Monday, March 25, 2024

A Trip To Maine

Last October, Bobby and I had the privilege of attending my cousin's wedding.  It was - by far - the best wedding I have ever attended. It was unpretentious, but elegant. All of the unusual wedding details were perfect for my cousin and his new wife. The wedding was welcoming and small, but with a lively group of guests who made the entire experience unforgettable. My brother and sister-in-law joined us, and we made a long weekend out of the experience by visiting Portland, ME before heading down to Kittery, ME, which is where the wedding was held. 

There is something comforting about New England to me. Maybe it was because I was born there and still have family there. I'm not really sure what it is, or why I feel so content whenever I am in this part of the country, but it definitely has a unique and distinct vibe that I completely jive with.

Our foursome (me, Bobby, my brother, and sister-in-law) started off our adventure by driving from Boston, MA to Portland, ME. We spent the night there exploring some of the nightlife. We were hoping to hangout a bit the next day, but because it was rainy, we decided to head down to Kittery instead of spending the day in Portland. We did visit a lighthouse in Portland before heading out. There was a huge cruise ship (are they anything other than different versions of huge?) in port near the lighthouse we were viewing. To be honest, this lighthouse was kind of meh. I don't know what I was expecting, but this one wasn't it. 

After arriving in Kittery, we decided to find a place to visit that allowed us the ability to spend some time on the water. New England handles their coast much different than the Carolinas or Oregan in that in New England the entire beach/water access is not entirely public. People who have a home on the ocean "own" the beach access in front of their homes. To me, it is the dumbest thing in the world. How can you actually own part of a beach? (Although, I guess it is all relative, as the Indigenous peoples of North America didn't understand the concept of land ownership and were just as flabbergasted by the idea as I am of a private entity owning the beach/ocean access.) All of this was to say that we had a bit of a hard time finding someplace that we could access the beach ourselves. We finally found a place after a bit of trial and error. I did not realize that ME has such rocky shorelines. It is completely different from Oregon and its rocks. To me, the Oregon coastline is welcoming and visually stunning. The Maine shoreline seemed uninviting and, I hate to say it, a bit ugly. The rocks along the shoreline were such that it was hard to walk on them without constantly thinking about where your next step was going to be as I was always trying not to fall on my butt or twist an ankle which took away from the experience of being on the water. (For me at least.) 

After walking on the shoreline, we found another lighthouse that was exactly what I imagined a Maine lighthouse to look like. It had the keepers house on the property along with the lighthouse. The property was surrounded by flowering bushes and sat above the water on a small cliff. It was clean and crisp and just perfect. 

Finally, we spent part of the day walking on the public beach. It was nice to be by the water in traditional sand and to have the waves wash up on shore in a gentle manner rather than crash into cragged rocks splashing up spray. I didn't find any shells on this beach though and found its smallness to be a bit of a turnoff. (I think of the ocean as a wild and free entity. When I go to a beach I want to be able to explore for miles and miles without being interrupted by seemingly man-made cut off points.) The view was neat though as this part of the beach was surrounded on two sides by quintessential New England houses and businesses. 

One of the things I love about small New England towns so much (and Kittery definitely fits that bill) is that there aren't really any chain stores/restaurants anywhere. Almost everything is a mom-and-pop owned business, and all are unique and cool. We didn't spend any time shopping though as we had other things we wanted to spend our short time there doing. 

Our accommodations for both Portland and Kittery were really cool. Our Portland housing was an apartment in what was once a large single-family home. It had that vintage old wood and unique details. It was spacious, but comfortable. We were right in the thick of things, so you got to experience some city vibes. Our Kittery accommodations were completely the opposite, but also very cool. The apartment was the upstairs portion of a large garage. It was nestled in the woods about a 5-10 minute drive from the ocean. The street we stayed on was quiet and secluded. The building was quite new, so you everything was nice and shiny. I really enjoyed staying at both locations because it briefly gave me opposing living situations. 

Overall, I had a wonderful time. The company was great. I got to visit the only New England state I had not yet been to, and I got to celebrate two amazing people as they began their lives as husband and wife. 

Quaint town on the Maine New Hampshire border. The town is made up of mom and pop stores and restaurants. Brick buidings align the streets. The sidewalks are made of bricks too. The buildings are all close together and about 3 stories high.
A quaint New England town.


Sign of the lighthouse that says Portland Breakwater Lighthouse. The sign is in stone.
The 'meh' lighthouse. 



Gloomy dark gray skies hover over the bay in Maine. Up ahead is a white lighthouse sticking out on a peninsula ready to bring ships in to dock. There is a rocky path leading up to the lighthouse so that tourists can now go and explore the outside of the lighthouse. A fence also surrounds the pathway to the lighthouse (probably so dumbass people visiting this area don't fall into the water.)

Off in the distance of this lighthouse what appears to be a sailing school or some sort of sailing club is gathering in the inlet. There are about 25 sailing boats on the water. All of them have pure white sails and they all match.
A sailing school lesson?

A ginormous cruise ship is docked here as well. The ship is entirely white with no details showing which cruiseline it is. You can see hundreds, of windows and the lifeboats - which are read and white - attached to the outside of the ship. It is about 10 stories tall and as long as 1.5 - 2+ soccer fields. In the forefront of the picture is a park like setting with green, green short grass and picnic tables scattered here and there. This park is where the lighthouse sits as well.

A white multi-story cruise ship docked in Portland, ME. The ship is off in the distance from the lighthouse.
A cruise ship docked in Portland, ME

From left to right - Aunt Jess, Uncle Beaver, Me, and Dad getting our picture taken by a kind stranger in front of the lighthouse.

A view of a different lighthouse closer to where we stayed in Maine. This one is also white, but it has a white house next to it. Most likely used by the lighthouse keeper. There are all kinds of rocks and boulders bordering the land the house sits on and the ocean inlet. The terrain looks very unwelcoming mostly because of the uneven rocks just about everywhere. There is no "beachy" part of this landscape. The sky is an ominous gray.
Another lighthouse in ME. (The cool one.)


A quaint lighthouse with guesthouse. The property sits on a peninsula and there are rocky outcrops surrounding the lighthouse property that borders the ocean. The skies are gray and gloomy looking and the ocean is choppy.

A view of the ocean from the lighthouse property. There are large rocks that surround the water and flowering bushes with bright pink and orange flowers.

Another view of the ocean from the property. This time the lighthouse is not in sight. The only things that can be seen are the rocky terrain leading into the ocean, and the rocks in the shallows of the water. The sky is still gray and gloomy.

A close up of the lighthouse. It is white painted rock with a black roof. There are small gardens of flowers surrounding the lighthouse as well as a stone patio.

A view of the lighthouse and keepers house from a distance. The property is surrounded by three sides with water. There are flowering bushes in view of the picture as well as a fence to keep people off of the bushes and rocky land leading to the ocean.

The trailhead sign right before getting on to the trail.
Finally! A public access point to the beach!





Uncle Beaver, Aunt Jess, Dad and I all took a small hike on a trail that bordered the Atlantic Ocean. The trail allowed for people to walk down onto the very rocky shoreline and use them to walk around the peninsula like trail. There were no smooth beach like areas on this route and we all had to jump from large rock to large rock all of it uneven.
Not very welcoming, eh?

Dad looking up at the sky while standing in the middle of a patch of uneven, unsteady large rocks. He is looking up towards the gray, bleak sky as the ocean crashes into the rocks in the distance. There is a very small opening in the cloud cover, but it does not reveal the sun. It only reveals a less gray sky. Dad is wearing khaki shorts and a dark colored sweatshirt.
This is one of the types of rocky areas we walked on. 

a bunch of large jagged rocks looking out over the ocean and gray sky above. In the center of the picture is a rectangle that has been carved out of a rock by the wind. In its place is some water.





To get to the trailhead we had to park on the side of the road as there was no trail parking. There was a house or two located near where we parked. The vantage point of this photo was taken from that road. There is a tree or two swaying in the wind along with some minor shrubbery. Again, the sky is a deep, dark gray and the ocean looks ominous.



We came to a curve in our hike where there was some shrubbery and where the rocks got much smaller. They were small stones and pebbles at this part of the hike that met the ocean.

a dead red crab sitting among the rocks

A collection of water that gathered in a rock that had its center carved out by the wind and water. There are small pebbles in the water and it is clear so that you can see to the bottom.
I do love little tide pools as you never know what you are going to find in them. 

I found a skeleton in the rocks - it appears to be some kind of mammal - if I had to guess because of its bone structure. It is sitting on top of some rocks that lead down to the water.
I cannot say I have ever found what appears to be an entire skeleton of a dead animal before. I am thinking this was some type of bird?

A view of the ocean from on top of a large rock formation which is covered in a large(ish) collection of water. The water in the rocks has smaller pebbles in it and other debris.

As we turned and started walking up the other side of the peninsula there is a small town with typical Cape Cod style houses.

Rocky terrain overlooking the atlantic ocean with gray skies.

Same thing as above = another view of the large rocks meeting up with the ocean.

A different view of the rocks as the waves crash upon them.

One last view of the waves crashing up above the rocky shore as the tide comes in.

A wooly bear caterpillar sitting in the grass. Its brown color is a little bit more than its black. Must going to be an easier winter.

A different beach - this was actually has smooth sand, but it is very, very short. It is kind of a boring beach as there weren't any shells or rocky areas to explore. It was just flat sand and open ocean. (Although the beach is the beach, and I liked it even if I didn't like it - if that makes sense.) The sky is blue with a bright sun and some puffy white clouds dotted in the sky.

I am standing in the water - right where the water and sand meet. The waves are ahead of me in the distance. There is a beam of sunlight beaming down on the ocean making it look almost celetial.

I am in the water probably ankle deep. The waves are much closer to me now and are pretty rough, coming in violently one right on top of another. There are no boats, people, birds, anything in the picture. It is just an angry sea and the sunny sky.

Another pic from the same spot as the previous pic. This time the camera is capturing not only the waves, but also the spray of the waves as the wind was intense enough to cause sea spray as the waves would crest.

A view of the wet sand reflecting the sunlight from above. The water has just receded leaving a glassy look to the sand below.

A really cool pic of very light colored sand completely made up into ripples. These ripples go on in all directions as far as the picture goes.



There was one part of one of the beaches that we went to that did have some rocky areas seperating the beach from the land. I was able to search around and found a hermit crab. He has a black shell and his body is coming out of it as he sits on my hand.

A picture of Long Beach (I think it was called). The sand is flat and shell-less. The waves are coming into the land with a lot of white bubbles. The cotton ball clouds are lazily hanging out in the sky while in the distance is a shoreline of houses overlooking the edge of the shore before it drops into the ocean.

Another view of a different part of the same beach, but this time the main part of the town is captured to the left of the beach. Shops and hotels line the beach area, but not chain type hotels. Everything seems to be one of a kind with no chains. Mom and pop type places. . All have the quintessential New England vibe of cape cod style houses in gray and white.

We got lunch one day and a seagull was sitting very near our table just chilling out. I was able to get a pretty close up shot of him just standing on the ground waiting for some scraps of food.

 

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