Maine was Great!!

Maine was great! Too short and of course not nearly enough time to fit in all we wanted to do but none the less, Great! We managed to leave about 12:45 on Friday afternoon in the rain. Ben was too excited to eat lunch before we left but fell asleep anyway in the truck about 40 minutes into the ride. But then only slept about 30 minutes and woke up starving. So we stopped at the Purmort exit on I-89 in NH and got sandwiches at the Subway in the truck stop. Ben ate almost an entire 6" sub by himself! We headed out again but by the time we got onto Route 4 headed East Ben was antsy. Traffic was bad and slow. I think partly being a Friday afternoon and partly a Loudon race weekend. Thankfully we made it to Kittery and stopped at the Kittery Trading post. Ben and I did a little walking around while John spent the entire time in the gun section. After about an hour or so we headed out again and went straight to the hotel. We stayed here. I was very impressed! I love having a separate bedroom, a full kitchen and a small living room. We didn't spend much time there but it was still comfortable! It rained all afternoon and evening Friday. We did go down to the beach and take a short walk in the dark and rain after we checked in and as expected Ben didn't think much of it. After that we headed to the Maineiacs for a late dinner. It was ok. John had prime rib, I had the seafood bake and Ben had (of course) a "hambbaburger". Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful sunshine! I was so excited! So we ate a quick breakfast and headed right down to the beach.

Beautiful Wells Beach (looking to the South)
We even got a parking place right down by the beach. Ben was very unsure about the beach at first (as he is with anything new). He didn't want to take off his sandals. He didn't want to walk in the water. But after a little while of John and I walking barefoot on the sand and in the water he gave it a try. We took hundreds of photos! Here are some of my favorites!











And by the time we left about 2.5 to 3 hours later he was running and splashing and screaming and laughing. It was so much fun! He was soaked and covered from head to toe with sand! We ate lunch at the little take out place right on the beach and then we headed back to get changed and cleaned up. Then we headed up the interstate about 20 minutes to Scarborough where the new Cabela's Store is. John really wanted to go (I wanted to stay on the beach in the sun). But it ended up being worth the trip! The store had a huge display of stuff animals in the center of the store. They also had smaller ones around the store.



They had a big fish tank and one of those laser target shooting galleries.


You point the gun at the target and if you hit it the object moves and/or makes noise or shoots water at you. And Ben absolutely loved it! That's all he wanted to do is "push the guns Mom, push the guns!" Thankfully the salesman John was buying a rangefinder from gave us a handful of tokens for free. Anyway, by the time we got out of the store it was all foggy along the coast and looked like rain. Ben needed a nap so we took our time and drove the slow coastal route back to Wells. This photo was taken in Kennebunkport I think at Pier 77.

We arrive back at dinner time and stopped to eat at the Bull and Claw. I had a twin lobster dinner and John had steak and lobster. Ben had spaghetti and meatballs and I even got him to try a couple of small pieces of lobster. He wasn't crazy about it but he tried it! On Sunday morning, it was pouring rain again. I mean absolutely pouring. John had to pack the truck in the pouring rain. After we packed and checked out, we headed to the Hayloft for breakfast and then drove down to Perkins Cove. We were able to park right down in the Cove because of the rain. We walked across the bridge and around a couple of shops with our raincoats and umbrellas.




Then we headed south. I tried to find Nubble Light but missed the turn (I always have trouble finding it) and by the time I realized it, we were too far south to head back. It probably would have been hard to see it in the rain and fog anyway. On the way back home we stopped to see the Oberheim Family in Hopkinton, NH for a couple of hours. We also stopped briefly at Colby-Sawyer College to see Mom and Katie who were there for a soccer game. Then we stopped in West Lebanon to see my favorite big pet store and have dinner and then we finally headed home. I think we finally made it home about 8 pm. So it was fast and furious but a lot of fun and great to get away for a few days.