HappyTrails

Long drives to tour Maine

Yesterday was our second long drive to tour the beautiful state of Maine.  Although it was a much shorter distance to Boothbay Harbor compared with Bar Harbor, it was still a good long drive in our tow vehicle with our two dogs.  When we left the park the fog was dense and reminded us of our former home in Northern California.  The big difference between Maine and Northern California is that there isn't the wind that can accompany fog in California. 

Boothbay Harbor view in fog

This typical Maine property was photographed by Jack as we came into a fog free area along the road on our trip to Boothbay.

  And of course we had lunch at a local cafe, Boat House Bistro in Boothbay Harbor

Here's another of our photos taken of quirky things we see along the way...Note to Howard #1:
I thought only Humboldt had weird drive thru coffee buildings!

Boothbay Harbor and East Boothbay are a beautiful mid Coast Maine destination.  There are two RV parks right on the road into Boothbay Harbor and several others in the general area.  Our experience was nice despite the fog.  We drove through some of the notable inns in Boothbay and made notes about places to revisit when we come through this way on our way to Nova Scotia in the future.

Another foggy  shot, beautiful private home right on the water

Mt. Desert Island, Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor

For years I've wanted to go to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor.  As luck would have it we had enough time while in Kennebunkport to drive up in the tow vehicle.  We took the dogs and headed out assisted by our Quest GPS.  Our first attempted route was highway 1 thinking it would be the "scenic" route.  After about an hour of red lights and saturday shopping traffic and no scenery to speak of...we changed to the Interstate.  After all, we still had 200 miles to go and it was then 11 a.m.  We reached the entrance to the park, got our bearings in the visitor center and had my National Parks Passport stamped.  We decided to drive the Park Loop which encircles the hiking, biking, carriage trails and access roads into Bar Harbor.  Here's the opinion of our dogs on this very long drive (excuse the dirty window, it's rained a few times since we've been here.  You can also see me taking the photo but...whatever.)
We thoroughly enjoyed the trip around Acadia and went up and down the shopping district in Bar Harbor. Our future plans include staying at a park nearby on our way to Nova Scotia in 2008.

We've met terrific folks on this leg of our journey and that is one of the most enriching aspects of the fulltiming lifestyle. 

We rarely have an opportunity to show ourselves in a travel photograph.  This one was taken by folks from North Carolina who reciprocated when we took a photo for them.

Maine map showing our current location

Fall showers brought this photo opportunity along in Wells, Maine

Jack took this photo after the very heavy storm that passed through today.  This is truly a beautiful part our country.

A visit with family

Our park in Wells, ME is quiet now that the high season is almost over.  We're quite close to the water and even have a partial view of Wells Harbor.  We drove the short distance to Kennebunkport and had a great shrimp and lobster pizza at Jack's cousin Gail's restaurant, Port Bistro.  What a treat!  Port Bistro is doing a benefit dinner on Friday for the Katrina/Rita victims and we will have a chance to enjoy David's (Gail's husband) talents with his cajun jambalaya. 

Here are a few photos of Gail and Timmie, David and Timmie and Jack, Gail and Timmie.  Timmie is Jack's six month old second cousin and he is just too cute.

  Timmie is wondering who these people are and what all the hoopla is about. 

We checked out all the shops, bought cute sweatshirts and took a few photos depicting the feeling of this cute town.  The people we talked to in the shops were a lot friendlier than most of the "cute" towns that see tour busses all summer.  We really enjoyed Kennebunkport and plan on returning for a longer stay during the summer (maybe 2007). Who knows, maybe we'll see George Bush  senior and Barbara next visit.   

We love this town!