North by Northeast

While we were in New York City, we worked on re-planning our route.  Since the accident and the restart, we needed to figure out our new plan.  We decided to head north first towards Maine before heading back along the northern states toward Iowa, circling around and heading east through the middle of the US to the east coast around Virgina, then south to Florida and back west through the southern states to California.  We finished our new map, which wasn't easy the second time either, and rewrote our itinerary.  With a new plan we were ready to continue on.

 

We drove to Salem, Massachusetts.  Our first stop was the Salem Witch Museum.  It was a great museum for detailing how the hysteria and trials happened in Salem. They showed how the 20 people were tried and killed.  Their focus at the end was on tolerance of others.

Our next stop was the Pirate Museum.  Here they told of the famous pirates who terrorized the New England coast, and their ships, flags, booty, and lifestyles.  This was a fun and entertaining museum.

the Pirate Museum

We also toured the House of  the Seven Gables, made famous by author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote a fictional book about the house.  He used to visit his cousin who lived there at one time.  There is a hidden staircase added after a remodel to make the house more like the book version, which I didn't particularly like climbing because it was very small and cramped, but the history of the house, and the rooms there were interesting.  We also toured Nathaniel Hawthorne's birth house on the premises, and the gorgeous gardens there. 



We stopped at a farm where we picked our own blueberries and raspberries!

I think we ate more than we carried out with us!  It was yummy fun!

We drove up to New Hampshire to see the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse. We climbed up the steps inside and looked out over the harbor and the coast.

We drove on up the coast to Maine. Our first stop was to get these delicious hot dogs! The homemade brown relish was so good, and I love the New England style top sliced buns! 

Our next stop was in Portland, where we saw the Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse.  We heard it described as a spark plug, I think you can see why. 

Then we stopped at the Portland Head Light.  The view of the Maine coast there was just what we had expected to see,  it was so pretty.

We went to the Wadsworth-Longfellow house but just missed the last tour of the day, so we only got to see the outside, and postcard pictures of the inside in the gift shop.

We went to the L.L.Bean flagship store in Freeport.  It is a huge store, with sections for just about every outdoor activity in a couple of buildings. The camping section was a little disappointing, but we did see some original boots as well as the giant one.

And what trip to Maine would be complete without some Moxie? It is one of the first soft drinks made in the US, and is definitely different.  It is less sweet and a little bitter.

Our next stop was for a lobster roll. It was delicious!

Then we went to Rockland and walked out on the breakwater to see the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse. It wasn't easy walking on those granite boulders!

Next we headed up to Acadia National Park. 

 It has rocky beaches, and huge granite cliffs that are stunningly beautiful.

 

We stopped at the Wild Blueberry Center for some Maine wild blueberry pie. 

The blueberries were small, but very flavorful and delicious.

We made it to the Easternmost point of the continental United States at Quoddy Head State Park, found in the town of Lubec.  There is a much photographed lighthouse there that is still in use today.

At the park there is a bog where a glacier melted, and arctic tundra grows.  This is the lowest point in the United States where tundra is found.  We hiked around the bog with its most unusual plants and dwarf trees.

We got up at 3 a.m. one day to be among the first people in the US to see the sunrise.  We went to the easternmost point and waited for the sun with our breakfast and hot chocolate.  It was well worth the wait for a beautiful sunrise!

In nearby Cobscook Bay State Park, we camped in the woods.  Although the mosquitoes were as thick as the trees, it was a lovely campsite right on the bay. The tides are dramatic and low tide is about 24 feet from high tide.  We went clamming in the sloshy mud, but were only able to find a couple of tasty clams.  In this park we were finally able to see bald eagles in the wild.  It was a spectacular sight to see.  This was the view from our tent:

We headed down to Bangor next.  We were excited to see a city again and nurse all our mosquito bites.  We drove past the 31 foot tall Paul Bunyan statue, but it was hard to get a picture because they are constructing a park around it right now. 

We drove through the historic district to see the former lumber baron homes, which were quite spectacular. Then we went past author Steven King's mansion. The house looked like it was right out of one of his novels with wrought iron gates in the shape of spiderwebs and other ghoulish creatures adorning the fence.