Day 13 - Saco

We travelled South again to Saco this morning, stopping in on the way to the Main Wildlife Preserve. Here are a couple of photos we took whilst we were there.

These are some American Deer and if you read all the warnings around the enclosure, their saliva has caused alergic reactions to several adults and children... so I guess this works like a peanut alergy... you don't eat their saliva?!?!



This is a Bobcat... which aren't as big as I was expecting. To put it into perspective, they are quite a lot larger than a standard cat and probably about the size of a medium dog. Now, by medium dog, I mean one of those sensible sized ones that can walk on its own and keep pace with its owner, not one that has to be carried in a handbag!



This is also a bobcat... this one was as big as I was expecting!



Finally this is an American Turkey... We shouted "Thanks Giving" at it and it ran off!



After the Wildlife place, we drove the rest of the way down to Saco. For those that remember our last trip, Saco was the first campground we stayed at when we got the RV last time. It was quite interesting to see how much of the area we still remembered. There used to be a carport just next to the campground that we turned around it, but this is now a Nissan Car dealership. I did check and the tree I almost took out the last time we were here is still standing which brought back some fond memories of our last holiday.

Day 12 - Freeport

Today we drove down the coastline to Freeport (still in Maine) we had the fun of driving along about 6 miles of single lane motorway whilst they resurfaced the entire thing.

Freeport has a large shopping district where there are Outlets of several major chains. We even found "The British Store" which stocked everything quintessentially British which is quite interesting when you are surrounded by Americans looking at stuff we would consider common place.

The temperature is on the up here at the moment, it reached around 95 degrees (about 35 on the Celcius scale) whilst we were walking around and then went insanely humid just prior to another lightning storm. We saw quite a bit of fork lightning as we drove back to the campground.

Oh and Caz got ID'd at the local supermarket when she tried to buy alcohol.. (he he)

In the UK we tend to adopt a "Think 21" or "Think 25" policy whereas over here it's a "Think 40" or "Think 45" policy, so as long as you look under 40 you get ID'd. So in many respects, it's a good thing that Caz got ID'd... unfortunately when I tried to buy alcohol the time before, I DIDN'T get ID'd :o( So now I am going to have a beer or two and sulk about the fact that I obviously look over 40!

Day 11 - Acadia - The Last Day

This is was our last day in Acadia, tomorrow morning we are heading South towards Freeport and Portland. We started the day at a lobster hatchery where they are trying to increase the population of lobsters for farming purposes. The vast majority of the hatcherys were goverment run and the recent economic problems have caused most of them to close, but there is one in Bar Harbor that is still open.

It was quite interesting to see the different stages of a lobsters growth, they start off life smaller than the eye can see and are highly canabalistic at this point. They also look a lot like a shrimp and its not for several weeks before they start to develop to actually look like lobsters as we know them.

They showed us a video of how they release them back into the wild when they are sufficiently grown. This is when they are about 25 mm long and they release 70,000 or so back into the sea. Of this only around 30 to 40 % will survive to become fully grown lobsters. Whilst this doesn't sound a lot, if the process was to happen naturally, they only expect around a 10th of 1% to survive and to accomodate the current requirements for lobsters, they need hatcheries to do this.

We rounded the day off with some Pirate themed putt-putt golf and almost got sun burn again due to the heat, but a healthy does of sun-tan lotion stopped that from happening!



The weather finally changed last night, we had a mighty thunderstorm which knocked out the power to then entire area last night and has left a goodly portion of the campsite flooded.. it's a good job we are moving on this morning!

Day 10 - Acadia - Whale Watching

Today we went Whale watching or at least we tried to... we reached the sea front only to find the dreaded Maine fog had reached land.



It's no wonder this fog inspired such films as Stephen King's "The Mist" and err... The Fog, we thought it might be about time to jump ship as we passed a suitably spooky ship on leaving harbour. In fact they offered us the option of getting a full refund as the fog would seriously affect the ability to see any Whales...



... but we stuck with it and were suitably rewarded on reaching the Gulf of Maine (close to the Canadian Border) when these Fin Tales popped up to say hello...



We also had a couple of curious Sea Lions come over to find out what we were doing.

Day 9 - Acadia National Park - By Night

We returned to the top of Mount Cadillac at sunset to get a few more photos.

Day 9 - Acadia National Park - Lunch

Hmmm Early Bird Lobster Special..

Day 9 - Acadia National Park - By Day

We spent a lot of today exploring the one way round trip road on the island. There are plenty of places designed to allow you to stop and take photos and the entire place is controlled by the Park Rangers who look after the upkeep of the roads and walkways ($10 admission fee for 7 days).

This first one is on a place called Sandy Beach, one of only a couple of life guard on duty beaches which is completely sandy. We were warned that the water was still quite cold, but you never believe these things until you try for yourself. Needless t say... its damn cold!



This next one is at a place called Jordan Park. They have 3 carparks and we had to try all of them before we found a space. They have a little restaurant so we stopped in and skipped straight to desert. Brownie's and Blueberry Ice-cream for Caz and Blueberry Pie for me. I guess I should point out that Blueberries grow wild in Acadia and you can buy just about anything that is made from blueberries!



Finally we made it to the top of Mount Cadillac named for Antoine Laumet de La Mothe
who discovered Acadia and founded Detroit amongst other things. The peak is about 1500 feet above sea level and the views on a clear day are stunning. The first picture here shows the Town of Bar Harbour and Bar Island which you can walk to at Low Tide... you get wet feet if you try and walk there during High Tide.