Hike to Mt. Megunticook

Yesterday, there was only a 20% chance of rain, but it rained in the morning, so we waited until after lunch to head out to hike. 

I have an app on my phone, called All Trails, and it's great when you travel, because you can locate yourself on the app, and then it tells you which trails are close by, and you can even read the reviews that hikers leave describing the trail.  I used that app to locate a nearby trail called the Maiden Cliff Trail, which led to the summit of Megunticook, and it claimed you would have wonderful views of Megunticook Lake,and then views of Camden and Penobscot Bay from the very top.

The trail was about 6 miles round trip, and wow, what memories it brought back of the Appalachian Trail.  The forest reminded us so much of the 100 Mile Wilderness, especially the roots along the trail.  It was SO beautiful, and the views did not disappoint -- well, except the very final one - the clouds were quite low, and so we only had about a 60-second view of the Bay, and never saw Camden.

After supper, we headed back down to Belfast, and just sat at a waterfront restaurant and had a couple of drinks and enjoyed the sunset, watching the boats.  Every now and then, a man would wander over to the Mustang and take a picture of it.  No matter where we go, we have to allow extra time for visiting with men in parking lots.  They want to hear ALL of the details of what Keith did to restore it. I'm not kidding - that car is a magnet!

The Belfast Waterfront

Yesterday was cloudy and rainy, so we hung around the house most of the day, and then went to the town of Rockland, about 20 miles away, to go to the movies.  We went and saw "Lucy," which was pretty good, until the last ten minutes, when it got pretty weird.  We had lots of company in the theatre, most likely because it was rainy day, so the other tourists needed to find something to do inside as well.  We shall be coming back to Rockland later this week for the annual Lobster Festival.

Today the Geraghtys took us down to take a nice walk along the waterfront in the town of Belfast.  Belfast has always been a nice waterfront town to visit, not near as crowded with tourists as the nearby town of Camden. They have been telling us about the newly built waterfront path, so we've been wanting to go check it out.

The first thing you notice when you park, are the very large boats they are working on in the Shipyard.  In particular, a large blue yacht named Grumpy.  When we walked by, they were polishing the rub marks off of the side.  We would have loved to get to go through the inside of that yacht.  She was a beauty!

As we walked on around, being pulled along by Saleen, the view was just so pretty, and it's so nice to see all of the waterfront sights that we never get to see.

The weather is really perfect up here.  The Geraghtys have the windows open all of the time.  It's neither too warm or too cold.

Later in the day, everyone napped, but I headed to Belfast to browse the shops on Main Street.  I totally enjoyed the mix of boutiques, jewelry shops, Maine-made products, and green stores that sold such things as flax clothing.  

Lobster Boil at Bryant and Tanya's

Today we had an invitation to go visit with Keith's parents' best friends, Bryant and Tanya Butterfield.  Since we were going over at lunch time, they had a lobster boil. They have a beautiful home and nearby cottage where Tanya's aunt lives, surrounded by beautiful woods.  We really enjoyed the day!  Wonderful lobster and fresh corn on the cob, with ice cream and cake for dessert, and just the best company. 

And Bryant got to show off his own classic car:

A Model A Ford!

Visiting A Friend From Back Home

Keith has a friend, Dave Violette, who still works for the FAA, and resides in Oklahoma City.  His parents happen to live just about 15 miles up the road from Keith's parents, in the quaint town of Bucksport, and he was here visiting, and invited us to meet him and his son at his dad's home.  We drove over there after lunch, and there was a festival going on in Bucksport with of all things -- a CAR SHOW!  

What a lucky girl am I!  (Yes, that would be sarcasm).  

We parked across the street, and all went and admired  the cars. A few people would cross the street to take pictures of Keith's car as well.  I even saw a car that I liked a lot, so I made sure I took pictures for future reference.  Who knows, maybe I can convince Keith to restore something like this for me someday, when we live in the mountains, surrounded by trails and waterfalls (Who knows?  It could happen!):

(Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos of some things I wanted to today, including Dave and his family. )

(The bridge to Bucksport).

After the car show, we changed into swimsuits and hung out in their pool for the afternoon.  They had solar heating for the pool, so the temp was perfect!  It was a nice sunny day, and it felt great although the breeze would chill you when you got out of the water. 

Maine or Bust!

This morning we left Long Island at 5:15 in the morning, with hopes of beating the commuters leaving Long Island, headed for New York City.  We were also hoping to beat the heat.  The plan worked perfectly, as we never hit bad traffic, and we never got too hot.  It was about an eight hour drive to Maine.  The drive got prettier and prettier, and cooler and cooler as we went.  

(Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine)

(One of my favorite towns, Camden, Maine)

(Lincolnville Beach)

Because we got up so early, it just seemed like it was a long day, but we really got there fairly early, happy to see the quaint Maine towns, and really happy to arrive at Keith's parent's house!  Of course, we made a quick stop at the car wash before we reached their home.  It was their first time to see the car, and it needed to look its best!

Montauk Point, Long Island

Today we were going to head out to Montauk Point, which is the very far eastern end of Long Island.  Lea and Mike, the couple we stayed with in DC, had actually gotten engaged there, so she was excited to hear we were going there.

Alicia and Gavin had left this morning for their trip, and so now we had the house all to ourselves.

We got an early start, because we were kind of afraid of what traffic would be like.  It was a beautiful drive, and you have to pass through the Hamptons on the way.  We did eventually hit a lot of traffic, and it was  a two-lane road, so you just had to creep along, bumper to bumper.  But we did eventually get there, and took a long walk along the beach.  It was so beautiful, and there was a pathway that went around the Montauk Lighthouse on the point that was formed by huge rocks.

Saleen got her first taste of salt water.  She is used to drinking out of creeks and ponds when we hiked, so I'm sure she was surprised when she tasted THIS water.  She jerked back her head, and then kept licking like crazy, like she was trying to get  the taste out of her mouth.  It was pretty funny to watch.

It was a very rocky beach, so instead of looking for shells, we looked for unusual rocks.  I ended up picking up about six rocks that were perfectly round, like golf balls, but were a soft pink color.  I'm bringing those back with me.

After the walk, we headed into the actual town of Montauk, and found some tasty burgers, fries and shakes.  There was a farmer's market going on, and it was just a popular place to walk around the look at shops.  We then headed back, kind of frustrated by the traffic, and the bumper to bumper creeping we had to do.  As we traveled, we revised our plan for the week. We originally planned to go visit Newport, Rhode Island, and Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, but decided that their traffic would be just as bad, or worse, and we had had enough of that, so we decided to head straight to Keith's parents' home in Maine - out of the traffic, and out of the heat!

We got back to the house, got cleaned up, and headed out to meet a high school friend of Keith's, named Josephine.  She had made us reservations at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant.  I was excited about this, because I've never been to one!  It was fun to hear Keith and Josephine get caught up on old times.  Their high school class had just had its 40th reunion, but unfortunately, we had not been able to make it for that.  The meal was a lot of fun!  First, we had a cheese fondue appetizer.  The Melting Pot even has gluten-free breads, and desserts, so I was especially excited!  We got entrees with little pieces of salmon, chicken, and steak, and then they brought this pot of broth, and you actually leave your skewers in the boiling broth, and it cooks at your table.  You then have different dipping sauces that you dip the different meats in.  It was so entertaining, that before we knew it, three hours had gone by!  For dessert, we had the dark chocolate fondue, and had little pieces of strawberry, banana, marshmallows, brownies, blondies, rice krispie treats, and pineapple to dip into the chocolate.  It was so delicious, but we just could not finish it all.  We really enjoyed our time with Josephine, and it was a great end to another great day.