The Lesson of Sagadahoc Bay

O.K. I admit it. I was wrong. I almost missed one of the highlights of our travels.

We pulled into Sagadahoc Bay RV Park. I took one look around and announced to Ed that I wanted to leave. Forget that we had paid for three nights. Let's just blow it off and get out of here. Ed stood firm. He said we could manage a few nights even if the bathhouse was too far away and not clean enough, there was basically no management to this park, and I just didn't like it. Then the mosquitoes came out, it rained, and I couldn't get the wi-fi to work. Funksville for me!!

We're over on the right next to the blue house. Ed took this photo from the shore.


The next morning the sun had come out, the mosquitoes were gone, and we began to appreciate the shore and the pretty bay. Note the rocks out in the water. This was 7 a.m.

Those rocks looked a little different at 10 a.m.

The most amazing thing happened at low tide...for about 3 hours the entire bay emptied out and we could walk about a mile into the bay.

Sue and Scott , their daughter Emily, and Otis, their Old English Sheepdog who immediately became Finnegan's best friend introduced us to the morning stroll on the "flats." We shed our shoes to walk on the ocean floor and strolled out to meet the water before it began chasing us back. Finn could run free...and run he did. He came back full of sand, completely wet, and the happiest Kerry Blue in this universe. He romped off to meet other dogs and didn't mind at all when he hit a soft spot and went right under the water.

We met the most wonderful people in this park. Jean and Ken MacLean are Mainers...they actually moved to Maine. Most people move from Maine. We enjoyed an evening in their RV and got some terrific travel information from them.

This is Jean and me with Diane Miller - one of the most generous and kind neighbors one could ask for. Finn went through our screen door and Diane provided me with dog proof screening to replace what was torn. How she ever managed to just have it with her... Clancy belongs to Jean and Ken and Guzzi is Diane's pal...and Finn's.

We took that morning stroll into the water each of the 3 days I would have missed if I'd had my way to leave. This photo is way out as the tide is beginning to return.

Emily and Sue with Otis and Finn. Otis could outrun Finn. They chased birds together.

I like this photo. We took it before we started back. Those little white spots on the right are the RV's.

Finn took a special liking to Emily because she walked him out the farthest.

He liked her so much...that he annointed her... Couldn't believe I got it on film. It became the reason we made an appointment for some minor surgery for him. Seems he's having an early adolescence... He has really good hips...:-)

Finnegan and Guzzi...

...best friends forever! (You can see the RV's off in the distance.)

We think this is the best vacation Finn has ever had!! We've liked it a whole lot too.

Finnegan Meets an Older Woman in Bar Harbor

We are now on the coastline of downeast Maine. It is the home of Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor. It's actually an island - Desert (pronounced Dessert) Island and Bar Harbor is that little town nestled along the water. The highest point on the island and in the park is Cadillac Mountain. It's elevation of about 1500 ft. isn't much to us highlanders from New Mexico, but the view it affords is beautiful. Even through the haze you can see how spectacular the coast is.
So here begins our story about Finnegan and the older woman he met on the island. Her name is Stella, sometimes Stella Bella. She is a beauty...and she's 4 years old - 3 1/2 years older than Finn.

We had barely parked the RV and set up when I went to the market and bought my first lobster. (The going rate is $4-$5 a pound.) He was just a little guy - barely over a pound - and known as a shedder with a new not very hard shell and room to grow inside. Common this time of the year. These Mainers really know their lobster...and they say the shedders are the sweetest. He fit right into the pot outside on the Coleman stove. I was warned not to cook him inside and let the smell soak into the RV. Even the restaurants cook them outside - at least the little roadside ones. He was perfection. Sweet and juicy - like shedders are supposed to be.

There will be more...

There's lobster lore around these parts. Seems there used to be so many lobsters that they crawled up on the beaches. They were fed to prisoners until there was a revolt in the prisons. There's still a law on the books in Maine that states lobsters cannot be fed to inmates more than three times a week.

Now back to Finnegan's story: I have an internet friend I have emailed and spoken to on the phone. Her name is Sharon Riley. She lives in Bar Harbor, and we had a glorious meeting.

Sharon is an artist, a person of heart, a very lovely woman whom we both enjoyed immensly. She gave us one of the maps of Bar Harbor that she created and signed it for us.

Sharon's four legged companion is Stella. She and Finn had an introductory run around a field behind Sharon's home before we took them to the beach. It was immediate love.

Sharon and Stella took us to their favorite little spot along the coast. Here's Finn having his first look at the Maine coastline.

The dogs romped and ran all over the rocks - and then Stella showed Finn her favorite thing to do - get down in the water.

She began coaxing him to join her.

Sharon and I sat on the rocks and watched them run and play while Ed took all these wonderful photos.

Stella kept coaxing but Finn was only going to get his feet wet.

Finally she got a stick...and took it into the water.

Finn went in up to his tummy, splashed around until he was soaked, but he never submerged to enjoy the water Stella-style. He preferred to try to get the stick away from Stella.

We had so much fun with Stella we made a date to meet again the next day.

Hello from New Hampshire

We've settled into New Hampshire to relax and slow down. We checked into the Fransted Family Campground and we think it's one of the best we've been in. It's well run, has a lovely setting in the White Mountains with large campsites, and the most friendly and welcoming owners and staff.



We took long walks with Finn up on trails where we could let him run off leash. The river runs through the campground and there is a small beach where the children were tubing down the river. The water - cold! We met a lot of people who come here every year.

I'm including this photo of Finnegan. He jumped up on Ed's lap for his nightly chest rub.

Close to the campground is the Robert Frost home. This is where Frost lived. It's now a place where other poets come to write and be inspired by the mountains around them. There is a sign requesting you not disturb resident poets. There was no one there this day.

We made a couple of stops on our short stop in Concord - the state capitol. The is the Franklin Pierce home. Pierce was the 14th president of the United States. He lived in this home for a period of time.

The state capitol sits on the main street in Concord. It's modest compared to some we've seen, but it is unique in that the House and Senate are using the original chambers built in 1819.

The House of Representatives is simple with a quiet elegance.

The Senate chamber is more ornate... It's a beautiful room.

There's an old cog railroad that goes to the top of Mount Washington. It poured while we were there and we were grateful we hadn't planned to go to the top.

We drove the 92 mile circle around the White Mountains. It's a beautiful ride along the Kancamagus Highway.

The highlight for us was Franconia Notch State Park. We paid the tariff and walked the two mile trail to the Flume.

It's a well marked trail that goes up and down hills, up stairs, over covered bridges, and through forests.

The scenery is breathtaking.

We walked along and across the water between granite walls...

....to this waterfall,

We both gave it a 10!

We'll leave here on Monday and head into Maine. We'll spend a little time in Bangor replenishing supplies, and then on to Bar Harbor.

Tanglewood, Herman, the Minuteman, and a Pillow

We met Maureen and Rich Meyers and their two children at the campground. They live near Boston and have invited us to call them when we get to the Boston area. Both are teachers who spend the summer traveling the U.S. with their children. What an inspiring family. They were full of information for us.

Susan and I decided that we needed to have a girls night out. She suggested a dance performance - something we've done many times before. We went to Jacobs Pillow. I didn't have any idea what I was going to see. The Pillow is a 77 year old institution devoted to dance that has been designated a National Historic Landmark. It is housed on 161 acres of historic property and buildings that was part of the Underground Railroad in the 1800's for slaves escaping to Canada. There are performance stages, rehearsal studios, restaurants, a bookstore, housing for resident artists, a dance archive, a wetlands trail, and more. They present all manner of dance.

We saw a hip hop performance. Nothing like anything I expected. The music was jazz based and the hip hop style was presented with beauty and excitement. It was wonderful! And the after performance chat is called a Pillow Talk...

I, of course, had left my camera in the RV. Jacob's Pillow does have a lovely website...

Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It's a magical venue that draws the very best the music world has to offer. The Boston Pops just happened to be there this week and I got to check another item off my list - hear the Boston Pops on their home turf. And what a beautiful turf their summer home is. Susan joined us for the evening and was our guide, picnic chef, and all around good company. (It's so wonderful to be spending this time with her!) Here we are on the way to the box office.

And here's what I got at the box office. I couldn't believe I had them in my hands.

We began the evening by selecting our spot on the lawn. The pavilion is the Koussevitzky Shed (known as The Shed) where the covered seats face the stage. There were thousands of people on the lawn. There's a large screen ourside (you can see it) and two more under cover. It's sort of like watching live t.v.

There was a prelude concert at the Seiji Ozawa Hall. We took our appetizers, settled on the lawn there, and enjoyed a chamber concert with a South American flavor. This hall is known for it's perfect acoustics - and it's beauty.

Another view of the happenings:

And a look at the grounds from our spot at the chamber concert.

We walked back to the Shed to enjoy the rest of our picnic before the Pops concert.

Ed took this photo during the show. That's Keith Lockhart in the dark shirt.

Ed was in heaven: They did a tribute to Benny Goodman, and Ed jumped and bounced in his seat through the entire first half. It's a pretty good orchestra...

The second half was devoted to Chris Botti. He's a jazz trumpeter. His band is comprised of amazing musicians and he's amazing himself. A great show. You can see the two inside screens in this photo and the one overhead.

And, like every Boston Pops evening...they concluded with Stars and Stripes Forever. Wow!

What fun night! We were so fortunate to have an evening without rain.

Just a thought: We've attended Boston Pops concerts when they are on the road. They are so much better on their home turf. Maybe it's a if-its-Tuesday-it-must-be... thing.

Our next sightseeing stop was right in Pittsfield.

Melville actually lived here for part of his life - in this house. He moved there in 1850 and remained for 13 years. He wrote his most famous works there including Moby Dick. The house remained in the family until 1920.

Another view:

There's a spot near Pittsfield called Monument Mountain where Melville met Nathaniel Hawthorne at a picnic. We heard that Ralph Waldo Emerson also attended , but I never found that in writing.

Before leaving Massachutes, we stopped in Concord to visit the Minuteman National Park. This is the visitors center.

This place was very interesting for a couple reasons. First, it is the exact spot where the shot heard around the world was fired. And second, because it is the Daniel Chester French statue, and we had just visited his studio.

This the North Bridge. You can see the statue to the right of the bridge and beyond the bridge is a home known as the Old Manse.

There was something really exciting about being here. We approached the monument from the rear. 1775 - before we became a nation. It was dedicated 100 years later and the dedication was attended by President Grant.

It's a beautiful work. French was only 19 when he was commissioned to do it.

This is the placque on the front. Well worth reading...

The Old Manse was built in 1770 by Rev. William Emerson, the patriot minister of Concord. This is the front of the home.

From the rear, it looks over the North Bridge and the Minuteman which stands on the very spot where the first shots were fired. Can you imagine witnessing the beginning of the American Revolution on April 19th, 1775....and seeing it from your home?!?! Finn got in a little tree climbing before we left. Just that last look at the North Bridge and the statue.

We're heading North into New Hampshire to spend some time in the White Mountains. Then on into Maine and some lobster!