The end of Gloucester, the beginning of Maine

Sadly we have left Gloucester and our friends and family. We did spend Saturday on Misery Island, with our friends, and had a fabulous time. We got there before lunch, took the inflatable over to the island and walked around the island for a couple of hours. The weather was perfect- warm enough to actually go in for a quick dip several times, which was a treat, since I haven't been in the ocean all summer, and I love the salt water. We collected a fair amount of sea glass, but you can never have enough! Mark, Roseann and Jack are great friends to spend time with. It felt like old times except we didn't have our own boat (Paul doesn't see the downside in that!!). After barbequing dinner, more friends showed up- the Coults family. We haven't seen them in years, so their teenage daughters had changed dramatically! We finished the day in a very traditional way for us. When we lived in MA, we would spend many summer weekends at Misery Island. After dinner on Saturday it was our custom to take the inflatables and go in to the town of Manchester, about a half hour ride, and get an Ice cream at the local ice cream store. A great finish to a great day. Sunday was a "regrouping day" for us- we did our laundry and errands and some cleaning. Monday we had more friends come for the afternoon and we spent the evening getting ready so we could leave early in the AM. On to Portland ME..... Yesterday we met up with an old friend that I used to work with, and his wife. We had lunch at Demillo's, a floating restaurant in Portland, and were lucky enough with the weather that we could sit outside and watch the boats... Portland is a beautiful city with a lot of history, shopping and great restaurants. My friend Pete has a cottage on nearby Peaks Island, (winter population:1000, summer population: 6000 or more). We took a 20 minute ferry ride over there, and walked up the hill to the cottage. Both Pete and his wife's family have had cottages on the island for generations. It reminded me a lot of my grandmothers house; its on a cute, dirt road, its an older house, and creaky and has so many antiques and so much character! Of course, Pete is most proud of the updates, but I really enjoyed the feeling I had of a connection with the past. As is typical for this coast, there was a military presence on the island at one time, and some of the structures are still standing, or have been incorporated into houses. There are so many deer on the island that people have been allowed to hunt them to bring the number down to something reasonable. We walked most of the island this morning and then left Pete and Cathy this afternoon to head back to the "ranch" to check on the cat. Tomorrow we head to Acadia!