Augusta to Spruce Head Island

Starting Data
Mileage:  65,329
Time:  10:00  a.m.
Weather:  64º and not a cloud in the sky--Top down on the convertible day!


It has been a glorious day.  Let me bring you up to date a bit.  We finished the last load of laundry this morning.  It worked out well to do the laundry in the motel.  I think we may be able to make it now until we get to the motel in Albany.  That would be great.  I don't want to have to spend any time doing laundry while we are here!


There are so many wonderful memories involved in today's journey.  We couldn't check into the cottage until 3, so we had a lot of time to dawdle.  We started with one plan in mind, and totally changed it as we were driving along.  We drove along Hwy 17 E and then turned onto Hwy 32 towards Damariscotta State Park.  We just kept repeating to one another, "This is so great.  I'm so glad we came."  We headed S on 215 to Newcastle and then picked up Hwy 1.  This is the north/south road to everywhere.  As we were driving along we were listening to a play list of artists from Maine--Gordon Bok and a wonderful trio Trickett, Bok and Muir.  The music fit the area perfectly.


We planned on stopping at a campground where we had camped around 1996 with Christopher and Elizabeth and our neighbors, Al, Denise and Kelsey.  Well, we went to Pemaquid Point Campground and both thought:  "This isn't right at all."  We had just decided that the name of it was Pemaquid Lake Campground when we came across the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park.  We paid our admission, listened to the admonition of the woman at the gate to exercise extreme caution, "We've got the yellow light on for a reason.  The riptide is fierce.  4 people were washed in yesterday at Monhegan and 1 here.  Stay away from the rocks."  We parked and were drawn immediately to the crashing waves.  


Here are the highlights:
1.  There are gorgeous bushes of wild roses that grow everywhere along the coast.  If you look closely you can see the rose in one picture and the rose hips (I think?!) that are now everywhere.  They look a lot like small tomatoes.  The roses are at the end of their season.

2.  This is a working lighthouse.  (Constructed in 1837).  It is now automated and maintained by the US Coast Guard.  It is also the lighthouse that is featured on Maine's quarter.


3.  We were able to climb to the top of the lighthouse.  Wow.  The view was spectacular.  You climb up 37 steep and winding metal stairs.  Then you climb up 7 stairs that are really more like a ladder.  They allow 6 people up at a time.  When you come down, you go down the 7 stairs backwards--like a ladder--then turn around and come down.  If you have issues with heights, this would not have been a good idea for you.  The metal stairs are slotted, so you can see through them clearly as you come down!


That's the good news.  The bad news is that for some reason the majority of the pictures that we took today, were "unreadable" by the card reader tonight.  So, you're going to have to get by with my paltry description.

We left the Lighthouse and headed to Waldoboro.  This is another one of our favorite stomping grounds from the past.  We stopped at Borealis Breads.  They have such a great slogan:  EAT GOOD BREAD!  Dave bought a loaf of focaccia and a dense loaf of oat bread.  The lady told him to buy good olive oil, lots of cracked black pepper and 3-cheese mix and to doctor the focaccia "liberally."  I think that's what he is planning on having tomorrow night for supper.

We waved at Moody's Diner, another one of our favorite spots.  We'll go back there some morning for b'fast.  Then it was on to Captain's Fresh Idea.  We first ate there way back on our first time in Maine.  Dave's dad and mom ate there when they came to Maine on our suggestion. The same family owns the place.  We had a great visit with the owner's wife and caught up on their 2 daughters and what she and her husband are doing now in the off-season.  (They go to Florida--leave in mid-October.  They have a fifth-wheel that they store and a site near Sarasota.)  Dave had the same meal he has had the other two times he was there:  lobster and steamers (steamed clams).  It came with corn on the cob and a crusty roll.  I had bare-naked lobster salad.  Wow.  7 ounces of lobster meat on a huge green salad.  It was delicious.  


After a brief stop at the Maine State Prison store to buy another small wooden cutting board.  We have one at home that we got 5 years ago that is just perfect for chopping small amounts of things.  This one is going to go in the fifth-wheel.  The store is monitored by a prison guard and you are waited on by prisoners that have earned the right to work there.  The guards are the ones that run the cash register and handle credit cards etc.  When we got there, one of the prisoners was sitting out front with his arm around a beautiful yellow lab.  I asked if I could pet him.  "Sure.  He's an escapee.  We found him running down the highway.  We called his owners.  Hope they come and get him."  

After all of this, it was time to head to our cottage.  We found it just as wonderful as in our memories.  We unloaded the car, checked to see what we needed to buy at the grocery store, and took off again for Rockland to Hannaford the grocery store that we liked when we were here last.  After buying staples--including lots of drinking water--the water here on the island is not for drinking--we headed back to the cottage.

We sat outside in the adirondack chairs and watched the sunset.  There were still a couple of lobster boats coming in to Atwood's to unload their catch.  The water was so smooth that everything was perfectly reflected.  There is a full moon tonight, so I am heading back outside to watch it for awhile.