Days 13 and 14

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Day 13: We awoke to thunderstorms with lightning and buckets of rain, so a perfect day to trudge down to Bar Harbor and stand shivering while waiting for a table at Jeannie's Breakfast....so worth the damp wait! I am now addicted to Boston Baked Beans and eggs, with ham, oatmeal bread, strawberry and rhubarb jam, and buttermilk pancakes with blueberry sauce.....You know, the guy who said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day had it totally right....you don't need to eat for about 8 hours after a "Maine Breakfast." John wouldn't know this since he had a sensible Blueberry pancakes and eggs breakfast. Next time I am sure he will know better.

With full tummies to sustain us we went into the wilds of Wayne, Maine to hunt up my ancestors who were the 5th and 6th generation in our country. Armed with a GPS and a map of original settlement about 1780-well, let's face it we were babes in the woods and needed help. We stumbled across the Adroscogin Camp and drove in, only to meet Tony. Tony is the head maintanance guy for the Androscogin Camp for Boys, eight weeks in the summer for $8k--yes, that is correct, a thousand dollars a week. And even though the kids are roughing it with bunks, no heat or air-conditioning, they also have video, photography, art, music, drama, wake board, rifle range, golf, and white water rafting camping trips. It was a look into how the other half lives, I'll tell you. But, he did get us oriented on the map, and soon I was standing approximately in the spot where my fore-bears had settled the land in the wilds of Maine. Seeing the depth of the forests, I was even more amazed that they were able to build homes, clear lands, and sustain themselves. It was pretty impressive looking over the ponds and lands that were, over 200 years ago, completely wild. Big hugs to John for being so determined that I would find these plots of land. He is, as so many of you know, a keeper!

Then we were off to Dover, New Hampshire, and why, I don't know. This turned out to be the first real goof of our trip. I had been looking for Dover Maine ( where part of my family lived) while researching Dover New Hampshire ( where my family eventually lived.) But as it turned out, a good choice because I was starting to get a sore throat. So, a quiet evening in Dover with a dinner in a diner (good fish) and a hot bath, turned out to be the best choice after all.

Day 14
Because we were, by mistake, only a few miles from our next destination, we decided to take the day to find the coastal road in Maine. Big Mistake: as the old story goes, "Eeyeah, you can't get there from here." By the end of the day our mantra was, "Well, we are in Maine...." We did find some beautiful towns, lovely steeples on churches, some lovely beaches, and after 4 hours, we did find 4 lighthouses. Glad for our success, we decided to hook up our GPS, give up quaint for efficient, and take the freeway into Portsmouth where we checked into our Inn and hit the streets in search of a view overlooking the Piscataqua River (more like an ocean with waves and whirlpools-appears to be pretty teacherous) and a wonderful diner....FOODIE ALERT: If ever in Portmouth N H, please, do your taste buds a favor and go to Black Trumpet Restaurant.....Everything was wonderful except for, apparently, the beets, that the guy at the table next to us kept passing over to us once he learned we were beet-fans. As you can tell, a great atmosphere and nice people..FABULOUS FOOD. John has learned the trick of making fabulous yummy noises until they give him a copy of the menu to make him be quiet (doesn't work) Now we have so many ideas to experiment with when we get home
( I will not, however, be a party to snail paella, no matter how crusty the snails are....)

Tomorrow our adventure takes on a new angle. We will be in Boston for two nights and then on to Cape Cod for four nights. The idea of being in one place for more than one night is sending both of us into spasms of ecstasy...and I am straining at the leash to get to Plymouth!

As you can see in the photos, the weather has been cold and damp. John is fine, but I am carting around many clothes that I will never wear on this trip. Where is the infamous heat wave that the East Coast was supposed to be suffering? I am still putting off the desire to buy a hoodie with a slogan emblazoned across my chest (Where the Hell is Wayne, Maine?) just beacuse I am cold....but my resistance is wearing thin....I am thinking a full-on pilgrim outfit would be warmer than my capris and t-shirts. Heat wave, east coast? Bite me!

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Photos

Maine to New Hampshire
again....long story

Camp Androscogin
The land settled by the families who came to Maine with my family is now a very expensive boy's camp.

Wayne, Maine
another plot of land settled by my ancestors

Wing's Pond, Wayne, Maine
The land that my 5th generation family settled