Post 7 of 17
Day 15: Albany to Portland, Maine - 271 Miles
Today will see us pass through 4 states. Man, they be little out here.
Target #1 today is
Albany, NY - the state capital. Been hearing about Albany all my life, it seems. Plus, they have a not so standard looking statehouse.
We cross the Hudson, again (#6) and approach on the S. Mall Arterial.
We find the capitol grounds and park near
Chancellor Hall, the New York State Education Building. The 36 Corinthian columns form the longest colonnade in the US.
The capitol is just across the street - completed in 1899 after 30 years of construction. The building is in a Romanesque style. Completely unique to any capitol we've ever seen.
The first floor has paintings of all the governors. A literal who's who of American politics. Four of New York's governors have become President.
William H. Seward: Governor of New York, US Senator, Secretary of State under Lincoln and Johnson. Negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7 million in 1867. (Seward's Folly. Who's laughing now?)
Theodore Roosevelt: Governor of New York, Vice President to McKinley, President of US
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Governor of New York, President of the US. 5th cousin, once removed from Theodore Roosevelt.
The grand staircase
Reception room
It's a nice day outside and we explore the
Empire State Plaza. New York must have a helluva bureaucracy, because there are office towers everywhere.
Agency Buildings
The Egg - a performing arts venue
Alfred E. Smith State Office Building - Criminal Justice Center
The streets near the capitol
We run 10 miles north up to Cohoes, home of
Cohoes Falls on the Mohawk River. The falls created power for several mills, some of which have subsequently been turned into lofts.
We cross the Mohawk River to Waterford and stop at the eastern terminus of the
Erie Canal. The canal tapped in to the Hudson River here and was built to become the first navigable waterway that would connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes above Niagara Falls. It is 351 miles long and was constructed between 1817 and 1825 - all dug without any of today's modern construction equipment. Just imagine the toxic masculinity. Pictures are at the blue dot.
Time to continue our journey east. We follow rolling countryside and pass through
Hoosick, NY - pop. 6,700.
And just like that, we're in
Vermont
Bennington is a pretty little town with the
Bennington Battle Monument, a 306 foot high stone obelisk commemorating the August 1777 Battle of Bennington during the Revolutionary War.
We pass through
Wilmington, VT
And end up in
Brattleboro, VT - along the New Hampshire border - for lunch at the Vermont Country Deli.
Brattleboro is another charming small New England town of about 12,000 and after a quick tour we cross the Connecticut River into New Hampshire - our 3rd state today, and it's only 2 o'clock. We then push on to Concord, the state capital, 90 minutes away.
Main Street, Concord NH
The New Hampshire Statehouse - built 1819
We go inside to look around and meet our new best friend - a man who enthusiastically grabs us and shows us around the whole place.
New Hampshire Senate - 24 Members
New Hampshire House - 400 Members, largest house of representatives of any state. Pennsylvania is a distant 2nd at only 203 members. We saw the Governor, Kelly Ayotte, finishing up a meeting.
Outside is a statue of
Christa Mcauliffe, a teacher from Concord who was aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger
Gotta scoot again - next up is
Portsmouth, NH - about an hour away.
We actually run through Portsmouth real quick and we stop by the stately
Wentworth By The Sea, a historic grand resort hotel in nearby New Castle. It was originally built in 1874. In 1905, the hotel housed the Russian and Japanese delegations who signed the Treaty of Portsmouth, thus ending the Russo-Japanese War. US President Theodore Roosevelt had suggested and facilitated the peace talks and won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing so.
We loop around
New Castle Island
Across the
Piscataqua River sits the former
Portsmouth Naval Prison. It is on the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard grounds and was in use between 1908 and 1974. Been empty since.
We head to the harbor to look for a seafood dinner of some kind. And it's only 6 o'clock. Found it.
The harbor
Now all we gotta do is make our way to
Portland, Maine. It's about 7:00, but we are still an hour away. I was going to take Hwy 1 and wander through Kennebunkport, but I-95 called. Tomorrow is an early start and we've seen Kennebunkport, although it was in 2004.
After getting to the hotel and looking ahead to tomorrow's 390 mile day, it was time to call an audible at the line. The goal tomorrow was Saint John, New Brunswick. Then we'd go up to the Bay of Fundy the next day and over to Halifax. But, if we did the rocky coast of Maine tomorrow, I'm realizing it would be extremely slow going. Plus, I'm at 9,300 miles with an oil change due. I had made an appointment for an 8:00 AM oil change tomorrow at BMW of Westbrook, conveniently less than a mile from the hotel. But, you never know how long they are going to take.
So, I scratched Saint John and moved up tomorrow's stop to Bangor, Maine - thus cutting the mileage from 390 to 203. 390?? What was I even thinking back in March? But, that means the next day becomes 460 miles (also unacceptable) so we brilliantly decided to catch the ferry across the Bay of Fundy from Saint John to Nova Scotia, cutting the driving distance down to a manageable 338. The hotel in Saint John was cancelled and rebooked to Bangor and reservations made for the ferry. It would only be a 3 hour drive to the dock in the morning, for a 1:15 check-in and 2:15 departure.
It was the only change we made on the entire trip.
Portland, Maine
Total Miles: 4,611
Daily Avg: 307 Miles
Day 16: Portland to Bangor, Maine - 203 Miles
The oil change goes off without a hitch (Thank you Adam & BMW of Westbrook) and we are able to leave the hotel by 9:30. We head over to South Portland and the Portland Head Lighthouse. We get there by 10, and it is a glorious morning. I skooch up next to a bro.
We are obviously in Maine now
The
Portland Head Light sits on a headland at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor. It was originally constructed in 1791 at the direction of George Washington.
We then head over to Commercial Street on the Portland bayfront. Including my hometown, this is the 3rd Portland I've been in on this trip. It is also the Portland my city was named after when two guys decided to name the fledgling western town in 1845. Asa Lovejoy, from Massachusetts, wanted Boston. Francis Pettygrove, from Maine, wanted Portland. They decided to toss a coin. Two out of three flips later and there was a Portland on the West Coast.
We look around downtown some more, but traffic is heavy and parking is scarce. We hit the road.
We scoot up the coast through
Brunswick, then on to
Bath for lunch. We stop at the Taste of Maine in search of lobster rolls. They might have some.
The view of the
Sasanoa River during lunch.
Man......2 lobster rolls, Caesar salad and a coupla soft drinks - $79.12, all in. Sheesh.
Bath is the home of
Bath Iron Works, a major shipyard. It has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics since 1995, one of the world's largest defense contractors. It has built dozens of destroyers and frigates for nearly 150 years.
Next door to the Bath Iron Works is the
Maine Maritime Museum
One of the ships built nearby was the
Wyoming, a wooden schooner built to transport coal from the Mid Atlantic to Northern ports. It was 450 long and launched in 1909.
A WWII destroyer from Bath Iron Works next door.
The Wyoming to scale with flag poles as masts
The Bath Iron Works
A little further up the road we pass through
Wiscasset, the Prettiest Village in Maine. You'll have to take the sign's word for it.
Certainly the prettiest car in Maine right now. Maybe ever.
Another 9 miles up Hwy 1 brings us to New Castle and we turn directly south toward Pemaquid Point and their lighthouse.
The Pemaquid Point Lighthouse was commissioned by President John Adams and built in 1827.
The rocky coast of Maine
The dopes used salt water in the mortar mix, it began to crumble, and had to be replaced only eight years later in 1835.
The Atlantic Coast - a long way from home.
Nearby cottages
It's about 4 o'clock and we have to head toward Bangor, still 2 1/2 hours away on slow roads along the coast. We pass through
New Harbor
Then wind our way through
Rockland, Rockport and Belfast, still on Hwy 1. We don't spend much time, having stayed in Rockport and Belfast back in 2004.
Just beyond Belfast we reach the Penobscot Narrows on the Penobscot River and look at the
Penobscot Narrows Bridge. Penobscot is just fun to say. Give it a try.
The bridge is a 2,120' cable stayed design and opened in 2006, replacing the Waldo-Hancock Bridge built in 1931. If you are in to bridges, it's quite the looker. I am.
30 minutes later, at 7:15, we finally reach the hotel. And I was going to do another 200 miles today. Yeah, sure.
There's a Denny's across the street and since we had a late ($79) lunch, we just opt for the giant hot fudge brownie dessert. Pretty good, for 8 bucks.
Halifax...................Tomorrow. Unreal. This is going to happen.
Bangor, Maine
Total Miles: 4,814
Daily Avg: 301 Miles