Day 9 - Party of Six !

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I am so happy to report that our first night with a party of six went great ! Everyone slept well and they even woke up in a good mood. It’s seems as though they must have brought some of that good ole’ Georgia sunshine with them up here to Maine. When we got up this morning those golden rays were just a shinin’ through the windows and we couldn’t be more happy ! After a week of really crappy weather, it finally looked like we were going to be able to get out and do some stuff without having to worry about getting all wet. Luckily, Tim, Jon and I survived the first week without catching pneumonia and now at least Jon was going to have a couple of nice days to enjoy. We gathered our shower buckets and belongings then made our way up the hill to the “bath house”. I’m happy to report that bath time at Bayley’s was uneventful, thank goodness, and we were soon packed up and ready to hit the road. Our first stop of the day was Len Libby Hand Made Chocolate store, home to Lenny the Moose. Lenny is the world’s largest chocolate moose weighing in at a mere 1700 pounds ! He was HUGE and a chocolate lover’s delight. We visited with Lenny for a few minutes and then everyone decided to do a little shopping. I mean really, who can resist hand made chocolate ? Tim bought some maple truffles and a blueberry soda, while Jon stuck with his favorite white chocolate chunks. Lynn bought a notepad and some blueberry covered chocolate bites, Jason and Heidi raided the gourmet chocolate counter and I just ended up with a bag full of stuff ! All this chocolate and candy was making us hungry so we made our way down to the local Dunkin Donuts for some coffee and breakfast sandwiches. I had no idea Dunkin Donuts served croissants, English muffins, and even tater tots ! We got our order to go so we could keep moving and make our way on down the road to the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. We had some really good conversation on the drive over and we even got a little English lesson. “Someone” was having trouble with their computer but Lynn informed them that she thought it was what is commonly referred to at her work as a “PICNIC”. We were all confused so she continued on and explained to us that “PICNIC” was an acronym for “problem in the chair not in the computer” ! That was a new for me but boy am I gonna be using it a lot ! We arrived at the Portland Head Light, which is Maine’s oldest lighthouse and it was really foggy. We got out of the motor home and made our way over to take a closer look. The six of us walked around exploring the coastline and taking tons of pictures. This was the perfect place for Jon to try out his new camera and get some great shots. Cape Elizabeth’s coast was just amazing and the lighthouse was a great sight to see. Tim, our official driver and tour guide, was watching the clock and he soon began rounding up all his passengers. It was time to move on to Freeport so we could do a little shopping at the original L.L. Bean store. Between Tim, Jason, Jon and Maggie (That’s Magellan’s new name !) we somehow ended up on a dead end road in the middle of the woods. Lynn popped her head up and said, “uhhhh, this ain’t it !”, she had been there before so she knew we were supposed to be in the middle of a town and not stuck out on some road in the middle of nowhere. Well, Jason and his trusty Blackberry got us “unlost” and we finally made it to L.L. Bean ! I couldn’t swear to it but I’m thinking that the men may have gotten us lost on purpose just so they could cut down on our shopping time. Little did they know that me, Lynn and Heidi were excellent speed shoppers and we hit the doors running ! I’m not at liberty to divulge details but let’s just say that we ALL ended up in the line at the checkout counter ! We got a couple of pictures of the famous L.L. Bean boot and then Tim picked us up on the corner. It was time to go check out another one of Lynn and Tim’s sights that they found during their hours of research. Now I didn’t mind Lenny, the world’s largest chocolate moose cause I’m all about some chocolate, but hold on to your seats folks cause we were on our way to see the world’s largest revolving globe ! Yes, we drove all the way over to Yarmouth, Maine so we could see “Eartha”, the world’s largest revolving globe. Eartha’s circumference is 129 feet, she has a diameter of 41 feet and she weighs 5600 pounds. Well now you can tell all your friends that you know someone who has seen a humongous globe ! It was way past our lunch time and we were getting hungry so we hopped in the motor home and headed on over to Wiscasset, Maine to have lunch at Red’s Eat. This tiny red-and-white shack sits beneath a large Siberian Elm tree at the corner of Route 1 and Water Street in downtown Wiscasset. It’s been open since 1938 and is almost universally known for serving the best lobster rolls on the Maine coast. They’ve even been featured in Martha Stewart Living and “O”. Now you know I wasn’t about to eat another lobster roll after my previous experience but we had to check it out because it’s in the book. Well, we get there and the line is down the street. Tim and Jon drop the rest of us off and we make our way to the end of the very slowly moving line. About 15 minutes into our wait, Jason and Heidi mosey on down the quaint little streets and do a little window shopping. All the while, Lynn and I continue to stand in the line which is outdoors and in the direct heat. Of all days for the sun to decide to shine ! I guess I shouldn’t complain, we could have been standing in the rain ! After a very long and hot 45 minute wait, we finally made it to the window. We placed our order, got our food and walked on down to the motor home. Lynn, Jason, Heidi and Jon indulged themselves in the famous lobster rolls while I had some chicken fingers and of course, Tim devoured his cheeseburger. It was time to leave Wiscasset and make our way up to the Rockland Breakwater Light House in Rockland, Maine. Our trip over to Rockland took us through a small town called Camden which is another historical town that was in the book. We zipped through Camden and continued on our way. We finally made it to the light house but little did we know that when we arrived we would have to walk for a mile (one way) on a rocky pier just to get to it. It was too late to turn around and I was wearing flip flops. Lord knows I needed the exercise and I didn’t mind the walking but I did mind having to do it in my new L.L. Bean flip flops. It was just too rocky so I had to take off my flops and do it bare footed. Ugggghhhh…….two miles, barefooted, on rocks ! Well, I did it and I survived. It was a neat little experience but I was glad it was over and so were my feet. It was getting dark now and we really needed to make our way on over to Acadia National Park where we would be camping for he next two days. The two and half hour drive to Acadia was pretty rough. It was dark, rainy and foggy but that didn’t stop us from crossing the Penobscot Bay by way of the Penobscot Bridge. We finally made it to the Bar Harbor KOA Campground in Acadia National Park. The KOA messed up our reservations and Tim was a little upset. He and “the sausage man” exchanged some words but the “the sausage man” decided to extend his northern hospitality (his words) and we were soon settled into our cozy little spot right by the water. It was almost eleven o’clock and we were all exhausted. We were looking forward to an exciting day tomorrow exploring Acadia but we were all fast asleep. We saw a lot of “big” things today and hopefully tomorrow they’ll be even bigger. Have a good night ! :-)

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Photos

Jason & Heidi !
Awe, how sweet !

Tim and the boys !
My favorite group of guys !