Fall Colors in Maine

  So I've had this fall trip to Maine planned for a few months now.  Looking forward to seeing the beautiful fall colors and spending some girl time with my buddy Dr. Math (Ann).  We left Nashville in rain with temps in the low 60s.  We landed in Boston 2 hours later where it was rainy and 63.  So much for the turtle necks I packed for this trip.  By the time we picked up our bags and rode the shuttle to the rental car pick up then drove up the road toward Portland it was after 9 before we got to a room for the night.  Of course it was too dark and rainy to see much that night but the next morning we started getting into the spirit of fall despite a light drizzling rain all day.

 

 

After a waffle breakfast we headed north on 95 "sorta" toward Canada.  We eventually got off onto Highway 1 and then 1A which runs along the rugged Maine coast.  For lunch we stopped and ate seafood chowder at a delightful surfside restaurant where we enjoyed the view of the crashing surf despite the continuous drizzle.  Fortified we headed up to the tip of 1A for a visit to Nubble Lighthouse.  It was pretty crowded despite being a rainy weekday so I'm glad we weren't here on a weekend.  The lighthouse was on an island so we couldn't visit it but again the views of the surf were breathtaking.  Even saw a brave soul fishing from the rocks below.  And I thought my brother Mike was a dedicated angler?

 

 

Next we left the coastal view and headed up the coast toward Yarmouth to Delorme and the home of the largest working model globe in the world. "Eartha is in the lobby of the map company's headquarters and stands nearly 2 stories tall. And of course she is uniquely accurate. What else would you expect from the largest map company around? This was a great photo op and with some missing panels I was able to look into Eartha's inner workings. Fascinating!Speaking of big, ever seen a really large hiking boot on wheels? From Yarmouth it was a short ride up the road to Freeport and the flagship store for LL Bean. This place is the shopping haven for outdoor enthusiasts. Luckily I didn't spend a dime here because while I am an outdoors person, I hate to shop and while Ann is a shopping enthusiast, she is not really an outdoors person. We settled for photo ops here, and what a photo. What a boot!!

 

 

After all this sightseeing it was getting late and we needed to find a room for the night.  Driving along the old highway we had thought this guy might be a sign we had found the spot for the night:

 

Nope, no room at the inn so what do we do?  Northward the wagons!  Or, well, the Ford Fusion.  We drove on into the dark and the rain (don't you feel sorry for us?) stopping for a delish dinner at Taste of Maine restaurant, grabbing a geocache in the parking lot, and finally stumbing into a comfortable room just outside of Augusta, the state capitol.  What will we get into today?  Check back and see!