New England in September....nice and cool!!!

Once again our wonderful friends that have a place in Maine and FL ask us to visit while they were there for the summer. Last yr we went in Aug and it was too hot, so we decided to go in Sept this year..that was a great decision. We arrived on Thur evening and the weather was perfect. We enjoyed just sitting and watching the ocean and letting life drift out to the sea. After a yummy dinner, we relaxed in the cottage and had a great nights sleep. The next day was a day of errands for Nancy and I, while the guys relaxed and then took a ride in the old car.
Our first stop was at Nancy's church...so peaceful and just gorgeous..

Star of the Sea Church...York Beach, Maine

No...i did not go into the Confessional...

This was a piece of an original window...they have all been restored to look original now...just beautiful. 

Renovations are happening to a building behind the church....

Then we were off to lunch at Stonewall Kitchen....YUM!!!

Just a beautiful place....and my egg/bacon/avocado/lobster sandwich was AMAZING!!!

And after many other stops, we headed home...

Then back to the house....this is our view from the house...

A great place to visit....we are so blessed they ask us to come.

After a great dinner and a good nites sleep, we had breakfast and headed out to a nearby marina. We just happened upon a commercial crabber coming in....so cool...looked like he'd had a great morning.

  These were fish tales....too cool...

The dock was busy...so we moved on to a bakery...these doughnuts were bigger than my hand...wow!!! They tasted fairly good, but I have had better doughnuts.

Then we headed back home...Allan and Nancy had some house stuff to do, so Denny and I headed back to Kettering to do a little shopping...he had a great time, bought some rope mats for the our place and got them shipped back. Then we headed back to the house. Tonight we took them out to a place near The Nubble Lighthouse...great food and great view....very nice evening

 Sunday ...this was our cooking school day...Nancy was going with us, Allan stayed home and worked.

This was similar to a Publix cooking school...but we think Publix is better...but we really enjoyed this as well.

One chef and several helpers... 

1st course...a rather dry pumpkin/cranberry waffle...the syrup was good

Because this was all high bar type seating, it was hard to see except for the monitors..

2nd course..yummy sweet potato and andouille hash and fried eggs...only they were over cooked. 

And a nice fresh salad on the side...

 Dessert, and the best course...very yummy layered custard and caramel sauce...a Salted Caramel Budino...yum...

 The experience was fun, but might skip this next time. ...we'll see. We headed home and relaxed a bit...tonight we were having dinner at a Food Truck gathering....easy and fun.
Food Truck dinner was a blast...we had several to pick from and there was not a crowd. I had a buffalo chicken, the others all had burgers...easy fun nite.
Back to the house to get our act together, we head for NH in the morning.
Back in March while vacationing in Texas and staying in a campground cabin we met a very nice lady, Carola, from Sunapee, NH. She invited us to come visit...so we were on our way.

We said our thank yous and good-byes and headed north and west.....arrived in Sunapee ahead of sched and toured the small town a bit before going to Carola's house.
We had no idea just how small this town was. It all revolves around Lake Sunapee in the summer, and the slopes in the winter.

 Beautiful and good size marina. Several folks were pulling their boats out, the ramp was busy.

We headed to Carola's house and she was there fixing snacks and dinner...we sat and enjoyed visiting and snacking...a nice older home and very small kitchen...the home is about 60yrs old.

A lovely view of her backyard, the trees were getting some color

We had a lovely German dinner...and headed upstairs for bed. Was nice to sleep with windows open and have the cool breeze all nite. Next morning we were up and out. Carola drove us around for a wonderful tour, then lunch at The Flying Goose...the 1st solar powered brewery in NH...was pretty cool.

We toured the empty ski area...huge and very busy in the winter.

Went by the lake...beautiful and large homes around the lake.

 The we drove over to the next town New London and saw this small college and beautiful old church...the headed to lunch.

I always like the "Christmas trees" when up north...

And the colors in some areas were amazing...

The Flying Goose was very interesting...

The decor was funny...kind of...anything goes...

The solar panels and the mountain view...wow.

Old original menus from when it was The Four Corners Restaurant, then it was The Grey House...check those prices...wow.

Carola in front of her house as we said good-bye...

She had a very typical NH house...nice small pond beside her house

Loved the butterflies all over this plant

We headed back to Portland, Maine to head home.....but we took the longer scenic route along the Kancamagus Highway. 34.5 miles, and climbs to 3,000 feet....just gorgeous...was a little cloudy, but still awesome.,

We stopped at a visitor center and this huge stuffed moose was there....they are really big...hope we see one for real one day..but was not on this trip.

And the scenic route begins...

 yep...the trees were beautiful....

Worth the longer route home...this was gorgeous

Pics got a little dark due to the weather...but still nice

Was a great drive, but did take a good bit longer to do this. We got into Portland after dark, which was not our plan but we did fine. Had a great room with a full kitchen and lots of room....was so nice. After a shower we both slept so well.

Got up slow the next day and made a decision to take a boat tour around Portland Harbor. Our tour covered 4 lighthouses. It was a gorgeous day and a perfect boat ride.

The boat for our cruise...

Our Captain gives us a little info before leaving the dock..

Pushing out and seeing DeMillo's famous floating seafood restaurant...very good, but a little spendy.

Our guide for the day was very good...

Our cruise was almost 2hrs long and was just wonderful...we would cruise Diamond Pass and Casco Bay, and see 4 lighthouses.

Busy Portland Harbor...lots going on. Commercial fishermen, pleasure boaters...and

Cruise ships too....a bit of everything in this harbor.

Our first lighthouse...and old one that guided mariners of yesteryear...

Civil War era forts...

Industrial buildings...

Denny was just chilling...

Up close on our 1st Lighthouse...kinda stubby and cute...

Lots of sailboats and gorgeous homes on the shoreline..

 More Civil war buildings..

The shore was colorful with amazing homes....lots of islands in this bay for fun summer living.

The tall majestic Portland Light...snapped this just as the light went off....

Just beautiful, still guiding many ships...

 Approaching our 3rd lighthouse...

More Civil War forts...so much history

Beautiful shore and fall scenery

This was a hospital/clinic back during the war..

One full sailboat...it was a beauty

What's left of a ship....the thin piece of land is underwater during high tide...this are has big tidal changes.

 In the summer months all these islands have lots of "summer people" that live on them. But most leave during winter. I'm sure it's wonderful making those memories.

Our last Lighthouse....lol...the smallest of all...

Kayak lessons...and a great day for it

More forts...so cool, would be great exploring..

Coming back into the busy Harbor..

 All the traps in the back of our favorite seafood store...

Lots of commercial boats..

Not sure I've ever seen a brown pelican...hmmm

Our fav seafood market...Got some fresh fish and lobster. Plan to eat dinner at home, after a quick stop at Wal-mart for a salad and a few other things...will be a great dinner. So glad we have a kitchen.

Loved this wall painting..

Got back late on Thur nite and on Fri we headed to Dahlonega to see Chad and Ash...took them to breakfast, then Chad had to go to class...but Ash had the day off...so we walked around downtown Dahlonega a bit. This was a new playground with some cool history in it.

Denny was resting on the swing...we were back in HOT country...Maine was so nice and cool...oh well

This is a cool diving bell....

After a bit of browsing...we took Ash home and headed to Lake Lanier Islands...had not been there in years and we were curious. Was not at all what we remembered and it's grown a lot...so was interesting to see that. Had some dinner at Margarittaville and headed to Mom's...was a long drive from the lake. Got home and crashed...had been lots of driving, but a great day.

Had been a another great trip...we head to FL in 2 days...and then in 10 days off to Ohio....stay tuned for our next adventure..