July 29, 2010
Area Attractions
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Alex, Dave and Tami wanted to get some family time in last week . . . they wanted to rest and recuperate from the busy-ness of the campground.
So they left me here at the campground to take charge of things
“Suuuuuuure!” I said. “Go have a good time!” I said. “I’ve got every little thing under control!!”
Tami only looked back once with her “you-better-behave-or-you’ll-be-in-so much-trouble” looks as they grabbed their chairs and books and went to Two Lights State Park.
If I’d known they were going to Two Lights State Park , I would have joined them! It’s all rocky coastline with amazing views of Casco Bay and the Atlantic. There’s tidal pools to explore and you can climb the rocks until you can’t climb anymore! Sometimes we bring a picnic lunch and spend the day; they have picnic tables with stationary grills, a hiking trail, and a playground too.
Tami says those are all great reasons to go to Two Lights. But they aren’t HER reasons -
she goes for the breath taking view and the soothing sound of waves crashing over the rocks.
She’s so boring, isn’t she???
Still, she said her bare feet itched to climb down and explore the shoreline. So she got Alex to take her nose out of her book for awhile
so she could join her.
Isn’t it great there??
When Tami got back, I told her everything went very, very smoothly.
She doesn’t have to know about that one little, itsy, bitsy problem thingy . . . the one Paula had to rescue me from
It’s our secret, okay?
July 24, 2010
Area Attractions
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Last week, Tami, David and the kids escaped for the day to one of their very favorite places, the Portland Headlight in Fort Williams Park. There’s so much room to run around there with wide open fields made just to play catch or fly a kite. Tami says the views of the ocean really help her to relax.
There’s a hiking path winding along the rocky coastline
right to the Portland Headlight – the most photographed lighthouse in Maine
You can take tours of the Lighthouse for a fee . . . climb on the abandoned fort on the other side of the park or stick your feet in the ocean.
And you know what? After they hung out there, they went to the Old Port and took a ferry ride around Portland Harbor and THEEEEEEN, they went to dinner after that!
Do you think they asked me?? Nooooooo.
Oh well. I suppose my antlers would have taken up the whole back seat anyway!
April 12, 2010
Area Attractions
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Hey, Maax here!
Did you know that Poland Spring is full of history??
Just a couple miles up the road is the Poland Spring Preservation Park. Not only do they have about 5 miles of beautiful hiking trails, but they have several historical buildings.
There’s the original spring house,
where the water phenomenon all began somewhere around 1845. The water was said to have healing properties, and by 1904, it gained international praise after winning several awards. People began to flock to the Poland Spring Inn.
Above is the current inn, the original having burned to the ground in 1975 after a grand history of housing presidents such as Cleveland and Taft, and celebrities like Babe Ruth and Mae West.
Below is the Maine State Building, created to represent Maine in the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. It was dismantled, piece by piece to be brought to the Poland Spring Inn. It now houses the museum for the Poland Spring Preservation Society and a gift shop featuring Maine products.
This is the Old Souls Chapel
A grand building, it was created in 1912 for the staff and guests of the Poland Spring Inn. It has beautiful hand painted windows and is used now for weddings, plays, and baptisms.
The Poland Spring Preservation Park is a really cool place to visit if you’re into history!
Their website has their times of operation, or you can get their brochure off our rack of area attractions.
April 6, 2010
Area Attractions
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Hey! Maax here!
The weather was so super, duper, amazing on Easter Day, Tami and David took Ben and I hiking with a picnic lunch up at the Poland Spring Preservation Park.
They have five miles of well kept, awesome trails! And you know what?
They’re only two miles from the campground! Two miles!
We decided to start on the trail behind the original Poland Spring Water Spring House.
That trail, followed the edge of the golf course for a little while, and we were able to step onto the edge to look at Lower Range Pond
See the first jut of land, just over the tree line? That’s our campground picnic and swimming area! It’s pretty cool to see it from this side of the lake.
If you like to hike, we have lots and lots of trails within half an hour of the campground! Just click on the hiking link to the right to see some more! Or when you check in, ask Tami. She’ll give you directions and talk your ear off about all her favorites!
March 7, 2010
Area Attractions, Camp Activities
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Yesterday, I was listening in on Tami’s phone conversation with a camper, and they asked her what there was to do in the area.
“Why would anyone want to LEAVE the campground?” I grumbled, after she’d hung up the phone.
“Maxx, Maxx, Maxx,” she laughed. “There’s more out in the world than just the campground you know.”
GASP! “Bite your tongue!” I said. “Everything they need is right here!
Like swimming and kayaking and fishing in the lake
Wildlife watching too! Especially the eagles, beavers, loons and herons.
What about races in the pool, huh?
and other cool kids activities like ice cream making, horseshoes, kids candy bar bingo, Wednesday night campfires with popcorn, pool tournaments, arts and crafts and sports and games and stuff
I mean, we’ve got lots of wicked fun themes and stuff happening every day, all day in July and August!”
I was on a roll now! “And . . and . . . there’s spectacular shows like BJ Hickman, The Steelgraves and Mad Science . . .”
Tami held up a hand to interrupt me. “All those things are fun Maxx, but so is going to the Maine Wildlife Park just down the road. I love to watch the moose, raccoons, mountain lion, lynx and coyotes, porcupines and black bears.
And you know how much we like to go hiking and geo-caching. Especially on our two new favorite trails, Mt. Apatite and Mt. Rattlesnake The views from the peaks were amazing, and our customers will think so too.
exploring Portland‘s Old Port, is always fun, and so is taking a cruise around the harbor, spending time in the museums, hanging out at the Head Light
and exploring the rocky coastline of Two Lights.”
Tami shook her finger at me. “Even David and I escape one day a week to play outside the campground. There’s so many places to go and things to do, we always have a hard time choosing. Beaches, museums, shopping, restaurants, tours . . . I had to make a booklet for our customers about it all.”
I folded my arms. “Yeah. Okay. So, maybe your right. But we have one thing that NONE of those places has.”
“Really? And what’s that Maxx?”
“None of them have ME!
Maxwell Moose!”
Tami patted my nose. “You are one of a kind Maxx. That’s why we keep you.”
Tami adds: Click on the tags to the right: hiking, day trips or things to do to bring up blog posts about other fun things to do in the area.
October 2, 2009
Area Attractions
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Hey! Maxx here!!
This summer, Tami, Dave and Ben discovered two awesome hiking trails. And they’re only 15 to 20 minutes away from the campground! Sheesh. You think they would have found them sooner . . .
The first was Mt Apatite in Auburn Maine, just off of Route 11.
Mt. Apatite was an important part of Maine’s mining history. They mined commercial feldspar, and found (among other precious minerals and crystals) green and pink tourmaline. So if you like rock hounding, this is a great spot!
Tami said she saw lots of quartz and mica on the trails, and she brought me a couple pieces.
Dave said he and Ben got to play with their new hiking GPS a little bit . . . this photo makes me think of the commercial for UP
“With my handy dandy GPS, we’ll NEVER get lost!”
Not only didn’t they get lost, but they found two geo-caches with it!
Ben was pretty excited to have found these humongous polywogs sunning just below the surface of the water, too.
He said it was the best hike ever!
But he says that about aaaaaaallll the hikes.
Later on in the summer, they hiked to the top of Rattlesnake Mountain off of Rt. 85.
Tami said it it was a nice hike with an early upward climb and fabulous views! They took a picnic lunch and looked out over Sebago Lake, Panther Pond and Jordan’s Bay.
Then they kept following the trail across the top of the mountain to another lookout point with a view of the White Mountains.
Unfortunately, the geo cache on this mountain was missing, but Dave and Ben left a note in a bottle in it’s place so the next treasure hunters would have something to find.
Tami and Dave love to try out new hiking trails and area attractions. After 19 years of exploring with the kids, they have a wicked long list of local things to do from hiking, to beaches to shopping to wildlife farms to museums! Everyone who checks into the campground is given a list. If your looking for recommendations, just ask Tami! Or you can click on a tag at the right of the screen to bring up past blog posts.
Did ya notice that Alex and I didn’t get to go hiking this year?
We had to stay behind and work.
I think we’re gonna have to do something about that in 2010!
March 2, 2009
Area Attractions
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Max here!
Shhh! I’m trying to stay out of Tami’s way. She’s stomping around the house, muttering all crazy-like about how much snow we have and how the camping season will never begin on time if we keep getting these two foot storms. This is what the Wight’s are looking at out their front door today:
She is NOT a happy camper, let me tell you.
And David, he’s not much better. He says he’s tired of doing this
And wants to be doing this
in the park off the Eastern Promenade by Casco Bay in Portland. There’s a nice little beach there, and the view of ships coming and going is really relaxing.
Fort Gorges sits in the middle of bay.
and Tami, David and the kids kayaked out to it back in 2006
After that, they drove down to the Old Port to do a little shopping in all the quaint shops along the harbor’s edge before eating at DiMillio’s Floating Restaurant.
Also in the Old Port are many harbor/sea cruises. Take a whale or seal watch; tour Casco Bay’s rich history on land and sea with Downeat Duck Adventures, or take a ferry ride to investigate one of the many interesting islands.
Only a few blocks away is The Children’s Museum of Maine, and the Portland Museum of Art . . .
There’s just so much to do in Portland, there’s no way to describe it all in one short blog post!
Oh-oh. Tami looked over my shoulder at all these sunshiny summer photos and now she’s hugging her flip flops and crying . . . Poor thing!
But I have to say, not all the Wight’s are grumpy about having another snow day
The youngest one is having a blast tumbling down mountains of snow!
May 21, 2008
Area Attractions
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Just about eight miles south of us, right on Rt. 26, is the Maine Wildlife Park. It’s been a family favorite of ours since Alex was born 19 years ago, and I recommend it over and over and over again to our campers.
Wild animals that are injured, abandoned or have become human dependent are housed in The Park. Most are here permanently for their safety because they couldn’t survive on their own in the wild. I could talk for hours about the positive changes I’ve seen through the years, mostly through volunteer services . . . Larger living areas for the animals; new trails; informational exhibits . . .
B and I visited The Maine Wildlife Park last week. Before my camera’s batteries ran out, we saw these cuties:
lots of deer
bobcat
black bear
moose calf
Through the rest of the visit, I kept whining over my dead batteries until Ben said, “You’ll just have to come back, Mom. I’ll come too, if you want.” You would have whined too, if you saw the cool stuff we did. Imagine these:
The mountain lion, sitting up tall on top of his rock, surveying his kingdom.
The coyote was sleeping, but the fisher was running back and forth, back and forth in his cage. He was bigger than I thought he’d be. And the claws on his feet . . . whoa!
The albino porcupine came out for a minute. He was kind of an odd looking fellow. Eventually, he slowly lumbered back into his log. The raccoon was adorable, though. He calmly watched everyone going by.
The eagle sat high on his perch, looking down over the turtle pond and the wetlands trail. His enclosure is relatively new, and very impressive.
The peacocks were in rare form, screeching over and over, while fanning their feathers.
At the turtle pond, Ben tried very hard to find all the species listed on the information board. I didn’t realize how many of them were endangered.
Ben and I also discovered the hawk we saw this winter was really a Cooper’s hawk. The red tailed hawk was much bigger. We also got a very close look at the Barre and Great Horned owls!
Throughout the park are signs like these:
and interactive displays like these
to help educate and entertain.
There’s three different trails you can wander along, too. The Tree Trail identifies the different varieties of Maine trees. The Game Trail challenges you to find as many different animal silhouettes as you can. And the wetland trail offers a chance to see birds (Ben saw a veriole!), turtles and fish.
I recommend you bring a picnic lunch. There’s a nice pine grove area with picnic tables and B-B-Q grills right inside the entrance of The Park. After lunch, you can buy a drink, ice cream or other treat at the snack shack. Then visit the Nature Store for fun and/or educational souvenirs. Ben picked out a really cool whistle/compass combination to carry on our hiking trips this summer. I bought some posters to go in our rec room . . . aaaaaaand a pair of silver, dragonfly earrings. I couldn’t resist!
Feeding the animals people food, is not permitted. But bring plenty of quarters because you’ll find animal food machines to feed the bear, deer, pheasants, ducks, geese, and turkeys. And if you walk all the way down to the end of the fish hatchery, you can feed the fish too.
On Thursdays in July and August, there’s Story Time with a craft at 11:00am. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, there’s animal talks at 11:00am and 1:00pm.
For more information on prices, directions and such, click on the link on the right. You can’t go wrong with this day trip!
April 9, 2008
Area Attractions
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The Freeport area is one of our favorite family Monday outings. It has something for all of us and is only thirty to forty miles from the campground.
We usually pack a picnic lunch and go to Wolf Neck Woods State Park first to get a little hiking in.
Wolf Neck boasts five miles of fairly level trails, with one of them being handicapped accessible. You can choose from several lengths of trail, and all are easy hiking. Still, be sure to carry some drinking water and wear your sneakers.
There’s plenty of streams to poke around in
and some bridges to cross
Just be careful you don’t run into a troll!!
Some of the trails wind along the edge of Casco Bay and the Harraseeket River where the boys climbed rocks, poked in crevices and explored tidal pools to their hearts content.
Our favorite trail is the Casco Bay Trail. It takes you down to where you can see a series of islands. Osprey’s nest there. Have you ever seen them fish? They’re fun to watch.
So bring your binoculars and/or camera!
When we reach the coastline, we usually sit for a bit and drink it all in. The views are gorgeous. The forest is peaceful. It’s the perfect place to get away from everything, experience nature and do a little bird watching.
After hiking, we have lunch in the picnic area under the trees. Tables and grills are provided . . . bathrooms are nearby.
Then we load up and drive into downtown Freeport, home of the famous L. L. Bean. We always hit the Outlet Store before going to the retail store. You can usually find some wicked good deals there.
After shopping at L. L. Bean, we get an ice cream at the Ben and Jerry’s stand. It’s conveniently located right outside Bean’s entrance. Mmmmmm . . . coffee heathbar on a sugar cone. My favorite!
Then we shop a little more: Cool As A Moose, The Mangy Moose, Yankee Candle, Lindt Chocolate, Earrings and Co., Reebok . . . the list goes on and on and on! It’s fun to walk the streets and look at everything they have to offer.
There are many, many fabulous places to eat in Freeport, from hot dog stands, to pubs to fine dining. You’ll see a list on the Freeport website (link is listed above) as well as other sightseeing ideas.
But we like to stop on the way home at the Muddy Rudder in Yarmouth, right off of Route 1. Steak, seafood, pasta . . . their menu has something for everyone. I can recommend the Broiled Seafood Medley.
March 11, 2008
Area Attractions
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In July and August, my family and I try to arrange one day a week to play outside the campground. It’s become a tradition we call Family Day, and has been a fabulous way to connect with our kids as well as recharge.
It also allows us to experience/experiment with day trips, seeing which ones our kids like vs. what we adults like. Then we pass on the information to you, our campers.
Last year our favorite trip was Monhegan Island. It had everything! Hiking, wildlife watching, quaint stores, views galore!
We chose to ride the Hardy Boat Cruises Monhegan Ferry out of New Harbor, a pretty little coastal town. It took approximately 1 hour to drive there from the campground. Parking was $2 for the day. The boat ride was $30 per adult and $18 for children under 12, and well worth it. This was not our boat, but we rode one similar
We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the view. The captain kept us entertained with historical information about the harbor and the coastline. Pretty soon, he slowed down to show us a basking shark. A little while later we saw puffins!
Once on Monhegan, you feel as if you’ve stepped back in time. There were very few vehicles. Dirt roads wound past quaint shops and homes.
We were there for the hiking though, and we set off to find it. We were not disappointed with the views:
There are short, fairly easy hiking trails and then there are the longer and more difficult ones. We chose the longer trails that wound along the islands shoreline. Ben, who had just turned 10, had no problem. He totally enjoyed the opportunity to climb to his hearts content. We packed a picnic lunch to eat on the trail, but there were plenty of places to sit and eat on Monhegan itself. A tip: if you plan to hike, bring a plenty of water with you or buy it on the island before you set out. We saw too many families who hadn’t taken any water at all, and were tired and thirsty halfway through their hike. We ended up sharing some of our water with an older couple.
Toward the end of the trail we discovered a huge display of fairy houses! Visitors to the island are encouraged to build them. There had to be at least fifty
Back in town, we found some ice cream (we always manage to find ice cream!) and wandered the streets to find photo opportunities like these:
I had more fun taking pictures of gardens, homes, signs, views, piles of lobster traps, the lighthouse . .. Monhegan is a photographer’s dream.
Before we set out on this trip, one of my friends said, “You can’t walk two feet without finding an artist”. She wasn’t kidding! Painters are everywhere on Monhegan. Even on the trails.
As we sat on the top deck of the Ferry heading home, I thought for sure my day was complete. But then we saw this guy
A seal! We actually saw five or six more before our trip was done.
Back in New Harbor, we watched some lobstermen unload their boats. Then we had a fabulous seafood dinner right on the pier at Shaw’s Fish and Lobster Wharf.
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