Moody’s has been steadily expanding on its Route 1 site since it was established. Descendants of the original owners still own and operate the diner. Reportedly two dozen family members still work in the business. I here’s a Moody’s cookbook available to purchase if you wish to repro duce some iconic dishes at home, and an adjacent gift shop carries all sorts of Maine memorabilia.
Any morn i ng of the week you wi 11 fi nd the counter and booths filled with locals catching up on news and gossip. Listen carefully and you might hear some classic Maine lingo and stories to go with the classic food. It’s a trip.
While there have been additions to the menu over the years to accommodate changing tastes, Moody’s traditional dishes are listed under “classics” on the menu. The menu pretty much covers the Maine food gamut, from lobster rolls and clam chowder to ham salad sandwiches and fried tripe. But you can also order a “By Thunder Burger” piled high and stuffed with onion rings.
The Penobscot Narrows Observatory, located at one end of the Penobscot Nar rows Bridge that connects the town of Prospect to Verona Island, is the first bridge observatory in the country, and at 420 feet, the tallest one in the world taller than the Statue of Liberty.
With its award winning, innovative design, the observatory offers a 360 degree view of the Penobscot River and surround ing environs. Hie 100-mile radius of visi bility means that on a clear day you can see Cadillac Mountain in Acadia, the Camden Hills, and even Katahdin. The 13 bv 25
Travel to Maine USA Photo Gallery
Aeach of the four glass walls to indicate direction and maps of the view.
The observatory is shaped like the Washington Monument and is built into one of the two major support structures for the 2,120 foot state of the art bridge that replaced the old Waldo Hancock Bridge in 2007. The fastest elevator in Northern New England wings you skyward 400 feet in under a minute, then there’s a climb of about three do/.en steps to the top.
Along with the sweeping overland vistas, the view of the Penobscot River running th rough a steep gorge d i red I v below the observatory is pretty impressive. When it opened in 2007 the observatory quickly became the midcoast’s most popu la r attraction. The observatory isopen May 1 to October 31 and shares admission with Fort Knox. Turn off Route I onto Route 174 on the south side of the bridge lor parking and admission. Additional parking is avail able along Route 1 across from the Route 174 intersection. Knock two off your list in the same day.
The $89-million bridge is a marvel of engineering and is one of only two bridges in the United States that employs a cradle system, meaning the cable strands are carried from the bridge deck inside long tubes called stays, eliminating the need to anchor the cable in the pylons.
The innovate design allows individual cable strands to be inspected, then removed and replaced if necessary, while other cable bridges require removing entire groups of cables at once. The cable-stay tubes are sealed and filled with super-pressurized nitrogen gas to help prevent corrosion.
