A trip up north and an awesome chance

Earlier this evening my husband and I were discussing a possible summer vacation, and he mentioned going to Maine for a lobster festival later this summer. Given that both of us love seafood, this sounded like a fun idea to me. I had said something to him a while back about taking a trip that doesn’t involve roller coasters and would include something that we both can enjoy. So, we have begun to make plans for this upcoming trip. Then I got to thinking about what other things we might want to do while in the area, as the festival will only encompass part of our time. I have no doubt there will be plenty of opportunity for sight seeing.

But then, after we made our decision, I got to thinking about something, of which I had read about some time ago. Could it be, might it just be that this attraction is within a reasonable driving distance from our chosen destination? I got really excited by the thought of being able to visit this site, if indeed it was close enough. So later on I checked a map and lo and behold it is within an hour’s drive! Yes! When I had seen this place on a website I thought it sounded like a neat place to go, but, because of its location (being in Maine and not being anywhere near an amusement park) I figured I’d never see it in person. This particular attraction is apparently rather unique, being the only such observation tower of its kind in the US. What makes it unique is not its height of 440 feet, which is taller than the Statue of Liberty, yet not as high as the Washington Monument. Its geographical location isn’t unique either, as it is set on the shore of a river. But what does set this observation tower apart from other such structures is that it is housed within a bridge tower. And not just any bridge, but one of those sinister sorts that was chiseled from the same gore spattered hunk of concrete, figuratively saying, as the Tampa Skyway demon. A monstrous and evil-looking chip off the old bloody block, so to speak. There are several of these creepy bridges in existence in the US, and some are little known, like the Varina-Enon Bridge in Virginia, and the William Roth Bridge in Delaware. Likewise, few probably have heard of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge located in the town of Prospect, Maine. I never did until I started looking around after the demise of the Key Bridge. This one stuck out to me because visitors can ride an elevator to the very top of one of the towers to enjoy the 360 degree view. Going up into a bridge tower would be totally awesome! Well, unless of course it is the Tampa Skyway monster. I’d likely be too afraid to want to enter its structure, even if I was presented with the opportunity. Because that’s the only bridge that I’m kind of scared of. But I can access the tower of this Maine bridge, and while it’s not the Skyway, it is one of Frankenstein Incorporated Ghoul Gallery’s monsters. That would be like if you could go back in time and take a dinosaur safari. So, maybe you weren’t able to see a T-rex, but you did manage to spy an allosaurus.

And, being that this Maine monster is a “relative” of Tampa’s highway from Hell, it also has a dark history. This is so despite its shorter stature and seemingly less lethal heights, with a river clearance of only 135 feet. But its sinister pedigree brings the darkness upon it, as it does with the Skyway. Since its inception almost 20 years ago, it has facilitated the loss of dozens of lives. And like so many others of its rapacious kind, plans are afoot to rein it in and permanently bind it in chain link. In fact, I may see this bloody monster’s new “muzzle” when I visit later this summer. I’m sure seeing that will creep me out and make me feel most uneasy. But none the less, I will still visit this metal and concrete monster and take advantage of the opportunity to ascend its tower and look upon the rest of its structure from high above. It will be a wonderful opportunity to add yet another set of pictures (and writings) to my ever expanding bridge bestiary.