Thing 3: Go on a Summer Adventure

The summer of 2013 was all about lighthouses. I don't know what it is about lighthouses but I love them so much. So my mom and I spent two days in Mid-Coast Maine seeing as many lighthouses as possible.

The only hiccup was that we didn't have a boat. And seeing as how most lighthouses are designed to face the ocean, we had to get creative.

Our first stop was Lincolnville, ME. We got there just in time to miss the ferry and had to wait two hours for the next one. Oops!

They crammed tons of cars, trucks, a giant dump truck, and an ambulance onto the ferry. We spent an hour on the island checking out the lighthouse and marveling at the yachts that were docked nearby.

Grindle Point lighthouse was the only lighthouse we were able to go into. Mom and I climbed the tower (which was quite short) and scaled a ladder to get up to the tippy top.

Another highlight of the lighthouse tour was Rockland Breakwater. If you want to see this lighthouse you have to work for it. The lighthouse is 7/8ths of a mile out on a rocky breakwater. You could barely see the lighthouse from the shore.

It was super low tide when we visited so the side dock was down an extremely steep ramp. But I braved the steep grade to get a side photo. At high tide, the water is known to wash over the breakwater.

Mom on the breakwater.

The low tide and setting sun made for a gorgeous photo!

On day two of our mid-coast lighthouse tour we hit up Owl's Head Light. I loved this lighthouse! We had to walk quite a ways from the parking lot and climb a hill and many stairs but it was worth it. Owl's Head sits way up high on the edge of a cliff. From the top you had almost a 360 degree view of the surrounding bay.

We also stopped at the picturesque Marshall Point lighthouse. This was a small light but it was gorgeous. The house located on the grounds is super fancy.

Marshall Point lighthouse is in St. George so there were dragons everywhere!

Through our many, many miles we saw cool things. We stopped at this tiny gift shop that featured oreo cow (Belted Galloway) products. Mom chatted up the lady to learn about the brown oreo bull that was a little too friendly for my liking. It kept coming up to the fence with it's giant, snotty, ring-filled nose and I was all "OMG it's so big get it away from me!"

People love their lobster buoys in Maine.

Our last stop was a river cruise of the Kennebec River. Before it started, Mom and I had an "eat out of the trunk picnic" with some PB&J that we stole borrowed from the hotel's breakfast spread.

The river cruise took us past 7 lighthouses...many of which were very small and rundown.

It was the Hell's Gate cruise which meant that we went upriver as the tide was going out. It was crazy how fast the tide was going out. It was rushing so quickly that giant metal buoys were pulled completely underwater and our boat had many turbulent moments. 

Our lighthouse summer adventure was awesome. We ended up seeing 11 lighthouses in two days. Only 40+ more to go!

Thing 11: Spend Time in Maine

When I was 10ish my parents bought a small house (cabin) in the Western Maine lakes region. Growing up we spent many weekends there. But eventually I outgrew hanging out with my parents in a small cabin with no tv/internet/civilization nearby. I spent years avoiding the place because it was "boring." 

More recently I have enjoyed the time I spend in Maine and this year made an effort to go to Maine once a month. There were some months that I didn't make it up but others that I went up several times (I'm looking at you August). Now that I'm a grownup, I enjoy spending time in Maine much more than I did when I was younger. A big part of this is being able to drive and explore the state at my own will.

This year in Maine:

I went outlet shopping in Freeport. 

Took the dog for walks on the frozen lake.

Braved walking on the lake when it was all slushy.

Saw turkeys.

Mailed postcards.

Saw oreo cows.

And llamas.

I visited Screw Auger Falls.

Moose Falls.

And Snow Falls.

I put my feet in a waterfall in April.

It was cold.

I walked through snow in flip flops.

Also cold.

I saw deer.

Spent time in Kennebunkport.

Went to the beach.

Made s'mores.

Saw sunflower fields.

Matt Nathanson.

And fireworks.

I ate corn.

So much corn.

And lobster.

I took boat rides.

And drove countless miles up the coast.

I visited so many lighthouses.

Short ones, tall ones, fancy ones, and rundown ones.

I rode 4 wheelers with friends.

Went kayaking.

Visited 7 covered bridges.

Watched the leaves change.

Scaled the tallest bridge observatory in the country.

Played in a fort with ghosts.

This year I covered a lot of miles in Maine. I began my mission to visit all the lighthouses and covered bridges in the state. I ate lots of ice cream. And I can't wait to do it all again in the coming year.

4th of July: Part 2

The real reason I went to Maine for the 4th of July was to see a FREE Matt Nathanson concert at L.L. Bean. I headed to Freeport in the early afternoon, convinced that I'd be able to find a good seat. Well, apparently people put out chairs at 12:01 am for summer concerts. 

After tossing my blanket on an empty area of wood chips, I took on the task of wandering around Freeport by myself for 7 hours. It was super hot and humid so I spent an hour or so in Starbucks enjoying their air conditioning and wi-fi.

Eventually, I grabbed some dinner and headed back to my blanket. I quickly learned that a blanket on the ground in a sea of lawn chairs is a terrible way to see a concert. 

I ended up walking around a bit an eventually found an empty corner of grass where I was able to see much better.

The concert was amazing. I almost didn't go because I had to drive to Maine, then drive to Freeport, then spend the entire day alone just to see a concert alone. But I'm glad that I went because I got to see Matt Nathanson for free!

After the concert ended, I headed to the baseball field behind L.L. Bean to see the fireworks. I stayed very close to the edge of the field and it felt like the fireworks were falling right on top of me. 

After the fireworks ended, it took 45 minutes just to get out of the parking lot. Lesson learned, next time I'll park farther away on the main street! I had spent the entire day in the heat and was so sticky. By the time I got back to the house in Maine it was after midnight. I bypassed the house and drove straight down to the lake and took a midnight dip to cool off.

4th of July...A Bit Late!

When I was growing up, I spent every 4th of July at camp. In recent years, I've attended my towns local 4th of July Eve festivities on the 3rd of July. And for many, many years in a row it has rained, poured, and thunderstormed.

But this year it was sunny and a tad humid. We watched majorettes dance, listened to patriotic tunes, and wrangled toddlers.

It looked like the weather was going to turn but it held out for the rest of the night.

The next morning I got up super early, stopped at Dunks for a patriotic breakfast:

And drove to Maine to celebrate 4th of July festivities in the pine tree state.

The (very) small town parade was disappointing compared to the craziness that my hometown puts on. The DPW was in charge of blocking off the road...no cops needed.

The parade marshall led the parade in style...a riding mower and a pomeranian! Just kidding...but this guy did drive down the road right before the parade began.

There were a few army trucks and one firetruck with an awesome mural on the side.

The parade was super short but there was the obligatory parade candy thrown by a giant strawberry.

Part two to come!

Maine Bridge Weekend: Part 2

On Day 2 of Amy and her Mom visit bridges in Maine...we drove 3ish hours to midcoast Maine to check out the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory. The Weather Channel promised me sunshine but this is all the sun/blue sky we saw:

The Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory is the only bridge observatory in the United States and at 420 feet above the river below, has the tallest and fastest elevator in the state of Maine. 

Stepping out of the elevator, I felt super dizzy. I think it was more to do with the elevator ride than the being super high up in the sky.

You could see forever and ever in all directions and while the sun would have made it much prettier, it was still a spectacular view.

After we descended from the observatory, we headed to (the original) Fort Knox...the defend the harbor one, not the full of gold one. 

The fort was incredible. 

We went underneath into the tunnels and walked, by way of the iPhone flashlight, through some scary, dark places. One hallway had more windows:

But most of them looked like this:

As we entered the tunnels, a cannon sounded. I felt like I was in the Hunger Games!

We spent about an hour wandering around then waited to see the canons fired.

Following our trip to the fort, we hit up one last lighthouse. Fort Point was quite the traditional Maine lighthouse....black, white, and red.

   

Maine Bridge Weekend: Part 1

I took Friday off so I had an extra long weekend and hit up Maine with Mom and the puppy. 

Our target was the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory. But the Weather Channel told me it was going to be sunnier on Saturday (spoiler alert: they were wrong) so we spent Friday checking out some covered bridges.

The Hemlock Bridge in Fryeburg was the first one we visited. It was my favorite. The arches were beautiful and the windows let a lot of light in. 

I was nervous to drive across it but we made it out alive. The bridge is in the middle of nowhere. I was directing and my mom was driving and the conversation went like this:

Me: Take this right and go straight for 2 miles.

Road turns into a dirt road.

Mom: Umm....

Dirt road turns into a gated dirt path.

Mom: Umm...

Me: That's what the directions said!

Next, we hit up the Parsonfield-Porter Bridge. This bridge was super long and sketchy. It was all spray painted inside and as you walked across one end, you could hear the supports rattling beneath you. Obviously this bridge is a no car zone. 

Mom decided to take the long way home so we could stop by (drive over) one last covered bridge. Babb's Bridge is a replica of the original that was burned by vandals. It was built very differently from the others but was equally defaced as the Parsonfield-Porter bridge. Babb's Bridge was very dark and was quite scary to drive over.

I don't know how the bridges don't just bend in the middle and topple into the river below. It looks like it's just balanced there on the stone supports and a strong breeze would push it off! When we returned from our adventure, we took the puppy for a walk to the lake. 

The water was so still and the reflection was gorgeous.