The Desert of Maine - Part 1

Teague asked me if I wanted to go see the Desert of Maine. It's a popular tourist thing to do and I wasn't sure what to expect.

Desert of Maine was a marketing campaign to bring visitors to the area. The desert started out as farmland in the 1800s, but grazing sheep and not mindful of land conservation resulted in erosion. If you didn't read Saturday's Happy, Little Time Waster post, you can see a video with an overview of the Desert of Maine

It's a great place for kids to run up

and down the dunes

and to see some things like the spring buried in the sand.

There was also a scavenger hunt which I participated in. After you bought your ticket and left the building to begin your exploration, you could take the scavenger hunt sheet and a crayon. When you finished and found everything, you could go back to the visitor cabin and get a prize.

You had to keep a lookout for this dude, The Hermit of Maine

There were 15 blank squares on the scavenger sheet, when you found the Hermit, he pointed the way where you mark your sheet that you found the correct item. You aligned your paper and rubbed your crayon over the numbered wooden square. The scavenger hunt told the story of the Desert of Maine.

There was a maze area that had a pit where you could "dig" for gems

and you could keep 3 gems that you found. I found a carnelian, jadeite, and I think a brown jasper.

I wanted the monkey stone bench for the Zensical garden

After digging in the sand pit, there was a labyrinth to explore

and a Hobbit house to see. I didn't go in because it looked like there might be spiders in there.

Here is my scavenger sheet half way done.