Stonington

Clear skies and warm greeted a long driving day.  

We started with breakfast at a BBQ joint called Mainely Meat.   Outside seating and all,   I had to explain to the cook what I wanted and he really delivered:  sauteed spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes with baked beans and grits.  Ummm. 

That was before we figured out that the phone GPS had lost its mind and we were totally dependant on an old fashioned highway map.  Too bad the highway numbers on the map didn't match the signs we were seeing.  So we did a lot of guessing whether we were here or there on the map.  Eventually we figured it out. 

 

The photo doesn't quite capture how steep the road into Stonington was.  Don't worry, there was a guardrail. 

 

Jerry liked the boats.  I had to change into shorts and a t-shirt.  First time this trip!

Stonington is a granite town.  They quarry granite from nearby Crotch Island. 

Isn't this pretty?  The name of the street was "Pink Street".  And we found a hotel with a room called "Lewis R. French", which just happens to be the name of our boat.  

Main Street is maybe 3 blocks long, but we found lunch and a "Granite Museum" with a 10 minute narrated diorama of a day in the life of a quarry worker.  They get up, ride the barge to the island, work all day for 15 cents an hour, ride the barge back, and then buy beer for 15 cents a mug.  You know, the usual.  Most of the quarries went out of business when cement and asphalt came around.  But they still quarry Crotch Island. 

I had found a reference to an old quarry with trails.  We looked for it, found the address, but it wasn't a quarry so we gave up looking for it.  I was concerned that the 2 hours listed to get from Stonington to our hotel was going to be exaggerated, and it was already after 2.

Just out of Penobscot we crossed this gorgeous bridge.  And we noticed a sign for Fort Knox.  Well, we had to check that out, and yep, it was the first Fort Knox.  They started building it just after the Revolution to protect the upriver settlements, but didn't have funding.  It was supposed to have 270 cannon, but they never got more than 70 going.  Their claim to fame was the "hot shot".  They heated the cannonballs in a furnace so when they hit the British wooden ship it would start it on fire.  Then those tricky British figured out steel clad boats and it didn't work so great anymore. So the fort was never finished...

We found Belfast, which I had considered staying overnight, but there really wasn't anything there.  The award wining gourmet vegetarian restaurant closed at 5, and the plants in the windows were dead.  We continued on.

Which brings us to  dinner.  Jerry spotted a "Lobster Pound" which started a "discussion" whether it was pound like 16 ounces or pound like pond, where you store the lobster.  I lost this one, I owe him a large Hershey bar.  It's like pond.

Tonight he chose clam chowder, and I had a spinach salad with pear and walnuts and a wine reduction (which tasted like a candy sauce).  Wasn't much of a dinner, good thing we have emergency rations.

About here the GPS miraculously started to work again (perhaps we had been out of range?), and guided us directly to our hotel, 7 pm.

Tomorrow we board the boat.  So tonight everything comes out of suitcases and moves into duffel bags.  Everything that doesn't plug in, that is.