Short Visit to Maine

In September 2014 we drove to Maine and stayed at Dave Gilmour's "Shacque," not to be confused with a Maine "Cottage," outside Brunswick. On our first full day we visited the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens — Barbara's goal — and also cycled in the Boothbay area. It was a spectacular day in every way.

The next day, we rode a nice bicycle route from Brunswick to Freeport and back. It was an enjoyable ride, surprising in its lack of traffic, but without the oceanside cycling that we enjoyed south of Boothbay. We returned to Brunswick early enough to stop at the shacque for tea and then drive south on Route 24 to Orr's Island and Bailey Island. That's when the weather began to gradually fall apart, making it relatively easy to decide on a return home the next morning.
 

Dave's Shacque in Brunswick

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Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is relatively young, as these things go, having opened only in 2007. Besides a huge selection of plants and flowers, which will obviously change with the time of year, it is full of remarkable stonework and sculpture — features that make it well worth visiting whatever the season.

We were amazed by stonework of all sorts. We loved the serpentine stone path. The bench, top right, was magnificent. A voluteer who was at the scene told us how much of the work was done with backhoes and excavators. Barbara wants a little waterfall for her garden like the one at the right. The shape of the ball is echoed by circular designs in the stonework. Below are photos of an artificial waterfall -- except that the word "artificial" mades it sound less beautiful than it was.

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