Maine July, 2006

True to his form, Robert was a great traveling companion on our trip to Maine to escape the July heat and 4th of July tourists in Washington. Sarah rightly pointed out that we (David most especially) needed a break from AARP and someplace cooler was an excellent idea. July 1, 2006.
July 1, 2006. We flew up to Boston Saturday July 1st late enough in the day for Robert to nap most of the flight. He enjoyed his brief bus ride as we picked up our rental car before driving up to Five Islands -- just past Bath on the coast.
We were greeted Sunday morning with drizzly, rainy, cool weather, so we drove back down the coast a bit in to Freeport to check out LL Bean's mother store. We picked up some polypro, a couple new raincoats and a few other goodies along with a bag to carry the new loot home in. The weather broke as we drove down and it turned into a lovely day -- the weather was fantastic the whole trip (after that brief bit of rain). Robert liked the 90th anniversary boot outside the retail store -- it was also an excellent prop for Sarah's traditional foot photo. July 5, 2006 (photo by SZap).
July 2, 2006. July 2, 2006.
July 2, 2006. After a nap upon our return, we walked from our lovely Son Rae cabin to the Five Islands harbor for people and boat (and lobster) watching. The one tragedy of this trip: none of us are big lobster fans. And lobster was everywhere, our little harbor, the cities of Bath and Freeport, and even little roadside restaurants.
July 2, 2006. July 2, 2006.
July 2nd happened to be the annual blessing of the boats. After the blessing they tour around the little islands in the harbor, and after that the lobster boats (did I mention there was a lot of lobster around) have a speed race up the Sheepscot River just beyond the Islands. July 2, 2006.
July 2, 2006. The kayaks stayed away from the power boats but still seemed to have a good time. We made arrangements with Seaspray Kayaks in Georgetown to deliver a boat to our cabin. (Actually, we tried to arrange two different kinds of kayaks so we could try both options to see what we liked, but they delivered two of the same recreational boats. And while they were supposed to pick the boat up Saturday after we had left, they picked it up Friday night -- which was a little disappointing as we were hoping to get one last little paddle in before heading south. So if you use them, be careful of what should be a very nice drop off and pick up service.)
July 2, 2006. July 2, 2006.
July 2, 2006. July 2, 2006 (photo by SZap).

While the harbor really was a fun place to hang out, we ventured to the beach (Popham beach, to be precise) on Monday. Robert was a little intimidated by the water but really enjoyed playing with the sand.

July 3, 2006.
July 3, 2006. July 3, 2006.
July 3, 2006. July 3, 2006.
July 3, 2006. July 3, 2006.
July 3, 2006. After the beach we stopped by the harbor just to look a the boats and loons...
July 3, 2006. July 3, 2006.
July 4, 2006.

One of the things Robert liked about the cabin we were staying in was the orange tractor parked next to the driveway. He has a thing for tractors and backhoes (diggers) and other big machinery. We all pointed and shouted, "Orange Tractor!!!" when we passed by.

The cabins (three of them) are in the woods about 75 yards from a boat house on an inlet around the corner from the harbor. Our cabin was number two, in the middle. Being next to but not on the water seemed a little safer for Robert -- who is not yet a swimmer. The field and pond were nice, but we did discover why the say the mosquito is Maine's state bird.

July 4, 2006. July 4, 2006.
July 4th started out as another clear blue day, but the fog rolled in around noon and by the afternoon parade, it was starting to get a little dark and spooky. The parade was great, but Robert was a little worried about the cannon that started it off and the loud sirens of the ambulances and firetrucks as they came by. Still, I think he enjoyed it, in his way, and clearly he remembers it. Our proprietor's kids were in the parade on an ATV and minibike with flags and tin can trailers. There was a "Support Our Troops" float that pointed out the loss of one of Five Islands finest to the Iraq war -- Bush did not seem to get much support in this rural outpost. July 4, 2006.
July 4, 2006. July 4, 2006.
July 4, 2006. July 4, 2006.
July 4, 2006. July 4, 2006.
July 4, 2006. Even though it was pretty foggy, we decided to get away for from the noise and hustle and bustle of the harbor and jump in the rented kayak for a quick turn across the water before Robert's bedtime.
July 4, 2006. July 4, 2006.
July 4, 2006. July 4, 2006.
July 4, 2006. Did I mention that it was foggy?
The next day, we headed a couple peninsulas north to McFarland's Cove, to look for the house Sarah and her family rented over the summers as she was growing up. With a little help from Google, we found the very spot -- and a lovely spot it is too: rocky beach, tidal pool, dock, boats, island. July 5, 2006.
July 5, 2006. July 5, 2006.
July 5, 2006. July 5, 2006.
July 5, 2006. Then we drove up one more peninsula to Pemaquid Point and it's lighthouse. Beautiful, rocky Maine coastline.
July 5, 2006. July 5, 2006.
July 5, 2006. July 5, 2006.
July 5, 2006 (photo by SZap). July 5, 2006.
July 5, 2006 (photo by SZap). July 5, 2006.
July 5, 2006. We finished out the day with with a book or two. This trip quickly turned into sequence of renditions of Blueberries for Sal, which turned out to be a huge favorite with Robert. A very close second was One Morning in Maine; both very apropos of our trip.
After reading the reviews of previous guests in our cabin, we headed out to the Aquarium in Boothbay Harbor the morning of July 6th. Robert really liked seeing the fish and lobsters up close (and not in the tubs in the pound), and petting the dogfish (a friendly shark). July 6, 2006.
July 6, 2006. July 6, 2006.
July 6, 2006. July 6, 2006.
July 6, 2006. After a nap, we were back in the kayak for a tour of our Five Islands Harbor.
July 6, 2006. July 6, 2006.
July 6, 2006 (photo by SZap). July 6, 2006 (photo by SZap).
The next day, our last full day in Maine, we headed to Reid State Park, about 10 minutes away. We were not quick enough to get a photo of the moose that crossed the road in front of us. Robert really liked the concept of saying, "Whoa Nellie!!!" at the sight of moose in the road ahead of us. We started out at the lagoon, which was calm, but pretty buggy, moved to the main beach where the waves were big and the water cold and then noticed a couple smaller beaches between the draining lagoon (it was low tide) and the main beach. After lunch (and a nap) we headed back to Reid and the beaches between the lagoon and main beach. That was great fun for all. July 7, 2006.
July 7, 2006. July 7, 2006.
July 7, 2006. July 7, 2006.
July 7, 2006. The channel between the lagoon and beach was like a little salt water river, complete with riffles; there was plenty of sand to play in (and a model of the Panama canal created by some other folks playing in the sand); boats to see off the the main beach, and waves the perfect size for Robert to play in. So perfectly sized, he just started laughing and walking to England when Sarah turned her back on him for a second.
July 7, 2006. July 7, 2006.
July 7, 2006. July 7, 2006.
July 7, 2006. July 7, 2006.
July 7, 2006. July 7, 2006.
Before we headed back to DC the next day, we staged a photo on the porch with Robert's new found favorite book, took one last walk to the harbor, and stopped off at Reid Park for more wave and sand action. It was really a great trip and we all had loads of fun.
July 8, 2006. July 8, 2006.