Our Maine Adventure

November 14, 2006

Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to visit Maine. We studied Maine when I was in school and had Lewiston, Maine, as our sister town in Barbourville at that time. I read about the lighthouses, the coves, the ocean, the hills, the small towns and the northeastern way of life and thought that I would like to see it firsthand. That wish was finally realized when we arrived in Maine yesterday, Monday, after driving from Schenectady, New York, through Vermont and New Hampshire. It was about a six hour drive with rain all the way so we couldn’t take advantage of the overlooks from the hills due to the fog. It was a pleasant drive though as some of the trees were still brightly colored and sights along the way kept us awake. We drove through the town of Troy, NY, which had a sign claiming to be the “home of Uncle Sam” born in 1789. There was a sign pointing off to the left of the highway as his burial site. We also drove past the Tommanhock Reservoir out of Raymertown.

We stopped in Bennington, VT, to have coffee and to see “The First Church” built in 1806 (organized in 1762) in “dedication to the separation of church and state. Congregation founded by those seeking religious freedom. Vermont’s legislature designated this church ‘Vermont’s Colonial Shrine’; adjacent cemetery, ‘Vermont’s sacred acre’.” Some gravestones were dated in the 1700’s.

It was the first time that we had entered New Hampshire. We arrived in Concord around lunchtime, saw the dome of the capitol and ate lunch at a pizza place right off the highway. We drove across the Veterans’ Memorial Bridge off Fort Eddy Road. Like many other places on our trip there was a lot of construction there.

It was still raining when we crossed the Maine border. We had finally reached the most northeastern state. We got on I-95 at Biddeford and drove the few miles north to Portland. We drove to the visitor center and got information about Portland and other places around the area. The mixture of the new with the old is pleasing to the eye. Clayton and I commented on the houses which were made of wood, more than brick. We found our hotel and got settled in there before heading to Freeport and L. L. Bean, the place we had heard so much about. The main store is huge and full of their signature collection. Christmas decorations were already up. Freeport also boasts lots of outlets – Lenox, Bath & Body, etc. We didn’t do much shopping since it was raining but we did the touristy thing of seeing the site of L. L. Bean. Since the seafood place that we had been recommended was closed we ate a sandwich and headed back to our room to rest and get ready for bed.

Today we were up early and ate our continental breakfast in the hotel and packed our car for a day of sightseeing and travel on south to York where we were booked for the night. We started our tour in Portland downtown and saw the huge observatory “lighthouse” which was closed for the season (we discovered that if you really want to see everything in the northeast you have to go before the end of October). The fog would have prevented our seeing much from the tower anyway. We drove on down to the port and parked our car at the maritime museum and gift shop which just happened to be open due to a school tour group. We were able to walk down the path to the lighthouse and look around, took some pictures.

We continued our car tour along the road that skirts the ocean and stopped at lighthouses and parks along the way. The small towns, beautiful big houses along the coast, naked trees, rain and fog made for an interesting drive. We had to back track a couple of times due to poor signage but enjoyed even that! We made it to Kennebunkport by lunch. No, none of the Bushes were in view while we were there. We had a lobster lunch in a restaurant overlooking the harbor. The lobster was delicious – actually we shared it. We then tried one of the house desserts a “Blue Cow” made with blueberry soda and cinnamon ice cream. That was good yet unusual. I thought it tasted like a Yankee candle smells!

From there we drove through more small towns and got to Fort McClary which has been used for nearly 275 years to protect the approaches to the Piscataqua River. The blockhouse was built in 1844. The site was manned during five wars - the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I. Again the fog and rain prevented our seeing all the sights from there.

We looped back north for a ways to arrive in York where we spent the night. Nearby Kittery boasts one of the largest outlets in the country so we drove down the road to that area and looked around a little. We went into the Kittery Trading Post, similar to Cabelas or stores like that. We ate fresh seafood again for supper. I suppose it would be bad not to eat seafood in this area!