The rest of Freeport, ME

Note – this is my second post of the day, I typically don’t do that, but but now that I have limited internet access I will post when I can.

One day, I took a driving trip to see some of the coast and small coastal towns.  Ocean’s Point was the first place I stopped.  The homes were really interesting and some of them had a nice view. 

Ocean’s Point --

Then I headed to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Park.  It was only 6 miles from Ocean’s point, but that is only if you can fly.  By car, it is about 40 miles. 

The lighthouse -

It was a little bit foggy when I first got there, but I had some sun.

Pictures from the area --

Once again, I found a great spot to sit and enjoy the view.  Watching waves hit the rocks and watching the fog roll back in was great.   After a while I wanted to applaud for the great show I had seen, but I didn’t as the people around me might have thought I was crazy (and the great show was still going on!).

Other pictures from the area --

A beautiful area, I ended up spending a couple of hours there walking around the rocks and enjoying the views.  I probably would have stayed longer, but it got so foggy that I could feel my clothes getting wet.    

I can’t believe that by finishing this up I am ahead of schedule for blogging.  Tomorrow on May 20,  I head to Bar Harbor for a week.

Georgia to Maine

This blog is going to be a summary of my trip from Georgia to Maine (late April to now).

I forgot to post a picture of the campground I stayed at while in Dillard, GA.  We had a couple of bad storms and the campground has quite a few Bradford Pear trees, which are beautiful.  But they are a very soft tree and when they get 12 to 15 years old they tend to break very easily.  Luckily no RVs were hit when they broke and the campground is having someone look at the others to see which trees should be taken down.

That is my RV behind the broken tree, but there is one empty RV spot between the tree and me!  The tree below was on the other side of my RV. A RV had left this spot about an hour before this one fell.

From Dillard, I headed to Spartanburg, SC where I got my RV washed and waxed.  While it was being done, I headed down to Newberry, SC and bought some Dowd’s BBQ hash that I was raised on –yumm!!!   For those not familiar with this, it is not like the hash that comes in a can.  It is basically BBQ pork in a sauce (South Carolina BBQ sauce is mustard based), and I like it served over rice. I froze several meals worth!!  While there, I spotted the sign below.  This sign (or one like it) was shown several times during the Bill Clinton Presidential race, I wonder if it will show up for Hillary?  I may have posted this a few years ago, but whenever I see it, I get a laugh.

Prosperity one way, Clinton the other way!!

From there, I slowly made my way to Wellsboro, PA.  I made a few stops on the way, but nothing too exciting. 

A few years ago, I learned about and rode my bike on the Pine River Gorge Rail Trail and really enjoyed it.  Since it wasn’t too far out of my way, I decided to go back.  I ended up riding 3 of the 5 days I was there.  I rode from 15 – 20 miles each time. 

The picture below is of the gorge, you can just make out the trail just to the right of the river.

 

Typical scenery from the trail through the gorge--

Turkey Run --

More scenery from the trail --

I had thought that after Wellsboro, I would head to Watkins Glenn State Park in New York.  I went here several years ago and loved it.   Fortunately a few days before I was going there, I checked their website where I saw that only about half of the main trail was open.  They were still working on Winter storm cleanups.   After doing some research, I decided I did not want to go unless it was all open.  Maybe I will go there on my way back south this fall. 

In looking at my route to Maine, I decided to stop in Littleton, Mass.  This is about 40 miles from Boston. I had thought I might take one of the touristy sightseeing tours of Boston, but didn’t, I’m not really into history so I would have to be really bored to do that.  The thing that interested me most about the trip was seeing the “Cheers” bar.  

The campground was about 5 minutes from the Nashua River Rail trail.  I ended up riding the whole trail (24 miles round trip) twice. 

Pictures from the trail are below --

From Littleton, I made my way to Freeport, Maine where I am currently.  I don’t have very good internet reception and have reduced my data plan anyway, so will wait until I get to a place with free wi-fi before I post this.

While in Freeport, I did a bit of shopping at LL Bean and 2 other stores, but since I am not into shopping that hour of shopping was plenty for me.  After shopping I enjoyed a Lobster roll at one of the local restaurants 

I am staying at Desert of Maine campground.  This area is desert-like due to Glaciers (a long, long time ago) and poor farming techniques.   They have a tour of the area, but I just walked around it a few times.

Note the roots, those trees have to work hard to live in this glacial silt.

The barn below is more than 175 years old  and is the only building left from when the area was a farm.

I also visited Wolfe Neck Creek State Park where I got my first look at a little bit of rocky shore line. I had planned on walking several miles, but ended up only walking a couple of miles as I found a great spot to sit, relax and think about all kind of things!(the last picture was taken at this spot)

One day, I drove to Ocean’s Point and Pemaquid Point Lighthouse park.  But I took so many pictures that I will post another blog for that.

This is my last full day in Freeport and it is raining, so I am currently sitting in the library enjoying the nice facilities and the wi-fi.

Georgia -

I was back in Georgia from March 24 – April 26.  As in the past, I started at Fort Yargo in Winder, then went to Watson Mill Bridge State Park, then up to Dillard, GA.

Every morning (when it wasn’t raining) at Watson Mill Bridge State Park I walked about 3 miles.  That would include several trips through the covered bridge.

Also while here, I had a project.  If you saw my last blog,  I left it with a teaser.  I asked if anyone could guess what this was --

If I had better tools, it probably would have taken less than 30 minutes to make, but since I was using a small hacksaw it took about 3 hours!!.  And my hand hurt afterwards!!

What is it????

It is a clothes rack that hooks to my ladder on the back of my RV.  The ones I saw on-line were made much nicer than mine, but it works great. And yes, it is a bit long for the RV, but there are 2 spots that it fits inside the RV.  But I am thinking about trimming it 7 – 8 inches and then it will fit in my Honda CRV. 

I visited with my mom while staying in Dillard and ended up running out of time and didn’t get a chance to see my nephew and his family while I was in Georgia (sorry Jim, Heather and Jackson!).

I don’t know where all my time went, but I am slowly making my way north.  I am currently in Wellboro, PA where  I rode some of the Pine River Gorge Trail a few times.   I’ll blog about that in a few days.

PS – For my few regular readers, I have not been doing well at all with my weight loss.  In fact I put some weight back on.  But I am trying it get back on plan and start going down the scale again.

Summerdale, AL

In mid-March, I spent a week and 1/2 at the Escapees Park in Summerdale, Al.  The park itself is ok, but I did enjoy some of the local activities.

In Gulf Shores and Orange Beach there is a series of bike trails called Hugh Branyon Trail.  I rode it several days and then would go sit beside the ocean for an hour or 2 afterwards!

On the trail there was a sign warning of alligators and that was where I saw a mom and her babies, below are 3 of the babies--

Other bikers enjoying the wildlife -

Other parts of the trail -

Then after my ride, I would relax by the ocean --

On my last day there, I went to the Foley Arts & Crafts festival.  It was one of the best Arts & Craft shows that I have ever been to.  Luckily I don’t have room for anything in my RV, so I could not buy much!!

From here, I headed back to Georgia for a month or so.  I will blog about that in a day or 2, but I wanted to post something I made while there. 

It is a bit hard to see, you may need to click on the picture to get a close up.  Any guesses as to what it is??  I will tell  you that I do not have any electric tools, so all of the cutouts were done with a small hacksaw!!  I will post about my Georgia stay in a day or 2 and will tell you what this is.

Grayton Beach, FL

I spent the first week and a half of March at Grayton Beach State Park in the panhandle of Florida.  It is about 30 miles east of Destin, FL where I spent a little bit of time visiting their outlet shops!

Grayton Beach is a beautiful beach; the sand is white and the water is blue just like it is supposed to be! Below is what greeted me each time I stepped off the boardwalk. 

The beach was maybe 1/4 – 1/2 mile from my campsite, so most mornings I walked to the beach and then on the beach for my morning exercise.

The water was beautiful.

Several days, I took my chair to the beach with plans to read but got carried away with just looking at the sand and water.  I didn’t read too much on those days.

There is a bike/pedestrian trail that runs about 20 miles in this area thru several of the towns and villages.  In some areas it was a bit crowded and closer to the road than I like, but I enjoyed it and rode several times.   In one direction is the village of Seaside.  They are known for their Airstream Food Trucks --

Scenery from the bike trail --

The picture above was taken at a beach access point that was about 9 miles from the State Park.  I rode my bike there and then checked out the beach (I didn’t go down, I admired from the top).  Then headed back.  This part of the trail went close to some construction, some new homes and some businesses.  When I was a little more than 3 miles from the campground I had a flat tire.  I got off and saw that I had run over a nail.  I had been telling myself that I needed to learn how to change a tire, but I never have.  But in this area there are a few bike rental shops, so I thought I would push my bike to one of them.  I had passed one  of the shops about 1/2 mile before the flat but I thought there were more.  I never saw another one!!  So I ended up riding my bike almost 15 miles and pushing my bike for a bit more than 3 miles (Note, I had walked 4 miles that morning for my morning walk).  2 lessons – don’t ride your bike through construction areas and learn to change a bike tire!!

One afternoon, I walked to the beach and sat at the bench at the end of the boardwalk.  A gull decided to try to introduce himself to me as he flew very close and then walked even closer.  I am guessing he thought I would feed him.

From here, I headed to Summerdale, AL. 

Fort DeSoto Park (visit #2) - St. Petersburg, FL

Since I have written about Fort DeSoto several times and once this winter, I am not going to write much about my second visit to the area this winter.  This visit was in late February.  I will just post some pictures that I took with a few comments.

I love getting to North Beach, with a short walk through some woods.

Another day, same view but so foggy you can not see the water!A view from my bike on a foggy morning bike ride (the ocean is on the left) --

Limpken at Celery Fields –Great Blue Heron -

I would have loved the close up of the Heron below if I had not cut his/her beak off.  I was zoomed in too much when the wind was blowing and he opened is mouth and showed his tongue. I still like it, but I missed a really good shot.

Marbled Godwit (I think?) -

2 Great Horned Owl fledglings --

Tagged Oystercatcher --

A relaxing Skimmer.  I thought maybe it was dead at first, but I read that this is common and possibly how they relax.  TTri-Colored Heron –

2 Wood Storks.  Note how they sit, they are basically on their knees.  See their pinkish feet in front; interesting!!

Just in case you needed to know this !!!

From here, I headed up to the Panhandle.  I’ll blog about that soon.