Buck’s Harbor, ME

We woke up to a foggy morning on Tuesday, August 9.  While I had my Spanish lesson Jonny took Archie for one last walk along the Castine coastline.  We had a quick lunch before leaving for Buck’s Harbor at 1 pm. We chose Buck’s Harbor because it had been recommended as a lovely small, quintessentially Maine village. It was also a perfect place for our good friends from Miami, Addie and Lange, to meet us since they were coming to Maine to surprise their daughter Natalie on her 30th birthday.  She and her husband were spending time with his parents at a vacation home in nearby Deer Isle.  After a short hour and a half hour cruise we tied onto a great close-in mooring at Buck’s Harbor Marina.  It is the sweetest, most atmospheric place you can imagine.

Addie and Lange arrived by car later in the afternoon with lots of provisions.  I made one of our favorites, chicken Nona, for dinner and we had a fun evening catching up on each other’s lives.

The next day we headed over to Deer Isle and surprised Natalie one day before her actual birthday.

Poor thing, she was the only one in the household who had to work during their stay.  She had to continue working so we took off for a hike with the rest of the household. It was a gorgeous hike with great trails and beautiful rocky outcroppings overlooking the water. 

Afterwards, Addie, Lange, Jonny and I had a very substantial lunch at the nearby Stonecutter’s Café.

Upon returning to Zendo we took a quick nap, and then we went back to Deer Isle for drinks and nibbles with Natalie and her in-laws. Jonny was excited to note that Robert McCloskey, the author of the popular children’s books (Blueberries for Sal, Make Way for Dumplings and One Morning in  Maine) lived and wrote about this part of Maine. In fact, One Morning in Maine takes place in Buck’s Harbor! Condon’s, the car repair shop referenced in this 1952 book, is still there and just down the street from our little marina.  Jonny read aloud the entire One Morning in Maine to the willing audience of Ben’s mother, Natalie and me.

The next day was Natalie’s official birthday but since she was planning to work most of the day, the four of us went for a hike in the little town of Blue Hills. It was a wonderful mountain hike over open fields, steep and rocky hills and forests, and everywhere incredible mounds of blue granite (hence the name of the town).  The water views were spectacular and there were fields of goldenrod, Queen Anne’s Lace and more.  Archie was in heaven throughout this visit since he could be off leash on the long hikes as well as when we were at the house in Deer Isle.

We rewarded ourselves with a delicious lunch at a restaurant named Blaze.  After a brief rest we headed over to the house in Deer Isle bearing pizzas for the official birthday celebration.

Finally on Friday it was time for all of us to move on.  But before doing anything else we had to avail ourselves of Buck’s Marina’s outdoor showers. What a fun and refreshing experience! The showers were three times the size of what we have on the boat and it was well worth the dinghy ride in.

We had brought home an entire uneaten pizza from the party the night before that Jonny heated up on the grill for our breakfast. Afterwards, we said goodbye to the Kings who were flying out that afternoon. As we got ready to leave, we couldn’t find Archie and realized he had jumped off the boat onto the dock. We looked everywhere but couldn’t find him until one of the dockhands told us he was up in the marina office. That little rascal had jumped off the boat, walked all the way up the ramp and into the marina office. He had made himself comfortable behind the desk in a dog bed there!  We chastised him and brought him back to Zendo and wouldn’t your know it he did the same thing two more times.  He clearly liked Buck’s Harbor and didn’t want to leave. We felt the same way!