Lobster Rolls, Fiddleheads and Black Flies

We had been warned from several people about Black Fly season here in Maine. We bought head nets, and some very sophisticated Thermacell insect repellant. We had heard that the flies bite and are very painful. As soon as we got to the park and stepped out of the truck the flies were all over. They are very annoying but so far, they don’t seem to be interested in biting us, just flying into our face, ears, and nose. Of course, our head nets and Thermacell’s were in the RV!

[Black flies: Bites are shallow, and accomplished by first stretching the skin using teeth on the labrum and then abrading it with the maxillae and mandibles, cutting the skin and rupturing its fine capillaries. Feeding is facilitated by a powerful anticoagulant in the flies' saliva].

We spent a couple of hours this morning with the Park Manager as he showed us our job duties.

Then, this evening we went to a wonderful restaurant in Presque Isle called The Governor’s.

Mark tried a lobster roll for the first time. It was really good. I, of course, had fried shrimp.


The lobster is very sweet.

We had been seeing Fiddleheads for sale along the roadway and when we got to the restaurant they had Fiddleheads as a choice of vegetable. We tried them. They were interesting. They sort of smelled like cabbage and broccoli and fresh mowed grass. They tasted a little like broccoli. I didn’t care for them but Mark liked them okay.

[Fiddleheads, also known as fiddlehead ferns, are a springtime delicacy consisting of the tightly coiled unfurled fronds of a new fern, named because of their resemblance to the curled decoration at the end of a stringed instrument].


Fiddleheads - just add vinegar and eat.

Presque Isle is a really nice little town about 5 miles from Aroostook State Park. We’ll have plenty of time to explore the area in the next three months.