Mt Washington New Hampshire

On Saturday we left Eastport Maine and drove across the state on mostly two lane roads to the Twin Mountain/Mt Washington KOA in the mountains of Northern New Hampshire. This is a beautiful area with old towns with traditional main streets. All the major roads go thru these quaint towns with two and three story buildings on each side of the street. A few of the trees are starting to turn and we wish they would hasten the process but unfortunately we are a little ahead of the autumn colors. It is 48 degrees here this morning but when the sum comes out the temperature will go to the high sixties. On Sunday we first ate breakfast at a very popular old family restaurant and then drove thru some of the towns. We had to wait 15 minutes just to get in the restaurant and could not park until someone left. The food was worth the wait.

Monroe's Family Restaurant

  

Downtown Littleton, NH

Marquee in Littleton

The KOA is at the western base of Mt Washington. Wikipedia reveals the following facts:

"Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288.2 feet and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.

The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, the Mount Washington Observatory recorded a windspeed of 231 miles per hour at the summit, the world record from 1934 until 1996. Mount Washington still holds the record for highest measured wind speed not associated with a tornado or tropical cyclone."

Yesterday, Monday, we rode the COG railway to the top of Mt Washington. You ask what is a COG railway. The one going up to the summit of Mt Washington was the worlds first and commenced operation in 1868. COG refers to the method used to move the train and uses a large gear that mates to a center ladder rail. The only purpose of the railway is to move people to the summit and back down. The average grade is 25 % and the maximum is 37.4 %. The train goes up and down in the same position and the seats are angled for comfort and flipped over for the trip down. Originally the engines were steam powered but now are diesel. There are still two steam units operating for nostalgia but the one we rode was diesel.

Steam powered COG train

Diesel powered COG train

Of course the summit was in the clouds on our visit. We ask one of the employees if there were clear days and she said the summit was in the clouds an average of 300 days a year. In addition to the clouds the summit has hurricane force winds on average 110 days a year. Not a pleasant place and when we got off the train it was 27 degrees with strong wind. I made it to the summit sign but it was difficult to stand up in the strong wind. No chance for a selfie and Pam did not even make the walk up. 

What it looked like when we got off the train

Summit

View from the train once we got below the clouds

Eastport and Lubec Maine

Eastport Maine is on Moose Island connected to the mainland by a causeway. It was once the sardine capital of the world and had about a dozen canneries. Overfishing and the decline in popularity of the sardine decimated the industry and struck a  blow to the economy of Eastport. Before Charleston was dredged Eastport had the deepest port on the east coast. Eastport was incorporated as a town in 1778 and incorporated as a city in 1893. There seems to be no standard definition of a city because we looked it up. Eastport claims to be the easternmost city in the US and that is why we looked up the definition of a city because the population was 1376 in 2019. Eastport also is stated to be the least populated city in Maine. Lubec, a border town just a few miles away is the eastern most town in the US with a population of 314. We personally have difficulty calling Eastport a city but since we do not have a law degree will accept their claim.The Waco Diner in Eastport was established in 1924 and is the oldest diner in Maine. We ate breakfast there on Thursday and then walked up and down Water Street and the port area.

Yesterday we drove over to Lubec. By water Lubec is only a few miles from Eastport but by land it takes 45 minutes to get there. Lubec is connected to Campobello Island, NB, Canada by a bridge and is a border crossing. We wanted to go over and visit the Frankly D Roosevelt  summer home but in addition to a passport and COVID vaccination card, you need to have a negative COVID test within the past two days and we did not have time for that. The Roosevelt summer home is the only home owned by two countries.

Water Street in Eastport Maine

Eastport Harbor, the island center left is Indian Island and the one center right is Campobello Island. Both those islands are in New Brunswick, Canada.

Eastport Post Office

Coast Guard and Border Patrol

Bridge connecting Lubec to Campobello Island, NB

Water Street in Lubec

Welcome sign to Lubec

 

Bath Maine

Bath Maine is on the Kennebec River and is known for ship building. During World War II the Bath Iron Works launched a ship about every 17 days. The clipper ship Wyoming, the largest wooden ship every built (maybe that does not include the Ark), was constructed in Bath. The Wyoming was 450 feet long, 350 feet on deck, and had six masks. It could carry 6000 tons of coal. We rode over to Bath on Tuesday and visited the Maine Maritime Museum which is located on the site where the Wyoming was built. A monk up skeleton of the ship sits on the site where the ship was built. After the ship was completed it was slid down into the river.

Skelton and flag poles representing the size of the Wyoming

Model of the Wyoming

The museum had a section on lobster fishing with a display of lobster trap floats. We mentioned these in a previous post and that each licensed fisherman had a unique float to identify their traps.

Display of lobster floats

Each float has the name of the fisherman

 

Boothbay Harbor Maine

In early February 2020 we were in Florida and friends of ours, Ed and Connie Tilman, convinced us we should join them in BoothBay, ME in August. We made the reservation but after returning home COVID turned everything up side down. The deposit was non-refundable so we had the reservation moved to September 2021. We had not communicated with the Tilman's since February of 2020 and when they did not show up for their reservation at the Tampa RV Show in February 2021 we assumed they would not be in Maine this year. We got to the campground on Wednesday afternoon, September 1st, and had only been here about 30 minuets when to our surprise Ed and Connie returned to the campground from a shopping trip and saw us walking. It was a pleasant surprise.

Boothbay predates the Declaration of Independence and the sign as you enter the area says Established 1764. The area is referred to as the Boothbay Region and consists of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, and several other communities in the area. The economy today appears to be based mostly on tourism and lobster fishing. We took a boat tour of the harbor and saw many colorful floats in the water. We were informed that they marked individual lobster fisherman's assigned trap location. The floats are unique to the licensed fisherman and no two are alike. Each licensee is allowed a maximum of five traps.

Our tour boat

Float marking location of lobster traps

Boothbay Harbor from a hilltop

There is a walking bridge across the inlet portion of the harbor that was built in 1901.

Footbridge

Inlet view of harbor from footbridge

Seaward view of harbor from footbridge

View of town from footbridge

Street near the harbor

There are a number of lighthouses in the harbor as well as pleasure boats. Boothbay is a popular boating area and there are many pleasure boats of all types including sail boats.

One of several lighthouses in the harbor

Sailing along on Boothbay Bay

  

Kennebunkport on Tuesday

On Tuesday we took a drive along Ocean Ave and stopped to take a few photos of Walkers Point, made famous by George H. W. Bush when he was president and it was used as the Summer White House. President 41 spent much of his childhood on Walkers Point and the property belonged to his matinal grandfather, George H. Walker. When his Grandfather died the property was purchased from the estate by George H. Walker, Jr, Bush's Uncle. When his Uncle died in 1977 George H. W. Bush purchased the property and it has remained in the Bush family ever since. Several of the Bush children have also built homes on the point and the family continues to vacation there.

Walkers Point

Closeup of the house out on the point

Other homes on Walkers Point - notice the two Secret Service vehicles near the gate.

Kennebunkport on Monday

On Monday we made a run to Walmart and took Buddy so he would feel like he got to go somewhere. Walmart is in the opposite direction from Kennebunkport so we stopped back by the motorhome, put up the groceries, and left Buddy behind. By the time we got to town it was close to 1 PM and we were hungry. We are not seafood fans but thought we should at least try some lobster while we are in Maine. Walking down the street we saw a long line waiting to order at The Clam Shack. We thought the food must be good with all those folks standing in line so decided to give it a go.

Standing in line at The Clam Shack

We finally made it to the window and saw the prices. Ouch! So we decided to chalk this up to a bucket list thing and fork over the cash. Long story short $77.06 later we have a clam strip box, a lobster roll box, a small drink, and a bottle of water. The lobster was cold, chewed like rubber, and reminded me of fish bait. The clam strips were warm, but as Pam said, give us chicken any day over this stuff. The best part of the meal was the tiny cup of slaw.

Just past The Clam Shack was a nice view of the harbor from the bridge. There were tons of shops and I waited outside while Pam browsed. Although in one shop she did more than browse and purchased a shirt. We want mention the price but it reminded me of The Clam Shack.

Kennebunkport Harbor

Just down the street from the harbor is a house that is 224 years old referred to as the Aaron Hovey House. There is a plaque below the door with the date 1797.

Plaque below door

Aaron Hovey House

Further down the street and side by side are the Nott House and the Village Baptist Church. In 2020 the Village Baptist Church celebrated it's 200 year anniversary. What is even more impressive is that is the original building. The Nott House was built in 1853 by a local merchant and donated to the Kennebunkport Historical Society when the last relative died. The house contains most of the original furnishings down to the carpet. Pam loves old houses so we took a tour.

Village Baptist Church

Nott house - notice Baptist church next door

Master bedroom. Notice the old worn carpet.

The fireplace in this room is made from Tennessee marble

View from the master bedroom. When the house was built the owners could see the harbor from the bedroom.

  

Kennebunkport, ME

We arrived in Kennebunkport Maine yesterday. The weather is cool here and the air conditioners have not come on since we got here. We had the windows open for awhile but soon had to close them.

Buddy keeping Pam warm while they take a nap

We drove down to the beach this morning and it cost $25 a day to park. There were a lot of people walking and many of them with their dogs. Buddy was right at home. 

No sun to speak of all day

Our $25 parking spot

Some of the houses are large and some small. If we sold everything we own we still might not be able to purchase even a small one with an ocean view like the two below. These two houses only have the road and the sea wall between them and the beach.

Small house 

Large house

Condo on the beach