Rockland - Camden, Maine

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The captain had told us the previous evening, when he pulled out of Bar Harbor earlier than scheduled because everyone was on board way before time, that we would arrive and drop anchor in the bay at Rockland at 2 am. He also warned about possible turbulence....again. So we had some rough going early on and then after we all got to sleep, we were awakened at 2 am as they put out the anchor and cables right by our cabin. All was forgotten when we woke to a great sunny day. Our tour did not meet until 12:55pm on the pier, so Daryl did some laundry, and we booked a cruise for Spring 2013, Tahiti to Lima, Peru which includes time in French Polynesia, a stop at Pitcairn Island (Mutiny on the Bounty), and a 2-day visit to Hanga Roa or Easter Island, before ending in Lima, with a day to explore before heading home. After an uneventful tender ride to port, we boarded our bus and headed for the first stop, the Farnsworth Museum. The collection was built by an heiress to fulfill her father's wish to donate a museum to the community. In addition to a collection of early American paintings, there was a show by a photographer who settled in Maine some time ago and has won the Museum's prize in 2011 for his contributions to Maine's arts. The big show, however, is a group of Andrew Wyeth's paintings. The Wyeths have summered in Maine for decades and his most important paintings, including Christina's World, are based in the area. The Wyeth family has donated large amounts to the museum and there is a separate building, an old church, devoted to 3 generations of Wyeth art (N.C, Andrew, Jami). After spending an hour plus in the museum, we reboarded the bus and headed through Rockland to Rockport, a picturesque port town, through Camden, another lovely port town, and up to Mount Battie through the national park. From the summit we were able to see all the way back to Bar Harbor and out of the bay with hundreds of islands off midcoast Maine. Edna Vincent Millay, a famous poet, lived in the Camden area and wrote a famous poem "Renascence" at age 18 near the tower on the summit. We then returned to "downtown" Camden and had 90 minutes to explore the small shops and galleries, before returning to the pier. At this point Daryl found she had lost her ID card which is used for entry to the ship, your suite and any of the venues. All charges are made to the card, like wine at dinner. It has your photograph embedded into it, so that they can verify you are who you say when you come back. It turned out to be not such a big deal and both Rob and Daryl got new cards. The ship picked up anchor at 11pm and headed off to Newport, Rhode Island.