|
Maine-ly for the Fun of it!The Finest Kind!By Sandra Scott
From rocky coast to tree-lined rivers and lake, our trip to Maine was truly “Maine-ly for the fun of it.” Maine is “Maine-ly” the findestkind! If you go: Images by John Scott, North Country Rivers, and Cliff House. |
|
TM
My husband and I needed to get away and Maine seemed like
the perfect place. We agreed to a week in Maine “Maine-ly” for the fun of it.
To get the flavor of the coast we started at Di Millo’s Floating Restaurant in
Portland. The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze with a hint of salt in
the air. We walked along the pier coveting the boats we would never be able to
afford. It didn’t take long to get in a “Maine-ly” relaxing frame of mind.
After a lunch of fresh fish we headed north to North Country Rivers in Bingham
where we immediately felt right at home in our log cabin.
North Country Rivers is an all-season adventure resort and
we were there to go white water rafting on the Kennebec River. Sometime the
adventure of my mind doesn’t translate well into reality. I’ve been rafting in
Alaska but after watching the video of paddle rafting, I expressed concern about
being a contributing member of the rafting adventure. Mike, our guide
explained, “This is East Coast rafting which is “Maine-ly” paddling, but we
offer two options. You can paddle or we can take the Row Frame.” While I was
pondering the choice, he added with excitement. “You are very lucky. Because of
all the rain, the river will be running at 8000 CFS instead of the usual 4800.
People pay more for that!” That cinched it. It was the Row Frame for me. I
didn’t want to be a “Lily Dipper!” – a guide’s term for a slow moving paddler.
My husband and I struggled into our wet suits, grabbed our
life jackets and boarded the bus with the other rafters and headed for the
put-in site. During the ride first-time rafters were apprehensive but old-time
rafters were psyched and ready to go. At the put-in site we worked the raft
down the put-in runners to the water’s edge. Because of the rain the water was
really moving – there was white water everywhere. Once in the raft I knew there
was no turning back and off we went. And what an exhilarating ride it was! The
river was really flowing so the trip was fast but the two-hour trip was
thrilling. There were “quiet” times where we could float along and enjoy the
scenery. “Let’s do it again!” I exclaimed at the end of the run.
The fun wasn’t over. That night it was off on a Moose
Safari. Dana, our wildlife guide, took us over logging roads and between moose
sighting gave us an overview of logging in Maine. We spotted seven moose!
The next day Russell Walters from Northern Outdoors,
another Maine “fun” adventure place, took us on a hike to Moxie Falls. Moxie
Falls is located on the Kennebec River and is the highest waterfalls in Maine.
The weeks of rain made the falls especially impressive. 
We hated to leave the Kennebec River area but after a few
days we headed south to Belgrade Lakes and arrived in time to take the mail boat
with Norm. Norm is one of few people hired by the U.S. Postal Department to
deliver mail by boat to the summer residents on Great Pond, one of a chain of
five bodies of water not far from Augusta. Norm loves his job and we loved his
stories. It was while vacationing on Great Pond as a child that E.B. White
learned about spiders and later wrote “Charlotte’s Web,” and Ernest Thompson
recalled the sun shining on the golden sand at the bottom of the bay and penned,
“On Golden Pond.” The stories were many but time was short and we headed back
and walked up the gentle hill to Wings Hill Inn, a 200-year old farmhouse turned
luxury B&B where a gourmet dinner, prepared by CIA-trained innkeepers,
Christopher and Tracey Anderson was nearly ready. We had just enough time to
enjoy the tranquil setting and great views of the Long Pond and Great Pond
before dinner.
We had run the river, boated on a lake, and now it was time
for fun on the Maine coast. Cliff House in Ogunquit is one of those wonderful
places that has survived the generations and is still greeting guests with the
same genteel hospitality that it did when it opened in the 1866. Every view is
one of the rocky coast and the sea. 
Lobster and Maine are synonymous so no trip to the coast of
Maine is complete without lobster catching and eating. On a lobster catching
trip with Finestkind, we learned about the lobster business. Captain Grant
explained, “I have 800 traps. My traps are the ones attached to the blue buoys
with white dots.” After pulling up a trap containing a couple of lobsters, he
measured them, tossed a small one back, and explained how to tell a female
lobster from a male lobster. A legal lobster has to be between 3 ¼ inches and 5
inches from eye socket to the beginning of the tail. Thinking of all the
lobster meals diners enjoy, I asked, “Do you think the lobster population is on
the decline?” Grant responded, “Actually, because of good conservation methods,
there are actually more lobsters now than when I started in this business
decades ago.” I had one final question. “What does ‘finestkind’ mean?” “It is
Maine talk for the very best.” An added benefit of the informational cruise was
the beautiful views of the Maine coastline. We agreed, the Finestkind Cruise
was the “finestkind.”
Back at Cliff House there was time to enjoy their new spa
before dinner. The spa, with great ocean views, offers a full selection of
treatments. I chose the Stone Massage. If the true be known I thought I was
already relaxed but the warm stones provided a deeper relaxation than I thought
was possible. My husband chose the Swedish massage. I think the Swedish shower
with its multi-faucets was the deciding factor in his decision making. 
We ended our week in Maine with a chocolate cocktail in the
piano lounge then a lobster dinner sitting at “our” corner table in the Cliff
House restaurant. The incoming tide crashed on the rocks, the sun made diamond
sparkles on the water, then the sun set, and the stars began to appear. A
perfect end to a week in Maine.