Maine

We left Freeport after having a great cinnamon roll for breakfast.  It was huge and delicious.

Now that is a cinnamon roll.

We headed up the Maine coast toward Boothbay where we wanted to visit the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens.  It was worth the stop.  It was great.  We really enjoyed the flowers and the art work that was available.  It is a very well maintained garden and very large and a most enjoyable place to visit.

Here are a few shots from the botanical gardens.

We left the garden and headed to Brooksville Maine where some members (Fred and Nancy Stine) of the travel club live.  We plan to stay with them for a few nights and explore the central Maine coastal region.

Here are some photos of their cabin and the Eggemongonin Reach where they live.

Unfortunately it was very foggy this morning and the photos didn't turn out too well.

This morning we went down south and explored some islands and towns around Brooksville.  One of the towns is named Stonington.  It is a fishing town that depends heavily on lobsters for livelihood. Here are some photos from there.

Here are a couple of photos of a unique boat we saw in Stonington.  It runs on water or land.

Fred and Nancy told us about a nature preserve near Stonington so we headed to that next and enjoyed a 2 mile hike.  The fog started to clear so we actually got a few photos that were a little better.

 

From here we went to a place called Nervous Nellies.  It is a kind of a tourist trap, but it was fascinating.  This husband and wife team have have a display of things made from junk.  It was really unique and quite immaginative.  We enjoyed touring the place enough that we actually bought some jams from them, which is their main source of income.  This guy takes junk to a whole new level.

We returned to the Stine's for a lobster dinner this evening.

More coming.  We're heading to Acadia National Park tomorrow.

Lunar Eclipse Sept. 27, 2015

I took a few photos of the lunar eclipse last night.  Pretty neat. These are shots taken as the earths shawdow slowly eclipsed the moon.

Cape Cod and Boston 

We finished up on Cape Cod and headed to Boston Saturday Sept. 26.  We are basically staying with Affordable Travel Club members.  This costs us $20 a night and the places we have stayed have been great.  Saturday night we stayed with a couple in Hingham, MA  and they too had a suite like arrangement and we were served a delicious breakfast.  Can't complain about that.

Cape Cod Heritage Museum and Garden

A typical New England house

 Front door

 Shimmed platform

 Adventure segment of Heritage Museum

 Osterville beach


Boston MA

Fanniel Hall in Boston start of the Freedom Trail.  We took a tour led by a national park ranger and it was excellent.  Great history lesson.

 There was a marijuana rally going on on the Boston Commons.  I was here 50 years ago and it looks a lot different.

Statue of Samuel Adams

Mehegan home that we stayed in last night.

We visited the Adams National Historic Park in Quincy MA this morning.  Carol has been fascinated with the Adams since the show on the History channel about John Adams.  These homes were in the Adams family until mid twentieth century when the national park service took possession.

 Birth place of John Adams

 Home of John and Abigail Adams

We drove up to Freeport ME after we left the Adams National Historic Park.  I wanted to visit, the LL Bean mother store here in Freeport.  I was disappointed.  Bean doesn't hold a candle to Bass Pro when it comes to store decor.  It is a pretty plain retail environment.  I don't have any photos yet since they are on my phone.  When I finally download the photos on my phone I will add some pictures. Also we found the prices to be outrageously high compared to what we are use to.  Even the Bean discount outlet was high.  I think Bass Pros and even REI would beat their discounted prices.  Just my opinion folks, but if it is any indication, Carol could not find any bargains even at their discount outlet :-).

We are staying in a Best Western tonight in Freeport, thus the wifi connection.

Just a note about our travels.  A couple of things we have found very plentiful here in the east are traffic, cars, and people.  I don't know how anyone gets to work in Boston on a week day.  We were there on a Saturday and Sunday and the congestion was terrible.  Another thing that we have notices is very plentiful here in the east is Dunkin Donuts.  I wonder is that is because there are more cops here in the east than back in the midwest :-).