Down the shore

Vanlog, Rehoboth Beach, DE

Got a late start this morning, waking around 8 AM. After breakfast, we walked behind our campsite and over the dunes to the beach. We set up our beach chairs and waded in the water. It felt cold at first, but it was really warm once you were in it for a while. The surf was a little rough and it felt good when the waves crashed against your legs. Dad didn't wade in too far---only about ot his knees. Despite the cool breeze and sun being behind the clouds, he didn't sit out very long wither ont he beach, preferring to head back to the campsite and sit in the van. I left the beach around 10:15 and we abandoned our lovely campsite. We saw some more horses around the beach as we were on our drive out. 

We then headed south for about 1 hr 15 min to the southern (Virginia) part of Assateague Island National Seashore and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, where they have a historic lighthouse and where we also saw a band of wild horses running along the edge of the water. 

Then we stopped at a NASA facility on Wollop's Island, where they had a visitor's center, gift shop, and some films explaining how they use sound rockets and old aircraft and weather balloons to send scientific experiments into near space and the upper atmosphere. 

Finally, we drove up the coast through Ocean City MD, Fenwick Island, Bethany Beach, Dewey, and Rehoboth Beach. In Rehoboth, we parked on the street and walked the boardwalk just after it stopped raining and saw a beautiful half rainbow over the ocean, got some frozen custard from Kohr Bros, and bought Rachel some saltwater taffy. Then we ate at the local Cracker Barrel and boondocked in their parking lot overnight. 

One last hurrah

Vanlog, Assateague Island National Seashore

Dad came down to Lancaster today and we left at 8:30 for one last summer trip before the school year starts next week. We drove five hours down to the Maryland entrance to Assateague Island National Seashore. It was after 2 PM when we arrived, checked out the visitor's center, watched a film, and found our campsite. By the time we arrived there were some storm clouds in the distance. However, later in the afternoon, it cleared up and was a pleasant 92 degrees! We saw both wild horses and deer from the campground roads and walked up and down the beach before sunset.

Assateague is pretty cool. This is our campsite--ocean side. The beach is just over the dune behind our parking spot, an easy walk. Hopefully we will get up in time for a nice sunrise photo. 

We had some hamburger, potatoes, carrots, and onions for dinner. Dad sure looks like a happy #vanlifer. After it got dark, we made a campfire and had some s'mores.

Glamping in style the #vanlife way! Father and son, pals forever. 

Back to (un)civilization

Vanlog, Ridgefield, CT

How about them Phillies last night? Ninth-inning comeback and walk-off Bryce Harper grand slam! 2-0 since they hired Charlie Manuel as their hitting coach.

Wake-up call at 7:30 AM. We slept well in the pier parking lot and woke to the sound of a light rain and seagulls. It was foggy in the morning. We drove a short ways to the Portland Breakwater Lighthouse (aka "Bug Light"), where we had our breakfast. Jessica made herself an omelette in the van and I had cereal and yogurt. This small but quaint lighthouse was built in 1875 and its  unique architecture was inspired by the Choragic monument near the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. 

The skies cleared as we drove an hour south on Rt 95 to Portsmouth, NH. We parked in a metered lot and then walked around Prescott Park for a little over an hour. 

Well, that's pretty much it for our Maine vacation. It was back to reality as soon as I hit the highway again. What should've been a four-hour drive to our college friend Krissy in Ridgefield, CT turned into a 5 1/2-hr ordeal. Friday traffic around Boston, rush hour traffic in Hartford, and more traffic, traffic, traffic. This is the absolute worst kind of driving--stop and go, on the brakes, shifting lanes, going at a crawl, making no progress at all. I am convinced there are just too many people in the world, especially on the East coast. IAnd what's the deal with people merging from the exit ramps and thinking that they have the right of way? 

Anyway, we arrived safely in Ridgefield to visit our old college friend. Shoutout to Krissy's mom, always the quintessential host and homemaker, made us a delicious meal with chicken ont he grill, grilled veggies and tomatoes, and popovers. This is just a small part of her immaculate garden here. 

We'll have an early breakfast with Krissy tomorrow, enjoy our hot showers, and then it's another 4-hr drive (or will this one also take 5 1/2 hrs?) to home and the conclusion of another vantastic vacation!

A picture postcard day in Portland, Maine

Vanlog, Portland pier parking lot, Portland, ME

Wow! What a day! We woke up in the Cabela's parking lot around 7 AM and drove to Cape Elizabeth, ME to the Portland Head Light House parking lot, where we had breakfast and then walked the trails along the cliff with unbelievable views of the quintessential Maine light house. Absolutely stunning! 

Then we drove into downtown Portland. This was fun! We were trying to find parking in the late morning with a big camper van in the Old Port area. There was the one parking lot that would park us next to a guardrail for $45 a day. Nope! Too expensive for my tastes. The $15 a day lot was full though and the parking garages were way too short for my tall van. We must have circled the block and the filled $15 a day lot for 45 minuted before Jessica flagged down some people who were leaving and stood in the space until I could back into it. Parallel parking on a curve in a tight squeeze. Yep, fun! Anyway, we parked and then got lunch at Porthole. Ain't no laws when you're eating lobster claws (or lobster rolls as the case may be). Our first ever lobster rolls. First ever White Claw too!

We had all afternoon to kill and were not giving up our parking space for anything, so we walked a mile to the Portland Art Museum. And wow! What a nice gem of an art museum! Many Winslow Homers, Picasso, Renoir, Monet, Sargent, Whistler, Rockwell Kent, Andrew Wyeth, and many more. I even loved the modern art section here. Great, great museum. Five stars.

On the mile walk back to the car, we stopped at a local Italian market store and bought some rice crackers, creamy Havarti cheese, and an amazing bottle of moscato d'asti from Strev for our sunset cruise on the Wendameen. The Wendameen is a windjammer owned by the Portland Schooner Co. Our cruise of Casco Bay was from 6-8 and included a beautiful sunset and calm waters. Perfect weather for a sail! Following the sail, we had a 2 min walk to our car in the pier's parking lot. A beautiful red full moon was just coming up. Since we were paid for 24 hrs til tomorrow at 11:41 AM, we decided just to spend the night right there. No signs saying you couldn't. We expect to wake up to the sound of seagulls tomorrow. 

A quality day in Maine

Vanlog, Bath, ME

We actually slept in today! Until a little after eight! We had the George's Highland Trailhead parking lot to ourselves last night, a nice tucked away boondocking site on a quiet rural road outside of Camden, ME. Got a good night's sleep. We drove to Camden Hills State Park and climbed the steep Mount Battie Road to the summit of Mount Battie, which overlooks the harbor of scenic Camden below. There, we maneuvered the van such that we had these incredible views from the van with the sliding door open while Jessica made us pancakes with fresh Maine blueberries and homemade maple syrup from our sugar maple tree this past February. People would pay for this experience! We are becoming quite the experts at finding good places with scenic views to have breakfast in the van.

They also have a nice observation tower on the summit of Mount Battie with a charming guard at the base of it. 

Jessica wanted to do some hiking this morning (LOL), so we parked the car along Rt 52 and hiked the popular Maiden Cliffs Trail for phenomenal views from the top of Megunticook Lake--1 mile up with an elevation gain of 800 ft and then the much easier mile return. Jessica's still mad I wouldn't let her keep her favorite hiking stick (didn't want ants in the van).

After the challenging hike in 85 degree weather, we drove across the street to Lake Megunticook Lake itself and did a little swimming. At least, I did some swimming. I swam out to the quaint diving platform in the lake and back several times. That idiot out there with his arms int he air in a sign of victory is just me showing off. Jessica dipped her feet in the water. It was nice and warm--quite refreshing. And I'm counting it as my weekly shower too!

We drove about 10 miles to Rockland, ME and the Farnsworth Art Museum. This quaint little museum hosts the Wyeth Center in an old church building with three generations of Wyeth painters (similar but smaller than the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford) and other art featuring the Maine coastline. 

Next stop was at Owls Head Light Station (no apostrophe) in Rockland, ME.

Finally, we drove 2 hours to Portland, ME, stopping along the way at Waterfront Park in Bath to cook some raclette for dinner and then staying overnight in the Cabela's parking lot in nearby Scarborough. Overall, a quality day.