Maine 2022 is in the books! What a fantastic trip we 38 gardeners had exploring this beautiful state.
We landed in Bangor and stayed in Bar Harbor for 3 nights, then headed south for three nights in Portland. In addition to our two main cities, we also visited Boothbay, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, Freeport, and Falmouth, Maine. We saw the sweeping vistas of Acadia National Park,
the Wild Gardens of Acadia,
Asticou Azalea Garden
and Thuya Gardens.
The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens were absolutely fabulous,
and a favorite of many. We also met with some Maine Master Gardeners at two of their projects –at Wells Reserve
and the Tidewater Gardens.
We learned so much from Linda at the Wells Reserve about salt marshes—fascinating stuff.
We shopped in pouring rain at Freeport—headquarters of LL Bean. They sold quite a bit of rain gear, so perhaps they ordered the weather?! We took two boat excursions to see the sites from a different perspective,
along with seals and a spectacular rainbow.
We saw iconic lighthouses,
and some even got to walk up in one. We did city riding tours, and some walking tours. We went to a mead winery where we sampled
(and many bought) various flavors of mead wine. And did I mention LOBSTER!?
We ate our fair share of it, along with clam chowder, crab, mussels, shrimp and the most amazing haddock—has anyone seen it for sale in Arkansas? To top it all off, we had the most amazing weather-- with the exception of one day of rain, we had clear skies, cool temperatures and almost no humidity. Coming home to 100 degrees plus humidity is hard. In spite of the cool weather, they had their fair share of ticks and huge mosquitoes in a few places. The sun rises early and stays up late, so we had plenty of daylight hours to explore. We had a great bus driver and some exceptional guides. We saw a lot of plants we knew,
but learned about a lot of new plants.
We walked a LOT Of steps each day.
I have to brag on our travelers as well—no one was late, everyone was pleasant, and we got to learn more about each other as we learned about Maine. If there was one glitch—it was flying, but that is another story all together. Thanks to our amazing travel agent Nick, for putting this great trip together for us. I think we all want to go back some day, or at least bring that weather here NOW.