Wandering America
September 2007 - Part I
| On the Road Again! Finally, we finished up workamping and got ourselves to New England. We left Lake George Escape on Wednesday morning arriving in Freeport, Maine that afternoon. The Passport America campground in the Freeport area is Blueberry Pond which is not a bad campground but you have to drive down a dirt road for about a mile and a half to get to it. That road was "wash-boarded" which meant that we had to put our eye-teeth back in once we got to the campground. Otherwise, it was a campground that we would visit again. On Thursday we visited L. L. Bean to swap out my clogs and while we were there we looked at kayaks which may end up in our budget for next year. That evening we were invited to Pastor Sandy and Beverly Williams for dinner. Sandy is the pastor of the church we attended when we lived in Maine. They served us in the best Maine tradition with steamed clams and boiled lobsters, Yum, Yum. But, the visiting that took place after dinner was the best part of the evening. It had been three years since we saw them last and was wonderful to catch up on our children and everything that has taken place in the church since we left. Thank you Sandy and Bev for your hospitality. Home Again, Home Again It's been said and you've heard it a hundred times, "You can never go home again!". Well I disagree with that statement; however, things are ever changing and will never be the same. I was born and raised in Belfast, Maine, a place that was an industrial town during that time. Now it has made the transition into a nice tourist town with a beautiful waterfront and cute little shops lining its streets. You wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere near the waterfront back in the 60's, but now? What a wonderful place to visit and get a bite to eat. The bay is filled with all types of pleasure boats and is as pretty as a post card. Oh, if only we could age as gracefully as Belfast has over the years. My brother Mike and his wife Shauna now own the house that my mom and dad bought back in 1949. We arrived around noon time on Friday and "set up camp" in the driveway. It's always nice to come home.   Later, Judy and I took a stroll to City Park and around some of the side streets of Belfast. It was a trip down "Memory Lane" for me. We stopped by my old elementary school where I started in the sub-primary and attended through the the fourth grade. Remarkably it hadn't changed very much over the last 50 years; it had the same hard wood floors in the hallways, the rooms were all the same, it smelled the same, the old slate blackboards still hung on the walls, and even the old coat hooks were still on the walls in the coat rooms - unbelievable!!!   These pictures show the High School that I graduated from and the First Congregational Church where I attended Sunday School as a child.   Downtown is pretty much the same as it was when I was a boy except the stores now have different occupants. Here are pictures of Post Office Square and then looking down Main Street from the Post Office.   Colburn Shoe Store is where the family purchased many a pair of shoes. It is the oldest shoe store in the United States and it still has the ladders along the walls so the sales clerk can retrieve boxes of shoes from the higher shelfs.   And
it would be totally remiss of me if I didn't include a picture of my
aunt's hardware store which happens to be located right next to Colburn
Shoe Store.
 Here are a couple of pictures of the waterfront showing how "Ugly Belfast" has been transformed into the beautiful "Princess of the Bay".   Mike, Shuana, Judy, and I took a day trip to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor which are located on Mount Desert Island. Through the foresight of several wealthy businessmen we are all able to enjoy Acadia National Park. The park is the smallest of all the National Parks and is the only one that is made up of entirely donated lands which was given to the government to be maintained for public use. Acadia's main attractions are the Park Loop, which runs around the east side of Mount Desert Island and then back through the middle of the Park, and the drive up to the top of Cadillac Mountain, which is where the sun first hits the continental United States. There are miles of hiking trails which will lead you away from the crowds to tranquil spots with fabulous views and plenty of solitude. There are also 27 miles of Carriage Trails that were developed by John D. Rockefeller with the stipulation that they would be used for horse drawn carriages, biking, and hiking with no "autocars" being allowed on them. You can view the the caption for the following pictures by placing the cursor over the picture - just go ahead and enjoy the photos with no further commentary.                    Next we drove into Bar Harbor to have some lunch. We found the Route 66 Restaurant which proved to be a real fun place to eat.   After lunch we walked around the town of Bar Harbor before returning to Belfast.    A Hunting We Will Go My brother has a hunting camp in Monroe, Maine which is very secluded. He owns the land around half of Basin Pond while the town of Monroe owns the the other half which leaves his as the only camp on the pond. It sits back about a half mile from the main road making it very quiet with the exception of nature itself. You can hear the wind blowing through the trees and the birds singing in harmony. Here are a few views from the camp.     An Unexpected Surprise
Early one morning, while we were having our coffee, we had two visitors. A couple of fawns were eating apples not more than thirty feet behind our rig. Now keep in mind that we are "camping" within the city limits of Belfast, Maine, not in some remote spot. Being that it was at first light we were not able to get good quality pictures but here is one that we can share with you. Notice that he/she still has his white spots.  |