Portland Bike Ride

September 15, 2013

A nice sunny day greeted us this morning so we had a nice breakfast on the porch and then, since we had been slugs for three days in a row, we decided to do a bike ride. We packed up and headed off to Portland and the "Bug Light".

The Portland Bug Light is a small lighthouse built in 1875.  It is made of curved cast-iron plates whose seams are disguised by six decorative Corinthian columns. Its design was inspired by the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, an ancient Greek Monument. The local peeps nicknamed it the Bug Light because of its small size.

There is a very nice bicycle path that leaves from the Bug Light Park.  This is part of the ambitious Eastern Trail project which plans to build bike path from Maine to Florida.  The path is very well maintained and a nice ride through trees.  Eventually we left the path and headed over to the coast to see a couple of bigger lighthouses.  The roads are good, with very wide shoulders and the motorists were very courteous, even the woman who very carefully and slowly drove up alongside of me and then politely and slowly cut right in front of me to make a right turn around the corner.  She came within 1/2" of taking me out with her big 1950s era Oldsmobile.  And she smiled and gave me a friendly wave as she did this.  

So we rode along, enjoying the beautiful sunny weather and fresh air as we visited the Two Lights Lighthouse and also the Portland Head Lighthouse.  

When we returned to the Bug Light Park we checked out the memorial to the World War II shipbuilders, Rosie the Riveters, and read the history of the boat-building era in the Portland area.  There were good story boards and a replica of the prow of a Liberty Ship.  The Jerimiah O'Brien, housed in San Francisco now, was built here.  It is one of the last of the great Liberty Ships left and in 1994 it made a trip to France to Normandy Beach to commemorate D-Day.

          

Fort Popham

September 12, 2013

More sketchy weather predicted, so today we took a drive over to Bath and then south along the Phippsburg peninsula to visit Fort Popham.

When we arrived at the site we could hear loud booms of thunder off in the distance and Don got very nervous when I climbed up on a rocky outcropping to enjoy the view.

This fort was built at the mouth of the Kennebec River as a defense post during the Civil War. 1861. Although the construction was never finished the Fort did play an important roll in Jefferson's embargo and was also used in the Spanish American War and the First World War.

The fort has been preserved and is in quite good condition and it is easy to understand what a strategic location this was.  There were very good story boards explaining the design and construction, uses of the fort, types of armaments used there and why it became obsolete.

As we left the fort we began to feel a few sprinks.  We walked the 1/2 mile back to our car and we were just in the nick of time, too.  Just as we sat down and shut the doors the clouds opened up and a downpour ensued for 10 minutes, drenching anyone who was out walking around and leaving puddles 5 inches deep where it was dry as a bone a few minutes earlier.

The rainy weather continued for the next few days.  Friday the 13th came along and we decided on a rainy day lie-in.  We just hung out and Don worked on his pictures and I wrote a bit in the blog.  We did try to take a walk in the afternoon, but even though the sun was poking out when we left the house it began to rain along the way and we were soaking wet by the time we got home again.

Saturday we saw a bit of sun and we thought we would try to catch the harbor cruise which would take us around Casco Bay and over to Portland.  The flyer advertised that these cruises went every Saturday and Sunday through mid-October.  But, when we got to the departure point we found that there would be no cruise that day, so we just hung out and watched the fire ( a controlled burn) on the next island across the bay.

When we got back home we settled in for another lazy afternoon, but pretty soon we began to hear loud claps of thunder and then we saw some bright flashes of lightening and we were  in for an exciting storm for the evening.  The thunder storm went on for a good hour, knocking out the electricity and rattling the windows.  We fired up the kerosene lantern and lit a few candles and were discussing what to do with an evening of darkness.  But, about 8 pm the electricity came back on and the storm quieted down to a steady rain, so we watched a movie before hitting the sack.

    

DeLorme, LL Bean and the Enchanted Forest

Another gray day is upon us, but despite the possibility of rain we decided to take a hike.  We headed out to the Mountain Road, which doesn't have a mountain by California standards, but does have a bridge that connects Orr's Island with Harpswell Neck.  

We dropped off our recylables and trash at the local disposal center and then went next door to the City Hall.  Just in back of the City Hall is the trailhead.  Right at the start of the trail one finds a list of Fairy House Ordinances which state that fairy houses must not be McMansions and the size limit is 1 cubic foot.  And that fairies do not like to disturb nature, so please use only natural, dead materials.  And that the fairy houses will be periodically inspected by the head fairy code enforcement officer.

We marched out along the well marked, but hazardous trail, into the dense forest.  The trail is hazardous because it is criss-crossed by many roots, which stick 3 or 4 inches up over the soil.  I really had to watch where I was stepping to be sure I didn't catch a toe and trip or step on an uneven surface and lose my balance.

Soon we began to see little enclaves of fairy houses along the trail.  Each house is unique and it was fun to spot each one, nestled in some roots or under a piece of bark or moss.  Some were rudimentary and some were quite elaborate.  Soon the sun came out and it got quite warm, between the humidity and the sunshine, even though most of the trail was deep in the forest.  Eventually we arrived at the overlook and we stopped to enjoy the view of the trees, boats and water, before heading back to our car.  By the time we finished the hike I was drenched in sweat and the air conditioner felt pretty good.

Next we stopped at the DeLorme corporate headquarters.  I loved the gift shop which offered a huge number of maps in many different formats, travel games, science books for kids, and other tourist tchotchkes.  We also enjoyed watching Eartha, the giant room-sized globe, slowly spin around as we identified various places on our earth.  Eartha is the largest globe on the globe.

Finally we drove on up to the LL Bean Outlet store to look at what they had on offer for GPS units.  The shop is located in an area replete with every outlet you can imagine from Jones of New York to the Community Thrift Center, from Lindt Chocolate to the When Pigs Fly Bread Shop, From Ralph Lauren to CVS, or from Thos Moser Furniture to the New Boutique Consignment Shop.  It is all there.      

We looked around a bit, but being non-shoppers we were able to restrain ourselves.  Don felt that he could get a better deal on a new GPS online.  He has been having some trouble with Trixie, our Trex GPS that he uses on his bicycle, and he is considering replacing her with a younger, sexier version.  OH, OH!  Am I next?  HaHa.

Bowdoin College

September 10, 2013

With the possibility of rain today we decided to visit Bowdoin College and check out the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum.  

Bowdoin College, founded in 1794, is small--1700 students.  Famous graduates include Nathanial Hawthorne and William Wadsworth Longfellow, Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States, Robert Peary, Alfred Kinsey of human sexuality and gender research fame, and George Mitchell, class of 1974.  

You have heard of Robert Peary, one of the first people to reach the true North Pole.  He was a graduate of Bowdoin College, class of 1877.  Donald MacMillan, also a Bowdoin grad, class of 1898, was also a member of the polar exploration party.  But, the real hero of the expedition was Matthew Henson, a black man who was Peary's right hand.  Mr. Henson could fix anything, solve logisitical problems, communicate with the native population, handle the dogs pulling the sledges, and  Peary flatly stated that he could not have made the expedition without Mr. Henson.  And, Matthew Henson was the real first person to set foot on the North Pole.

The museum offers an extensive collection of artifacts from the Peary expedition, including one of the original sledges used to transport food and equipment, scientific tools as well as native tools, Inuit art and religious icons, face masks, and a huge, stuffed polar bear.  Inuit religious beliefs and their ideas about the balance of nature and man are presented.  There was also a very interesting display of how the arctic ice cap has grown and shrunk over the centuries.

After visiting the Arctic Museum we strolled across the campus to the Art Museum.  The featured artist was Maurice Prendergast, 1858-1924.  The theme of the display is "By the Sea" and Prendergast paints very busy pictures of crowds of people strolling along boardwalks, sitting on beaches, wading, playing and swimming.  I liked his watercolors better than his oils, but Don found his work too busy for his taste.  It was interesting to see the progression in Prendergast's work as he became friends with Cezanne and began to practice some of Cezanne's style and impressionist techniques. http://www.bowdoin.edu/art-museum/exhibitions/2013/prendergast.shtml

The museum offers an extensive collection of Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine objects as well as a large collection of colonial and Federal portraits, with presidential portraits of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison by Gilbert Stuart and works by Robert Feke, John Singleton Copley, Joseph Blackburn, and Rembrandt Peale. It also includes works by 19th- and 20th-century American artists such as Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, John Sloan, Rockwell Kent, Marsden Hartley, and Andrew Wyeth.  

The Bowdoin College Museums turned out to be far more that we expected and we thoroughly enjoyed our day there.

     

Wolf Loop Bike Ride

 The weather is pretty warm right now, Sept. 9th, so we set off early for a bike ride around the area.  We find Maine motorists pretty thoughtful  of cyclists.  Nobody honked at us and everyone gave us plenty of space.

We did a 20 mile ride through the forested hills around Freeport, the Wolf Loop, enjoying the scenery and checking out the LL Bean Adventure Camp offerings.

 

Maritime Museum

The weather prediction is for a rainy day, so we decided to do some museum walking.  We drove into Bath, Maine for a visit to the Maritime Museum.  I wasn't very excited about this because how many hundreds of maritime museums have we visited, but this turned out to be very interesting and well-presented.

Coastal Maine life revolves around the sea, shipping, shipbuilding, lobstering and fishing.  This museum had the typical displays of charts and old ships lanterns, windlasses, and other ship tools, which were interesting, but the outdoor exhibits were great.  

The museum is located at the site of the historic Percy and Small Shipyards.  It is here that the world's largest wooden sailing ship was built, a 6 masted schooner, Wyoming.  A life-sized sculpture on the grounds gave us an idea of how huge this ship was.

The Bath shipyards have been in operation since 1740 and they still build ships--most recently 22 destroyers--in their Bath Iron Works new, huge, modern shipyard.

check out this web site        http://www.jeffhead.com/usn21/ddg1000.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/us/uss-zumwalt-capt-kirk/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
http://www.defensenews.com/ 

After touring the entry building we went outdoors and first we took a tour of a Grand Banks fishing schooner, both on deck and below.  The crew slept in wooden bunks along each side of the hull and they had their meals in the middle.  A sample menu was posted--Salted meat, hard tack, and fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  They were often at sea for extended periods.  A hard life.

The museum shows us the entire process of shipbuilding in the 19th century.  We visited the building where the raw materials were milled.  The wood used for the masts was Douglas Fir, imported from Oregon.  The fir was needed because it is very long and straight.   The mould loft and pitch oven gave us an idea of how the planks were curved and formed to the proper shape, trunnels (wooden pegs force into holes to join the planks) hammered in and then caulked and sealed with moss and rope dipped in resin.  Next we visited the paint shop where the ship was sealed and painted and then the fitting out pier.  Fitting out a ship was a complex process of forecasting the ships food and materials requirements, ordering, coordinating and managing the deliveries of the needed goods, stocking the ship and preparing the lving quarters. This whole process was very well presented and I found it very informative and interesting.

Next we visited the Donnell House,  home of the owner of the shipyard.  Great attention to detail has enhanced the display.  Original crown molding, wallpaper, and carpets have been reproduced and used in the house, the Donnell family has donated furniture and equipment on diisplay in the house, and we got a very good idea of what a wealthy family home was like.  The docent on duty was informative and interesting too.

Also on the grounds is a building with displays and videos about the life of a sea fisherman, lobstering, and the launch of s huge ship from the grounds here.

For kids there is a pirate ship to play on and a huge lobster trap they can climb into and get trapped just like a lobster.  I tried to get Don to go in, but he declined.

We ended up spending the whole day here it was so interesting.

Down East in Maine

We are all settled in now and oriented here on Bailey Island.  This whole Maine coastline is a series of hundreds of small islands, some connected by bridges and some only accessible by boat.  Bailey Island is part of the Town of Harpswell.  Harpswell encompasses several islands and part of the mainland.  To get to Bailey Island we go through the city of Brunswick and along Highway 24 over Seabascodegan Island to Orr's Island and from Orr's Island we go over the unusual Cribstone Bridge, past Morse's Lobster Shack and finally on to Bailey Island and our house on Fathom Lane.

The house is very comfortable with a large kitchen/dining/living room, half bath and a separate tv room on the first floor and 4 bedrooms and a full bath on the second floor.  This used to be the Almeida family camp where they would spend their summers.  The family owned a very large parcel of land here, but over the years some has been sold off and split up between family members.  Our hostess, Jane Almeida, has done a nice job of updating and modernizing the house and now we have nice granite counters in the kitchen, wonderful double paned windows throughout the house, beautiful wood floors. The decor is light and airy and the furniture and arrangement comfortable. I love the big wrap-around deck and the privacy provided by many trees.  Jane's house is just down the hill about 100 yards, but we seldom see her

.  In the yard we have a nice table with sun umbrella and a bar-be-que.  There is also an outdoor shower and an outbuilding where we can keep our bikes.  Our yard is often visited by some enormous wild turkeys and we can hear them gobble and watch them open their tails to scare us off when they notice us trying to sneak out on the porch to take a photo.

At this time of year it is pretty quiet down here.  About 35% of the houses on the island are for sale and about 50% are advertising summertime rental offers.  I am guessing that only about 35% of the homes here are year-round residents.  Don and I both really like that everybody flies their American Flags and we see them lining the one road on the island, fluttering beautifully in the sea breeze.

The big issue here on Baily Island is the imminent sale and closure of one of the two decent beaches on the island, Cedar Beach.  Most of the shore is rocky and there are very few usable beaches on the island.  Cedar Beach is the largest and nicest beach on the island.  Our host tells  us that there is a very large piece of land around the beach that is currently owned by one man.  He has decided to sell the land, but the buyer intends to close off access to the beach and this has caused a community uprising.  Private roads and beache seems to be a common occurrence here. ( We are spoiled in California by the Coastal Access Law which gives the public access to beaches and forbids private ownership.)  At least 50% of the homes on the island and many homes on Orr's Island display signs-- "Save Cedar Beach"  and "Let's Not Lose Another Beach"--and feelings are strong on the subject  We have not been to Cedar Beach because of all of the "Private Drive" signs posted all around the access road.  We don't want to get in trouble.

We did ride our bikes down to the end of the road--Land's End--to visit the other beach, which is small, but nice.  There is a memorial to Lobstermen there, with a statue.  Don keeps telling me he is so glad he didn't have to be a fisherman or a lobsterman for his living.  It is a hard, cold, wet life and can be dangerous too.  Just watch "Deadliest Catch" if you want to sympathize with ocean fishermen.  In spite of the numerous summer rentals there are few activities on offer to tourists.  There are a few restaurants and one gift shop, a bit of hiking and the small beach with very little parking available.  So, even though I think a lot of their economy is related to tourism, they don't seem to be offering much to tourists.