Searsport Shores

Hank and I just got home after a quiet week of camping at our favorite place...Searsport Shores in mid-coast Maine. Camping with kids is fun but camping for two is much more relaxed and we loved it. Here is a photo I took from our campsite on our first morning in Searsport:

And one of our campsite from the beach...

Some of the oceanfront sites - on Penobscot Bay - even have decks!

Every time we ride past the "Bait's Motel", I laugh. This time I asked Hank to stop so I could take this photo...remember Psycho??? (I wonder if anyone dares take a shower at the "Bait's Motel"?)

We stopped at a little antique shop in Orland, Maine...I loved the window.

The major event at Searsport Shores this week was the "Grand Opening" of the campground's new dog park...a big fenced in area where all the camp dogs get to run off-leash. Hank helped install the fence and I volunteered to paint the sign. Below are Astrig and Steve, our hosts, and their dog...the first to try it out.

All of the campers were invited to bring their dogs to the Grand Opening...this lady has a great sense of humor! (Astrig and Steve did serve hot dogs at the event, but this one was spared...)

We took an afternoon to drive up to the new (2006) Penobscot Narrows bridge, which crosses the Penobscot River to connect Prospect and Bucksport. It's an amazing sight when you drive along through the country and then come upon this view. The bridge was designed as an emergency replacement for the Waldo-Hancock Bridge (which was built in 1931 and started to corrode in 2003...) and from conception to completion, just 42 months elapsed. Before 1931, the only way to cross the river without driving all the way to Bangor was by ferry.

This is from the Maine Dept. of Conservation website:

A one-minute ride on the fastest elevator in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont will take you to the Penobscot Narrows Observatory, the first bridge observation tower in the United States and the tallest public bridge observatory in the world. The others are in China, Slovakia and Thailand. The observatory opened in May 2007 and has proved to be a very popular attraction. The beauty of the Penobscot River and surrounding countryside is immediately apparent as the elevator door slides open to a dizzying view from 420 feet up. Ascend two more levels up to find 360 degrees views, complete with identification panels showing you how to locate nearby mountains, lakes and towns.
Here is a view from the observatory of the old bridge (left) and the new bridge (right).

I took this photo looking up the Penobscot River toward Penobscot Bay...Searsport would be off to the right in the distance.

View of Bucksport from the top of the bridge.

Friday night sunset...our last night at Searsport Shores...taken from our site.

Tomorrow Robert, Tomomi, Takanori and Toshinori arrive for ten days with us so we'll switch gears and get ready for more lively fun. Among the plans: swim in the pool, rebuild the treehouse, lots of visiting, lots of cooking, and more photos for the blog. I think my quiet days of reading by the ocean might be over for awhile!