September 18, Maine Lobstah

On our way out of New Hampshire, we stopped at a few volunteer fire agencies to leave cards. The volunteer departments usually are empty of people, unless they are doing training or just got back from a call. But we try to at least leave a card to indicate we were there and to perhaps gain some interest. Sadly, we have spent a lot more out of our pocket than we have in donations so far, even after crossing the country and talking to anybody and everybody we came across! If you are on the fence about donating, please at least go to our donation button on either our website at supportforfirefighters.com or our Facebook page, Support for Firefighters, and give at least a few dollars! It all adds up, and we are appreciative of any support!

This was erected in 1898!

Their station is pretty old, too.

                       

                     

                      

They all had signs up about needing volunteers.
This one was pretty unique, though!

                         


Although the White Mountains in New Hampshire were beautiful, we were on a quest to reach the Maine coast and have some lobstah. Ok, I admit, Jeff really didn't care too much about this, but I wanted some! Ha! So, that is where we headed.

The first thing we noticed once we hit Maine, was the lakes. No longer in the actual mountains, as the state line changed the terrain, we began hitting many of the numerous lakes that comprise the state of Maine. Have you ever looked at a Maine map? It is full of little blue holes! Lakes abound, as do moose, I understand. However, we have yet to see a moose in any state! Heck, I have only seen 1 bald eagle in flight!

Big fanfare!

This is a map route for a canoe trip across New England.
Sounds interesting!

                       

I couldn't tell you what the name of the lakes are.
There are tons of them, and I imagine they all have names!

                  

We also stopped at a few fire stations along the way into Portland. And, we stopped at a Portland station. Turns out, although there are only 5 fully paid departments in the state, that they have a number of combination departments. And the guys we talk to seem to have the same issues as we have. Loads of EMS runs.

This is Stacy at one of the Portland stations.

Eventually, we made our way into Portland. This is a really cool city, if you have never been here. I even found a Whole Foods Market! Anyway, the downtown area and the area around the docks in the city proper, have really been made into something special. There are tons of shops and restaurants to choose from! Parking an RV is a bit of a dilemma, though. We did eventually find a public parking area that put us on the guard rail for $20! Wow. At least we had the option of staying there until 2 AM. Like that was going to happen! We parked, and went on in to the restaurant. We actually ate lobster here at the same location back in 2009 when we were here for the Portland Marathon when Jeff was running the 50 states. Deja vu'!

A history of the ship that now houses the restaurant.

             

Got a two fer! The second one was almost gross.
Not sure why.... they did comp dessert
after I brought it to their attention.

Nothing better than a free dessert!

             
While we were there, something large must have gone through the harbor, as even this heavy old restaurant was rocking! We also had a great view of some of the boats moored there. I don't understand that lifestyle, but they might not understand RVing!

Still harbor, not really coast line yet.

I prefer Opus One.

           

Ok, so I might be able to live on this..... ;)

By the time we left the restaurant, it was beginning to get dark. We had decided to try to find a Walmart parking lot for the night. We went a bit north to Falmouth, and pulled in. It didn't really look like a Walmart, but apparently they bought another property that was already in place. We have noticed that in many of these quaint small towns, there are propaganda signs to keep out the big box stores. Maybe that is what happened here, they couldn't get a foot in the door any other way. But, we saw no signs prohibiting our overnight stay, so stay we did!

No mailboxes today, but I will leave you with a nice shot of the clear sky opposite the sunset, and the reflection in the water.