Freeport

After Campobello, I headed south. I hiked out to the sea cliffs at Cutler, had a haddock sandwich and blueberry cream pie at Helen's in Machias, checked out Roques Bluff and Jasper Beach (pictures at Gravel Beach), and raced south, making it to Bailey Island by 8 or so for a late dinner (lobster, of course) at Cook's.

I stayed in Brunswick, had breakfast at the Little Dog on Maine Street, and wandered around the old house one more time, before heading off for Freeport and the Portland Airport. L.L. Bean isn't as over the top as Cabela's, but it certainly is a long, long way from the old days of climbing the long flight of stairs up to the old showroom above the factory. Before the Ben and Jerry's, the Starbucks, and all the high end clothing outlets.

As usual, I've got a whole bunch of coastal and beach-related posts from this trip over on my Gravel Beach site (or I will shortly).

Pemaquid

I've come back to Maine for an extended weekend, built around George and Anne Marie's wedding on Saturday. It's amazing to be here twice in two months (although the July visit was barely 18 hours).

I flew into Portland late Thursday night and worked my way up the coast on Friday, heading for Bucksport and dinner at Lake Alamoosook. I stopped in Brunswick for coffee, a walk around 75 Federal, and some AAA maps, but my first stop at the shore was in Pemaquid.

I wandered around Fort William Henry before heading out to Pemaquid Point.

Georgetown

Our trip's easternmost point was the dock at the Five Islands Lobster Pound. We ordered lobster and corn on the cob and ate it on a picnic table on the dock. We watched as a boat pulled in and unloaded a 400+ pound bluefin tuna, to be packed into a truck and who knows where it will be by tomorrow morning.

Reid State Park

I guess Reid is my idea of reaching the Atlantic and this evening was great. Temperatures along the shore were much more pleasant than inland and the water was refreshing. D found someone to toss a frisbee with, I took pictures, and M talked to Bev on the phone.

Brunswick

Maine was little more than a brief turnaround at the right hand of the trip. The weather was too hot for us to really enjoy and I think we felt that there were other places we really wanted to spend time. I'll be back in Maine again briefly in August and it would be hard for any return visit to beat the perfect conditions of my October, 2008 trip.

We had spent the night in Westborough with the Savers and from there it doesn't take long to drive up 495 and 95 to Maine. We had lunch at the beach in Ogunquit and made it to Brunswick by mid-afternoon.

We walked around the house at 75 Federal, of course. D is, not surprisingly, struck by the size of the house, but probably doesn't appreciate the amount of time it took to mow the lawn. And we didn't have cable TV either. There wasn't too much going on at Bowdoin, but we wandered a little in the heat, glad it wasn't as hot as that weekend in 1988 that Jane and Rob got married in the chapel.

We stayed out on Pleasant Street, went down to the shore for lobster, and had ice cream at Gelato Fiasco. Then pointed the car west, towards Hanover, Chicago, and Seattle.

Maine

I spent barely over 40 hours in Maine, but still managed to revisit plenty of old memories, eat lobster twice, and enjoy perfect fall weather. I think it's been six years since I was last here.

The pictures include the Old Orchard Pier - closed for the season. The Five Island Lobster Pound in Georgetown, where they were selling lobster for $4/critter as a benefit for lobstermen hurting from low prices, thus the long line out the door. The Celotex Plant on the Androscoggin in Lisbon Falls - it used to be U.S. Gypsum, where I worked many long graveyard shifts in 1978. Popham. And Mt. Abrams - where I broke my arm my freshman? year of high school (maybe '73?).

Harpswell

The Cribstone Bridge still connects Orr's and Bailey Island, although they're building a temporary span parallel to it so they can do repairs. Cook's has barely changed in the almost 50 years since I was first taught to eat lobster here. Cole slaw, steamers, and of course, a lobster (and a beer, something I didn't get as a kid). J and I used to skip stones and clamber on the rocks while we waited for the adults to finish. Or maybe the adults had sent us out to wait at the car when we got too loud or annoying.

Brunswick

The local paper says the town is looking to offload Hawthorne and Longfellow elementary schools - and to tear down the old high school next spring. Laverdiere's is long gone and Pizza Hut is now a check-cashing place. But some things don't change: the Bowdoin ice rink, Frosty's Donuts, and the houses up on Federal Street. Maine Street looked much the same, if you ignore the details. The base is closing and the implications aren't clear. Ground was just broken for the new train station.

Federal Street

The old house looked great. I wandered down through the back lot to the Bowdoin Pines and over to the tracks. Maybe the only thing missing from the fall scene was leaves raked to the street so we could ride our bikes through the piles.

Bowdoin

A perfect fall day on campus - college kids throwing frisbees on the quad and a bunch of visitors - although most are at the homecoming game at Whittier Field. I was never a student here, except for that evening FORTRAN class I took sometime in high school, but I sure went to lots of hockey games when Bowdoin was cleaning up in Division 2 in the mid-1970s.

Reid State Park

I'm staying in a motel out on Pleasant street. After coffee, a cinammon roll, and a stroll down at the river, I headed for Popham and then to Reid State Park. I spent the middle part of the day back in Brunswick before going back down to the shore for dinner.

For someone who's vocation is all about shorelines, I guess it's appropriate to note that Reid was sort of my first beach. We grilled burgers and marshmallows. I was never any good at the cold water on the surf side, but we often explored the sand bars and tombolos out to the rocks on the east side.

Androscoggin River

After early morning coffee at the Little Dog, I went down to the river and walked across the bridge. It's just not the same without the smell and the thick brown foam. Later in the day, I checked out the swinging bridge which has been nicely fixed up. I climbed down the bank on the Topsham side and put my hand in the water. I grew up in this town, yet this was the first time I had ever touched the river downstream of New Hampshire. In school, the only attention we paid to the river was making jokes about how dirty it was.