Day 171 - Mon 14 Sep 2015
Moored - Rockland, ME

[photo: one of the many gorgeous exhibits at the Transportation Museum]

There was a fair amount of rain overnight and enough wind to keep us rocking a little bit, but not too bad. There are large ferries running here all day and when their wakes hit you minutes later, you look up and wonder what that was. It was time to run the generator for 45 minutes and we made the most of it - heater, microwave, water heater, battery charger. With the potatoes 'nuked', making the home fries doesn't take long and we enjoyed veggie omelets to fuel us for the activity ahead.

The sun actually peeked out around 0800 but the threat of rain and thundershowers later was still there. We had to make a phone call to our home county's clerk of the court because our mail service had forwarded Diane a (scanned) juror notification via email. The notice had a provision for sending back a written reply indicating your inability to serve (and in this case pick another date), but I feared not having the actual paper would be a problem. Unbelievably, one phone call to one person and within 1 minute Diane was excused with no request for a deferral to another specific week.

Ned came over on his dinghy at 0900 to chat and plan the day. We decided to accept his generous offer of the use of their second car to run around. With that, we had more options than just walking. At 1000, we zipped over the several hundred yards to the dinghy dock for Ned's condos and then found their unit. Ned showed us around their nice place and some of the really interesting artwork they have accumulated from local artists, which abound up in this area.

We took off a bit before 1100 and Diane got out near the Farnsworth Art Museum downtown. She wanted to stroll the main streets, check out the museum, and window-shop. I took off in the car for a short drive to the S to visit the fabulous Transportation Museum in Owl's Head. Primarily, it is a wonderful collection of cars, small airplanes, and motorcycles, with a few other interesting things thrown into the mix.

According to their literature and introductory video, virtually all the cars, bikes, and planes there are not just exhibits; they actually run and are occasionally used. Considering the age of many of their pieces, that is quite extraordinary. I didn't stay quite as long as it deserved, but I came away feeling very glad to have seen it all.

Diane said she had a wonderful time in the Farnsworth Museum with the guest pass that Ned had given her. I suppose I would have enjoyed it, too, but given a choice I was glad I went to the Transportation Museum. She liked the downtown area. As Ned describes Rockland, it is not really a cutesy, touristy town. It has real substance.

I met with Diane about 1230 and we had lunch at the Rockland Café. We started out sharing a large bowl of the best seafood chowder we have ever had. What made it so special was that there was a milk broth and seafood (scallops, lobster, haddock, clams, shrimp) and nothing else. No potato, no celery, no onion. I love the veggies, too, but to make chowder with only seafood and have every spoonful packed was amazing. Our meals were good, too, but the chowder was the highlight. The price was very reasonable.

Diane scored some fresh bread at the bakery and then we got in the car to check out Jesse's seafood market. Everything looked good, but we decided we really didn't need any more fresh food at this time. On the way back to Ned and Carolyn's place, we stopped at the grocery store so we got a lot accomplished in a short period of time. Carolyn was home by then so we got to chat with both of them for a long while. They suggested we take the car again and drive up to the Beech Hill Preserve and hike to the top for the stunning panoramic views. It was a gorgeous day to do it and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was close to 1600 when we returned the car and expressed our immense gratitude for their generosity and assistance making this a wonderful stop on our trip. Back at Diva Di, Diane stowed our booty while I spent quality time with Clyde. We ran the generator for 50 minutes to recharge the batteries and heat water. Our showers were taken inside, as by 1730 the air was quite chilly to be taking outdoor showers.

Tomorrow we will head to the E, backtracking somewhat, to check out the Fox Thorofare and the coastline of Vinalhaven. We will make a final decision as to where to moor or anchor at that time.