Angie’s cousin, Rachel, and her husband, Mike, live on Long Island, Maine, which is reached by a passenger only ferry from Portland, ME. It’s very expensive and not so secure to park the RV in Portland, so we checked in for two nights at the lovely Winslow RV park in Freeport. We tried to check in an hour early to enjoy a little down time after the drive before we had to drive 30-minutes to Portland for the 3 pm ferry. But we were denied.
We drove back out three miles to the main road where we had spied a brew pub. Luckily they were open and we enjoyed a delicious lunch of a lobster roll and a thai salad with papaya and peanuts. After lunch, we returned to the campground to drop the trailer and headed to Portland.
Angie had reserved a scenic waterfront campsite on the bay shore for us. But there was no time to explore that on our first night. It’s a good thing we hustled to arrive an hour early for the ferry, because the first four parking areas we tried were either full or exorbitantly priced. Hank was freaking out, but Angie calmly found a fifth option just four blocks away.
Charlie marched right on the ferry without hesitation. It was close to the water, after all. We decided to sit below deck because, in our rush, we had forgotten to bring jackets. We heard the captain announce that the blue angels were practicing for an upcoming show. Hank suggested that Angie head topside to check it out. No sooner than she got on deck and raised her camera, six blue angels flew by in diamond formation at low altitude! What a nice welcome.
Rachel picked us up at the ferry dock on Long Island and gave us a driving tour. It didn’t take long because the island is only three miles long and one mile wide. There are several amazing beaches and some beautiful homes. There are only 200 residents who winter on the island but in the summer months, the population swells to thousands. The highlight of the tour was a visit to the old primary school house, which Rachel’s friend, Barbara, had tastefully remodeled into a lovely home.
Rachel works remotely for a property management firm in Hawaii, so her workday begins at 2 pm local time. However, she was able to adjust her schedule to maximize time with us during our one-night visit. Her husband, Mike, is an HVAC contractor who travels daily to the mainland for his projects. After a three-year wait, he had just received a reserved parking space for his shoreside truck. The parking fee will now be billed at a much more affordable monthly rate. We paid $50 per day for our spot.
Rachel and Mike put out an amazing surf and turf feast on their deck for us. We had freshly caught lobster that was delivered to their door that day. Mike also prepared ribeye steak bites seasoned deliciously the way his father taught him. He called it the “four seasons” method – salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. The meat was tender, moist and delicious. The lobster was perfectly cooked. Mike removed the claws and tails and showed us how to crack and de-vein them. Rachel prepared perfect Yukon Gold baked potatoes, salad and corn on the cob.
We had such a good time eating and talking that we missed the first 30 minutes of the US-Belgium World Cup match. By the time we tuned in, the US team was down 2-1. As you know by now, it only went downhill from there. The US team looked outclassed at both ends of the field. Pretty disappointing since they returned mostly the same team from four years ago and Belgium was missing a couple of their stars. But Mike eased our pain by serving strawberry shortcake with ice cream for dessert.
We slept great in a king-sized bed in their guest room. Hank could toss and turn easily without having to hug the edge of the mattress to avoid waking Angie. A hot shower in a spacious stall was a welcome luxury, also.
Mike had to leave early for a couple of jobs on the mainland. Hank and Angie enjoyed a leisurely coffee with Rachel before setting off on a walking tour to several nearby beaches. Angie got some great pictures, including one of an adorable little girl with a lobster-shaped floating toy.
We got back to the house just in time to drive to the island’s only cafe, where we lunched with Barbara, her husband JC, and another of Rachel’s dear friends, Karen. JC is a Selectman (city council member) on the island and the co-owner of the lobster boat “Wild Irish Rose”, which appeared in the 2021 crime drama “Downeast”. The food, drinks, company and setting on the hillside above the ferry dock, were outstanding.
Back at Freeport, Charlie enjoyed a swim in the bay. Hank turned in early with a sore throat and fatigue that signaled an on-coming cold. Since we had been dry camping, we ran the generator to re-charge our trailer battery before hitting the road to Acadia National Park, near Bar Harbor, ME.
We camped at Blackwoods Campground at Acadia National Park. We ate some of the left-over lobster that Mike and Rachel had sent us away with. Then Hank hit the sack to allow his body to fight off the cold. Angie ran into town to buy some cough suppressant and expectorant, as Hank’s cold progressed from Hank’s throat to his sinuses and we knew it would soon settle in his chest.
The next morning, Angie secured a 10 am reservation for the scenic drive to the top of nearby Cadillac Mountain. We also stopped at Jordan Pond. Hank was able to tag along on the drive, but didn’t do much of the walking that Angie did to capture some great photos. We ate lunch on a restaurant deck with Charlie before taking Charlie for a swim at Little Long Pond, a shallow, brackish pond a little less than a mile long. We saw a couple canoeing on the pond and decided to return the next day with our inflatable kayak. We returned to camp where Hank rested and Angie did some genealogy research for her role as a registrar for the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Starlink antennae once again came in handy, since Angie didn’t have very good cell reception.
The next day Hank was feeling better. After a leisurely morning in camp, we drove to town for lunch at a waterfront restaurant. Then we returned to Little Long Pond, where we inflated the kayak and cast off. It was another beautiful day. The pond was peaceful. There was a bit of a headwind on the way out, but the scenery was gorgeous – old forest and low mountains. The only sign of development was an old boathouse half-way up the pond. We saw a few quiet groups on shore swimming, fishing and hiking and a lone kayaker practicing white water maneuvers – tight turns and circles. We saw a mother duck escorting a lone ducking back to shore. We watched an osprey make several unsuccessful dives for fish. We drifted downwind on our leisurely return to the put-in spot. We returned to camp and Angie cooked scallops Rachel and Mike had given us and finished off the lobster.
