TravelStream™ news feed for member dom_anna on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/dom_anna en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:52:19 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188936000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188936000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188936000/tpod.html Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:52:19 -0400 Our trip in search of lobster in the NE coast of USA.

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Bath, Maine, United States

Today we finally packed up out of Bar Harbor and drove south towards Portland. Along the way we saw a few lighthouses, and one used to be a fort as well (Port Poswell).
We bought some fresh and smoked fish from an old veteran (selling it from his truck) off the side of the highway. It was delicious!!
We drove around the scenic route HWY 1 (It was supposed to be an ocean route but you really only saw the ocean between trees sporadically so it was 90% forest). If we had more time we would have driven down the harbors but the problem is that they are often one way so that's a lot of backtracking if you're tight on time. We stopped for lunch at Young's Lobster Pound - it was actually quite pricey but it was really good. Afterwards, I went to a Maine Marine Museum in Rockland. It was very interesting - for those interested in engineering, read about the fresnel light: http://www.lighthousegetaway.com/lights/fresnel.html - it was so efficient that the light would show an amazing 20 miles out to shore.

For the night we camped at Hermit Island Campground which is just south of Bath. I recommend that if you go there, don't explore the campground too much if your car isn't an all terrain vehicle - we almost got stuck because it's very hilly and rocky. The oceanview sites were taken however, so we settled for a pretty one by a lake, and for the first time we encountered mosquitos. As I went for a drive to the payphone, I saw 6 deer on a campsite! They were so cute :) The pictures didn't turn out well though :( We were quite tired so we fried our fish, got a bit tipsy, and went to bed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188968400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188968400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188968400/tpod.html Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:51:42 -0400 Our trip in search of lobster in the NE coast of USA.

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Montpelier, Vermont, United States

Sadly, this was the day we had to go back home. We weren't looking forward to the long drive again... just yet. We stopped at Portland. I read that there is a big fish auction at the Portland Fish Exchange. Upon arriving though, we realized it's just for commercial exchanges though. We found a public one down this really neat alleyway - it felt like you were back in the 1920's.
We didn't have much time to explore Portland - we did walk around the Old Port but it was disappointing because it was mixed with modern buildings so it didn't feel like an old city with an old history. Driving in was easy, but driving out of Portland was tough, and we got quite lost. After many U-turns we heading out of Maine :( We drove through NH this time, but didn't stop anywhere.
I would describe NH and interior Maine like Kaszuby, but NH is MUCH more mountainous. VT is similar, but it has more leafy trees - which is not surprising why they are known for their maple syrup.
We stopped at Barre, Vermont where we went to see the Hope Cemetary. As you can see from the pics, there are many pretty cool gravestones. I think we missed a section of the cemetary because there was supposed to be one that's a giant soccer ball, a TV, etc. Sorry if some of them are blurry - Dominik thought this was too weird and wouldn't stop for some of them.
Montpelier's capitol is supposed to be the prettiest in the US, especially with the fall colours. I say it is indeed pretty - were arrived to late to have a tour though :(
The last stop on the itinerary was the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. We didn't go for the tour but we definately had ice cream. I never had it before but it was delicious - I had Banana Rum flavour. After this, it was non-stop home. It was a great trip, we were blessed with great weather, but it was too short!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188795600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188795600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188795600/tpod.html Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:00:16 -0400 Our trip in search of lobster in the NE coast of USA.

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Southwest Harbor, Maine, United States

We got up early today to do some exploring of the rest of the island. Our first stop was at a bakery in Southwest Harbor. I had a delicious blueberry cheese croissant.. mmm.
We stopped at Acadia National Park - at the Bass Lighthouse. Most of the lighthouses are still occupied by Coast Guard families even though they are automated now. The only manual one still left is in the Boston Harbor because it was the very first lighthouse in the US and President Kennedy signed a protection law that it is to stay manual. I read the list of the lighthouse keepers at Bass Harbor.. not surprinsingly, they didn't last very long, on average 1-4 years. Being up all night 365 days a year, in every weather, is not easy! Plus they usually led a solitary life, esp. if they were housed in an island away from mainland.

We didn't enter the Acadia to see anything else as they had a pretty steep entrance fee. We did however take a tour of the Atlantic Brewing Company. Maine is also known for having wild blueberries and this company is the first to have bluberry ale. Let me assure you that it only smells like bluberries. This is how they came up with it... the owner had a small pub and made his own beer as well. His friend sold him 400 pounds of wild bluberries for only $50 - he didn't know why but he took it because it was cheap. He made a few pies and got bored of it so one day he decided to add it to the beer. After doing 2 batches he swore he'd never do it again because it was so much work mashing bluberries, and he didn't like being blue from fingertips to shoulders. The beer became so popular however, that he had no choice but to make more!
http://www.atlanticbrewing.com/ One of their ales even beat Guiness in a World Beer Competition!

So it was the third day and we still didn't have a lobster so we found a lobster pound, picked one, bought one, and had it cooked for us. While the clerks weren't looking, Dominik had some fun picking them up and posing with the lobsters. I wouldn't say the seafood is cheaper here, but definately caught today-fresh which is well worth it!
As you can see from the picture, we did a good job cleaning it out! :)

I wanted to see Timber Tina's Great Maine Lumberjack Show, but it was closed for the season!! :( It's supposed to be really good and Tina was a contestant on Survivor Panama even! http://www.mainelumberjack.com/
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188709200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188709200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188709200/tpod.html Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:38:37 -0400 Our trip in search of lobster in the NE coast of USA.

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Bar Harbor, Maine, United States

We were supposed to leave at 5 am, but we ended leaving at 11 - which is a big 6 hour difference. It took us roughly 4 hours longer, than mapquest said it would. It total with stops we drove 15 hours to Bar Harbor, Maine. Of course mapquest could not predict that we would be at the border for 45 minutes, plus we scrapped the idea of going through Montréal because it seemed like a big detour. Most of the way we were stuck behind schoolbuses and trucks on country roads. Most of the drive at night was not very good because for some reason, 70% don't bother turning their high beams off so you were blinded every couple seconds, plus there were moose warnings all over the highway so I was afraid to go too fast because a moose ain't exactly a puny squirrel!

Eventually, we arrived at our destination, Smuggler's Den Campground in Southwest Harbor at around 1:45 a.m. Not surprisingly, the campground was full since it was the long weekend. I did make a reservation and they kindly post a map with your name on it on the front office door so you know where to go. We were not the last ones to arrive! The others probably gave up along the way :)
Setting up camp very quietly was a new challenge and we had to give up on the idea of sleeping on a pumped up air mattress. The air pump was so loud that after about 15 seconds we were sure we would get kicked off so we opted to sleep on the ground. It was a very cold night but I was finally happy to have arrived.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188709260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188709260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dom_anna/lobster_trip_07/1188709260/tpod.html Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:38:13 -0400 Our trip in search of lobster in the NE coast of USA.

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Bar Harbor, Maine, United States

BEFORE YOU BEGIN READING ... FOR SOME REASON I UPLOADED ALL THE PHOTOS FROM THIS DAY TO THE FIRST ENTRY - JUST SO YOU KNOW! :)

After a long and cold night's sleep, we woke up to a beautiful warm sunshiney day! I forgot to pack breakfast so the first thing we did was drive to Bar Harbor, and because it was Sunday we went to church, then buy food. For lunch we went to the West Side Grill that was right on the harbour. Dominik had a mix seafood plate of shrimps, scallops, and fish and I had crab cakes. If you have never eaten fresh seafood that was caught THAT DAY, you will never believe the taste in difference. It is uncomparable.

Dominik and I have different travelling styles. I like to go crazy and see 20 things in a day, and he'd rather see 2, and relax the rest of the time.. so this was the time to split up for a while. He went to veg at the harbour park, while I went running around the town. I found this church, St. Saviours Episcopal. Ten of the stained glass panels are from Louis Comfort Tiffany's technique (which apparently no one has been able to replicate), it gives it a very rich colour - looks like a painting, and it's not bright. Some of the panels date back from 1886. I could only take a quick picture inside (unfortunately it didn't come out well) because a wedding was about to begin. http://ellsworthme.org/ssaviour/windows.html I didn't have much time to window shop since we had a reservation with the LULU lobster ride http://www.lululobsterboat.com/.

The lobster ride was $55 for the 2 of us, and it was definately worth it. Cpt. John was extremely knowledgeable and very funny. He's even been on tv shows many times such as CBS early show. If you're in the area, I highly recommend going on it - the ride lasts 2 hours. He gave us a lecture of the life cycle of lobsters (live long time), the moulting (when they lose their shell 1x a year as adults, they are actually like jelly for 2 weeks), trapping, etc. Maine is the #1 state in all of US to export the most lobsters because of their excellent conservation methods (as much as 90%). Unlike any other state, Maine has a minimum and maximum length that the lobster has to be, plus if it is a female with a mark that she was or is carrying babies then she is let go as well. The traps are designed in a way that 65% of the time the lobster actually escapes, and it's done on purpose - so we eat the "slow" ones :) And only 3 in 1,000 born actually survive to adulthood!! Another interesting thing was that they are cannibalistic. We also went around to Egg Rock Lighthouse which was very pretty, and saw many seals. The lobsters you get in the store can be months old, since they can survive 72 outside of the water (for the export) and then plopped back into a tank. I must say that the ones in the normal stores here are very docile, as though they are sleeping the whole time. The live lobsters we saw, were extremely fiesty. As soon as you picked it up, it started kicking and trying to escape. And I confirmed with the captain that they do not feel pain, so it's ok to go ahead and boil them alive! The captain does not catch lobsters for money, but does research with universities.
On the ride, we also saw rich people houses like the Campbell's family, Martha Stewart, and John Travolta. John got kicked off the island for flying a 747 plane too low over the island!
I didn't know this but all the different coloured buoys in the water are to mark your traps. Every fisherman has their own colour scheme, and attached to the buoy are traps underwater! Overall, the port was very busy with different tour ships coming in and out, fisherman boats, and lots of hustle and bustle.

There is a new law in Maine that if you look under 45, they have to ask for your license if you want to buy alcohol or tobacco. Both times that we bought such products, the clerks had no idea what to do with Dominik's Alberta license. The young teenager at the convience store said.."Uh.. Alberta is a .... state?". Yes you moron! We made it up for a fake license!!

It was a really busy day so after a satisfying meal of beef fajitas we just dropped to bed!
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