After the wedding, it was off to Maine! We had a wonderful time and high recommend our itinerary. I had some vague ideas of what I wanted us to do, a guidebook and some help from the owners of our cottage.
We stayed in a cottage right on the water in Cushing. It was a perfect retreat for us. We had great view of the water, a private beach, nice yard and cozy cottage.
There really isn't much in Cushing. We found the Olson House, which is about the only significant landmark. But we were about six miles from Route 1 and Thomaston, which had a couple of restaurants, and Rockland, which is busy little town, was another 10 miles or so. We basically drove up and down the coast seeing places and enjoyed our day trips. Here's a recap of the first half, as concisely as I can:
Day 1: Boston to Cushing
Travel day. Pretty successful minus the repacking our luggage at the check-in desk and getting swindled by Thrifty Car Rental.
But we got to the cottage about 7 p.m. and found the only place open was a cheap Italian place. We had calzones and called it a night.
The woman that owns the cottage (she and her husband live next door) recommended going out to the Breakwater Lighthouse in Rockland. So that's how we spent the morning. It's about a mile walk on a rock wall out to the lighthouse. It was a little dreary, but we didn't get too wet.
We had lunch in Rockland and did some exploring there, including a visit to the lighthouse museum. We knew we wanted to go to Monhegan Island on Tuesday, and the boat leaves from Port Clyde. We drove down there to buy our tickets and check things out. We also headed up to the Marshall Island lighthouse, aka the Forrest Gump lighthouse.
We cleaned up for dinner and went to The Slipway in Thomaston. They had good seafood and a great view of the harbor. There was a beautiful sunset and a hill with a cross, so we watched the sun go down from there.
Day 3: Monhegan Island
We got up early to get back to Port Clyde and catch the boat to Monhegan Island. Monhegan is an isolated island that has a very small village and then a lot of hiking trails. In the village, there a couple of shops, a restaurant or two, a few inns and B&Bs, a church and a school. There are some "work trucks" but otherwise there are no vehicles on the island. All the roads are either dirt or gravel. The only public restrooms there, you have to pay for. A lot of artists live there or visit, and there is obviously a lobster and fishing industry, but that's about it. The boat is not that big and you can definitely tell you are getting pretty far out in the ocean on the way over. I was a little woozy by the time we got off and snatched up some ginger candy in the first store we came to and started feeling better.
We had picked up the trail map the day before, so we had mapped out our plans for the day. We picked up sandwiches for lunch and began our hike. We basically hiked the coastline of this island. It was absolutely beautiful and breathtaking at places. It was a really unique experience and our favorite day. When we got back to Port Clyde, we ate fresh lobsters on the dock.
Day 4: Camden
Camden is just past Rockland, and there is a state park there we wanted to visit. First we stopped in Camden to explore the town. There is a nice park right on the water with some crazy looking ducks.
We went into a Cappy's Chowder House that was said to have really good clam chowder. J was brave enough to try it, but I went with lobster mac and cheese. We both enjoyed our lunch but felt so full afterward we weren't sure we'd be able to hike. We drove up farther and sat for a while at Lincolnville Beach before going to the state park. We drove up to Mount Batty and enjoyed the views of Camden.
Then we went for what was described as a moderate hike to Mount Megunticook. I wouldn't describe the hike as moderate by any means. It was a steep uphill and the summit turned out to be much higher than Mount Batty, which we had driven to. But the views were worth it, and we worked off our lunch! We went back by Lincolnville Beach to pick up some seafood for dinner.
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