Tags
Bangor ME, Burlington VT, Kennebec River, Lake Champlain, Muskie Memorial, Penobscot River, Rumford Falls, The Bearded Frog, Vermont Teddy Bear Factory
We left Ellsworth to turn westward having put 4,500 miles on van during our quest for the Eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The fog had receded greatly, and the sun was peeking through.
Our destination today is Burlington, Vermont which is near the Vermont Teddy Bear factory in Shelburne. I am a teddy bear fanatic and have received and given many of the Vermont bears…they are so unique. On each bear’s carrying box there’s a message saying if the box is upside down, the bear inside has a headache! It makes me feel good just thinking about it.
We stopped by Bangor where Eddie lived while he trained for Search and Rescue and got some great photos of the Penobscot River and a lovely park on the harbor. Eddie was even able to remember where he lived 51 years ago!
On to Skowhegan and a nice view of the spillway into the Kennebec River. That picture I got, but their city park was amazing and I didn’t get that one. I did see the rich green lawn and a wonderful pond surrounding a fountain and full of lily pads.
Multiple rivers later and a scenic lunch in a Walmart parking lot since there were no restaurants to be found, we came to Rumford, ME and Rumford Falls at the Muskie Memorial. What a sight for our AZ eyes to behold. An added attraction was the presence of Paul Bunyan and Babe. Had we known, we could have picnicked there beside the shores of the Androscoggin River. How’s that for a mouthful?
We’ve returned to the mountains…Green Mts, White Mts, Adirondack Mts. in the distance, even Barker Mt…everything is green and full of moisture. We found a marvelous covered bridge from 1872. It spanned a peaceful burbling stream bordered in greenery. If I were to take a picture of even half the mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, puddles that we’ve seen today, they would fill pages and pages.
Dropping down, down, down from the Green Mts. to Burlington and Lake Champlain, it was decided that we were too close to the Teddy Bear factory not to get a picture of Aviator Bear’s (another story) birthplace. What a neat place. Even though it was closed, it was still fun to follow the bear prints all around the area.
The traffic was atrocious going the short 10 miles back to Burlington, and we were weary from a long day on a twitting, scenic highway. Because of all our stops we had stretched a 5 hour drive to more like 10 hours. A discussion was held and consensus reached that we would stop for dinner and hope everyone got home before we had to get back on the road.
Restaurant pickins were slim around the Bear factory; I guess the bears don’t eat out much. We came upon The Bearded Frog and decided, what the heck. As it turned out, it was a wonderful little bar and grill with a very sophisticated menu. Eddie and I had duck, which neither of us had eaten for years, and Marty had pork. We took our time enjoying the ambiance, saved DillyDog some duck and by the time we headed out, the traffic was light. We arrived at our hotel and settled in no time.
Another good day, too long we decided, but wonderful all the same.