Maine Weekend

Maine Weekend

This weekend we loaded up Ruby Tuesday and headed for the coast of Maine. We already had a plan to go there when last week Audrey asked me out of the blue, "Dad, can we go to a lighthouse someday?" Excellent timing! That gave me a theme for planning what to do on the trip.

Audrey had her first soccer game Saturday morning, followed immediately by her first ballet lesson. Charlotte had her first ballet lesson at the same time as Audrey's soccer game. Our chauffeuring career has begun! We were done with all that by 11:00 and we got out of town before 1:00. It's less than a two hour drive to our destination.

We stayed at the KOA campground in Saco, ME. KOAs are like the McDonald's of camping - they aren't exactly "wild" but you always know what you're going to get: clean and well-run. And they serve inexpensive outdoor pancake breakfasts! This one even had an ice cream social Saturday night.

I brought along Audrey's bike. She was very concerned that the campground wouldn't have paved roads. It didn't, but it had well-packed gravel and she had a great time riding her bike around the loop where we were camped. Audrey finally let me show her how to tip the bike to one side and lean on that foot while getting started and that made a big difference. That girl just does not want to be told how to do things!

After exploring the campground we headed for Schooner Mini-golf nearby. Carol and I were neck and neck for the entire round but I ended up winning by a stroke on the last hole.

Then we drove through the busy little town of Old Orchard Beach, complete with an amusement park right on the beach. It looks like a fun place to stay for a few days next summer and there are some campgrounds right in town. The KOA also runs a shuttle to the town.

Back at the campsite I built a very slow-developing fire. The wood seemed dry but it took forever to get going. I'm going to have to cheat and pack a blowtorch. We all roasted hot dogs for dinner and then the girls headed off to the ice cream social while I watched the fire. Even after ice cream it was still mandatory that each girl roast a marshmallow and make a s'more before bed.

Audrey and Charlotte befriended boys Nathan and Christopher at the ice cream social and we ended up at the pancake breakfast with them, too. Then they all played together at the playground for quite a while before we headed back to break camp.

I had done some research on lighthouses while planning the trip. Maine has dozens of them but many are not open to the public. Even the ones that are have restrictions on age or height the preclude our kids from climbing the towers. We ended up going to the most popular Maine lighthouse: Portland Head Light. No tower climbing, but a decent museum and it's in a large park that is the former Fort Williams (for those of you in Seattle, think Fort Casey).

We spent several hours at the park. After visiting the lighthouse and museum we had a great picnic on the grass. Then we explored the rest of the park, following little trails to secret picnic tables and to chimneys for underground rooms near the old gun emplacements. Audrey and I got out on the shore rocks a bit.

I thought we could squeeze in one more lighthouse before heading home. I tried to find Portland Breakwater Light, aka "Bug Light", but instead I found Spring Point Ledge Light. Charlotte was tired and stayed in the van to play games with Carol while Audrey and I ventured out on the jetty to the light. The jetty is made of large quarried blocks of granite (5-6' on a side) placed with level tops and jumpable gaps between them. Audrey loved it. On the way back I asked her to count the rocks she stepped on and she counted 127.

While packing for the trip I remembered to pack binoculars and the girls' new magnifying glass. We used them a lot while exploring Fort Williams. We could see several other lighthouses in the distance, and we watched a large tanker very slowly enter the harbor and dock with the help of three tug boats.

One of my main missions as a dad is to show my kids as much of the world as I can. When I feel like I've created a good dose of discovery it makes me very happy so I came home from this trip on a high. Great weekend.