers with the red brick as a background—everyone loves red brick" ...
... the lighthouse isn't particularly photogentic, at least, not in comparison to others, but the owner's mailbox makes up the difference ...
... adrien seemed to like the big bell ... we tried to ring it, but a "sorry, no such luck" device has been attached to the clapper to prevent such fun ... some people have no sense of humor ...
... after the lighthouse we wandered up to the penobscot narrows bridge ...
... four-hundred feet to the top, the highest such observatory in the world, we were both amused at the elevator's floor choice buttons ...
... it was a beautiful day ...
... as we watched, a hawk soared around the tower ...
... i'm no fan of cable-stayed bridges, as most of you know, but i will admit their design can allow for some rather dramatic photographs ...
... after conversing with the observation tower attendant, a nice woman who just retired from over twenty years as an airline cabin attendant, we descended back to earth ...
... who performed the work and how the windows were cleaned, that was our big question ...
... i found these flowers sprouting along the walkway ...
... in bucksport we visited colonial buck's tomb ... the "mysterious boot that cannot be scrubbed off," as far as i'm concerned, is just a stain within the granite, but adrien formed all sorts of theories concerning the "heart" she noticed at the top of the obelisk ...
... we cruised the river road to bangor, where we broke even in the casino before heading south ... after a nice supper at dysart's truck stop we took back roads all the way home ...
... a very nice wanderabout, very nice, indeed ...