July 11, 2024 – Downeast Acadia, ME
We’re headed to Downeast Maine for a couple of weeks. Downeast refers mostly to the eastern coastal part of Maine. Beginning just north of Portland and extending into the Canadian Maritimes, the coast becomes extremely convoluted, almost an archipelago, granite faced shoreline. It is the home of a prosperous fishing industry as well as a low-key tourism mecca. You won’t find towering vacation condos anywhere near the area.
We don’t have any agenda except to attend the surprise 75th birthday party for dear friend, Gregg Scott, who, along with Terri, have a home in Northeast Harbor on Mt Desert Island. We secured a campsite in Lamoine SP near the town of Ellsworth. We’d have camped on Mt Desert but there were no week-long vacancies.
Lamoine SP was mostly filled, too. It has mostly forested campsites, is situated on Frenchman Bay and is centrally located to explore many of the small towns in the area. It is small park of only 55 acres and 62 campsites. There is a nice small pebble beach.
On our way there we stopped at the local UPS store in Ellsworth where Bill had arranged a new phone to be shipped because his old one had turned into a brick a week earlier. For $5 a UPS store will receive a small package and hold it for you, a nice service for travelers.
The campground property was originally developed as a US Navy coaling station in 1903. Those were the days of coal-fired, steam powered ships and the ships would take on coal and water for their boilers. After only a year the Navy began to convert to oil for fuel and so did the coaling station. By 1912, however, the station was decommissioned and eventually sold to the state to become a park.
After settling into our campsite, Bill returned to the McDonalds in Ellsworth for their WiFi which was needed to set up his new phone. He finished the setup but decided to return another time to complete his app and data restoration.
Dinner was a shrimp, broccoli and carrot stir fry.
July 12, 2024 – Downeast Acadia, ME
We finished polishing a few episodes of this blog in the morning. We then returned to Ellsworth where Sandy shopped and explored the town while Bill sat in McDonalds to finish updating his new phone and uploaded the new blog episodes.
It was really hot and humid and there wasn’t much breeze through the wooded campsites. So we headed for the beach where there was a beautiful breeze coming off the cool waters of Frenchman Bay. There, Sandy luxuriated in the sun while bill found a spot in the shade to read. Sandy lasted nearly an hour when she found the wisdom to join Bill in the shade.
After showers and struggling over a decision about wearing long or short pants, we headed out to Northeast Harbor and the party for Gregg. It was a nice surprise for Gregg as we joined neighbors to celebrate his 75th! The view from their back yard is wonderful. Beautiful gardens lead you eye past their guest house to overlook Somes Sound. Our choice of long pants was the right one as the Maine evenings do cool down.
