Lake St. George State Park, Liberty, Maine

This year, I was lucky enough to have my summer vacation fall on the hottest and most humid week of the summer.  I was also lucky enough to be able to book a few days of tent camping that week at a beautiful Maine state park I had never visited before: Lake St. George in Liberty, which is between Belfast and Augusta.  I’d tried unsuccessfully to book campsites at Lake St. George on weekends in the past, but it is very popular with a limited number of sites.  The best sites fill up further in advance than I typically like to reserve, due to weather worries. (Tenting in the rain is an activity in one of the inner circles of my personal Hell.)  It was easier to book a couple of midweek days I found, and I did just that, getting a great spot right on the lake itself.  As warm and sticky as the weather was, I didn’t notice it very much because I could literally walk about ten feet and find myself in the clear, cool waters of Lake St. George any time I wanted.

For some reason, I didn't take many photos of my stay at Lake St. George, but here is one of my campsite there.

Lake St. George State Park is on the site of an old farmstead, and there is still a large barn in the center of the park that I believe is from that original farm.  It’s not a large park compared to some of Maine’s other state parks, only 358 acres total.  When you first drive into the park, you can turn left or right from the ranger station.  A right takes you to the camping area, and a left to the public day use area.  

The day use area features plenty of parking, a large beautiful beach with a lifeguard on duty in season, a children’s play area, and plenty of picnic areas.  It is all handicap-accessible.  I’m not sure if there is a boat launch area on the day use side of the park, but I do know there is a public one just up the shoreline a bit, as well as an area in the campground where boats can be launched.  Motorized boats are allowed on Lake St. George, but I didn’t find there to be a huge number of them, even at the height of summer.  There were plenty of canoes, kayaks and sailboats on the water when I was there, and everyone seemed to co-exist peacefully.

The camping area is basically a large loop, with a smaller loop branching off from it.  Only about a half dozen campsites are as directly on the water as mine was, but none of the 38 total sites are more than a moment’s walk to the shoreline.  Privacy varies from site to site, but none of the sites are ones I would consider uncomfortable.  There is a large, centrally-located shower and restroom building in the middle of the camping area that was keep sparkling clean, though I’ve found that most Maine state parks with camping take very good care of their facilities.  Water is available at various places around the campground.  There is a free wifi kiosk for campers near the ranger station, though I didn’t make use of it during my stay.

One of the things I like best about Lake St. George is that, if you are a user of Google Earth, you can actually see ground-level photographs of each campsite.  There is a link at Lake St. George’s page on the state of Maine website that allows you to do that.  It’s not a 360 degree view, but it does give you a good impression of what you are reserving if you’ve never been there previously.  I am really hoping more of Maine’s state parks will start including this feature.

If Lake St. George sounds familiar, that may be because it is the location of the 6-acre Birch Island, now known as “Hawaii 2”, that was purchased by the makers of the game Cards Against Humanity and given out in 250,000 square foot plots to their customers during a promotion back in 2014.  Wikipedia gives a quick overview of Hawaii 2.  If you are one of the owners of Hawaii 2, then Lake St. George State Park would be a great place to stay while exploring your one square foot of real estate.  I don’t think camping is allowed on Hawaii 2 itself, and you’d need a mighty small tent for that one square foot if it was.

Other than the difficulty in making reservations, the only downside I found to Lake St. George State Park is the grocery selection at nearby stores.  There are a couple of small convenience stores within a few miles, but on the day I went looking for supplies, they didn’t even have milk on hand.  They were all sold out.  I’m not sure if it was a fluke or not, but I had a real need (there was cereal to be eaten, after all), and wound up driving all the way into Belfast to get some.  It was 32 miles, round trip.

One other note: take care not to confuse Lake St. George State Park in Liberty with Lake George Regional Park, which is a lovely park near Canaan, Maine. The two names are often confused, but they are nearly an hour’s drive apart from each other, and the Canaan park does not offer camping.

I stayed at eight state parks this past summer, and Lake St. George State Park was definitely one of the highlights.  If you are looking for a camping trip or just a place to dip your toes on a hot day, I’d highly recommend it.

Cobscook Bay State Park in Downeast Maine

From almost anywhere you are in Maine, if you drive east without stopping (or southeast from the northern parts of the state), you are going to end up either in Canada or the Atlantic Ocean.  But before you do, you are likely to pass by Cobscook Bay State Park on Route 1 in Edmunds Township, Maine.  And unless you have pressing business in Calais, an up-to-date passport, or an amphibious vehicle, you might want to consider stopping there.  Even if you do have those things, Cobscook Bay is a 888-acre jewel tucked away in deep Downeast Maine that you really should check out.

View from the overlook at Cobscook

Cobscook Bay has its roots in the nearby Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1937 with revenue from the federal Duck Stamp program.  Moosehorn had an early champion in President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who spent most of his summers at nearby Campobello Island.  In 1964, Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge offered a free, long-term lease to the state of Maine on a large recreational area it had created on some of its land near Whiting Bay.  The state legislature voted to accept the lease, management of the parcel was taken over by the state, and Cobscook Bay State Park officially came into being.

I first visited Cobscook Bay State Park in the summer of 2011 and have returned at least once, and usually more than that, each year since then.  One thing I wanted while on a day trip Downeast was to find a quiet place by the sea where I could relax and maybe do some reading.  Cobscook fit the bill perfectly.  It’s large, it’s quiet, and the coastline there has so many inlets and peninsulas that you are almost never more than a stone’s throw from the water.  The day-use area occupies the end of a large peninsula and has numerous private areas with covered picnic tables and grills, as well as two open areas for larger gatherings.  One of those areas for larger gatherings has a good-sized shelter.  The day-use area is also home to the large- and small-group camping sites, which are set apart from other areas, have beautiful water views, shelters, and have nearby water and toilets.  While visiting that more wooded side of the park, I have seen quite a lot of wildlife, including sea birds, bald eagles, and deer.  Birds are everywhere in the park, and a birdwatcher would be in their element there.

It is worth mentioning that Cobscook Bay is not really a true oceanside park.  The bay itself is an estuary with a narrow opening to the Atlantic Ocean.  There are plenty of fishing boats motoring past, and the water is definitely salty and tidal, but if you want to see constantly crashing waves and cruise ships on the horizons, this is not the place.  Don’t let that deter you however.  Cobscook Bay is still very coastal Maine.

There are several areas that make up the campground at Cobscook Bay State Park.  You would be hard pressed to find a bad site.  Almost all of them are set apart from each other and private, and the majority have water views.  A number of them are walk-in sites for tenters only, however, and like most state park campgrounds, there are no electrical or water hookups on the sites.  Cobscook has well over 100 campsites, and I have never seen them all filled in the 12+ times I have stayed there.  Nonetheless, reservations are a good idea, and easy to make online.  

The view from one of the campsites I have had at Cobscook.

If big-time hiking or mountain biking are your things, Cobscook might not be your first choice of destination, though the casual enthusiast such as myself would be quite satisfied.  There are several very nice, well-marked trails for hiking, though none of them are very long or would be considered challenging.  My favorite hike is a short one up the hill across from the park entrance to an abandoned fire tower.  There is also a short but steep hike to a mountain outlook, which is probably the most difficult hike in the park.  Both of these have beautiful views through the trees of the surrounding land.  The overlook trail is part of a longer nature trail in the park, and there is also a “beach trail” that takes you through the forest to a nearby boat launch and back.  The hiking trails are not suited to mountain biking, but I have found that the park roads are perfectly suited for a more casual biker like me.  

The fire tower from far away...

...and an extreme close-up.

The massively fluctuating tides, which are among the highest in the world, are one of Cobscook Bay State Park’s unique features.  They can change by as much as 24 to 28 feet.  At low tide, when regulations allow, park visitors are allowed to dig a bushel of clams for themselves each day.  I personally have never done it, but it is a very popular activity with many visitors.  You will likely get mud in places you have never had mud before, so be warned.

Low tide at Cobscook

High tide at Cobscook (same spot)

Another popular activity at Cobscook is kayaking.  The nooks and crannies of the shoreline make it a great place to explore by kayak, and you can put your boat in directly from your campsite in many cases.  I am not a kayaker, but every season I’ve been to Cobscook Bay it seems like more and more of the visitors are in kayakers.  I would imagine that the rapidly changing and very steep tides would provide a challenge certain times, so do your research before putting out in the water at Cobscook.

While all my visits have been during the warm weather months, Cobscook Bay State Park is open all year.  I can see how it would be a great place to do some cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.  They do allow winter camping too if you are into that kind of thing.  I love to camp, but in the winter?  No thank you.

Cobscook sheep

Cobscook Bay has some quirks that make it stand out.  One is the herd of sheep that works keeping the grass trimmed in a large field in the park.  They must have a good union, because they seem to take a lot of coffee breaks, but they do seem to get the job done.  Another is the very little cemetery on the far side of the sheep field, along the side of the South Edmunds Road, which runs past the park.  There is only one grave, that of a military veteran from the Civil War.  I suspect that it might have been a small family cemetery,which was fairly common in Maine in olden days, but only the one gravestone has survived.  Local veterans groups continue to see that a fresh American flag flies at the grave every year.

Gravestone at Cobscook

There are several places near Cobscook Bay State Park that are fun day trips.  My favorite is the town of Lubec, which is about a 20 minute drive away and the easternmost point in the United States.  A working fishing village with a budding artistic community, I always find something interesting and new ever time I visit Lubec.  If you are lucky, you might see seals bobbing in the channel just off the downtown area.  I wrote a blog post extolling the virtues of Lubec a few years back, and you can find it here.  Roque Bluffs State Park is about 45 minutes away.  If you want a “beach fix”, this is the place.  Roque Bluffs has a long, gorgeous beach that is rarely busy, even at the peak of summer.  There is also a freshwater pond for fishing and canoeing, and a number of very nice hiking trails.  You have to pass through the historic town of Machias to get to Roque Bluffs, one of the area’s retail and service hubs.  Machias is home to Fort O’Brien, site of the first naval engagement of the Revolutionary War.  It is also home to Helen’s Restaurant, site of excellent pie, among other delicious things.  About 30 minutes in the other direction from Cobscook Bay State Park is the city of Calais, the area’s other retail and service hub, and Eastport, which is another fishing town with a thriving artistic community.

A scene from downtown Lubec, Maine

West Quoddy Head, Lubec, Maine

The only negative I can offer about Cobscook Bay State Park is that it can be quite buggy, especially in May and June.  (I wrote a two-part blog post about that, here and here.)  Blackflies in the spring and mosquitoes in the summer into early fall are going to find you.  Some areas of the park are worse than others, with the more wooded areas having the most, but you would be wise to bring insect repellant or other anti-bug measures regardless of when you visit during the warm weather months.

Don’t let the bugs stop you however.  Cobscook Bay State Park is probably my favorite of all Maine’s state parks, and is responsible for turning me on to the pastime of tent camping, which has transformed my summers.  For more information, visit their website here.

All photographs in this post were taken by me.  All rights reserved, etc, etc.

Showering with Spiders and Other Camping Miseries

During the long winter months in Maine, one of the things that keeps my spirits up is the thought of tent camping, one of my favorite warm weather pastimes.  It’s a fun and relatively affordable way to experience different parts of this beautiful state, and every summer I do it whenever I can, which is never often enough.  Maine is fortunate to have a terrific state park system, many of which are open to camping.  There is also no shortage of private campgrounds in every corner of Maine.  In my experience, they vary widely in quality, but when you find a good one, and there are many, you’ve usually discovered a real gem.

Not every day of camping is wonderful though.  There was one day last summer at a state park campground in southern Maine that stands out as being the very definition of the opposite of wonderful.

It was getaway day, the day when you have to pack everything up into the car and make the long drive back home.  That, in and of itself, is a bummer, but when there is a steady rain on the morning of getaway day, it’s even worse.  Everything that is not already drenched will soon be during the process of tearing down and packing up.  Pine needles, dead leaves, and dirt stick to everything, creating a mess of your equipment and your vehicle.  Upon returning home it’s necessary to unpack everything and lay it out to dry or else run the risk of mold and mildew forming.  Then you have to shake off off the needles, leaves and dirt, and sometimes wipe things down, before repacking your equipment.

This particular rainy day came after I had typically overdone it physically, having hiked up a mountain that was probably a bit over my head ability-wise.  Actually, there was no “probably” about it.  It WAS over my head, but I didn’t discover that until I had made it to the summit.  Once you’ve made it to the top of a mountain, you don’t really have much choice but to go back down again.  My feet were blistered and every muscle in my body was screaming that morning after.  Being a light sleeper, the rain woke me very early, around 5:00 a.m., so I figured I would get a jump start on the day with a hot shower, in hopes of loosening up my sore body before loading the car.  Campground showers are typically pretty quiet at that early hour, so I didn’t expect any waiting.  As is my habit, I tossed my wallet and cellphone into my car and locked it, then headed to the shower with my keys, towel, and toiletry bag.

As anticipated, the showers were quiet.  There were no other campers there, at least no human ones.  

Daddy Longlegs "Pholcus.phalangioides.6905" by o.leillinger@web.de. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

What there were plenty of, were daddy longlegs, a type of benign spider that is very common in Maine and most other places.  You see them all the time when camping, but never in my life had I seen so many in one place at the same time.  It was like something from that 1980s movie Arachnophobia.  I’m not sure if the daddy longlegs were attracted to the shower building because the lights left on overnight attracted prey for them like mosquitoes, or because they were seeking shelter from the rains outside.  Whatever the reason, they were everywhere: in the sink, on the shower curtain, on the walls, and in the shower stalls themselves.  While I am not afraid of spiders, I do draw the line at bathing with them, so I spent the next five minutes or so swatting at as many of them as I could with my sandal.  Defeating all of them was a hopeless cause, I soon discovered, so once the shower stall itself was mostly clear, I thought it best to move forward with my  showering plans.  I was decidedly jumpy by that point, with every slight sensation on my skin causing me to slap at it, thinking it might be a daddy longlegs crawling on me.

Warily, I stepped into the shower and began my routine keeping one eye open for daddy longlegs.  I was at about peak soap suds time, just about to rinse off, when I heard the sound of my pants, hanging on a hook just outside the stall, fall to the floor with a splat into a small puddle of water that was coming from my shower.  To make matter exponentially worse, my car keys were in one of the pockets, and when they fell, the car alarm button activated.  The wail of my horn came blaring across the sleeping campground like Hell’s alarm clock.

Things like that happen from time to time in campgrounds, and I have never failed to curse the name of the people who had awakened me with what I perceived at the time as their stupidity.  Only now, I was that guy.  I bolted out of the shower in full suds mode and rifled through my soaked pants to find my car keys.  Once I got hold of them, I immediately pressed the button to turn off the alarm.  It didn’t stop.  Apparently, I was on the very edge of the alarm’s reception area.  Close enough to activate the alarm, but apparently not close enough to deactivate it.  I could hear angry shouts coming from outside. In the distance, a baby started to cry.  

Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to wrap a towel around myself as I dashed outside the shower building with keys in hand, which got me just close enough to shut off the alarm.  The damage was done, however.  It was the height of the summer, and the campground was filled to capacity with now-pissed off campers.  Thank goodness it was my getaway day, because I was now branded with a scarlet A for the day.  Only in this case, the A stood for “alarm”.

I took my time finishing up my shower and getting dressed.  Not only did I have the unhappy task of having to pack all my stuff up in the rain to look forward to, but now I would be doing so under the watch of scornful eyes in every direction.  It was a long perp walk back to my site, and the rain was coming down harder than ever.  Never before or since have I packed my stuff in such haste.  I literally tossed everything into the back of the car without caring about folding, packing, or putting away.  I was on the road within ten minutes, soaked to the skin.  The rain stopped about half an hour later, so I pulled into a grocery store parking lot and proceeded to set about ordering my gear so at least I would be able to see out the back with the rearview mirror again.  I spent the entire afternoon after I got home drying things out and setting them in order again.

I’ve since returned to that campground.  I went back about a month later, actually.  It’s one of my favorite spots in that part of the state, and I figured that the chances of any of the campers who were there that fateful morning still being there and remembering me and my car would be pretty slim.  There were important lessons learned though.  First of all, be sure your pants are secure before stepping into the shower stall, and second, remember to bring some Raid and a fly swatter with your soap and towel.

Save the Bookstores!

Sadly, bookstores are fast becoming a dying breed in the United States.  Having grown up in a small farming community in northern Maine that had no less than three of them, I assumed that bookstores were a given part of the landscape of any city or town of any size and always would be, much like a post office, school, library or church.  Even as a kid, I could spend hours in a bookstore (and the local library as well), exploring books and topics I had often not even considered.  And any trip out of town inevitably meant a chance for me to check out the bookstores in other locales.  For that matter, it still does.

In the mid-1990s my eyes were opened to the plight bookstores face when I started dating a woman who worked in a terrific little independent one near where I lived.  It was a quirky little place, one of the first bookstores I knew of that served coffee and offered places to sit and read.  The selection was wide for such a small shop, and they enjoyed a small but loyal clientele.  It was the kind of place that people made a point to visit when they were in town, myself included.

My girlfriend was worried, however.  A new “big box” book superstore, part of a large national chain, had just opened in the next city over, offering even greater variety of titles than the little indie at which she worked, and at prices that were often quite a bit lower.  While the indie store’s base clients held firm, the casual book shoppers who often made the difference between the store making a profit or not in a given month were flocking to the superstore.  As much as I loved the little indie bookstore, I was a struggling young schoolteacher with a limited budget for books for my students, and found myself frequently shopping for classroom literature at the superstore as well, so as to stretch my dollars as far as I could.  I still patronized the little indie, but financial reality prevented me from doing as much business there as I would have liked.

A few months after my girlfriend and I began dating, that little indie bookstore where she worked went out of business.  The superstore ten miles away had won the battle.  In the final days of the indie, I spent a lot of money on discounted books at their going-out-of-business sale, and even purchased some of their fixtures for use in my classroom.  I had incredibly mixed feelings doing so, mind you.  It made me feel like some sort of vulture, scavenging from the remains of something that was once so vital.

By the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century, there were not nearly as many independent bookstores compared to just a generation earlier.  The large chain superstores had taken their toll and carved out a good chunk of the book-buying market.  Not only could they provide greater variety and lower prices for books, but they also had the room to sell music and videos, and to install full-service cafes as well.  They had the ability to set up discount clubs and to stage special in-store events on a regular basis with which most independent bookstores just could not compete.  

It wasn’t all wine and roses for the superstores, however.  The internet was taking a larger piece of the book sales pie.  Online-only booksellers with gigantic warehouses but no actual physical stores were growing in popularity.  If the chain superstores could deal with books in volume, the internet retailers, unrestricted by geography, could deal with them in MEGA volume.  You could shop for an almost infinite variety of books from your living room, and easily compare prices to get the very best deal.  E-books, which you could purchase usually much cheaper than a paper copy, and begin reading instantly, also grew in popularity.  That was and is a tough thing for any bricks-and-mortar bookseller to go up against, even a large corporate chain.  Several national chains went out of business, and others have closed stores or changed their marketing focus in order to try and stay afloat.  Unless you have a strong online component, these are very hard times indeed for booksellers.

Compounding the troubles is a problem faced by all booksellers, whether independent or chain, online or bricks-and-mortar, and that is the sad fact that people are just reading fewer books these days.  You don’t have to look very hard to see that more people, especially the under-30 crowd, are interested in television, video games, and interactive media than the “old-fashioned” linearity of a book as a means to pass the time.  It’s a seismic cultural shift.  I frankly don’t think it can be fully stopped, nor do I think it is entirely a bad thing, but I do think it can be slowed, and that we should be doing what we can to read more books ourselves and to encourage others to do the same.

I’ve had an e-reader for over three years now.  When I first got it, I used it almost exclusively for my reading.  Over time however, I’ve cut back on its use, and not intentionally.  I’ve just found myself drawn back to the sensation of having an open book in my hands.  I still read e-books, but the ratio of actual books to e-books for me has shifted to about 70% : 30%.  The whole e-books versus “paper books” debate is fodder for a separate post.

When I buy a paper book, I have been making an effort to do so from bricks-and-mortar retailers over the past few years, and avoid the online-only retailers when I can.  Bookstores still hold their allure for me, and I find myself drawn to them whenever I am nearby and have a free moment.  I travel around the state of Maine a lot, and make it a point to explore at least one or two bookstores on every trip.  Even if I have a stack of books still waiting to be read, I always buy at least one book when I visit a brick-and-mortar bookseller.  It’s not unlike buying a glass of lemonade from a child’s stand along the sidewalk.  Even if you are not thirsty, you want to support and encourage the effort.

To that end, I’d like to share a list of some of my favorite bookstores that I have explored in my travels in Maine.  Some of independent, some are parts of small regional chains, and a couple of part of large corporate chains.  

• Sherman’s Books and Stationery: A particular favorite. I’ve been to the stores in Bar Harbor, Freeport and Camden, and look forward to visiting their brand new store in the Old Port in Portland soon.
• Longfellow Books: For me, this is one of the very hearts of downtown Portland. I have yet to make a trip to the Old Port without stopping at Longfellow.
• Owl & Turtle: A cozy must-visit when exploring downtown Camden
• Stone Soup: Secondhand books galore in Camden
• The Briar Patch: Children’s books and toys in downtown Bangor.  A great place for gifts for the younger set.
• BookMarcs: A Bangor institution, featuring an extensive collection of Stephen King’s work, among numerous other titles.
• Barnes & Noble: While a different overall experience from the smaller bookstores, I really enjoy spending a few hours at B&N’s Augusta store whenever I get a chance.
• Bull Moose: With stores in Maine and New Hampshire, Bull Moose is my very favorite music store.  Their locations in Bangor, Scarborough and Mill Creek in South Portland have extensive book selections as well. Between the books and the music, I could literally spent a whole day at Bull Moose.
• Books-A-Million: Another national chain, BAM has stores in South Portland, Auburn and Bangor that I can explore for hours.

Fortunately, there are still many more Maine booksellers than these, though not as many as there once were.  I’ve chosen to restrict this list to my favorites that I have visited over the past few years.   With travel season not too far away, I am looking forward to visiting most of these again, and highly encourage you to do the same.  We are all better off for having thriving bookstores in our communities.

Maine Summer Roadtrip 2013 Wrap Up

The leaves are starting to turn and my ever-sensitive feet are starting to get cold again, both of which are tell-tale signs that summer is well and truly over here in the Pine Tree State.  The summer of 2013 has not been the greatest one weatherwise, with the state having received more than its fair share of rain.  In spite of it all, I’ve dodged the raindrops and made roadtrips around Maine every two to three weekends.  Having taken up tent camping a year ago, I decided that this year I would make an effort to explore some corners of the state that I hadn’t seen much of before.   Maine’s state parks offer numerous high-quality camping options at very affordable prices, and they can be found in all corners of the state, so I used them as home-base for my trips. If you include day trips from home, I traveled from Madawaska in the north to Kittery in the south this summer.  I had some terrific experiences, and what follows are a just few of my personal superlatives from my recent travels in Maine.

Favorite campground: Hands down, my favorite camping spot in Maine is Cobscook Bay State Park in Edmunds Township, located about halfway between Calais and Machias.  I’ve yet to find another state park that lives up to the standard Cobscook has set for me.  This sprawling park of 888 acres offers a wide variety of well-spaced sites, almost all of which have a view of the bay and its hugely fluctuating tides.  The tidal range in Cobscook Bay can be up to 28 feet in some spots.  The campsites are mostly wooded and private, the staff is extremely helpful and professional, and I’ve never seen or heard of other campers being inconsiderate or noisy.  The birds, on the other hand, can give you quite an earful, especially early in the morning.  Birds of every shape and description make a home there in the summer, including bald eagles, of which I will never tire of watching.  There are hiking trails for all abilities at Cobscook, including one to an old firetower and another to the top of a small mountain, as well as a nature trail.  You are even allowed to rake for your own clams at low tide in the mudflats there when conditions are right.  Granted, Cobscook Bay is quite a ways off almost anyone’s beaten path, but it is totally worth the trip.  It also makes for a great home base for day trips to the nearby town of Lubec, about which I wrote a few weeks ago.

A very typical view from a campsite at Cobscook Bay State Park (My own photo)

I found this gravesite along a trail while hiking at Cobscook.  I'd love to know the story behind it. (My own photo)

Favorite day trip:  The town of Lubec is still my very favorite day trip , but since I first visited there in 2011, I’ll pick Peaks Island as my favorite Maine day trip discovery of this year.  Peak’s Island is technically part of the city of Portland, but it is a 17 minute ride on a Casco Bay Lines ferry out in the bay.  Part of the appeal of Peaks is getting there on the ferry, which affords spectacular views of the city of Portland, as well as three lighthouses and several forts which date back to the Revolutionary War era.  The island is not overly large, and is a beautiful place to explore on foot.  Golf carts and bicycles are available for rent during the summer months.  You can bring your car over on the ferry, but why would you want to do that?  Speaking of cars, it is especially interesting to see “island-only” vehicles on Peaks, many of which are old beaters held together by waferboard and duct tape, and cannot be used anywhere but there on the island.  There are some places to eat and get a souvenir as well as some bed & breakfast places, but most of the structures on Peaks Island are residential.  You can walk the village streets or take some trails into the less developed parts of the island if you like.

A shoreline view on Peaks with the city of Portland in the distance. (My own photo)

A view of Peaks from the ferry just before docking. (My own photo)

Waiting for my ship to come in, literally (My own photo)

Favorite places to eat: Maine offers no shortage of excellent places to grab a bite to eat.  Admittedly, I am no “foodie”, but in my opinion, if you really want the taste of Maine, go to the Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound, which is just on your right on Route 3 before you cross the bridge onto Mount Desert Island.  It’s not fancy, but the food is terrific.  As you can imagine, lobster is their specialty, but they also have steamed clams, mussels, scallops and crabmeat.  The eat-in facility is seasonal, but they ship around the world year-round.  For me, it’s just not a trip to MDI in the summer if you don’t roll down your windows to smell the wood smoke from the fires at Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound before and after crossing the bridge.

Photo from http://trentonbridgelobster.com/restaurant

Special mention also goes to the Clambake Restaurant in Scarborough, on the road to Pine Point and Old Orchard Beach.  When I was a kid, my family used to eat there every summer on our annual vacations to southern Maine.  Large, comfortable, and clean with a huge seafood menu, the Clambake is located on a saltwater marsh where you can see all manner of wildlife through the large windows.  Again, the Clambake is not a place for food snobs, but I am terribly fond of it anyway, especially the batter-dipped fried clams.

Photo from http://www.clambakerestaurant.com/

Favorite “tourist attraction”: The Owl’s Head Transportation Museum, appropriately located in the little town of Owl’s Head near Rockland, could be a full day’s visit if you wanted it to be.  There are more than 100 historic aircraft, automobiles, bicycles, motorcycles, carriages and engines on display, in addition to workshop classes, vehicle auctions and special displays.  You can see a life-sized replica of the Wright Brothers’ first plane, a fully restored antique fire engine, and every kind of early automobile you could possibly imagine.  They also host special collections and shows on their grounds, such as an “Earth Movers and Shakers” event later this month.  I made the mistake of visiting the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum on a getaway day when I had to head back home, and was forced to cut my visit much shorter than I wanted to get home at a reasonable hour.  The next time I am in the area, I am going to see aside an entire day to explore the entire place.

1935 Stout Scarab

1929 Springfield Rolls-Royce Phantom I Derby Tourer

Replica of the Wright Brothers' 1903 Flyer

Some favorites of mine from the Owls Head Transportation Museum (My own photos)

Favorite “secret spot”: I don’t think I have ever been quite as back to nature as I was during my visits to Baxter State Park.  Baxter isn’t so much the home-base for a trip as it is the actual trip itself.  On a rather hot day, I went hiking along a road from my campsite (it was too hot for me to do any mountain trails that day) and I happened upon a side trail that led down to the quintessential cool mountain stream.  It looked just like something out of a nature calendar or a National Geographic magazine.  I hoofed it back to my site, changed into my swimsuit, grabbed a towel, and drove back to the spot in my car, where I spent a highly relaxing afternoon floating in the cool, shallow water, watching eagles soar overhead, listening to any number of their smaller cousins chirping in the trees, getting nudged on the leg by curious fish, and even spotting a moose from a distance who poked her head out of the woods to take a drink from the stream.  When the snow is flying and the temperature is dropping this winter, it will be the memory of this spot that will keep me warm.  Speaking to other people who have also been to Baxter, it seems that many of them also have their own favorite secret spot that they have found by accident in the park.

Photo from http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com/hiking/

It was a bit sad packing away my camping equipment for the season, but it was way too cold at night on my last trip the weekend after Labor Day, so it’s time to call it a season.  I’ll still be making occasional trips around the state in the off season, but not nearly as often, and certainly not to camp.  Next year however, I plan to start up my series of camping roadtrips again, and see what other sides of Maine I can discover.  I am open to any suggestions for my 2014 sojourns, which you can put in the comment section below, or you can e-mail them to me.