WinKing: MAINE

We did stop in Maine. We arrived on the evening of the 22 June 2012, and camped in Wells. It rained all night, but was over by the time we got up in the morning. Our tent is comfortable and waterproof, so all is well.

23 June 2012: our objective is Acadia National Park, but we stopped to smell the roses along the way. Or were they lupins, plentiful in Maine and probably considered weeds. They grow along banks and especially around ponds.

The lupins were past their prime, but were lovely to see everywhere.

We found that Maine had many charming church buildings, and of course is famous for its timber, moose, seafood and seaports:

"Montpelier," the home of General Henry Knox,
who helped Washington win the Revolutionary War.
He was asked to bring a cannon to Boston, and he took fifty.

If you have wondered how we get so many photographs together, we use the 10 second timer on the camera. It works most of the time. Other times a kind passerby helps us out.

The western side of Acadia National Park, on Mount Desert Island (named by Champlain).

We camped in the park at Seawall. Again, it poured all night but we were alright, especially since we did not have to pack up the tent - we stayed two nights there. And it was nice all the next day. Showers were out of the park at a local supply store on the coast:

We preferred to change in our shower room.

Hardly roughing it. We have a queen size air bed and have two rectangle sleeping bags that zip together that have a sheet "envelope" inside that Sheila made. We have two camp chairs; we put tennis balls on the feet of the chairs so that they could go inside the 6-man size tent. We have our pillows with us! Of course, the car is packed to the gills in the trunk and the back seat.

24 June 2012: We set out to cycle the loop around the east side of Acadia National Park, but Sheila's back tire was puncturing and there was probably something wrong other than the inner tube. We drove the loop instead.

Thunder Hole, Acadia National Park, Maine

Sheila at Thunder Hole

The rugged coastline of Acadia National Park

John D. Rockefeller liked to visit Mount Desert Island, and built carriage roads so that he didn't have to be with motorists. This is one of the gate houses to a carriage road.

Sheila looks at the sun through a Solarscope with the help of a park volunteer.

A Solarscope can only look at the sun.

Sheila and Thom atop Cadillac Mountain,\

the highest point along a 25-mile swath along the east coast.

The spectacular view from the top of Cadillac Mountain.

Bar Harbor is a third in from the left on the mainland.

You may think from some of our travel photographs that we have had lots of places to ourselves, but we often wait to take a photo so that cars or people are not in the way! Here are all the people on top of Cadillac Mountain, along with an indication of some threatening weather.

Bar Harbor, Maine

25 June 2012: We left Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island and headed north to Canada. Our last stop in Maine before going over the border at St. Stephen was St. Croix Island International Historical Site. St. Croix Island was where a French group of artisans, soldiers and others tried to start a permanent settlement in 1604. It did not last, but was the jumping off spot for settlements which did.