October 15-19

We had planned to spend a night at Ogunquit, which would have left a 5 hour drive to Hunn's Lake in upstate New York the next day. After some calculating, we figured that we could leave Booth Bay Harbor and drive directly to Martha's house in New Hampshire, and spread the long drive out over two days.
So back to Martha's for a night, stopping briefly at Freeport for a look that the famous mothership of LL Bean. Then on to Hunn's Lake to visit Katy, Sean and Daniel.
Katy

Sean

Daniel
Daniel shows us a beaver dam.
Friday night Daniel lead a walk around the neighborhood and we enjoyed dinner with the family. Saturday morning Katy took Daniel for a swimming lesson (heated pool, you betcha) while Sean took Tom and me to their local community farm to pick up the week's veggies, and then to a zoo operated by a boarding school.

It was all happening at the zoo.

This was happening all over.
Actual wild swans.

I'm not sure what happened that afternoon, since I fell asleep.

The next day Sean and Daniel returned to New York City for a concert, while Katy stayed on to show us around. We had a lovely lunch at a local cafe, then were off to Hyde Park to see FDR's home. We took the tour, then had just enough time to get to Val Kill, Eleanor's home late in her marriage and afterward. With just a peep of daylight left, we drove to the Vanderbilt mansion, and although it was closed, we did have a chance to see the grounds and the view of the Hudson.

Hyde Park

The graves of FDR and Eleanor, his with the flag. The small pedestal in the rear marks the grave of Fala. FDR's dog.


Val Kill
The Vanderbilt cottage

October 13-14

Our next stop was Rockland, Maine. It rained during our trip from Bar Harbor, and we made a couple of stops along the coast. In that part of Maine there really are no freeways, so we threaded our way through town after town. One we stopped at was Camden, where Tom admired the boats in the harbor.

When we got to Rockland, we found a lovely B&B, the Lime Rock Inn. We aren't usually B&B folks, but this place could convert us. It was comfortable, beautifully decorated, and had all the comforts of home -- a fully stocked guest pantry with snacks and drinks, a computer desk in case you did not bring your own, a living room with television and games. We were sorry that we had only planned one night.


The owners were more than accommodating, and when Tom mentioned that he would like to go on a schooner the next day, they offered to make some calls. Since it was now past Columbus Day (which we did not realize is the unofficial end of the season) most of the boats were no longer operating. But our hosts found one in Camden. In fact, it was one of the boats we had seen from the harbor when we stopped earlier in the day. Calls were made, reservations were claimed. (One of us demurred slightly -- given that it was still raining and cold enough to snow, the forecast of sunny skies was not quite enough.)

The next day was clear and bright, so we packed up and headed back through Rockland to to Camden. Since we had a little time before the voyage, we stopped at the Farnsworth Museum, which turned out to be a wonderful collection of American art, featuring the works of NC Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth. It was also hosting a retrospective of work by Robert Indiana, who had done the "LOVE" sculpture. In fact, the garden featured the "Love Wall". We had only an hour for the museum, which was not quite enough. Between the lovely B&B, the excellent museum, and the rest of the town which looked worthy of future exploration, we decided that we'd like to return to Rockland when we have more time.



But we didn't, so we headed back to Camden, where we both boarded the Olad along with 9 other hardy souls. It was a very pretty ride, but about the coldest we think we have ever been despite layers of clothes and long underwear. Glad we went, glad it was only 2 hours, glad we don't have to do it again.


Tom at work.

After the Olad's wild ride, we continued our ride south to Booth Bay Harbor, our final stop in Maine. We arrived at the Harbor Town Inn, another very pretty B&B, late in the day, checked in and took a long walk around the town. We had another lobster dinner before settling in for a comfortable night.

October 11-12

Bar Harbor was our first experience with the Maine coast. When we found out that the entire town had burned to the ground early in the last century, we understood why it seems to be block after block of architecturally ordinary buildings with wall-to-wall tourist shops and restaurants. Apart from the menus at the restaurants, there is virtually no sense of a working fishing town.

We arrived in time for lunch, so it was time to dig into lobster rolls. After that we had time to check into our nondescript hotel, and notice that there was no vacancy anywhere -- we had not realized that it was the 3 day Columbus Day weekend, and the last weekend of the tourist season. After settling in, we walked downtown again and checked out the shops filled with things on sale that we didn't need, and plan our dinner destination.


We had limited goals in Bar Harbor -- get a sense of the town (didn't take long), get a sense of the island and Acadia National Park. So the next morning we headed out to see the other side of Mount Desert Island, Southwest Harbor and Northeast Harbor. We found a nice lunch in Southeast Harbor, and followed the road to Bass Harbor Head Light, the iconic Maine lighthouse. Tom noticed that in the tourist literature that several photos of the lighthouse for different products and companies, were actually the identical photograph, with the exact same twigs and leaves in the trees. Turns out that most photos of the lighthouse are taken from a spot far down the rocks next to the cliffs; I decided not to go that far.
Southeast Harbor
Bass Harbor Light Head


There was a constant flow of tourists from the parkinglot to the lighthouse itself. Pity the poor family who lives in the house adjoining it.

We had hoped to stop at the Jordan Pond House for tea and popovers on the way back to Bar Harbor, and our drive got us there just in time. They have it down to a science, delivering the tea and coffee, then the first popover, then the second, with plenty of butter and strawberry jam. The coffee was good, the tea bitter, but the popovers were fun and delicious. After taking a few photos of the view, we headed back to Bar Harbor.

However, reading the guidebook along the way, we learned that Cadillac Mountain was the place to be at dawn -- or, in our case, sunset, for a 360 degree view of the island. Since it was on our way, we took the turnoff, and were glad we did. While the summit was a zoo of tour buses, flocks of tourists and photographers, it did provide a breath taking view of the island the the surrounding area.

Dinner was exceptional -- at the West Street Cafe. Tom had another lobster, and I had fried clams, with liberal sharing on both sides.

October 10

We left Lisbon, New Hampshire mid-morning, after another exceptional breakfasts at Bishop Fram B&B. It was about 2 hours to our next stop, Kingfield, Maine. Along the way we encountered construction delays in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, and we found another use for the GPS. Coming up on a small town, we were both hungry and ready for lunch, but neither of our guidebooks even knew the won existed. But the GPS was quickly reprogrammed to show us where the restaurants were, so we cruised the main street until we found one that looked right. It was a good choice -- our first lobster sandwiches of the trip.

We had Kingfield on our itinerary because we wanted to visit Robert and Hilde's son, Gabe, at his cattle ranch. Maine has always seemed to us an unlikely place for a cattle ranch, and as we got closer and closer, it seemed even more improbable. But finally we identified the right landmarks, made our turn, and there was Gabe and his ranch. We spent a couple of hours getting the Grand Tour, and learning why Maine is an excellent place for a cattle ranch, especially for grass fed cattle that Gabe is raising. After our tour Gabe joined us for dinner at a nearby ski resort that was just opening for the season. Sadly, none of his beef -- prized by chefs all along the east coast -- but a good meal all the same.



It had been a long day, and we were both relieved to finally get settled in our hotel, which was itself an experience -- the Herbert Grand Hotel. We could almost see the gentlemen and ladies of another era bustling through the hotel, which now seems to us to be pretty well in the middle of nowhere.


So adieu, Kingfield, and off to the coast. Next stop: Bar Harbor.