The Ray Adventures: Bar Harbor, Me. Freeport, Me. Bellingham, Ma.

I can't believe we are in Massachusetts already, it seems like we just left Rockport. We've traveled to 17 states, Michigan and Ohio twice. We bring out the worst in local weather, it seems when we hit town the weatherman says "temps way below average", be careful what you wish for, starting Tuesday the weather forecast will be in the 90's with high humidity.

Friday, July 17, Our last day in Bar Harbor. We drove into Bangor for the day, population over 33,000, about a 30 mile drive. In it's day it was a bustling community but now not so much. We had lunch at a brew pub downtown that must have been very proud of their food, it was quite expensive. The downtown area is pretty sad, we saw a few historic buildings and churches and visited a historic cemetery established in the 1800's that was quite large. We enjoy walking through the old gravestones, some of the people have died before Oregon was just a gleam in somebody's eye. We did a little geo cacheing then returned to an unhappy dog, she had to stay behind. We did the usual drill of preparing for our move the next day.

Saturday, July 18, We left about 10:00 for our 140 mile drive to Freeport, Me. the home of L.L. Bean. We decided to take scenic Hwy 1 down the coastline.  We went through the town of Bucksport again and across the Penobscot Observatory Bridge. Several towns along the way were having local antique/art fairs. Traffic would come to a halt then crawl through the main streets.  Antique shopping must be a big draw, northbound traffic was stop and go for miles. We pulled into Cedar Haven Campground about 3:30, about 5 miles out of Freeport.

Sunday, July 19, It was time to do much needed housekeeping. We haven't had a full hook-up site since we left Michigan, wah hoo, I could do laundry. Ah, the simple things in life make me happy. In the afternoon Peter and Phyllis, from Florida, pulled in next door. They gave us some good ideas for RV parks and places to visit in the Boston area. We went to dinner at Harraseeket for our first Maine lobster. Neither of us particularly care for lobster but everyone talks about how good the Maine lobsters are.  The manager of the RV park suggested Harraseeket, I figured a local would know the best place. With his heavy Maine accent I slowly understood it was on the waawf (wharf). He must have thought I was deaf, I kept saying "what?" The restaurant was "unique", you order at a window, outside seating with picnic tables and wait for your number to be called.  We both got the small lobster with red potatoes and coleslaw, $43.00 yikes! I always thought lobsters were supposed to be inexpensive here. We wouldn't have minded so much if we'd been in a nice restaurant. As it turns out, we just don't care for lobster. I felt bad that I was eating something that was alive until I showed up, plus I don't care to see the eyes of something I'm eating.  Oh, the green "stuff" (liver) everyone says is the best part, uh uh, I couldn't get past the color. Ok so we don't have any taste. We had a noisy thunderstorm and heavy rain.

Monday, July 20, We took a scenic drive to Bailey's Island and Lands End, where Lands End started. A beautiful drive along the peninsula, we took mile plus hike down to the waterfront, picking up 4 geo caches along the way. We let Luci off leash for a while to let her run. Well she ran right down into the water, usually she just wades, the bottom must have dropped off sharply, she came back soaked including her head. She must have been surprised. We stopped for lunch at a little deli on a picturesque harbor, we ate outside, watching two girls jump off a dock. Well back in the car, something smelled "fishy", our next stop was a rub a dub dog wash. We enjoyed happy hour with Peter and Phyllis, they also spent the day on Bailey's Island, bringing home 3 lobsters and a dozen steamers to cook. I could barely watch them put the lobsters in the boiling water, I think I distinctly heard screaming. I bbq'd pork chops, they were very quiet.

Tuesday, July 21 We drove into Freeport after lunch, we visited the 3 LLBean main stores and also the outlet. All too expensive for our budget. We opted for the outlet mall, I got 2 tops at Talbots, a hat and a pair of shorts, Gary found a pair of shorts at North Face. Shopping is such hard work we needed an adult beverage, we walked to historic Jameson Tavern had calamari which turned out to be our dinner. I managed to get my airline ticket booked from Tampa to Portland in late September, I'll be there a week for my 50th high school reunion. Gary gets to stay in Tampa with Luci, my date for the reunion is Linda, a life long friend who moved to Washington in the 7th grade. Another thunderstorm. I talked with our other neighbor Tammy, I needed a recommendation for a hair stylist, the hair cut I got in Michigan was a two for the price of one, meaning one side was longer.

Wednesday, July 22, I had a 10am appointment with Casey for my hair, the salon is in downtown Freeport. She had to cut it fairly short but at least both sides match. Gary took the computer to a tech here in town, will be fixed by Friday. No more excuses for crazy blogs. We rented American Sniper at Red Box, we thoroughly enjoyed the move.

Thursday July 23, We took Luci to the Brown Dog Inn for day care on our way to Portland, about 15 miles south. Portland Head Lighthouse, built around 1791 although it took until after the founding of the United States to complete, the most photographed light house in the world (or so I was told) is located in 2 Lights State Park in south Portland. The weather was beautiful, we took the Cliff Walk, about a mile long past the lighthouse along the water. Portland Oregon is named after Portland Maine, a toss of a coin between a guy from Portland, Me. and a guy from Boston, Ma. determined what to call the town in Oregon. Portland, Me. population 66,000, is the largest city in Maine, the tallest building is also in Portland, a whole whopping 16 stories, is the northern most and closest major harbor to Europe, both chewing gum and donuts were invented here,a vital fishing industry and home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The city burned down four times, after the fourth time commercial buildings were constructed out of brick. We had lunch at Portal, in a historic building right on the harbor. We took the Duck cruise, a land/water amphibious vehicle maneuvered through the narrow streets and took us out in the bay, it went a whole 5 mph in water. As we got off the Duck the rain started, of course our rain coats were in the car about 8 blocks away. We drove to Sew Portland, a quilt store to pick up a Row by Row Pattern. You know the saying "if you have to ask, you can't afford it", we picked up Luci, it cost $35.00for day care. Yikes!

Friday, July 24 Happy Birthday Gary! I promised him Baby Back Ribs for his b.d. dinner, which meant I had to stay home all day, it takes about 5 hours to smoke and bbq, so he went off to the Desert of Maine, an area of sand dunes that have grown since the early 1900's, once a farm now it has dunes of 90 feet tall. He took a guided coach ride through the dunes. Who knew? Maine has a desert. Since we are moving down to Massachusets I cleaned and did laundry while the ribs cooked. Gary said they turned out excellent! Poor Gary, no bd cake.

Saturday, July 25 Moving day, we left Freeport around 11:00 for our drive to Bellingham, Ma. about 30 miles out of Boston. We stopped in Portsmouth, NH to pick up a NH postcard for our 90 plus year old neighbor on Lone Oak, she grew up in NH. While there we had lunch and bought some groceries, Wal-mart is a good place to park when you're as big as we are. We hit a couple of traffic jams along the way but no big problems. We pulled into Circle CG, ahhh happiness is a pull-through site. For some reason our big slide won't open, there's always something.   It's a bit cozy in here. I think we'll be using our extended warranty insurance for the first time.

Sunday, July 25 We left Luci in the coch while we went into Boston to see JFK's Presidential Library. Built on the banks of Boston Harbor with sweeping viw of downtown Boston. We were both a little disappointed, we expected the library to be more grandiose like Regan's. It started out good with a 20 minute movie about his life up until he was elected President. The exhibits are designed to tell his story in his own words, giving you a "you are there" experience of the world of the early 1960's and the Kennedy White House. We found the exhibits stark, especially Nov. 22, 1963, it was a wall with several small screens showing snippets of the days events and the funeral. It only took us a couple of hours to go through giving us time for lunch and visit Gillette Stadium home of the New England Patriots. We searched online for tour information only to find out they don't give tours, in one of the reviews someone wrote no tours are given but the best view of the stadium is from the CBS Scene restaurant. We sat outside although showers were threatening, the food and service were less then mediocre. Live and learn. The complex beside the stadium had several restaurants, shops, a bowling alley, two hotels and a cinema. Taylor Swift performed in the stadium Saturday night, we could see the maintenance crews cleaning up. We overheard from another wait person (not ours she was usually nowhere to be seen)that it had been a zoo, parents dropped their kids at the concert, spending their time in the bar and restaurant, it also gave them a free concert if they were sitting outside.

Monday, July26 Gary spent most of the morning on the phone with Fleetwood and local RV service representatives. We may or may not get the coach in this week to fix the slide. I took Luci to Pet Smart Banfield Veterinary for her shots. It was only 16 miles as the crow flies but took about 45 minutes to get there. As we get older, young people look younger, the vet looked like she was 18. When she first came in the exam room I thought she was another tech. The weather was in the 80's with humidity, when I got back off to the pool I went. Ahhh.

That's it for this week, enjoy the pic's,

TTFN

Gary and Pam