Old Orchard Beach to Thomaston

Today we moved from Old Orchard Beach about 85 miles up the coast to Thomaston, Maine just south of Penobscot Bay.  The drive up was superb with the weather clear and sunny and temperatures in the low 70’s.  The countryside is changing to include more rolling hills.  Inlets of the ocean poke their way inland like reverse rivers repeatedly as we travel over bridges and through one small one town after another with names like Falmouth, Freeport, Wiscasset and Waldoboro.  We’ll revisit those towns in the upcoming days to inspect parks after getting settled into our new location called Saltwater Farm Campground.  The view from our RV at this park is gorgeous overlooking the St. George River.

An island to canoe to and loons to listen to at this park.

But first let me digress. Yesterday we looked at a few parks before a thunderstorm passed through and I took a few photos that I want to share with you.  One park was on a lake that made me think of “On Golden Pond” because of loons the owner is proud to say live there and where you are almost guaranteed to catch a fish.  There was a small island in the middle of the lake and it would have been fun to canoe out to it.  He had a Sky Chief gas pump by his office door and unfortunately I can not say whether it works or not.

Our next stop was at a campground named Apache Campground with one of the most unique signs I have seen yet.  Three dimensional figurines of Apache Indians were enclosed in a shadow box type sign enclosure.  Colorfully painted, the figurines are situated in front of a painted landscape background with makes the entire sign look striking. 

We ended the day with a beautiful sunset streaming sunlight through the trees at our RV park.  The horizontal lighting always looks mesmerizing to me with its warmth.  It was worth stepping outside to capture the view.  I would have liked to stay out, but the mosquitoes claim the park after dusk and unless you have a campfire going to ward them away, it is not a battle worth fighting.  We did pickup some insect repellant to help with the problem.

Now on to today’s sights.  We passed around the west side of Portland first with six exits to the city from the Interstate.  That gives us a clue about the size of Portland.  It is the largest city in Maine with a population of 66,214 and home to more than one-third of Maine’s total population.  The city seal depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes because Portland was destroyed by fires on four different occasions and rebuilt after each.  Settlers first came to this area in 1623 but it was not until ten years later that settlement here was successfully established.  Interestingly the city of Portland, Oregon was named after Portland, Maine.  We were on the bypass route so we did not see much of the town and will have to return there to explore the Arts District and see the Portland Observatory which looks like a red lighthouse and is 86 feet tall.  Because Portland has a deep harbor sheltered by many islands, the observatory was built to be visible from both the open ocean and wharfs of Portland.
The next town we caught photos of was Bath, Maine, known as the “City of Ships” named after Bath, England.  Clipper ships were built here and Bath was the nation’s fifth largest seaport by the mid-19th century.  During World War II the city launched a new ship every 17 days.  The city is noted for its Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate architecture.  Scenes from the movie “Message in a Bottle” were filmed here in 1999. 

Bath, Maine

Buttercups en masse.

We passed bogs, dancing bears (statues carved of wood at an antique dealer-we have yet to see the real thing or a moose for that matter!) and fields of buttercup flowers.  When I was a child I held buttercups under my chin and you could see a golden glow from them on my skin or so we thought as kids!  We have no television at this park and the internet is iffy.  We will be here nine nights.  We'll get lots of reading done, "listen to the quiet" and hope to keep you posted as much as possible.

Dancing bears.

The view in our "front yard."