The Maine Coastline II

Thursday, September. 29th.  It was an overcast day, but not raining.  We ventured thru the towns of Wiscasset and Bath and then down to the Reid State Park and the town of 5 Islands, all south of the Booth Bay peninsula.  Bath is quite a large town with a large and active ship building industry.  Wiscasset is on a large inlet off of the Atlantic and has lots of large old homes and an active fishing industry.

Reid State Park is at one of two points on a peninsula.  It features a long sand beach on one side of the point and a rocky shore on the other.

The town of Five Islands is a small fishing village that's been around a long time.  All of this is very representative of the Maine coast.

Booth Bay Harbor

Wednesday, September 28th.  Another sunny day as we drove about 2 hours down to Booth Bay.  There is a town of Booth Bay.  But the larger town is called Booth Bay Harbor.  It was founded in the early 1700's and was home to a number of ship captains.  Many of the old buildings have been retained and preserved.  They feature great porches orienting to the bay and the ocean beyond.  Their economy is based on 1) the sea and 2) tourism.  This is the first small town we've encountered that had pay for parking lots scattered around the downtown.  Reminded me of Seattle.  Even tho it's after Labor Day, the town was bustling with tourists.  Lots of galleries, shops and restaurants.  We wondered how the artists in the galleries could make a living, there being so many of them...not just here, but all over New England.  We speculated that maybe this is a post-retirement avocation allowing them a chance to market their hobby.

The area around Booth Bay Harbor is dotted with small islands and rock outcroppings.  Lots of lighthouses around and channel marker buoys.  And all over were the buoys/floats put out by the lobstermen and crabbers to mark their trap locations.  All  in all, it was very picturesque.

The Maine Coastline/Stonington Peninsula

Tuesday, Sept. 27th.  It was another sunny day and we took a drive west of Bar Harbor.  The shoreline is so jagged and there's so many inlets and islands.  There's many great views and places to see...more than we could possibly do in our limited time.  But we made the most of it and had a great time seeing the Stonington peninsula and other towns along the way.  And there was one picture I just couldn't pass up.

Bar Harbor/Sandy Beach/Acadia Nat'l. Park

Monday, Sept. 26th.  We awoke to another sunny morning.  We went into town to pick up our mail that Jamie had sent to us care of General Delivery in Bar Harbor.  We then walked around town.  What a difference from the weekend crowds.  We came across an old cemetery from when Bar Harbor used to be called 'Eden'.  Coincidentally, there were many 'Roberts' in the cemetery and there were graves dating back to the early 1800's.  Also, a monument to fallen sons of Maine who perished in the Civil War.

In the afternoon we took Buster to Sandy Beach in the National Park.  As the name describes, this one beach is an anomaly to the rocky shore all along the coast.  It's a very unique spot.

Acadia National Park

Sunday, September 25th.  We woke up to a beautiful, sunny morning that seemed more like summer than fall.  We went to the National Park to see the sights.  There's a 30 mile drive to see all the beautiful vistas.  It was very crowded as if this was the last summer weekend.  But it was well worth the congestion.  There were many places to see vistas of the Maine coastline.  We also drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain, which gives the best views of all.  We finished the day having our first 'lobster rolls'.  This is bread that's kind of like a hot dog bun.  It is stuffed with lots of lobster meat and comes with cole slaw and chips.  It was very good.

The Drive to Bar Harbor ( Bahh Hob bahh)

Saturday, September 24th.   We left at about 10:30 for our 4 hour drive.  We drove through rain and a heavy overcast.  After we got set up at our new campground we drove into Bar Harbor.  Although not raining, it was still heavily overcast.  As we came over the hill into town, we could see the tops of the numerous islands off the coast.  There was also a cruise ship in the harbor as this is a popular cruise destination  for seeing fall colors.  The town is neat, but very touristy.  I'm sure the residents here are looking forward to getting their town back after tourist season.  We saw one truck that had a bumper sticker that said..."if it's tourist season, why can't we shoot them?"

lobster at last

After walking around town,  we went to one of the many lobster restaurants.  They call them lobster "pounds"  We had a full lobster dinner with corn on the cob and onion rings.  It's unfortunate that there's only meat in the tail and the claws.   But it's very good.

Northern New Hampshire

The Balsams Resort

a little country lane

18th Fairway

Friday, September 23rd.  We left in the morning on a tour in search of fall colors.  Although I can't see much color, Diane was oohing and aahing as we drove north.  We got to The Balsams resort.  Although the resort is closed, the golf clubhouse was open for lunch.  Great panoramic views were there for our enjoyment.  The golf course was also very nice.  I can imagine it would be difficult to keep your head down with views like this.

Screw Auger Falls

On our return to the campground we came across two waterfalls that were carved in the granite rock.  The power of moving water is amazing