My long weekend in Maine will wrap up Monday with my return flight to Arizona.

On Saturday, during the "2006 NELL Hot Chocolate, Lighthouses and You" event, we visited or viewed 6 lights and the Portland Observatory.

Portland Head (Climbed)
Ram Island Ledge
Cape Elizabeth East (Climbed)
Cape Elizabeth West
Bug Light (Climbed)
Spring Point Ledge (Climbed Sunday)

I had previously seen all these lights, but hadn't climbed any of them.

Sunday Dave Hannum and I took a trip and viewed these 10 lights and 1 LSS - all new to me:

Doubling Point
Doubling Point Range (2)
Squirrel
Perkins
Pond Island
Sequin
Hendricks Head
Cuckolds
Burnt Island
Popham Beach LSS

Some were viewed at a longer distance, others up close and personal.

Posted below are pictures of four; I'll post more photos over the next few days.

Sounds like a great trip with lots of good company. Can't wait to see your pictures!

Here's Hendricks Head Light:



That's the sun shining through the red window panel of the lantern room.



Another view of the complete light station.

The Popham Beach LSS:



It's now a B&B.

The Cuckolds Light in a longer telephoto shot (about 22x)

Doubling Point on the Kennebec River.

Love the picture of Hendricks Head Light.

Wow John...it doesn't even look like the middle of winter in Maine.

Beautiful pics!

Looks like you had fantastic weather; your shots are great!

John,

Your photographs are fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, guys for the comments. Lorie - the weather was clear but c-c-cold. Saturday it wasn't bad - maybe 50 - Sunday I think the high was 33.

Here's a shot of Portland Head from the Portland Observatory (cropped from a 22x telephoto, colorized and 'flash' added in PhotoShop):

This is about 3.5 miles as the crow flies.

Portland Head from just north of the light:


Portland Head lantern room with some of the NELL group out on the gallery:


Portland Head stairs:


Finally, a photo of Portland Head in the 'head' at the Cape Elizabeth Town Hall:

Thanks for posting the images, John... Looks like fantastic weather.. I was so jealous when you called me from the lanternroom of Cape Elizabeth.. You and Dave had a great couple of days of lighthousing in the middle of Winter!

It's snowing now in Portland. My flight leaves at 1:15 p.m. I'm headed to Portland Head, Cape Elizabeth and Bug Light before going to the airport, hoping to get some snow pictures. Hooray!

Wow ... dream trip for photos ... thanks fro showing them...
... is that how much they think of their lights? :p

HAD to have been a guy taking the picture
--another one who doesn't put the seat down!!



Sandy

Why don't you ladies ever leave the seat up?

You'd think that with the aim some guys have they'd be glad to put the seat down!

Your images with that new camera are beautiful John. It was certainly nice to see you & Dave Hannum at the Lighthouses, Hot Chocolate & YOU 2006 get together on Saturday.

MJ and I drove up from CT that morning (about 3½ hours) so we did not go to Portland Observatory, Bug Light or Spring Point Ledge. Instead we met up with everyone for lunch (Maine Lobster Roll mmmmmm) and continued on to Portland Head and Cape Elizabeth Two Lights.

This first image is of Portland Head:



We visited the museum inside the keeper’s house and waited our turn to climb the tower. This image shows my son, Joe, holding his daughter, Veronica, who is six and obviously does not want to look down. Our other granddaughter, ten-year old Lexis, is on the right and holding onto her NELL cap. As you can see from this image the wind was very strong. The white dot closest to Joe's head in the far distance is Portland Breakwater:



A view looking down from the top of Portland Head shows lighthouse lovers who had already climbed and were waiting for the rest of us to finish so we could do a group photo with the NELL banner (a must at every outing). You may recognize some of the Collector Forum folks; John in his yellow hooded coat on the right. In the middle of the pack is Dave (with the camera around his neck) in the red and black coat. Shirin, NELL President, is in front and just to the right of Dave (black coat with white scarf):



We traveled to Cape Elizabeth (Two Lights) which was the main reason I wanted to make this trip. Last time we went to Cape Elizabeth with NELL there was two feet of snow on the ground and access through the woods was impossible. Fortunately, the present owner of the private keeper’s residence allowed American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF) Executive Director Bob Trapani to guide us across his property to access the tower. We are all grateful for this opportunity and thank the property owner (who was not there at this time). We were careful not to trample all over the place. Here is a shot of the remaining working lighthouse of the original two lighthouses that shown beacons here:



The inside of Cape Elizabeth is very well cared for with nice wooden window sills and hand rails. In this image Lee Hall and Dave Hannum chat during a brief stop on their way up the tower:



And here I am (on the right) with ALF Executive Director Bob Trapani:



Stephanie, our daughter-in-law, John and Doc enjoy the beauty inside and outside of the Cape Elizabeth lantern room:



My last image shows the Two Lights. The one boarded up close by became a private home years ago, when the need for both lights disappeared. It was also used as a lookout during WWII. You can see the working lighthouse (the one we climbed) in the distance.



I plan to upload more images to an album on the Kodak site for all to visit. I wish I could have spent more time in Maine but we had to travel back home to CT Saturday night. Again, it is great to have been able to share time with my fellow lighthouse lovers doing what we love the most, visiting lighthouses and raising funds for their preservation. Thanks to Dave Hannum for donating a complete set of Harbour Lights Thumbnails from the last Reunion for auction to raise preservation funds.

Ron
(CT Keeper)

I think the only thing missing from your and John's images is the Bradys.. Wish we were there!! Maybe we can retire to Maine in a few years, of course then we would miss being at the Great Lakes lights..

Gee Ron. Couldn't get up at 2AM like I did? Come on, I can't be the only one that nuts can I? Oh no wait, don't answer that!

Here's that customary group shot Ron mentioned in his post. And a couple more from the day.

Great pictures.

Thanks, Ron and Shirin. It's always nice to see the people shots, too. Lots of familiar faces.

The weather was great for LHHC&Y - had it been Monday, we would have run into heavy snow and tough driving. Here are some shots from Monday morning:


Two Lights - same general view as Ron's shot, but two days later.


Snow on Evergreens


Snow on Deciduous Branches


Red Wreath, White Snow, Blue Gate

The above three were in the vicinity of two lights. These two were at Spring Point Ledge:

Bench and Spring Point Lightouse


Breakwater at Spring Point Lightouse

Your snow pictures are s-o-o-o awesome, John. Thanks for sharing the snow!!! What's the new camera?

One more:

Cuckholds in a panoramic view:

What a difference a day makes. Love the snow pictures as long as I can be inside with my heater on viewing them.

Tell us about your new camera John.

While I'm all for snowy lighthouse photos, I'm glad I made a marathon trip to and from Maine in one day and didn't have to deal with a snowy drive home to Connecticut.

Canon Powershot Pro 1 New Camera 8MP 8-1 zoom 28-200 (35mm equivalent)

Here's a final group of random shots from the trip:


The Portland Observatory


The Portland Observatory Seen From Bug Light


Details on Bug Light


The Keepers House at Doubling Point


Maine Harbor View With Catholic Church at Sunset

Great pictures all around. Thanks for sharing them.

While we were touring the inside of Spring Point Ledge Sunday, Doc took a bad fall.

He was out on the gallery and stepped back into the lighthouse. I think the bright light outside caused him not to see the manhole that you come up through from the watch room -- which is just to the left of the door out to the gallery.

He put his left foot right into the hole as he stepped into the lantern room and became wedged half below the hole, half above. Thank God his head didn't hit the manhole edge as it went through or that he didn't break anything or even get a cut in the accident.

He was able to leave on his own -- but I bet he's still mighty sore from that spill.

Sorry to hear that; the results of that type of accident sometimes don't show up for a couple of days. He could even have some fractures; I hope not and I do hope he recovers quickly.

Great Pictures, everyone!

Awesome shots, you guys! I have never been to the East Coast except for Virginia (no lighthouses) and I am very much looking forward to my NJ trip in April!!

Looks like you had a great trip John. Sure love all the pictures from you, Ron and Shirin. Portland Head is my most favorite lighthouse and also my first HL purchase. Thanks for posting the pics.