Let There Be Lighthouses--And Lobster

Today was a good day--our first full day in Maine.  Due to the high 80's temperature, we drove north up Highway 1 to get close to the water for coolness and visit some lighthouses new to us. We continue to Camden; one of our favorite Maine communities.  We are impressed with the width and signage on Hwy 1, wish it was that good on the west coast Hwy 1. We saw lots of lovely country and historic houses and towns. They proudly declare when the towns were founded, most along the coast in the 1780's and 1790's. We enjoyed had two meals of lobster (Neil did), so we are racking up "Lobster Points" in case anyone is keeping score.

Doubling Point Light Near Bath

This light has a restored wooden walkway out to it as it overlooks the channel coming into Bath, which is a huge ship building port.  This small lighthouse is a good example of the work that volunteer lighthouse societies have done to keep these treasures around. They even brought in a crane to lift it, while the foundation was replaced with granite blocks. Which is another surprise, for those who have not visited New England--all the curbs in towns are made of granite, even where they curve at intersections. You don't want to drive over one of those, cutting a corner too tight.

Our first lighthouse was the Doubling Point light, just north of Bath, Maine.  It was a circuitous route to get there on some gravel roads, but it is a very quiet and beautiful location near the entrance to Bath and the Bath Iron Works.  They have been building ships there for hundreds of years, and they have built several naval destroyer class ships during World War II and since.  Today, there was one of the funny looking new Navy ships in front of the shipyards today. We thought it looked liked a Civil War early iron-clad ship.

Bath Iron Works from Doubling Point Light

After we got back to Hwy 1, we headed north along a very scenic part of highway with glimpses of narrow bays through the trees.  Then, what did our wondering eyes see as we came around a corner, but the largest freakiest lobster of all at "A Taste of Maine". After one look, Neil knew we had to stop for lunch!

How to Cook One This Big?  Start with A Really Large Fire

It was a massive inflatable lobster thoroughly anchored to the roof of the building. It was rather eerie  to watch its antenna moving about in the breeze. We enjoyed lunch watching the bay, inside where it was air-conditioned.  Neil had the "Lazy Lobster" which meant he did not need to do any of the work to shell it, and Pamela had a lobster and crab salad.  Both were very yummy.

Pamela's Lobster and Crab Salad

Neil's Lazy Lobster

We rolled ourselves out of "A Taste of Maine" and visited a few other harbors and a lighthouse down a private road on our way to Camden.  We stopped at high tide to enjoy the view in Southport of the boats in a harbor and homes along the bay.

Then it was north to Camden, which is a pretty and a busy harbor and downtown tourist area.  The harbor was full of big and little boats of all kinds--including a huge yacht that kind of took away from the scenic beauty of the area.  But if we had a boat like that, this is the kind of place we would take it. They are getting ready for the big windjammer festival over Labor Day weekend.

Camden Harbor

We walked around downtown marveling at how many ways you can market Maine items for sale. We took photos of steeple churches and did a little bit of shopping.  Neil found a T-Shirt for his brother Bruce, but decided that all he had to do was post a picture of it in the blog to bring back memories and not have to buy the shirt!

This One's for You, Bruce!

We drove south towards Freeport racing the sunset (7:20 pm) and rolled into town as the GPS flipped to night time. Enjoyed dinner at the Jameson Tavern across from L.L Bean.  Captain Jameson and his wife ran it as Jameson’s Tavern from 1801 until 1828. During this time Freeport was a strategic stagecoach town located between Portland and the towns to the north and ‘downeast.’ Such luminaries as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as the 14th President Franklin Pierce stopped here on their way to through. It was here in the tavern that the final papers were signed, giving Maine her independence from Massachusetts and giving Jameson Tavern and the town of Freeport their claim to ‘the Birthplace of Maine.’ 

We have eaten here in past visits and remember the awesome way they cooked scallops. We had a had a great seafood dinner there of scallops, lobster, crab and shrimp.  Anyone seeing a pattern yet?  After dinner, we strolled through L. L. Bean again and looked at some neat camping equipment that we convinced ourselves don't really need.  It is open 24/7/365 days a year, so you can really skip the crowds by visiting late.

By our keen observation so far, we have decided moose are extinct in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  We look forward to being proven wrong in DAYLIGHT, but this is our considered opinion, as we have not seen any so far.  So--we took a picture of these extinct creatures in the window of L.L. Bean tonight to let you know what they look like. Now, we have seen moose -- cut-outs in front of stores, painted on wood at the entrance to our campgrounds, two Bullwinkle's Moose Pizza restaurants (which reminded us of Juneau), iron moose in front yards as sculpture, even moose painted on large rocks, but no live moose. And, coming home tonight in the dark for the first time in our 29 days, we decided, we did NOT want to meet one on the road!

Real or Extinct?

Tomorrow we plan to head south to Portland to see some more lighthouses and historic sites round Cape Elizabeth and Portland Head.  As we work on this blog tonight, we are hearing rain on the roof of the RV--it sounds pretty nice.  Today was warm and humid, but it should be a lot cooler tomorrow and into the weekend.  

Neil and Pamela