Blogs from Maine, United States, North America - page 6

Today our goal was to go to Freeport to the outlet malls. Since both of us had gift cards to LLBean and Freeport is LLBean’s home, we were all excited. Trip up was uneventful. Found the right exit and there was the town. Actually Freeport is more than LLBean, there is an entire outlet center, but by far LLBean is the cornerstone. First there is corporate headquarters,the outlet store, the hiking and fishing store, the home store and the giant regular retail store. We managed to spend most of our money at the outlet store, but Carol got some other things at the retail store. I need to tell you that all the LLBean stores are not in one place, but scattered throughout downtown. Before we went to the retail store, we stopped at the Corning ... read more

It rained a few nights ago, and when I took my early morning walk I saw that there were hundreds, probably thousands, of worms looking as if they were either dead or gasping their last breaths, spread out like litter all over our dirt road. While I thought that the rain had flooded the worms' passageways to and from their homes just underneath the surface of the road causing them to flee or be killed, scientists theorize that this is not true. Worms surface for migration purposes; it is easier for them to move when things are wet. Also they do not drown as humans would; they can stay submerged for days without any negative consequences. Yet another theory is that in hearing rain, worms flee because rain sounds like mole vibrations, and moles love to ... read more

Well, we're back in the good ole USA, landing in Portland, Maine, last Friday, October 6. We came in on the ferry to Portland early Friday afternoon, then drove north to visit Bangor for 2 days. From Bangor, we drove down to Augusta for one night, then continued back to Portland (actually Freeport, just north of Portland) for 3 nights/2 days. Maine is an absolutely gorgeous place, both the interior areas with the mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, as well as the areas along the coastline. Interior are also lots of lakes and rivers, making water a key element of the geography. In Bangor, we found several antique stores and a good brewpub, and took a side trip over toward Bar Harbor on the coast, also very near Acadia National Park. We've been to both ... read more

We woke this morning and looked out our balcony windows, fog. A heavy marine layer as the captain calls it. We were scheduled to tour Acadia National Park, visit some lighthouses, and have a lobster lunch. We had breakfast and went to the theater to await our tour group's call. Soon the captain spoke over the public address system, and informed us that the marine layer may lift in the next hour as it warms up. So we waited. After an hour he came back on the PA and said that the marine layer was not lifting , but would give it another hour. At noon, he called it. No tendering to shore today, we might get there if the fog lifted, but if the fog came back it was too dangerous to send the tenders ... read more

8/2 – Sorry for the technical difficulty. I hope people can see this post. As I said earlier, this is a new blog for us – the blog we used the past two years has closed down. First thing this morning we stopped at the cutest little library in Seal Harbor to try to figure out this stupid blog situation. Then spent the rest of the morning today trying to figure out how to navigate Acadia and what we wanted to see. There is a bus system with multiple lines. There is a “park loop” road, from which most of the main attractions are, but not our campground, and you can only get on the road in 2 or 3 places. Mount Desert Island contains most of Acadia, but also has private land including Bar Harbor ... read more