On the road: Just the two of us

After parting ways with extended family, we used Lake St. George State Park in Maine as a home base to explore more of Maine and reconnect with a friend from high school. We drove up to Bucksport and visited the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory - advertised as the tallest public bridge observatory in the world. The elevator rises at a blistering speed of 5 mph (about twice the speed of other elevators) to the observation deck 135 feet above the bridge. We could not resist the opportunity.

You can see the footings of the old bridge to the left.

If you squint, you might see Cadillac Mountain (Acadia NP) in the distance.

bronze compass rose in the floor of the observation deck

Our white van is in the middle of the photo

Another state capitol visit - State House in Augusta, Maine

looking up into the dome

Maine travel plaza on the interstate

We met Paul for dinner in Augusta and he gave us an autographed copy of his new book.

We stop at covered bridges on occasion. Here are a few...

We loved the rafters with bark still attached here.

Conway, NH

While we have visited hundreds of scenic locations in the U.S. and Canada, one of the best keeps drawing us back, time and time again. White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire, the Kancamagus Scenic Highway in particular. The "Kanc" runs from Consay to Lincoln, NH. This was our fourth visit in 9 years. We spent three days in the area, saw Mount Washington on a clearer day, drove through Bear Notch, Crawford Notch, Franconia Notch, and Pinkham Notch. We hiked to Sabbaday Falls again, too. I released some of both sisters' cremains into the Swift River at Rocky Gorge early one morning.

clear water and water-smoothed granite boulders

Cool pink granite dike running through the gray granite and into the river

Sabbaday Falls hike - the stream runs over a basalt intrusion that is softer than the granite and makes a 90 degree turn on its way down the mountain.