Thursday morning 07/21/22 Sue and I loaded up the car for a few days up to Bailey Island, ME.

Rather than take 95 north, we opted to follow the back roads and had a lovely drive up, stopping in Freeport for a walk around and lunch at L.L. Bean. The weather was just perfect, and driving down the peninsula on Rt. 24 through Harpswell and across the iconic Cribstone Bridge from Orr's Island was spectacular.

We had chosen to stay at the Sea Escape Cottages right on Merriconeag Sound. What a terrific spot, and a lovely, old, but comfortable cottage gave us expansive views of the grounds and sound from the small porch.

This was to be a very relaxing trip with little 'sight seeing'. Actually, there's little of that to do, anyway. And that was fine with us. We did explore the rocks at the Grand Staircase, walking along the narrow trail with the waves crashing below, as well as the mandatory visit out to the far point of Bailey Island to the famous Lands End gift shop where I bought a Bailey Island ball cap, and a little stuffed moose for Swayzie and Colin's baby that has yet to even be born. Sue got something for her (we do know that it is a girl) as well. We just can't help ourselves....

Restaurants are few way out here, but we found that we so enjoyed the food and the view at Cook's Lobster & Ale House that we had dinner there both nights.

And look, just sitting in the chairs on our small porch, reading a book or playing backgammon, and watching the lobster boats go by was more enjoyable than racing around trying to see 42 sights in 2 days. We chose to sit this one out, and it was grand.

L.L. Bean 1st floor shopping area.

Nice resting area by the little indoor fish pond.

Afternoon view of the sound from our cottage.

Sue is allllll set!

Have wine; ready for some backgammon before heading off to Cook's for dinner Friday.

One of our cottage's window boxes.

I could spend a lot - a lot - of time sitting in this little nook in our cottage just reading or gazing out across the sound.

Registration area at Cooks's for schooner sightseeing trips.

View from our table in the dining room at Cook's Friday Night.

One of the beautiful inlets we found on driving around.

The famous Land's End gift shop at the tip of Bailey's Island.

Schooner heading out for a sunset cruise.

Sue took the following 5 sunrise pictures very early Saturday morning.

Sue out to catch sunrise at 4:36am Friday morning.

I got this shot of the grand staircase area Saturday morning where we stopped for a walk after grabbing breakfast.

Looking across the inlet to Cook's.

Sue got this nice shot of the famous Bailey Island Bridge. You should read about it from the link above because in 1984 it was recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark for being the only granite cribstone bridge in the world.

View from our cottage porch.

Sue enjoying the sun at one of the scenic small harbors we visited.

Watching the sun set Saturday night from the little porch of our cottage.