Kennebunkport, Maine

August 14
Friday

Still traveling south on Hwy 1.

The historic village of Castine was worth a detour. One of the oldest settlements in North America, it is named for a French nobleman who lived among the Algonquian natives here in the late 1600s.

It was an important seaport fought over by the British and Colonial Americans.

Walked past beautiful Federal and Greek Revival homes, including former summer homes of literary figures Mary McCarthy and Robert Lowell.

300 beautiful Elm trees grace the town and the townspeople have been laboring long and hard to protect them from Dutch Elm disease.

Crossing this span I notice the sign saying Ft Knox to the left but was already in the wrong lane and decided not to go back. 

Decided I can't see it all.

Am I losing interest in parts of the trip?  Guess so....

Lunch at Moody's Diner in Waldeboro which has been there since 1927.  I think the guy next to me at the counter was one of the original customers. 

Stopped at a roadside stand for blueberries. 

Maine is not only known for lobster.

Blueberries find their way into everything, including ale and coffee.

Under the table staying cool were these two cute little Yorkies.

On down the coast had to stop at the LL Bean flagship store and since their outlet was there along with a lot of others I had to  make a donation. Three tops for the price of one.

It all started in 1917 when avid sportsman Leon Bean opened his outdoors shop, now a 140,000 square foot building.

Rocky Maine coast is gorgeous.

In camp my neighbors had an entire table set up as a bar.

I was predicting some heavy partying later and I was right. 

They invited me for a drink, but at midnight it was still going on. I could have called Security but instead closed my windows and it was silent.  DUH!!!

Saturday August 15 

Couldn't leave Maine without a visit to the Bush's Kennebunkport.

   

Kennebunk and Kennebunkport are two separate villages.  Both filled with all the shops you expect, and lots of good cafes.

Walked across the bridge from Kennebunk to Kennebunkport and caught a trolley which gave a tour around the entire area.

Yes, that is a bunch of locks on the bridge which people have been copying the Europeans who lock up their love with this tradition.

There were many interesting sights around town...........

The tour took us to the beach, that's the last remaining of 19 Algonquin hotels and it is condos now.

We saw many historic homes ....

But what we all wanted to see was the Bush compound of course.  

George and Barbara live in the big house on the right at the end of the peninsula and the other homes all belong to family members.

 The main house was built in 1921 as a wedding present for  George H.W. Bush's great uncle.

This little guy on the trolley was so cute until the last half hour when we were treated to crying and tantrums.