May 24, 2007 - Fort Popham and Popham Beach Area - Today was a wonderfully beautiful day here. The temperature finally reached into the 70s and the sun was shining so we decided to drive over to Fort Popham and the beach area. Fort Popham was started as a Civil War fort but never finished. It was actually garrisoned during the Civil War, the Spanish American War and World War I. The fort is just an open shell and is easy to go see. There is a short path that is just above the beach with benches for sitting and just enjoying the sea breeze. We drove over to the Sebasco area which has a really large seaside resort. The area around here is very interesting as far as roads go. One minute you are on a nice two lane paved road and the next it turns to a gravel road. We had decided to come back to the campground a different way and that is exactly what happened. The map showed a two lane, paved road but it turns to gravel for about 2.5 miles. We thought we had made a wrong turn, but, no, we were on the right road. We did make it back in one piece, but we found out that you just never know what you are going to find out there.
 

Friday, May 18, 2007 - Phippsburg, ME - It is Friday night and we have almost completed our first days off and all we have done is let my back recover and watch it rain. It is supposed to rain through the weekend and remain on the cool side. Jerry says that it is cold and I agree that today's high being only about 42 degrees might qualify in some books as cold but I am enjoying the temperatures. I just wish it would quit raining.

We have had to get out to go the grocery store some and have seen people dressed everyway you can imagine. Some are dressed in heavy raincoats, some are dressed in jeans and long sleeved shirts but no rain gear at all and others are in shorts, t-shirts and flip flops. This seems to be the trend up here. I have never been anywhere where people paid so little attention to how they look. I was told by one native that people don't care what you wear or how you look up here as everyone just does their own thing. That seems to be very true. I have notice that unlike Houston, the women up here tend not to wear much or any make up and their hair is just sort of natural. It seems to be ok to get up, run a comb through your hair, throw on some clothes and go. Jerry has commented that he hopes that I do not necessarily pick up their habits. He sort of likes the fact that I take care of my appearance. I told him that there is no need to worry.

I do like the people here. They are friendly and unpretentious. As I said in early, they are earthy and seem to be genuine. I guess we will know more as the summer goes on.

I am going to take some more local pictures when the rain stops as their are some interesting houses and other things in the area. Check back later next week as the rain is supposed to clear out as of Monday as we are off as of Tuesday.
 

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - Phippsburg, ME - Well, we have finished our two and one half days of work for the week and here we sit, me with my back out from - you guessed it - raking and it's raining!! Sunday as with Saturday, we all trekked up to the woods for more raking and about 45 minutes into it, my back said enough. The first injury although I think everyone else wished their back would do the same. I spent the rest of the day in the office doing odds and ends. Yesterday, before going back for our half day, I found a massage therapist and she helped some.

It is supposed to rain for the next several days and that makes me feel better about being stuck at home. I am not sure where our first exploration will take us as whale watching is better later in the summer. I guess we could go out to view the lighthouse near here or get the map of the Maine lighthouses and start visiting the ones that allow visitors. Someone told me yesterday that we should visit Acadia National Park early in the season as it is very, very crowded in July. There is so much to do and see here it might be hard to pick the first excursion, but we will do our best and take you along with us via these write ups and pictures. So check back when you can to see if we have made any progress in seeing Maine.
 

Saturday, May 12, 2007 - Phippsburg, ME - Today was our first day at work and what a day it was. For the many friends who have heard me say "I don't do yard", today "I DID yard". The "season" really begins at the campground Memorial Day Weekend (last weekend in May for my European friends) and there was still plenty to do to get ready. SOOOOO, the other couple, the owner and his girlfriend and Jerry and I raked and raked and raked and raked. Jerry and I did get a break just after lunch. Jerry got to mow on a really cool riding lawn mower and I learned the computer software. But then we raked some more. There are like 70++ campsites here. About 60 of them are in the wooded area and they all had to be raked. After we made unending piles, then Chris could come along with his front end loader and pick up the leaves and put them in one of the two trucks to be hauled away. It was good to do some physical labor, but I don't know if we will be able to move tomorrow. Oh yes, we are back at it tomorrow too. We'll keep you posted on how we come out.

Thursday, May 10, 2007 - Phippsburg, ME - Since it appears that our new boss, Chris, doesn't want us to start working until Saturday, we have taken that past couple of days to examine the area around us. Yesterday, we took a short drive to the city of Bath. This is a quaint town only a few minutes from our location. The historical part is very old for this country dating back well into the 1700's. Actually they claim that the first ship was built in Bath in 1607 by English settlers. If you want more information on that aspect here is an link - http://www.visitbath.com/400_Years/index.html. Ship building is still a major part of Bath today and I have some pictures that show what we believe to be Navy ships being built. The historic part is very nice with shops and restaurants along the street. The people are so nice up here and we enjoyed our visit very much.

Today, we decided to go over to Boothbay Harbor which is about 30 miles away. The roads here are mostly two lane and very winding, but it was a pleasant drive over and the harbor is beautiful. The town itself was a bit touristy but we had a wonderful lunch at a inn overlooking the harbor. As you will see in the pictures, there is an island with three house not far from the shore. We will go back here later in the season to go whale watching and to see the lighthouse offshore.

Since we didn't feel much like shopping in tourist shops, we decided to drive out to Orr's Island and Bailey Island. These islands are just a short distance from our campground and it is really a pretty drive as well. You are actually going out onto one of the many "fingers" of the Maine coast so the Atlantic Ocean is on both sides. When you reach Bailey's Island you literally drive to "land's end" as the road just stops short of the Atlantic. You will see the picture of the barrier and the beach beyond. There is a very interesting bridge separating Orr's Island and Bailey's Island and I took pictures of that as well. One of the better known restaurants, Cook's Lobster House, is out on the island and we will go back there to eat someday soon.

I know I took a lot of pictures of the coast line but I really love the Maine coast and wanted to share as much of it with you as I could. I will write more as things progress but that is what we have been doing so far.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007 - Phippsburg, ME - I realized after I looked at the pictures of New York and Niagara Falls that there might be some explanation is necessary. First off, the pictures of New York were all of small towns along US Highway 20 which as I said we took to avoid the exorbitant tolls. These were all taken going the highway at various speeds. You see Jerry had talk to a friend of ours who like to drive non-stop from Pennsylvania to Texas that morning. I accused of him of taking on Paul's driving habits as we didn't even stop for lunch!!! The man seemed to be possessed by Paul's driving spirit and only looked straight ahead and drove like crazy. The shot would have been much better had they been taken while standing still on a sidewalk. But we take what we can get.

The pictures of Niagara Falls are sort of haphazard as we didn't have a lot of time in one spot. All of these pictures were taken in Niagara Falls Canada. The Canadian side of the falls is much prettier and more interesting than the American side.

The pictures of the clock made of flowers is just that - the Floral Clock. This is located in a beautiful park close to the falls. The flowers will change here in about a week and the clock will look entirely different for the summer.

The picture of the aerial car are of the the Whirlpool Aero Car and this carries people over the top of the giant whirlpool down river from the falls. This whirlpool can also be seen by jet boat of which there are a couple of pictures. This is the only safe way to get close to the whirlpool. This whirlpool is caused by the opening and closing of the flood gates above the falls and changes rotational direction (from clockwise to counterclockwise) depending on the time of day and which gates are open.

The other pictures are of the Niagara River, the falls, the tunnels behind the falls and the ice which was still present in some area around the falls.

The one picture of the weird treehouse is at our campground. It was very unusual in the fact that it was run by orientals and this treehouse seemed to reflect the oriental style.

May 8, 2007 - Phippsburg, ME - Well, we finally made it to our destination in Maine. It only took a month and 6 days but who is counting. The campground is very different that those we are used to in the south and west but pretty and the people are exceptionally pleasant. We were able to pick our site from a few he had designated for his work campers and we like it just fine. For those of you who RV, we had a hard time getting level but we finally got the coach to where it is livable. You just have to be careful going out of the coach as the last step is significantly off the ground. You know I will be very, very careful as I do not want a repeat of last year.

Just before arriving here we did get to do some sightseeing as well as visiting friends and family along the way. The only real sightseeing we did was to spend a day at Niagara Falls. We decided to take a tour rather than trying to find our way around on our own and I think it was worth it. We got to see the falls and that was the main thing. We didn't, however, get to go on the Maid of the Mist as the boats had just been put in the water that day and wouldn't be running until Wednesday. We did get to go in the tunnels that take you behind the falls and that was unique. I would like to go back sometime and do a couple of more things but time was getting short.

We have seen some beautiful country coming up here. I had no idea how pretty and rural much of New York and Massachusetts really are. There were times when I would have sworn I was back in Idaho. We also saw some very quaint towns in New York state as we took a smaller highway to avoid paying nearly $65 in toll charges to drive the interstate. We were on toll roads in both Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine but their tolls were much more reasonable.

We hope to get the lay of the land up here soon and begin working and sightseeing. We will be doing some whale watching and visit some lighthouses up in this area. We will probably take a couple of days and go to Boston as it is rather close as well.

Be sure to check for pictures and I will be updating more often now that we are stable and have good wifi access.
 

Comments