Portland

On Sunday, July 24, we left our “borrowed” mooring in order to arrive at the DiMillo’s Marina in Portland. Since it costs about $90 to stay at a marina overnight, we maximized our time by arriving around 8:00 to use the showers and laundry facilities. After getting our chores done, we headed to the Maine Mall in order to get our cell phone situation sorted. Since I am going back to Houston, Jared needed a cell phone for the remainder of the trip. It was a quick stop since we had a lot of other things we wanted to see in Portland. After rushing in between cell phone stores and getting new cell phones, we took a taxi back to the downtown area.

Our first stop was the Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow home (picture above). Built in the late 1700s, this was Henry’s childhood home that has survived many centuries. Members of his family continuously occupied the home. His sister donated the home to the Maine Historical Society in 1901 when she passed away, and all the furniture and decorations are original. She lived in the house until her death and even continued to use the outdoor plumbing when she was 90-years old! It honestly felt like we were stepping back into time when we entered the house. The children’s old rocking horse, now battered and used, was still standing in the entrance.

Here is a picture of the Portland City Hall:

After our history lesson, we decided to partake in some beer sampling at the Shipyard Brewery. This FREE tour allowed us to view the bottling process and sample about 10 different kinds of beer (my favorite being the Sea Dog Blueberry Beer). Our tour guide, Hannah, was full of beer knowledge, and we learned all about the brewing industry. It was definitely worth the walk!

Since it was my last night in Maine, Jared and I decided to celebrate our 3-year wedding anniversary by going to DiMillo’s floating restaurant. This restaurant, which is attached the marina, used to be a ferry servicing the New England coast. It was decorated with all of our favorite sailing memorabilia. We indulged in clam chowder, steamed clams, champagne, blueberry cobbler, and of course, lobsters. It was a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary and our last night of the boat trip together.

Monday, July 25 was a sad day. I had to leave the sailboat trip in order to start my new adventure as a high school counselor. Before I left for the airport, Jared and I had lobster rolls at the local fishing dock one last time. We will definitely miss the amazing seafood (I think I blogged about it enough to convince you haha)! Jared and Morgan waived good-bye as I headed to the Portland Airport. As the plane flew over the harbor, I was able to see Jared and Morgan below, sailing up the coast towards their new destination.

Freeport Shopping :)

On Saturday, July 23, we decided to change our route and head to Freeport. We couldn’t leave Maine without visiting the beloved L.L. Bean SUPER store! We took a taxi the center of town to do some outlet shopping. These outlet stores look nothing like the typical outdoor malls; instead, the stores are housed in old traditional buildings. The Abercrombie & Finch Outlet is now in the old library, and McDonald’s is in an old farmhouse. Here is a picture of the Banana Republic Outlet:

The infamous L.L. Bean store is absolutely enormous. There are separate stores for home decorations, bikes & boats, hunting, etc. L.L. Bean was founded when Mr. Bean wanted a better hunting boot (his feet were always getting wet). Therefore, he developed a rubber sole hunting boot. This small industry soon turned into a mega outdoor store and catalog. The hunting boot is now symbolic of the L.L. Bean namesake. Here is a picture of Jared with the “boot” that started it all:

After returning from our shopping spree, we decided to head to Portland. The temperature was almost 100 degrees, which is unheard of in Maine. Therefore, we decided that sailing would be cooler that sitting in the stagnant harbor. The sky was gorgeous as we were sailing along.

North Haven and Sebasco Harbor

On our way to North Haven, we were able to come really close to a bunch of seals:

North Haven is a small town with a few gift shops and local restaurants. We got off the boat for awhile to shop and take showers :)

Due to a suggestion from a fellow sailor, we decided to stop at Sebasco Harbor Resort. The large salt-water pool was one of the main attractions.

We also had a romantic dinner overlooking the harbor :)

Isle au Haut, Home of Linda Greenlaw

On our way to Isle au Haut, we found a great spot to stop for lunch and allow Morgan to do her beach patrol. Most of the beaches in Maine are rocky, so this was a nice break from the other beaches we visited.

The beach was literally covered with shells:

Another view of the cove:

Jared rowing us back to the boat (you can see it in the background):

We arrived in Isle ah Haut in the afternoon. More than half of the island is part of Acadia National Park, but park visitors are limited to 50 per day. With over 30 miles of hiking trails, it is a great place to enjoy nature. Our first stop was the general store because we both read Linda Greenlaw's books about the island. We wanted to purchase ice for the boat, but the people who own the store closed it for about an hour to unload supplies. Therefore, we took a walk to the main dock and the town chapel.

It's extremely expensive to own an automobile on the island, so many residents keep them as long as possible.

Here is the Isle au Haut Post Office (also discussed in Linda's books):

Linda talks about the Post Mistress, Dottie, in her books, so I had to take a picture of this homemade sign written by Dottie.

Here is Isle au Haut's beautiful Robison Point Lighthouse. Visitors can rent the lighthouse keeper's cottage. The lighthouse is currently for sale for 1.9 million!

After dinner, we went over to another couple's boat, a husband and wife team all the way from Scotland, to have cocktails. It was fun getting to know them and hear about their numerous adventures sailing from Scotland, to the Bahamas, and up the U.S. coast.

Frenchboro Island

On Monday, July 18th, we arrived in one of our favorite places on the trip, Frenchboro Island. Frenchboro is an extremely remote island with a year-round population of 45. Modern electricity did not arrive on the island until the late 1950s, and telephone service began in 1982. Lunt’s Dockside Deli is the main business in the area, which used to pack mason jars of lobster for Bloomingdales. The Lunt family resides on the largest portion of the island complete with 19 families.

You have to love this sign :)

Here is a picture of Jared and Morgan on the Lunt's Dockside Deli:

The Frenchboro School is a K-8 school for the 8 students on the island. The two teachers are a husband and wife team who cater to all the grade levels. After 8^th grade, the students attend Mount Desert High School on Mount Desert Island.

Across the street is the Frenchboro Historical Museum, which sits on a small hill at the head of the harbor. Local islanders open it in the afternoons to visitors to show the displays of island memorabilia and crafts for sale. Here is one of the museum displays. Look at the size of the lobster!

Here is Jared walking up to the museum. Notice the old man sleeping on the porch. When we went inside, the lady was fast asleep as well. I guess they don't get many visitors!

Morgan LOVES mud!

We took Morgan through the nature trails to the rock beach on the other side of the island. The views were amazing!

The water levels change about 10-12 feet when the tide changes. Here is a picture of the harbor at low tide:

Here is a picture of me at the rock beach:

The local fishermen allow people to buy lobsters off their boats, and Mr. Lunt steams them on the dock at 6:30pm. We met a great group of people from New Hampshire; we shared many stories and ate lobsters together.

Acadia National Park

After spending some time in Bar Harbor, we decided to go back to Northeast Harbor (mainly for the free showers haha). There is a free bus, sponsored by L.L. Bean, that provides free transportation all over Mount Desert Island. Therefore, we decided to rent bikes for the ride into Acadia National Park and take the bus back.

Acadia National Park ranks as the second most popular national park in the country, next to Yellowstone. Over five million people visit the park each year, which is several times more than the population of Maine. The park is home to 35,000 acres and 57 miles of carriage roads used by bicyclist, hikers, and horse-drawn carriages.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who gave almost one-third of the park’s present acreage, established the roads that include numerous rustic stone bridges.

More pictures of our ride through Acadia National Park :) It looks flat in this picture, but it felt like we were riding up-hill BOTH ways!

Here is a picture of our lunch spot:

We were exhausted by the end of the day, and the free bus ride back to the harbor was a relief :)

Bar Harbor

Saturday, July 16th was the last day that Jared's parents were with us. Since they were leaving from Bar Harbor, we decided to go into town together. Here is a picture of one of the main shopping streets:

I loved the lobster claws on this restaurant:

Bar Harbor was originally called Eden when it appeared on an English map in 1796. However, the locals regularly called it Bar Harbor for the long gravel and sand bar extending across the head of the harbor. The name was officially changed after 125 years. During the mid-1800s, Bar Harbor became a summer village for the wealthy and continues to be the center of tourism on Mount Desert Island. There is even a ferry that runs to and from Nova Scotia.

There is a beautiful trail along the coast of Bar Harbor, which has about one mile of rocky shoreline. We couldn't miss this photo opportunity :)

Here's another picture on the trail walk:

We had to get ice cream from this store, especially since there was a lobster mascot.

We did a lot of tourist shopping in Bar Harbor, and I especially liked this sign: