Maine Vacation 2022, Part 1
Just before the world went crazy, DH and I had planned to revisit Maine. There was a time when I thought we’d never return with government shut downs and restrictions in place but thankfully it relaxed enough where we committed ourselves to this trip in May.
About a month before our vacation, we decided to buy new phones. Ours were old and the batteries weren’t reliable. The last thing we wanted was to be a thousand miles from home and one or both of our phones die. We each got iPhone 13 Pros. Neither of us had time to experiment with the camera on our new phones. I’m confident DH’s pictures are better than mine. I dubbed myself the memory shooter for the trip. I captured about 1600 pix. As I revisit the last two weeks with you, I will sort and weed out the really bad from the good. For critics or perfectionist, warning all photographs have been resized to make WordPress happy but despite that the image quality is pretty darn good and my flaws are visible. 😬
We left Knoxville on September 8 at 12:30pm making minimal stops for fuel, food, and other necessities our enthusiasm pushed us through the night. DH drove the bulk of the trip. I chattered to him through the dark hours to help him fight off sleep. Both of us occasionally took a Vivarin (caffeine pills) to keep us alert. We crossed the Maine state line with the sun coming up over the horizon around 6:30am.
We booked a room in Wells for the first three nights. Check in time wasn’t until 3pm. We had a lot of time to kill. I wasn’t too sure how well we would do since we’d been awake more than 24 hours at this point. Here are a few pictures from those first few hours in Maine.
Standing beside the road, I felt like I was in another world and in all fairness it was compared to what we’re used to seeing in the hills of east Tennessee.
You’ll probably recognize this lighthouse. It’s perhaps one of the most photographed lighthouses, Nubble Light. I’ve seen this beacon of hope represented in the change of seasons on postcards, calendars, and other printed material.
I could’ve stayed in this spot forever. It just held me captivated as it did the first time we saw it in 2004 but unlike the quick stop we lingered far longer this go around. I soaked in the moments, the sunshine, and the salty air to the fullest.
I used the wide angle feature on my phone for most of these pictures and it worked really great. This is something I couldn’t do quite well with my old iPhone 8. The day couldn’t be any prettier than this as you can see. I have more photos from our first day but that’s all for now. This is going to be a slow process. I plan to use this time slot for memories spent in Maine on a bi-weekly basis to keep from getting too overwhelmed. If you liked my first batch of photos, then I hope you’ll join me for part II. 😘
If you’re looking for more photo memes, then you may wan to join these Wednesday connections….Sandee, Natasha, & Wordless Wednesday. Join me on Oct. 1st for my newest Battle of the Bands in my James Bond theme song series. Thanks for making me a part of your day. Have a wonderfully, Wild Wednesday! X💋X💋, Cathy
22 Comments
rawsonjl
I think I have hundreds of photos of this same light house; my husband and I started visiting York, Maine when I was in college and we make it back there nearly every summer!
Cathy Kennedy
Joanne,
The first time we saw Nubble in person was in 2004. I’m pretty sure on our previous visits we didn’t manage to squeeze it in. It was a great way to kick off our time in Maine this time around. I took a ton of pictures from day 1. Although, I have all of my photos on my computer now I can’t bring myself to delete them off my phone yet. lol
Eugenia
Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos from your vacay, Cathy, and I’m glad you enjoyed your trip.
Cathy Kennedy
Eugi, I’m glad you stopped by to share this in this with me. It’s so much fun to revisit our vacation as I go through my photographs. We’re even talking about the possibility of going back next year. cross fingers
Brian
Very pretty, we always love those water views!
Cathy Kennedy
Brian,
The views are okay, just as long as you don’t have to get in the water, right? lol I like looking at it and am mesmerized by the waves but I barely can swim. You certainly won’t find me playing in that water!
Andree
I love the Maine coatline. I should go more often; it’s just like 1 or 2 hours away! Your photos make me so nostalgic for it.
Cathy Kennedy
Yes, you do need to visit the coast of Maine again…soon! 😀 The water casts a spell on you for hours. It was such a delight to return.
messymimi's meanderings
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Thank you.
Cathy Kennedy
You’re most welcome, darlin’ Mimi!
15andmeowing
Beautiful photos. I am glad you had a nice trip. XO
Myranda
Very lovely vacation!
Cathy Kennedy
Hey Myranda, I’m delighted you stopped by! We had such a good time. I believe I’m ready to go back again. 😉
Cathy Kennedy
Thanks, Ellen! We truly did have a nice time. 🙂
Alana Mautone (@RamblinGarden)
Where do I start? The epic drive through? (our days where we would even think about doing something like that are way, way over) Sunrise in Maine? Lighthouses? All of the above! I don’t worry about composition rules and, in reality, your zoom in photo was quite enjoyable to my eye. It was a good quality zoom. I’m still limping my iPhone SE 1st edition (comparable to an iphone 6) although it can’t be updated any more. I was hoping for a price reduction on the iPhone 13 mini and I just saw they did reduce the price so….hoping to see more of your vacation photos soon.
Cathy Kennedy
Alana,
We considered the mini but the camera in the Pro is what reeled us in, plus with the excellent trade-in value we got our old 8s sort of pushed in to spending the extra for the Pro. That being said, if you go from the SE to 13, I’m sure you’ll see some improvements in the image captures. I’m in awe of how well the 13 Pro did!
Debbie D.
I admire your stamina, Cathy, driving all night. Well worth it, judging by the beautiful sunrise photos! Your iPhone does a good job of capturing the scenery. Looking forward to more!
Cathy Kennedy
Debbie,
I admire our vacation stamina, too. I mean, any other time we’d drop dead from the exhaustion. I think it our go-go attitude was entirely fueled by our adrenaline. I’m tickled with how well the iPhone 13 Pro did on our vacation photos. I knew it would be better than our 8s but WOW! I’m glad we went ahead to get these when we did instead of forcing ourselves to wait for the 14 to release.
Sandee
I’m so glad you had a great time. I would love to see that lighthouse in person. It’s most beautiful and I love lighthouses. A state I would love to explore too. Thank you for sharing your vacation with us.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Love and hugs. ♥
Cathy Kennedy
Sandee,
If ever you get a chance to see Maine, do it! You’ll fall in love with the state like we did.
Thomas Anderson
Hi, Cathy!
Happy Wild and Almost Wordless Wednesday, dear friend, and welcome back home from your New England adventure!
I’m surprised that you and DH pushed yourselves so hard, driving all night long but, at the same time, I understand that you didn’t want to waste a golden moment of your vacation time, a trip you’ve been planning for so long. You are right,Cathy. Arriving in Maine at first light on what was to become a clear, blue day on the rocky shore at Nubble Light was like entering a whole new world. It’s just beautiful, and the pictures you snapped are like professional grade postcards. I’m glad you and DH were able to linger at that scenic spot this time. It must have been exhilarating. I get what you are saying about not standing to close to the edge of those rocks with the water crashing and swirling below., I’d keep my distance as well. Nubble Light is a proud, majestic landmark there on the coast of Maine, and those first hours of your trip surely left an indelible mark, happy memories you and DH will share for years to come.
I look forward to seeing the next series of pictures from your dream trip up to see DD. I’ve got a new post of my own up and running this morning and hope you can swing by and check it out. Please understand that we are under the gun down here with a major hurricane closing in. The rain is pounding us as I write this, and we live in the belt that is expected to get the most rainfall from this system – up to 20 inches! That will produce disastrous flooding all along the “I-4 Corridor” and over to the Atlantic coast. I am expecting to lose power as early as this evening, and I could remain in a blackout until Friday or later, so please understand that if I vanish from the blogging scene, it is because I am in the dark and waiting for power to be restored.
I’m thrilled that you brought back a wealth of happy memories from Main and NH, dear friend Cathy. Enjoy the rest of your day and week and I’ll see you when I see you!
Cathy Kennedy
Tom,
I’m glad for the moment you have electricity. I got some alerts yesterday regarding Hurricane Ian. I hope y’all aren’t hit as hard as forecasted. 20″ of rain is a lot! Flooding conditions are scary. I hope it doesn’t happen. We may see some rain from the system but nothing like Floridians are possibly facing.
Thanks for sharing with me in these joyous moments from our vacation. We were so happy to make the drive straight through but we said if we need to get a room for the night then we would. I was glad that we didn’t have to pull over for a few hours to catch a quick nap. It’s amazing how one’s excitement can fuel you to do seemingly the impossible. I believe God had His hand in the mix more than anything. Humans do dumb things. Taking the extra time to savor moments spent at Nubble Light as well the entire trip made it by far the most enjoyable vacation and we still did a lot of things planned.
I hope for the best for you and Mrs. Shady as Ian’s gusty winds and heavy rain hit. We have y’all in our prayers. God bless!