Road Trip: New England
Day 4: Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - Augusta, ME
Day's statistics:
Weather: Light rain
Steps: Steve 7,990; Linda 7,547
Drove: 200 miles
Breakfast was light continental due to COVID concerns. Linda had a blueberry muffin, and a banana;
and I had a bowl and a half of cereal.
We checked out, packed the car, and headed out to visit the capital.
Our first stop of the day was at - the capitol!
En route, we passed this nice looking church.
We were on approach to the capitol.
We parked in the parking lot of the Burton M. Cross office building.
There are morons that don't know how to park in Maine too...
We walked into the Cross building, and proceeded to the lower level which had a little bit of art work,
and a single display case.
An item of interest in this case were these Everest Ornaments. These are clear glass Christmas tree decorations with
the shavings from making metal bells and bowls. This put the three R's to use: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Also on the lower level is the underground passageway connecting the Cross building with the capitol.
After passing through secuirty, when we arrived, the docent wasn't in yet. So the security guard recommend
we do a self-guided tour - which we did.
We are more of fans of the guided tour because, well, you get to ask questions.
Anyway, we made our way to an elevator to the second floor. and the center of the building.
Looking up in the rotunda at the dome.
And looking down at the first floor.
The government is only in session January through June, and January through April, on alternating years.
We made our way to the House chamber, with seating for 151 representatives.
There was a "retired" head of security, Don, working as a security guard overseeing the chamber. He was nice enough to
take a picture of us.
And here is the seating area and gallery from the front of the chamber, and a close-up of the seal below the gallery.
And some of the seating.
Don was nice enough to walk us out, and took us to the portico / balcany, overlooking the park.
In the distance, in the upper right corner (of both / either one), the barely-visible green roofed buildings
were once mental hospital facilities.
After stepping back inside, we bid Don adieu, and headed to the senate chamber. There are 35 state senators.
The president of the senate's seat.
The state seal in the carpet in the senate.
The senate chamber was really small, so that "tour" did not take long at all.
After leaving the senate, we returned to the center hallway. At one end of the hallway, in an open stairwell, is a portrait
of George Washington (at my back taking this picture is the doorway to the portico / balcony pictured above).
In the hallway leading to the stairwell above, on the left, is a fireplace (not used anymore) with this panel above it. The
panel signifies the return of the volunteers from the Civil War.
The stairwell with the Washington portrait from above - which is on my left - and the fireplace also reference above, in the
upper right corner.
Some flags retained after various wars.
This is the Kennebee Guards Militia Banner from 1825. One side - not visible - has the Marquis de Lafayette, an American
Revolutionary War hero; and the other side, here, shows Lady Liberty, as familiar to Americans of the day.
A bust of Percival Baxter (with the Washington portrait stairwell in the background). Not a president. Or even a governor.
We eventually learned that Baxter donated over two-hundred thousand acres of land, to be preserved, as a park in Maine.
Maine's Global War on Terrorism Memorial.
This "flag" was above the Governor's office's door (?).
A stairwell.
After our self guided tour ended, we were back in the area of security.
The docent was present, but we didn't bother with a guided tour. But we DID bother to get our stamp.
We were done inside, and headed out to take some shots of the outside of the capitol.
Across the street from the capitol is the Governor's Mansion.
We walked all the way around the capitol to get a shot of the front, which would be from the park that we
captured in the images above from the portico / balcany. After crossing the street, we entered the park.
We continued to make our way to be in front of the capitol.
Our capitol selfie.
I climbed the slope to get some pictures of the capitol, including some close-ups, while Linda took a picture of me.
I turned around from the top of the stairs and grabbed this shot, with lovely wife in the foreground - this helps give a little
perspective to the size of the park.
To the left, from the perspective of the image immediately above, was a small 9/11 Memorial Garden.
The stone reads "This living memorial garden is dedicated to the many innocent victims who died as a
result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and to the many heroes who sacrificed their lives
aiding others. Dedicated by the Main Legislature and the people of Maine, September 2005."
Adjacent to the Memorial Garden is the Maine Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.
The dark foreground piece is metal, and has the figures cut out of it. The lighter grey behind it "reveals" the bodies of the figures.
At night, based on what looked like flood lights in the ground, the lighter grey is illuminated - and must be stunning.
On the way back to the car, we passed this Libertry Bell replica (every state has one).
And lastly, before leaving the capital, we got a this shot.
The pyramid - a la the Louvre - illuminates the underground walkway from the building next door that we took from the
parking garage to the capiol.
This side looks more grandious than the other. But the statue on top is facing AWAY, implying the other side
is the front. (No, we didn't ask - we were on our way out.)
Planning has its advantages, and drawbacks - though more advantages.
We typically plan on three or four things to do in a city, including visiting the state house.
Augusta was no exception. However, one site we had planned was to the state museum - next door - that was... closed
due to renovation. We were, sadly, told by the docent about the fantastic displays they had... Hey, thanks!...
The other visit we had planned was at the Viles Arboretum. But the rainy weather made that impractical.
So we looked up something to do. And didn't really find anything of super interest.
So we decided to leave Augusta and head to our next location: Bangor.
In case there was a shot glass that actually said "Augusta" available, it would probably only be available in Augusta. We
didn't get on in Augusta, but got one on Sunday. See that entry for the image.
Linda had peviously purchased - before the trip, but not because of the trip - a book from Officer Tom Cotton of the Bangor PD.
Here is their Facebook page.
When we stopped at the BPD, we asked if Officer Cotton happen to be available, and we had his book. We also wanted to
visit the "Duck of Justice".
The duck was a taxidermist discard, and was salvaged by Sargeant Cotton at the DA's office. The duck is used as the basis
for the department's Facebook page that helps get resident's attention about sometimes serious matters in a social media
heavy environment.
It was restored, and actually did some touring. To preserve the duck, a traveling wood cousin was produced.
The original duck was put under glass and on display at the museum. Proceeds from Duck of Justice shirts sold by a
third party are donated to local charities.
The receptionist let us into the museum area to see the duck, and also offered to take our picture.
We also got a sticker that we put into our stampbook for the duck.
The receptionist left us in the museum and went to check on Officer Cotton. It turns out he WAS available. He stopped in
to see us, autographed Linda's book, and took a selfie with us.
We chatted for 10 or so minutes and he had to get back to work.
We had a couple options for lunch, and one was Moe's BBQ.
We returned to the car, and headed out of the parking lot. Within a couple miles, of course, was yet another overheating.
(You saw that coming too, didn't you?!!?) Found a spot to pull over in downtown Bangor.
We finished letting the car cool, and were good to go.
Moe's was just a few miles up the road from the BPD station.
Linda had the children's pulled pork, 'bama style (meaning with slaw and vinegar BBQ on top), a side of mac and cheese,
and cornbread.
I had rib sandwich, and a side of slaw, and a side of pulled pork chili.
Before we left Bangor, we drove back into town to get a shot of Stephen King's house - which is now a museum and writer's retreat.
Then we were off to Bar Harbor.
Bar Harbor is only about an hour southeast of Bangor.
On Bar Harbor island, we encountered Acadia National Park first - count us as one of the 2.5 million annual visitors.
We decided to ascend to the top of Cadillac Mountain to get an idea how long it would take to get to the summit.
An information plaque at a look-out, and the look-out with the information plaque - visible in the middle to the right.
We intended on seeing the sunrise in the morning - Cadillac Mountain is where one can be the first
to see the sun in the continental US. And on this day, sunrise was at 5:37 AM the next morning.
It was a good 15 - 20 minute, 15 - 20 mile per hour slow weaving drive to the top. On the way,
we came across this waterfall. Where was all this water coming from, so high up?
The summit is different - at least at this park - than the peak.
I got out and took a couple pictures at the peak. There is, um, quite a bit of cloud cover at this altitude...
Here is a sampling of more pictures from the descent from on Cadillac Mountain (rather than trying to identifying
each and every single stopping point), though I at least tried to put them in the order they were captured.
And a selfie - yes, we are straining a little because even though it was overcast, it was still bright.
A stitched panarama.
We had to pass through the park's check-point. There, we met the Park Ranger, Emma, who gave us our National Park stamp.
Not far down the road after leaving the park was our hotel, the
Atlantic Oceanside.
We checked in, unpacked the car, and spent a little time in our room. It had a pretty nice view of the Gulf of Maine.
The noise is a small stream that wasn't visible, but to the beyond the seating patio and that went under
the bridge a little further away.
We already had some locations picked out, so we went into town for dinner. We decided to eat at a location called
Peekytow Provisions.
This was a restaurant, with a little bit of a store-like area.
Linda had the Cajun Salmon with avacado and greens, and slaw and a pickle on the side.
I had the Shrimp Po' Boy, with slaw on the side.
We wanted to get some wine to bring back to our room. We left our parking spot right in front, and pretty much right across the
street we stopped to get a bottle of local wine - a Pinot Noir called "Red Pine" from Bar Harbor Cellars at Sweet Pea Farms.
As we headed back to the hotel, we had... another overheating. Pulled over, let it cool, and good to go.
Since we pulled over where we did, we drove through the "downtown" ocean side area a bit, and a couple miles down
the road we were back at the hotel. The sun was just going down so I grabbed another shot from our balcany.
We got back to the room, and the sun was setting / recently set.
We drank our wine, watched some TV, and drifted off to sleep.
Fun fact: Maine has a desert. Seriously. It is outside Freeport. But also only fourty acres. See more here.