Flowers, trails, and trolls
We left Robinhood in the morning with the outgoing tide (whoo, it was a bit of a ripper!) and headed for a cove off the west side of Hodgdon Island.
Our goal for the day was to anchor and then go visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, which was supposed to be a short dinghy ride from that cove.
We dropped anchor in about the only spot we could find that might work, surrounded by moorings and lobster pots. All of us hopped in the dinghy with packed lunches in tow, and we headed off to find the gardens.
The landing actually attached to the gardens was all locked up with no entry, so we went up the river a bit to the KnickerKane Island boat launch and tied our dinghy up. We walked across a bridge and up the road about a 1/2 mile to the main entrance for the gardens.
We saw so much beauty at the gardens! The flowers were all gorgeous and the trails through the woods were fun as well.
A Danish artist named Thomas Dambo, a self-proclaimed “recycle art activist,” created five trolls placed throughout the gardens. Each troll represents a part of the tree, and they bring awareness to your role in caring for the forest; you can find more information here. There’s a puzzle to solve as you visit each one, and a bit of a wrap up at the end, but we won’t spoil that for you!
We had our lunch at the picnic tables at the gardens, and when our visit was done, we hoofed it back down the road to the dinghy and went to check on our anchoring job. Yup, boat’s still there!
We stopped off at the Trevett Country Store, right next to the post office, for beverages. They had a dinghy tie-up out back. We grabbed some cold drinks and headed back to the boat.
After a dinner of pasta and sausages, Phil taught us to play Euchre. As Cecelia was soon to go to bed, we looked up rules for 3-handed euchre vs 4, so we could continue playing later. Lots of card playing to be had this week for sure!
The weather was cool and calm, the epitome of a great summer night in Maine. And the sunset did not disappoint!
