Monday, October 15, 2012

Driving the coast of Maine

First...a quick update.  Jeff, Jillian and Molly are home from Haiti and Molly has agreed to type up something for the blog, so I will have her do that as soon as possible.

While the Daddy's away, the mice will play...so we decided to spend our last day before our Haiti crew came home, driving up the coast of Maine.

We were able to see a few lighthouses and get to Portland.

First stop...Nubble Light house
At first I thought there was something wrong with my camera--but all those spots in the sky are birds.
Posing for the obligatory picture for mom
They love climbing around on the rocks
Beautiful Maine shoreline
"She's making us pose again."
More beautiful shoreline

It was a very brisk day and the wind was freezing our faces off so I convinced them to drive to the next place so we could get warm in the car for awhile.
Bye, Nubble!
This was the only moose we saw.  Rats!
Portland, Maine
Next stop, Head Light in Cape Elizabeth.

So pretty...and more birds in the sky.
There was a museum at this location that sounded good until we got there.  It just wasn't going to work for the ages of the kids.  
Previously, when we crossed the Maine state line, I stopped at the Visitors Center and picked up a booklet about Portland.  In it, there were several ferry rides mentioned.
I knew the kids would love to take a boat ride, so when the museum didn't pan out, I surprised them with the boat idea.
Of course, that was met with a very enthusiastic response.

It took a bit of effort to find it, but we finally got there.
One of the trips was a 20 minute ride to a small island.  Perfect!
And it was only $16 for all of us.
Woohoo!

We had to wait an hour for our ship to come in so we hung out on the docks, watching boats, fishermen, and lobstermen.

"Here it comes!  That's our boat!"
She's a beaut!
Jake...can you see anything?  I didn't think so.
Our ferry carried cars, which was very cool.  The kids watched the cars drive down the ramp and kept asking me why I wasn't going to bring our car on the boat.
"Whee!  This is super fun!"



As we got closer to the island, we saw two more lighthouses.

And on the other side of the boat, a different island.
It's like something out of a movie.


Pulling into the docking area
Yippee...we're here!
I love these boats
She made us pose again.
We decided to spend an hour on the island playing on the beach, and then catch the next ferry back.  The kids had a blast finding shells, snails (ewww), lobster claws, and empty crab shells.
Did I mention that I really like these boats?  :)
Something stunk to high heaven in my van today and guess what I found in the back?  Yep...this lovely lobster claw.  Because, you know...we had to bring it home.
All those little bumps that look like pebbles on this rock wall are actually occupied snail shells.
Unbeknownst to me, Jake stuffed his pockets with them.
He sadly brought them to me last night... still occupied, albeit with shriveled snails.
"Mommy, dere's still snails in da shells!"
GROSS!
He even grossed himself out when he realized the possible ramifications of having them in his pockets.
Ha.

Since we had so much fun making the covered bridge picture, we tried this pose again but it didn't work out too well.  Oh well...  



Our ferry pulling in....time to go home.
Sniff...sniff...
Goodbye, Peak Island!  We had fun!
We were FREEZING cold!
Pulling back into Portland
Bye, Portland...  We had a wonderful time visiting you.