Friday, August 1, 2014

"The Rock", a B-17, Bar Harbor, and the Lobster Festival

(Reader alert - Blogger, the program I use, is inserting some automatic links into this, so until I can figure out how to change that in the settings, please ignore those links.)

So, everytime we leave the Geraghty's house, we pass the Belfast Curling Club.  Yes, that sport on ice, with brooms, and the yelling.  They play it here!


Maybe we'll stop in one day!

Mr. Geraghty shares my interest in geology, and he has been wanting to show me one of the largest erratics in the state  of Maine. He even sent me copies of e-mails and articles that he had received from the Geology professors at the University.  Erratics are large rocks that were carried from their point of origin by glaciers, and left behind when the glacial ice melted.  They are usually rather obvious, because they can be much, much  larger than surrounding rocks, and are made of different material. The Geraghtys have been rather humorously kidding me about taking me to see "The Rock," complete with air quote gestures.  So today we went to see "the Rock."

It was a beautiful hour's drive up the coast, just shy of Bar Harbor, actually, which is always a nice destination, although we truly did not plan on ending up there today.  First, the main attraction, "THE ROCK."  We gazed at its beauty, and tried to imagine the thickness of the glacier that had carried this huge boulder 40 miles (that's what geologist estimate).





Then, we stopped for lunch in Ellsworth, and noted a sign that said, Acadia Nat'l Park, 18 miles.  Acadia is always at the top of my list of favorite National Parks.  It's just so unique - these massive mountains, sloping right down into the sea, with beautiful rock beaches, and strange weathering events, such as "Thunder Hole," where the sea waves slam into these eroded tunnels in the rock with a loud crash.  We knew we wanted to spend a day or two at Acadia next week, so today we just ventured into the close by touristy town of Bar Harbor, strolled the shops some, and found some yummy ice cream.

However, we encountered the BEST surprise ever, as we reached Bar Harbor - a B-17 giving rides.  Mr. Geraghty yelled, "Stop the car!"  I was driving, so I pulled in and parked. It was in between rides, so people could walk around the plane and even walk through it. It was a stroll down memory lane for Mr. Geraghty, as he had worked on them during the war at a base in England. Matter of fact, the men who worked on the plane kidded around with him that they could really use his expertise. Only you knew that they were not kidding.  

One of my favorite things about traveling?  You just never know what you will find around the next  bend - like this.






(Saleen LOVES B-17's!)


Next, we walked through Bar Harbor:


(That's the ocean at the end of the street)


(Very large yachts visit here)



After Bar Harbor, we headed back, and Keith and I took off to the annual Lobster Festival in Rockland.  We have visited it several times before, and always enjoy the music in the evening, but especially the main event - LOBSTER!  Or as they say it up here, "Lob-stah."  It was the 67th festival, so this has been a tradition for quite a while!  I hate to keep saying it, but the weather is still PERFECT.  You really do need some long sleeves anytime you are near the water, because the breeze is chilly.  

When you first go into the Festival, there is a big map with a sign that says, "Where are you from?"  And it's fun to go by and see where everyone places their pins.  As we were putting ours in the map, a boy behind us said, 'Look, there's only one person from Arkansas!"  With that, we turned around, and said, "We're from Arkansas.  Now, there's two!"



We then made our way to the "Lobstah Tent", and placed our order for two single dinners.  Now, it's not the cheapest place to buy lobster, because you are paying for being at the festival, of course, so a single lobster dinner costs $15.  You could also buy twin lobster dinners, $27, or lobster with steamed clams, or lobster rolls, or lobster Caesar salads - you get the idea, just about anything with lobster in it.  It's ALL GOOD!  We sat at the picnic tables under a huge white tent by the water, and slurped down our lobster - because you dip it all in butter, so then it's very slurpy, and then headed over to the entertainment venue.  


We had not recognized the entertainment for tonight.  Originally, we were going to go Saturday night to the big headliner, which would have been the Winter Brothers, but unfortunately, Johnny Winter passed away last week.  Tonight, however, we were in for a treat.  Even though we didn't know it until he began singing.


We had the pleasure of hearing Dave Mallett, a very talented folk songwriter and performer, who has been at it since the mid-70's, and had written quite a few songs that had been made famous by other artists, especially this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m0LewjkO4s

I can't begin to tell you how many time I heard John Denver sing that.  Even the Muppets recorded it!  So it was  a pleasure to get to hear the man sing who had written it.
 
He was from Maine, and so had quite a local following.  All of his songs were really great, and his band was wonderful, especially his violin player.  His sons have a band (The Mallett Brothers), and they were the act that followed him.  They were pure, hard core country, and also very good, but way too loud for our ears, and we had to eventually move away from the speakers.  It was deafening!

And now, a flash back to 1980. Does it get any better than the Muppets AND John Denver?




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