This may be our swan song post from New England while living here.  With our house for sale but under contract, we have a lot of moving parts in our lives at the moment. We have, though, been able to travel with friends from the Massachusetts coast in Salem, MA, into sea coastal NH, and along the coast of Maine.  Fun.  Beautiful.  Stunning. Magnificent.  All those things.   And more.

If you can take the time to travel slowly up the Maine coast, you will be rewarded with outrageously beautiful sights.  Towns and places like Kittery, Kittery Point, Cape Neddick, Ogunquit, Wells, Kennebunkport, Bath, Boothbay – you name’m, these (and others) are beautiful places steeped in history.  And all these views inspire artists wherever we have traveled – deservedly so.

With a few days stop in Freeport, we camped right on the water at the Winslow Park and Campground in sites that were really to die for.  Mind you – there are no services like electricity or water, but never mind – this location at Winslow Park is the best.

As we all know, Freeport is the center of the universe – because, well, LL Bean is here.  And wouldn’t you know it – a brewery!

And, of course, laughter, lobster, fresh seafood, and beautiful views were staples all along the trip.  Repeat as necessary, but here are a few shots from South Freeport Harbor.  Oh, and Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster on the harbor?  Booyeah.

At the risk of sounding like we are singularly focused on food and beer, we stayed in Boothbay at the Boothbay Craft Brewery, Watershed Tavern, RV, and Cottages.  That, my friend, pretty much covers the ground we needed. This place was AWESOME!  Camping at a craft brewery?  I think we have a new business model.  Brett served us some of their great beers, Lori cooked awesome pizzas over a wood-fired oven, we all laughed a lot, and just thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

While in Boothbay Harbor we visited the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens – another great visit.

In Bath, we explored the Maine Maritime Museum, which I would highly recommend visiting.  Bath has a rich history for shipbuilding, which continues today at the Bath Iron Works.  You can see a state-of-the-art Naval destroyer under construction, as well as see dry docks in use for ship repair.

After an exhausting day of seeing history, what better way to fix a food craving than to stop at Red’s Eats in Wiscasset?  We waited about 1 ½ hours in line (yes, you read that correctly), all for a lobster roll. Now, that is not all they serve, but why in hell would you get anything else?  Their lobster rolls are the best – and I have had a lot.

Boothbay Harbor is really cute, and of course has many quaint (and some not so quaint) shops, but the harbor is beautiful.

You will see many lobster buoys as you traverse the harbor and inner waters, and they are governed by strict standards for coloring, traps and methods.  Sometimes lobsters can get out of hand, though.

Speaking of Boothbay Harbor, one of the places you can visit right from Boothbay (by boat) is Monhegan Island.  With a population of 69 people, Monhegan Island is a plantation that sits about 12 miles off the coast, originally a British fishing camp.  This is a “must visit” place to visit IF you are prepared to do some fairly rough hiking.  If so, there are some fabulous views, and it is just a cool place to visit.  Did I mention there is a brewery on the island? Indeed!

Our friends will continue our intended journey further north up the coast and into the Canadian Maritimes. If we do not meet up with them this year, for sure we will visit the Maritimes some time in the future.  Get to Maine, though, if you can!!