Southern Maine

Our campground outside York, Maine overlooks the Atlantic ocean, and the rocky coast here is quite beautiful.  The RV park is on a bluff high above the shore, and many of the campsites aren't far from the edge.  The views are stunning.

But it isn't a year-round park; it closes in the winter because the storms that hit then can be violent.  Even though the campground itself is high enough that the storm surge can't reach it, last winter some of the rocks that make up the seawall below the campsites washed away, and the nearby town of York was severely flooded.  Now, in late June, the weather is almost perfect - a little cool and breezy if anything.  We love it here.  This is a photo of Nancy taking Sophia for a walk.  The droopy little blue bag in her hand is evidence that we are responsible citizens who take cleaning up after our dogs seriously.

The top tourist activity in the area, according to our camp host, is the Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just a few miles away.  It consists of a number of buildings from the early years of the city's history, lovingly restored, over twelve acres.  

Many of the buildings have local volunteers telling about and demonstrating skills such as weaving and coopering.  Some of the rooms are staged to show what life was like for the citizens who lived there in the 1700's and 1800's.

After walking through several exhibits, I said to Nancy, "Frankly, I don't find this very interesting."  She said, "Thank God!  I am bored out of my mind, I was afraid we'd be here for hours."  An incredible amount of work went into the project, and it's very well reviewed, so many folks love it, but it was not our cup of tea.  By the way, the downtown of Portsmouth itself - current version - is extremely charming.

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Today we've moved to a different campground, just sixty miles or so up the coast, this one in Scarborough, not far from Portland, Maine.  One of the local attractions we simply had to see was a life-sized chocolate moose (at a candy store).

Tonight, in a restaurant here in Scarborough, we had the first Maine lobsters of our trip.  We each ordered a lobster dinner, which consisted of a beautiful red pound-and-a-quarter lobster (I'm not sure whether they were boiled or steamed), drawn (clarified) butter, and sides.  They provide you with bibs and implements for cracking the shells and digging out the meat.  $16.95 each.  Delicious.  Sinful.  Won't be our last.