7 Jul 2024 - Arrived at Bayley's Camping Resort near Old Orchard Beach Maine

 

This morning at 0755 hrs we pulled chocks and departed the Hilltop Campground in Robbinston Maine.  Our travels today took us on Route 1 back up through Calais and then westbound on Route 9 to Bangor then south generally on I-95 to the Portland area.  Our destination was Bayley's Camping Resort in Scarborough Maine, between Old Orchard Beach and Portland, our fifth and final stop in Maine.  The fog was thick leaving the campground again this morning and continued  until we got quite a ways west.  So there was a bit of pucker factor as we blindly pulled out of the campground onto the county road!

  

This was taken a ways west after the fog started to dissipate.

Other than the fog, the drive was very nice all the way to Bangor and the sky's cleared.  Route 9 is a really good road and the scenery was awesome once we got out of the fog.

 

  Once we started south from Bangor the idiots came out in force and my defensive driving skills were "tested" as was my patience.  The whole trip from Bangor south to our destination was crazy.  So I was about toast when we arrived here at 1312 hrs and 256 miles later.  

The Bayley's Camping Resort is a huge place, and the most expensive place on this year's trip.  They have over 700 camping spots.  There are campsites like we have, plus there are campers for rent if you don't have one, and they have cabins also. There are a lot of amenities especially for kids.  It kind of reminds me of a Yogi Bear campground but on steroids.  There are 4 heated pools, 6 hot tubs and 2 restaurants, one of which is poolside. The Little River part of the park is an adult only area, which includes a pool, 2 hot tubs and a bar & grille! They run a couple shuttles every hour all day long, that will take you to and from Old Orchard Beach and Pine Point Beach which is just about a half mile from here.

I struggled to find just a plain old campground near here and the location was important so that we could maximize what we see here in the Portland area and still be within reasonable travel distance from the dog. Our site is adequate, actually pretty tight.  We have a neighbor behind us and no one on our door side and we are hoping it stays that way. 

 

We got all set up and settled in with a late lunch.  Later we walked around the complex and it was a good stroll!  I logged about 7000 steps.    A lot of the campground is wooded and really nice.  Dinner included brats and onions with olive oil on the grill.

One of the many stocked ponds here.

We are here for five nights.  Tomorrow (Monday) we have a trolley history tour of Portland that includes a stop at the Portland Head Lighthouse.  Tuesday we have a Lighthouse Scenic Boat Cruise.  After that Doreen has a lengthy list of sites to see and things to do.  Also while we are here I plan to take a down day or part of a day and get caught up on some minor preventive maintenance.  Friday morning we depart.