We took a vacation to Maine Summer of 2016 and here I am finally getting around to blogging about that trip.
Sluggy once again is really on the ball, huh? lolz
We left on July 30th actually. While traveling through New York state we stopped to do a bit of genealogy business.
My 3x Great Grandparents as well as their children(among them my 2x Great Grandfather)are all buried together in upstate NY.
So we stopped at the Walkill Cemetery outside of Middletown NY where I thought they were buried.
Two hours later we find they are buried at a different Walkill Cemetery(same cemetery name, differnt town name)so we go there and found the massive headstone.
Information recorded and photos taken we jumped back into the car and head East to Massachusetts.
I had recently, back then, gotten in touch with my cousin, Mel. Other than across the tent at our grandmother's funeral back in 1981, we really hadn't seen/talked to each other since we were little, around 1969 or so, when my family had stopped at her house on a camping vacation to New England.
I had told her we were heading to Maine and I'd love to stop by to see her and her DH on the way and she invited us to stay the night. Mel also told her mom(my aunt), her siblings and various of all their kids we were visiting and quite a few of them showed up for what became a nice family gathering.
Me and my only Aunt(my father's sister).
Me and my cousin Mel.
Me and my cousin Tim.
Mel, Me, Aunt Marilyn and Tim's daughter, also Mel(for Melanie).
Me and Mel spokesmodeling her latest painting creation.
It was a great visit!
Sunday morning we said our goodbyes and headed out in the rain for Maine. Bur first we got turned around on the local roads while trying to gas up the car and fuel up our tummies. After some head scratching we got on the highway and 45 min. later we were in New Hampshire......
And 25 minutes after that we were crossing into Maine.
An hour after that milestone, we were at our first destination of the day, the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse.
Actual there are two lighthouses at Cape Elizabeth. The second one isn't really on the water and only the top part is visible from the road unless you drive up another private street.
You also can't get to the lighthouse from here(you have to wind your way down a different street)but here is a photo I snapped of Hubs with it in the background.
A shot of some interesting rock formations.
Me with the lighthouse.
Rocks and vegetation.
More rocks jutting out into the water.
There were about 200 foreigners(mostly Asian) walking on the rocks the day we were there. Just seemed strange to encounter so many tourists there on that crappy weather day. I didn't think this was a big touristy place to go and it was certainly NOT what I'd call spectacular scenery here. It's just an ordinary ocean view like thousands of other's along the rocky New England coastline. I guess it's one the first you come to by car traveling north into Maine from the NH/MA area so that might explain the crowds.
We stopped at the Lobster Shack at Two Lights for a quick snack as it was after noon.
I had a cup of Lobster Stew. It was very runny so I dumped all the oyster crackers in the packet into it. OK flavor but nothing great. I can't remember what Hubs had and neither can he so it was likewise not a memorable dish. lolz
A nice shot of the lighthouse and the water.....
The rain held off as we drove up to Portland to one of the many craft breweries in that area called Bissell Brothers.
This place was so crowded and noisy! I guess everyone in Portland goes to drink craft beer when it's a rainy, dreary Sunday.
Their website is HERE. According to what I read there, I guess they are always crowded as the day we stopped in.
There seem to be a LOT of young children in the tap room. I guess this is a "thing" with the younger folks, they bring their infants, toddlers and young children with them to drink beer? I just wish these parents would also bring their parenting skills with them and actually WATCH THEIR FREAKING KIDS! while in a public space.
Geez!!!
Hubs wasn't blown away by their offerings and they were out of some types. Not an auspicious start to our time in Maine.
A while later we drove North, passing this iconic food place, the beloved "Fat Boy" drive-in on the way to our first motel stop.
Unfortunately we didn't stop here to eat this trip. Our timing just wasn't right and we weren't in the mood for fast food stuff.
The first motel we stayed at was this one............
Cook's Island View Motel on Bailey Island in Casco Bay.
These environs are my old Maine stomping grounds from my Summers working Summer stock theater in 1980 and 1981 but I've never stayed on the island before.
It's a small old motel with about 12 rooms to let from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. There is a small outdoor pool as well.
Each room has a couple of Adirondack chairs on a wooden "porch" with pots of flowers interspersed about the decking. It's cute and not too pricey for the area but there is no breakfast provided really, just juice and coffee each morning.
They started out putting us into the wrong room. It only had 1 bed(full sized) and I had booked a 2 bed room. So we lugged all our stuff halfway down the length of the building near the office into this room, with the beautimous "art" work on the wall......
Ummmm.....yeah!
So we get to unpacking and then went out to Captain Mike's Restaurant a local seafood place in Brunswick, Maine for dinner.
When on vacation eat local!
They even had their own private label root beer which I gave a try.
We went back to the motel to settle in for the night but other guests had other ideas. Seems the manager put us in the room next to the room they used as a lounge for guests and there was a rather large group that wanted to party for a few hours. And this is when we found out that the on-site manager leaves at 8 pm. and can't be reached to enforce rules.
I'll just say that the walls in this place are paper thin and we weren't happy about being kept awake past quiet hours. ugh.
Not an auspicious start to our Maine stay but things improved greatly the next day.
Sluggy
Sluggy once again is really on the ball, huh? lolz
We left on July 30th actually. While traveling through New York state we stopped to do a bit of genealogy business.
My 3x Great Grandparents as well as their children(among them my 2x Great Grandfather)are all buried together in upstate NY.
So we stopped at the Walkill Cemetery outside of Middletown NY where I thought they were buried.
Two hours later we find they are buried at a different Walkill Cemetery(same cemetery name, differnt town name)so we go there and found the massive headstone.
Information recorded and photos taken we jumped back into the car and head East to Massachusetts.
I had recently, back then, gotten in touch with my cousin, Mel. Other than across the tent at our grandmother's funeral back in 1981, we really hadn't seen/talked to each other since we were little, around 1969 or so, when my family had stopped at her house on a camping vacation to New England.
I had told her we were heading to Maine and I'd love to stop by to see her and her DH on the way and she invited us to stay the night. Mel also told her mom(my aunt), her siblings and various of all their kids we were visiting and quite a few of them showed up for what became a nice family gathering.
Me and my only Aunt(my father's sister).
Me and my cousin Mel.
Me and my cousin Tim.
Mel, Me, Aunt Marilyn and Tim's daughter, also Mel(for Melanie).
It was a great visit!
Sunday morning we said our goodbyes and headed out in the rain for Maine. Bur first we got turned around on the local roads while trying to gas up the car and fuel up our tummies. After some head scratching we got on the highway and 45 min. later we were in New Hampshire......
And 25 minutes after that we were crossing into Maine.
An hour after that milestone, we were at our first destination of the day, the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse.
Actual there are two lighthouses at Cape Elizabeth. The second one isn't really on the water and only the top part is visible from the road unless you drive up another private street.
You also can't get to the lighthouse from here(you have to wind your way down a different street)but here is a photo I snapped of Hubs with it in the background.
A shot of some interesting rock formations.
Me with the lighthouse.
Rocks and vegetation.
More rocks jutting out into the water.
There were about 200 foreigners(mostly Asian) walking on the rocks the day we were there. Just seemed strange to encounter so many tourists there on that crappy weather day. I didn't think this was a big touristy place to go and it was certainly NOT what I'd call spectacular scenery here. It's just an ordinary ocean view like thousands of other's along the rocky New England coastline. I guess it's one the first you come to by car traveling north into Maine from the NH/MA area so that might explain the crowds.
We stopped at the Lobster Shack at Two Lights for a quick snack as it was after noon.
I had a cup of Lobster Stew. It was very runny so I dumped all the oyster crackers in the packet into it. OK flavor but nothing great. I can't remember what Hubs had and neither can he so it was likewise not a memorable dish. lolz
A nice shot of the lighthouse and the water.....
The rain held off as we drove up to Portland to one of the many craft breweries in that area called Bissell Brothers.
This place was so crowded and noisy! I guess everyone in Portland goes to drink craft beer when it's a rainy, dreary Sunday.
There seem to be a LOT of young children in the tap room. I guess this is a "thing" with the younger folks, they bring their infants, toddlers and young children with them to drink beer? I just wish these parents would also bring their parenting skills with them and actually WATCH THEIR FREAKING KIDS! while in a public space.
Geez!!!
Hubs wasn't blown away by their offerings and they were out of some types. Not an auspicious start to our time in Maine.
A while later we drove North, passing this iconic food place, the beloved "Fat Boy" drive-in on the way to our first motel stop.
Unfortunately we didn't stop here to eat this trip. Our timing just wasn't right and we weren't in the mood for fast food stuff.
The first motel we stayed at was this one............
Cook's Island View Motel on Bailey Island in Casco Bay.
These environs are my old Maine stomping grounds from my Summers working Summer stock theater in 1980 and 1981 but I've never stayed on the island before.
It's a small old motel with about 12 rooms to let from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. There is a small outdoor pool as well.
They started out putting us into the wrong room. It only had 1 bed(full sized) and I had booked a 2 bed room. So we lugged all our stuff halfway down the length of the building near the office into this room, with the beautimous "art" work on the wall......
Ummmm.....yeah!
So we get to unpacking and then went out to Captain Mike's Restaurant a local seafood place in Brunswick, Maine for dinner.
When on vacation eat local!
They even had their own private label root beer which I gave a try.
We went back to the motel to settle in for the night but other guests had other ideas. Seems the manager put us in the room next to the room they used as a lounge for guests and there was a rather large group that wanted to party for a few hours. And this is when we found out that the on-site manager leaves at 8 pm. and can't be reached to enforce rules.
I'll just say that the walls in this place are paper thin and we weren't happy about being kept awake past quiet hours. ugh.
Not an auspicious start to our Maine stay but things improved greatly the next day.
Sluggy
The noise would have done me in!
ReplyDeleteI would love to go to New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont!
ReplyDeleteLovely !
ReplyDeleteThe pictures are beautiful. I would have not been terribly happy trying to sleep through noise from the lounge. Bummer.
ReplyDelete