Day 17. Oct. 4, 2023, Wassamki RV Cpg. ME
It was another beautiful day and even though the temperature did not get to 85F it was warm enough to wear a light shirt and shorts. (75F)
Let me back up a little bit and relate an adventure of the night. Remember yesterday was very warm and hot and then in the evening we had the windows open to cool things off. The fan was on to circulate some air and that was pretty much the way it was when we went to bed, forgetting about the windows. We did turn the fan off when we went to bed. It was about 5:30AM when I noticed it was quite cool in the trailer but not cool enough to get up and check on things. So at 6 o'clock I got up and just knew that the propane hed gone empty. The first instinct is to go out and check the tanks and switch them over as there are two of them. But as I was getting dressed, I noticed the windows were open, and I said to myself "UGH", and realized why it was so cold. So I went out to the tanks and checked them and found that they were still in the green (plenty of propane). I went back into the house and 'lo and behold' we had not turned on the furnace when we turned off the fan last evening. I switched it on and that solved the problem. I stayed up and found that the internet worked very quickly at 6:30 in the morning.
After shower and breakfast it was determined to go to see the Portland Head Lighthouse. It was just a few miles away although in these old towns the streets are so narrow that it takes about 30 to 40 minutes to travel 5 miles. And that was a case. I was only 4 miles to the lighthouse but would take about 30 minutes.
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| Ship Cove Ft.Williams Park |
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| Whaleback Light |
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| Portland Head Lighthouse |
We did get there and saw the lighthouse and quarters on top of a very rocky cliff. Much different from the Massachusetts lighthouses which were built on sand. There is no moving these. The Portland Head Lighthouse as it is called, is adjacent to Fort Williams Park, an old military fort that was once there but the buildings still remain. There seemed to be many people more than usual for October and we didn't find out till later that three tourist ships had come to Portland in the last two days, bearing with them about 5000 people. That made the walking around the lighthouse much more busy than it should've been at this time of year. But we did get some pictures and a few postcards and found a few birds as well.
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| Longfellow's's inspiration |
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| Now private Home | Portland Light and keepers quarters. |
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| The Goddard mansion of years gone by (Fort Williams Park) |
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| Officer's quarters Fort William |
Driving around the park we found a small pond but it was not accessible except by long walk. Ruth saw that there is another entrance to the park through a pedestrian gate but we had to go outside the park in order to get there. After visiting the military post buildings that were still there and Ruth getting a few birds while sitting in the truck, we did just that. We took our lunch to the pond down a small hill, found some benches by the pond that was isolated and away from all the crowds and had lunch by the pond. Joineed by Eastrn Phoebes, Chipping Sparrows, Red Darter Dragon Flys and the ducks in the pond..
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| Red Darter Dragon Flys on Jim. |
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| Bachelor quarters Ft.William |
After eating and deciding to go downtown to the Visitors Center to get some materials, we headed that way. It was there that we realized that there were those 5000 people roaming around town so even though we found where the visitor Center was, we decided not to go into the parking lots that seemed to be quite full. Another lighthouse up the road called Bug light, was our goal. We did reach there and it was a good move. Not only was a lighthouse there, but there were wonderful views of Casco Bay, one other lighthouse call the Spring Ledge lighthouse. It is on another rocky shelf in Casco Bay about 2 miles away.
A bonus at that stop was a man flying two kites of different design which drew many onlookers.
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| Quite a kite! |
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| Blown up you can probably read it. |
A man in his 60s stopped and chatted with me and it seemed like he was a good historian for the area and knowing I was from out-of-town filled me in a lot of the details. Across the Bay was an old Fort no longer used, and to my right was a curious length of green pipeline leading out to a pier in Casco Bay. I looked behind me and there were six or eight giant oil tanks on the horizon waiting to unload oil to ships sailing elsewhere. The man's time here, as he is a native saw so many changes and especially along the shoreline where many million dollar homes have been built. When he was a boy he said there was only one house on that hill by the shoreline. "Tempest Fugit's" and life changes for sure.
Did you now that Portland caught fire and burned to the ground in 1860's?
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| They call it "Bug"Light |
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| Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse on Casco Bay. |
That was a full day and so at about 2:30 we headed home to the trailer with a short stop for tomatoes at a Walmart on the way. We needed them for the hamburgers on the grill tonight.
That meal ended the day And Ruth said also snuck in some ice cream bars that we had for dessert.
Tomorrow I think we will take a longer trip to see another lighthouse or two as we have exhausted the ones near Portland.
See you then and thanks for reading,--Jim
P.S. Stay away from downtown Portland tonight if you want to avoid the crowds.
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