Camden, Maine

We went to Camden, ME this weekend for Windjammer Weekend. A fleet of local schooners come in for the weekend. They have crew talent shows, fireworks, chowder cook-offs, and build-your-own boat races. Lots of fun, and a beautifully quaint New England town to host it all.

After sitting in miserable traffic to get across the Wiscasset bridge on route 1, we made it there by dinnertime on Friday. On Saturday morning, we went to the Camden farmer's market, where we took a horse-drawn wagon ride (an EJ tradition) with horses Doc and Rowdy. Sophie liked petting them as much as EJ.

The farmer's market is a real treat. They have amazing produce, baked good, flowers, woolen scarves, and a bellydancer. Yes, a bellydancer. Not sure how that fits in, but... We bought blueberries, blackberries, homemade bread, dilly beans, and sticky buns!

That afternoon, our friends B and D came up to spend the day. We went to lunch and toured some of the windjammers.

On Sunday morning, we drove just north of town to Camden Hills State Park. We took the auto road to the top of Mount Battie to look out over the harbor. It's a stunning view.

Sophie enjoyed climbing on the rocks:

That night, Sophie was very adamant about using sign language (okay, just the one sign she knows so far) to tell us she wanted "MORE" chicken soup!

She also enjoyed her first campfire:

My friend KL from work stayed at the same campground this weekend, so EJ had fun hanging out with her girls and their friend.

Since Sophie awoke at the crack of dawn today, we thought we would get on the road early, take a different road home to avoid the Wiscasset bridge, stop at LLBean, and beat all the traffic home. We were on the road by 9:30. Took route 17 to Augusta, and then south on 95. Got to Freeport around 11. So far, so good. Spent about 1.5-2 hours in Freeport. Got back on the road, and just as the traffic was starting to slow down around Wells, Maine, we blew a tire on the trailer! A call to AAA was a big help, but it took them about an hour to get to us, and then another 20-30 minutes to take care of the tire.

Those nice people in Maine, though. A state trooper stopped to check on us just 10-15 minutes after we stopped. He wanted to make sure we were all right, had enough water (it was hot today), and of course, run our registration just to make sure we didn't have any outstanding warrants! He didn't know that those of us who have been through the adoption process have squeaky clean records!

Now, the radio was reporting an 8 mile backup on 95 south. But it really wasn't that bad...it was much worse! It was more like an 8 mile backup to the toll booths, and another 8 mile backup to the NH border. Yikes, it was bad. But again, those nice Mainers. They know how to treat their vacationers. Heck, they don't call it Vacationland for nothing! As we were pulling into the toll booth, there were nice people there giving every car a free moose cookie cutter, complete with recipes featuring Maine maple syrup and a special message from the governor thanking us for visiting. A few years ago, we received a Maine mousepad.