Sebago Lake...

So way back in our trip, just south of Memphis we met some people in a swimming pool. They invited us to visit them in Maine when we were there – foolish! We discovered that they were only 20 minutes from Suzy’s camp – SOOOO we contacted them and turned up at their ‘beach house’. Ditched the RV in the parking lot and ended up spending two nights with them….

They live in the summer in a kind of campground but you own your unit. I heard about who was swinging, who was suing who, who was a nutter, who was new, who was a republican/democrat/liberal,  etc etc. Once word got out there were a couple of NZ’ers hanging around, everyone around popped by and we were kind of interviewed. Everyone ‘loved’ kiwis etc. In fact it was a real education into the daily life of every day Americans – fascinating.

Glenn and Yvette were very good to us. They taught us how to eat a whole Maine hard shell lobster, cooked up fresh clams and took us out on their pontoon boat on the lake – just lovely….in fact we want one of these boats for Paua – IMAGINE canal cruising – perfect! Gave us a real insight into daily life of a local here which as you can imagine is very different to ours. Their friends took us out too - such great hospitality! Famous people houses around too Demi Moore, John Travolta apparently....

Sebago Lake area is awesome, beautiful fresh water, cool dinky places to eat and drink, and places are CHEAP – I mean to buy a lake front home maybe $300….honestly it is ridicuolous how cheap.  Whilst the house is cheap, water front properties pay extremely high rates (in Cape Cod anywhere from $20-30k a year). Anyway we did a good sell job for NZ tourism and handed over the kiwi from our dashboard and a whole lot of stuff from the RV and headed on our way ….

Relaxing on the pontoon boat on Jordan Bay

Sebago Lake area

Getting off the lovely pontoon boat

fresh clams for dinner

yip a whole lobster each

My dinner

The second pontoon boat we went on

lovely homes around the lake front

Sebago lake

Nice beach you can pull up to - locals still use parts of this lake for drinking - it's huge

Close up - imagine this on a canal cruise

Camp Fernwood does exist....

We finally got proof that Suzy does disappear to camp every year as we have now seen it and stayed there. We arrived and waited until lunch was over, parked the RV in the carpark and got the grand tour. Pretty busy schedule for both the kids and the counsellors. Said hello to the owners Fritz and his wife Christine and then tried to blend into camp life as best as we could. Suzy had told her bunk girls that her dad was coming so he became Grandpa to about 20 14 year olds...think he felt very old - Paddy won't be happy they are calling him Grandpa and not pop pah...

So the routine goes something like this - up at 7.15, flag raising then breakfast then tidy bunks then activities all day something like 7 periods....with a big lunch (we got to sit at the owners table so our food was delivered and we didn't have to fight off the millions to get food) and a rest hour in between....then shower hour then dinner then activity then lights out....its pretty full on but every kid I spoke to just loved it. Tightly scheduled though - but even the 8 year olds knew what was going on. We were introduced at dinner which is outside on the grass - pretty good food. The kids have so many activity choices it is unbelievable and what an amazing way to try so many different sports in a safe place. We could not think of a hobby or sport that was not covered (rifle shooting, jewellery, rock climbing, water skiing, photography, horse riding, yoga, drama, singing, art and craft, to name but a few).

Suzy works on the lake in canoeing - pretty cool spot. Mike wanted to go canoeing with Suze so he had to do a water test which was 18 lengths of a fenced off area of the lake. He had to have 2 go's at it and it was hard going for someone who has done zilch exercise for a long time!!! (he did manage to do it in the end).

We could have slept in the guest area but we just stayed on the RV and even got an invite on the second night into the counsellors drinking hut in the trees - felt pretty old but all good to see..

So we survived the camp Fernwood experience, we both enjoyed it - got to see where Suzy disappears to and can see why - it is a pretty special place and such a lovely relaxed, welcoming atmosphere and environment.

The main lodge

The bunk rooms for the younger kids

The lake

Mike being a life guard - cool jetty things for their boats

One of the many activities - sailing

Suzy in her canoe

The boat - the suzy day

Horse riding - they have 14 horses here

Suzy's bunk room

Rifle shooting

Lovely grounds

Main lodge

Some shots around loony...

Portland, Maine

Portland is a cool city. Very relaxed but great food and vibe. People generally go about their business relaxed and with very little stress. We couldn't find a park for the RV (One gripe about RV's in the US - they are well set up for them except in towns and cities where there are very little parking spots for them). A lady at a ferry terminal said hey just park there - we are not very busy today - kind....so we strolled through old Portland on cobblestone streets, ate more lobster on the water, checked out Fort Williams Park and the old lighthouse (Maine has millions of lighthouses). Shopped a little, had coffee in a garden cafe - all very pleasant.

Headed out of town a bit around the lakes area to a place called Naples and stayed the night in a camp called Loony Haven - loony as in the birds not us - but you can see the funny side! They are kind of duck like and make an interesting call early in the morning! We could back right up to the lake - ended up staying here 2 nights. On the second night we wandered down the road to the country club golf course - a little rustic found ourselves in the middle of ladies league and was part of their presentation! Wandered back and enjoyed the good old campfire - trying to use up all of our wood now as one of the last fires we will have. Tomorrow we head to track down Suzy at this camp she keeps disappearing to but no one has ever seen - watch this space....

lovely Portland

garden cafe

Old Portland - looking towards the port/waterfront

this guy has it sorted - his law office, lovely car, his boat called barrister all on the port ready to go - great spot for an office - reminds me of a colleague with his office across lyall bay surf who heads out when the surf's up

I love this billboard- if only

Waterfront district - bought a cool bag here from seabags and it is made from a recycled sail

yum

even more yum with a local quite tasty beer

fish shop

lighthouses everywhere

Maine - the real reason for coming to the US + lobster

Connecticut we drove straight through after Strawberry Park and headed directly to Maine - think we drove through a few other states as well but they were all so close together who knows....Decided to stay south of Portland in the beachy towns - off the interstate again and stopped off at Old Orchard Beach. The campground there had this old trolley for a $1 you could get to the beach and the action - we had lobster - gorged myself on lobster since I have been in Maine - it is so affordable and tastes yum...

Old Orchard Beach is kind of a dinky 50's looking town - pretty old style US obviously a bit of a party spot due to all the security....very nice around these parts - up and down the beach you keep hitting beach towns with good food, good coffee and fab food....

From Old Orchard we headed to Wassamki - about 8 miles out of Portland but on a lovely lake - camped in the woods and had one of the last camp fires...this place was cool - people are very genuinely friendly here and go out of their way to make your stay fab. Even to do a load of washing was cheap!!

Old Orchard Beach pier - not quite the Atlantic City

Lobster to die for here

Wassamki campground

thats the RV in the trees

ah pretty nice

Mike at his campsite