Maine in the RV

I have titled this footprint “Maine in the RV” because last summer we spent 6 weeks in Maine on Southern Cross exploring the coastal towns and islands with Gary and Renee. I’m excited to be back this summer/fall to visit western Maine and with luck see fall foliage. Our first stop was in West Bethel, just across the border from New Hampshire. We drove back roads to get here and went through several small towns, all established in the 1700’s. The town of Bethel is cute with shops and restaurants in old homes, and it has a rather large resort and golf course. The RV park is nice, there are only a few other RVs here and most seem to be seasonal and currently unoccupied. Several other transients have come for a night or two. There are a lot of trees throughout the park and a gravel road decent enough to run on. They have several activities such as swimming, corn hole, horseshoes, badminton, etc. No one is here to play on any of it but I’m practicing my corn hole throwing!
On Saturday, Sept. 13, we went hiking with Pepper to Maggie’s Nature Park in Greenwood on Peaked Mountain. At the top was a beautiful view of more mountains and South Pond. We let Pepper off her leash for the first time and she throughly enjoyed taking her own path, stopping to sniff now and then. She was very good about staying close to us.
We did another hike on Monday, Sept 15, to Step Falls; a cascading waterfall over large granite boulders. The boulders have been worn flat over the last 12,000 years creating a step structure. Water was flowing fairly consistently considering the area had a drought this summer; in the spring it will be roaring. From there we took a short detour to see the Sunday River Covered Bridge, last built in 1872. It’s no longer in use as a modern bridge was built next to it but it’s a cool piece of history. We drove by Steam Mill Brewery on the way back to the RV Park and stopped in for dinner.
Tuesday we went Apple picking! We picked about 5 pounds and I made an Apple Cider Donut Loaf Cake that night. It’s good but chocked full of calories! I see Grammie’s apple cake, apple crisp, cinnamon apples and apples with peanut butter in our future!
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, we moved camp to Cold River Campground, across the Penobscot River from Bangor. Our original site was at the entrance and after we situated the rig in the site to avoid a bunch of large tree roots, rocks and a tree stump, Kevin checked the power and it was only 30 amp! I went to find the owner and he said he didn’t have any 50 amp, then remembered a seasonal camper left that morning and we were able to move up the hill to a new spot with 50 amp. It was a bit tricky getting into the site because he said it was a back-in, but it was really a sidewise site. Luckily the owner came around on his cart and helped guide us in after we scraped a bush trying to back-in!
We think this will be a quieter spot than the first so it all worked out.
We ventured out to Bangor on Friday, Sept. 26, to get pictures of the giant Paul Bunyan statue and the house Stephen King once lived in, which is now a private nonprofit foundation of his archived works. Bangor, ME is this inspiration for the town Deering in several of his novels. The Paul Bunyan statue was on the lot of an insurance company and no where to easily park so we just drove by and I snapped pictures. From there we went to Mason’s Brewery; Kevin had a beer and I had a cocktail. Saturday the RV park was celebrating Halloween and closing for the winter starting the following weekend. There were a few tick or treaters, a golf cart parade in the afternoon and a band in the evening. It was a small turn out but fun to watch.
Our final Maine destination was in Saco, near Kennebunkport and Portland. Kennebunkport was not accessible in our sailboat so I wanted to make a trip in that direction to visit. We did some shopping and had lunch there on Monday, Sept. 22. It’s a nice town with lots of shops; not overly touristy. On Tuesday, Sept 23, we took the RV to a Cummins engine service center for issues we were having with horsepower, especially on hills. Turns out it was bad fuel, somewhere we got diesel with water in it. While waiting we went into Portland for sightseeing. Portland is (or maybe was in the 1700-2800’s) the closest American harbor to Europe and a strategic and economic importance. It has 3 lighthouses and had numerous forts and batteries in a small proximity to each other. Our first stop was at Bug Light Lighthouse in South Portland. Walking to the lighthouse entailed a path of large granite blocks that seemed to have been placed there after the lighthouse was built. It is no longer in use and we only viewed it close up from the outside. It faces Fort Gorges on Hog Island Ledge and it was cool to view that fort from land because last summer we took the dinghy to the island and explored the fort with Gary and Renee - that brought back good memories! Next to the lighthouse is the remains of Fort Preble. Again only the outside is visible but neat to explore. Next we went to Fort Williams Park, which was a military base starting in 1899 and was the last army post in Maine when it closed in 1962. It originally had 6 batteries with 12 mounted guns in each. The fort was manned during the Spanish-American War, WW I and II, and for the Army Reserve during the Korean War. In the 1930’s the National Guard used it for training and from 1933 to 1942 the Civilian Conservation Corps used it for training as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Throughout the whole park were remains of the old batteries and other buildings including the remains of Goddard Mansion, built by John Goddard (1811-1870) who made his fortune in lumber. The army acquired the mansion in 1898 and used it to house enlisted married men and their families, along with a non-commissioned officers club in the basement. Today it is only a shell of what it once was. The Portland Head Lighthouse is also on the property and it is still an active lighthouse maintained by the US Coast Guard. The Keeper’s Quarters was home to the head and assistant head lighthouse keepers and their families until 1989, when the lighthouse was automated. For lunch we went to Allagash Bungalow Brewery and I got a lobster roll.
The fall foliage became more prevalent during our time in Maine and was beautiful in some spots with bright and deep reds, orange and yellow colors. It was not yet at its full glory but I was happy to see it!もっと詳しく