Wells, Maine & Surrounding Area
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2009
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2
Trip End
Oct 12, 2009
Wells, Maine
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
LL Bean's, a New England based company, which is very popular with New Englanders. This is the parent store which is open 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. There are no locks on the doors! I could have purchased a camoflagued hunting outfit, a hunting blind and hipwaiters.........but decided to pass! Other than the hunting and fishing "stuff" the store has some great merchandise.
We settled into our timeshare which is much smaller than what we are accustomed to but suits us just fine. It has a mini-kitchen with fridge, microwave and small sink. The next morning we awoke to rain so decided just to snoop around Wells. Wells is a beach community with a small harbour, lots of tacky tourist shops, antique shops and some lovely summer homes. Our snooping did not take long.......we decided to spend the rest of the rainy day inside reading and watching TV.
The next day the weather had improved so we headed inland in a northerly direction. Our destination was Alfred and Sabbathday Lake where a Shaker Community existed in the late 1700'S to the 1930"s. The Shakers had rather odd beliefs including celibacy. The men and women worked alongside each other but were separated in the dining and bedroom areas. Needless to say the Shakers have literally all died out except for 3 very elderly members still living in the community. We visited a larger Shaker Community in Hancock, Massachucetts in 2003. The Shakers are a very interesting group! We drove back towards the ocean to visit Old Orchard Beach. The beach could be mistaken for any beach in Hawaii except that the water is freezing. The beach was beautiful but the actual town was Coney Island like with carnival rides and lots and lots of tacky tourist shops. We continued on to Wells along the coast passing many beautiful homes and beaches.
The sun was shining brightly the next day so we decided to go to Kennebunkport. It soon became apparent that this area was for the affluent as the homes were big and beautiful. The homes along the coast were WOW! We passed the Bush 'Compound' built on 7 acres of Walker's Pount. We could see a large house, a guard house and several large, black vehicles -probably Secret Service. There were several buildings/houses, a swimming pool, tennis court and helicopter landing pad.
We then headed south to Kittery where all the factory outlets shops are located. They are very spread out and some not easily reached by foot. Neither of us were really into shopping so about hour later we headed back to Wells taking a lesser travelled coast road that took us through the wonderful area of York, Maine. The beaches and scenery were fantastic. We finished the day looking at the Nubble Head lighthouse still operated by the US Coast Guard.
Today (Tuesday) we headed towards the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The fall colours were glorious as the birch trees have turned a brilliant yellow and the maples are a vibrant red. We saw some spectacular scenery! We went to Newry where we found a very old, typical New England covered bridge.
It is supposed to rain tomorrow so we are going to head back to Freeport for some shopping. I want to revisit the LL Bean store!
Hope all is well with family and friends,
Judy
