Travel With Whippets: June 2019

Roger here... After 10 years of travel we finally made it to Maine. Our initial landing in this state will be unforgettable. I cannot imagine any place that represents my image of Maine more than this spot. Our campsite is at Sagadahoc Bay near the small town of Georgetown, referred to by locals as the island. A year ago this campground was featured on the Today Show. Al Roker paid a visit to owners Eric and Pat. The property has been in Eric's family since 1772! BTW. Eric and Pat are the kind of people I would like to know better. I have had several enjoyable conversations with them --- good people.

The front windows of our Airstream provided a continual vista of the ever-changing Sagadahoc Bay. The bay-side view is definitely the star of the show here.

We both spent quiet moments sitting on a bench at water's edge soaking in the beauty and the sea air.

Evenings offer new perspectives. The diminishing light certainly does not diminish the view.

The scene constantly changes --- fog, blue water, sparkly water, no water!

Clammers take advantage of the daily low tides. You can walk a mile on the sea floor in the mud and hard-packed sand to the water's edge. We do not have a clamming license nor the desire to work that hard, but the clammers can get as much as $60 for a bucket of clams. It was fun watching them dig in the sand.

An inlet of the bay slides next to the campground. The views to the side are also interesting.

The boat in the picture floats up and down with the tides. During low tide it rests on the sand.

Houses and cottages dot the coast line. Some are owned by the campground and used as rentals. Others are privately owned.

Walking On Water (a dog's perspective)

Bandido here... "Hey! There was water here a few hours ago. Where did it go? I need to find out!"

"I dragged mom, dad, and Poquita down into the muck. I like getting my paws dirty.

Mom had on these big black boot things. Dad was wearing an old pair of canvas shoes. The mud kept trying to eat them....

... so he rescued them and plopped them on a rock. There was this slimy green stuff all over the rock. It smelled weird. Dad walked without anything on his feet the rest of the way. Since mom had on boots, she and Poquita walked a lot faster. Mom always walks faster, anyway.

I don't like being behind. After all, it was my idea to find out where the water went. I had to do a lot of barking. Hey! Wait up!"

"Poquita was soooo irritating --- prancing around, splashing in the water. She was taunting me! SO I HAD TO KNOCK HER DOWN! Now mom and dad will have to rinse her off. Serves her right!

Roger here.... "Hey Buddy! Don't get too cocky. You are getting a rinse job, too."

I got rolled! Didn't slow me down a bit, though....

"We all were able to walk a lot faster after the mud changed to what dad called hard-packed sand. I knew I had found the missing water when I could wade in the ripples ahead."

"I guess I won't be walking to England. It took a long time to get out here. I need to lead my pack back before the water takes over again." Wow, did we come that far?"

Roger here....

Dianne used her Map My Walk app to track our walk that day. The first picture below shows the path we would have taken over water. The second picture shows our actual trudge through the wet sand. The round trip was 1.6 miles --- not a bad workout in the mud and sand.

We walked on the sea bed floor three different times during our stay. One of the most memorable slogs took place in the fog. The picture below shows the fog rolling in on a sunny day.

By the time we reached the water, the fog had significantly affected our vision. We did a 180 degree turn and walked back in the direction of the campground. Eventually, the buildings and other landmarks came into view.

Lobster time...

The owners of the campground, for a price, deliver freshly-cooked lobster to the campsites. They even provide the pickers and nut/lobster crackers. How could we resist?

We had never eaten fresh whole lobsters before, so we followed the directions that I found in a magazine.

Easy directions for land-lubbing midwesterners like us.

As novices it took quite a while to dig out all the delicious meat. We both opted to skip the green innards and the bright red eggs
:-).

I can assure you that we will be eating more lobster while we are in Maine.

We did manage to tear ourselves away from the bay for a few excursions.

Reid State Park with its mile-long beach boasts the largest sand beach in Maine. It was only a few miles away on the same peninsula (island). We knew that our dogs would not be allowed on the beach; however, we wanted to trek the 3.5 mile trail by the ponds and through the woods.

We managed to walk about a quarter of a mile through amazing beauty before the swarming mosquitoes (one in my ear, one in my eye) drove us back to the car. However, all was not lost.

The park ranger told us that we could walk the dogs next to the ocean if we stayed on the rocky area. The calmness of our bay was quite different from the raging ocean.

There were frequent coastal sights as we drove out of the park on our way to...

... the quaint harbor town of Five Islands for a seafood lunch. I had a lobster roll. Dianne had a crab cake. Yum

The views of the harbor in this quintessential working lobster port were wonderful.

On another day we did an obligatory 40-minute drive to Freeport --- the home of L.L. Bean.

When we were both younger, and my mom was alive, we marked up L.L. Bean catalogues so that mom could buy us Christmas gifts without trudging through the Indiana snow. We still have some of those clothes and gear, but Dianne needed a pair of shorts, and I needed a new pair of jeans.

Needless to say, we were successful.

Actually, there was a good sale going on, so we purchased a bit more than shorts and jeans :-)

Before heading back we each had a mini-lobster roll and stopped by Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. Have you ever tasted chocolate therapy?

Wait! One more adventure before leaving! Kayaking on Sagadahoc Bay....

During our stay, I had noticed a few kayaks stacked by the water. During our last day here, I asked Pat about them. They were rentable for $15/hour. She and Eric figured out the best time for me to take one out for an hour based on the tides.

Dianne opted to stay with the dogs while I went for a paddle. I was able to go further than our daily sea floor slogs before the gentle ocean waves pushed me back toward the campground. The sea birds were diving into the water all around me scooping up their evening meal.

I love paddling

Doing so in the calm, scenic waters of the bay was a special treat.

Bandido watched and barked as I slowly vanished in the still waters.

I love my boy and he loves me.

Reluctantly, we will be leaving Sagadahoc Bay Campground in the morning. Our next stop will be Bangor. We will be using Bangor as a place to park the Airstream while we explore Camden, Rockport, Bar Harbor, and Acadia National Park in our SUV.

One more picture from the campground --- rhododendrons in full bloom.

Dianne's Teensy-Weensy Trailer Tip

I set up an outdoor kitchen most places, using a mini Instant Pot and George Foreman grill. In the photo below, it shows my table after making egg bites for breakfast for the next two days (recipe below).

Each night before turning in, we cover the table to keep the dew, rain, and inquiring eyes from it. When we took a pre-trip weekend camping trip in Texas, we used a brand new blue tarp we had purchased for this use. Turns out, it was no match for Texas winds, and during a rain storm while we were away from the trailer, the tarp blew away, never to be seen again! Roger researched and found a fitted grill cover that was the correct dimensions to fit over our outdoor table when our chairs were stashed below and our cooking gear above. It has worked perfectly!