Skitler Sightings and Travel Tales: New England Drive

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

We had promised Adam time at a water park, so Kris and Adam suited up to go to Funtown Splashtown for a few hours while Terri and I drove back to York to visit an old gaol at the Museum of Old York.

Terri in front of the Old Gaol at Yorktown.

It was an interesting self guided tour, and we weren't supposed to take photos. Oops.

The Old Yorktown Gaol of 1719

This is probably a controversial thought, but I appreciate jails back then. They functioned as a very temporary holding place until judgement was rendered. There weren't a million appeals. If you stayed overnight in prison, you had to pay for your meals and lodging later...not the innocent taxpayers. I can't help but feel like if there was undisputed proof (video footage, etc) that a person did something like stealing, they should lose a finger or pay enormous fines. If we had harsher punishments than we do, I believe we'd be in a much better place as a society. Less crime and less financial burden. It's ridiculous to me that prisoners today have free lodging, meals, and entertainment when we have homeless veterans of war. It's even more ridiculous that we give more money a year per prisoner than we give per year for students.

Another preserved building in Yorktown.

We were told about an attractive lighthouse by the man in the museum, so we saved some time to drive to the Nubble Lighthouse. What a beautiful place!

Nubble Lighthouse

We grabbed some blueberry lemonade from a lobster stand across the street and headed back to the car.

About the time we were wrapping up, we got a call from Kris telling us it was pouring on them at Splashtown and they were ready to leave. They had to wait 45 minutes for me to drive in a downpour to get to them. Terri and I were sad to leave sunny York for rainy Saco, but we had a busy day ahead of us.

After picking up the guys and giving them time to dry off and change, we had a quick lunch and headed to Ocean Avenue. Ocean Avenue is known for some impressive houses and the home of former president George H.W. Bush.

After marveling at the stately homes and stopping for a quick jaunt in a pretty church, we headed to Kennebunkport, Maine.

Although delayed in our explorations by a heavy, quick-moving rain shower, we got a good feel for this fun town. We even stopped for some of the best ice cream I've ever had at Rococo Artisan Ice Cream. The honey vanilla was extraordinary.

Kennebunkport, Maine in the rain

Some of the crazy, awesome flavors at Rococo Artisan Ice Cream in Kennebunkport

We hadn't had enough of strolling, so we headed to Marginal Way for a coastal walk.

I loved this weather vane.

There's a reason the lifeguards have the best views.

Strangers taking in the scenery. They had no idea I took this photo. I'm so creepy.

Catching a wave - of sorts.

Teaching the kiddo the ropes.

This freaked out Terri so much.

But she took a photo anyway.

Dinner this evening was sandwiches and leftovers at the Saco Motel. We did try some local flavor chips.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Our first stop this morning was to Len Libby Candies where we met Lenny the lifesize moose made of chocolate. This guy was huge! We all stocked up on some yummies before moving down the road.

Lenny the chocolate moose.

Milk chocolate ravioli

Kris next took us to Cape Elizabeth. Cape Elizabeth had a lot to offer with Fort Williams State Park.

We saw the Portland Head Lighthouse.

Portland Head lightouse and other lighthouse in the background.

We then went to the Old Goddard Mansion on the grounds of the park. Kris didn't pay attention to the signs and got up for a closer view.

Kris perched on the second story window.

Kris's view from the second story window.

Fort Williams State park was fun to explore.

A different view of the Portland Head Lighthouse

Adam in the creepy place

More fun photographing strangers who don't know. Well, I guess the dog caught me.

Butterfly on Kris

It was hard to capture one of Kris and Adam where Adam wasn't just staring at the butterfly.

Before leaving home, Kris's coworker had recommended he go to two places for lobster. One of these was the Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth for lobster rolls. Kris Terri, and Adam all indulged. Nobody liked the lobster rolls. It seemed demeaning to the delicacy of lobster to shove it in mayo and put it on bread. It cost a pretty penny though. I had a sandwich in the car.

Kris eats a lobster roll.

We could view the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse (sometimes called Two Lights) from the Lobster Shack though.

Two Lights Lighthouse aka Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse

Adam, Terri, and the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse

Flintstones chair

It was time for charm shopping, so Kris took us to Old Port in Portland for souvenir shopping and awesome gelato.

Adam really wanted his photo in this hat. It looks good on him.

Loved the quote and attribution.

We were all feeling a bit hot and sweaty, so we got back in the car and headed to Bath, Maine to see the Monster of Unfathomable Pedigree. Along the way we saw a cow sculpture we liked.

Monster of Unfathomable Pedigree

One beady-eyed statue wasn't enough, so we followed it up by visiting the Mainer C. Lobster Sculpture and Kermit the Frog.

Mainer C. Lobster

TripAdvisor is a major trip research reference for our trips. The number one thing to do in Maine according to TripAdvisor is to visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay - 250 acres of ornamental gardens. Naturally we had to go see the best attraction in Maine, and we spent more than two hours wandering the grounds...and looking at the strange artwork they had on exhibit.

These gardens weren't your typical botanical garden. They had sensory gardens and wooded areas.

Main building of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Children's village

I loved the fairy gardens where you were encouraged to build fairy habitats.

Fairy habitat

Watcher of the fairies

There were aromatics galore and gorgeous ponds and bridges.

This little photo bomber wouldn't get out of our shot.

Porcupine art

I'm a little teapot.

Our evening lodging was the cute Boxwood Cottage at the Boothbay Resort. There are a lot of things to do on the grounds, and Kris and Adam took full advantage of the swimming pool. Terri and I played horseshoes. She kicked my rump.

Our Boxwood Cottage

Inside of the Boxwood Cottage

We opted to go to Boothbay Harbor for dinner at Kaler's Restaurant where Kris and Terri got the two lobster special. The lobster here is super fresh with reasonable prices. We saw them brought in and placed in a tank outside the back door.

Collecting dinner

Someone's dinner

The view from Kaler's

Kris and Terri did a great job with the lobsters considering neither of them had ever eaten an entire lobster before.

Boothbay Harbor was an adorable seafront town. We enjoyed a short after dinner stroll before heading back for laundry and entertainment at the Boothbay Resort. The guys really enjoyed the pool.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Our morning destination was the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse. This lovely lighthouse sits on a breakwater wall .8 miles from the shore. We walked each way on the breakwater to this 1902 lighthouse.

Love this photo of Kris and me by photographer Terri.

A less than two mile walk isn't usually too difficult, but this one was challenging due to the uneven walkway. You had to look down the entire time.

After the lighthouse, we visited Colonel Buck's Cursed Tomb in Bucksport, Maine...or we tried to. We wound up going to the incorrect cemetery. We eventually found the correct gravestone with a foot-shaped stain. Legend is Buck burned a witch and this stood as his curse.

I was not impressed with Colonel Buck's tomb.

When driving to Colonel Buck's tomb, we passed by Fort Knox. (Not the same Fort Knox most people think of but one developed due to conflicts with Canada. I never knew we had issues with Canada ever.)

Fort Knox

Lunch today was at Just Barb's, dubbed "the best kept secret in Waldo County". I highly suggest it remains a secret.

We stopped quickly for photographs of other randomness along the way.

Our last stop with Terri for the day was to see the Big Eyeglasses in Ellsworth, Maine before heading to the Belle Isle Motel in Bar Harbor for the evening. Terri wasn't feeling well and wound up sleeping for 14 hours.

Kris, Adam, and I headed to Acadia National Park.

Adam's sandcastle

Kris went uphill.

Adam and I went to the beach.

Carriagehouse

Adam could not be any more nonplussed.

Kris almost fell in doing this pose.

Clouds are rolling in

At the top of Acadia National Park

Friday, July 27, 2012

Our first stop of the morning was to photograph a fun totem pole before heading to one of many Paul Bunyan statues. The statue was covered by casino construction.

Our next hunt was through a nice residential area to find Stephen King's House in Bangor. He has a fantastically interesting fence.

Stephen King's fence

Stephen King's house

We saw some wildlife, a groundhog, by the side of the road.

Another capitol building was on the agenda (yea!) to see the Maine Capitol Building in Augusta. I love the capitol buildings in the lesser populated cities. It's far more enjoyable when you can get out and look at the grounds without the hustle and bustle of large cities.

Kristy and the Augusta Capitol Building of Maine

TripAdvisor took us to Rooster's Pizza for some excellent pizza with crazy homemade crusts. If this place was nearby my home, I'd be in trouble.

A short jaunt away, and we were at the World's Largest Telephone - a 14 foot tall hand crank telephone.

Our next stop was to the Sunday River Covered Bridge built in 1872 in Newry. This pretty bridge was equipped with a well behaved polar bear who posed for me.

Sunday River Covered Bridge of 1872

After Sunday River, it was pretty evident Terri was really sick, so we had to take her to Rumford Hospital in Mexico. She wound up being admitted overnight. We treated her to McDonalds for dinner. Poor thing! She really freaked us out.

Terri in the ER

This sign was in the hospital bathroom. The ER tells you to stay home if you are sick.

It was unfortunate that she had to have her own room in the hospital for the evening since I had booked a very large room at The Inn at the Rostay in Bethel. This place was like a house. It had 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, full bath, and a living area with bunk beds.