August Plate report Pretty good month....

Got 52 of 63 this month...

From the US, missed Hawaii, Idaho, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 

From Canada, didn't get Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador,PEI, and Saskatchewan.  Today is a new month, with lots of Interstate travel, should get close!

August 31 A couple of stray oddities

Saw these around Freeport Maine the other day, just now getting around to downloading them:

Of course, this is called the Big Indian...  

This is a pink elephant, of course- it was actually supposed to be in Gloucester Mass, but it was near Freeport.

August 29th Long day, but fun too.

Left Moody Beach at 0800, 30 miles up to Big Moose Harley Davidson, and got a pin for Bubba Walt.  

Then to Yarmouth Maine, home of the DeLorme map company, and "Eartha", the worlds largest revolving earth globe-  didn't buy any maps, but was tempted.

Then, to Freeport, Maine,, home of LL Bean.  First stop was to pay homage to the Late LL Bean, here is his family plot, and his site- very plain cemetery, and no ostentation at all- 

Then on to the LL Bean Mother Store-  I was looking for some T's for Tony, but was sorely disappointed, they didn't have much of a selection at all-  did find him a couple though- 

Huge store, busy-  

Then on down a couple of streets to the Patagonia Outlet store for the grandboys- got them a shirt apiece.....

Then, over to Brunswick Maine, home of Bowdoin University-  I had thought I would go to several museums, but the campus was too imposing, and wasn't comfortable with the parking situation- so I basically passed, and headed directly over to Bath Maine, to the Maine Maritime Museum.

Since I had 2.5 hours to kill, I did a detailed visit and took a guided tour of the facility this time, before taking the grand slam 10 lighthouse boat cruise, from 330 to 730 pm!  Super super day for a cruise, and got to see all the lights for the second time.  Nice crowd on the boat.  

Several interesting displays at the museum, including one on lobstering in Maine, and watched a couple of movies as well.  

Got back to Moody Beach by 830 pm, sat at the campfire with Shawn and Trish for a bit, then called it a night.

Resting today, tomorrow is a tour of New Hampshire, then 3 straight Boston trips.  Tracy arrives next Saturday in Boston as well.  

August 29th Full day!

I'll post details tomorrow, its past 10 at night, and I started at 8 this morning!

Did see these 3 plates today:

August 29th Big day today-

Up early, because we have a big day planned today....

First, up to Big Moose Harley Davidson in Portland to find a dealer pin for Walt- then on to the DeLorme Map Company in Yarmouth to see the big dome-  then on to Freeport Maine, so I can stop at the Patagonia Outlet and LL Bean to do some gift shopping for the grands and Tony- then on to Brunswick Maine for several museums and finally on to the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, so I can take the grand slam 10 lighthouse tour It goes for 4 hours from 330-730 tonight, so I'll be coming home in the dark....    about 160 miles for the day.

August 28th 3am, and I just now got my new computer up and running!

The Windows 10 download is about 3 GB of download, with several starts and stops, plus you have to edit everything, so it decided to start at 1245 this morning, and you can't not babysit it- so we are still at it.  This too shall pass.  So far, I am sort of ok with the new operating system-  the new computer seems to be good to go as well.  Still have to transfer some additional files from the external drive, but we should be all good soon.  Looks like I will be sleeping in a bit tomorrow!

August 27th To Salem Mass Today

Left Moody Beach around 9 this morning with thoughts of doing Salem Mass.  Drove down in, got a free parking space right in front of the Salem Maritime Visitors center, which was closed, so I walked up to the main visitors center, about 5 minutes got stamps, but not the lighthouse stamps, then walked back and hit the other stamp location for their stamps, then drove to the new Essex NHA HQ building, and got their stamp, and then walked back over to the Main VC for Salem Maritime to get the 5 lighthouse stamps.  Thought I might take the trolley to see some things, but opted not to, since I was actually a bit tired.  Then made an unscheduled stop in East Boston to see the "other" Lightship Nantucket, that is kept here- but it wasn't open.  I'll try to get the stamp directly.


Here are the lights and stamps I got:

Marblehead light 

Baker Island Light 

Derby Wharf light- revisit

Fort Pickering Light 

Hospital Point Front and Rear lights 

Lightship Nantucket 

Also saw 1 new plate today:

Not sure what I might do tomorrow, since we are a day ahead of schedule, Saturday is a long 10 light lighthouse tour, plus LL Bean and DeLorme for maps. 

August 26th Moved spaces, down to New Hampshire for shopping...

Up early this morning so we cove move our spot at camp.  We moved to 19th street, then struggled for an hour or better fooling with the antenna to get Direct TV- come to find out we were positioned wrong for one thing, and then we discovered the front TV had dropped a cable, but we're all set now, and happy as clams from now until Sept 10th, when we will head back down to New Jersey with Tracy in tow.

After lunch, we headed down to New Hampshire to go computer shopping-  We stopped at 3 stores, Best Buy first, then Staples, then finally Wal Mart.

Best Buy was way overpriced, cheapest one they had was 699 and they went up to over 1400.  At Staples, we found 4 models we liked, and would have bought, but they had none of the 4 in stock, and would not let us buy the display model, plus they kept trying to sell us upgrades- maddening- we walked out.  

At the old stand by, Wal Mart, Bette and I wound up buying twin HP laptops for 296 each!
Still had "only" 500 mb hard drives, vs 1 TB that we were looking for, and we will have to upgrade to Windows 10- which I am in the process of doing as we speak- so now I am backed up.  Still have my 1 TB external drive for back up, so I'm set.  

Tomorrow, I'm heading down to Salem, Mass for the day, and may stop by Kittery Trading Post on the way back-  Lots to do and see in Salem, plus several lighthouses. 

Saw 2 plates today, this one, and did not find a photo for a New Hampshire Special Commercial plate on a cement truck- and this one from Texas 

  

August 25th Made it to Moody Beach again

Uneventful trip to Moody Beach this afternoon, had a very nice lunch with Dutch and Joan and made it to Moody by 6 pm.  Got into a space in the back, and will move to a better space in the morning.  Shawn and Trish are good-  we are "home".  All is good.

August 25th Local stuff today and a schedule change.

Headed to the Liberty Tool Company, and went across the street to the Graphic Arts Outlet
and then we headed back down to Belfast for a McDonalds breakfast- and returned a call to Dutch, and it turns out we will meet them for lunch downtown today.

Bette called down to Moody Beach, and worked with Kristy and made arrangements for us to get in tonight-  so we'll be heading down there after lunch.  

August 24th Really busy day today, and good results!

Started out today heading to Rockland, Maine, about 13 miles down the road-  stopped at Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, which required a walk of a mile each way on the Breakwater to visit the light, which was not open :-((.

I did get the stamp later at Owls Head Light.

Then on down to the Maine Coastal Islands HQ for three Blue Goose stamps, but couldn't get a pin, because the store was closed.   Poop.

Then, on over for a revisit to the Owls Head Transportation Museum-  they had just had their big auction over the weekend, several cars were sold, from 2500 to north of 250,000 dollars.

Then, on down to Owls Head Lighthouse and State Park, got 4 stamps there:

Curtis Island, which is actually offshore in Camden Maine, just below us:

Indian Island Light, which is offshore from Rockport:

Plus the Rockland Breakwater stamp was here. I also got a toy boat for Owls Head, and a neat poster of all the Maine lighthouses.

I also stopped in at Thomaston Maine, for a couple of stops, the Lyman Morse Yacht Yard, where a boat from St Augustine, the Kiwi Spirit was built and is for sale there: They have several yachts for sale, or building in the many millions of dollars:

Then, to a neat place called the Maine State Pen store, where they display reasonably priced woodworking and other items made by inmates at the state pen.  Got a neat toy boat there as well.

Stopped at Wal mart, Maine sports store, looking for some stuff for the grandsons, and a thrift store on the way back, also stopped in Camden and got a toy boat there.  

Tomorrow, Bette and I will head  West a bit to the local famous Liberty Tool Company in Liberty Maine.  

And, for the first time in almost two weeks, saw some new license plates today!