Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, Maine

I have a friend who lives just south of Portland, Maine. Mary knows all the picturesque places to go for a day on the coast of Maine and enjoy a lobster lunch. We decided to drive to Two Lights State Park which features Cape Elizabeth Light and The Lobster Shack!

After lunch we set off on foot to explore the unusual geological formations of the coastline. Rock ledges rise steeply from the ocean in a jumble of huge broken boulders and slabs. What a playground! The ledges are metamorphic rock, which is deep sea sediment (sand and mud) hardened through pressure and heat into layers of rock. These layers have an interesting wood grain quality. Minerals in the rock recrystallized into mica, chlorite, phyllite and quartzite. What powerful stresses caused the fractures and threw it all up into a jumbled mass! This is a great place to scramble and climb and, of course, to photograph. The four of us enjoyed the unusual landscape and each other's company.

Newburyport, Massachusetts

On a lucky Monday evening during a break between thunderstorms I was in the seaport town of Newburyport, which is located at the mouth of the Merrimack River. Yes, this is the Merrimack River of the Industrial Revolution in our old history books! Newburyport was first settled in 1635 and became a town in 1764. It is now a thriving, picturesque tourist destination north of Boston with the nickname of Clipper City. Any evidence of the docks and ship building industry are gone today replaced by a beautiful water front park and whale watching boats.

I shot the city from across the river as the sun went slowly down. Then I climbed up the Highway 1 bridge and kept on shooting. This bridge is a great place to watch the fireworks of Yankee Homecoming! The light was warm and reflected off the shiny surfaces of boats and water. It was so much fun that I think I need to do it again!