Aug. 18 - Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

"When a man moves away from nature, his heart becomes hard." —Lakota Proverb

One day we decided to drive over to Boothbay to visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. There are 300 acres of gardens and natural spaces to explore, which includes a native butterfly and moth house, a children's garden and a fairy house village, just to name a few of the special features the gardens have to offer. The biggest draw for us this visit were the giant trolls. They were designed by Thomas Dambo who lives and works in Copenhagen. The pieces are staggering, and each sculpture simultaneously invites seekers into the depths of the woodlands while telling a story of conservation. The Trolls are the guardians of the seeds. Each one of the trolls represents a part of the tree and tells a story about why every part of the tree is important to the whole forest. The kids had a great time finding the trolls and learning their stories.

Roskva - Stands for the trunks. She is the heaviest, hardest and strongest of the trolls. Every day, Roskva climbs towards the sky, and every year she grows taller and wider. If a troll forgets something, they can always ask Roskva—she counts the seasons and remembers everything that happens around her.

Birk - Holds the roots. He is the wisest and most mysterious of the trolls. He hides in the shadows and listens to the whispers of the soil. He knows everything that happens in the wild, and every day he tells tales to all the other creatures of the forest.

Lilja - Holds the scent of the flowers. Just last summer, Lilja came out from her hiding place. The youngest of the trolls, she’s still just a child. She loves the colors and the scents of the flowers and when bees and butterflies fly among branches.

Søren - Sticks up for the branches. He is a very curious troll; his head is always turning and twisting, searching for places ever higher. He dreams about drifting around on a cloud in the sky, and when the wind is blowing, he loves to celebrate with a dance.

Gro - Smiles with the leaves. She is the wanderer. Every fall she disappears, but the trolls are not worried because every spring she returns to the forest. On her return, Gro walks around to make sure every friend of hers is fed. After hurrying to catch a few sunbeams and a handful of raindrops, she creates a feast for the forest.

The day was a little wet and cool, but the kids still had a great time exploring the gardens.

This is a little playhouse in the children's garden...it's one of my favorite parts of the gardens.

Legend has it that a fairy village has existed on this hilly forest clearing overlooking the shoreline since the first settlement of the mainland by the Monhegan water fairies nearly 8,000 years ago. It's a great story and the kids really had a good time adding their fairy house to the village.

I really enjoyed the butterfly and moth house.

And all the flowers were amazing.

Aug. 13-20 Maine Family Vacation

“My family is my strength and my weakness.” – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Summer vacations are about having fun, eating ice cream, swimming, playing games, exploring, riding bikes, hiking, experiencing new things, and enjoying good food. But most of all it's about spending time with family and making lifelong memories. We've been doing all these things this summer and enjoying every minute. Here are the highlights of our first few days in Maine.

Rockport harbor...our house was up on the hill just to the right of the big white house in the middle of this picture.

Our first morning we rode bikes and then hiked the Aldermere Farm Ocean Trail. The tide was out so we had a very large rock beach. Not good for swimming, but it was fun to explore. We found a little sea glass and lots of cool rocks.

After our hike we went to Lincolnville for a lobster lunch at McLaughlin's Lobster Shack and a little fun at the beach.

We had lobsters, steamers, chowder, fries, coleslaw, cornbread, a little cold beer and lots of butter.

On our second morning we drove up to Mount Battie. We did a little hiking, climbed the tower to enjoy the view and picked a lot of wonderful plumb blueberries.

The view is incredible from Mount Battie. We could see all of Camden Harbor and miles of Penobscot Bay.

This photo was taken when Stan and I hiked up to Mount Battie in 2013. The Pearl was moored in the harbor and we could see the fog roll in and out. On this visit we had nothing but blue skies.

Everyone had fun picking blueberries.

After our hike we had a nice lunch in Camden and ice cream for dessert.

We spent the afternoon at Laite Memorial Beach with a view of Camden's outer harbor.

Every day was full of fun and a little adventure.

And lots of arts and craft time.

Back to Maine

“Don't educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be Happy. So when they grow up they will know the value of things, not the price.” –Steve Jobs

We're back in Maine, except for a drive through on our way to New Brunswick in 2019, we haven't spent any time here since 2016. We love Maine and it feels wonderful to be back. We're here this time with our family to spend a week relaxing and exploring the Camden area. 

On our way north we drove through the southern coastline of Maine. A place we didn't get to visit when we came on The Pearl. It's a beautiful, but very touristy area of Maine. We stopped to see the Nubble Lighthouse and then spent the day in Kennebunkport. Kennebunkport is a cute little coastal town. It was the summer home of President George H. W. Bush. It was first incorporated as Cape Porpoise in 1653. 

Nubble Lighthouse

Kennebunkport, ME

Walker's Point (The Bush compound)

An 'Anchor to Windward' As he was for our nation and world during four years of tumultuous and historic change, so, too, has Kennebunkport served, in the words of St. Paul, "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast" to him. -presented by those who love him as much as he loves this special place

The house we've rented is called the Page House. It's an 1830’s era captain's cottage located in Rockport Harbor’s historic village. In the 1870s, the home belonged to the Talbot family. They owned a General store in town called Talbot, Rust & Gould, as well as a shipyard and a patent kiln in the harbor. In the 1950s, the home’s first floor was a Cantonese restaurant named the House of Hong. The House of Hong hosted many local luminaries and became a hang out for cast members from the classic film Peyton Place which was filmed in nearby Camden. Across three centuries, the house has welcomed artists, musicians and writers. 

The kitchen 

The Bedrooms