Off to Boothbay Harbor

 1 July 2021 Boothbay Harbor

It been 17 years since we were in Boothbay Harbor getting married.  Lots of memories came back as we drove through the town and through the Spruce Point Inn.  It was a Thursday back in 2004 and it was a Thursday this time as well. We took some of the back roads and explored a bit.  The skinny roads and tight turns should be good practice for driving in Europe later this fall.  We had a later than normal check in time at the AirBnB so after touring we stopped at the Lobster Co-op for lunch.  Leslie got a soft shell lobster and I got the hard shell variety.  The Co-op dock has changed a lot over the years.  New buildings and new businesses have opened up and the space is less open than it was previously.  There was lots of activity to watch, a black lab, a golden with his ball that trotted down the dock and right into his boat.  A little Pomeranian / Husky mix that was too cute for words.  A lobster boat pulled up and started unloading lobsters at the dock.  It is impossible to get any fresher than that.  

Naked granite bedrock, so beautiful

Ferns ferns ferns

Boulders and pines

Kayaks heading out from the Spruce Point Inn

The main Inn

Where the Bride's maids made their entrance

Where we stayed in 2004.  Leslie and I were in the back to the left, front left was P&V and to the right was the Big House

The entrance to the Spruce Point Inn

Random Poodle in Wiscasset

The bridge out of Wiscasset.  Red's Lobster Rolls can be had at the Wiscasset side of the bridge

Prepping for the 4th!

Low standards indeed

We saw a tiny cruise boat out in the harbor

Crowded with tables

Flukes from Tuna?

I know that there was one in here earlier...

Here they are, ready for the pot

Ready for the belly!

Last Bath Riverfront stroll

 30 June 2021  Bath

Cool Little City indeed, City of Ships!  Big props to Bath.  Our dinner was over quicker than the long Maine nights so we still had time to stroll the riverfront.  We saw two folks out in the middle of the channel in a canoe from our Adirondack chairs.  We saw more dogs walking, people strolling, boats floating by, birds flying and swimming, Elk facsimiles, wind vanes and brick buildings.  Also Bath had the cleanest public restrooms outside of Japan.

Jamming to the beats

Looks deceptively like an easy afternoon paddle

Here you get a sense of the scale of this large river.

This pine cone was suddenly very interesting 

What is this shape?  We were left wondering...

Dinner at the Taste of Maine

 30 June 2021  Bath 

Home of the Worlds Largest Lobster Roll.  I would have ordered one and finished it, had my appetite been at a worlds largest level.  Maybe we will stop by again on our way out.  Regardless, our dinners were very good.  Chocked full of the freshest scallops, shrimp, lobster and haddock our dinners were great.  There was a bit of a hoarder feeling to the place with a bric-a-brac here and a bric-a-brac there.  I saw a African ceremonial drum next to a porcelain Marylyn Monroe.  An old whiskey bottle next to a train lantern.  The view was superb of a reed bed spreading out to the water with islands in the background.  We were also able to watch an Osprey hunt for fish.  She caught three fish that we saw and fed them to her chicks.  The entire time we were in there a pianist was belting it out on an old upright piano, playing Leslie's old song book..

I just gave you a fish!

It's not Sebago Beer, it was Booth Bay Harbor beer in a Sebago glass 

My only regret in life...

Actual Moosehead, not the beer

Fish dinner #2

A slice of sun beating through the clouds

Lovely view

Chocolate Ice Cream, supposedly only one scoop

The couple behind Leslie were in their 90's but still dating.  She went to the library and looked him up from his yearbook oh so many years ago and she asked him about his senior quote.  

Name as many advertising icons as you can remeber

Odd baby head on the stove

just a 15 foot long model ship

A mothers work is never done

Back out to see more of the local area around Bath

 30 June 2021 Bath 

We drove out to Woolrich to explore some dining options and looked up to see building storms.  We picked out our dinner place and the lunch spot for tomorrow.  It has been an adjustment driving on hills.  No hills in south Florida so its been a while for me.  This trip got truncated by the approaching storms.  We made it back before it really rained hard and since there was the risk of severe storms I did not want to be driving in any messy weather.  

Lots of Heat!

The Iron Works from the bridge over the Kennebec

No snowmobiles today

These strawberries were almost brown

Ahhhhhh  the heat wave has crested

Exploring all around Bath

 30 June 2021  Bath

The local geography gave us an infinite number of possible driving paths.  There are so many inlets, islands, lakes and rivers that there are many options for the casual explorer.  We drove through Phippsburg, then down to Popham Beach, over to Fort Baldwin and finally we stopped at a roadside stand and bought lettuce, tomatoes and strawberries.  These perishables plus my rapidly emptying stomach  called for a trip back to the room for lunch.  Yum!  

A path towards the beach

A salt glade stretching out into the distance

A large beach with lots of room to spread out 

Its hot but there is a great breeze

A Lighthouse in the distance

The Fort

All the little villages along the coast

Flotsam!

We really liked this park

Lots of beach

Pine cones

Flowers from the garden in front of the stand

Jams, jellies, textiles and more

Fresh Veggies for our lunch

A lonely boat