Day 45: North Hampton, NH to Ogunquit, ME

June 11, 2017

Today was a long day. We only rode 36 miles, but we were on the road for nine hours. We spent a total of about four hours at museums and exhibits.

We spent last night at a cool little motel in North Hampton.

The Slumber Manor in North Hampton, New Hampshire. Friendly, helpful owners at a clean, well maintained old motel - we like these kinds of places

The grounds at the Slumber Manor were very inviting

We encountered our first fellow tandem riders today. We were just a few miles into the ride and saw them in a parking lot with their bike. We pulled in and spent a little while talking. We like talking to other cyclists, but especially enjoy meeting others on tandems. We saw a lot of cyclists today just as we did yesterday.

Leslie and Mike - out first encounter with another tandem on the road. We have been seeing a lot of other cyclists this weekend

Out first long stop was at the Strawberry Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH. It’s an historic village first settled in the late 1600’s. We spent over three hours there. There are over thirty restored homes, shops and other buildings open to tour. The oldest structure is a home built about 1695. It is interesting that they have buildings set up to show life in the community from the earliest English settlers through the mid-20th century. There was a corner grocery set up as it would have been in 1943. It was surprising to us how many of the products look so much like what we buy today almost 75 years later.

One of the homes at Strawberry Banke was that of a Russian Jewish family in 1919. We like seeing the lives of regular working people, not just the very wealthy.

I wonder if Campbell's tomato soup tastes the same as it did in 1943?

It was fun seeing how many grocery items are still with us 75 years later

One of the buildings was left unrestored as it was when Strawberry Banke was established in the late 1950's. How many layers of wallpaper are there?

From Portsmouth, we crossed the Piscataqua River into Maine. There was a nice welcome sign on the bridge welcoming us to Kittery, the oldest town in Maine, but it was a bad place to stop, so we didn’t get a picture. Maine is our last new state for this trip. Next week, we’ll start counting Canadian provinces.

Our next long stop was in York, Maine. They have a few old buildings to tour. We went in an old tavern, the local jail which was used from the early 1700’s until 1807 and a home from the late 1700’s. It was OK, but not nearly as well done as Strawberry Banke. The tour guide at the house wasn’t very knowledgeable or enjoyable to listen to.

From York up to Ogunquit we had some beautiful coastal views. We made a short detour to ride out to a lighthouse which turned out to be offshore. We couldn’t actually visit the lighthouse, but it was a nice view.

There were a lot of people enjoying the coast today. The beaches were full of people, the water was full of boats and the streets were full of cars. It is hot up here this weekend and everyone is making the most of it. After highs in the 90’s for three days, the forecast is for highs only in the mid 60’s by Tuesday. Summer is a very different animal up here.
We didn’t get checked in at the hotel here in Ogunquit until around 6PM. That’s the latest we’ve been on the road so far. Tomorrow we’re staying here to see more of Ogunquit and a little community called Perkins Cove.

Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 1,919 miles (3,088 km)

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