Area Spotlight: ARLGP

This may seem like a strange area spotlight.  It's an animal shelter.  The animal shelter where I volunteer to be exact!

The Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland in Westbrook, Maine, helps almost 4,000 homeless animals a year! They have a very small shelter currently, and have been fundraising in order to expand to be able to help even more animals.

Instead of my usually area spotlight I'm going to tell you the upcoming events the ARLGP is doing.

On August 11th 2015 at Otto Pizza in South Portland, some people from the ARLGP will be hanging out, and a portion of all food sales will be going back to the shelter.  A great time to talk to some of the staff, eat some pizza, and help out a worthy cause!

On the 12th WGME and FOX23 are hosting a day long pet food drive for a couple of the shelters in the area.  If you're interested, food can be dropped off at the studio!

The 15th they are participating in the national #ClearTheShelters campaign.  This is a big one, so I'll come back to it. 

Also on the 15th Fianna Tattoo Studio in Portland is doing a fundraiser.  $50 for a paw print tattoo, or $100 for a custom paw print.  All the money raised goes back to the shelter, I plan to do this one if I have time! I'll be knocking something off my list, and helping out my favorite charity.

The 26th is annual Martinis for Mutts fundraiser.  $25 per human, each human is allowed a doggie +1.  The price includes admission, valet parking, a "signature mutt-tini", and hors d'oeuvres.

That's not all of the events either! Check out the others, too, you might see something else you'd like to attend.

A bit more about #ClearTheShelters.

First of all, this is not the only shelter doing it.  It is sponsored by NBC, and NECN.  NECN is going to be broadcasting live from the event!

It will take place August 15th, 2015, from 9AM-3PM.

There will be more than 150 pets to be adopted just at the ARL.

The fees are going to be by donation, so you get to pick your own adoption fee! Though $0 is not an option, that isn't an adoption fee.

The goal is to clear the shelter, and raise awareness for pets in need.

No pets can be placed "on hold".  If you are interested in a specific animal get there as early as possible!

It is a wonderful organization, the staff are all amazing, and working with the animals is beyond rewarding.  I have been walking dogs there for almost a year and a half, and fostering dogs for a few months, I highly recommend volunteering, whether at this animal shelter or another.  Personally, t's probably the most rewarding volunteer work I do.

Area Spotlight: Salt Pump Climbing Company

For all you climbers, or aspiring climbers, here's a place you should definitely check out; Salt Pump Climbing Company on Haigis Parkway, in Scarborough!

A beautiful facility, in a convenient location, with a gorgeous pond view, it's an excellent place to go to climb, or just to hang out. Which is encouraged. It's not just a climbing gym, they have all kinds of other things they are planning on offering. It's a place to go to learn, climb, and be part of a community.

For climbing they have a bouldering, top-rope, and lead climbing. The rope climbing walls go up to 45'. They are also offering Intro to Climbing, and lead climbing classes. The Intro to Climbing are two hours long, five days a week.  The Lead Climbing classes are three parts long, two hours each, and Monday evenings. They have around 90 different routes of varying difficulties to climb, so there's no chance of you getting bored! 

In addition to climbing they are offering yoga classes beginning in early August, and they will be offering more variety of fitness classes, and such soon. They also have some fitness equipment available to use. The goal is not just to focus on rock climbing, but to focus on general fitness, and wellbeing. 

Another goal at Salt Pump is to be as environmentally friendly as possible. The waivers are all digital, a huge paper saver, and most of the light in natural through large windows throughout the facility. Most of the windows look out onto the pond! There is also a deck overlooking the water where you can hang out. 

There are many places to put your stuff, and a lot of seating around so you can just be there. Bring your laptop and work for a bit before or after you climb/tale a class. There are opportunities for birthday parties, there are kid's classes, there will be after school programs, and much more.

One more thing, they actually open tomorrow for the first time! Tomorrow (July 30th, 2015) at 10AM is the official soft opening. The grand opening is set for September, however it's definitely worth it to visit before then! An amazing place, with amazing staff. As with Monkey Trunks, I may be a bit biased, as I am also employed here, but take my word for it and check it out! 

Here's the website!

Area Spotlight: Monkey Trunks

This area Spotlight is: Monkey Trunks, the High Ropes Adventure Course located just off of Route 1 in Saco, Maine! 

It is the one I recommend most, though I may be biased, as I work there.

It's the only one of it's kind in this area.  A wonderful, safe climbing experience for whole families! There is a minimum age of 5, but after that it is based on height.  If a child, age 5 or older, can reach over 4' with their arms over their head they are tall enough to go on the kid's course.

On the Adventure Course, the main structure, there are three zip lines.  The two longer ones, going off the third level righ next to each other, perfect for racing with your friends and family members.  The smaller going off the second level to the ground.  There is also the giant swing off the second level where you free fall off the platform and just swing for a little while.  The obstacles on the course themselves are also a lot of fun.

New this year is the Ziptrek course through the woods.  After a short, easy hike through the woods to ground school, where you learn the rules and how to use your equipment, and to the beginning of the course, you head up into the trees.  Most of the things going from tree to tree are ziplines, with a couple of other obstacles thrown in, ending with a big zipline to the ground.  Insect repellant is advised, as the Mosquitos are pretty bad in the area, especially at ground school.  Aside from the minor annoyance of Mosquitos and other bugs, Ziptrek is a lot of fun, it's certainly my favorite of the two courses.

I was afraid of heights, terrified.  I have wanted to get over this fear for a long time, being at Monkey Trunks has definitely helped me a lot.  Partially from being exposed to heights so often, and partially because of all the amazing people who I work with.  

If you do decide to visit, say that you came from my blog, I might be there!

*for more info go to http://monkeytrunks.com/index.php/3-wild-locations/saco-me *

Area Spotlight: Len Libby's

I've gotten behind on my posts, just trying to figure out my order.  I have started a list of spotlights, so I shouldn't get so far behind again! (Queuing helps, too!)

This week's area spotlight is Len Libby's candy store, on Route 1 in Scarborough Maine! It's a wonderful little candy store, where a lot of their stuff is handmade.

My personal favorite is the Bangor Taffy they sell, at about $12 a box.  It's amazing.  If you do stop in they usually have free samples of it, I'm sure you'll find it worth the price!

If you like fudge, they have a large selection of different kinds of fudge.  The classics, like peanut butter, and chocolate, and a couple fancier flavors, like rocky road.

The thing Len Libby's is most famous for?  The life-sized 1,700 chocolate moose, Lenny.  

They've also more recently added a black bear, and her two cubs!

If you're just visiting Maine there's a lot of fun Maine souvenirs you can get there.  If you live in the area and you've never been, it's well worth the trip.