We also added lots more pics to our picasa web album for this trip.
Sunday we awoke to more rain so got a tad wet while packing up to continue north up the coast. We had hoped to stop in Portland, but, unfortunately it continued to be a very rainy, blustery day. When we got to Portland we drove into the downtown area along the waterfront to see if we could find a restaurant for lunch. We found restaurants but absolutely nowhere to be able to park with the wee trailer and it was raining too darn hard to walk very far. So we continued on along highway US 1, passing numerous restaurants but nary a one with any kind of decent sized parking lot. Eventually we saw a sign pointing towards a marina and there were a couple of restaurant signs also pointing in that direction. We thought that a marina will definitely have turn around space so gave it a try. We came across a small "lobster hut" called The Fisherman's Catch AND there was room to park. Turned out to be an excellent choice for lunch of fish chowder and steamers for Kris and a clam chowder and crab cakes for Brian. Man, were they good. In this restaurant, they have very cute paper towel holders hanging over each table (note the roll of paper towels hanging below the lobster)...
It was still raining when we finished lunch so we continued up the coast to Freeport Maine and the Freeport/Durham KOA, our rest stop for the next two nights. It had been raining hard here as well so they found the best spot they could for us. She said that she could get us a bit closer to the restrooms but we would need hip waders to get into and out of the closer spots.... BUT... finally the rain let up!
After getting checked in we drove into Freeport to the giant L.L. Bean "campus". We had looked them up online and the hours for the campus were "open 24 hours", so we just assumed that it was their online store as they have an "outlet" store only a block away. NOT SO... 3 large buildings making up the campus, which is actually their flagship store, are all open 24 hours and apparently they are fairly busy all the time. They were definitely busy on this day! We picked up a few things most important of which was a pair of boots for Brian since his feet were wet all day. For dinner that night we just went across the main street to Linda Bean's Maine Kitchen and Topside Tavern where we had the usual couple of glasses of wine and excellent broiled Haddock for Kris and Lobster Stew for Brian.
Monday we drove a bit north on the coast to the city of Bath, home of Halcyon Yarn (so yes, a visit is required to this particular mecca!). By the time we arrived, in Bath, it was pretty much lunch time so we drove along the waterfront and found the Kennebec Tavern & Marina with a spacious deck overlooking the Kennebec River. Sitting on the deck here sure reminded us of the old town waterfront in Florence Oregon, looking out over the water and up at the bridge over the river...
A great setting for a lunch of chowder and fish tacos. After lunch Kris went to Halcyon Yarn and Brian walked down to the visitor center. Near the visitor center, but you can't really see very much, is the huge Bath Iron Works where they "specialize in the design, building and support of complex surface combatants for the US Navy" and their motto is "Bath Built is Best Built". In the picture above, on the far side of the bridge, you can see two of the large structures at the iron works.It would likely be quite cool to take one of their tours but the timing didn't work out for us on this day. We met up again back at Halcyon where Kris had a good look around at their outstanding selection of weaving, spinning, knitting, all-things-fibre stuff.. Actually, Kris was feeling a bit under the weather and came out empty handed. Brian insisted that she go back in and try again. You can't come to Halcyon Yarn and go away empty handed!
Late afternoon we drove back into Freeport to look at some of the other outlet stores that have been set up around the L.L.Bean complex. There are whacks of them. It must get crazy busy here in the summer! For dinner we took the path of least resistance and returned to Linda Bean's. We chatted with the waitress, a young student from the area who works at Linda Bean's for the summer. She confirmed that it does get crazy busy during the summer and from what she had heard there is about a two week period leading up to Christmas where it is even crazier. She said we came at about the best possible time, the lull before the storm! For dinner Kris just had to have the Haddock again while Brian tried the Lobster Pie, then we shared a piece of the famous Maine Blueberry Pie. All very tasty!
Tuesday we packed up and headed north along highway US 1 to Bar Harbor. (Pronounced Baa Haabaa). This part of the coast, when you are out near the water, reminds us so much of the northwest coast. The 3-4 hour drive goes through many small quaint little harborside towns with really cool old houses and architecture on display everywhere. For a rest stop and lunch break we drove down near the waterfront in Rockland and happened upon the small Landings Restaurant on one of the marinas. Beautiful spot with a nice shaded patio overlooking the marina and bay, and the haddock chowder, steamer clams and crab cakes were pretty good too...
Our destination for the day was the Timberland Acres RV Park in Trenton, about 15 minutes inland from Bar Harbor and the Acadia National Park. This is clearly a park where there are many seasonal residents. Many people are here for the summer and head south for the winter. The various trailers all around us are clearly there for the long term with just about all of them having attached decks and some with storage sheds etc. A home for the summer. Most, this one included, RV parks in this part of the USA are only open from around mid May to early October.
Since the beautiful 3-4 hour drive up the coast had expanded to about 6 hours, what with lunch and other sightseeing, it was early evening by the time we got settled. We decided to defer the drive into Bar Harbor until tomorrow, opting instead to find a place to have dinner in nearby Ellsworth. Took a while driving around the cool little downtown area but we eventually came across the Union River Lobster Pot, a neat looking place specializing in Lobster and, coincidentally, right on the Union River. Another excellent choice. We both had the fish (haddock) chowder then Kris had Broiled Haddock and Brian tried the Lobster Pie. Yumm!
Afterwards we chatted with the guy running the Lobster tanks...
... He explained the size regulations etc that are strictly enforced to make the lobster industry a sustainable one. There is a very narrow margin of shell size when lobsters can be kept otherwise they have to go back.
Back at the wee trailer we continued watching our DVD series Sons Of Anarchy. We are now in the seventh and final season and will likely wind it up this week. If you like crime drama, this is an excellent series.
Wednesday morning we drove into Bar Harbor, found a place to park, wandered along the very cute main street in and out of funky little tourist crap stores and along the waterfront before finding a coffee place. This town is just another along the Maine coast that is in a beautiful setting...
After coffee, we decided to drive the Acadia National Park scenic loop. Another score for our park pass as it is $25 to get into the park. Another unfortunate situation as the weatherman proved to be right on this day. The fog started to roll in and the views along the scenic drive were a tad muted compared to what they could be. It still reminded us of home though...
We stopped at Sand Beach, a unique, beautiful little cove beach where the sand is tiny shell fragments, the result of thousands of years of the pounding surf. As with other parts of the park, there appear to be numerous hiking trails from the beach. Our friends John and Joan would love this :-)
Continuing along the loop (for the most part it is a one way drive, we stopped at the Jordan Pond House for lunch, a popular spot where we had to wait about 25 minutes for a table. We aren't sure if the wait was for the food or people were looking for a break from the rain that started to fall, however for us, this turned out to be one of the most disappointing meals of the whole trip. The service sucked and the portions were small. Kris had a lamb shepard's pie that you might expect would come with a "side" of some kind. NOT! Brian had a bowl of the Lobster Stew which for $22 was mostly broth. It had fewer chunks/bits of lobster in it than the cup of stew he had the other day for a mere $8. The restaurant seems to be popular for their popovers (save your money and make your own at home) and Brian's lobster stew included two of these. The first, the waitress delivered right after we ordered and she said she would bring the second with the stew. The stew arrived, was eaten (slowly) then about 10 minutes after we were both finished eating, the waitress showed up and proclaimed "I didn't forget about your second popover!" and asked how the meal was. Brian commented that the amount of lobster in the bowl of stew was even less than you might expect in a cup of stew, to which the waitress responded "gee, that's too bad!" So much for that tip!
By the time we left the restaurant it was now in full rain mode and the fog had rolled in so much that we couldn't even see the water from the scenic overlooks. We said earlier that the Maine coast reminded us of the north west but come on, it didn't have to add the thick fog just to remind us even more! We finished the park loop and headed back into Bar Harbor for another coffee. Afterwards while heading back toward the RV park, we stopped at The Weathervane Factory for a browse through their showroom. Wow, their weathervanes and cupolas are neat, but not something we are really interested in acquiring. For dinner we decided to return to the Union River Lobster Pot as it appeared to be the main game in town.
Thursday marks our turning point on this trip. Today we began heading westward. Our destination for the day was Augusta, Maine. We opted to drive back south on US 1 rather than head directly inland toward Bangor and the freeway. We stopped in at Swan Island, a company that makes high quality hand crafted yarns and woven products, just north of Northport, where Kris picked up some beautiful yarn at a significant discount. This location is also where they weave their blankets. They have a studio with 5 very large AVL looms, which was a real treat for Kris (who used to have a small AVL loom). For those of you who are not weaving nerds, AVL is pretty much the Maserati of weaving looms. Nice. Continuing down the coast we started to look for a place to have some lunch, likely our last one on the Maine coast. Just south of Northport, we spotted McLaughin's Lobster Shack down a small side road toward the water and it looked like they had a parking lot we could get into and out of with the wee trailer (always a bonus, no make that a requirement). Another beautiful little harbor...
Funny digression time... the road down to the lobster shack dead ends at the ferry terminal next door. The ferry runs out to one of the islands in Penobscot Bay. When we turned down the road, our GPS, which was trying to take us to Augusta, immediately did a re-calculation and told us to "take the ferry then turn around on the island and take the ferry back". Really???
Anyway, this little lobster shack is in a beautiful location overlooking the bay. We had a cup of fish chowder, a cup of clam chowder and a large bowl of steamer clams while sitting out on their nicely shaded patio. To finish off we tried a dish of "Maine" blueberry ice cream. Excellent lunch.
Maine is all about lobster, moose and blueberries!
After lunch we continued south on US 1. This appeared to make the GPS happy! We cut inland on state highway 17 just north of Rockland and drove past numerous very pretty lakes with lots of large summer cabins around them. Our destination for the day was the Augusta-West Lakeside Resort Kampground about 10 minutes west of Augusta. After getting checked in, we headed into town to the local Nissan dealer for an oil change and checkup on the car. All is good. Later we took a drive into the historic waterfront downtown area of Augusta. Keeping in mind that Augusta is the state capital, the entire historic waterfront downtown area is pretty pathetic. Many empty buildings, some obviously from a long time ago (busted windows etc etc), and the whole place just looks plain run down. We learned later, back at the campground, that the waterfront area is a tad prone to flooding so businesses are reluctant to move into the area. A bit sad. We also learned a bit more about the campground. This is a beautiful parkland with about half the sites being held by seasonal "renters". The campground is only open about mid May to mid October and most of the seasonals are local folks who rent yearly but their spot is like a summer cabin that they use on weekends. It looked like all of the seasonal spots were very well kept up. One fellow we chatted with has had the same spot for 19 years. Over the years they have formed quite a social group and get together several times throughout the summer. Very friendly people. Beautiful place, reminded us of Mercer Lake in Oregon...
Friday we headed west into New Hampshire where we booked a reservation for the July 4th weekend at the Mountain Lake Camping Resort. When we made the reservation over a month ago, we requested a spot somewhat nearish to the bathhouse/restroom. As so happens every once in a while, they put us in the spot that is the absolute farthest from the bathhouse and this place is huge, so it's a drive to the bathhouse kind of weekend. After getting set up we drove into Lancaster and picked up some steaks to grill for dinner. Back at the campground it was time to hit the pool, the first one we have been in since we left Washington DC. The pool here has two large waterslides, the kind that are like tubes all bent up like pretzels. It was here that I, Brian learned that there are some things that a slightly over weight and, let's just say, not in the best physical shape, sixty five year old guy might consider not doing... after watching kids and a few adults come flying out of the end of the tubes, I decided it sure looked like fun, so away I go... well, man, to you ever pick up a head of steam going down those things... on one curve I actually went up the wall and was upside down before leveling out again on the next curve and did I ever fly out into the pool! (Think large, pink flying torpedo). Kris said she couldn't believe how fast I came flying out of that tube. She said she had just hoped that my swim trunks would not come out with me nowhere in sight! Anyway... it was fun! So, I just have to try the other one. Man, those things are wicked fun but they knock the snot out of you! About two hours later I was one hurting unit. Kris just laughed!
Saturday, we did a local tour around the White Mountains. We basically followed the yellow marking on this picture from a tourist map...
We started the morning with a drive to the base station of the COG Railway up Mt Washington. This is a pretty neat thing to do... ONCE! It is very uncomfortable and expensive. For one adult and one senior, our bill came to $131.00 for the trip up and back down. It takes a little under an hour each way and you have one hour up at the summit of Mt Washington. On the way up we sat in really uncomfortable wooden slat seats but on the way down, we lucked out and had a car with padded seats. Much better. If anyone considers doing this, you should try to get a seat on the left side, going up, because that is the side the best views are on. Anyway, the views from the top of Mt Washington are pretty spectacular...
... with lots of hikers. The Appalachian Trail passes across here, although it appeared that most of the hikers were just day trippers. Some more prepared than others. We chatted with one woman who, with a friend, had just finished the five and a half mile route they took up. She was dressed like you might dress for a brisk hike around Stanley Park in Vancouver (in the summer). The weather was forecast to change for the worse and she was hoping (???) that they'd make it down before it started to rain. It was fairly chilly up there as it was. Kris sat on a bench near a group of young guys who looked totally bagged out and couldn't help but over hear their somewhat heated discussion about how to get down the mountain. Apparently they forgot that part in their planning stage. It sounded like they were sort of favoring the "hikers shuttle", if they could all get on it, even though it would drop them more than five miles from where they left their car ....
.... and some informative signage...
... and then it was time to get in line and wait for our train back down the mountain. Once at the bottom, we continued the drive east and south around the loop to Conway, the start of the Kancamagus Highway, an American scenic byway that was recommended by several people we met on our travels leading up to this point. This is a really pretty drive but we think we are at least a couple of months early. It must be truly beautiful here in the fall when the trees all change colors! We stopped at one side road where there is an old covered bridge over a pretty river...
... pretty neat. Then we stopped at the summit...
... where the panoramic view is nothing special, but again, later in the year it probably is quite something. Arriving back in Lancaster we stopped at J. L. Sullivan's (Irish) Pub for some much needed wine, salads and burger. It was a long day. Back at the campground we thought about walking up to the far end of the park to where they were going to have fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July, but just about the time the show was to start, the skies opened up and a heavy thunderstorm drowned out any hope of fireworks.
All in all a pretty good week.
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