Finally we are in Maine!

Monday, 8/8/11 - We arrived at our new home, Naples Campground, Naples, Maine. When we arrived on Sunday it was in a pouring rain, not a warm and fuzzy introduction to Maine as we had hoped but it can only get better. Our campground is very nice and located in what they call the Lake Region around here. Our campsite is right across from the pool which will be convenient if it stops raining. Actually on Sunday after we got all set up Will and I went into the town of Naples and had dinner and sat on the outside patio looking at the bay. But today we are going to do a little sightseeing back on the Route 1 which is the picturesque road of Maine along the coast.....I guess like our Route 1 in California.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to pick up any Maine brochures and I feel somewhat unprepared for where we are going but what the heck. We head for the town of Portland, ME a large seaport town that Greg says is very interesting with lots to see. We are about a 50 minute drive to Portland and when we arrive we seem to be very turned around and every road we take is another wrong turn. We decide to just get on Route 1 heading south and we see what we see. Well first, the drive is beautiful and the homes are so old and wonderful to look at. Our first stop is a small village town Scarborough where we walk around on the piers and watch people digging for clams and birds diving for fish.

After a short drive we come to what we think is a jewel of a place, Old Orchard Beach, it is a small very touristy town, It was a cross between Pismo Beach (on steroids) and Santa Cruz. The beach was wall to wall people and imagine most of them were French Canadians. We heard very little English spoke here. Parking was none existent but then voila....one metered parking spot appeared right on a short block leading to the beach. We promptly parked the car, got out our ice chest with lunch, our 2 folding chairs and Mimi's TV tray. We walked to the end of the road, set up our stuff in the shade of a motel with a perfect view of the ocean and terrific people watching.....back & forth to the beach. We even had several speak French to us and of course......"we no understand" then they talked English. After lunch, we climbed the stairs of the motel and got a fabulous view of the landscape there and discovered a pier just 2 blocks away. We put more money in the meter and off we went. They had a fabulous amusement park and we were even going to ride the farris wheel but decided instead to have an ice cream....a much better choice, right Nancy? We walked around a bit and got back to the car with 5 minutes to spare.

We decided to keep going on Route 1 to Kennebunk (gosh, I love saying that name, Kennebunk) but alas the beautiful weather we had in Old Orchard Beach has now turned to rain. We head out in Kennebunk on a road along the coast that I can best describe as driving on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. Beautiful old homes, bed and breakfast places and lots of surfers. I swear I felt like I was back in good old Santa Cruz on West Cliff Drive. We then headed for the town of Kennebunk and it was wall to wall people (with umbrellas) with absolutely no parking anywhere. The town was much classier than Santa Cruz more of a Carmel like town. We decided we had enough for the day and had a long drive home so we pointed girlfriend, GPS towards Naples and when we arrived the sun was shinning and it is warm and humid. It was a fun day and at least we got our first experience of Maine and will be here a total of 2 weeks staying in three different RV parks. Stayed tuned for more adventures....much love to all our family and friends.