Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Maine Thing

On the road again. Our first stop was a quick overnight at a campground west of Boston. It rained. Then off to an adult campground in Scarborough, Maine, where we’ll stay through Memorial Day. “Adult Campground” doesn’t mean it’s clothing optional or that they show porn movies in the rec hall. It just means that campers and visitors must be over 21. The idea is to have a quiet, restful park, with no screaming kids running around.

This morning we visited the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, ME,  which is operated by the Maine Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. This is a zoo that’s home to about 30 species of animals native to Maine. All of the animals here are either recovering from injuries or for one reason or another can’t survive safely in the wilderness. DSC_0107

The most popular exhibits are the black bears and the moose. The bear habitat is a bit small, which is bad for the bears, but good for the visitors, who have an unobstructed view. Visitors can even feed the bears, from a distance. The moose habitat is quite large and full of trees. This is good for the moose but bad for the visitors. While we were visiting, the mama and baby moose, who’s name is Annie, were resting in their moose house, and barely visible.

DSC_0081The park has some unusual varieties of common animals including a white porcupine and a white raccoon.

I don’t know if they’re truly albinos are just very rare white animals, but there were certainly cool to see.

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There’s also an exhibit of several bobcats, one of which lost a leg at some point, so it now has a permanent home in the park.

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