Azores Airlines was late again. On our previous visit to Boston, the flight was 1 1/2 hours late; this time about 50 minutes late. We arrived at our hotel at 10pm; that is 2am Azorean time. We've had two nights near Boston to recover from our late night and to spend time in midtown Boston. Didn't find Boston to be all that memorable. When a historic site is surrounded by new buildings, it somehow loses its impact. The USS Constitution "Old Ironsides" was impressive. Had a nice lunch in a traditional tavern similar to the "Cheers" atmosphere.
We stayed in a hotel at Waltham which was located right on the Charles River. There was a very nice walking path along the river for several miles. We took the very old subway into downtown Boston; the slowest subway I have ever ridden.
Dawn wanted new hiking shoes. We found the best shoe store we had ever encountered; a huge selection of all the best brands. Dawn bought a pair and I bought a pair, even though I have no need, never knowing when I might find such a good selection again. Our shoe sales lady had been working at this store for FORTY years; a very established business.
We headed north in our nicely equipped Nissan Rogue to Bath, Maine. Along the way we stopped at Kennebunkport and viewed the Bush compound, nice with equally nice homes in the surrounding neighborhood. Bath is a shipbuilding town and has been for most of its existence. One of the US Navy's newest vessels, a radar-evading destroyer, is being outfitted here currently. The Maine Maritime Museum is located there. We stayed in a Victorian B&B in a neighborhood of similar large, slightly rundown, old homes. Dawn says no more "Victorians"; it is code for "needs maintenance". The home is 200 years old but has a great location to walk to the cute old downtown. The door to our bedroom cannot be completely closed because the paint buildup has gotten so thick from many repaintings.
Church in Bath, Maine, across from the city library and a park. Most of the homes in this neighborhood were built in the 1800's.
We visited locally-owned Wilson's drugstore and Reny's general store. Really neat that such stores still exist; so we made purchases; nice wool socks fit in my suitcase. Want to keep them in business. The night we arrived, a "northeaster" storm came through; we had a twelve-hour electrical power outage and lost a day of sightseeing to the stormy, wet weather. A nice thing about B&Bs is the other people you meet: banker, horticulturalist, librarian, psychologist, restaurant manager, social worker, etc. One morning we all sat at the breakfast table conversing until 11am.
Plenty of marshland along with extensive waterways along the coast. Perfect weather to enjoy it. After one cool, wet, and windy day, beautiful Fall weather returned.
Today we did a long hike through a coastal nature preserve to a nice
beach.
As we approached the coast on our hike, we enjoyed the view from a rocky outlook.
Looking down on the coast, bay and marshland.
Low tide at the beach and very few other hikers to share it with.
Waves breaking on the wide sand beach.
We had lunch overlooking the water at Wiscasset, then drove on to Rockland. I had been to Rockland fifty years ago; seems much larger now. Maine has a smaller population than Nebraska. Lots of small towns and locally-owned businesses. Waterways, big and small, everywhere.
Pretty Fall colors, but not better than we have seen in other parts of the country. Some tree leaves were still green, others had already fallen. The forest is thick here; we asked our host about ticks. He said that he had contracted Lyme Disease just last year; now he takes antibiotics as soon as he detects a tick bite. The area is beautiful enough that we may want to come back here and spend more time, but probably in the Fall season.
Dawn wanted new hiking shoes. We found the best shoe store we had ever encountered; a huge selection of all the best brands. Dawn bought a pair and I bought a pair, even though I have no need, never knowing when I might find such a good selection again. Our shoe sales lady had been working at this store for FORTY years; a very established business.
We headed north in our nicely equipped Nissan Rogue to Bath, Maine. Along the way we stopped at Kennebunkport and viewed the Bush compound, nice with equally nice homes in the surrounding neighborhood. Bath is a shipbuilding town and has been for most of its existence. One of the US Navy's newest vessels, a radar-evading destroyer, is being outfitted here currently. The Maine Maritime Museum is located there. We stayed in a Victorian B&B in a neighborhood of similar large, slightly rundown, old homes. Dawn says no more "Victorians"; it is code for "needs maintenance". The home is 200 years old but has a great location to walk to the cute old downtown. The door to our bedroom cannot be completely closed because the paint buildup has gotten so thick from many repaintings.
We visited locally-owned Wilson's drugstore and Reny's general store. Really neat that such stores still exist; so we made purchases; nice wool socks fit in my suitcase. Want to keep them in business. The night we arrived, a "northeaster" storm came through; we had a twelve-hour electrical power outage and lost a day of sightseeing to the stormy, wet weather. A nice thing about B&Bs is the other people you meet: banker, horticulturalist, librarian, psychologist, restaurant manager, social worker, etc. One morning we all sat at the breakfast table conversing until 11am.
Waves breaking on the wide sand beach.
We had lunch overlooking the water at Wiscasset, then drove on to Rockland. I had been to Rockland fifty years ago; seems much larger now. Maine has a smaller population than Nebraska. Lots of small towns and locally-owned businesses. Waterways, big and small, everywhere.
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