Surf6 - OOB, ME

Could we really have just been walking on the beach where a restaurant has menu items like the following?



Yes, try the lobstah. We had an audience.



Ah...but it was fun any way. How can you argue with lobstah and scallops on the beach?

Beach Walk - OOB, ME

The pier right outside of the Grand Victorian condominiums:





Beach walk preparation:



The walk begins:



Interesting lighting on the pier:



Is that a smile I see?



Could it be?



Nah...must have been an illusion created by the magic hour of light.



We can't be enjoying ourselves on the beach, can we??? But these made me smile:

Maine Wildlife Refuge - Gray, ME

I got to pick our destination on this day, and I chose to go to the Maine Wildlife Refuge. The animals are rescued and rehabilitated after being found injured. They have moose, deer, bobcats, cougars, bears, albino porcupines, bald eagles, albino raccoons and many others. It's a fun little hike through a beautiful part of Maine. Some of the pictures from our adventure are below.

Bob, the cat, cousin to Bruiser, who is a Maine coon (but due to his advancing age was unable to join us on this trip):



Tree stump camoflauged in moss:



Beautiful flowers everywhere:



Gorgeous, happy daughter having a much better day:



The synchronized duck dunks especially tickled the daughter. "Duck butts!"



Her beloved Grandpa taught her this (thanks, Dad...NOT!):



Lynx tips "try the veal":



Just some cute critters:



And finally, the fish hatchery. Where's my pole?



Rainbow trout?



At the end of the hatchery:



The hatchery is built on a hillside so that the baby fish are at the top then there are graduated pools going down the hill. The fish in each pool get progressively larger. It was very interesting.



Isn't this just the sweetest picture? Mags still likes to hold her Dad's hand.

Driving Around Kennebunkport, ME

We drove from OOB down to Kennebunkport to scope out the area. We stopped for lunch in Kennebunk at the cutest little restaurant. They had a couple of lavender Adirondack chairs out front, and I thought if would make a pretty picture if Mags would sit in them. Yellow house, purple chairs, green grass...just lovely.

Maggie, however, was tired of riding in the car and grouchy because she was hungry. She did not want to cooperate so I had to pull the Mom card and make her do it. Here are the results...not sure it was worth it. You can see how mad she is.



After we ordered, we sat down outside. It was such a beautiful (cool for us) day. You can tell Mags is still mad at me in this shot.



The name of the restaurant is "The Daily Scoop". How can you not be happy at a place like this? A little lunch, a little ice cream, great weather, we're all together...what's there to be mad about?



Hmmm...think she's still mad?



Oh...wait! She caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye.



What's that??? An adorable little ground squirrel? One who wants to share her lunch?



Or...maybe Gary's lobstah roll?



It's hard to stay mad when there's such a cute little critter scampering about.

Old Orchard Beach, ME

When I think about Maine, I do not think of carnivals and tattoos. I saw more ink in so many places that I really didn't want to know it existed in OOB. And noisy? Hoo, boy.

Any way, Mags and I flew up to Boston by ourselves then rented a car and drove to OOB. It was a relatively smooth operation. No tickets and only a few wrong turns...

Sunday started off with the fog rolling in and out from the ocean with a little bit of rain. We spent a lot of the day doing this:



Mags and I finally trudged out to do some exploring. This is some of what we saw:





My daughter, the chipmunk, stuffing her cheeks with pizza from the pier behind the condo:



We had to drive to Portland, find the Cat Ferry and pick Gary up from his fishing tournament. We went a little early to do more exploring, found some nice shops and walked quite a bit. Near the international port, we saw these pilings shrouded in fog:



We finally found Gary around 9 p.m. and went to eat at J's. Yum!

Striper Fishing in Maine

Using techniques learned in Jessica Sprague's Brushabilities class:

More on the fishing experience later...

Jessica Sprague Class Day 13 Extra Project

Practiced a bunch of different techniques on this project:



Too much fun!