Craig's blog

Today we left the campground around 7:00 heading for Boothbay, ME. We made great time (driving through Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine) on some of the better roads we’ve been on. We decided to get off the interstate a little early to drive up the coast of Maine so we got off and drove into Old Orchard Beach (which looked a lot like Santa Cruz).

I got a ticket for not yielding to a man in a crosswalk – my first ticket in 20 years, and one that was pretty weird. I was going about 20 MPH on a busy beachside street. I had stopped at the two previous crosswalks for folks who wanted to cross, encouraging them off the curb. At the next intersection I saw a man walking parallel to the street on the sidewalk. I slowed, unsure if he was going to cross, but since I was close to the crosswalk and he was on the opposite side of the street I decided to go ahead. He turned without looking up and stepped off the curb. Next thing I know there was a cop with his siren on. I pulled over and he said I hadn't yielded to the pedestrian. When he came back to my window after he had looked up my license, he said, "by the way, the pedestrian happened to be an off-duty police officer". That seemed like a really strange thing to say. I don't know what to make of the whole thing - I guess it's not that big a deal, but it was pretty weird.

We then drove on to Portland where we stopped for lunch at J’s Oyster bar where we sat outside and ate lobster in various forms. We then took another duck tour and this time we weren’t disappointed. The vehicle was in great shape – it turns out they only have one in Portland and it had been built by the guy who was driving it. The tour guide was great too. And it was a beautiful drive and boat ride in the harbor. It was a warm day – 93 degrees, but we really liked Portland. After the tour the kids got some ice cream and then we went to Whole Foods where we stocked up on produce. Then we drove to our campground in Boothbay. We got here about 5:30 this evening, fixed some pasta and salad for dinner and sat by a fire.