That's never happened before!

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 12, 2022

We left our boondocking spot at the LL Bean headquarters in Freeport, and headed 58 miles up the coast of Maine. We have some shopping to do, with a stop at Walmart for supplies. We have company coming soon, so we stocked up on groceries, and then headed for Mic-Mac Cove Campground near Union, Maine. This is our first stay in a campground since we were in Rhode Island 12 days ago. This campground has water and electricity, but no sewer hook-ups. The owner of this campground is a one-woman show that does everything here, and she did something that has never happened to us before. Most of the camping spots are taken by people that stay for the entire summer, so she doesn't often have such a tall rig coming in for a short stay. She was worried that some of the electrical lines in the park might be too low, so she climbed on top of the motor home . . . 

and rode it through the park, lifting up low lines with a broom handle!

It was an interesting ride through this park with tall old trees and people staring at our unique passenger. That's never happened before!

After getting the motor home settled, we headed out to do some exploring in the pickup. Our first stop was the beautiful little town of Camden, Maine. Its harbor hosts private sail boats and tour boats that go up and down the coast.

It's a popular town, and finding a parking place can be a real chore. But we enjoyed a walk around town.

It has a beautiful white church on Main Street that looks like it should be on a postcard.

We don't go anywhere these days without checking to see if there's a lighthouse in the neighborhood. We have found them in some very remote places. The Curtis Lighthouse can't be seen from town, but we found this sign on the road that told us we were close to the overlook. We parked in one of the two parking spaces by the road and started hiking down the trail.

We eventually came to a cliff overlooking the water, with this pretty island right in front of us. We could also see a lighthouse on the edge of the island on the right.

We zoomed in closer . . .

and closer to get a good picture of the Curtis Lighthouse of Camden, Maine. Once again, our hobby of lighthouse hunting brought us to a unique area with a beautiful view.

It's getting late in the day, but we also made the drive to the nearby town of Rockland. We parked the pickup so we could make the walk down that long rock jetty.

It's 7/8 of a mile from the beginning to the end of the jetty. We're glad to say that the granite stones fit closer together and are smoother than some of the jetties we have walked lately. You might see that there is a reward at the end of this long walk into the ocean.

We got to the Breakwater Lighthouse just as the sun was low in the sky and lighting it up. You can barely see Denisa, standing just to the right of the red brick light.

It was a beautiful evening, and we felt like we were out in the ocean after that long walk.

The sun is getting low in the sky, so it must be time to make that 7/8-mile walk back to the pickup.

The clouds were especially pretty this evening as we snapped pictures of the boats moored in the harbor.

We had just enough daylight to drive to the town dock, where we had read there was live music tonight. We found out that the music was cancelled, but we felt like we still got a great show as we watched those billowy clouds turned to shades of pink.

With the pink colors of sunset reflected in the calm water in the harbor, we know that we have wandered into another of God's wonders. It's been an interesting day here on the coast of Maine. We started with our campground owner riding on the top of our motor home, and ended with a nice sunset in Rockport, Maine. It's fun being in a new-to-us place where we get to experience things that have never happened to us before.

Starting and Ending with LL Bean

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 11, 2022

We left our no-hook-up site in Biddeford, Maine, and headed further up the coast an hour's drive to another no-hook-up site. We had hoped to get a Boondocker's Welcome spot, but it didn't open up. We are learning how to use this new resource, but it doesn't always work out. We were blessed with cool weather, so we will be quite comfortable in our spot at LL Bean in Freeport, Maine. This is a well-known boondocking place, and even though we found a spot easily this morning, the RV parking lot was full by evening.

We didn't have much planned for the day, so we decided to go on a lighthouse hunt. It's amazing what google can find! Coupled with Denisa's book on Maine lighthouses, we were ready to drive some back roads on the Maine coast. 

After driving on a series of gravel roads that few tourists will see, we parked and walked up a trail to the light keeper's house. Someone lives there, but the signs said that visitors were welcome to walk right up to the Doubling Point Lighthouse.

From the lighthouse, we looked up the Kennebec River to see the giant cranes from the shipyard upstream.

This lighthouse hunt is a little like searching for geocaches. It takes you on roads that you normally wouldn't drive to places that you normally wouldn't see. The directions to get to the second lighthouse today said: "Take 127 toward Arrowsic for 4.5 miles. Turn right onto Steen Road, then bear right on Bald Head Road (dirt). This roads ends after about 0.5 mile in small parking area. Take footpath that begins straight ahead, listen for the sound of water and look for the shoreline. Cross the small wooden bridge and take the path through the woods on a path marked with faint yellow blazes. Keep the water to your right on the way to the lighthouse."

Welcome to Squirrel Point Lighthouse. We guarantee that we wouldn't have found it without some instructions, and it felt like we had found the Easter egg in this hunt.

That path through the woods had lots of roots showing, and a few mosquitoes. While we have heard about the aggressive mosquitoes in Maine, we are glad to say that we haven't seen many so far.

We haven't had a flower picture in a while, so we'll include this unusual bloom that we found on our hike.

After traveling all those gravel roads, we headed back up the peninsula to the town of Bath, Maine, and its lovely water-side park. This town is most famous for its shipyards that produced a full-sized battle ship every 17 days during World War II.

The shipyard is still producing ships, and we got in the traffic jam caused when the ship builders changed shifts today. We couldn't help but notice the massive orange crane that takes a prominent space in the town's skyline. It's the well-known symbol of Bath, Maine.

We noticed an old bridge on our way this morning, so we stopped in to check it out when we returned the same way this afternoon. Built in 1892, this suspension bridge was used by the millworkers that lived on the other side of the river to get to work. After 130 years, it's still in use for getting people from the town of Topsham to the town of Brunswick on the other side.

We're pretty excited to see that Maine blueberries are now for sale along the road. We're happy to be here during blueberry season!

While we have enjoyed a wonderfully cool day, the winds have shifted into gear and it started to spit rain. We had hoped to go kayaking this afternoon. In fact, we had tried to sign up for the sea kayaking tour through the LL Bean Discovery Program this evening. They offer free tours with a guide, but participants must provide their own equipment. Our inflatable kayak didn't qualify as the required "sea kayak with a double baffle." We went to Mere Point at 5:30 p.m., just to see if we could paddle the same route without a guide. Considering it was windy and chilly, we were really glad that we didn't have to go kayaking. Is it crazy that it's this chilly in August? Back to our parking place in Freeport, we went shopping at the LL Bean store. This company is a great host, offering free trivia nights, outdoor movies, and live entertainment on different evenings on their campus. We'll end the day like we started it--thanking LL Bean for hosting us for a free night's stay and posing with the duck-boot-mobile.

Our First FULL Maine Day

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

August 10, 2022

We've been looking forward to getting to Maine all summer. We have a long list of things we want to do and places we want to see in this state. So on our first full day in Maine, we have a FULL day planned. We started by being at the Scarborough Audubon Office with our kayak inflated and ready to launch at their public boat ramp.

It was a cloudy morning, as we headed out into the tidal waters near the coast of Maine.

Based on the advice we got at the audubon office, when we got to an intersection on this kayak trail, we were supposed to turn right toward the ocean. Besides, two of the three cormorants were pointing that direction.

We were rowing against the tidal flow as we wound our way through the grass-edged trail. But occasionally, we would take one of the short inlets off the main trail to explore.

After an hour, we finally got to the bridge that the visitor's center described as a good turn-around point. This bridge is less than a half-mile away from where we started, but because we followed the zig-zagging trail of the tidal river, it was 1.5 miles of paddling to get here.

If we continued for a few more miles, we could paddle all the way to the ocean. Few people go past the bridge, but of course we did. Without the kayak traffic, we found more undisturbed wildlife out here so Denisa could take pictures.

We watched this white heron strutting in the grass, until he dipped his head in the water and came back up with dinner. Those action pictures were blurry, but it was fun to watch wildlife in action.

There were also plenty of great blue herons, striking poses among the grass.

The water was perfectly clear, and it became perfectly still while we were past the bridge. We had been paddling against the tidal flow as the water was coming in with the high tide. Now we are at slack tide when the water is at its highest. The bad news is that means that the water flow will be reversing its direction now as it slowly begins draining out towards low tide. That's just in time for us to have to paddle against that current to get back to our put-in site. This was a terribly mis-timed paddle that had us paddling both ways against the current caused by the tides!

The other strange part of this paddle was seeing more than a dozen horse shoe crabs floating dead in the water.

Once we paddled all the way back against the current, we dried off the kayak and put it away. We have much more on our list of things to do on this first FULL day in Maine. When we asked the person at the Maine travel center for advice on seeing moose, he told us the only guaranteed moose sighting was Lenny--the chocolate moose. So we stopped in at the Len Libby Candy Store in Scarborough. Lenny was sculptured here at the store out of 1700 pounds of milk chocolate.

Lenny is joined by the Maine Black Bears--Libby and her cubs, Cocoa and Chips, made out of dark chocolate.

Since we are thinking of sweet snacks, we had to stop in at the bakery that is unique to Maine--the holy donut. 

Since 2010, they have been crafting fresh donuts every day from "genuine Maine potatoes." They come in 16 different flavors, and we chose the summer special--blueberry with lemon.

A little pricy at over $4 per donut, we were looking forward to the taste test. Maybe it was because we knew it was made from those genuine potatoes, but it tasted a little like a blueberry french fry with lemon frosting.

Now that we are full of donut on this FULL day in Maine, we are ready to see how many lighthouses we can find. We started down Two Lighthouse Road, and found that the parking lot at the end was completely full. Mark managed to squeeze the pickup into a site on the edge, and we took a walk on the splintering rocks on the coast. It feels like we have wandered into more of God's wonders!

Denisa realized that this was also where she ate lobster when she visited Maine on the girl trip many years ago. The lobster shack was full and the line was long here. That's why the parking lot was so full!

We got our first lighthouse picture of the day from across the water. This is the Cape Elizabeth Light sticking out from the trees on the next peninsula.

We realized that we could actually drive closer if we went down Two Light Terrace (not to be confused with Two Lighthouse Road). So we got a much better picture of this private lighthouse.

Driving down Two Light Terrace also got us a view of the second lighthouse on the street. Again, it is now a private residence.

After finding two lighthouses that you can't get close to, it's nice to find one that is in a city park, and free and open to the public. Denisa could actually stand right next to this famous lighthouse.

While it's nice to see it up close, it is actually prettier from a distance. This is the Portland Head Light, found inside Fort Williams Park, and owned by the city of Cape Elizabeth.

If you google "most photographed lighthouse in the world" you will see that it is the Portland Head Light. We did our part to secure that title. We took pictures of it with the blooming golden rod in the foreground . . .

with the crashing waves in the foreground . . .

and with two wanderers in the foreground. Lots of people stop in this city park, and it's nice of Cape Elizabeth to make it free for us.

From this city park, you can also get a two-fer lighthouse stop. We took this zoomed picture of the Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse, situated on an island in the bay.

Wow, this has been a FULL day already, but we have more to see in this area around Portland. Lighthouse number five can be seen from the campus of Southern Maine Community College. We parked the car and began the precarious walk across the uneven granite stones of the jetty. We saw people struggling with this walk that involved jumping over some sizable gaps in the stones and navigating uneven surfaces for such a long distance.

Mark didn't have any problems, but it was a bit unnerving for Denisa. Together we finally made it to see the Spring Point Ledge Light at the end of the long walk.

Few people make it clear to the end, so it is a great place to sit and watch the boat traffic in Casco Bay.

We had read about the boats that ply the waters of Casco Bay, giving tourists the opportunity to see the sights of Portland with a water view. 

Another of those sights is Fort Gorges, built on an island in the bay between 1858 to 1864. Because of advanced military technology during that time, the fort was obsolete by the time it was finished. It never fought in a battle or even housed soldiers, but it is an icon of Portland's Bay.

A short drive deeper into Portland, brought us to Bug Light Park, for a close-up view of the Portland Breakwater Lighthouse.

Affectionately known as The Bug Light, it is one of the most ornate lighthouses we have ever seen. It was built in 1875, and was inspired by a monument in Athens. The detail on the columns and edges is seldom seen on a lighthouse and it is part of the official seal of Portland.

This light is on a working harbor, and we saw a giant cargo ship anchored behind us.

We walked closer to that ship, and to this Liberty Ship Memorial. It memorializes the people that worked here during the 1940's, building ships for the war effort. The sprawling shipyard that once stood here built 266 military cargo ships--called Liberty Ships--in just four years during World War II.

It's time to leave Portland, and head back down the coast towards home. But we decided to make another stop on this FULL day to see the famous Orchard Beach.

This ocean town has an iconic wooden pier that stretches out over the sand.

At low tide, it also has a wide beach. Looking inland from the pier, we could see that Orchard Beach also has a full-time midway with rides and games.

While we have been strolling on numerous boardwalks up and down the sea coast this summer, this boardwalk uniquely juts into the water instead of along the shore.

So we joined the crowds and entered the pier, that has been standing here since 1898. It includes little shops and restaurants.

One thing unique to Orchard Beach is that the only public restroom charges 75 cents to enter. In fact, the woman sitting at the entrance collects that money at the door, and doesn't allow anyone in without pre-payment. We had three quarters in each of our pockets, because we had heard about this phenomenon. But we didn't stay long enough to need our quarters. We did, however, witness a man's dilemma with not having 75 cents. We were heading his way to give him our quarters when the gate keeper let him go in. Whew! I think that was close to a catastrophe on the pier.

We've been doing lots of driving, so we are feeling the pinch of the price of diesel for the motor home, and gas for the pickup. It's crazy that we are a little excited to see the price of gasoline fall below $4. It's sad that we feel that's a bargain, when it is more than twice what we were paying two years ago.

This has been a really fun-filled FULL day in Maine! Now we were working to get back to where our motor home is parked in Biddeford, because we had seen signs around town about the summer concert series. It's in Rotan Park, which is right next-door to our church parking lot spot, and it started at 5:30. We brought our chairs to join the crowd to watch 12/OC--a very talented band made up of brothers that play instruments and sing together. Again, we were the only two dancing to the good music provided for free. 

We had high temperatures in the upper 60s on this beautiful August day, and it was almost chilly by the time the concert was over. We won't be needed air-conditioning tonight, and we're glad, because we don't have electricity at this spot. We've been blessed with great weather once again on our first FULL Maine day!