In Love With Lighthouses

Sometimes the weather gods gift you with the most absolutely perfect day and that's what Denny and I experienced yesterday when we made a drive up the coast to visit the Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

But first I made Denny stop at the Len Libby Chocolatier in Scarborough, Maine to see "the world's only life-size chocolate moose." Created from 1700 pounds of milk chocolate, Lenny the moose is on display with an 800 pound milk chocolate black bear and her two 360 pound each chocolate cubs. Even I could not eat that much chocolate! And of course the store was lined with candy cases filled with all sorts of goodies and a few made their way into our truck with us. Because we needed a bit of dessert to go with our picnic lunch, right?

Fort Williams Park is open from dawn until dusk and is free to the public. There is a museum at the lighthouse with a $2 charge for adults, but you can freely wander the grounds and take pictures of the lighthouse without having to pay any fees. There are picnic tables located throughout the park and a small hot dog vendor near the lighthouse was doing a booming business. There are large fields for the kids to run around and several people were flying (or attempting to fly) kites.
But of course, Denny and I came for the lighthouse. And a most photogenic one it is! I'm planning on making some calendars up this year and you can bet this photo or a similar one will be on it!


I had climbed down onto the boulders to get a better shot of the lighthouse and the granite ledge it sits upon and neglected to pay attention to the surf. I almost had a salt water bath as the waves came smashing up against the rocks!
Our picnic lunch was eaten under the shade of large trees while we watched crazy kids play in the cold waters of the inlet.A couple sat down at a picnic table nearby and soon had a repast for the gods set out; boiled lobsters, corn on the cob, beer and wine. Now that's how you have a picnic! The scenery was breathtaking and the air was fragrant with the scent of the wild roses growing all around.Lunch over and packed away, Denny and I wandered up the hill to the ruins of the Goddard mansion and over to an abandoned building that teenagers were crawling all over. The Goddard mansion is simply a ruin of itself, but you can see some of its original beauty in the walls still standing. Next to the park you can see the town of Cape Elizabeth in the distance and admire the view of the waterfront homes. On the way back, Denny and I saw our future house--the one we'll buy when we win the lottery. It's right next to the one being offered for sale by Sotheby's, so I'm assuming the price is a little bit beyond our current budget. But who wouldn't want to live in a house where you could toss a lobster trap out your back door to catch dinner?

Sanford Country Club in Maine

The Sanford Country Club in Sanford, Maine is about a 20 minute drive from the Moody Beach Outdoor World Resort in Wells, ME. While the golf course is a semi-private country club, it is open to the public and Wednesday is Seniors' Day with a reduced rate of $35 for eighteen holes with a riding cart. You have to go online and get the coupon on their website to get that price and you'll also find coupons for Men's days and Ladies' days.

Although Denny and I were second in line to tee off after our arrival, we were in for a long day because this very nice golf course gets a lot of play. After sitting and waiting for the foursome ahead of us to move up a bit, we invited the couple playing behind us to join us in play. Dick and Sue live in the area and play Sanford a lot so they were able to tell Denny and me the best place to play our balls for good angles to the green. Most of the time when Denny and I are out on a golf course it is totally new to us and there are times when we have no clue where the green is if the course is hilly or the hole is a dogleg, so it's nice to have the input from someone who plays the course a lot.
There are four sets of tees on the course and distances and slope/ratings on the seniors and women's tees are given for men and women both on each tee (I hope that makes sense). The yardage from the black tees for the course is 6703 with a rating/slope of 72.8/128. For the blue tees the yardage is 6151 with a rating slope of 66.9/125 . The white tee yardage is 5297 and 66.3/110 and the green tees yardage is 4901 and 70.4/122. The greens are some of the fastest we've played in months with very tricky reads. The course is in really good shape for the amount of play that it receives and it appears that most golfers here fix their divots and their ball marks on the greens. There isn't a lot of water on the course, but the twelfth hole is kind of fun with its double pond/island fairway thing going (the picture above.)
The fairway on the sixteenth hole reminded Denny and me of the golf course we played in Bethlehem, New Hampshire years ago where we came upon a huge granite boulder smack in the middle of a fairway. Here there were three sizable granite boulders in the fairway. Sanford CC is a scenic golf course with views of distant hills and valleys and it is very quiet. While Denny and I were very frustrated by the speed of the greens which caused us to make a lot of three putts, we thoroughly enjoyed the golf course and the company of Dick and Sue.

Foiled Again

In plotting out our week and knowing that the daytime temperatures were going to be in the 90s with high humidity, I figured Denny and I could spend an hour or so at the factory tour of Tom's of Maine. Denny and I both enjoy learning how various products are made and the actual equipment used fascinates us. I mean how can you not be impressed by the ingenuity it takes to invent a machine to do at warp speed what man used to do laboriously by hand? Since the factory tours web site said reservations were necessary to tour the factory, I left a message requesting a reservation for tomorrow.

Imagine my surprise when the return phone call was to tell me that Tom's is no longer offering public tours this summer, but they hope to restart the tours next summer and "please come back and see us then." Umm, I don't think so!

So there will be no blog post describing how one gets toothpaste into a tube. Instead, I'm offering another bit of Maine-ia. When Denny and I first start traveling as full time RVers, we were still in the habit of buying and reading the local newspaper from cover to cover. It had been our habit at home and we maintained that habit for several years before the advent of easy access to online newspapers. One of the nice things about buying a newspaper is that you find out local events and usually once a week in the "living" section there will be a recipe or two showcased. We happened to be in central Maine during blueberry season (and oh, how hard it was not to pick the wild blueberries by the roadside that were on private property and signed thusly) when I discovered a dessert recipe that turned out to be one of our favorites. So I'll share it with you since we're back in the land of blueberries once again.

Blueberry Crepes (Tortillas) Makes 8 servings

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, divided

8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons butter, margarine or Smart Balance
8 flour tortillas, regular or low-carb

1. Prepare the sauce in a small saucepan. Combine the sugar and cornstarch, then stir in the orange juice. Cook and stir over medium heat u til the sauce is clear and thickened (about five minutes), stir in one cup of blueberries. Return the sauce to a boil and stir for one minute.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light. Add the confectioner's sugar and vanilla: beat until smooth and creamy.

3. Spread each tortilla with about two tablespoons of the cheese mixture. Place about six blueberries across the center of each tortilla and then roll jelly-style.

4. In a medium skillet, melt one tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Place half of the wraps seam side down in the skillet and cook, turning occasionally until evenly browned (about three minutes). Repeat with the remaining wraps. Top the wraps with the sauce. Whipped cream is also an option. Easy and yummy.

Note: While this recipe makes 8 "crepes", Denny eats two of these at a time, I eat one, therefore I only cook up three at one time. You can make as many or few as you like in one sitting, as the cream cheese mixture and blueberry sauce can both be refrigerated and the sauce reheated for use later.

And there you have a little piece of Maine. Because I'm not sending out lobsters.

Time Flies

Denny and I have arrived in Maine, have had our lobster, have walked the beach, have met up with some RVing friends for a wonderful dinner, have completed some necessary repairs and have done a little walking around the campground on a daily basis. We're located a little north of Ogunquit which we've found to be quite touristy and have discovered that there's a lot more traffic on US 1 than there was the last time we were in Maine twelve years ago. You'd never guess there was a recession by the number of people in the shops and restaurants here, that's for sure.

The beach here is clean and you can wander quite a distance in both directions. I was unable to find a single piece of beach glass, shark's tooth or a whole sea shell here though, even after having a decent thunderstorm. That was a bit of a disappointment. We are lucky in that the campground offers a $1 round trip van shuttle to the beach, because the city charges $20 to park at the lot by the beach. Yep, you saw that right, $20 to park. Ouch! It makes me appreciate Myrtle Beach and the western coastline of lower Michigan a whole lot more!

The two of us are hunkering down for the weekend--our campground is packed as is the two lane US 1 that is the only north-south roadway available. We'll leave the roads to the other tourists for the next two days and then venture out again on Monday. We'll be playing a round of golf and perhaps we'll go look for a lighthouse. For sure, there's a lobster roll with my name on it somewhere out there. In the meantime, there's a hungry chipmunk outside waiting for his sunflower seeds.

A Walk in the Park Museum

Never knowing what the satellite reception will be when we move to a new campground, I figured I'd better get started on my blog about the Shelburne Museum. I've been putting off writing this blog simply because there is so much to see and learn at the museum that I don't quite know where to start, or where to end. I'll put some pictures on, give a little explanation and suggest that someday you make the trip to see it yourself. How's that?

Situated on several acres of land a few miles south of Burlington, Vermont the museum was created by Electra Havemeyer Webb in 1947. There are permanent and traveling exhibitions and various collections of artwork and artifacts housed in authentic buildings, barns and cabins that were moved from their original locations specifically to house the many works of art. At each building there are docents to answer questions and explain the history of the building and/or its contents and each person Denny and I found to be extremely knowledgeable and truly interested in the museum. Each employee is rotated on a regular basis so they gain knowledge of all the buildings throughout the complex and each person that we met was very enthusiastic about the museum.

After you pay your $20 entrance fee (look for discount tickets at motels or store--we didn't until afterwards) immediately on your left is the Round Barn.
Currently the round barn houses one of the Paper in 3D exhibitions on the main floor and the second floor is dedicated to Denzel carousel animals (loved this!). I was surprised that the collection of Denzel animals didn't also include a band organ from a carousel to go with the theme, but there you are. The Paper in 3D exhibition is spread over three buildings and explores the use of paper in art and it is amazing what people can do with paper.

Next we wandered down the hill to the circus building which housed two collections of hand carved circus animals and three ringed circus recreations. There was also information on how the staff restores torn posters and revitalizes the original paint and finish on the carousel animals at the museum.Next up was a set of log cabins, one of which housed the "Lock, Stock and Barrel" collection of rifles made by gunsmiths in Vermont. Denny and I aren't necessarily fans of weaponry, but the docent here explained that Vermont gunsmiths were the first to invent the concept of creating interchangeable gun parts. Historically, when rifles were first starting to be built, each gunsmith made all of his own parts to the guns/rifles each time he built one. One of the gunsmiths came up with the idea of creating identical parts so that the rifles could be more easily repaired and built, thus paving the way for future mass production of items such at the Model T Ford.
Our day continued as we wandered building to building, each of which housed a different collection of items. You never knew what you would find when you opened a door and entered a building.
The story of how the founders of the museum arranged to move the steam ferry the "Ticonderoga" proved quite fascinating. There is a film clip on the first deck that shows the work involved; it took the moving crew 65 days to move the Ticonderoga two miles from Lake Champlain to its current position on the museum grounds. You can wander from the belly of the ship to the very top, learning how the ship was operated, seeing the staterooms and fine dining area and getting a view of the surrounding countryside from the upper deck. Your entrance ticket allows you to return on a second consecutive day to wander the museum and that's what we did. There is just too much to absorb in one day. There is a shuttle that will take you around the park and there is a cafe if you get hungry and picnic benches should you choose to bring your own lunch as we did. Of course, we have to have the obligatory goofy tourist picture; Denny has been jailed in North Platte, Nebraska, Yuma, Arizona and now Shelburne, Vermont. As have I.
The horseshoe barn houses a collection of carriages, wagons and sleighs and the annex behind it houses even more of them, including a stage coach on runners for travel in snow and a horse drawn hearse. The Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building houses fine art including paintings by Manet and Monet and sculptures by Remington and Anna Huntington. There are collections of duck decoys, porcelain, toys and dolls, glass, furniture and then there are the current exhibitions like the "High Style" fashion exhibit with clothing designs by Karl Lagerfeld, Carolina Herrera and early pieces by the House of Worth. You will walk away with your head filled with information and tired feet but it's so worth it.

Anyone remember Little Abner's Kickapoo Joy Juice? The museum has a fully stocked replica of an apothecary building with shelves full of original potions, herbal concoctions and tinctures and extracts.

The Stencil House had walls with original stenciling in its rooms:
Another building housed ink wells and snuff boxes and porcelain and household implements including this French made vacuum coffee pot.
I could go on and on about this place but that's enough for one day. This is definitely a "go see it" if you are traveling anywhere near Burlington, Vermont. I wish we had had more time to be in the area as there was a Morgan Horse Museum, miles of shoreline to Lake Champlain, the town and colleges in Burlington itself, chocolate factories, wineries, Ethan Allen's home and much more within a very short distance.

But there was a lobster calling my name......

Teddy Bear Tour

I thought that a tour of the Vermont Teddy Bear factory might be a bit too juvenile for adults, but decided "oh, what the heck!" and I'm glad I did. Walking up to the crayon colored entrance I started having second thoughts, but motored on through anyway.
Once you pay your $3 adult ticket fee for the half hour tour you enter the world of all things teddy bear. Having decided to take the tour on Saturday, I missed out on the actual production line workers being there, but the young lady who led our guided tour provided a very entertaining way of "seeing" how the bears were made. The staff refers to the bears as if they were living creatures, which is a bit disconcerting at first, but soon becomes cute.

You first see the cutting room section, where the staff uses giant cookie cutter looking dies to cut out the bear parts. Would you like to follow along with us? Click here.Next you come to the section where the bears are sewn together. Originally when the assembly line was first created, the employees would have to sew the seams of the appendages and bodies inside out (to hide the seams of course) and then push the pieces outside in with their fingers, many, many times a day which left them with sore fingers and thumbs. That was when an ingenious employee came up with the "appendage inverter tool", which allowed the workers to place the inside out piece at the tip of the wand and then pull down on the open edge and voila'--a right side out piece. We also where shown how they blow the polyester fiber into the various parts and put the arms, legs and heads on with special brackets that allows the parts to move and actually get tighter if the arms, legs or head is pulled on rather than pulling out. The eyes are fastened in the same manner; if a child tries to pull the eyes out of the bear, they only get tighter. Cool, huh?

A bear sewn inside out to show the seams and how the eyes and appendages are attached.

A giant bear with a rope attached to its arms so that children can pull a rope from the gallery to make the bear "wave."

And then there are the random bears to be found in odd places around the factory--you have to look carefully!Once the bears are all right side out and their arms and legs are attached their "fur" needs to be fluffed and brushed due to the excess "fur" that comes off. The staff hand brushes the bears with wire dog brushes but because they don't want to scratch or snag the eyes and noses of the bears when it comes time to fluff the heads of the bears the staff literally beats the head of the bear against a railing. My picture of this came out blurred unfortunately but in keeping with the talking-as-if-the-bear-is-a-living-creature theme, the guide explained that the bears apparently like this treatment because when the staff does this, the bear's arms come up high in the air as do yours when you ride the roller coaster. WEEEEE! (If I'm lyin', I'm dyin')

Next up is the custom made bear section, where you can pick special colors or themes or even request a specific bear such as this wedding bear. The material from the dress is the same as the material in the woman's actual wedding dress and the design of the dress matches the actual wedding dress also (surprisingly no one asked how much something like THAT costs!) The fact is, the staff will work with you, creating a hand drawn design and double checking with you to match your desire for a special bear.

The last stop on the tour is the teddy bear hospital. If you purchase a bear from the Vermont Teddy Bear factory, it has a lifetime warranty. Therefore all you pay is to ship your "injured" bear to the factory where they will fix the bear for free and ship it back to you at their cost. This bear had someone try to fix it with duct tape--not a good idea.Your bear is returned to you with a hospital bracelet and a prescription for needed care (lots of hugs, kisses and or chocolate, etc.), again in keeping with the your-bear-is-a-living-breathing-creature storyline.

When you exit the assembly line/factory area you return to the gift shop area where you can find beary many bears on hand for purchase, along with tee shirts, hoodies and other goodies.There are a variety of sizes and shapes and colors of bears, with a basic honey colored, brown eyed bear running about $50. I have to say, I put my name in for a drawing for one of these adorable little guys. While I wouldn't pay for one for myself, I wouldn't be adverse to winning one!

A few bear factory factoids: it takes 12 minutes to make a Vermont Teddy Bear from start to finish.

They make approximately 750 bears a day, 150,000 bears a year.

The Vermont Teddy Bear factory is Vermont's 4th largest tourist destination.

If you put all the bears produced in one year paw to paw they would stretch about 300,000 feet or 57 miles or 2/3 of the width of the state of Vermont.

It takes one person five days to mow the lawn at the Teddy Bear factory.

A Short Tour for Free Ice Cream

I thought it would be fun to tour the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory after spending two days wandering through building after building of historical items. I wanted something less thought-intensive and fun. Well, certainly we got less thought intensive, for sure.

Ben and Jerry's Waterbury factory is located about 30 miles from our campground but since it is all new territory to us, we didn't really mind the drive. I do have to say, however, that Vermont's state and U.S. routes are in absolutely terrible condition. You certainly don't want to drive them with a beverage in your hand because you would end up wearing it. Rough is an understatement. However, we arrived at the factory in one piece and wandered up the path and stairway to the brightly painted buildings and into the scent of baking waffle cones. As we approached the building there was a stand set up for children to create spin paintings and another booth selling something Ben and Jerry's related. At the entrance there is an ice cream stand to your right in case you just can't wait to have some ice cream and at 10AM there was already a line of folks waiting to buy a cone. Inside is the tour ticket sales booth and a large gift shop with clothing, ice cream bowls, hot fudge, Vermont maple syrup and the usual toys and gewgaws. Denny and I had arrived just in time for the next tour and after the tour guide introduced himself to us personally and asked where we were from (we found out why later) we were instructed to walk up the stairs to the video viewing area.

The film was a short introduction to Ben and Jerry, how they met, started making ice cream, created the business, sold out to a large conglomerate but still try to be green and follow Fair Trade policies. It lasted about ten minutes and then we were lead up to the observation deck over the factory floor. There was no ice cream being made on Friday due to the holiday weekend but there was a film loop that showed the production as the tour guide pointed out the various areas of machinery and what each machine group did. The Waterbury factory produces two flavors a day and they only fill pints. The St. Albans factory makes all the other sizes of ice cream containers. This part of the tour was five minutes (which I know because there was a large red countdown timer on the wall to make sure the tour guide didn't exceed his time limit for being in the factory area. Next we were led to the tasting room where the flavor of the day was Americone Dream, a combination of vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered waffle cone bits and a caramel swirl. There was a "contest" to see who came the farthest to tour the factory and a young man from Spain won. His prize? A free cup of ice cream, like everyone else. Denny and I were the only ones in the room who had never tried Ben and Jerry's ice cream. And that was the tour. Thirty minutes, beginning to end, for a quarter cup of ice cream and the chance to buy stuff. Somehow I expected just a tad more. But the tour guide was nice, the sun was out (off and on) and the humidity was low so it was a good day to be out and about in Vermont.

There Will Be Blogs

We're packing a lot into our week long stay here in Vermont and there will be blogs to follow, but I have to get the pictures resized and my thoughts arranged first. But for today, "We're going to get ICE CREAM!!!"

That's a line from a Bill Cosby comedy album where he tells the story of getting his tonsils out as a child. It's a cute routine but the reason I insert it here is because today the big guy and I are going to the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory. Woot!

We're going to get ICE CREAM!