Any (Port)land in a Storm

With Tropical Storm Elsa bearing down on us tomorrow with more heavy rains, we tried to stay an extra day at our Rockport campgrounds, but they are booked because of this weekend’s North Atlantic Blues Festival. 

Fortunately, our Old Orchard Beach KOA had room for us. (We hope to drive back to Rockland to see the Farnsworth Art Museum and Sec. Knox’s Montpelier home; both sites come highly recommended.)

 Wiccasett, ME was another picturesque town along Rte 1. The above house had some of the most unusual gables and trim that I have ever noticed.

Red's Eats was so popular there, a long line went around the block. WOW! We keep laughing…it seems every other Maine coastal town claims to be the lobster capital. Funny! (How times change... when mom was up here over 50 years ago, lobster was going for $2 a pound; now it’s $65 that's quite the rise.)

 

Another lovely KOA with loads of amenities and its well located to some of the cities and sites that we want to visit...(Thankfully, despite the strong winds, we made it to our campsite prior to a downpour.) This Holiday KOA even as a restaurant onsite, Merry Moose and a doggie daycare close; (if needed for me.) Say what??? Based on the temps, M & D will be breaking out the sweatshirts and windbreakers again. 

Pippi found a new playmate next to us; Cooper, a 5 mos. old Golden. They had so much fun together!!!

Well, we had a short rain break this Friday morning for mom and dad to get the laundry done. They just had a short walk from our campsite...Yeah! 

During Elsa's lighter rain before she hit here with more force, they even made a Sam's Club run...otherwise, we all managed to relax and chill out...

Watched some Tour De France...M & D love Carcassonne!!!

Yeah, a beautiful day to explore, so after playing with Cooper again...we took off for Saco and Old Orchard Beach.

We were heading to another downtown restaurant, New Moon when we were told I couldn't even be outside with them. What an insult!!! M & D walked across the street to another restaurant, Quiero Cafe that had outdoor picnic tables. The owners were Colombian and Chilean, and had melded their two culture's foods together. What a treat!!! Dad had their version of a Cuban sandwich while mom chose two empanadas, a pulled pork with fried plantains and a pineapple, ham, cheese with an Arepa,...all served with mouthwatering, fresh, salsa...Everything was so deliciously filling; that mom said a salad will be in order for tonight...

You will note in the above photos, that we couldn't resist a dish of homemade ice cream later at Martel's, but we didn't take the time to play miniature golf. I enjoyed every lick of my scrumptious vanilla kiddie cone!!! 

"Saco ...It is home to Ferry Beach State Park, Funtown Splashtown USA, Thornton Academy, as well as General Dynamics Armament Systems, ...a subsidiary of the defense contractor General Dynamics. Saco sees much tourism during summer months due to its amusement parks, Ferry Beach State Park, and proximity to Old Orchard Beach." We had no idea until we started driving through it how big and pretty it was!!!

We crossed the Saco River and were in their sister city, Biddeford which was also lovely. Both towns had transformed their closed down mills into multipurpose centers. Mom thinks that is so very cool, as I have mentioned before...She researched the the Pepperell Mill Center to find this cool photo and information

Underneath that mill in the middle of the collage above is what you see here. "Perhaps the greatest historical aspect of the mill is hidden under ground. Beneath the mill lies a network of tunnels and lagoons that once carried and controlled all of the water used to power the mill’s machinery back in the late 1800s. This was the original source of power for the mill, and the reason why the mill was developed along the Saco River falls. The lagoon was the epicenter of water power, and controlled the distribution of power for all of the machinery at the mill.

This city reminded us a bit of Cape May, Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach...basically any very, old, popular beachtown with a mix of old 3 story hotels, motels, cottages and houses...all crowded together making getting around a real trial during season.

It turns out the Palace Playground which has operated since 1902 at Old Orchard doesn't open until later in the day and has fireworks every Thursday during season starting at 9:45 PM

It seemed every other or every third dead end provided beach access, but once again parking was at a premium with places charging $20-30 to park

As we kept driving, we found Ferry Beach State Park. Once again I wasn't allowed near the beach, but I was allowed on the trails. Mom took me on the trail to the pond while dad went to checkout the beach. Sorry, mom, I just can't resist water!!!

Dad said he saw lots of family, but no one crazy enough to get into the very cold water...a bracing 61 today.

(OOPS, I got ahead of myself with this above photo its from Kennebunkport)

After a Merry Moose blueberry pancake breakfast here, we headed to Ogunquit, ME to see what 50+ years of change has happened there since mom’s last visit.  As with so many of these charming coastal towns, they had become far more touristy and if Taylor, our boat guide is correct, tourism is the number one source of economy in this area of Maine. 

"According to legend, Ogunquit was named by the Abenaki tribe, because the word means "beautiful place by the sea." Ogunquit has evolved from a fishing village in Perkins Cove surrounded by farms to the bustling tourist destination it is today. Beginning in the late 19th century, fisherman brought their catch into the Cove. It didn't take long for the first artists to arrive, drawn by the rugged beauty of the coastline. In the late 1920's, the Ogunquit Art Association began organizing art education and exhibitions and as the reputation of the summer art colony grew, word of Ogunquit beauty and lively lifestyle began to spread throughout the region."

Besides the tourism issue, tidal changes have impacted the beach here. Much of the town’s beach is now gone except for low tide. It still looked like you had to navigate over rocks to get to the sand in places. We saw more wetsuits on surfers, as they tried to catch a wave; and a few brave souls in the water. Otherwise, there was lots of sun bathing. 

The selection of great restaurants were still here and lots more boutiques and gift shops had been added along with their own Art Museum down by the water...From all the advertising M & D are seeing, they have a lively theater, music and drag scene here. The Sunday we were here, there was a free concert in the park, but we didn't stay for it. 

Personally, none of that really interests me...I'm more interested in what food has been dropped, and any good smells that I can find...The beach areas were very crowded with a mix of beautiful old homes pushed up next to new beach houses...with little parking or areas to move around...

I try to keep up with Bek, Milena and Milena's brother Jovan, sister in law, Tijana and baby, Aleska. Over the weekend, they all went to a Serbian memorial site to remember Jovan and Milena's grandfather who along with others were executed during WWII for rescuing downed American and British pilots. 

Right next to Ogunquit is the even smaller town of Wells with it's gorgeous coastline and beaches as well...What M & D didn't expect to see up here are all the marshes and wetlands. For some reason they thought that was mainly a southern thing...

Kennebunkport and it's outer beaches were beautiful too, but we couldn't find any affordable public parking sites, so we just drove through here without stopping. The long lines outside some tiny food shacks are the give away, that here is where you want to eat...

We didn't spot any of the Bushes walking around; assuming, they have kept the family compound since their parents passing???

We drove through the town of Kennebunk "is home to several beaches, the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, the 1799 Kennebunk Inn, many historic shipbuilders' homes, the Brick Store Museum and the Nature Conservancy Kennebunk Plains (known locally as the Blueberry Plains), with 1,500 acres (6 km²) of nature trails and blueberry fields". From the photos above, little appeared opened downtown...probably the tourists were hanging down at the beach there???

We heard from our camping neighbors that the Maine Maritime Museum was a Must See...We generally follow fellow campers recommendations since we have found them trustworthy thus far. M & D loved that they had an hour cruise on the Kennebec River to see the Bath Iron Works/ and a couple of the lighthouses. 

The Maine Maritime Museum was almost as large as Mystic Seaport and just as interesting. Mom says each museum has their various strengths...this one did a great job of covering boat building from wooden to very contemporary ships as used in today's Navy.

The inside exhibits set the museum goer up for the rest of this 20 acre campus. The site rests on an area that encompassed not only the shipbuilders, Percy and Small, but two others. The lower left photos shows an older gentleman finishing a beautiful, handcrafted wooden rowboat. They are auctioning it off to raise money for the museum.

The above schooner, Snow Squall was found in it's watery grave outside the Falklands. The hull section you see above was what remains with its copper sheathing exposed and peeling.

Bath was started around 1607, the same time as the Jamestown colony. This colony didn’t last long. The original settlers managed to build a wooden ship here before they left. Bath built the most wooden ships in Maine. while Maine built the most wooden ships in the USA. Schooners were designed to sail against the wind as opposed to sailing ships that could only travel with the Trade Winds. 

This mould loft was an original building and one could actually see the hull drawings on the floor. Basically, assembling a ship was like creating a Lego's object except that you had to custom make all the pieces. Joiners were the highest paid shipyard workers since they had the most skilled job... making sure all the pieces fit together and executing the ship designer's overall aesthetic look.

The Wyoming, a wooden schooner capsized years ago, but it was the largest wooden ship ever built.  it was used in the coal trade. The white sculptures give you an idea of this ship's size and dimensions while the photos show the men building it. If you go to this museum's websites, they have some wonderful, short You Tube videos explaining how work was done.

Shipbuilders would soak their lumber in the brackish water of the Kennebec River to absorb the salt making the lumber more airtight once built. The Kennebec River at low tide is 40 feet deep. Additionally, it's well protected from storms making it excellent for shipbuilding. Views inside and outside of the main building.

Many destroyers were built at the Bath Iron Works including Mike’s ship the USS John King (DDG 3). USS Lyndon Baines Johnson (DDG 1002) pictured above is part of the Zumwalt class. As you can see all its guns, missile launchers and radars are not exposed making it very stealthy.  Mom is turning over this commentary to dad, our Navy man. 

I had heard so many excellent stories of the shipbuilders at Bath Iron Works or BIW.   Shipbuilding has been a way of life along the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, since 1762, when the sailing ship Earl of Bute was launched on the site of present day Bath. The Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard, located on the west bank of the Kennebec, just south of downtown Bath, is the namesake of an iron foundry established in 1826.

Brevet General Thomas W. Hyde, US Army (Ret) took over the foundry in 1865, following service with the 20th Maine Regiment during the Civil War. Nearly two decades later, he incorporated his diversified marine business interests as Bath Iron Works, Limited in 1884, before expanding into shipbuilding with the acquisition of the Goss Marine Iron Works in 1888.The first BIW-built vessel was a coastal passenger ship named Cottage City built for the Maine Steamship Co. Since the completion of Hull #1 in 1890, BIW has been awarded more than 425 shipbuilding contracts, including 245 military ships (mostly destroyers and frigates for the US Navy) and over 160 private yachts and commercial vessels. BIW became a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics in September 1995.

In terms of modern US Navy surface combatant programs -- ones where BIW ships are still in service -- the Lead Ship construction contract for the Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG 7) Class of guided missile frigates was awarded to BIW in 1973, and 24 of these surface combatants were delivered over the next 15 years.  Mom and Dad's best man in their wedding (Steve Sides) was on the commissioning crew of the Perry.

In 1985 BIW won the competition for detail design and construction of USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), the Lead Ship for the Navy's newest, most capable class of AEGIS guided missile destroyers. BIW has delivered the lead ship and 30 follow ships, with delivery of the final follow ships under the most recent contract. The US Navy has announced that it will acquire further Arleigh Burke class vessels during the next decade. We saw at least five Arleigh Burke class ships under various stages of construction.

BIW is a yard with a history, and a bright future. Throughout Navy circles - and especially with their current and former crews - it's generally recognized that 'Bath Built Is Best Built', a phrase first heard in the early 1900s, and every bit as true today as when it was first said

These ships are incredibly stealthy making them nearly impossible to find; however, they are too expensive to build, so the Navy is only building three ships in this class. 

The USS Daniel Inouye (DDG 118) is an Arleigh Burke class ship along with the USS John Basilone (DDG 122).  (This ship design followed and replaced the Charles Adams class of DDGs which Mike was on.)   All destroyers are named after Medal of Honor winners. (We hadn't realized that the deceased Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye was a Medal of Honor winner too.)

Ships are now assembled in modules. In the one BIW campus building they have an excellent short video showing how the shipbuilding process works today. Floating dry docks make shipbuilding much easier to launch ships. During WWII they were delivering a ship every 17 days. They built 82 total during the war.

Here are the photos from their hour long lovely Kennebec River cruise aboard the the Maritime's MerryMaking. The volunteer, elderly crew were very informative and  entertaining. You can see various lighthouses, views of the Maritime campus and downtown Bath......

and, Dad's cool shot of a couple of bald eagles...

While we are hanging out and enjoying Maine our San Diego family is having fun there this summer. The grands are growing up so fast...

We woke to very heavy fog all around us. Crazy! After mom defrosted our freezer, we left for Fort Williams and the Portland Head Light. We figured if the fog was still there it would be more atmospheric. 

Definitely one of the prettiest lighthouses we have seen...The lighthouse dates back to the 1790's while the Victorian house is 1890's.

The residential area outside the fort was beautiful too with a mix of old and new homes. 

The waterfront was very large with a real mix of old & new warehouses with mixed usage. Close by was Old Port, their busy, cool, cobblestoned streets and commercial area. We want to return when we can park and walk around. 

I was bummed M & D left me with treats and the TV on while they went to an Irish pub O'Reilly's Cure with Sandy and Andrew. Vince was still not feeling well and stayed home with Gabby. We had an enjoyable dinner there while we shared tips on some of our favorite camping and travel places. Andrew is quite the well traveled teen, having spent a month in Paris with his folks among many other awesome places, they have all visited. They live close to Carmel Valley in San Diego and have a mountain house in Julian. 

Today, Mom packed me a bunch of treats and dinner in case we are late getting back. She told me today is our 100 mile NH White Mountain Trail loop tour. 

She had downloaded the map and an audio tour and is praying it works even if she has no cell reception. (It did work but we couldn't enter where they audio tour started.UGH!) Bretton Woods was where the spectacular Mt Washington Resort  you see above was...It turns out to have a really colorful history.

Mom told us a story of taking a ski tram down one of these mountains after hiking up the mountain with some of her girl campers. She said she had to pretend to not be scared, but was petrified; despite the spectacular views. From that mountain top you could see, VT, NH and ME. 

We had an hour and half positively picturesque drive to North Conway, NH where the trail for us begins. The largest village we passed through was Cornish, ME, but if you blinked; you missed it. So many extremely weathered homes and barns that barely appear standing, then we realize they are still being used. WOW. Inland and mountain Mainers have to love driving since commercial establishments are few and far between.  

Before we entered NH, Fryeburg, ME was the first tiny town with a distinct downtown area and a tiny airport outside. The Saco River runs up here into NH and appears to provide loads of entertainment for all; thanks to fishing, kayaking, and white water rafting. Amazingly, the two lane roads we traveled were in surprisingly good shape. 

We entered the White Mountains National Park, “Land of Many Uses” outside of North Conway stopping at the entrance to a Crawford Notch State Park to photograph Mount Washington. I kept on the lookout for moose at least according to the map and all the signs. There were lots of hikes to waterfalls and even the Appalachian Trail once again, but with mom’s bad knee, we didn’t take the chance. 

Willey House Historic area was just stunning with a dammed up crystal clear, cool pond off the Saco River. 

As we were leaving Crawford Notch State Park we came up to one of the tiny train stations. There are a number of cog trains that you can ride up to various mountain tops. We had certainly never heard of Peakbagging...

 Flume Gorge is part of the Appalachian Trail. Since we couldn't go up there, mom bought us some postcards to see what we missed...

Some of the images are from the Flume Gorge Visitors Center and the town closeby...

There were a couple areas where there was one darling town next to another...North Woodstock, Lincoln and others...

Dad's last shot of the White Mountains, as we were driving along the Kancamagus Highway or the "Kanc" as they call it. It really was a lovely drive, even if I didn't see a moose...whatever that is?

Mom and dad planned this trip well by giving us more time in one place, so we could have downtime to just do nothing...More time to play with me!!! 

However, they did manage to leave me a couple of times, as you can see above...They caught up with the Sincak's again before they left the next day for their trip home to San Diego. M & D really enjoyed spending time with Vince who had recovered. It was a really cool, old, highly recommended restaurant tucked out at an ocean point between two lighthouses, The Lobster Shack at Twin Lights by Cape Elizabeth. (It was a bring your own beer or wine place and they didn't know...shucks! Ironically, they had cleaned the truck and took out two cases of wine...LOL) It didn't matter...it was a wonderful evening with excellent seafood according to M & D...I wouldn't know???

Saturday morning, Mom and dad left me to return to Rockland to the Farnworthy Museum that they really wanted to see...Above you see the lovely gardens between two of the museum's buildings...Mom saw the monarchy butterfly and the funky camel sculpture and fell in love...

Mom and dad really loved this wonderful museum and were so glad they took the time to drive back to Rockland. Mom enjoyed seeing some of Andrew Wyeth's watercolors, that are so much looser and more abstract than his tighter tempera and oil paintings. This museum did a excellent job of explaining both Betsy's, Andrew's wife/Jamie's mom's important role in assisting Andrew and later Jamie with their art careers. They did the same for Jamie's wife Phyllis. 

She was also excited to see so much of Louise Nevelson's, Alex Katz's, Robert Indiana's, and other contemporary artists who had this strong Maine connection. She told me she learned so much new information and saw artworks that she hadn't seen before...

Sunday was a day to relax. M & D caught up on laundry and getting gassed up before we leave for Danbury, CT tomorrow. There we will finally get to glamp with our Florida neighbors and friends, Lori and Don Williams, and Casey. YEAH!

Mom wanted me to end this blog with dad's beautiful fog filled coastal scene...it summed up our trip here...so lovely, even if the weather wasn't always perfect.