Saturday in New England

Waking up in Portland, ME we headed to Cape Elisabeth and visited the lighthouses.   What a unexpected surprises, this weekend the lighthouses of Maine were all open and free!!  We started at "Portland Head Lighthouse" then "Bug Light" and then "Spring Point".   On our ferry ride to Vinalhaven, ME we passed another lighthouse along with some lobster boats.   While we waited for the ferry we had  a delicious lobster sandwich at the Brass Compass Cafe (know for winning the Bobby Flay throwdown)  OH YEAH !  You can see we really enjoyed it.  Vinalhaven was a special stop for the Dyer's since Rick's family history has its roots here and today happens to be his dad's B-day.   It's amazing how we are drawn to our roots to feel a bond with our ancestors.                    We are really having a beautiful start to our trip.  While in Freeport,ME we indulged our taste buds on some yummy crepes. (rick and laurie had a European moment)  What is a trip to New England without visiting "L. L. Bean" and a picture by the original boot?     Maine and especially, Vinalhaven, is know for the granite.   Everything is made from granite instead of cement.   Even the picnic tables are granite. (no  one will take that out of your yard!)             We are looking forward to a long drive tomarrow through New Hampshire and Vermont.                 

From Portland to Portland

We left the Portland Oregon airport at 7am and landed in Boston at 7 pm. Very long flight. We had a lay over in Chicago for about 2 hours. We had a huge rice crispy treat. It reminded us of Rosco's at the family  reunion. We met our friends daughter, Christina, who lives in Boston and she loaned us her pass through card. The card gets us through all the tolls on the roads without stopping. We will have to reimburse her when we are done.
We got a rental car and left Boston, drove for 2 more hours and arrived in Portland Maine. We ate Lobster rolls at Sebago's. Very good.

The Merry Go Round went around for the last time, ready for an overhaul

Jake Bitton and the family are taking down the merry go round for some needed maintenance. This merry go round was in the park in Camas Washington. Lori and I would take the kids to play on it when they were just babies. We are talking 1982 and on. They loved it because it would spin so fast. They would hold on and I would push as hard as I could , until they were holding on with all their might. Their bodies would be horizontal because they were going so fast. We went back to the park in 185 and found that they had bought a new one. It would hardly spin. The kids were heart broken. I called the city of Camas to find out why they had replaced it. they said it was to dangerous because of the speed that it could turn. I asked what they had done with it, They said they had it in their crap heap. I asked if I could but it. They said for 10 dollars it is yours. I paid the man his 10$. rented a trailer and brought it home. When they poured the foundation for the basement I had them pour the extra cement on the spindle of the merry go round. When the well was put in I had them use the crane they had brought to lift and place the platform of the merry go round. It has had many paint jobs courtesy of Logan. The turkeys loved to roost on it and many years of youth from our ward and neighbors have enjoyed this little piece of history.The merry go round is in the upper right hand corner of the picture. Summer of 1985. We have had many years of pleasure from this old metal piece of nostalgia. When it is rebuilt we will have many more decades of fun.