Chapter 17, Wells (and Ogunquit) Maine
- traci wilson
- Jun 1
- 5 min read
With only a couple hundred miles to travel to our next destination, we arrived at Thousand Trails Moody Beach Campground around 12:30 p.m. The skies looked threatening as we got settled into our new site, a back-in near the front of the park that had full hookups. Even though it was a back-in, Dave did a fine job maneuvering into it with little trouble. I do feel he’s getting much better overall with parking this beast!
A big storm was due to hit by late afternoon with rain and high winds expected, so we hurried to get set up and walk the dogs before it came. We also needed to do some grocery shopping to restock our supplies so after the walk we took care of that chore, finishing with everything just as the first drops of rain spattered against the windows.
The storm turned out to be a doozy! Pounding rain and winds gusting as high as 40 mph rocked the trailer while we hunkered down inside, so thankful to be warm and dry on such a miserable evening. I was so nervous I Googled how high the winds needed to be to tip over a 5th wheel! Turns out it’s about 90 mph if you’re interested. The storm raged all through the night.
The next day, the winds had died down, but it was still rainy off and on, so we didn’t do much except take the dogs for a walk on the beach. There are two main public beaches here, Moody beach and Wells beach, but only Wells beach allows dogs this time of year. We walked about a mile and a half to a rock jetty that stretched out into the ocean and cut the beach in half. It was quite busy, so we didn’t want to let the dogs off leash, but when we got down by the rocks the people thinned out for a bit, so we let them off to have a good run (one of their favorite activities in the world) for a few minutes.
Kenai had run up to the rocks and was wining and acting weird, so we came to see what the fuss was about, and to our great surprise, we found a baby seal trapped in the rocks! We quickly got the dogs leashed up and away from the seal and Dave called the Marine authorities to let them know. He actually helped the person who responded to the call find the seal. The woman told Dave she figured it was only a couple days old because it still had the umbilical cord stump attached. Crazy!
We didn’t go out the following day, except for go for a run. The remainder of the time we spent catching up on writing and other chores. By day three, the weather was getting better, so we decided to go explore around Wells. We’d expected to find a really cute historic downtown area since Wells was founded in 1653, but try as we might, we never could find an actual ‘center’ of town. It seems to be a mix of nice restaurants, clam shanties, lobster pounds, gift shops and other touristy businesses interspersed with private homes, hotels, Inns and resorts all lined up along the highway. We found a trail system around an estuary, so we did a little hike along that, then went to a walk-up restaurant and bought some clam chowder for lunch. It was tasty, but it didn’t seem any different than what you can get at home.
For our final day in the area, we decided to check out the town of Ogunquit, right next to Wells. By all accounts, it seemed the more picturesque location in the area and the happening place to be. We wanted to go to a place called the Marginal Way, a short one and a quarter mile, paved trail in Ogunquit that follows the cliffs edge, offering breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, beaches, and rocks. Dogs are not allowed on the trail, and since we also were hoping to check out some shops and such, we decided to leave them at the trailer this time. We took them for a four-mile run in the morning, the third day in a row to run here, along the same trail we’d hiked on the first day. The trail ran out after a little way, and became a sidewalk leading to highway 1, the main drag through town. As we ran by we notice people starting to gather near a cemetery that was along the road, and lining up beside both sides of the highway, some with folding chairs. As more and more people started to gather, police cars and fire trucks showed up, and it soon dawned on us that they were getting ready for a parade since it was Memorial Day. And we were running right along the route! We were afraid we’d get stuck in it all and not be able to get back through, but thankfully we finished the run and got out of there before they closed things down.
It was bumper to bumper traffic heading into Ogunquit. We knew the area was hoping due to the Memorial Day weekend and the start of the summer travel season, but it seemed extreme even for that. As we crawled into the main part of town (yes, Ogunquit had a center!) it became clear what the trouble was—another parade! We managed to get on the other side of that mess, but couldn’t make the turn into the place we’d planned to pick up the trail, so we drove to the other end and started from the Village of Perkins Cove. All I can say is that this is what I was envisioning when I thought about how Maine would be. So picture perfect it could have been the image on a postcard. There was a lovely little cove (probably the namesake of the area) with boats docked, surrounded by beautiful cape cod homes, green grass, brightly colored flowers and the feel of the ocean in everything around, from restaurants to cute little shops—it had it all.
The trail along the cliffs lived up to the hype as well, and was absolutely gorgeous on this crystal-clear day. Only a few billowing clouds floating by to break up the abundance of blue sky. The ocean was beautiful as well, a shade deeper than the sky. The trail was lined with flowering shrubs on one side with the ocean on the other, and wove through tall trees and thick green vegetation. Picturesque cape cod style Inns and quaint shops appeared along the path as we neared the other end of the trail at Ogunquit.
Ogunquit was quite pretty as well, many of the same types of businesses and homes we were seeing at Perkins Cove, perhaps not quite as charming, but a close second. And everywhere we looked was teeming with people, so many people! We found a bakery/deli and bought a couple sandwiches for lunch which we ate on the patio outside the business while we watched the crowds wander by. After the sandwiches, we finally broke down and paid the exuberant prices for ice cream at a local shop. The ice cream was good—but man it was hard to pay $8 for a single scoop of ice cream! We walked back along the Marginal Way trail to Perkins Cove, drinking in the outstanding views that make the Maine coastline famous, for the final time. We got back to the truck and headed ‘home’ to the trailer, and the end to this leg of the adventure. In the morning we’re leaving for New York State, where we’ll be spending about a week between two different locations. My thoughts about Maine in general—beautiful and very pricy, but worth the experience at least once in a lifetime.
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