Ah, Maine...

We are en vacances in Maine this week and hopefully I will be able to blog about some of our days here. The wifi where we are staying is sporadic, but I will try to post when I can because everything is just so beautiful here and I am taking lots of pictures, what a surprise.  We drove to Portsmouth, NH, on Friday, about an 8 hour drive from Virginia. We loved Portsmouth, right on the water and a cool little town with tons of restaurants and cute shops.  The next morning after a breakfast of popovers (yes, popovers!), we drove to Oconquit, right over the border in Maine,  and walked along the Marginal Way, a mile-long scenic trail along the coast with beautiful views of the rocky shore and the ocean beyond. There were a lot of people walking the trail but we were glad we stopped. There are lots of benches among the rocks where you can sit and just watch the ocean. It's a nice welcome to Maine. There were areas of rocks where people had built hundreds of cairns--we thought of you Biff, and took this picture for you, even though it doesn't show the cairns that well.

Cairns along the coast

Then we stopped in York, Maine, at the Stonewall Kitchen headquarters and bought a few jars of jams and marinades and admired their gardens, and then made a stop in Wiscasset for a lobster roll at Red's Eats, well known for its lobster rolls and long lines. We waited in line for about a half hour for ours, and even Walt agreed it was well worth the wait! It was getting late in the afternoon by then, so we headed straight up toward Mount Desert Island. I had wanted to stop a few more place along the coast, but it just didn't work out.

Best lobster rolls in Wiscasset, Maine

See what I mean?

And this is why we love Maine. Look at these views as we crossed on to Mount Desert Island around 5:30 pm. Spectacular.

This is is the cottage where we are staying in Southwest Harbor. Look at those window boxes and vines growing up on the porches. It's perfect, living and kitchen downstairs, and bedroom and bath upstairs, with porches off both levels.  We've been having our morning coffee on the porch. And you should see the gardens around the back! This place was made for me.  I might have to move in.  We can walk across the street to the harbor and down the street to a lobster pound, and walk into town for breakfast. Perfect.

Sunday was a gorgeous day, so in the morning we walked into town and sat outside for a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, then drove around the island getting our bearings and deciding what hikes we want to take during the week in Acadia National Park. My goal is to do one good hike a day. We saw lots of lobster traps and cute Maine houses....and the flowers...well, that will be a whole separate post.

Lobster traps

We stopped for awhile and walked on Sand Beach in Acadia--a small inlet bwetween the granite mountains and rocky shores of Mount Desert Island-- and enjoyed the sunshine and beautiful weather.  A great start to our vacation in Maine!

Sand Beach, Acadia

Sand Beach, Acadia