Day 12, Brunswick ME to Wolfeboro NH.

A cloudy morning with the slight threat of rain today.  Radar shows a shower over our destination of Lake Winnipesaukee at Wolfeboro NH.  Since it is a relatively short drive of about 100 miles we opted to do some sightseeing on the way... and what better sight than shopping.  Since the gals have been so understanding of the guys desire to drive the cars, clean the cars and fiddle with the cars, it is only right that the gals get to shop a bit... and L.L.Bean's stores are located in Freeport, just 10 miles from Brunswick. 

 

L.L. Bean is open 24 hours a day, except for their outlet store which has more normal daytime hours.

This is our little group of crawlers.. the Hardman's, Buckley's, Leo's, Kneisley's and Reg Hahn. 

 

The Bear Park.. parking lot.

Stores, several, jam packed with L.L. Bean stuff.  Clothing, home goods, bikes, skis, hiking, hunting and fishing. 

 

Crawlers Vern and Sandy Campbell were shopping the Bean complex too.

A good community company, the Bean company sponsors community concerts for the town and their customers.

 

I asked Google about who and how L.L.Bean started, here is part of the story:

In 1911, an avid outdoorsman named Leon Leonwood ("L.L.") Bean returned from a hunting trip with cold, damp feet and a revolutionary idea. L.L. enlisted a local cobbler to stitch leather uppers to workmen's rubber boots, creating a comfortable, functional boot for exploring the Maine woods. This innovative boot – the Maine Hunting Shoe® – changed outdoor footwear forever and began one of the most successful family-run businesses in the country.

 

After a couple of hours looking, we headed southwest toward our destination for the day.

 

 

About noon we were looking for a place for lunch and happened on this friendly looking family owned seafood restaurant, the Ocean Garden, in Gorham, ME.

A very nice, clean and delicious choice...but the service was very slow.  We left nearly two hours later, and didn't get to Wolfeboro until almost 3pm.

The Wolfeboro Inn... a very nice and elegant hotel in this upscale resort area.  Nice rooms, quality service and many amenities.

They even had a parking space blocked off for our collection of cars. 

 

Meanwhile, Missy McKenna is on a quest and writes to me: "Keepsakes Quilts is one of the largest quilt shops in the USA. And I was truly Gobsmacked by the size of it. Bob has very kindly driven me to 9 quilt shops on the pub crawl. I was collecting patterns from a nation wide quilt challenge called The Row by Row Experience.

He sure earned his brownie points!!

 

And Jim and Colette Clark were the only ones adventurous enough to  climb Mount Washington in their Morgan though they invited us all to join them. (Thanks Colette, for the photos.)

Jim said if you slid off the road you could go down 5000 feet.

Coveted locations for radio transmission towers are summits of mountains.

It is a victory to get up here.

Jim points out a world record.

Jim's Morgan is a rare sight in this parking lot.  He said the road was paved except for the last couple of miles when it was too narrow to make the improvements necessary to pave it.

Congratulations Jim and Colette for your adventure, top down, in the rain and cold up there.  You have the bumper sticker to prove it.  He explained that there is no way.... absolutely no way you can get this bumper sticker without driving up the mountain. 

Flat Bill and Flat Ellen also enjoyed the wonderful summer skies of Wolfeboro NH.

 

Downtown Wolfeboro.

 

Our afternoon noggin was on the deck of the third floor library at the Inn.

 

More tomorrow about our discoveries of this resort city in the middle of New Hampshire... beautiful country.

 

 

Day 11 Bar Harbor to Brunswick Maine

With dreams of last nights lobster dinner lingering, the 5am alarm woke us for a 7am departure down the road from Bar Harbor to Brunswick Maine.

The memory of "YUM" remained with us.

Judy Buckley is always "up" and it is true today at 6:30, ready to roll in her beautiful Morgan Roadster.

Joe Topinka was "up" too.

Most unusual and very interesting was the Penobscot Narrows Bridge in Prospect Maine.  This 2120 foot long bridge features an observatory on the south obelisk with panoramic views of the Penobscot Bay and River. 

 

 

A couple of hours down the road, somewhat fulfilled with a McDonald's breakfast, we arrived at the Owl's Head Transportation Museum, a large collection of cars, trucks, airplanes and tractors.  We just wanted to see the museum, but when we arrived there was a Truck and Tractor show going on.  They escorted our Morgan's into the exhibition field, gave us exhibition passes and free admission. 

 

 

Morgan's on display at a truck show... how about that!   Of course many of the early Morgan's were powered by the Standard Tractor Engine, also used in Triumph TR's.

A rare Bugatti Type 37.

A very rare MG, perfectly restored.

Track cars from races of old.

Another unusual MG drop head coupe with suicide doors.

Sally and Judy found a Moose to pet.

The truck show had some real TRUCKS! Over the road behemoths from the 70's and 80's, perfectly restored.  Not your Sunday-Go-To-Diary Queen type show car.

 

 

And, we let Flat Bill and Flat Ellen participate on this old unrestored big truck.

Some very unique airplanes were on the field and in the air.

In all, this was a very nice and unexpected stop, which was very enjoyable.

 

The further south we went in Maine, the more congested the traffic. 

 

 

 

Next stop is Chowder Mog, part of the annual LobsterMog held by the Morgan 3/4 club in Harpswell, Maine.  Jack Flynn and his wife Lorna hosted the Crawlers to a very nice seafood chowder lunch and an opportunity to meet with members of their club, many of whom are old friends.

The boathouse was decorated in lobster and Morgan themes.

And many very will done Morgan's in the parking lot.

 

The very talented potographer Pat Buckley, his wife Judy and Bruce Hardman joke around on the deck.

Dolores Reynolds and Sandy Campbell chat.

Three photographers taking the "group" photo.

 

And the result....19 of the 23 crawlers.

 

 

 

Bob, Colette, Jim, Beth relax with a 3/4 club member.

A view from the deck at the Yacht Club clubhouse

Bob, Dolores, Colette and Beth.

The deck was full of fun, food and conversation.

A fun dinner at Joshua's Restaurant and Tavern in downtown Brunswick, named after Joshua L. Chamberlain (1828-1914).  Chamberlain's military career is most remembered for protecting the left flank of the Union line at the battle of Little Round Top.  His efforts earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Chamberlin was thought so highly of by General Ulysses Grant that he was chosen by Grant to accept General Lee's surrender at Appomattox.  He returned to Brunswick and served as the Governor of Maine, President of Bowdoin College and Surveyor of the Port of Portland.  The restaurant named in his honor makes a darn good hamburger too.   (thanks to Al Marsh for bringing this information to the blog.)

Tomorrow, LLBean, and Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. 

 

 

 

Day10 Bar Harbor

After our drive up Cadillac Mountain yesterday we returned to the motel...

and the guys tackled Reg's car to rotate his tires to try to solve a shaking issue. 

Then we decided not to fight the tourist crowd in downtown Bar Harbor.  Instead, we drove back up route 3 and found a nice little seaside restaurant.

 

Sally and Betty Dawn anticipating a fine dinner on the outside patio, overlooking the bay.

 

Tides here measure up to 14 feet.  Tide was out during our dinner so our view was this.


Then, this morning the day started very early... 

There is a tradition here that a must-do adventure is to go up Cadillac Mountain to watch the sunrise.

Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the Atlantic Coast with unbeatable 360 degree views.  Some of our "crawlers" were up at 4am and on their way up the road.   Charlie, Vern, Jim, Missy and Al among them.

The reward for their effort was spectacular.

 

 

Missy and Bob at sunrise, along with about a thousand other people.

 

 

And, from ground level sunrise was almost as beautiful in this photo provided by Colette Clark.

 

Bruce Reynolds and Jim Clark set up Bloody Mary's and pastries for the gang's return and the other crawlers at 8am in the motel parking lot.  Flat Bill and Flat Ellen joined us.

Bob McKenna, Charlie Miller and Reg Hahn with merry Mary's.

After the Bloody Mary's we walked to the downtown area to experience the gift shops etc. 

Betty Dawn, Bruce, Sally and Reg take a break from the walk.

Horse drawn carriage rides around town looked like fun.

We had an early lunch at the same restaurant where we dined on our 2007 Pub Crawl.

The view from the veranda of the restaurant. 

Another part of the crawlers group planned to go on a whale watching cruise, and ate lunch a bit later at ...

Tesla's.  They said it was so good they made reservations for dinner. 

 

The whale watching cruise was more about the sights of the sea shore from the water, and seeing the other boats, yachts, seaside homes and geographical features of the shore.  A good time.

Here's a close up of that four masted ship we saw from the restaurant.

These people have a multi million dollar view.

The whale watchers, except for Pat who took the photo.

Another million dollar view.... or is this the lighthouse? 

  

Flat Bill and Flat Ellen were on the cruise too.

 

 

And the Buckley's proved that water is romantic... or cold, one or the other.

 

Back to the motel it was neat to see all of the Morgans parked in one location. 

I found a shop that would help me change the rear differential fluid in my car, hopefully to eliminate the limited slip differential click I was experiencing. 

 

Some of the pub crawlers ventured off to dinner at Tesla's again.... Lobster Dinner for $18.95. Nice.

 

 

All in all, a mixed and varied day but much fun for everyone.