I didn’t make a lot of stops between Saint John and Ellsworth but I did stop for lunch in St. Stephen before I crossed the border back into the States. Lunch was in this awesome little diner called Carman’s Diner. I love diners. I think there is no better place to meet and understand the pulse and heartbeat of a town other than sitting in their local diner. The staff was so unbelievably friendly and the locals were chatty and welcoming. I think I sat with a smile on my face the whole time I was there. Lunch was a hot dog and fries! I love a good diner hot dog. I also checked out a few places in town before moving on especially down at the St Croix River and a little spot called the Ganong Nature Park. There was a larger area where you could hike and explore but I don’t do well with hiking. There was a huge farmer’s market going on the day I stopped and there were very few available spaces to park but I did find one down by the river. Not sure it was a legal spot but with fingers crossed I parked and walked away! No tickets on my car when I came back so I lucked out.
From St. Stephen I made my way into Calais to go across the border into ME with no fanfare. I did stop at a place in Alexander ME called Lawrence Lord’s Farm Museum. I drove by this catching some of it out of the corner of my eye so I had to turn around to do a little exploring. No one was around when I stopped and I would have loved to have spoken to someone to find out the history of this really cool spot!
The lady up above with the stop sign kind of cracked me up because she had a cigarette dangling out of her mouth so I wasn’t sure (since there was no traffic) if we were stopped so she could enjoy her cigarette or if she heard a rumor that traffic would be arriving soon from the other side.
Once I arrived in Ellsworth (I had never been there before though I had been to many of the nearby towns) I checked into my hotel…your basic Hampton Inn that was in a shopping plaza behind a restaurant if I remember correctly. After I settle in I decided to do a little exploring in the Bar Harbor area…I kind of got lost and though I had been to Bar Harbor before and since I had never before seen the area I ended up in.
I finally had to surrender Bar Harbor. Though I liked the area I was driving around it was not where I wanted to be and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to get where I wanted to go. Navigation on….I decided to head back towards Ellsworth for dinner. My younger son grew up in Maine and has a friend who lives up in this area and he owns a seafood restaurant. My son told me to check it out and tell his friend Clint I was “Mom” and Greg sent me to visit him. The restaurant is The Fishnet in Blue Hill ME. The food is sooooooo good! Clint was in the kitchen cooking when I asked the waitress if he was there and he seemed a bit shy but did reluctantly come out. It was nice to meet him and enjoy his food! Prices are reasonable and they do take credit cards.
After dinner I headed back to the hotel, loaded the days photos onto the laptop, watched a little TV and called it a day. Tomorrow I will be heading over to Rangely ME. It is where my step-mother grew up and after decades of listening to stories about growing up there and the family reunions she and my step-siblings attended I wanted to see this town for myself so be sure to come back to see my step-Mom’s childhood town.
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