Day 19 A Quiet Day at Camp

We spent a quiet day doing not much of anything in Oquossoc. Glynda had to leave early to drive to Portland airport for the flight home.  Too bad she had to leave. It's so nice and quiet herein the Fall after all the tourists have gone home.

We decided later to go the The Gingerbread for breakfast. The Gingerbread is right down the road and has really good food. Thirty years ago it was a one room old wooden hole in the wall with about 4 tables and a wood stove to heat the place, wooden floors and an ice cream bar. They served breakfast for about $3.00 and lunch was hamburgers, hot dogs, and sandwiches. Hamburgers were about $3.00. Locals hung out and ate here all the time. No dinner service

Years late,r some entrepreneurs from NJ decided it would be great to buy The Gingerbread and turn it into a nice restaurant. They kept the same name, front, and look but totally renovated it with Mexican tile floors, new tables and fixtures, and added about 1000 sq ft. including a nice glassed in summer room to view any wild life and the woods out back.They also quadrupled the prices. Their business went out the door along with the locals. Then they caught on and dropped the prices. We noticed yesterday the prices have looked the same now for many years. Time has caught up with them. Their food was good and their business was booming. You gotta eat at the Gingerbread when in Oquossoc. It's tradition.


Then we went to "Roger's" to get the Sunday paper. It is actually now called Oquossoc Grocery, but we still call it "Roger's" because that's who owned it 32 years ago when we started coming up. The new owners have done a great job. They now have a better meat counter, deli and sandwiches for takeout, a liquor store license, an ATM and it just looks nicer inside. Gone is the laundry in the basement (which we could use right now).

Back to camp for our relaxing day.
We have had fog every morning and today the clouds are still hanging down over the wider part of the lake.

This is the other side of the camp, near the bridge. There is fly fishing only in front of the camp, so David sometimes will walk down to the bridge to fish. He didn't fish this trip.

 
There were several geese out on the lawn, but by the time I got Bentley in his stroller, they were swimming away. 

Bentley always enjoys time out in his stroller.

It was a quiet day. I did some sewing and David puttered around with the motor home. A very nice day. We don't want to leave either  so we decided to stay 2 more days.

Day 18 A Ride inti Freeport & LL Bean

We decided to drive down to Freeport for a shopping day at LL Bean. The entire town of Freeport is an outlet town, at least that's what is promoted. You have to be careful and check prices, however.
As we drove down HWY 17 we stopped at the Rangeley overlook. This morning it was quite foggy and there were clouds still hanging over Rangeley Lake making it impossible to see the true beauty of the lake.



Next we stopped at the Height of Land which overlooks Mooselookmeguntic Lake and the mountain ranges. This is a very popular scenic overlook and lots of cars park along the curved overlook to take pictures. Since the last time I was here, there has been a new pull off and overlook site built. It is so nice with lots of safe spaces to park and a great place to stand for family pictures.

New Height of Land Marker

 

This very nice map shows the lakes and area. Rangeley is a big lake here and our camp is on it in Oquossoc. If you look at the yellow road going around Rangeley Lake, our camp is at the top point where Hwy 17 and Rte 4 meet. Behind us is Bald Mountain, a great hiking trail and Mooselookmeguntic Lake. To the left is Rapid River, a location made famous by Louise Dickson Rich and her book "We Took to the Woods". We were planning to visit that location with Michelle, but she is just way too busy right now.
If you notice the white diagonal line in the far left upper corner of the map above, that is the Canadian border. Since we are so close to Canada, these signs are also written in French.

 

This is a map of the the Appalachian Trail which goes within a mile or two of our camp.

 

It is a beautiful sight on a clear day, but today the clouds are hanging down on the surface of Mooselook.

This map identifies the mountains visible from the Height of Land.

Rangeley is famous for it's fishing.

A local fisher woman, Carrie Stevens created the Great Ghost fly making her very famous.

This is Beaver Pond which we pass on our way to Rumford.

After a little shopping at LL Bean, we went to Linda Bean's restaurant for lunch. Since the Chickadee is not available I guess I need to have my lobster here. I had Lobster Stew AND a Lobster Roll. Excellent, but very lobster (or LOBSTAAAH) intensive.

Then we had to visit IMAX Wicked Whoopies and have a bite of Whoopie Pie.

On the way back from Freeport, we stopped in Byron. David's niece, Michelle (the registered Maine Guide) and her husband bought 31 acres of land about 3 miles down the road and up the mountain from Coos Canyon. They are building their dream house up the mountain in the middle of no where. No electric, no water, no telephone, no plowed roads, no grocery store, no quilt shop,
ONLY this view of Tumbledown Mountain when they look out their windows. Not the life for me, but they are building it themselves and making sure it will have whatever they need to survive the harsh Maine winters with a generator, well, and good insulation. Since the road will not be plowed in the winter, they plan to snow mobile 3 miles down to Coos Canyon whenever they need to get to work or leave. Not my idea of fun, but Michelle (did I mention she is a Maine Guide?) thinks it will be heaven.

It is a spectacular view.

Day 17 Life at the Camp

Glynda came up for a few days and the kitties are really enjoying her company too. Finnegan has just settled into her lap and is NOT LEAVING. He loves the attention and he has a good thing going and he knows it.


We drove to Farmington to check out the quilt shop/yarn shop there and visit, what else ------WalMart. Or as they say here the FAAAAHMINGTON WALMAAAAT. It was a nice drive and the quilt shop there has a great selection of yarns, wool and fabrics. It's right downtown. Nice little town.
Then back to the camp.

It was a very nice sunny day here. I took Bentley for a walk in his stroller and he had a wonderful time. Not much to blog about today, so I'm just posting some pictures around the camp.

There used to be a line of trees along this road down to the boat launch, but they have all been cut down.

From our front yard.

 

The camp.

The little log community church at the end of our road.

The road to the camp (Blackberry path).

This is the River's Edge Sports Shop. Not a good picture, but they sell all types of fishing, canoeing, kayaking and hunting stuff, fishing licenses, guide services, etc. It is right behind our camp. It used to be The Yarn Barn when we first started coming here and I used to walk down the road and sit there in front of the old wood stove and knit with Mary, the owner. It was the highlight of my visit. Now it's a sport's shop.Go figure.

 

Nice view from our camp of the boat house across the lake. We are at the tail end of Rangeley Lake in Oquossoc and Rangeley Lake is huge. The marina is next door and there is even a seaplane service giving tours of the area. Nice for visitors. Not so nice when you live next door and it is the middle of the busy season in the summer. Right now it is as quiet as a mouse.

We decided to go on a moose run--the first of the season. Much to our disappointment we saw no moose and only 1 deer. Instead of cooking at the end of our moose run we went to The Red Onion for dinner. The place was packed. Not an empty table any where. I have never seen it so busy. It took along time for our meal, but it was great. 

Day 16 A Cool, Cloudy Day in Rangley

The weather here has been 60 during the day and 40 at night. Great indoor weather as long as the wood stove is lit. We decided to take a trip into Rangeley and visit the Threads Galore Quilt Shop, have lunch and go to the grocery store. On our way to town we saw 10 deer grazing in the fields. This picture is really bad, but there were 5 deer here.

WE drove in to town taking the Mingo Springs Loop Rd that goes by the country club and golf course. It's tradition. We came up one winter when Ryan was 4 and the other kids were teenagers and bought sleds at the hardware store. The snowy hills at the golf course became our frolicking place, pulling the sleds up the hill, sliding down on the sleds and making snowballs. To this day the golf course is known as "the frolicking place". It's tradition.

We stopped at Threads Galore Quilt Shop which is run by Carol and Dan Perkins. This shop has been here for almost 20 years which in Rangeley is incredible. Carol runs the shop and Dan maintains the beautiful gardens in the back yard. The shop is an old, old house with the shop being in part of it and Carol and Dan living upstairs and the Gammill LA machine in the basement. The shop has small rooms that at awkward to maneuver around. Originally there was little fabric so it wasn't an issue, but now they carry about 1000 bolts and there was a shop hop going on. The store was very busy and their computer system was down and they could not process any credit cards. Not good to have happen during a shop hop. They have very nice fabrics and tons of patterns and rulers by Deb Tucker. Deb has taught in this area a lot, so her patterns and ruler are very popular here. I bought a pattern of hers here at this shop and a ruler about 8 years ago and have not made the quilt yet. Oh well, one day when I have time.


This is one of the quilts in her shop. Very nice.

We had lunch at Parkside and Main Restaurant. The food was not spectacular,  It always amazes me to see the shops that are surviving or NOT surviving in Rangeley every time we come. Nancy's gifts was out of business. They always had nice reasonably prices shirts and items. The same owner opened Back Woods across the street with higher priced items for the skiers in the area. Both pharmacies are closed, the hardware store is closed, Moose America is closed. The book store is still open, The Red Onion and Sarges Restaurants. It's sad to see so many favorite places gone.


Back at the camp I set up my sewing machine. What a nice place to sew, looking out at the lake.

Bentley is on the porch with me, taking a nap.

Finnegan is on the couch.

Nicky has claimed the lower bunk bed.

These are some little wall hangings I made almost 20 years ago. So Mainey

 

 

 

Fun at the camp. 

Day 15 On to Oquossoc

We left Massachusetts headed for Maine. The drive was uneventful. In the past it has always been our routine to stop for a meal at the Chickadee Restaurant in Turner, Me for a seafood dinner. We usually save out appetites and skip the previous meal, because the servings at The Chickadee are large and we anticipate this meal all the way to Maine.
David always has the fisherman's platter with shrimp, scallops, clams and fried fish served over a heaping mound of fresh cut homemade French fries. I usually have the sweet Maine fried shrimp. The shrimp here in Maine is totally different from another shrimp I have had. It is small and sweet. This year the Chickadee restaurant was closed after being there for almost 100 years. Our years of tradition gone, never to be the same again.

Instead of the Chickadee we decided to try the Weathervane in Portland. Yes, it is a chain, but what can you do when you want Maine seafood and there's no Chickadee. I must say we were not disappointed. I ordered a cup of clam chowder, which was more like a bowl, and very good I might add.


David had the fried haddock and French fries. Very good,

I also had a small order of fried shrimp and French fries, We never eat like this at home, but when on vacation you might as well enjoy the area and the food. 

We stopped by David's sister Ann's house for a quick visit with her and her 3 beautiful kitties. One, Simba looks and acts so much like Bentley. They were all special and friendly.
On the way to the camp we saw 2 moose. One ran right across the road in front of the MH and it was lucky David missed him. He was large and would have done some major damage.
It was dark when we arrived at the camp. We unloaded the kitties one at a time. They had a wonderful time exploring everything. All the new smells, nooks and crannies to hide in. The temp was low 40's and David lit the wood stove. Bentley settled right in to keep warms.

Then Nicky joined him. "What's that crackling sound I hear"?

Finnegan decided the top bunk bed was for him.
Wait until they wake up in the daylight and see there's a lake out front and ducks that will come to visit.

Nicky, enjoying the sofa. They are so spoiled.

We should be here for 5 days and Glynda comes up tomorrow, so we should have a nice relaxing time at the camp.

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