bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- We left around 9:30 and went in search of the Ellsworth Farmers Market. I had seen a sign on Hwy. 1A when we were coming into town last week that said turn left in 1/10 mile for the Farmers Market. So we went looking for the location. After several tries, we found a Farmers Market banner, and there was no one there.

While going out to the highway, we had passed a sign for a Blueberry Festival, so we went back to that.  The Rotary was having a blueberry pancake breakfast and they seemed to be doing a wonderful business, as there was a large tent and lots of parked cars.

We were not interested in attending that event, as Bob is not fond of blueberries and I am trying to stay in ‘fat burn’ on my weight loss plan. But while driving downtown, we spotted the Farmers Market, in a different location. We found parking and went back to purchase summer squash and heirloom tomatoes.

We also saw that the library was having a book sale. We walked over to the very old, but renovated Ellsworth Library, c. 1827. It was the last day of the sale, which had evidently started on Thursday. We had not driven that way all week, so we did not know about the sale.

We purchased nine books and returned to the MH. A little after we arrived home, it started to rain. We had several rain showers during the day and the temp dropped to the 60’s. It has been like this for several days. The locals are happy, because it has been awhile since the area has had rain. One good thing is that it had lessened the dirt flying from the dirt road into the RV park.

I worked on various tasks. I finished my third article revision and sent that off to my editor. Then I finished the Roadrunner Newsletter, as someone had sent me another article. I put that into it and re-sent it off to Jim, the president of the club, for him to review and he is going to have to post it for me.

Then I worked on the blog. When I finished it, I went to publish it and I kept getting an error message. Bob and I spent time trying to figure out what was wrong. Since Microsoft had stopped allowing the download of Microsoft Live Writer, several days ago I had found that people had gotten together and developed, with Microsoft permission, a free version of the software, called Open Live Writer. I had downloaded that, and was using it. I was afraid something was wrong with the download.

Of course, in the middle of all of this, the computer kept having the Kapersky error message and rebooting. Our frustration level was high!!!

Finally, we decided that maybe there was a problem in WordPress, where the blog is published and kept. So off we went to WordPress. Sure enough, I had used up the 3gig that they give you for free and it would not accept the blog pictures. After 6 years using it, I had to purchase another 10 gigs. I guess that is not a bad deal. Since it was an upgrade, it was $69. We bit the bullet and paid for the upgrade.

We ate lunch and dinner at home, and watched TV, read, and generally had a quiet day.

Sunday- Moving day. We are ready to leave. Patton Pond has minimal activities, with just an ice cream social and a campfire with s’mores, neither of which we were interested in attending. That was it for the week. No pool, just the lake, and nothing else to do.

We had run out of sights to see in the area, so we are ready to move on. We left at about 9:30 turning south on Rt. 1 and went thru Bucksport. We continued south and turned onto Rt. 3. That took us out to I-95. The farther south we drove the more traffic we encountered. We stopped at a rest area. We had to pay a toll to get back off the interstate and then another toll to get back on. REALLY!! What a rip off! We continued south thru more tolls until we left the interstate at the exit for Wells. We drove a few miles and into the Thousand Trails, Moody Beach. We went to the store to check-in and were offered our choice of 3 sites. That was all that they have. The reason that we were traveling on Sunday  was so that we could have a choice of sites when the weekenders leave. Hmmm, not many weekenders here!

We chose a site, not the best, but we had hoped to get satellite. Nope, too many trees. When I turned it on to get it going to check, it did not work. Bob started working on that issue, once we were set up. Finally he called Direct TV, in India of course. Poor English and she could not understand the problem. GRRRR! Finally, Bob had checked all the wires and the socket in the wall. He finally remembered that there was an electrical power strip behind the printer. Sure enough, the extra printer cartridges must have fallen on the on/off switch and that was our issue. We still could not get satellite due to the trees, so I went to the office to sign up for cable TV. $18 for 7 days. We leave next Sunday.

The temp was in the mid-90’s with high humidity, so we stayed in trying to get the MH to cool off. It did finally. The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow, hopefully they have that right!

We settled in, watched some recorded shows, read and looked at what we are going to do tomorrow. Just before bed, Bob checked his cell phone. He received a notice from Dell about an item he ordered. HUH? He had not ordered anything so he called the number. They were closed. So he called the credit card company. They did not see anything on either credit card, so we are going to have to watch this.

Monday- Bob was on the phone early with Dell. He cancelled the order, explaining to them that he had not placed the order. It was being send to an address in Louisiana. He found out from them that it had gone through Paypal. He checked his Paypal account and they had no record of it. So there are alerts on Paypal and our credit card company. We think whoever fraudulently ordered this item, did several re-routing to hide their identity. He did the best he could to keep it from happening.

We were off early to drop off the computers at the closest Best Buy which was north of Portsmouth NH. We arrived at 9:30 and they did not open until 10, so we went to Kohl’s and bought Bob 1 shirt and 2 pairs of shorts. The summer clothes in Maine are getting to be slim pick’ins!

We went over to Best Buy as they opened and the Geek heard our sad tale of two computers having the identical issue. He went into the back and came back to tell us that it was the Kapersky ( which we already knew) that sometimes does not work with some computers.

Since we had purchased the program through them, they credited us for the Kapersky yearly subscription and sold us a Rootsweb CD. We were able to take the computers home with us.

From Portsmouth, we continued south into Massachusetts. We stopped at the visitor center and picked up lots of brochures. Most were for “North of Boston”, but we also found some for the Boston area.

We continued a few more miles south on I-95 and turned east on the Essex Costal Scenic By-way. The by-way is part of the congressionally designated Essex National Heritage Area.

We followed the scenic route to the town of  Ipswich.  We stopped to look at the Ipswich Historical Mural, located on the EBSCO building. Unfortunately, it is located in their parking lot and with the tree it was hard to see.

I did not even notice, until I saw the picture, that it wrapped around the corner. It tells the story of 375 years of the history of the town.  The town has 59 first period houses, built from 1620 to 1720, which we drove past. People are living in them and there was a lot of traffic, so we were not able to take a lot of pictures. 

We continued on our journey, stopping in Essex for lunch at Woodman’s of Essex Restaurant. Founded in 1914, it has been declared by Forbes as the “Best Seafood in America” . Zagat Restaurant Guide states “ An American Cult Classic-right up there with baseball and apple pie”. I had found it in “10,000 Places to See Before You Die”.  The restaurant has won a lot of other awards.

From their brochure, “After opening their stand on the Essex Causeway in 1914, business remained slow for Chubby and Bessie Woodman. Then came the fateful day when while frying up a batch of their best-selling potato chips, a local patron made a humorous suggestion: ‘Hey, why don’t you try frying a clam?’ The rest, as they say, is history. Within hours the young couple had invited a few friends over to try out their tasty new creation. When the verdict was unanimously, ‘delicious’, Chubby and Bessie knew they were on to something big– big enough for them to record a new entry on the back of their marriage certificate that proclaimed: We fried the first fried clam-in the Town of Essex July 3, 1916”.  The 4th of July parade marched by the Woodman’s stand the very next day and they proudly presented their Essex fried clams to the public”. So they are credited with starting this new Yankee tradition!

 

Bob had the fried clams and I had the fried scallops. The clam boat came with onion rings and French-fries. The scallops came with just French-fries. Bob took home about half the clams and all of both of our fries! Good thing we carry a cooler with us! We have to say, that the food was delicious! 

We continued on our day trip! We pasted through cute little towns, with lots of shops, especially many antique shops. We also passed pretty New England homes and churches. The road was two lanes and narrow, with parked cars in many areas, so my ability to capture pictures was limited.

We stopped in the town of Gloucester. Yup, as in the fisherman!

When we arrived in town, the drawbridge was up, so traffic was at a standstill. The harbor frontage was under construction, so we missed a picture of the Fishermen’s Wife Statue, which was fenced off. We were able to park and walk a bit on the harbor walkway. Below is the Fishermen’s Memorial and Cenotaph, ‘Man at the Wheel Statue”. 1925. 

Below is the harbor looking at a big hotel.

Above is the Ten Pound Lighthouse. We continued into town in search of this statue of Joan of Arc.

Bob hopped out of the car to take the picture, as there was no parking. There was a man walking his dog. Bob asked him , why ‘Joan of Arc’, and he said, yeah, none of us can figure out why we have a statue of ‘Joan of Arc’. Well, being curious, I found this!

“Anna Hyatt Huntington, who created the World War I Memorial in Legion Square featuring the impressive sculpture of Joan of Arc on horseback? The horse was modeled after a magnificent Percheron that was part of the team at the East Gloucester fire station. Huntington’s niece posed astride a barrel, as she modeled the figure of Joan, first nude, then in costume. Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973) became one of the best-known and most prolific sculptors of the 20th century. The studio is the first house on the left after you cross the causeway on Washington Street heading toward Annisquam Village.”I guess that sort of answered the question!

We went in search of  “Cape Pond Ice” which was listed as a historical building and museum, about ice houses. We never found it. We think the building is there, but there was no sign. At the location there was a shop. But it gave us a chance to park ( free as there was time left on the meter), and visit downtown.

We continued out to the Eastern Point Lighthouse.

It was a Coast Guard station and closed to the public. What a trip out there! We kept seeing signs for private roads. We went anyway, and it was actually public, but evidently the rich folks, who live in the mansions on this side road, have put up the signs. We passed some beautiful homes! Again, a very narrow road with no parking. Below is the Yacht Club.

Many of the houses were almost this size!

We continued on to Rockport, where we saw these memorials to the Civil War veterans who fought for the north.

The road circled the Cape Ann peninsula, and returned through Gloucester. We returned the way we came, and back out to I-95, where we traveled north, back to the Wells exit.

We returned to the MH, walked and fed the dogs, and went south a few miles to Ogunquit. We turned left in town and went out to Perkins Cove. We had seen on Yelp, reviews for the Lobster Shack. We circled 2x and by pure luck found a parking place.

We had dinner, both ordering a lobster roll. We ate, then left to wander through the stores. We backtracked through the town of Ogunquit, and back to the MH. We watched TV, read, and went to bed.

Tuesday– We washed sheets and towels, plus some clothes. I worked on the newsletter and the blog. We ate lunch at home, then we drove south, through Ogunquit, to Cape Neddick to visit the Nubble Lighthouse.

The Nubble Lighthouse is a 41 ft. cast iron tower which was authorized by President Rutherford D. Hayes and was illuminated in July of 1879. It was initially a brown lighthouse, but has been painted white since 1902. An 1891 fourth-order Fresnel light is still in use. It was automated in 1987. There was a locally famous cat who lived at the lighthouse, who was an excellent mouser! The 19 lb. cat, used to swim ( a swimming cat???) across  the channel to visit with mainland friends, then returning to the light house.

It is located on an island, just off the mainland. We could also see the Boon Island Light, located 6.5 miles south on a small, rocky island.  The first wooden tower was built in 1800, but was destroyed in a winter storm in 1804. It was replaced with a stone structure, but in 1812, President James Madison authorized a new lighthouse. The current structure, which is 133 ft. high, was built in 1852. A legend about the island is that in 1710, a British ship wrecked on the island and the survivors struggled to stay alive for 3 weeks, finally resorting to cannibalism. The locals after that left barrels of provision in case of future shipwrecks on the island. In 1978 the blizzard destroyed everything on the inland except the tower. The light keepers took shelter in the lighthouse. After that an automated light was put in and in 1993, the Fresnel lens was removed and replaced by a modern solar-powered optic.

On the way back through Ogunquit, we were stuck in a long traffic line. This gave us a chance to take a picture of the local library building.

Very pretty isn’t it! We returned home, walked the dogs, ate dinner, watched TV, read and went to bed.

Wednesday-  We;eft to travel to Freeport to visit the LL Bean complex. They do not offer tours, we had called and asked. We drove north on I-95, paying the tolls, just because it was faster. We arrived and easily found a parking place. We walked over to the main building where we found the ‘boot’.

We wandered around looking at stuff, and the stuffed!

We left and crossed the main street to go to the outlets. We went to the LL Bean outlet, then to Haggar, where we bought Bob shorts and jeans.

We left and went back across the street and stopped at Linda Bean’s Lobster stand. Bob had a lobster wrap and I had a lobster salad. Both were good, but not enough lobster. The price was right  though, about $10 each.

We returned to the car and started back south on Rt. 1. We had seen a sign saying Big Indian, so we were ready to see a Big Indian and we did. There is nothing on the internet as to why it is here. It is just known as BFI, Big Freeport Indian, or the R-rated version, B****I.

We continued on and stopped at a bank to pick up quarters to refill our laundry quarters jar and a drug store for some eye drops.

Then we hopped back onto I-225 and continued the 30 miles south to Portland. Our next stop was at the Portland Head Lighthouse, which is located in Fort Williams. It is a nice, large park in town on the bay.

We easily found a parking place ( all free at this park) and walked over to the lighthouse. This is the most photographed and visited lighthouse in the USA, and you can see why.

The Lighthouse is actually in the town of Cape Elizabeth. Maine  was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 18th century and Portland was known as Falmouth until 1786. In 1784, the merchants in the town petitioned the Massachusetts government for a light to mark the entrance to Portland Harbor. John Hancock was the governor of the Bay Colony and authorized construction. There was a delay due to insufficient funds, so the construction did not occur until 1790. President George Washington appointed the first light keeper. A fourth-order Fresnel lens replaced the lamps and reflectors in 1855 and a bell tower was added. The tower is 72 ft.

 

We has our Lighthouse Passport Stamped for this lighthouse and for several others in the area. Out in the water was the Portland Breakwater (Bug) Light.  This is located on a 2500 ft. breakwater on the south side of Portland Harbor. It was built in 1855 with a sixth-order Fresnel lens. The breakwater was extended 200 ft. and this light was installed. It is know locally as Bug Light due t the Greek architectural elements. The design of the cast-iron tower is unique, petite with Corinthian columns created to resemble a 4th century BC Green monument. It was electrified in 1923 and as the harbor grew it became obsolete. It was renovated in 1989.

Behind the Portland Head Light, in the bay, we could see the Ram Island Ledge Light at the entrance to the harbor. At high tide the ledges are completely covered and were the cause of many shipwrecks until this light was built there in 1905. Gray, granite blocks were used to construct the tower. The light was converted to electric in 1958 and automated in 1959.

Next we looked at the Cape Elizabeth Light off to the south east. It was automated in 1963 and the 1,800 lb. Fresnel lens removed in 1994. It is visible for 27 nautical miles and is the most powerful on the New England Coast with four million candle power. This lighthouse was the subject of two Edward Hopper paintings, one of which was reproduced on a 1970 postage stamp to commemorate Maine’s 150th anniversary.

We could also see another light, off to the right of the Cape Elizabeth Light. It is the Spring Point Ledge Light. This lighthouse marks the dangerous ledge on the west side of the main shipping channel into Portland Harbor. A group of steamship companies convinced the government to locate a lighthouse on the ledge in 1891, but typical of Congress, they did not allocate the money until 1896. The lighthouse became active in May of 1897. It is built on a cylindrical cast-iron caisson, the lighthouse is a typical ‘spark plug’ style of the period, but unlike many of the other structures, it was built of brick rather than cast iron. A fifth-order Fresnel lens was installed and a fog bell hung on the site of the tower. The light was electrified and automated in 1934.

We decided that we needed to head home, but first we had to stop at Kohl’s. I had tried on more shorts and they all fell off, so I needed to stop and purchase some. I was able to find two pairs.

We stopped at the EZ Pass office to see if we could get an EZ Pass. We had one when we lived in Maryland, but to get one for the MH was a big deal, and we could not tow the car with it, so we decided not to purchase one. We stopped at the Wells Farmers Market on the way home, but did not purchase anything.

We returned home, walked and fed the dogs, and then went to dinner at The Steakhouse, a highly rated restaurant in Wells. We had a 45 minute wait, and Bob had a beer and I had the worst glass of Moscoto wine, from Italy, I have tasted! Dinner was excelled though. We returned home and collapsed after a busy day!

Thursday- We had passed a restaurant called Congdon’s Doughnuts. The line for doughnuts was out the door! We arrived for breakfast and, after and 10 minute wait, were given seats at the bar.  We had a wonderful breakfast. I had blueberry pancakes and Bob had ham, eggs and toast. We of course bought a doughnut for later, which was very good!

We left and traveled north on RT. 1 to the turn off for Kennebunkport. We decided that since the tide was coming in, that we would go straight to’ Blowing Cave and Spouting Rock’ we thought that maybe we could get a picture of the water spray. We tried, but the water was calm.

About a 1/4 mile up the road was Walkers Point. We immediately knew that it was President HW Bush’s House, due to the anchor memorial, the flags, the two gate houses, and the guy standing, pretending to be a road worker, but who was obviously Secret Service. With all the security, we think George W might have been there also, as it seemed overkill for a 90 + year old retired president!

 

Across the street from Walkers Point, was a pond with these cranes.

We turned around and went back into town.

We easily found parking and went wandering around. We stopped at the Visitor Center, and found where the lighthouses were located. We drove back past Walker Point and continued north to the Goat Island Lighthouse.

The lighthouse was established in 1833 to guide mariners into the sheltered harbor at Cape Porpoise.  The current structure is 25 ft. . built between 1880 and 1890. The Coast Guard planned to automate the light in 1976, but the towns petitioned to maintain a keeper to prevent vandalism. It is known as the last manned light station in Maine, and was automated in 1990. The 5th order Fresnel lens was replaced at that time and was used as a security post when former President HW Bush was in residence at Walkers Point.

This is a submarine watch tower built during WWII to watch for  subs.

We continued north to Old Orchard Beach. I wanted to visit there as my mother used to visit there on vacation when she was a child.

We hated Old Orchard Beach. People are crazy. We were able to find a spot in a 10 minute site and took the above pictures. People were paying no attention to moving cars and walking in front and back of the moving car. It was scary, and we left ASAP to get away from them!

We traveled a bit south and stopped for lunch at  Jumping Jacks Lobster Shak. I had a lobster roll and Bob had the fried shrimp plate. He had ordered the clam cakes, but they were out of them. Both were good. My lobster roll was a typical Maine lobster roll with the grilled bun.

We left and continued back to the town of Kennebunk. Earlier we had been in Kennebunkport.

In town they had all these Adirondack chairs on the street. They are painted by local artists, using the Masters as the theme.

They also had these boat shaped planters.

We went to our final stop for the day, the Wedding Cake House.

We returned home, using Rt 1. We had a quiet evening eating dinner at home, , watching TV, reading and going to bed early.

Friday-  After we had returned from Freeport the other day, Bob had thrown his new jeans into the wash. When he took them out, one pair had these ugly lines across the front. So we decided to return them. We left about 10:30 and drove back up to Freeport. We went to the Haggar’s Outlet and the girl looked at us like we were crazy. Of course they had these stripes. They come that way! Okay, so with store credit, we exchanged them for a different pair that did not have the stripes.

We had parked this time in the garage, under the Outlets, so we saw that there was a Crepe restaurant. So we went to it and had crepes for lunch. Bob had the ham and cheese and I had the pepper-jack turkey.  They were very good and the price was reasonable.

We left Freeport and traveled south to Portland where we stopped at Petco to return Karlie’s Glucosamine, as she will not eat it. Then we stopped at the Sally’s Beauty Supply, to buy clippers for me to clip Bob’s hair.

We hopped back on to I-95 and drove to Saco, to stop at the Way Way Store, it is a 1920’s to 1950’s era gas station and general store. It was built in 1927-1929. They have penny candy and ice cream. We just looked.

 

We went back to I-95 and returned to Wells. We stopped at the Scoop Deck for some ice cream. We each had  BOSTON BLACKOUT Chocolate ice cream w/ swirls of brownie batter & chunks of brownies. Oh, was it good! They claim to have the best ice cream  in Maine, and we have to agree! This was the best ice cream we have had since Moomer’s in Michigan in 2014.

We returned to the MH, and I clipped Bob’s hair. The new clippers work really well! We sat outside enjoying the weather, ate dinner at home, and sat out until it was too dark to read any more. The dogs really enjoyed having us home!

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