Eastern adventures - part one

Our adventure on the East coast continues. We managed to visit another famous lighthouse (did I mention we like lighthouses?), this one at Cape Elizabeth. Very nice location, nice weather, pity about the crowds.

Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse

 After that we headed further south towards Connecticut. Just before we left the state, we swung by Biddeford. I wanted to drop in and see the ultra-light gear manufacturer - Hyperlite Mountain Gear (HMG). I have one of their ultralight packs which is awesome, so couldn't pass up the opportunity to see where they were made. Picture a big open plan warehouse building, chocka with sewing machines, cutting tables, shelves of bits and bobs. The staff were very friendly and accommodating.
Although we enjoyed Maine for its natural beauty and slower pace of life, one overriding impression  is of the crap state of their roads. Potholes, bumps, uneven surfaces. One street even had exposed manhole covers sitting on top of the road, not flush with the road as we have them. They were like freakin landmines we had to avoid or risk damaging rims. Bizzare!

Connecticut was great, and very pretty. Lots of old buildings and farmhouses. You could tell there was history here. One light moment was our in-car nav-man (or woman in this case, nicknamed "Sally"). She had a tendency to pronounce some names with a wannabe sexy/husky voice, making us laugh every time we heard it. Sorry, I cannot replicate it here. Picture Marge Simpson's sisters' voices instead.

Whilst in Connecticut, we visited Hartford. The home of Colt firearms. Yes, that Colt. They had a display set up in the town museum, which was superb. Took lots of photos, but the glass cases made clear photography difficult and not everyone is a gun-nut, so only a couple here.

Some random state building in Hartford.

Colt-manufactured Gatling guns

 

A happy camper

After that, we got on a train bound for New York.