Poland Spring Campground

Just about eight miles south of us, right on Rt. 26, is the Maine Wildlife Park.   It’s been a family favorite of ours since Alex was born 19 years ago, and I recommend it over and over and over again to our campers.

Wild animals that are injured, abandoned or have become human dependent are housed in The Park.  Most are here permanently for their safety because they couldn’t survive on their own in the wild.  I could talk for hours about the positive changes I’ve seen through the years, mostly through volunteer services . . .  Larger living areas for the animals; new trails; informational exhibits . . .

B and I visited The Maine Wildlife Park last week.  Before my camera’s batteries ran out, we saw these cuties:

lots of deer

bobcat

black bear

moose calf

Through the rest of the visit, I kept whining over my dead batteries until Ben said, “You’ll just have to come back, Mom.  I’ll come too, if you want.”  You would have whined too, if you saw the cool stuff we did.  Imagine these:

The mountain lion, sitting up tall on top of his rock, surveying his kingdom.

The coyote was sleeping, but the fisher was running back and forth, back and forth in his cage. He was bigger than I thought he’d be.  And the claws on his feet . . . whoa!

The albino porcupine came out for a minute.  He was kind of an odd looking fellow.  Eventually, he slowly lumbered back into his log.  The raccoon was adorable, though.  He calmly watched everyone going by.

The eagle sat high on his perch, looking down over the turtle pond and the wetlands trail.  His enclosure is relatively new, and very impressive.

The peacocks were in rare form, screeching over and over, while fanning their feathers.

At the turtle pond, Ben tried very hard to find all the species listed on the information board.  I didn’t realize how many of them were endangered.

Ben and I also discovered the hawk we saw this winter was really a Cooper’s hawk. The red tailed hawk was much bigger.  We also got a very close look at the Barre and Great Horned owls!

Throughout the park are signs like these:

and interactive displays like these

to help educate and entertain.

There’s three different trails you can wander along, too.  The Tree Trail identifies the different varieties of Maine trees. The Game Trail challenges you to find as many different animal silhouettes as you can.    And the wetland trail offers a chance to see birds (Ben saw a veriole!), turtles and fish.

I recommend you bring a picnic lunch.  There’s a nice pine grove area with picnic tables and B-B-Q grills right inside the entrance of The Park.  After lunch, you can buy a drink, ice cream or other treat at the snack shack.  Then visit the Nature Store for fun and/or educational souvenirs.  Ben picked out a really cool whistle/compass combination to carry on our hiking trips this summer.  I bought some posters to go in our rec room . . . aaaaaaand a pair of silver, dragonfly earrings.  I couldn’t resist!

Feeding the animals people food, is not permitted.  But bring plenty of quarters because you’ll find animal food machines to feed the bear, deer, pheasants, ducks, geese, and turkeys.  And if you walk all the way down to the end of the fish hatchery, you can feed the fish too.

On Thursdays in July and August, there’s Story Time with a craft at 11:00am.  On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, there’s animal talks at 11:00am and 1:00pm.

For more information on prices, directions and such, click on the link on the right.  You can’t go wrong with this day trip!

The Freeport area is one of our favorite family Monday outings.  It has something for all of us and is only thirty to forty miles from the campground.

We usually pack a picnic lunch and go to Wolf Neck Woods State Park first to get a little hiking in.

Wolf Neck boasts five miles of fairly level trails, with one of them being handicapped accessible.  You can choose from several lengths of trail, and all are easy hiking.  Still, be sure to carry some drinking water and wear your sneakers.

There’s plenty of streams to poke around in

and some bridges to cross

Just be careful you don’t run into a troll!!
Some of the trails wind along the edge of Casco Bay and the Harraseeket River where the boys climbed rocks, poked in crevices and explored tidal pools to their hearts content.

Our favorite trail is the Casco Bay Trail.  It takes you down to where you can see a series of islands.  Osprey’s nest there.  Have you ever seen them fish?  They’re fun to watch.

So bring your binoculars and/or camera!

When we reach the coastline, we usually sit for a bit and drink it all in.  The views are gorgeous.  The forest is peaceful.  It’s the perfect place to get away from everything, experience nature and do a little bird watching.

After hiking, we have lunch in the picnic area under the trees.  Tables and grills are provided . . . bathrooms are nearby.

Then we load up and drive into downtown Freeport, home of the famous L. L. Bean.  We always hit the Outlet Store before going to the retail store.  You can usually find some wicked good deals there.

After shopping at L. L. Bean, we get an ice cream at the Ben and Jerry’s stand.  It’s conveniently located right outside Bean’s entrance.  Mmmmmm . . . coffee heathbar on a sugar cone.  My favorite!

Then we shop a little more:  Cool As A Moose, The Mangy Moose, Yankee Candle, Lindt Chocolate, Earrings and Co., Reebok . . . the list goes on and on and on!  It’s fun to walk the streets and look at everything they have to offer.

There are many, many fabulous places to eat in Freeport, from hot dog stands, to pubs to fine dining.  You’ll see a list on the Freeport website (link is listed above) as well as other sightseeing ideas.

But we like to stop on the way home at the  Muddy Rudder in Yarmouth, right off of Route 1.   Steak, seafood, pasta . . . their menu has something for everyone.  I can recommend the Broiled Seafood Medley.

In July and August, my family and I try to arrange one day a week to play outside the campground. It’s become a tradition we call Family Day, and has been a fabulous way to connect with our kids as well as recharge.

It also allows us to experience/experiment with day trips, seeing which ones our kids like vs. what we adults like. Then we pass on the information to you, our campers.

Last year our favorite trip was Monhegan Island. It had everything! Hiking, wildlife watching, quaint stores, views galore!

We chose to ride the Hardy Boat Cruises Monhegan Ferry out of New Harbor, a pretty little coastal town. It took approximately 1 hour to drive there from the campground. Parking was $2 for the day. The boat ride was $30 per adult and $18 for children under 12, and well worth it. This was not our boat, but we rode one similar

We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the view. The captain kept us entertained with historical information about the harbor and the coastline. Pretty soon, he slowed down to show us a basking shark. A little while later we saw puffins!

Once on Monhegan, you feel as if you’ve stepped back in time. There were very few vehicles. Dirt roads wound past quaint shops and homes.

We were there for the hiking though, and we set off to find it. We were not disappointed with the views:

There are short, fairly easy hiking trails and then there are the longer and more difficult ones. We chose the longer trails that wound along the islands shoreline. Ben, who had just turned 10, had no problem. He totally enjoyed the opportunity to climb to his hearts content. We packed a picnic lunch to eat on the trail, but there were plenty of places to sit and eat on Monhegan itself. A tip: if you plan to hike, bring a plenty of water with you or buy it on the island before you set out. We saw too many families who hadn’t taken any water at all, and were tired and thirsty halfway through their hike. We ended up sharing some of our water with an older couple.

Toward the end of the trail we discovered a huge display of fairy houses! Visitors to the island are encouraged to build them. There had to be at least fifty

Back in town, we found some ice cream (we always manage to find ice cream!) and wandered the streets to find photo opportunities like these:

I had more fun taking pictures of gardens, homes, signs, views, piles of lobster traps, the lighthouse . .. Monhegan is a photographer’s dream.

Before we set out on this trip, one of my friends said, “You can’t walk two feet without finding an artist”. She wasn’t kidding! Painters are everywhere on Monhegan. Even on the trails.

As we sat on the top deck of the Ferry heading home, I thought for sure my day was complete. But then we saw this guy

A seal! We actually saw five or six more before our trip was done.

Back in New Harbor, we watched some lobstermen unload their boats. Then we had a fabulous seafood dinner right on the pier at Shaw’s Fish and Lobster Wharf.

At least twice a day I receive a phone call asking, “If I camp at Poland Spring Campground for a week, what’s there to do in the area?”

My answer?

Plenty!!!

Included in our check-in packet is a list of places to go and things to do, complete with directions. Most of them have been “tested out” on my own kids during our Monday outings. There’s hiking, ocean watches, shopping, beaches and museums. Over the next couple of months, I’ll occasionally talk about a few of them, giving you pictures whenever I can. In the meantime, feel free to visit our website under area/links for those that are closest to home.

Today, Ben insisted Dave and I take him to the Maine State Museum in Augusta. He’d just been with his classroom two weeks ago, yet he haaaaaad to go back and see his favorite displays again. I’ve sent plenty of campers during our eighteen years of running the campground, but had never been myself.

I really have no idea what took me so long!

It took a little less than an hour to get there, and was an easy drive up Route 202 (although you can also get there by the Turnpike). We spent approximately two and a half hours exploring three floors of exhibits like these:

Maine patents and inventions. Did you know earmuff were invented by Maine resident, Chester Greenwood?

a lawn sprinkler from the late 1800’s if I’m remembering correctly

A typical early 1900’s kitchen display in the Made in Maine exhibit

musket balls in the Struggle for Identity exhibit

an approximately 100 year old loom

Of course, my photos don’t do it justice. You really have to visit yourself!

I think my favorite was the Back to Nature Exhibit, with the wildlife display. I was amazed at the size of the fisher! And the beaver! We saw an eagle up close, moose, skunk, various birds, deer, owls and much more.

Afterward, we walked over to the Maine State House to get a peek of the inside. There are also several monuments nearby, such as the Firefighters Memorial, Police Officers Memorial, Samantha Smith Statue and the Vietnam Veterans Memorials.