Maine, A Beautiful State!

I have never been to Maine before so when the opportunity arose to do a home exchange with my beach house I jumped at it!  I am here with two great traveling companions, Marsha and Carolyn, for two glorious weeks. 

The weather is spectacular, beautiful sunny days although a bit warmer than usual which has slowed the changing of the fall colors.

We are staying in Searsport in an old sea captain's cottage built in 1860.  Searsport supplied the country with 10% of all the sea captains in the 1800 and 1900's with its deep water port.  Here's our house.......

And  a view of the deep water port......

 

Searsport, with its history, has an interesting museum that comprises several buildings including boat workshops, old houses and a some fun to boot......

 

 

 

 

We are traveling along Route 1 which runs along the coast and everywhere is water and stunning views.  Most commerce has to do with the sea. We stopped at this great craftsman that makes lighthouses.......

And of course there are the REAL lighthouses.  Here are a couple.......

 

We all know that Maine is known for lobster so my companions dug right in...

 

 

The locals have places called Lobster Pounds which literally mean you buy the fresh lobster by the pound and either take it home to cook or eat in.  The place is filled with live lobsters and you choose your dinner!  Needless to say I passed since I'm a vegetarian.......

 

 

We wore out Route 1 since it took us pretty much everywhere we wanted to go including Bar Harbor and the beautiful Acadia National Park.

 

 

Here's the view from Mount Cadillac looking down on Bar Harbor...

 

 

The harbors are simply stunning here.  This is Camden where we went to a local art festival that was set up by the water.....

 

 

Then up to Mount Battie overlooking Camden ........

 

 

One of our absolute favorite places was the tiny village of Castine.  Loaded with history, it is also the prettiest town we saw.  We all just loved it.  It has stunning views, wonderful old houses and a fabulous bay.  Unfortunately I did not take enough pictures to show you how pretty this place really is..............

 

 

I did, however, manage to get this picture of the Tin Man and Toto that a local made. Note the pig faced Toto and Moosehead keg body They really go all out for Halloween!!

 

 

One of our final excursions included a ride on the foliage train from Belfast.  It is an old traditional depot and train on which volunteers provide rides for the locals and tourists....

 

 

 

 

I will try to get some better foliage shots on our ride back to Portland but I will tell you this.  I would come back to this beautiful state in a heartbeat!