This and That and the Train!

Site 189, Moody Beach RV Resort. Highs: 93, 92, 88, 89, 88

Lows: 65, 67, 70, 62, 60, and sixties the rest of the week. AT&T hotspot decent for downloading, T-Mobile Mifi- better for uploading. Sparky puts that in because now people want to know, how is the internet where you are? As a general rule, campground wifi is TERRIBLE!

We are at Moody Beach Thousand Trails Resort in Wells, Maine for the third time this summer. We must really like it, right! Yep, we do! It's nearly free with our Thousand Trails membership and we are finding out some really cool things about this area that enable you to head out for other cool places if you are not big beach people as we are not. Been there, done that for many many years, lifeguarding, overexposure to the sun, etc. Not to mention, the summer crowds are pretty large at the beach these days with the 90's temperatures hitting the coast of Maine this past week.

But first of all, some quick views/reviews of our park. As it is in the 90's, we are glad for 50 amp electric vs. 30 amp that smaller RVs have to use. We are running both AC's but because we are in the shade in the back of the park, our air conditioners are not running constantly like they would be up in the non-shaded front of the park. It may be hot right now, but the Atlantic Ocean and Wells Beach (a 30 min. walk away), is still pretty cool, the water temperature is in the mid sixties. You might need a wetsuit for some serious swimming? This family is READY! That's a lot of wetsuits!

There is a big mix of full time RVers (they have the big fifth wheels like we do, or the big, rectangular box on wheels class A/ motorhomes--the other big guys) in this park. The weekend warriors are usually in smaller pull behind travel trailers or self-contained trucks with the roof over the cab--class C's. You can tell if people are seasonal/annuals by how they decorate their site because if they have paid for the whole season, they might go all out with landscaping and doodads. This one has an elaborate outdoor BBQ/kitchen set up on the right side of their site. They have a corner site and it is completely full of stuff.

Big screen tents or pop ups with removeable covered side walls are VERY popular. It's kind of like an extra outdoor living room space. Some put furniture in there, like sofas and ottomans, or they use it to stay bug free and put their picnic table inside. Speaking of bugs, there are very few mosquitoes or nasty biting bugs here near the coast AT THIS CAMPGROUND. Maybe because there are USUALLY ocean breezes blowing through. We love that! But there ARE little teeny tiny non biting greenish white insects that love Sparky if she's crafting outdoors. Those are just plain annoying! They just feel like you've got creepy crawlies moving around on your skin and you can barely see them. Sparky is swatting at little nothings while outside. Guess she COULD put on some bug spray/cream. (Ya think? laughs E.)

Being that we are partially in the Maine woods, this is a common way people are storing their firewood. Clever! 

If you see a gray container on the back of an RV like this one below and wonder what that is for....(Uh-oh, you may want to skip this part, warns, Eldo.)

That's a waste container, as in a temporary poop/pee holder. If you camp in a state park, or sometimes a national park, or state forest with no full hookups there will be no place for you to dump your waste when your toilet tank/(black tank) gets full. So you hook your hose up to this container, empty your rig waste via a big accordion hose into the gray waste container and then roll it to a dump station somewhere in the park for this very purpose, if you don't have a sewer drain at your campsite. You dump it down the waste station hole by way of opening up a valve and gravity does the rest. Sometimes we see these little gray waste containers being rolled by a truck down the lane to the waste station. They don't hold a whole lot, so people make LOTS of little trips with them while they are there. Then you are set for maybe another week or two. Sometimes campgrounds will have what's called a "honey wagon". That's a septic cleaning service that will come around to your campground and pump out your black tanks for a fee. (Sparky, did they REALLY need to know all that? asks E.) Well sure, what if they decide they want to go full time RVing? They need to know these other things that nobody talks about!

OK, 'nuff said about that. What about the train, you ask? Well, the Amtrak station is 15 minutes (with very little traffic, more if on a heavily trafficked time of day) from our campground in Wells. You can go to Boston one way (16.00 for one senior) on Amtrak, the trip taking less than two hours, but the price changes depending on how when you purchase your tickets. It's a little like airfare. If you purchase a little ways out, it's cheaper. We decided to take the train into Boston and have a little day trip look around. Sparky took the train AND her bike on the train to visit her brother in Bedford, MA, last time up here in Wells. This time Sparky and Eldo went to Boston. We were going to do the "Hop On, Hop Off" trolley tour, but it was going to be over 90 degrees and no AC on the trolley, just open air windows, so we decided to do a whale watch instead. 

The trolley with an "upstairs" section

What a day we had!

We took the 6:00AM Amtrak Downeaster from Wells to North Station/TD Garden station in Boston in order to have plenty of time for the 11:00 AM whale watch cruise.  It is an .8 of a mile walk to the wharf and the aquarium from the train station, very doable, and you pass by some terrific, beautiful Boston sites on your way. This is the Quincy Market entrance...

This is another walkway to Faneuil Hall Marketplace, an amazing conglomerate of shopping places and restaurants. We did not explore these today but they looked fabulous and fun!

Boston is a beautiful city with lots of green space....And of course, TONS of history....

A great mix of old and new architecture.....The part of the city we saw was very clean....

The TD Garden/North Train station was very cool...The TD Garden part itself is a multi-purpose 19,600 seat arena as a replacement for the original Boston Garden and is home for the Boston Bruins. It has quite a bizarre naming rights story, too complicated to mention here, but the arena has had 33 names in its history.

There are eighteen restaurants on the lower level. We had the best really rare roast beef sandwich (Cussers) after returning from the whale watch cruise while we were waiting for our train to head back to Wells. 

And how was the cruise you ask? AMAZING! We saw seven humpback whales, some pectoral fin slapping, a breech, a couple of fluke tails, a mother and calf pair of humpbacks, a blue shark, a seal, and a fin whale in the distance. The trip was the City Experiences New England Aquarium Catamaran Whale Watch tour out to Stellwagen Banks (an 842 square mile marine sanctuary) and lasted four hours. Price started at 58.00 per person. We thought that was a decent price for a four hour tour.

We saw whales almost immediately entering the banks area, a feeding grounds for many whales in the summer months. The tour guide was excellent and full of interesting facts. Did you know that whales feed in the summer months in the northern Atlantic and fast in the winter months down by the Dominican Republic? They can lose up to 20,000 pounds during their six months fast. When they return to the Stellewagen Banks, they put on an amazing amount of fat per day to gain their weight back. 

The waters are very green, rich with nutrients for the whales to thrive in this area. AND-- the waters were so clear and calm today it made for optimal viewing. You could see the whales' entire bodies before they came to the surface!

Mama and her calf

The cruise was almost fully booked and as the catamaran held about 400 passengers, it made it difficult to get good photos as the railings on one side or the other were so crowded at every sighting. But if you are patient and wait on the OPPOSITE side of where everybody is currently at, the boat eventually swings around or the whales change directions and you are already waiting at the rail to get your chance at some good photos...We had a fabulous cruise today....It was hot even out on the water, but it was wonderful to be on a catamaran, too and watch it slice thru the waters.

The aquarium is right there next to the docks, but it's a little on the pricey side, (32.00 for a senior) so we didn't check it out today. We had so much fun today, we plan on taking the train again into Boston next week and we are going to do the Hop On, Hop Off Trolley Tour for a little more Boston culture and history. Thanks for stopping by to read today...See you later down the road!