On the last day of Fall Break, we headed north to explore the Maine coast. Dada’s marine ecology class spends a week each fall at Lubec, Maine, which is as far east as you can go in the United States. Mama and Caden came along, and we left a day early to check out some neat rocky intertidal sites near the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center. The first stop on our drive north was the L.L. Bean stores in Freeport. We browsed the stores (there are several, each devoted to a different theme) and found some snow boots and a cozy hat for Caden. Caden liked the fish (they have trout in aquaria and ponds throughout the stores) and the kids’ sunglasses, and he really wanted to climb the giant statue of the classic L.L. Bean boot.
From Freeport, we followed Rte. 1 north to Damariscotta, a neat little town that was featuring massive (~400 lb) pumpkins carved and painted in all sorts of wacky ways. Caden’s favorite was the pumpkin snowman. We found our cabin at the Darling Center, where Caden discovered the vitamins we’d brought for him. He is sort of obsessed with his vitamins, which look and taste like gummi bears, and he is always asking for more than his morning allotment. Well, while we were shuttling things from the car and getting ready
to head out to the beach, Caden managed to eat three vitamins. Little mischief maker! He got to watch the rest of the vitamins go into the trash.We checked out two potential field sites that evening, Chamberlain and Pemaquid Point. Both sites have been extensively studied for many years. Chamberlain featured broad, flat intertidal reefs, neat tide pools, and lots of seastars. The more wave-protected areas at Chamberlain were absolutely covered with super-slippery knotted rockweed. Probably because he is lighter, Caden skated easily across the rockweed, whereas Mama and Dada slipped and slid. The rocky shore at Pemaquid was similar, but it also boasted one of the most famous lighthouses on the Maine coast and an adjacent restaurant where we enjoyed a decent—and very convenient—meal.
Pemaquid Point
On Tuesday, we continued north, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the beautiful leaves. We stopped in Camden, where we ate lunch at the Camden Deli, overlooking a waterfall and the boats in the harbor, much to Caden's excitement. The further north and east we drove, the wilder the scenery got, until we arrived at West Quoddy Station, our home for the next three nights. The station was used by the Coast Guard for over 50 years, and is now operated as a vacation rental. West Quoddy 
Station is less than a mile from West Quoddy Light, so the location provides really convenient access to both protected (just below the station) and exposed (at the lighthouse) rocky shores.Caden was a huge hit with the students, and he really hammed it up around them, dancing, singing, and being his usual, adorable self. He is really excited about lighthouses right now, and he will tell you about the two lighthouses we saw during our trip to Maine: the one the students didn’t go to (Pemaquid Point) and the one the students went to (West Quoddy Head). West Quoddy Head also boasts a state park, and there are lots of neat hiking trails there. Dada was really excited to find out that one of the trails goes to a boardwalk loop across a bog that is virtually identical to the muskegs of Southeast Alaska. The most notable difference was the exciting addition of pitcher plants to the flora of Maine muskegs. We can't wait to go back there next year!
Fun at West Quoddy Light
Maine muskeg
