Mainely in Maine
Just returned from a too brief summer visit to my folks, who live in Maine. If you have never been to Maine, it is truly a special place, particularly in the summer. Not hot (at least to me, Ms. South Carolina Swamp) and it really is lovely there. A bonus is that when I visit my parents (even though I am squarely in my mid 30s) they spoil me rotten; including doing things like making my favorite foods. Like lobster, which I ate twice. Below are a list of nifty things to do in mid coast Maine.
- The Coastal Maine Botanical Garden is really a lovely place. Its brand new and located in Boothbay Harbor. The story is that 5 women put up there homes as collateral for a bank loan to purchase the land, which was for sale as new home lots. After they bought the land they began quietly fund raising, and what they have created is an amazing, enormous, plant gallery. There are some neat sculptures, nice trails to walk, really awesome stonework and a great view of a fork of the Sheepscot River (we saw a Bald Eagle).
- It seems like every Maine resident has about 1000 skills and is artistically gifted! I met one of my parent’s neighbors, who is about my age and makes nifty sand dollar jewelry sold by boutiques in Maine. This is in addition to lobstering (she has about 100 traps), having 3 children under 10, and being very active in local civic activities. Everyone up there like this! Maybe its the long winters that get those creative juices flowing. Anyway, Maine crafts are really amazing, so many talented folks! Check this out! And if they are not making lovely pottery, tiling, building furniture or sewing, they are really great artists. This is my parent’s favorite gallery. My favorite artist they carry is Andrea Peters, but I like Kevin Beers too; particularly the paintings of the house with the red roof.
- My parents live near Bath, home of the ship builder Bath Iron Works and consequently a long, long history of shipbuilding. The Maine Maritime Museum documents all this, and is fun to visit. This time, though, we went on a museum trip to Burnt Island, and island in Boothbay Harbor I gazed at every summer as a child but never visited.
- The birds, of course, are so great. My last morning I was awakened by a the sound of a Turkey gobbling and when I looked out the window there was the bird feasting on my parent’s blueberries. My parents were nonchalant about it (”oh, is that where the berries are going?”) but I thought it was cool. Other pretty birds: Blackburnian Warbler, Arctic Tern, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler. And lots and lots of Ospreys.
Of course it helps that my parents are fun people that I get along well with. They are big believers in two of my favorite pastimes: nap time and cocktail hour. They make me wish I was retired!!