The On30 Guy

This morning we bade a sad farewell to Larry and Jim at the Galen Moses B&B in Bath, and headed back towards Rockland. We’d planned to get away right after breakfast, but that just doesn’t seem to be the B&B way. We spent a more leisurely morning than we planned, having a great conversation with our hosts and the other folks who were staying at the Galen Moses house — couples from California, Iowa and Connecticut. We’re spoiled for hotels now, and the thought of returning the the hotel in Rockland is a little bit of a downer.

Our biggest planned stop today was the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway. This is an absolutely fabulous little two-foot gauge museum railroad that’s being run entirely by volunteers. This weekend was a track-laying weekend, which means that somewhere out on the railroad, in the cold wind (wind-chill today around 34!), a crew was laying down rail and banging in spikes the old fashioned way. Meanwhile, we rode the train behind #10.

A little history, here. The cars on the line were originally at Edaville, before Edaville pretty much folded up. What’s really neat about that is that I probably rode in the same car when I was just a little tyke about a zillion years ago! Even better, #10 was originally built as a 30-inch gauge loco for an industrial line in South Carolina. For me, this was pretty much heaven!

Now, on to Donna’s newly crowned gooberdom. With the exception of light rail trains and subways, Donna’s never been on a train ride in the US. Today, she rode her first train, her first narrow gauge, and got her first cab ride — all in one day! She was absolutely thrilled, and is now extremely excited about trying to get back up to this area for the national narrow gauge convention next August.

After leaving the railroad, we headed back to Wiscasset for lunch and a bit of a wander. From the foot of town, the view across the river is beautiful. It was pretty cold, though, so we grabbed a bite to eat, took a few pictures, and moved on.

As we continued our trip, we detoured down to Boothbay Harbor. Unfortunately, we were too late for good light in the harbor — the sun had dropped too low, and was coming from the wrong direction. I guess if we’d have been there a little earlier, we would have had time to drive around the harbor, to the west side, and had some ideal light. However, the detour wasn’t a total photographic bust. We happened upon these beautifully lit trees on the way down, and just had to stop for pictures.

 
Also along the way back to Rockland, we knew we wanted to stop at a little overlook with a view of one of those “typical New England” towns. Again, more pictures were required:
 

Oh, yeah. It’s fall up here. That means, along with the chilly temperatures, that there’s lots of color going on. The storm that rolled through yesterday and last night knocked a lot of the leaves off the branches, but we’re still seeing some color.

We’re back in the room in Rockland now, and the day’s winding down. We might walk out in a while for desert — we’re skipping dinner, since breakfast and lunch were such major meals. Tomorrow, we’re planning to head up/out to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

Tags: Miscellaneous //