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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

To be Continued . . . Hoping to finish Maine next year:)

How was that for a cliff hanger? :)
We had been told, by someone working at the Maine Welcome Center, that there was a Community Park in the town of Wells where we could park overnight. It was a little off the beaten path, but we found it without difficulty with the directions he gave us. At 2:00am we were suddenly awakened by a loud knock on the door. Mark struggled into his clothes as I opened the side window . . . "hello?" . . . A uniformed officer came around from the back . . . "Police! Open up!" Apparently we were NOT supposed to be parking there overnight. One of them was actually quite nice and told us about a Park 'n Ride a couple of miles away where we could finish out the night. Unfortunately, we had trouble trying to find it in the dark, so we put "Walmart" in the GPS and found one within 10 miles.
We awoke, for the second time, to a beautiful sunny day! We drove to Kennebunkport Beach . . .

. . . And through the bustling tourist town of Kennebunkport to what the locals call "Gawking Point". That's the spot from which you can see the summer home of the elder President Bush and his wife Barbara. The Texas flag was flying below the US flag, signifying they are currently in residence there.
They didn't mention TRUCK CAMPERS :)
. . . And we fit in the parking space!

Next we headed for Portland to Two Lights State Park. Nearby are the two lighthouses its named for, but there was no easy access to them that we could find, and all we could see were the very tops. They were mostly hidden by trees and surrounding houses . . . So we recommend skipping that stop.
One of the "Two Lights"

However, we highly recommend seeing the Portland Head Light which was commissioned by George Washington in 1790. It's a picturesque lighthouse located in Fort Williams Park. The park also has a paved pedestrian trail looking out over the ocean with lots of good views of the lighthouse. I can't imagine how busy it must be in the summer, though. On an autumn weekday, three tour buses arrived while we were there.

From there we went looking for the "Bug Light", but it was city driving on narrow residential streets and Mark was starting to get frustrated. Even though our truck camper is pretty portable, too much traffic and city streets can at times be a challenge and begin to wear on him. About the time he gave up on the lighthouse, I got a glimpse of the harbor and some cool boats so I asked that he turn right at the next corner to go find them. That was not what he wanted to hear at that point since he was tired of running into deadends, but he reluctantly agreed. Lucky for me we found the boats AND the "Bug Light"! :)

By then it was about 3:30 in the afternoon. Mark was leaning towards leaving Portland for another day (maybe another year), but I suggested just driving by the Wadsworth Longfellow House. Big Mistake. It was difficult to locate in a very busy section of downtown. I got a brief glimpse of it sandwiched inconspicuously between storefronts. Mark missed it completely because he couldn't take his eyes off the crazy traffic and there was no place to park. At that point Mark reached his "we've been on vacation four weeks and had a wonderful time but I've had enough" limit.
So at 4:00pm we put "HOME" in the GPS and headed towards Michigan.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Rain in Maine

We woke up Monday (Oct 7th) to a wet, windy morning with very dense fog. We had planned to walk the Marginal Way, a paved mile-long, scenic footpath along the Atlantic Ocean in Orgunquit. Since it was so foggy and wet we decided to first drive into York to tour "The Museums of York" which are a group of nine restored historic buildings. We were disappointed to find they are closed on Mondays, but we did walk around and peek in the windows of Jefferd's Tavern (1750), the Old Gaol (1719), the Emerson-Wilcox House (1742), and John Hancock's Wharf (1787).
Jefferd's Tavern
The Gaol (Jail)
I ran into this big guy while window peeking.
The Emerson-Wilcox House
Random building by the docks:)

We also took a walk over the Barrell Mill Pond Dam and the Wiggley Bridge despite some misty rain.
Barrell Mill Pond Dam
The Wiggley Bridge
Foggy mud flats

Next we drove over to Sohier Park to take some pictures of the "Nubble" Lighthouse. The sky opened up and it started to pour. We instantly got soaking wet! It was really nice to be able to climb into the camper and change into dry clothes, and we had an early lunch while we waited for the rain to let up.
The "Nubble" Lighthouse just before it started to pour.
When the rain eased up, the fog was back.

Since it was still raining, we decided to drive to Wells to the Antique Auto Museum to see their display of antique cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and toys. When we arrived we found an old boarded up building. The sign was out front, but it looked like it had been abandoned for some time!
The rain stopped so we headed to Orgunquit to the Marginal Way. The town of Orgunquit is a popular summer resort on the sea with picturesque inns and specialty shops. There seemed to be flowers everywhere as well as colorful fall displays and pumpkins. Parking was at a premium, though, and we ended up having to pay $12 to park in a lot.
Those are REAL pumpkins and they were ENORMOUS!

We enjoyed our walk along the paved trail with the rocky seashore on one side and resorts, inns, and private homes on the other. When we started out it looked like it would rain again, but by the time we headed back the sun was making a brief appearance.
Some blue sky!
Lots of wind and rain during the night.
At 2:00am we woke to a knock on the door, "Police! Open up!"