Let me tell you about a hiking trip that I didn’t get to go on last summer.

Dave & Tami took Ben down to Portland where they hopped on the ferry.

Peak's Island Ferry

It is only a few dollars for a round trip ticket and a 20 minute ride over to Peaks Island. Peaks Island is great for Day trips, you can rent a bike and enjoy the views as you pedal around the perimeter of the island (an easy four miles) or you can buy an extra ticket and bring your bike with you. You’ll find shops, art galleries, restaurants and a couple small museums. You can rent a kayak or take a golf cart sightseeing trip. The ferry makes 14 trips a day in July and August so you don’t have to worry about schedules.

Peak's Island

On this day though they decided to hike into the center of the island to visit Battery Steele a world war II gun emplacement. They searched high and low but didn’t find the geocache at the fort.

View from on top of Battery Steele

After that they continued to the other side of the island and followed the coastal road back around to the ferry.

View toward Cushing Island

In case you are wondering, the reason I didn’t get to go — No Moose allowed on the ferry!

There’s a hiking path winding along the rocky coastline. There are several geocaches including the first in the state of Maine. They had a lot of fun doing a multi-stage cache that took them all around the park looking for clues.

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!

Whether you want to go sight-seeing, beat the heat, get away from the crowds or go hiking, there is a lot to do at Grafton Notch State Park. There is a small fee of a couple dollars a head that you pay on the honor system.

Sightseeing

There are several fabulous natural attractions if you are just in the Mood for sight-seeing. Start off with Screw Auger Falls a series of cascades that includes a 30 foot plunge. One of the most visited falls in Maine.

Screw Auger Falls, Maine

Mother Walker Falls, a gorge in the summertime, is more than 40 feet deep and 980 feet long.

Moose Cave. In this 200-foot-long gorge, lying within a 45-foot-deep canyon in the bedrock, water skirts boulders and disappears temporarily into a cave beneath a huge granite slab. (I don’t go in there, the last moose who did, never came out)

Moose Cave

Hiking

The Appalachian trail crosses thru Grafton Notch, so of course you can hike to Baxter Mountain or all the way to Georgia. If you are a little less adventurous there are several shorter hikes that are quite a challenge. We have tried Table Rock (2.5 miles with 900′ elevation gain) and the Eyebrow Loop (2.1 with a 1300′ ft elevation gain). There are also trails to the top of Old Speck Mountain and Baldpate Mountain a couple of the highest mountains in Maine.

The view from the top of the eyebrow loop trail

The Eyebrow Falls

Geocaching

There are several geocaches in and around Grafton Notch including one that brought us to a spot we had never found in several trips called ‘The Jail’ it is a sort of box canyon off one of the many gorges throughout the park.

The Jail

Grafton Notch is about an hour north right on Rt. 26, you can’t miss it. It is a nice leisurely and scenic drive with almost no traffic that is perhaps worth the trip itself.

If you happen to visit the geocache on top of Old Speck, write my name in the log book for me, thanks.

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.

Fort Gorges sits in the middle of Casco Bay.  Built in the 19th century, It is now a public park accessible only by private boat.

Fort Gorges

On a clear summer day you can easily see the fort from the boat launch off the eastern promenade. If you are adventurous, you can launch your kayak or other sea-faring boat and paddle out there like my staff the camp staff did. It is a little over a mile away.

There is a geocache hidden there too!

Inside Fort Gorges

After that, drive over 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.

Other forts in Casco Bay include Fort Scammel on House Island which is private but gives tours on Tuesdays in the summer (by prior reservation only), Fort Preble in South Portland (a good place to view Fort Gorges) and Fort William in Cape Elizabeth.

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?

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.

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!

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.

My answer?

Plenty!!!

Included in our check-in packet is a list of places to go and things to do, complete with directions. Most of them have been “tested out” on my own kids during our Monday outings. There’s hiking, ocean watches, shopping, beaches and museums. Over the next couple of months, I’ll occasionally talk about a few of them, giving you pictures whenever I can. In the meantime, feel free to visit our website under area/links for those that are closest to home.

Today, Ben insisted Dave and I take him to the Maine State Museum in Augusta. He’d just been with his classroom two weeks ago, yet he haaaaaad to go back and see his favorite displays again. I’ve sent plenty of campers during our eighteen years of running the campground, but had never been myself.

I really have no idea what took me so long!

It took a little less than an hour to get there, and was an easy drive up Route 202 (although you can also get there by the Turnpike). We spent approximately two and a half hours exploring three floors of exhibits like these:

Maine patents and inventions. Did you know earmuff were invented by Maine resident, Chester Greenwood?

a lawn sprinkler from the late 1800′s if I’m remembering correctly

A typical early 1900′s kitchen display in the Made in Maine exhibit

an approximately 100 year old loom

Of course, my photos don’t do it justice. You really have to visit yourself!

I think my favorite was the Back to Nature Exhibit, with the wildlife display. I was amazed at the size of the fisher! And the beaver! We saw an eagle up close, moose, skunk, various birds, deer, owls and much more.

Afterward, we walked over to the Maine State House to get a peek of the inside. There are also several monuments nearby, such as the Firefighters Memorial, Police Officers Memorial, Samantha Smith Statue and the Vietnam Veterans Memorials.