New England Fall Foliage Trip Day Eleven: A Day on Maine’s Highway 1
For the final leg of our journey, we drove south along the Maine coastline from Bar Harbor to Portland. We began the day with the grab-and-go breakfast provided by Bar Harbor Motel. Our stay was wonderful and we would recommend the lodging to anyone looking for an affordable, friendly, and convenient place to stay in Bar Harbor.
About an hour south on Hwy 1 we saw signage for Fort Knox, reminding me that I had included a potential visit there on our itinerary for the day. It was a dreary morning, so we deliberated about whether to stop or not. Eventually the consensus was that it was an opportunity we should not pass up since we were in the area.
That turned out to be an excellent decision. The fort was super cool and well worth the time and money ($6.50/each)!
Constructed over the course of 25 years in the mid-1800s, Fort Knox never actually saw any action, but served as a temporary garrison for troops during both the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.
The outer chamber of the fort flanked three sides of the main fort, separated by a dry moat designed for successful defense maneuvers against an attack.
We love the beautiful brick architecture of these Civil War era forts.
Many nooks and crannies and hidden passageways would make for a rousing game of hide-and-seek!
A couple of batteries set in the hillside below the fort’s walls were accessed via stairways and an underground tunnel.
After investigating all the levels and rooms of the fort and learning more about its history, we were ready to continue our journey south toward Portland.
Since it was about lunchtime, we went in search of a bakery. Dessert first, right? Just across the Penobscot Narrows Bridge on Verona Island was Sweet Cheeks Bakery.
Cases full of freshly baked pastries made for a hard choice, but we each made a selection and then thoroughly enjoyed the tasty confections as we continued the drive.
A short while later the town of Camden attracted our attention. To be honest, it was when I spotted the most adorable bookshop ever that I insisted we stop.
Inside the entry and at the top of the stairs were a couple of rooms that were the essence of everything you ever imagined a small local used bookshop being: wall-to-wall shelves of books, stacks of books all over the floor, an old man sitting behind a book-piled desk with his head burrowed in his current read. I loved it!
Imagine the thrill of discovering that Camden is home to not just one, but two bookstores! A search for the best-rated coffee shop took us around the corner to Owl & Turtle Bookshop Café. Equally charming and a little more spacious, the staff was friendly and helpful. We sipped hot drinks from the café while perusing the shelves.
On our way out of town, we spotted a two-story colonial house sporting a thrift store sign, so of course we had to stop there as well.
We were soon on the road again, this time with one of our primary objectives of the day at the forefront of our minds: to find and eat one of the much-acclaimed Maine Lobster Rolls. Armed with a recommendation from a local at the bookstore (and verified with an average 4.6 rating on Google), we made our way to Delano Seafood Market.
We knew from menus throughout our time in Maine that this was going to be an expensive endeavor, but it still nearly made me choke to turn over $52 for a 1/2 pound lobster roll. We agreed to split the roll four ways so we could each try a little bit and see what all the hype is about. We still have no idea.
The lobster was bland, the texture was unpleasant, and the stringy pieces of who-knows-what protruding from the chunks of meat were less than appetizing.
We choked down as much as we could and then consoled ourselves with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No idea if the lobster roll we had was typical of the ones everyone raves about, but at this point we don’t feel inclined to spend another $50 to find out!
A little after 5 we rolled into Portland, with just enough daylight to admire the tree-lined neighborhoods on the way to our hotel. Since we just have a short stay here, we checked in and dropped our bags off, then headed right down to the pier.
Gorgeous Gelato came up quickly when we searched for ice cream, so we decided that was the best way to start our walk around the downtown area.
After searching unsuccessfully for any place serving crab cakes for Julian, we ended up back at Andy’s Old Port Pub (after stopping in earlier to inquire about the aforementioned crab cakes) because they had a chill vibe and friendly servers.
We ordered a couple of dinners and enjoyed the final evening of our trip together. The tried and true fish and chips was a better taste to end on than the over-hyped lobster roll… Oh well, despite that disappointment we have had a fabulous time traversing New England this past week and a half and are grateful for the many blessings along the way!
