Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - Catching up and Visiting a few sites in Bangor, ME

Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - Catching up and Visiting a few sites in Bangor, ME

The alarm on my phone (downstairs in the living area) woke me up this morning.  It's rare that I'm not up before it goes off.  I slept VERY well last night.  I left my window cracked just a little to allow the cool breeze in - perfect for snuggling down in the covers.  Best way to sleep!  (Tip:  I like to just leave the window open a small amount - ours our not the push out, but the kind you have to physically push up and lock in to the side notches.  Sometimes that is too much air, especially on a really cool evening.  We have found that a wine cork works perfect to hold the window up the perfect height to allow just the right amount of air in on those cooler evenings.)

After turning the coffee on, then putting another load of clothes in the washing machine I did my neck and back exercises.  By then my coffee was ready.  I've been doing these exercises almost daily and can tell a big difference in both my neck and lower back.  The exercises are easy to do, take about 15 minutes and have been worth every bit of effort.

After breakfast, I started making calls to the next three campgrounds we hoped to stay at and we are now guaranteed a place to stay for 8 more days once we leave here on Saturday.  

I also made an appointment to get my hair cut.  I did not have any success in Bar Harbor or Lubec in finding a place that was open or bothered to call me back when I left a message, so now I am desperate to get it done.  I feel like a shaggy dog.  I now have an appointment at 9:00 am tomorrow and I can't wait!

Of course laundry still needed to be done along with a few other things I've needed time to take care.  We needed a few groceries.  Hannaford Grocery is just a short distance away and since we needed bread for our lunch we needed to go this morning.

After lunch, we were ready to get out for a little while.  I found two things on Trip Advisor that sounded interesting and yet wouldn't require a lot of time.  

Now, I am not a Stephen King fan, of his books or his movies.  I do not enjoy anything about movies like that, however, I knew he lived here in Bangor, and his address is clearly available on Trip Advisor.  So we drove by and I took a few pictures.  

Notice the bats, spiders and webs incorporated into the gate.

More interesting items incorporated into the fence and gate here.  I was surprised the gate was open, and unfortunately with it open it's difficult to see the details.

This is the far side yard from the house - see the green frog.

I was surprised how large the house was as we drove past and I was able to see how far it extended into the back yard.

I read in one of the comments of Trip Advisor that a number of his books are based on things in or around Bangor, one of them being "The Pet Cemetery" which leads into...... 

The second place I wanted to visit was Mount Hope Garden Cemetery, the second oldest garden cemetery in the United States.  The thing that caught my eye about this choice was comments on Trip Advisor about how beautiful it was.....and it did not disappoint.  

I loved this tiered look

One of the most interesting monuments we saw.

Just left of center you can see Penobscot River if you enlarge the picture to its original size.

This cemetery is a very serene and welcoming place.  We were surprised at the number of people walking there.  It was laid out beautifully with gorgeous trees and shrubs.  There were many amazing monuments all over, and the layout was different than anything I've ever seen.  

After we returned to Bentley I did a little research on the cemetery and discovered they have a walking tour.  While I would have loved to have taken the tour, it began to rain while we were there.  Here is a link to the explanation of a garden cemetery, which I found very interesting.  

By the way I did read there is a section within the cemetery that was used in the filming of "The Pet Cemetery", based on the book by the same name authored by King; however, we did not look for it.

This picture is of a limb Dean noticed in a tree just a few houses from Stephen King's - neither of us remember seeing a limb as long as this one was, growing straight out from a tree like this.

That is one long branch growing horizontally from the trunk....maybe he's related to the wooden boy Pinocchio?

A couple of other pics I took before we made it to the cemetery 

As we crossed the Penobscot River.

I thought this was probably an old train station - but the sign indicates it was (or is) the water works building, dated 1857. 

A couple more pictures we took after leaving the cemetery:

This mural was painted by students to celebrate the 200th anniversary of either Brewer or Bangor.  The cities are each located on a side of the river and I can't remember which side this mural belonged to.

Nice view from the bridge over the Penobscot River.

We headed back to Bentley where I continued my quest to get more of the laundry done, and to work on today and yesterday's blog posts.  It was cool and wet out so taco soup was on the menu for tonight and it really hit the spot.  I also cooked two pounds of sausage which I will freeze in 1/4 and 1/2# packages.  We use it for breakfast burritoes and making pizzas. It's really convenient having it pre-cooked for both of those meals.

With that, it is now 9:30 and I am close to finishing this post up.  Thanks to all of you who follow our blog, and a special thank you to those who make comments.  I really love hearing from each of you.