Bridge of Creams

Stone Mountain in the Burnt Meadow Mountain Range

A long weekend usually means a road trip for us. I thought it might be nice to get pictures of a covered bridge with fall foliage and we both wanted to take advantage of Maine Open Creamery Day.

Still in use, though not a lot of color in the surrounding trees.

Both bridges use the Paddleford Truss system.

Parsonsfield-Porter Bridge had more color around it

the goats liked to be scratched

We checked the maps for covered bridges and the map for participating farms in Open Creamery Day and figured out a possible combination. Going west and then south would allow us to get two bridges and at least one creamery, depending on the timing.

Of course, in the glacial carved landscape of Maine, there is no such thing as a straight line. Lakes and mountains keep you zig-zagging all over the place.

The entire day was heavily overcast in spite of the weather report of clearing skies. But the lack of good light didn't stop us from enjoying our meandering drive through the spectacular fall foliage.

We got to both bridges, and through luck, got to Flying Goat Farm just half an hour before official close of the open house. We also stopped at some yard sales and a bookstore.

Overall, a very pleasant day.

Carrie has an eager fan

click on a pic to get a better view

Monday Morning Sunday River

interesting gnarled branches abounded

 Two weekends of rain, plus plenty of it on weekdays, meant our yard was becoming lush and green.  Memorial Day turned out to be a warm and sunny day and we both had it off so it was a great day to do yard work. Or go on a road trip!

Keith did not jump

Scenic Carrie

wooden and sun beams

 We chose an inland destination knowing full well that most people would be heading for the ocean. Not too far away was what is often called the Artists' Covered Bridge as it is thought to be the most photographed and painted, Sunday River Covered Bridge in Newry Maine. The main route to it is designated on our maps as a scenic route and would go through areas I had not photographed post offices in. Close to the end, and easily encompassed in looping back toward home, were a couple of big sales (one yard, one plant) that Carrie found listed online, so we were in total agreement on the itinerary.

 The drive was indeed scenic and we took our leisure on it, stopping at a few yard sales and a couple of book stores. Rumford's downtown is on an island, where the post office, a nice bookstore, and a few buildings with interesting fiddly bits were located. At these stops we bought a bunch of books, postcards of small towns in the area, some Dell comics, accessories for our existing toys, and more.

fiddly bits

why did this catch my eye?

some of the books

Best find was at the first bookstore we stopped at. They had an outside tent with all books under it being a buck apiece. I saw one of the yearbooks the Post Office puts out about their commemorative stamp program. I never was interested in paying the fifty bucks asked for to get a fancy hardcover fluff piece, but for a dollar I figured it might be nice just to see. I reached for the book and noticed there were several. Well, I was willing to pay one dollar for one, but didn't really want to invest more in books I knew wouldn't give me much information I didn't already have. I started wondering if I was even willing to spend the single dollar. But then I saw one of the books still had the set of stamps originally included with it. I looked through all five of the books, three had the stamps. I invested the three dollars and bought them. When I got home I tallied up the face value of the stamps and found I got almost $65 worth of stamps for those three I spent! And since they were mostly thirty-four and thirty-seven cent stamps, I will be able to use them as the postcard rates go up in the future.

NOT burning bridges

Kemmer's hat admires the bridge

 Kemmer came up for a few days and we did our usual go out to a new oriental restaurant for a holiday dinner trip. We thought we knew where it was, but were not finding it. Carrie called them and when I heard "next to the post office" I didn't need any further directions. For some reason. The restaurant turned out to be mediocre, so we'll not be back again.

 Afterward we went to see our first covered bridge since moving to Maine. Babbs Bridge is over the Presumpscot River and judging from the graffiti, is quite popular. To one side are a couple of ropes and a launch platform.

 The Google Satellite view of the bridge showed a couple of kayaks, and Carrie exclaimed "Kayakers waiting to dive for quarters!" We were disappointed we didn't see any waiting for us. But heartened that one showed up as we were leaving, albeit too late for us to toss quarters.

A couple keen on photography

Will Carrie swing into the water?