Mid Coast offer vacation activites, indoors and outdoors

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A Garden for All Ages in All Seasons

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is an oasis of beautiful trails and plants on Barters Island near Boothbay in midcoast Maine. Open to the public year-round, it is a haven of ornamental gardens and natural beauty, waterfalls, and stonework and sculpture. Miles of trails allow visitors to experience waterfront and woodlands typical of Maine. The Lerner Garden of the Five Senses, with many features that make it accessible to disabled people. A new children’s garden, featuring themes derived from children’s literature by authors with a Maine connection. Open daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., year-round. Phone: 207-633-4333.

Bath Builds Big Ships

Would you like to see a warship taking shape before your eyes? From mid-May to mid-October, the Maine Maritime Museum, at 243 Washington Street in Bath offers a trolley tour of the Bath Iron Works, which the Boston Globe has called a must-see. This one-hour trolley tour takes you behind the gates of Bath Iron Works to see how modern U.S. Navy destroyers are built. The Navy's most modern warship - DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer - is beginning to take shape and visitors in 2012 will be among the first to see it being built. If you tour before Labor Day you'll also get to see the latest Aegis-class destroyer DDG 112 Michael Murphy. Tour capacity is limited and advance reservations are strongly recommended. Book your tour at least several days in advance. Phone: 207-443-1316.

Bath Is Home to Graceful, Historic Neighborhoods

Alongside the Kennebec River, Bath is a small jewel of a city that embraces an old seafaring town. Bath welcomes visitors with tree-lined historic avenues graced by handsome mansions that were once home to shipyard owners and ship captains. You can take a guided walking tour of the Bath historic district or ride the Bath Trolley around the scenic streets. Bath’s Front Street is home to antique stores, specialty shops, galleries and many fine restaurants. The summer concert series takes place on Friday evenings at Patten Free Library, and every third Friday from June to October there is an Art Walk from 5 to 7 p.m. Phone: 207-442-7291.

Best Breakfast in Maine,
Says Food Network mag

Boynton-McKay Food Co. is a restaurant on Main Street in Camden in a building that was for many decades the town’s primary drug store, apothecary, and soda fountain. The menu has something for almost everyone, from Mexican to Asian to Italian. There are pastas and salads and three soups a day. In 2010 Food Network Magazine took a cross-country road-trip in search of the ultimate breakfast. Boynton-McKay Food Co. was voted the best breakfast in Maine! Celebrate the fall by ordering the crispy cider doughnuts. Phone: 207-236-2465 Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Best Shopping Anywhere

It is hard to overstate how much Mainers and their out-of-state visitors love Renys, a chain of family-owned dry good stores founded 62 years ago when the grandfather of the clan stepped out of his job as a department store clerk and founded a new store where everyone is always treated right. The stores, mostly found in the state’s healthy, small downtowns, are low in superficial glamour and packed full of useful goods, all priced as low as the store can manage. Merchandise ranges from tinned organic pumpkin meat to rubber boots and wedding dresses. Stores are located in Bath, Belfast, Bridgton, Camden, Damariscotta, Dexter, Ellsworth, Farmington, Gardiner, Madison, Newcastle, Pittsfield, Portland, Saco, and Topsham. Don’t miss Renys! Open year-round. Phone: 207-563-3177

Chocolate Lobster Claws Found Here

Wilbur’s of Maine has a retail store on Independence Drive in Freeport, and directly behind the store is the factory, where the dark art is wonderfully performed. Narrated factory tours with lots of opportunity for tasting are offered from 9 to 2 weekdays; call ahead to make a reservation. Fine chocolate in every imaginable form is created and shaped here. Watch, in particular, for the Chocolate Maine Hunting Boot and the Chocolate Lighthouse and Wilbur the Chocolate Moose. Phone: 207-865-4071

Cooking Enthusiasts, Take Notice

Now You’re Cooking is a full-service cookware store at 49 Front Street in downtown Bath. Do not be prepared to find a little, precious hole-in-the-wall establishment. The store occupies the first floor of one full block adjacent to City Hall. Here you will find a large selection of fine cookware, wine and beer, specialty teas, coffee, and condiments, and a large assortment of kitchen tools and accessories. Michael and Betsy Fear founded Now You’re Cooking in 2000; over the years they have assembled a knowledgeable staff that is always testing new products, trying new recipes, and sharing what they learn. Now You’re Cooking also hosts cooking classes, weekly product demonstrations and monthly wine tastings. Phone: 207-443-1402.
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It’s All About the Lighthouses

The Maine Lighthouse Museum at 1 Park Drive in Rockland is the home of the largest collection of Fresnel lighthouse lenses and the most important landmark collection of lighthouse artifacts and Coast Guard memorabilia in the United States. A few years back, the museum merged its collection with that of the former Museum of Lighthouse History of Wells (now closed). The two collections are now on display and marvelously compliment each other. Visit the museum gift shop and find spectacular inventory of lighthouse models and miniatures, replicas, clothing, gifts, art, toys, memorabilia, and exclusive regional favorites. Open year-round but hours vary by season. Call ahead for hours Phone: 207-594-3301
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Labyrinth in the Woods

A labyrinth in the woods created by artist Carol Sloan is open to the public in Washington. Sloan explains, “My labyrinth is made in the pattern called Robin Hood's Race. It is about one-half mile long and takes 30 to 45 minutes to walk. You park at the edge of a hayfield and walk a mowed path to an island of trees to begin. The experience of walking in the woods and then out into the hayfield following the path gives a real experience of nature, from shade to sun, from quiet to breeze. From the intersection of routes 17 and 220 travel east on Old Union Road for 1.9 miles and look for a hayfield on the right just past a pond on the right. There are flags to show where to park and where to walk. The labyrinth is open year round. It is open only on Sundays in hunting season.

Love Those Alpacas

The owners of Winter’s Gone Farm at 245 Alna Road in Wiscasset are among the growing corps of alpaca lovers who want to share their enjoyment of these peaceful creatures. Guests are welcome to visit the farm, pet the alpacas, watch them play a friendly game of soccer (really!), walk the trails, and shop at the retail store. Winters Gone is proud to offer the world's top alpaca fashions; an owner visits Peru yearly and collaborates with partners to bring new designs to customers. Among the store’s merchandise is clothing, blankets, stuffed animals and yarn. Open year-round except January; hours vary. Phone: 207-882-9191.

Maine Windjammer Association

Sailing from Ports in Rockland, Rockport and Camden, ME Toll-Free: 800-807-WIND

If you’re looking to explore where the big ships can’t go, a Maine windjammer can get you there.

Maine and the Windjammer fleet go hand in hand. Nowhere else in North America will you find such a large, historic fleet of traditional sailing vessels. Thousands of wild and pristine islands dot the Maine coast, providing unlimited anchorages for the windjammers. Guests are invited to participate in all shipboard activities, from taking a turn at the wheel to raising and lowering sails. The 13 ships in the Maine Windjammer Association have a well-earned reputation for outstanding sailing adventures and delicious down-home cooking. One night everyone goes ashore for a traditional island lobster bake. Wildlife abounds, with bald eagles, porpoises and seals sighted on every cruise. In the fleet’s home waters of Penobscot Bay, there are hundreds of anchorages just waiting to be explored. Three- to six-day cruises available from May through October. Departures from Camden and Rockland.
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Trail to 53,000 Works of Art

The Maine Art Museum Trail offers more than 53,000 works of art, from ancient to contemporary, in a dazzling array of collections at seven leading art museums. Museums on the trail include Bates College Museum of Art (Lewiston), Bowdoin College Museum of Art (Brunswick), Colby College Museum of Art (Waterville), Farnsworth Art Museum (Rockland), Ogunquit Museum of American Art (Ogunquit), Portland Museum of Art (Portland), and University of Maine Museum of Art (Bangor). The museums’ permanent collections include works of art by the many artists who have vacationed or worked in Maine. They also feature masterpieces by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, and Pablo Picasso, Greek and Roman sculpture, early American silver and furniture, and contemporary textiles, prints, ceramics, and sculpture. Some museums also offer free admission during selected hours.

Wooden Ships Through Maine History

The Maine Maritime Museum on Washington Street in Bath collects, preserves and interprets materials on the early days of Maine’s shipbuilding industry and features the country’s only surviving wooden shipbuilding yard. From watercraft and lobstering, to shipbuilding and sea trade, visitors hear stories about dangerous voyages to distant lands; see how a shipbuilder’s family lived in the 1890s; smell the sawdust from historic ship timbers; and discover the wonders and mysteries of Maine’s maritime culture. Highlights include ten acres of galleries and exhibits; a life-size sculpture of the largest wooden sailing vessel ever built; seasonal river cruises; and a children’s play area. Phone: 207-443-1316.
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105 Years and Hundreds of Models

BlueJacket Ship Crafters at 160 E. Main Street in Searsport is the oldest ship modeling company in the country, producing wooden museum-quality kits and models, half-hull models, fittings, tools, and books, by Maine craftsmen. The public is welcome to visit the shop and browse the gallery, with more than 100 models, and the workshops and metal foundry. A new series, Great American Workboats. Including Florida shrimpers, New England draggers, a Maine sardine carrier, is coming online soon, These models will be modestly priced and designed for less-experienced builders. Open year-round, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Phone: 800-448-5567.
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