We checked out of our Old Saybrook Airbnb and Lee (host) had a potential offer for us next summer. He is retiring from the Coast Guard, and taking his family across country in their RV. They need a house sitter and we are the perfect fit. Hmm… we’re not sure if we want to be ‘stuck’ in Old Saybrook for over two months, but the price would be doable although a tad high.
We have about a five hour drive to our next destination, our first stop was the Old Saybrook farmers market, it only took us about 5 minutes to check it out. Then, shortly after crossing the Maine state line (after an hour+ delay from traffic), we stopped at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery to hit the Exchange and Commissary. It was on our way and a perfect stop before finishing the remaining drive to our ‘mountain resort’.
Our five hour drive took us well over seven hours. Thank goodness we had some leftovers for dinner, because there was no restaurant on site or any close by.
Random driving pics!
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| Promoting drinking and driving! |
Evergreen Valley Inn and Villas in Stoneham, ME. We knew it was in the middle of nowhere but reality hit as we made our way up the mountain. The ‘resort’ is a timeshare that we booked via the Armed Forces Vacation Club for $299 for the week. How bad could it be!?! Well… the staff was great! We were escorted to our room and the first thing we were hit with in the hallway was the smell like something died – no exaggeration. Our escort directed two of the cleaning staff to spray to get rid of the odor. That might have been a start, but we were both thinking they needed to find the source of the odor. The ‘resort’ is old and tired. Our room had a Murphy bed that is only a double so it was cozy sleeping. Wifi worked about half the time and Verizon service is non-existent. And we were pretty sure the ‘clogging’ family from the Geico commercial was staying above us.
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| Our Murphy bed |
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| Kitchenette |
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| Dining |
Our first full day was rainy, so we explored the ‘resort’. There were several entertaining rooms, a game room and a laundry room. There were ski slopes once upon a time but nothing much anymore. There was plenty of hiking.
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| Entrance sign |
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| Front of resort |
We took a drive to New Hampshire and rode the train on the Mount Washington Cog Railway. Way cool! Sharon got us seats right in front of the engine. We went up a really steep grade – 37.5 degrees at one point. Even the trees grow at an angle! The summit was 6,288 feet up after leaving the base camp of 2,700. Once in the clouds, we saw several Appalachian Trail (AT) hikers. I had no luck talking Sharon into hiking the AT… It was also very cold at the summit and neither one of us was dressed appropriately, thank goodness we grab 2 sweatshirts out the car.
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| Rob being a tourist |
Going down the mountain was wild too. The car we were on wasn’t coupled to the engine. Eli, the brakeman, slowed us down the mountain and at one point we were a foot from the engine.
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| The BRAKE |
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We took a couple of trails 👣, one was the Emerald Pool. The pool used to be a hidden gem and was notorious for being clothing optional. Now, it is a very popular swimming hole with an easy trail. There were people jumping off the cliff into the refreshingly cold water 💧. Not us, we didn't even have a swimsuit, but Rob did go in up to his ankles. On the walk back he said his feet were frozen.
We checked out of our mountain resort two days early. We had reservations closer to the coast and gambled that cell phone and wifi service would be better. The gamble worked!
We checked into the Barn-let! The barn-let sits on 4.5 acre property and was built in the 19th century. The style is referred to as "English Style" characterized by its 20 x 30 foot dimensions, gable roof, and doors on the eaves-side wall. The apartment has a small combined living/kitchen area, one bedroom, and a full bathroom with a shower. Perfect for the two of us!
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| Kitchen |
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| Dining |
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| Seating area |
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| Additional living space lower barn |
Our host, Tricia, is very sweet. We had fresh flowers, fruit, cheese, hummus, crackers, local eggs and milk, upon check in.
There is plenty of wildlife right out our back door, we have seen deer 🦌🦌, turkeys 🦃🦃, rabbits 🐇🐇, groundhogs, and chipmunks 🐿 🐿. Across from our barn is a horse 🐎 🐎 farm.
Our little oasis is at least a 30 minute drive to anywhere, so we planned day trips. Our first day trip was to Belfast. We went to the Farmers market, browsed some stores, and walked the Belfast Harbor Walk.
Our first coastal lunch in Maine, and no we did not have lobster 🦂🦞 . We stopped at Laan-Xang Cafe a Laotian and Thai restaurant. We ordered Pad See-Ew (stir fry of thick rice noodles with egg, mixed veggies, in a thin soy sauce) and Red Curry 🍛 (spicy red curry with coconut milk, bamboo shoots, onions 🌰, scallions, carrots 🥕, peanuts 🥜, and potatoes 🥔). I also ordered a Thai sweet tea, a pretty drink, but I'm not a fan. Food was excellent and we had a view of the harbor.
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| Thai Sweet Tea |
We left Belfast and drove through Searsport and Stockton Springs to Fort Point Lighthouse. We followed the directions on Google and they took us right to the Lighthouse parking area that was being guarded by a park ranger, a wedding was booked, she was advising everyone to go back to the state park, but she allowed us to park and take pictures of the Lighthouse. When we were leaving, we joked about us all crashing the reception, she was willing.
We have had great weather, even a little chilly at times. We did have one dreary, rainy day, which worked out perfectly for a much needed down day from sightseeing. We read 📚, listened to music 🎶, opened some champagne, and built a puzzle.
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| Our Masterpiece |
We visited Damariscotta where we had our first Maine lobster 🦞 roll at The Lobster Haul, browsed the local stores and ended with drinks and music at Schooner Landing.
Our next trip was to Bath we checked out Waterfront Park, Chocolate Church, and browsed the local stores. I had a long day planned, but out next stop took way longer than I thought. We headed to Red's Eat for a world famous lobster 🦞 roll. We waited 2 hours, yes 2 hours for a lobster roll. It was a lot of lobster and the service by Deb and Casey was awesome, but not worth the 2 hour wait. We found out later the place across the street, Sprague's Lobster 🦞 is where the locals go.
On our way to Boothbay Harbor we stopped at Boothbay Railway Village, a recreated village of aged and vintage buildings. Even some vintage trains.
We drove through Southport over the Southport Island Bridge. Right after we crossed the bridge the signal went off for the bridge opening. We parked and walked out to the bridge and watched the swing bridge and the boats pass through.
We then headed to Hendricks Head Lighthouse, which is now private property so we could only see from the beach at The Dogfish Head Beach . Several lighthouses we have been to are now private property, some allow tourist on their property. Since we were at the beach might as well have lunch. Lunch provided by Sharon's Deli.
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| Lunch provided by MAH! |
Next downtown Boothbay, it is a great little town, but very crowded. We did some browsing before heading to the footbridge.
We left the crowded downtown area and headed to Ocean Point Walk. Great walk on the rocks, definitely got in a workout.
We spotted this cute little church on the coast and pulled over to take pictures.
Bangor was an interesting area to explore most sights had to do with Stephen King and his movies. We saw the Paul Bunyan statue (movie IT), Stephen King's home, Thomas Hill Sand Pipe (movie IT), and Mount Hope Cemetery (movie Pet Sematary).
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| 31 Feet Tall |
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| Holds 1,750,000 gallons of water |
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| Bangor Waterfront |
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| Brewer Riverwalk |
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| Cascade Park |
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| Bog Boardwalk |
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| Bog Boardwalk |
On our way home, we had dinner and music at The Lion's Den Tavern in Waterville.
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| Fish and chips |
I scheduled 📅 us a train ride on Saturday, August 7th on the Sheepscot Valley Steam Train at the Wisscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railway Museum. Our train ride was scheduled for 90 minutes with a "runby" and a 2 train "meet".
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| "Runby" engine relocating to take us back |
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| Front of engine |
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| Train coming towards us for "meet" |
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| 2 Train "meet" |
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| Jailers House |
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| Jail |
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| Window to the outside world |
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| Her stove |
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| Her cupboard |
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| Artwork along the trail |
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| Old Fashioned |
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| Chocolate Martini |
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| We still like each other |
Rockport, Camden and Lincolnville. First stop Beth's Farm Market, we purchased corn 🌽 on the cob (for popcorn) and honey 🍯.
We then headed to Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, we took the Breakwater Access Trail where we passed a gentleman painting 🖼 different scenic views before walking the breakwater to the Lighthouse.
Which came first the breakwater or the lighthouse? In the 1850's several sever nor’easters caused considerable damage to Rockland waterfront structures and ships in the harbor, so approval to construct the breakwater was given in 1880. The breakwater was built before the lighthouse.
On to Rockport to see Andre the Seal and have lunch and walk around Rockport Marine Park.
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| Looking like a movie star! |
Moving on to see Curtis Island Lighthouse, Laite Memorial Beach, downtown Camden, and then we spent so time on Lincolnville Beach.
We finished the evening with lobster 🦞 dinners at McLaughlin Lobster Shack.
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| My handsome server! |
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| Lobster, corn 🌽, fries, and cornbread |
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| Bib is a must! |
We spent my birthday in Freeport, first stop Eartha Globe 🌎, Eartha is the world's largest rotating and revolving globe. The globe weighs approximately 5,600 pounds with a diameter of over 41 feet.
Our next stop was the Big F Indian, the F is said to stand for Freeport (the name of his town), but you could probably guess what I thought and everyone else thinks 🤔. From the look on his face, it's not Friendly. His official name is Chief Passamaquoddy.
Now it's time for shopping, shopping, and more shopping 🛍🛍. Our favorite store was L.L.Bean. We had to get a birthday (classic) whoopie pie at the Wicked Whoopie.
Finished the day with birthday drinks and dinner at The Liberal Cup in Augusta.
We had reservations at a hotel on Southwest Harbor, we checked in and headed into town for dinner. We had dinner at Cafe 2, we wanted to sit outside, but the only table available was a 2 seat mini patio table. We chose to sit inside, our waiter was annoyed he had to wait on us, it's not like we were at a dive bar. Rob enjoyed his dinner, mine was so so.
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| Morning view 8/14 |
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| Morning view 8/15 |
Acadia National Park was absolutely awesome, if you have not been there great place to visit. Our first stop was The Visitors Center. We obtained our pass and map. We were able to obtain An America the Beautiful pass issued to veterans, which gets us free access to all Nationa Parks (as does our military id's).
We purchased a pass to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain ⛰, well worth the $6. Our first hike of the day was the Cadillac Mountain Summit Trail ⛰ along with the Gorge Path. We also hiked down and back up part of the Cadillac North Ridge Trail.
We left the top of the mountain and headed towards the Jordan Pond, we took the entire trail around Jordan Pond. At the end of the trail we headed to the Jordan Pond House to get the world famous popovers. The people waiting (I'm assuming for a popover was ridiculous), we didn't bother.
We drove the 27 mile Park Loop Road and made various stops along the way, including walking the Ocean Path Trail.
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| Sand Beach |
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| Boulder Beach ⛱ |
We had dinner at The Upper Deck, my dinner was delicious and Rob's was so so, but the service was so much better than the previous night.
Our next day we started with breakfast at Cafe 2, awesome choice, server was excellent and so was the breakfast. It was nice to have coffee with real cream. Hotel coffee was with powder cream, yuk.
Back to Acadia where we hiked Gorham Mountain ⛰ before heading home. We even crashed a wedding, you don’t see that every day on a mountain.
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| They just said "I Do" |
I had fun driving Rob insane, by getting as close to the edge as possible.
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| I wanted him to see there were people down there, he wouldn't look. |
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| This one had my knees wobbling |
I could easily spend at least a week right in Acadia, it was amazing and the pictures 📷 just don't show the beauty. My favorite part of Maine.
Next town, Castine! On our way to Castine we stopped at the Fort Knox and Penobscot Narrows Observatory. The first thing to do is to scare the pants 👖off of Rob by going up 420 feet to overlook Penobscot Region. This is the only bridge observatory in the US. After taking the evaluator up there were still 3 flights of stairs with glass windows taking you even higher. Rob was as close to the wall as he could get.
Back on solid ground we are ready to explore Fort Knox. This is not the Fort Knox where the gold is kept, but they both are named after Major General Henry Knox, America's first Secretary of War and Commander of Artillery during the American Revolution.
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| Cannonballs |
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| Cannon |
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| Entryway between bakery and Men's quarters |
I then make Rob stop in Bucksport (it was right on the way) to see Colonel Buck's Cursed Tomb. Supposedly, Colonel Buck burned a Witch and her leg rolled out of the fire 🔥. She vowed to "dance on his grave". When he later dies, a mysterious leg stain appeared on his tombstone.
The town has tried to debunk the stories. They even posted a sign next to the tombstone explaining the stain is a flaw in the granite.
Finally, we make it to Castine, a quaint little town and very few tourists. Our first stop is the Post Office 🏤, first, because it is the 2nd oldest continuously operated post office, and second (and the real reason), because I needed to mail my daughter's birthday card.
Time for lunch, we got in line for The Captain's Catch, we were told it was over an hour wait, we said no way. I believe most people were in line for lobster 🦞 rolls. As we were walking away, they announced the wait time and there was no more lobster. We decided to get a sandwich from T & C Grocery. We sat by the water and enjoyed our steak and cheese.
We saw Fort Madison, Maine Maritime Academy, Dyce Head Lighthouse, Fort George, walked 🚶♀️🚶♂️through Witherle Woods, and ended the day on Wadsworth Cove Beach.
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| Fort Madison |
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| Dyce Head Lighthouse |
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| Fort George |
We visited Augusta, Hallowell, and Gardiner several times during our month in Vassalboro. Here are just a few random pictures.
On August 22nd, we celebrated my daughter's 37th birthday, without her 😥. The celebratory dinner was at Meridian's in Fairfield, it was highly recommended by Trisha, our Airbnb host. The restaurant is farm to table! Rob ordered the pan roasted halibut with green beans, gnocchi, dill and a buttermilk broth that was poured over the fish at the table. I ordered the strip steak with goat cheese mashed potatoes, broccolini, veal demi, with a porcine compound butter. The main event was the chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, with a candle.
On August 23rd, we celebrated Lance's 50th birthday, without him 😥. His celebration 🍾 was held at Young's Lobster 🦞 Pound which overlooks the Penobscot Bay. Here we could bring our own beer and wine 🍷.
Lance, we hope you enjoyed your birthday as much as we did. Happy 50th! 🎈🎉🎊🎈
Rob was able to be a geek again for several hours. He was so in his element (wished I would have gotten pictures) he even drew a diagram of the new network. For his troubles our host was very appreciative and gave him wine.
A few more places we visited
Scenic drive on Route 27 to Canada 🇨🇦, with a lunch break at Wilson Lake, and a walk to Jericho steps.
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| Canadian border crossing @ Coburn Gore |
A trip to the farmers market in Belgrade Lakes before heading to the South Solon Meeting House. The meeting house was built in 1842 the podium, pews, choir loft, windows, and steeple are all original components of the structure. In the 1950's thirteen artists were chosen to paint the ceiling and walls.
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| The Angel Choir was painted by John Wallace in 1954 |
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| Memorial |
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| Lighthouse in Canada |
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| Lubec Farmers Market |
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| Deep in thought |
