New England... Day 5

We began our day at the Coastal Coffee House & Internet Cafe just a few blocks down from our campground in picturesque Searsport. The shop is just a tiny coffeehouse but came highly recommended by a lady at the bathhouse. We packed up the mini and decided to try it for breakfast. I ordered Dave's Fire in the Hole. An everything bagel toasted perfectly with a sort of spanish omelet with spicy sausage and peppers and a couple different types of hot sauce. Any how...it was great. So good in fact we went back for lunch and ordered lobster rolls to go so we could picnic on the beach. The owner remembered us and called us the Texas Bluebonnets. What fun.

When we went back for lunch to the little cafe' had about 6 customers on Harleys they were Canadian and were speaking french. The funny part was that they kept opening and closing the screen door that led to the outside dining area... they finaly turned to us and in english said ' we just love that sound' it was the squeaky screen door. French Canadians are everywhere. At home the second language is Spanish. Here when you use the ATM it prompts English or Francis?

We stopped at a few antique shops Jeff bought a sign. Headed on up to Penobscot Narrow Bridge and Fort Knox. We went up the tower at Penobscot which was equilavent to 42 stories and could see for miles. It was a beautiful day. Then we toured Fort Knox. No money there...

Then we headed back to Searsport which is just lovely and ordered our lobster rolls to go and had a picnic on the beach.

After we got back to the campground we decided to take a hike. We walked the water's edge which is not sandy. It is what they call craggy, full of rocks, large and small, much of it granite. The hike took us about 1 mile to Moose Point State Park in search of wild blueberries. We didn't find any, but hiked on out to Moose Point proper and then back again, about 3 miles. We had just enough time to clean up and get ready for our Lobster Bake on the beach.

The campground has a lobster bake on Saturdays and it is only by inadvance ticket purchase. Jeff ordered our tickets when he reserved the campground. There were about 20 or so of us eating down on the beach. The meal began with steamed mussels that were harvested straight out of the bay earlier in the day. I decided you can eat anything if you dip it in melted butter. I tried a few, ok maybe more than a few about 6. I left the rest for Jeff. He enjoyed them all. We got to know our fellow campers, a young couple from upstate NY that had just arrived about an hour earlier, and a family of 6 from Chattanooga. We had a fabulous meal. They unloaded the lobster which had been steamed in an outdoor brick oven. The lobster was covered by seaweed, which they called rockweed which is what they make MSG from. They told us that because the seaweed is a natual flavor enhancer and it is what the lobster is blanketed in it would be tastier. They were right. It was by far the best lobster we have had the entire trip. Our meal included all the clams & mussels we could eat, homemade bread, baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Followed by homemade peach/blueberry cobbler and ice cream from a local dairy.

I am now on laundry duty and Jeff is playing with fire. This will be our last night in Searsport as tomorrow begins our trek southward toward Manchester and then home again. We are having a wonderful time, will greatly miss New England.

BTW, everyone that we have encountered whether it has been service personnel, cafe owners, vacationers, etc has been wonderful, northerner and southerner alike... and a few Canadians too!

Travel New England sometime soon, you will love it!