Showing posts with label Maine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maine. Show all posts
Saturday, March 08, 2014
29 September 2013 Last Morning in Maine
We awoke to our final morning in Bitteford and Maine with heavy fog. After breakfast we made a stop to hunt a puzzle final at an lpc in town. The cache was strange since it had been almost a year without a find. Lonely caches have become fairly common even a tenth-mile into the woods, but light pole caches usually continue to get found. We were happy to add our signature to the log book.
Clifford Park was a bit of a gamble. We knew there were caches in the park, but a few had not been found in 17 months. It's hard to believe traditionals in a city park would go unfound that long and a bonus puzzle after three finds would also sit unfound. I was skeptical when we arrived because the front of the park looked like a somewhat neglected city park. Once we reached the woods, rocks, and trails, I was very happy we had found this gem. We had a great time and wished for a little longer time window to hunt a few more hides in the park, but we were both pleased to find two caches which had sat unfound for a long time.
I was happy for a return to Portland Headlight. After our last visit, we had purchased a lighthouse passport book so Ali wanted to stop for a stamp. By the time we left Clifford park the fog and clouds had been replaced by bright blue skies. I struggle more with the question of visiting old favorites or making new memories at new places, but I was really happy for a chance to return again to New England. Hopefully, there is another visit waiting in the future.
Well, it's not far down to paradise, at least it's not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away and find tranquility
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see
It's not far to never-never land, no reason to pretend
And if the wind is right you can find the joy of innocence again
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see
Sailing takes me away to where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free
recorded by... Christopher Cross in 1979
For me the weather was so vivid on the morning we were here, this looks like a scene from a model train layout with a real building and a painted backdrop.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
28 September 2013 Bradbury and Tryon Mountain
We wanted to visit Bradbury Mountain State Park since it was a park we had not visited. The warm fall day seemed to bring everyone for miles to the park. The trails to and from the overlook near the peak were fun and there was a long view from the peak, but the park never clicked for me. Besides lots of people on the trails who looked as if they rarely visited a park, a number of the caches were in areas better left without hides. There was one near a children's playground and one in close proximity to a pair of pit restrooms. State parks often have enough real estate that the less desirable areas can be left cacheless. We found a number of the caches here on a long loop trail along with orchids that had bloomed and a nice snake.
Our visit to nearby Tryon Mountain made the day. There were a number of good trails and lots of mice and quartz. I had a great time playing with the transparent sheets letting sunlight pass through. Ali also spotted a well hidden tree frog near one of the caches. We didn't stay to hunt the night cache, but had plenty of time to enjoy the trails here and a few caches.
Friday, February 14, 2014
27 September 2013 Eartha
Our day included a stop at DeLorme Headquarters to see Eartha, the world's largest globe. DeLorme is an iconic brand to many geocachers, but our ties to the company's product go back to many years before the satellites were turned on. When we first got together, we spent days and days exploring back roads and new places with the DeLorme map books. Since I am terrible with maps, Ali usually managed the DeLorme while I made the turns. We had great days then just exploring roads and places where the DeLorme took us. Eartha was amazing, and we found the caches hidden on the grounds.
Saturday, February 08, 2014
26 September 2013 Meeting Friends
The opportunity of meeting friends from Ali's time in graduate school sealed our vacation plans for Maine and surrounding states. Three of us had gathered in Portland a few years prior. This year, Ali was able to spend some time with both her grad school friends.
One of the friends has roots in Ogunquit with a family home that traces back to the first residents. We were lucky to visit the home and share its history before spending the day visiting the shore and the beach. The years have flown by and too many have passed since we were last all able to visit in San Francisco. The day was too short, but it was a perfect day in Ogunquit to spend a day being a tourist with friends.
It was fun to see the pedestrian lift bridge in action.
I'm not a big lobster fan, but the scallop roll was really good.
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We looked for the cache at Webhannet Falls, but missed the find. We settled for a visit to the park and falls.
Our last stop of the day was a waterside find along the shore at Webhannet. The park seemed as though it was deserted but the cache was a fun chance to explore and be by the water.
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Thursday, January 16, 2014
21 September 2013 Enjoying Portland
Our first stop of the day was filled with much anticipation. On our last visit we had stopped by the farmers market and had a great time. At that time the market was held during the week and was in downtown. Besides some wonderful looking farm produce, there was a lot of great prepared food and more than a few places selling amazing baked goods. The market had moved to a large city park and was now held on Saturdays. There was little in baked goods and prepared foods offerings, but the produce was sensational. Walking through a market like that makes me wish we had a means of cooking our meals. Everything looked great.
We finally settled on a couple jars of jam with the hope they would survive the flight home and Ali bought some apples for the week and got an early lunch which looked and smelled great. As happens so often, food was not my top priority in the late morning. My happy highlight of the trip was finding a stand that sold at least a dozen exotic varieties of garlic. I love garlic. I really love roasted garlic. I had no idea there were so many exotic varieties out there. I picked four to try out roasted once we returned home. The market had changed, but it was still a fun walk and is still the best farm market I have visited.
On our way to Sebago Lake, we stopped by Chaffin Pond Preserve for a couple finds. We enjoyed the trails and a nice fall walk in the woods.
On our last trip to Maine, we cached at Sebago Lake but didn't get to the state park. We enjoyed our time near the lake on that visit so Ali planned time at Sebago Lake State Park on this visit. It was a super place to spend an afternoon. We had fun on the trails, and I got to enjoy looking at the mica.
While on the trails we found a number of caches placed by longlakeloonies. At one point, we were searching for a cache and were ready to give up thinking it was missing. As we were picking up our cache bags, Ali spotted a saint bernard on the trail approaching from the other direction. We knew longlakeloonies had saint bernards and cached with them. Not that many people have saint bernards. A few seconds later the family appeared with a new cache container. All we could say was wow, Maine cachers know how to treat visitors. They were actually doing a maintenance walk on their caches and had spare containers. We spent some time talking caching before moving on.
I can't explain why I like finding old cars in the woods, but I do. Maybe its the ponderings of how do they get there or what history did they see before they came to this end. I always liked the early 50's Mercury so the one was a great sighting. I think the other is an early 50's Chevy with the post-war fenders. Both are slowly rusting into oblivion and being consumed by the mud of the wetlands.
The area was also home to a small bottle dump. From the gathered collection, I guess I am not the only person who likes to see what old bottles are lying around. The milk bottle was faded, but the Orange Crush brought back childhood memories. I never liked Crush, but one of my sisters did.
As we approached this log there were at least a dozen turtles hanging out. They have an amazing ability to sense potential danger. One-by-one they either flopped or quietly slid into the water as we arrived. By the time I took this image, only the few, hearty, brave remained.
If you carried your picnic basket the way we approached this area, you would need to be a hearty soul. Although we were not treated to many bird sightings during our visit, this looks like a great place to relax and wait for a few ducks.
We enjoyed the early color changes in the trees as we walked along the water.
We had never seen a hand operated swing bridge before. There's a crank in the floor of the bridge on the pivot point. When a boat approaches and needs to pass, a park employee goes onto the bridge, grabs the handle and walks counterclockwise cranking the bridge open. Once the boat passes, the employee reverses direction, grabs the handle, and walks clockwise to return the bridge to its original position. I can't believe there were ever many of these in existence, but now I've seen one. They should attract volunteers to do this as a workout program.
Starting to rotate...
Halfway there...
Waving the boat through...
Reversing the bridge...
Almost our turn...
We stopped in Casco, Maine for a cache and grange hall Waymarking. A multi in the town took us to Pleasant Lake which certainly lives up to its name.
We found a lightly visited puzzle based on Jim Croce before stopping at this quiet, old rest stop for a cache and a great view of the water.
This was road side near our last cache find. Just looking at the image, I can hear God Save The Queen playing...
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