Throwback Thursday - Vacation, Maine 1979

One of the first vacations that we took as a family was a week in Scarborough, Maine. A friend of ours at church owned a 4 bedroom cottage just up the street from the beach. The cottage had a very small guest cottage, which is what we rented.



Mark was almost five and Kristen was almost seven. We had a wonderful time going to the beach, riding bikes, and going to the amusement park at Old Orchard Beach. We also met up with Paul's Aunt Marge and Uncle Henry who were staying not far from there at a Salvation Army camp.

A few years later, we heard that our friend was selling the cottage and guest cottage. For a little while, we really entertained buying it and moving there. Eventually, logic took over and we decided not to, but every now and then I think about what it would have been like to actually live at the beach!

Vacation, Leaving LL Bean 2012

We left Freeport about 11:00 today and took Rt 1 through Portland and stopped at all of our favorite places, Old Orchard Beach, the Gottier cottage, Ocean Park, the Salvation Army Camp, Wormwoods at Camp Ellis, and then down to York Beach. It was really cold today, much colder than the day before. No walks on the beach today!

Lobster trap Christmas tree



The Pier at Old Orchard Beach



Flo's







Nubble Light at York Beach



While I was taking pictures from the car of York Beach I saw my reflection in the rear view mirror and took a picture of it. I changed my profile picture on Facebook to this. I think it looks neat. It reminds me of how much I love taking pictures and telling the stories that go with the pictures!



Another lobster trap Christmas tree.



We finished up eating at Bob's Clam Hut, always delicious.



Then on the highway and home at 8:15.

Wonderful getaway!!

***Another Post Office

Wells


****Little doors

Camp Ellis


York Beach


York

Happy New Year!

Today was such a beautiful day, 42 and sunny; unbelievable for Maine in January! The picture above shows a kayaker enjoying the sunset. We took a ride to Lookout Point on Harpswell Neck, and then we went to Orr's and Bailey Islands. I took pictures with my phone and posted them to Instagram and Facebook. I love doing this!! Here are a couple of my pictures.





This was what our Garmen looked like at one point. We were completely surrounded by water. Absolutely beautiful!



Around 4:30 we got back into the Freeport area and ate at Amato's. Dulicious (as Mason would say)!!



We went to LL Bean for the evening where I shopped 'till I dropped!!

Here are some Post Offices that we saw today.

Harpswell


Bailey Island


Orr's Island

The Trip Home

This is our car packed for the trip home today. Paul always says he is a good packer. He sure had a test today with the chair and ottoman in there. He was able to get everything in!







We took a ride to York Beach on the way home. Nubble Light was beautiful. I have loved it ever since we spent our honeymoon in York (40 years ago, can you believe it?).






How's this for a seaside Christmas tree?



York Beach, Long Sands, had seaweed strewn all over the parking lot. There must have been quite a storm here.






Poor seagull; he looks cold.




From York Beach we drove down to Kittery and Bob’s Clam Shack. They have the best scallops anywhere, by far.






After that it was onto the highway. Garmin says we should be home by 5:02. Mark is coming over tonight to help Paul get the chair out of the car and into the family room. We also have to rearrange some chairs. I think it is going to be a late night - goodbye vacation getaway!

Hanging out at LL Bean

I like to take a picture of us in front of the current catalog cover that they have hanging in L.L. Bean (Paul humors me).

This picture was taken back in January 2007. Some things don't change much!




We started out today by taking a ride to Portland. Last night I read a book about Maine fairy houses and it mentioned that in Portland at Mackworth Island, people have made fairy houses. I wanted to see if I could see them. It didn't work out too well. Paul had bought new boots last night and his feet were killing him (good thing Bean has a good return policy) so we didn't get too far on the trail. Also, it was freezing out. We'll try again next trip. It really was beautiful here.



Today was very relaxing compared to yesterday (buying the chair) which was nice for our last night here.

Paul's new chair (again)

Well, the exciting news of today is that Paul bought a new chair, again. If you remember, last May we bought a leather chair and couch for the family room.

To backtrack, Paul has always loved the leather chair that they used to have at L.L. Bean. Every time we went there, he would always sit (and sleep) in that chair while I shopped. This picture was taken back in 2003.



He used to say that maybe some day he would buy that chair. A few years ago L. L. Bean stopped selling that leather furniture. They came out with a new Ultralite series, but Paul really didn't think it was comfortable. When we decided to buy a new chair last year, he called the manufacturer of the L.L. Bean chair to see if he could buy it anywhere. They said it was a style that they specifically made for L.L. Bean. So, we ended up buying a leather couch and chair from Bob's. I love the couch, but Paul has never been really happy with the chair. He says it's great to sit in but not to fall asleep in,LOL. He wakes up stiff and sore.

To our surprise, when we walked into the Home Store at L.L. Bean, there was the same leather chair. After much back and forth, we finally bought the chair and ottoman and it is in our car. We are going to use the other chair in our family room and put one of the Morris chairs in the living room.

Who knew that this day would turn out like this. I'm really happy he finally has this chair.

In other news, we have been having a very relaxing vacation, riding around our old haunts, shopping, eating and just enjoying our little getaway.

Happy New Year! (from Maine)

Today was an absolutely beautiful day, sunny and 47 degrees. We took a coastal ride to Orr's Island, Bailey's Island, and Harpswell Neck, including Lookout Point where we had kayaked. It was so nice that we were able to have the windows open at times. This is where these pictures of the little doors were taken.


Little doors














Back in Freeport, we had dinner at a new place called Bucks's Naked Barbecue (the reason they call it naked barbecue is that the meat is served without BBQ sauce and you have your choice of four homemade sauces on the side). Paul considers himself somewhat of an expert on BBQ and he thought it was really good. It's funny, the building that the restaurant is in used to be a shoe outlet and at one time it was the LL Bean outlet store.





We (I) spent the evening shopping at LL Bean.