Maine Home Page

Public transportation here is pretty much nonexistent so a rental car is in order.  I had a Ford Contour reserved, which would probably suit our needs fine, but I let the Hertz agent talk us into upgrading to a Ford Explorer for a few dollars more.  As roomy as it looks, the Explorer is 
really a pretty poor choice for someone in a wheelchair.  Oh well, time to move on. 

Southwest, again the choice for wheelchair users on a budget, brought us within an hour of our destination from Los Angeles for a mere $99 each way.  To get this rate, go to Southwest’s web site and sign up for their e-mail internet fares which frequently have coast-to-coast $99 
deals. 

We stayed at Village by the Sea, a condo complex near the Atlantic shore.  In the fall, a huge 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo will set you back only $85 a night.  Minus one bedroom and bathroom, the price is only $65 per night.  The unit we chose was wheelchair accessible but did not have a roll in shower.  The master bathroom had grab bars and a shower head on a hose. 

There’s not a lot of action here in Southern Maine for those of you who live for the nightlife, but the scenery is spectacular.  Oganquit is your typical little Maine fishing village.  Many boats depart from its little Perkins Cove to set traps for lobsters each day in the season. 
 

 

To the north of Wells, the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge offers another accessible hiking trail through a mile of its woods providing breathtaking views along with the chance to get up close and personal with the area’s animals. 

Marginal Way and the hiking trail at Rachel Carson Wildlife Reserve are both W/C accessible

Diners head to Maine for another reason, its lobster.  You can get lobster here...in season (spring through early fall)...in many ways.  Lobster rolls, stew, chowder, pie, etc.  It’s plentiful & cheap.  On a tip from the hotel staff, we checked out the Sundog. 

The Sundog is a local eatery here in Wells that has kind of an incongruous Alaska motif but serving good food at good prices in a slightly sterile atmosphere.  It’s a bit of a shocker for those of us out-of-towners used to seing lobster as the expensive star of a menu.  Here, it’s the cheapest thing.  Lobster dinner - $8.95.  Want 2? $14.95.  A chicken dinner was $12.95 and steak 
was $15.95. 

The lobster here was sweet, delicious, and local.  The service here the  best of the trip.  Other dinners were had at the Shore Café and Barnacle Billy’s in Oganquit.  The Shore Café served up some great food and decent service.  Barnacle Billy’s was a bit mediocre, good service, a bit overpriced but came with million dollar views of Perkins Cove. 

Since we were there in mid October, the fall colors were spectacular and at their peak.  It is not without justification that New England is the most popular place for leaf peepers to visit each fall...although if you time it right the color is slightly more spectacular in the Blue Ridge 

mountains down south. 

The weather was chilly and some towns, such as Old Orchard Beach, were completely shut down due to summer being over. 

To sum up, spectacular scenery, a very relaxing pace, beautiful countryside scenery, and delicious seafood is what Maine has in store for the wheelchair traveler.