Maine sights

Acadia National Park offers dramatic landscapes and like all of Maine, it is full of pretty  lakes.  It is not really possible to do justice to the Maine landscape by photographs.  They do not capture the vast stretches of water, sea and lakes and the lovely big ragged, rocks.  Maine is where New Yorkers and other east coasters come for the cooler summers.

We visited Camden before going on to Acadia NP. Camden is a picture-postcard small town where we had coffee at the local deli with a fabulous view.

This is looking back at Camden Deli with the town waterfall in front.  This is the third US city we have come across with a wonderful waterfall right in the middle of the town.  It is quite spectacular.

Looking down on Camden harbour from Mt Battie.  It was not a sunny day and it is a little foggy but a nice view nevertheless.

The view towards Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP.  Cadillac Mountain 1,530 ft is the highest coastal peak in the eastern US and it is the place where dawn first touches the continental US.  As well as a park loop for driving, there are also 45 miles of carriage roads for cycling.  In 1919 John D. Rockefeller donated land to the national parks system and he built these private carriage roads to prevent the motor car encroaching.

The view from Mt Cadillac.  Many dotted islands along the coast, a familiar Maine sight.

Jordan Pond with the two Bubbles (mountains) in the background.

A familiar view in Maine of beautiful rocks.

Relaxing at a lake in Cobscook SP - a lovely state park in eastern Maine.  This part of Maine is a little off the main tourist track but camping aficionados know it as a delightful park with many sites on the lakefront.

Another very typical Maine sight especially along the coast. A lobster pound where they sell and steam lobsters.

My partially consumed delicious stuffed clam.

And another wonderful Maine lobster roll.

A rest haven in Maine

We met Jane and Gene in the State Park in New Orleans and they invited us to visit them in Maine.  That was in early February and it has taken us this long to get here, but it was worth it.  They live on a lakeside in a house they built themselves in Augusta, the capital of Maine.  The house is located in a beautifully tranquil setting.  They are being very kind to us and showing us the locale.

A shot of the house from the lake.

Andrew, Gene and Jane at the picnic table down by the lake.

An unobscured view of the house with our hosts and Andrew on the stairs.

Andrew kayaking on the lake.  Jane just hops in one when the fancy takes her.  The lake is about three miles long and there is an eagle's nest in the tree on one of the many islands in the lake.  It freezes over in winter, and the ice is hard enough to drive on.  They have snow mobile drag races across.

Here is the two of them going off into the distance.

A woodpecker looking for ants in the woodchip pile.

Jane and Gene's house in winter.  Jane sent me this photo so I can add it to the blog even though we are not there to actually see it.

Jane served us an unusual vegetable - fiddleheads. We have never heard of them as they are a local vegetable which grows wild. They are the top of a fern before they uncurl. You just boil them and butter and a little vinegar is nice on them.  Not unlike spinach.

Jane promised me clam chowder and she was as good as her word.  I love clam chowder and I plan to sample a few more between here and Canada. Her chowder was made with fresh clams not with canned ones which is the more usual way.

Augusta river front on the Kennebeck River.  It is a small city, only 18,560 population.

A nice looking church.

White Mountains, New Hampshire

Cascade of Sabbaday Falls on the Kancamagus Highway through the White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire.  The White Mountains are New England’s most spectacular mountain range but we have seen so much outstanding beauty that we found it a little underwhelming.   But there were a couple of spectacular waterfall, Sabbaday Falls being one..

The Dry River Valley in the Crawford Notch State Park where Andrew did a rugged hike.  

Arethusa Falls.

The top of  Arethusa Falls taken from the Frankenstein Cliffs.

Tiger and Nikki waiting patiently under the rugged Frankenstein Cliffs for Andrew's return.

Concord, Massachusetts

Concord is a history-laden, small town 22 miles west of Boston.  It is famous for being the scene of the first armed resistance in 1775 to the British crown that was the beginning of the Revolutionary War.  

The Old North Bridge and the Minute Men statue mark this first battle.  Minute Men were volunteer militiamen to be ready at a moment’s notice to defend their townsfolk.

The town is also the birthplace and residency of famous American writers such as Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott.  Her Orchard House, where she wrote Little Women in 1868 and where she died 20 years later, is preserved and open for tours.

Boston

Boston is one of America’s oldest cities with a tremendous amount of history.  We could not give it a miss.  We stayed at Womputak State Park some 20 miles out of Boston and we went into the city on the train/metro and then did a self guided walking tour as well as a trolley bus tour which included a harbour cruise. 

The Boston Green Line opened in 1897, being the first metro line in the US.  There are five different lines now.  The disadvantage is that being an old metro line, there are no modern conveniences such moving stairs and you need to walk loooooooong distances when changing lines.

The city is a reasonably compact one and walking around is not too arduous.  Most of the main attractions are found in or near the city centre.  One of the best things we did was go up to the Prudential Center Skywalk on the 50^th floor observation deck where you get a 360 degree bird’s eye view across the city.  It is well worth the price of the admission – we really enjoyed it with excellent audio commentaries accompanying each window.  The photo above, of the city with the Charles River cutting through it, is taken from the observation tower, as are many of the others below.

The Boston skyline taken from the harbour cruise.
    

This is Trinity Church 1877 in Copley Square.  It is a Romanesque building with a still active Episcopal congregation and  is considered a masterpiece of American architecture.

Trinity Church dwarfed by the modern Hancock Tower, the windows of which are made of strengthened plexiglass.  Three windows fell while being in the original double glazing.  Nobody was hurt and the glass has since been strengthened.

The yellow line on the pavement on the left of the photo, also in Copley Square, is the finishing line for the Boston Marathon.

Fenway Park, the home stadium of the famed Boston Red Sox baseball team.

Boston's own reflecting pool in the Christian Science Square with the Christian Science Centre on the right - an amazing building in its own right.  Behind the building in the center, unfortunately just out of sight, is the home to the Boston Symphony.  A square building with a green roof, built not for beauty but for its exquisite accoustics.

The Boston Public Library was America's first public library proving again Boston's credentials for buildings of great historical significance.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Cape Cod is the large curved peninsula that juts out from the mainland below Boston. The Protestant Pilgrims on the Mayflower initially landed here in 1620 and stayed briefly before going on to Plymouth.  The Cape is among New England's favourite summer vacation destinations with beaches that cover much of the Cape's 400 miles of shores with their dune studded landscapes.  Below is the view from the Cape Cod National Seashore visitor centre.

Lighthouses and the buildings of the US Life Saving Service were an important feature of Cape history.
This lighthouse was moved some 400 ft inland  from its original position due to heavy erosion of the cliff.

From 1872-1925 keepers and crewmen of the US Life Saving Service kept watch over the Cape's outer shores for ships in distress.  In spite of their efforts, the waters around the Cape abound with ship wrecks.









Provincetown is as far as you can go on the Cape.  It is a nice, lively sort of town and apparently it is New England's gay mecca.  There is a seasonal ferry service between Boston and Provincetown. The Pilgrim Monument which dominates the skyline is the tallest all-granite structure in the US - completed in 1910.

We are now in lobster territory and we had our first lobster roll at the Red Shack on the foreshore.

Get an eyeful of these.  Hot lobster roll on the right and cold on the left - both delicious.  And Maine awaits us.  I am told you get the best lobsters there. I can hardly wait!

The obligatory photo of Tiger parked on the lakeshore in Nickerson State Park where we camped.  It is a very nice state park and the walk around the lake is very pleasant.  The only off-putting thing in these parts are the frequent notices warning about the tick-borne Lyme's disease.

Newport, Rhode Island

We visited Newport, scene of many America's Cup sailing battles.  There is a lovely cliff walk which reminded us of the cliff walk from North Curl Curl to Dee Why in Sydney.

We had the most fabulous fish and chips in an Irish pub.  Haven't tasted fish and chips since leaving home.

Then coffee outside at a courtyard cafe.  We really enjoyed this town.

But the most impressive thing about Newport are the sumptuous houses built during the Gilded Age, 1870-1910, by the fabulously wealthy along Bellevue Avenue facing the Atlantic Ocean.  You would not believe the wealth that is displayed by these amazing houses most of which had furniture and decorations designed especially for the house.  Newport was the social center for the US and the wealthy had summer houses built and came up for "the season" to live and entertain here.  Many of the houses are open to tours and we took a tour of two of the most fabulous.

The Breakers was built in 1895 for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the eldest of the brothers. He was the brother of George Vanderbilt whose Biltmore house we visited in North Carolina.  Photographs are not allowed inside but I stole just one photo of the card playing alcove in the library.  It is a little hazy as I was in such a hurry to complete my criminal activity.

Next we toured Rosecliff which was built in 1902.  This house has featured in numerous films.  The Great Gatsby with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow was filmed here as was True Lies with Arnold Schwartzenneger and Amistead where the ballroom stood in for the White House ballroom.

Two more illegal photos inside Rosecliff, the ballroom and the foyer.

These last two photos were taken inside Ochre Court built in 1892 which now belongs to the Salve Regina University.  It is permitted to visit the ground floor free of charge and take photographs, the only building in Newport where there is no charge.