Portland Head Light by Night, Portland Maine

 I have been there many times myself.... I found this old postcard of the "Portland Head Light by Night, Casco Bay, Portland, Maine" and I think it is just perfect.  The postcard is unused and undated.

Surf and Rocks, Casco Bay, Portland, Maine

This undated postcard shows Casco Bay in Portland Maine.

Elephant Mountain and Wilson Pond, Maine

This old card was sent from Portland in 1938, showing Elephant Mountain and Wilson Pond in Maine.

Western Promenade, Portland, ME.

This postcard was sent in 1910 (YES, 1910) from Portland Maine to a friend in Florida.

Yachts at Anchor, Gloucester, Massachusetts.

This postcard was sent from Kennebunkport Maine in 1933.  It shows a tranquil view of Gloucester, Massachusetts

Acadia National Park in Maine

I mentioned before that we were in the Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park area over 10 years ago, and it was very foggy that day. 

Well, it was great getting back here on a pleasant day with good weather.

In fact, on that trip long ago, we went to the top of Cadillac Mountain and we could see nothing.  Just fog.

This day was different.  We did take an excursion through the cruise line that gave us about a 2 hour tour through the park with a very informative guide, and we had some time to hang out at the top of the mountain for great views.

We got on our bus and we were toured around Acadia National Park.  Our guide talked about the fire of 1947, that took out about half of Bar Harbor, and a third of the park. 

He pointed out the old growth (pre-fire) and the new growth and the differences.  He noted that the rich and famous used to party in the area.  He talked about the "bar" which is a piece of land that you can walk on at low tide. 

Our guide pointed out a nice house owned by Law and Order producer Dick Wolf, who's neighbors include Martha Stewart.

He told us the story of a man building a nice house (he pointed it out) who asked a young lady to marry him.  She agreed to, but only after sailing back home to see family.  On her return ship (the Titanic) she died.  He then told us that the story was false, but had been told around the area as true forever. 

Anyway, we had a very nice tour around the area. 


There is so much to see here though.  A two hour drive through is just not enough time, BUT the excursion was a great way to see a LOT of the park in a couple of hours.

Bar Harbor Maine

Bar Harbor Maine was our first stop after technically leaving Canada, and getting back into the US.  Before we left the ship, we had to show our passports to an immigration official, then we could get on one of the lifeboats to be tendered to Bar Harbor.

We were told to be in line at 7:30 for the immigration thing.  We got in line around 7:20.  A big line had already formed.  The line finally moved around 7:45 and we spent a split second showing our passport to the official, he said thank you, then we moved on.  We were walking around Bar Harbor by 8:10.  It was relatively a short, easy process that seemed intimidating at first.

Oh, and the ports of Bar Harbor aren't big enough to accommodate a cruise ship- so they anchor out a bit, and use lifeboats to take you for about a 10 minute ride the last little bit of the way!

I described Bar Harbor to a friend the other day as a "New England Gatlinburg".  There is some great natural beauty here....  but the souvenir shops have popped up around it for sure!

Most of those shops are pretty tasteful though, and you can still enjoy a lot of the natural wonders in an undistracted way.


We were actually in Bar Harbor over a decade ago, on one of our road trips through New England.  It was a very foggy and rainy day back then though, and we really weren't able to enjoy the area to its fullest.

We did go into several shops here, and I do want to say that we LOVED a couple...

Sherman's, the oldest bookstore in Maine is here!

They have a great selection of local gifts, and local books. 

We also ended up spending a good amount of time at Coffee Hound Coffee Bar.  They had some nice drinks, and the place was very pleasant.  We got a couple of coffees and took a seat.  While we were there, we noticed that a LOT of people came in to ask about wi-fi.  Most made no purchases, and a number of them were a bit stiff when asking (no "thank you" or "I appreciate the help").  Anyway, the staff here still politely told each person where to go to try to get wi-fi, and they treated each person asking just as politely as they treated people who actually made a purchase!

The whole area is nice and this is another place I hope to get back to again.

Haunted New England books by Robert Cahill

Hey, I just thought I would give a brief mention to the wonderful series of books by the late Robert Cahill.  I know the first couple of times driving through Salem, it seemed like his books were everywhere!  I stocked up!

If you enjoy authentic ghost stories, tales of unsolved mysteries, and general New England strangeness, Cahill had a well put together, easy to read book for ya!

Plus, he had deep, real roots in Salem.  I wish I could have crossed paths with this author.  Luckily, he was a prolific writer, and we can read his stories.

"Passing Strange" by Joseph A. Citro

I have mentioned before how, sometimes you read a book, and a subject or author comes up.  Maybe something odd is mentioned, and I make a note of it... and it leads to researching another topic or place.

Well, the book, "Passing Strange" by Joseph A. Citro kept popping up as I read other books and material relating to New England.

So I picked up a copy.

The book actually covers some of the lesser known ghost stories, legends and hoaxes.  There were many in here I had never heard of.

Some (The Eddy Brothers) are given more credit than they deserve, but this is still a nice collection of strange tales.

Others are interesting and I need to look up more info on them (The Black Flash of Provincetown, and several mysterious "triangle" areas).  There is the legend of a house that burned to the ground, but still occasionally appears in photos!

New England is such an established area, and there are so many strange legends.  This book by Joseph A. Citro is a good starting point for reading about the strange in that region!

Surf and Rocks on Maine Coast

Sunset in Maine

The New England Grimpendium by JW Ocker

I picked this one up right after Halloween, otherwise I would have mentioned this book in October.  AND, I am on a New England kick right now.

I wanted to read this book because, outside of Kentucky, New England is one of my favorite areas.  My love of Salem in general is well documented on this site, along with several other areas up north.

Also, I love "macabre and ghastly sites".

Maybe "love" is too strong of a word.  "Enjoy a whole heck of a lot" might be more accurate.  At the end of the day, I must admit that I have an appreciation of weirdness in general, especially when I travel.

JW Ocker's "The New England Grimpendium" is a great travel guide noting some of the darker sites one might visit in New England.

I have actually visited a couple of sites listed, but there were MANY more listed that I had no knowledge of before. 

In fact, as far as odd travel type books go, this is one of the more original volumes out there.  I also feel comfortable saying that this is the best dark tourism book I have read in some time.

Ocker's writing style is detailed but fun.  He gives you the facts, some history, and most importantly, details about how to get to the places he mentions.  BUT, he keeps a humorous style going throughout the Grimpendium.  Concerning his entries on Nathaniel Hawthorne he mentions, "it's not stalking if you trace a man's life after he's dead." 

Comments like that are common.

Something else I like about this book is that Ocker generally avoids the dime-a-dozen "haunted" locations that fill the pages of many other travel books with skulls on the cover.  In fact, he only really brings such sites up if there is something else a bit more substantial going on at the location.

JW Ocker's attention to sites with something truly interesting to offer was one of the main reasons that I enjoyed this book so much.  There is a reason he mentions each memorial, museum or other site of interest in his book and thankfully those reasons do not involve the siting of orbs.  JW has done actual legitimate research on this book and the sites mentioned.

Also, there is a great section on filming locations (involving mostly horror films) in New England.

Check out JW Ocker's blog and pick this book up before your next New England road trip!

http://www.oddthingsiveseen.com/

The Gelato Fiasco, Brunswick Maine

We covered a lot of ground on our trip to Maine. Sure, I know most people wouldn't drive out of their way for a coffee/ gelato place, but this place is worth driving out of your way for.

I must say that I am not a big gelato person. In fact, I have come across it rarely. Its like ice cream. Thats my knowledge of it.

The Gelato Fiasco has a unique way of making it, and people were loving it.

I must confess though, I went in for coffee. I had their "God of Thunder" coffee. Well, the coffee smelled great when I went to get it. This is one of those rare coffee shops where the coffee tastes just as good as it smells.

If you are ever near Brunswick or the Portland area, check this place out. It is on a nice street with other cool shops near by.

http://www.gelatofiasco.com/

This might be hard to visualize, but they literally pour hot water directly into a free standing strainer with coffee in it. Your very own cup is placed under the filter, and it is brewed right into your cup. It was delicious!!

I sent an email to Josh at the Gelato Fiasco and asked him about how they make this great coffee. Here is how he explained it:

"We call it a 'Brew Bar'. It's basically a custom-made structure that holds four melita-like filter holders. The key is grinding the beans moments before brewing and using a correct grind with enough coffee beans. It's a little slower than an airport obviously, but the results speak for themselves. I'd say the only downside has been not being able to have coffee any other way or at any other place since we're the only ones I know of in Maine using this system".

I have been to hundreds of coffee shops. Seriously. I love good coffee. I can think of a couple of great places that make a distinct, perfect cup of coffee. This was easily one of the three best cups of coffee I have ever had. Ever.

If you are serious about good coffee and you are within an hour or so of Brunswick Maine make a point to get to this great place. If you are travelling with non-coffee people that's fine, they can have some gelato.

Portland Head Light, Maine

We did visit the Portland Head Light. Very nice light house. I can't say a lot about it, but there is plenty of info around the net. Here are some pictures.

New England

I originally wanted to write mostly about the great state of Kentucky and other areas close by. I still want to keep the theme here pretty much related to Kentucky or areas outside of Kentucky that can easily be visited in a day or weekend trip. For the moment, I hope my reader(s) won't mind my writing about my travels through New England and the states between there and Kentucky.

I know, this is a pretty big stretch for a Kentucky Travel blog, but, for what it is worth, I did the entire trip, there and back, in my car within about 1 week. We left Friday evening around 5 and got back the following Saturday pretty late. We made it a little north of Portland Maine. We made notable stops in several cities.

I will write over the next few weeks about some of our favorite stops. This was our 4th time making this specific trip, so a few areas are becoming pretty familiar to me as a traveller. We did visit 10 minor league baseball parks, seeing games at 5 of them. Feel free to check out my mentions of them on my other blog, kentuckybaseball.blogspot.com.

I love Kentucky and I love the entire country. Getting in my car and just going somewhere is such a treat and a privilege. Not many decades ago, it was an event for someone to travel just a few miles. A trip for my grandfather in to town was somewhat of an event. Now, it is no big deal for me to make a 2500 mile trip in a week just for the fun of it!