Boothbay Harbor

Thank goodness for our GPS! Used to be I followed the paper maps and knew exactly where to turn and where I was. With the GPS I have turned over the complete responsibility to a lady that I will never meet. She's done a good job, so far, and she did a good job today on some Maine country roads. I still have all the paper maps but now I just use them to plot out tomorrow's trip.

 Our first stop was in Bath where we visited another wonderful museum. The Maine Maritime Museum should be on everyone's must-see list. It's on the site of the original Percy & Small Shipyard one of the several shipyards in Bath where most of the large 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 masted sailing ships where built in the 1800's. This is a a sculpture (they call it a evocation) of the 329.5 foot coastal schooner Wyoming which was capable of carrying 6,000 long tons of coal. Largest of the seven 6-mast schooners built at P & S, her original cost was $165,000. Wyoming was lost with her crew of 13 men during a gale on the Nantucket Shoals in March 1924.  The sculpture is the exact length of the ship but the masts are 20 feet less than the originals since the FAA wanted warning lights at the original height. Also in Bath, now owned by General Dynamics is the Bath Iron Works where are building stealth destroyers for the Navy. I can't give you pictures or specs of the ship for fear of being hunted down by TSA.

We have sort of gotten, some what, away from our original goal of visiting lighthouses, forts and historic seaports. Our neighbor, Gale Jameyson, who is from Maine posted an article listing the ten prettiest towns in Maine on facebook. So we have now taken visiting these towns a an additional goal. Fortunately, one of the the towns, Wiscasset, was on our way to Boothbay Harbor which is another on the list. We stopped and walked around the small shopping area and found out that the big draw to Wiscassat is Red's Eats which serves one of the best, maybe the best, lobster roll in the state. Some of the shops were closed (Season) but Red's was open, however we didn't try the lobster rolls since we had one for lunch in Bath. The rolls have been running $14 - $17 and Red's was $26.50 but each roll is made with a full lobster.

We got lucky - we found a really nice RV park near Boothbay that was wasn't open for the season yet but would allow us to stay for $20 .a night. We said that we'll take two. The place is quiet, has level sites, W&E and cable - no comfort facilities, not important since we're self contained.

Our first stop today was the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens which opened in 2007, after 25 years of planning, planting and building, on 250 acres of hilly, waterfront property just full of rock outcropings. It's hard to describe the beauty of their gardens, again, another must see. We were probably a month early for all of the blooms but were very impressed with what we did see. This flower was in a potted arrangement and didn't have a name tag so don't ask me.

Last stop was the Booth Bay Harbor waterfront where we had lunch on a second level deck. As you can see the harbor  was virtually empty except for a few boats and hundreds of mooring balls waiting for the start of the season. If all the mooring balls are used you would have to be an excellent skipper just to get in an out of the harbor. After lunch we walked up and down a few streets and visited some of the shops that were open. The streets are narrow and there are some parking lots but I can imagine a horrific traffic and parking mess during the season. On the way back to the park Susan and I talked about a third night in Boothbay. We have a special day planned for tomorrow.