We went for a sailboat tour on a friendship sloop, the Alice E. The friendship sloop is a certain type of sailboat. this one was built in 1899 as a lobster boat. I think I could learn to like sail boating. Once we were out of the harbor it was quite peaceful.
Wally hoisting sail!
The Bear Lighthouse on Bear Island
The setting sun as we returned to harbor
Our first full day in Bar harbor it was, yes, raining! We thought it would be a good day for a drive through Arcadia National Park and some of the harbor villages. The park was pretty. Quite a mix of the mountain scenery and the ocean lifestyle next to each other. Arcadia was owned at one time by the Rockefeller’s. They also had a house on one of the coves. He donated the land as a national park upon his death. Apparently he did not want the automobile to tear up the roads and vegetation, so it was stipulated in his will that fifty miles of the roads were to be travelled only by foot, horse or bicycle. Also at his death, the house on the cove was to be burned. A bit bazaar. The Rockefeller family still summers in Bar harbor, they own an island!
On our drive we stopped at the Jordan Pond Restaurant for a popover…Kind of looks like a muffin but made from pastry and it is hollow inside. You fill it with butter and jam! Yummy with a mug of wicked wild blue blueberry coffee! Jordan Pond was more like a lake and it was fresh water, not part of the harbor or bay. There was another large lake on the other side of the ridge. It supplies Bar Harbor with fresh water.
Seal Harbor
When I mentioned all the beautiful homes we had seen, we were told they were “cottages,” mostly summer homes.
One of the local inhabitants!
One of the perks of our campground is the owner catches fresh lobster every day…we just had to place our order. He would cook them too but we decided to do it ourselves. I even had a pot large enough to cook them in. They were absolutely delish! What we need to work on is baking potatoes in the fire. I mistook the hard part of the potato for not being done rather than it was very done! But not too bad!
Last moments of life for these guys!
Hmm- hmm! Real good eating!!
That night we woke to a lot of thunder and pouring rain. It did not let up much in the morning so we found ourselves packing the camper up in the rain…kind of miserable.
After leaving Boothbay Harbor we backtracked a bit to go to Freeport where LL Bean and all the outlet stores are located. We had hoped to stop there on the way up but because of the traffic issues, we did not have time. We didn’t really have time this day either, because that place was big!
We had a few camper issues to deal with on the way up to Bar Harbor. Kenny via phone and his computer helped us find a store that ended up being right on the road where we turned for Bar Harbor. (Thank You, Lord and Kenny)
We had one more hurdle once we arrived in Bar Harbor. Let’s just say our campground was not what we were expecting and there was no attendant available. Wally had the repairs to make to our camper and it was raining again. We went ahead and set up with the plan of moving the next day. Without going into all the details, we moved the next day to a very nice campground, and the first campground did refund our money. Again, thank you Lord! Now the fun and rest can begin!!
On Thursday morning we awoke in Brooklyn to the sounds of foghorns from the ships out on the ocean. It was getting a bit foggy when we left church the night before. That night I would fall asleep in Boothbay Harbor, Maine listening to the foghorns there also!
We were up early to get on the road to Maine. We had to backtrack into New Jersey and pick up up our camper. Wally had planned our route to try to avoid NY rush hour traffic. Well, we may have gone around the city traffic but there was traffic everywhere we went. It seemed we sat in line after line of traffic most of the day.
Maine was very pretty. Wild lupine grew everywhere along the roadsides, meadows, yards…wherever there was some available dirt. It was beautiful!
The drive through the towns was very scenic. The homes and yards were so clean and well cared for. Boothbay Harbor was the same. I wish I were a better photographer to catch all the beauty we saw. This harbor town dates back to 1889. I’m not sure of everything that goes on out there on the water but there were definitely a lot of “ lobstering” going on!
This is the little boat house belonging to our campground host. All the colored buoys are for marking the lobster pots.
The fog lifting across the harbor from our campground.
Some of the rock along the coastline. They look black but are covered with seaweed that has dried out over them.
Our camper all set up for the first time.
Poor Wally was just exhausted from the drive and loading/unloading Ben and Andrea. It all caught up to him and he began to get sick. Our first day in Boothbay he slept a lot. In the afternoon we ventured into the town on the motorcycle for a look around. It was in Boothbay that I had the very best bowl of clam chowder ever! It was loaded with clams, not potatoes!
While we had our lunch, we watched men collect, stack, and rearrange these lobster traps out on the harbor.
I just thought these were pretty shots of a sailboat and dock.
Some more lupine!
This is a swing bridge. When a boat needs to cross, the bridge swings away from the road to let it by.
Elaine was a bit mixed up on time I guess. She woke up in the night and I do remember hearing her. I thought Andrea was just having a tough time getting her back to sleep. I guess she was because Elaine was wide awake and not wanting to sleep, but to play! So Ben and Andrea got up and did some unpacking in the kitchen and rearranging what had been unpacked until Elaine was ready to sleep. i did not hear any of that going on.
I remember waking up around 6:00 and thinking how very quiet it is outside. I though everyone would be up and rushing about already. Wally heard Elaine and went to get her up, thinking we were letting Ben and Andrea sleep in. Then of course when she got a bit fussy, he handed her off to me and went back to sleep. I’m pretty sure that’s what he did when our kiddos were babies!
One thing I really wanted to do was go for a bagel in NY. So we put Elaine in the pram and took a walk around the block to Steve’s Bagels. I think I really could learn to like living in NYC!
Mmm, so good! Its the water, you know!
Well when we got back to the apartment, there was plenty to do! One thing that just would not make it up the steps was the box springs. So Ben took it apart enough to get some flex, then reassembled it upstairs!
That night we went to church at Beth-el Baptist church in Sheeps Head Bay. The Ambassador Quartet was there that night so Ben and Andrea got to visit with friends, new and old. Then home and bed. Wally and I are heading out to Maine in the morning.
Diapers needed washing so Andrea got to try out her washing machine and clothes line, accessed through the kitchen window!
Not the cloth diaper I remember, these are “fuzzy buns”
We left Va Bch about 6:00 a.m. a caravan bound for Brooklyn, NY. Wally driving our truck and pulling our camper, Ben in the yellow moving truck and us girls following up in the car. We headed first to Princeton, NJ where we would drop our camper off at a friend of Ben and Andrea’s. That way we would not have to pull it through traffic in NYC or find a parking place for it. The plan was to stick together as best we could, knowing that with all the toll roads and traffic we probably would get separated. And we did! Andrea and I watched as Wally took one exit and Ben another at a split going around Philadelphia! Princeton is where we regrouped. From there it was about 45 minutes to Brooklyn.
We paid a LOT in tolls and crossed many bridges. The Chesapeake Bridge leaving Virginia Beach had a toll of 12.00 for our car, 17.00 for the moving truck and Wally pulling the trailer paid…he can’t remember! :{ That bridge was above water, went under the water, came back up and went down again under the water. We watched one of the super boats piled with cargo containers going across the water on top, right where we crossed under it in another few minutes. Amazing to me that we have built such infrastructure in our country. I guess I never paid attention before. The bridge coming into Brooklyn, the Verrazano was a huge bridge, the cables of span support reaching up through the haze. Really, really overwhelming as you cross over. I could not help but think about the documentary Wally and I watched in the hotel coming out. It was all about the bridge supports and levees that America has built and are now failing. Arghh, hope they do not fail while we are crossing!
The Verrazano Bridge
So as we drive through Brooklyn, Andrea tells me the next plan. We pull up in front of the house, throw everything on the sidewalk, including Elaine, and I wait while she goes to find a place to park. (And that is the way we unloaded the moving truck too…double park and unload). Wally came down the street just behind us and found a car leaving. So he held it for Andrea and she jumped back into the car and had her first parallel parking experience in Brooklyn. Ok, so it was not the best job but she will have lots of practice in the future!
Ben’s family came down from Massachusetts to see Elaine, oh, that’s right, to help unload! Also Pastor Bickel and his son, the Pastor of the Russian church and his son and another man from the church came to help.
Ben pulled the moving truck in and it was amazing to me how the traffic down the street did not slow up a bit!Delivery trucks, school buses and all. One Fed Ex truck came to a screeching halt and I thought the guy was going to yell at us…he had a very heavy accent and I could not understand him at first. But he was saying, “what a lousy day to move in the heat”. I said we are not from NY so we don’t really know what normal is…he replied, “hottest day yet, 70 percent humidity” Then horns blared from behind him and he went on his way! We were down to just the piano, when a second school bus came up and he just stopped and set the brake and gave his impatient look! I guess it was a good thing he didn’t come while the truck was still full or there would be a lot of kids getting home late from school!
…and then up these steps into the apartment.
The moving truck, double parked with cars going on around!
The first school bus squeezing by…these kids will be home on time! Notice all our helpers watching the show!
This was school bus number two, the wimpy driver, on down the street. There were quite a few cars lined out behind him!
Elaine with Grandma and Grandpa Hamilton.
The Hamiltons on the steps of Ben and Andrea’s new home…Evan, Meredith, Jim, Ben, Elaine, Sissy and Andrea
Jim and Sissy live in Pittsfield, Massachusetts about three hours away. Once everything was moved upstairs, we all walked around the corner to a great little diner for dinner. It is actually opened 24 hours. Then the Hamiltons headed on home and we went upstairs to put the crib together and some beds so we could fall into them!
We packed Ben, Andrea, and Elaine up on Monday, Memorial Day and in 95 degree heat…plus humidity. (I really don’t like hot.) When Ben and Andrea picked up their Penske truck, Andrea became a bit nervous because she thought it was too small. She forgot her Dad was the “master packer”! After all Wally had worked at UPS and we had four long distance moves ourselves when Wally was in the Air Force.
The Master and his apprentice
Elaine was so sweet while we worked…here she is in the empty apartment!
We finished packing and cleaning the apartment by 4:00 and then we headed to the beach for a little cool off.
Beach Baby!
The ocean is always an unbelievable sight! I am always amazed by the waves rolling in and out and the fact that I cannot see its beginning or end! Yet I know God has measured its depths with His hand! He has set the boundary that the waves may not pass over it. The tide is His design. Truly awesome thoughts!
But I’m glad I live in Colorado!!
