Maine Coast - Kittery to Old Orchard Beach.

This is one of two trips I recently made along the Southern Maine Coast.  I needed a brake from doing routine  landscaping and the few rainy days we were having it gave me a good excuse to set that aside and relax.


This area of Maine can be very busy in the summer however it was early in the season and with the weather as it was I did not encounter much traffic.   


The beginning of my trip followed the Maine coast from Kittery to Old Orchard Beach where I explored some of the more popular villages along the cost and stopped at Ogunquit Beach to have my lunch which I packed with me.  The beach was unusually void of visitors as it was the middle of the week and the weather was cool with intermittent periods of rain.

Oqunquit Beach MAP

After having my lunch on the beach I moved on to the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge located along State Route 9 just south west of Kennebunkport.  The wildlife refuge covers a forested area where a footpath is maintained for visitors and also borders a marshy estuary. 

Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge MAP

Leaving the wildlife refuge I traveled a little further along the coast to the Franciscan Monastery overlooking Kennebunkport Village Harbor.  I was curious abut the Monastery as I traveled through this area before but never noticed it so decided to stop and explore.  The facility consists of a guest house that accommodates visitors, an outdoor chapel a church around the early 60;s as well as housing for Lithuanian Monks and priests.   There was also a short trail that paralleled the shore overlooking the village which I explored.

Franciscan Monastery MAP

I traveled as far as Old Orchard Beach before calling it a day and traveled the Interstate home taking about an hour to complete the journey.

Maine - Portland to Old Orchard Beach

It was another rainy day in New England on Monday so I decided to drive to Portland and return along the coastal route to Old Orchard Beach.

Portland Head Light 

More Photos      MAP

My first stop was the Whole Foods Market located on Franklin Street in Portland.  This is a relatively large market that caters to new age groupies wearing Burkenstock sandals and driving huge 4 wheel drive SUV's.  The store specializes in a large variety of organic foods.  Unfortunately most of the foods were off limits to me.  Even though lots of foods were organic most were very high in sodium and would send my blood pressure off the scales if I did eat the stuff. I ended up purchasing a few boxes of cereal and a small tub of almond butter.  It was lunch time so I decided to have some veggies from the food bar that would fit into my new low salt diet.

My next stop was Hamilton Marine.  Hamilton Marine sells boating supplies for commercial and serious recreational boaters.  I was looking for a hasp to secure a patio door but when I learned it would cost me over $30.00 I began to think about making one myself.

Leaving Hamilton Marine I drove through the Old Port and along the waterfront.  The area has gone through a complete transformation since I last visited the area. It was bustling with activity as it is a popular stopping point for locals and tourists.  A Harvard college student went missing the night before so there was lots of activity with rescuers searching for him.  I later learned he apparently became intoxicated and it appeared he fell into the water and drowned. It was sort of sad as his graduation was the same week.

I followed the shore road out of Portland to the Portland Head Light which is the entry into Portland Harbor.  I spent about an hour here walking on the footpaths along the shore taking time to stop along the way to photograph the area.

Leaving the Lighthouse I headed south towards Boston and before too long it started to rain fairly heavy and it was getting late in the day. As I did not look forward to driving in the dark with the driving rain I decided to push on home arriving back in Groveland at about 7:30 pm.