What weighs 800 pounds and has a brain about the size of a penny?

August 14 – 17, 2014

We found a great RV park for a few days close to Portland Maine. Well it was almost great as they didn’t allow dogs to swim in there lake. That didn’t seem to bother Izzy too much as they had a nice dog run area and we could sneak floppy time right behind the trailer during our stay.

My New Floppy

The View

RV Park Lake

 

We took a drive to the city which has a nice area along the waterfront. You are treated to two lighthouses close to each other so were able to do a bit of exploring. Before we got to the first lighthouse we stopped at the harbor where we discovered a fishing tournament was taking place over the weekend. So we planned to come back around the time the boats would be coming in for the final weigh-in.

Along Portland's Waterfront

The Fishing Harbor

 

In the mean time we headed off to the Bug Light which provides you with a great view of the city from across the bay. Bug Light was built in 1875 and inspired by fourth-Century Choragic Monument built near Acropolis in Athens, the unique style of the lighthouse sets it apart from any other lighthouse in the world.

 

Bug Light Stands Out

Birds-eye View

 

Portland Across the Bay

 

Sailing By

 

The Stone Guard

 

Bug Light Park also has a tribute and information about the Liberty ships that were built here during World War II. As it turns a total of 236 Liberty Ships were built in the shipyards from 1941-1945, which were used to deliver cargo and troops during the war. Liberty ships were there for D-Day too. The two shipyards at Portland also built 30 Ocean Class vessels for the British. It was a booming place back then and today provides the local area with commercial fishing opportunities.

Liberty Ship Memorial

 

The other lighthouse close by is known as the Portland Head Light. There are remnants close to where the lighthouse stands of a fort and as you look across the bay you see stone buildings that were once upon a time offering protection to the city.

 

Portland Light

Protection Once Upon a Time

From the Cannon's View

Barge versus Sail 

Osprey Family

After our lighthouse journeys we arrived back at the pier. We just missed seeing a blue fin tuna hanging but we did get to see a picture of it. There was a marine biologist there that was taking samples from all the tuna that were brought in through the tournament for research purposes. He happened to be providing education to us on-lookers about the fish. Did you know that the brain from the blue fin tuna is not much larger than a penny? It just happens that the one in this picture is from a 798 pound tuna that was caught during the tournament. The other tuna we saw brought in weighed 278 pounds. We learned a lot from the biologist that day.

 

Blue Fin Tuna's Brain 

 

Educating Us

 

The Small Tuna at 278 Pounds

Our time in the area was great and we found a nice golf course just a few miles from the RV park. We enjoyed a round of golf and as always you can’t beat the scenery at a golf course.

 

 

We left Maine on the 18^th and headed to the coast of Massachusetts. More to come from SIT along the Atlantic.

The Pallet House

August 7 – 13, 2014

SITs adventure in the New England states brought us to the area near Camden Maine. We found the Saltwater Farm Campground in a small town called Thomaston. It was a great place for a home base for the week.

Our view was of the St. George River and Izzy had a spot to go chase her floppy. We didn’t let her swim at this spot since the tide fluctuation made it pretty muddy at times as well as a strong current. She seemed content to chase her toy.

 

Our View

 

St. George River

We spent some time walking around Camden which is a nice town on the Penobscot Bay. They managed to make a waterfall so you can take a nice walk along the harbor and end at the waterfall.

 

The Camden Harbor

 

Waterfall in Town

 

Is the Water Cold?

We spent our time exploring a couple of the small harbor towns next to Camden. Steve discovered they were having a home and boat show over the weekend in Rockland so we headed down to the event one day.

The Habitat for Humanity organization was there with a few folks building this Pallet House. We wandered around and thought what a cool idea if you want to build a small cottage or house and not have to spend a lot of money. They are building these in many countries or at least providing the plans. Our hats off to them!

The Pallet House

 

It Has an Upstairs

 

 

Anytime you are near water in this part of the world you get some amazing views. Light-houses are still part of the culture and are still in use. We were able to check out two of them.

The Owls Head light-house was built in 1852 but the station was established in 1825. Your view from the top of the steps that lead up to the light-house is awesome. You won’t see sunsets from here due to a mountain and trees but you would have some amazing sunrises if you were stationed here!

On the way to the light-house

Owls Head Light-house

Peaking 

The View from the Top

 

The other light-house close by is the Rockland light-house which sits out on a breakwater wall which you can walk out on and see the light-house up close and personal. Our walk out was slow as we were amazed at how many lobster traps you could see out in the bay. Busy area around here!

 

Rockland Breakwater

Rockland Light-house

 

 

Working for Lobster

 

We found a nice 9-hole golf course not too far from the RV park. The view from the first hole was gorgeous. Well, the entire course was pretty nice. Even our play wasn’t ugly.

At The First Tee

Golf Beauty

 

The only thing missing here was the lack of sport fishing in the ocean so we continue our quest for the perfect spot as we work our way south along the eastern seashore! Stay tuned!

 

 

What’s A Thunder Hole?

July 31 – August 6, 2014

SIT landed in a nice RV spot between Trenton and Bar Harbor. Our view consisted of water again although Steve discovered the fishing just isn’t happening in this part of the coast.

 

Seafood was still on the menu since they have a large lobster industry in this area.

 

 

The Lobster Truck

 

Busy Bay

 

We found some local residents that do a bit of lobstering and we were lucky enough to snag three from them one afternoon fresh off the boat. That was a tasty dinner.

 

Oh So Fresh Lobstah!

 

 

Our time in Bar Harbor was great although the town itself was quite crowded so we avoided the town as much as possible. The day we did tour and walk around a cruise ship was docked so I am sure that added to the crowd. We can see why people like this part of Maine as it is a gorgeous coast line. Our picnic lunch one day provided a wonderful water view.

 Our View During Lunch

Somes Sound 

Bar Harbor sits on Mount Desert Island and the Acadia National Park takes up about half of the entire island. Part of the history in this area includes the European explorer Samuel Champlain. We are discovering he was one busy dude back in the 1600’s. He created the first reliable record of the island in 1604, and there were attempts to settle the island after his visit, but 150 years of war between the French and British made it disputed territory unsafe for habitation until 1761, when English colonists established the first permanent settlement.

Color in the Rocks  

  

It became a national park in 1919 but had been designated as a national monument in 1916. The other interesting thing about this park is much of the land was once privately held and the land owners donated it to the National Park Service in order to preserve such a diverse place. We hiked the ocean view trail and when you are in certain places along the rocky coast you can walk out onto the rocks and if you are brave even go down to the water.

 

This Might Be A Good Spot to Fish

Lunchtime

 

The Rocky Coast

Enjoying the Hike

The ocean view trail also takes you to a spot called the Thunder Hole. We were curious to see what a thunder hole is and as we got closer to the rocks we heard thunder. The rock formation provides a narrow area where the water rushes in and a cave just below where you are looking.  When the wave hits it sounds just like a clap of thunder. When we were there to observe it the tide was out so I imagine when it is high tide the sound is even stronger. We could actually hear it from across the street where they have a gift shop and restrooms. 

 

The Thunder Hole

    

There are miles of hiking trails/roads and some great scenic drives. One of the drives takes you to the top of Cadillac Mountain, 1,530 feet in elevation. The view from the top is amazing and you are able to see Bar Harbor but also all of the smaller islands along the coast. The day we went was a bit cloudy and hazy so the pictures don’t give you the best view which means you will just need to take a trip some day and see for yourself.

Bar Harbor From Above

 

View From Cadillac Mountain

Green Belly Mushroom

 

Colorful Little Guy

 

Golf was on our agenda for the area and we found the Bar Harbor Golf Course not too far from where we were staying. We enjoyed the first round of nine holes that we ended up playing it again. The view was great no matter where you were on the course. It didn’t hurt that we played decently too!

 

   

In order to get to the golf course you went right by the airport, which happened to be pretty close to the RV park. We were treated to watching the bi-plane fly around that you could take for a scenic ride, but the one that would catch our eye is this B-17 Bomber. It is named the Sentimental Journey and is hanging out at the Bar Harbor airport for some time. You could take a ride on it as well. It is maintained by a group of volunteers known as the Commemorative Air Force out of Mesa Arizona. According to the information it never dropped bombs but later in life it did fight fires when it was owned by a California company. It has appeared in two movies, the WWII documentary “All the Fine Young Men” and the John Belushi comedy “1941.” Every time we went by the airport there were quite a few people hanging out at the plane and taking pictures. An animated likeness of Betty Grable is painted on the side.

 

B-17 Bomber

You might be wondering what Izzy gets to do since Steve and I seem to go and have fun exploring. Well sometimes she does get to come with us if the weather isn’t too hot. I do get her out for walks and of course floppy time. However at this particular RV spot she was able to do one of her favorite things which she hasn’t been able to for quite some time.

Go Izzy 

We left Bar Harbor on Thursday to head a little farther south along the Maine coast. More to come from the rocky east coast.

Fjord on the Atlantic Coast