Our first stop of the day was the Penobscot Narrows Observatory located in Prospect, ME. The Observatory is in the top of one of the bridge supports. It is the only bridge observatory in the western hemisphere and one of four in the world. The others are in China, Slovakia and Thailand. It is also the tallest in the world. It is 420 feet tall with an elevator will take you to the 400 foot mark in 50 seconds. This floor is referred to as “the second floor”. When the door opens you are looking through floor to ceiling glass four feet from the door. If you are afraid of heights, it takes a few seconds before you can step out the door. After you exit the elevator, you climb an additional two floors to get to the 420 feet level. In this room, you have a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. The elevator is equipped with a seismic alarm. If an earthquake occurs, the elevator will immediately stop, if ascending, and return to the bottom floor where it locks itself out and shuts down. The down side of that is if you are on the top floor when it happens, you get to walk down the steps, all 420 feet. Note the windows at the top of the tower. Cheryl decided the safest place to be in the tower room was in the center away from the windows!!
These are the two bridges across the river. The old bridge, on the left, opened in 1931. During a bridge inspection by DOT in 2003, they discovered severe corrosion in the support cables. The weight limit was immediately reduced from 100,000 pounds to 24,000 pounds and plans were started on a new bridge. Just 42 months later, in June, 2007, the new bridge opened. 
You are looking down on the bridge. There is only one lane in each direction.
Our next stop, which is right beside the bridge, was Fort Knox. This photo was taken from the observatory.
The fort was constructed between 1844 and 1864. It was never occupied, although 500 troops from Connecticut were stationed there during the Spanish-American War. They lived outside the fort in large tents.
It takes 2-3 hours to go through all the tunnels, rooms and passageways of the fort. Most of the cannons are gone and the furnishings are minimal but you can feel the fort talking to you. Each room has a story to tell.
This is the powder magazine. It has just received a new floor and walls.
Each step of the spiral staircases (two of them) is cut from one piece of granite. Even the piece that makes up the support column is part of the step.
The drill field in the center of the fort has rooms under it that were designed for food storage. Note the air vents on the right side of the field.
Tomorrow we will be going to Hartford, CT to ride the carousel in Bushnell Park, and then to the New England Carousel Museum in Bristol, CT. 
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