Friday, May 15
It was a bit hazy when we left Mark and Diane’s house – shortly after 6:00 AM.
Our destination was Northern Maine Community College where our grandson Hezekiah would be graduating with an Associate Degree in Diesel Hydraulics Technology on Saturday morning.
New leaves were beginning to fill in the brown branches of these northern trees.
Cerwin and I were in the middle seats as the four of us traveled in their van.
Our first stop was Dysart’s Truck Stop for breakfast – a popular eating place near Bangor.
Somewhere north of Bangor and south of Houlton, we could see Mount Katahdin to our west.
It is the highest mountain in Maine at 5,270 feet.
Heading toward Houlton on Route 95 is a comfortable drive because there is little traffic and lots of trees.
It is a popular trucking route on the east coast.
After Houlton, we headed northwest on Route 1.
Mark stopped in Mars Hill to visit a friend.
My view from the van while we waited for Mark.
There were a lot of vacant buildings in this part of town.
This man seemed to be checking out one of the vacancies.
We were not far from the Canadian border as we traveled Route 1 and thought this mountain range was probably in Canada.
I am fascinated by old buildings and vehicles.
I would enjoy hearing the story of this car.
We reached our destination about 12:45 PM – just in time to have a late lunch with Heze in the college cafeteria.
I noticed two old trucks as we traveled to a U-Haul rental business to pick up a trailer for some of Heze’s possessions.
Then we went back to Houlton to pick up a motorcycle that Heze acquired – by trading it for his old Chevy.
By the time we got back to Presque Isle we were ready for supper.
I was delighted that fiddleheads were in season, and ordered this appetizer so everyone could taste them.
From the internet: Fiddleheads are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond.
My other favorite Maine delicacy is lobster – and lobster stew is something I often order when in this northeastern state.
They know how to make it here. I am not sure that I ever had a better lobster stew.
This was my personal order of fiddleheads. They were cooked in a sweet/sour sauce, and were delicious.
I could not leave this restaurant – after eating two of my favorite Maine foods – without taking this picture. 🙂
To the right of the sign were pictures of every Maine governor with a few stories. (Remember the name of the restaurant is Governor’s.)
After supper, Heze took us to his favorite fishing place in Presque Isle.
If I remember correctly, this is Aroostook River.
It was a beautiful evening and I have many more pictures.
I will post them the next evening I have internet service – which may be Saturday night.
That’s quite a bit of driving, but I do remember that the roads in Maine were lovely country roads! I can’t do lobster these days, but the fiddlehead ferns look delicious! Congratulations to Hezekiah!
It was a lot of driving, but I love road trips.
My mother was born in Maine, and a lot of her relatives lived there. My cousin grew up near Mt. Katahdin. I’ve heard of fiddleheads all my life, but never had the opportunity to taste them. Are they a certain kind of fern?
I do not know the answer to your question. Maybe you can Google it. They have the texture of asparagus.
I think I am gonna just have to envy you those fiddleheads! Sounds scrumptious!
We saw people gathering them as we neared Presque Isle, so I was delighted when the restaurant we chose was serving them. According to the waitress, it was the first day this spring that they were on the menu.