Toward Beantown

Wednesday, 10/13

This morning, we saddle up our 400 horses and begin the drive towards Littleton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston that will be our home for the next four days.  As it has been throughout the foliage trip, the weather provided perfect driving conditions as we rode the interstate, paid more tolls, and left Maine.  Three dozen miles of coastal New Hampshire, then the Bay State and its busy traffic kept us alert until we reached our leafy RV park.  Guided to our sites, we carefully negotiated dirt trails among the veeerrrryy close trees to a perfectly level spot.  Once again connected to the vitals (water, electricity, sewer and cable TV), the 10 of us joined forces and headed for the nearby "99 Restaurant".  This New England chain has entertained us with some of the best restaurant food at reasonable prices.  Lunch today was no exception.  The best part was watching the last of the Chilean miners being brought to the surface.  How could we miss this real "reality" show?  Surely, this gave all who watched a special feeling of thanks, wonder, and pride that humans CAN do good for its fellow man ... and did today, ever so successfully.  Strong people; strong will; strong commitment.  Of course the US was there, with many other countries.  A truly great effort with a great ending.

The view of the forest from our living room.  Foliage in this part of Massachusetts has yet to change colors for us.  Notice the reindeer, moose, bison, black bears, chipmunks and cows have already come in ... predicting a hard winter ahead.

The Necks

Tuesday, 10/12

Tom, Sheryl, Doris & I join forces and head north along US 1, once "the" highway connecting Maine with Florida.  I-95 now is the route of choice, but not if one wants to see the coastal towns and villages of this fair state.  First stop was Bath, location of the Bath Iron Works.  Ship building is BIW's business.  Both naval and commercial vessels are born and raised here in the harbor.

The major part of the day was spent enjoying Booth Bay Harbor at the tip of one of Maine coast's "necks", or what we, the less informed would call "peninsulas".  Again, lobstering is the business, along with tourism.  "Kodak Moments" are everywhere, all the time.  Even the restaurant that sated our lobster addiction provided exquisite views of the harbor, homes, foliage and the path to the Atlantic.  While many shops had already closed for the season, others provided buying opportunities and staff seemingly enjoying our temporary company, especially because we were among a dozen or so tourists in town.  A week earlier, a month earlier and we would have been 4 among thousands.

It's difficult to select from the many views of the harbor restaurant, but here's one for you.

Towards the Atlantic.

Main Street, Booth Bay Harbor.  The tourists have left for the season.

Attention tourists!  There's more of the same ahead of you.

It's either a crusty ol' Maine sea captain, or our friend Tom.

Of course, the foliage and bright sun added to the beauty that bring so many to this naturally beautiful area of our country.  Today's offering of all components was among the best.

Returning to our RV park, Doris and I were met by Holly and taken to Cindy & David's for an artistically presented dinner.  With relatives like them, we don't need fancy restaurants.

Yarmouth, Maine.  Foliage not quite at its peak.  Wait a 3-4 days for that to occur.

Light Houses

Monday, 10/11

Columbus Day!  At least this is the day we get to celebrate his discovery of our continent.  It's also another perfectly clear day, perfect for taking Portland, Maine's light house cruise.  Great views, good narration and a captain named Davis at the helm.  How could it be better?!

A lobster boat inbound to Portland harbor.  Its "passengers" will be our guests for dinner this evening.



 Another round of lobster rolls round out our lunch, then it's exploring Portland on foot.  This city, harbor and the surrounding "Calendar Islands", so named because early explorers incorrectly counted 365 of them, have played a major part in the growth of New England, ship building and during WW11 was a staging area for the fleet headed for Europe.  Today, it's still important as well as being very photogenic.

Captain Davis being assisted by our Captain Al.

Portland Light House.  Still important to navigation.

Exchange Street, up the hill from the harbor.

Cobblestone streets,  1800s buildings, apartments with a view of the past and present ... this is old Portland harbor living.

Tonight, it's appetizers at our place, then a potluck dinner at the clubhouse. 

Doing what we do best, accompanied by nieces Holly & Cindy.

The Sabbath, Shakers, Lobster, Eartha, Vodka and Custard

Sunday, 10/10

A gray morning, but we all head to New Gloucester to visit the SabbathDay Lake Shaker Village, dating from 1782.  Shakers were, and are, a religious group with colonies scattered throughout the east and Midwest.  This colony is considered the last active village.  Unfortunately, the village was closed to visitors on this day.

Turning lemons into lemonade, we head for Freeport where everyone visited the multi-building LL Bean store, had more lobster rolls and clam chowder, wandered along the streets looking for that special bargain.  Well, the women did while the men enjoyed standing in the sunshine, learning more about the area from the "locals". 

Freeport's stores have to love these shoppers.

Further exploration took us to "Eartha".  Not a female, Eartha is the largest known globe in the world.  Designed by the employees of the DeLorme Company, this 3 ton rotating globe represents one of the largest computer mapping databases in the world.  The printed data on the globe is a composite of satellite imagery, ocean-depth data and information about road networks & urban areas.  Sorry, but no picture can present the works, but you can go to www.delorme.com to learn more about it and the company.

Then, there's vodka.  Potato vodka, that is!  Of course it has to be made from potatoes if it's to be made in Maine, one of the largest potato producing states.  A tour and samples (of course!) were part of the afternoon.  By the way, blueberry flavored vodka was not a hit, although blueberries are another major Maine crop.


Hey!  Men can shop too!

 Custard?  Yes, to appease Doris, we had to stop at the frozen custard shop before it closed for the season, as so many shops do in Maine's coastal area after the tourist season .  A warm afternoon aided everyone aboard to consume even more calories ... but they were good tasting calories, which makes them legal.

After all this fine dining, I can't remember what we did with the rest of the day & evening, but you can bet we didn't stop terrorizing the local lobster.

East to Down East

Saturday, 10/09

We're blessed again.  It's a traveling day and once again, the weather is perfect.  Driving along US 302 into Maine and southeasterly along Sebago Lake toward our destination, the morning sun slanted through the forest of pine and mostly brilliantly colored foliage alongside the road.  I'm beginning to wonder if our group will finally say they've had enough of this foliage stuff!  Nope!  The CB chatter says otherwise.  I've seen so many foliage-filled autumns back here, yet even I am awed by this year's presentation of autumn artistry. 

Arriving at our Freeport, Maine RV park, there's a bit of confusion as the owner had erroneously canceled one space, the first kerfuffle of the trip.  Once sorted out, we establish our residences for the next four days a short distance from LL Bean's famed headquarters, store, and surrounding village filled with interesting shops and restaurants.  "The Lobster Locusts" as this group has become begins its independent search for the finest (or at least the most) lobster that everyone can consume.  After all, that's what one does in Maine, and we're all going to do it with gusto!

Doris & I have an advantage.  Cindy & Holly, our nieces, live nearby and have selected a special restaurant with seating by the fireplace and exquisite service.  But first, we are taken to Cindy & David's home in nearby Yarmouth, a quintessential New England village, where we enjoy reconnecting and a libation.  A tour of the garden with their new puppy is special. 

From Nova Scotia, this pup LOVES fresh tomatoes from the vine.

A wonderful down east lobster dinner with family.  A great combination.

Fryeburg Fair

Friday, 10/08

This morning's sunshine brought out Tony's obsession with Vitamin D.  Or maybe he's just drying out after the rains.

Sunshine!  It was either astute tour planning on my part, or (more believably) dumb luck favoring us wandering Californians that gave us sunshine on the day we chose to cross the nearby border into Maine and partake of the Fryeburg Fair. 

On this trip, Doris & I have enjoyed the Wyoming State Fair,The Tunbridge (VT) World Fair, and now the Fryeburg (ME) Fair.  None are like the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton because all three were in the country and filled with country style exhibits and activities for farmers and ranchers rather than the carnival atmosphere of the more suburban fairs.  This time with friends, we really enjoyed the agricultural aspect.  Blue ribbon winning work horses, oxen, sheep, goats, chickens ... you name it, we saw them all.  Especially interesting was the ox pulling contest.  No, we didn't pull the oxen.  Instead teams of ox competed in pulling heavier and heavier weights.  Maxing out at  pulling 11,700#, the team that won certainly deserved an extra dessert.

Ox pulling contest,  near standing room only audience.

If you're going to pet the goats, you better bring food!

With signs like this at the fair, we began telling everyone that we're really from Canada, not California.

Gray Skies & Trailer Trash

Thursday, 10/07

When traveling and sightseeing, sometimes it's healthy to do ... nothing.  Today's weather encouraged most of us to do just.  While the Mather's checked out the route to Mt. Washington's cog railroad excursion, some of the girls checked out the bargains at the local stores.  Both parties returned with happy faces.  We three guys hit every "man store" (Home Depot, Lowe's, Napa Auto Parts, and the local RV store), searching for essentials.  No, we weren't looking for our essential wives; we knew where they were.  Besides, we could trace them by calling our credit card companies....

With strong winds forecasted to blow away the rain, and perhaps our awnings, it was necessary to retract them after climbing onto the roofs of our coaches and sweeping off the leaves.  Just in time!  When the winds came, we were treated to a blizzard of colorful leaves, enhanced by the afternoon sun.  Unfortunately, I could not video-capture the event for you.  There will be many more such events for us to enjoy, although the winds and rain signal the ending of the foliage season, and the beginning of the unpleasant weather that precedes the ultimate:  Winter.

All of us spent the evening at the local playhouse, chuckling our way through a funny musical "The  Great American Trailer Park".  My ears don't do well with musicals, but the comical presentation of a stereotypical group of Florida trailer park residents living on the wrong side of the tracks was a great way for all of us to end a gray day of relative leisure.  The play did give some of us ideas about how we could improve our "trailers".  Now we're shopping for artificial flowers, pink flamingos and cinder blocks.