Welcome to Maine!

Howdy!

Welcome to Maine!  Lobster roll and fried clams to share for lunch and 1 ½ pound lobster and lobster roll for us for dinner!  Life is soooo good, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday, John and I flew to Boston; we got my bike (scooter) immediately up to the jetway, the luggage was already there when we got to Baggage Claim and the rental car came quickly.  We then made the easy drive to Gloucester, MA – all was going GREAT.  However, the phone rang….and we had left our carry-on (with our laptops, medicine, etc.) at the Boston Logan car rental center.  When the call came, we were one mile from our hotel and it was 11:15 pm.  We turned around and drove the 45 minutes back to Boston Logan and then made our way 45 minutes back to Gloucester.  In addition, when we called the hotel to tell them how late we were going to be, they said we didn’t have a reservation.  WHAT????

It turned out that I had made the reservation for 9/20 instead of 9/19.  The front desk guy told us over the phone that they had ONE room left and we could have it….and they kindly cancelled the one for the next night.  We finally got to bed at 2:15 a.m. and had tickets for the next morning at 10:00 a.m.  I did make time for two pics, one looking through our screen.

Things picked up in the morning.  We went to the Cape Ann Museum to see an exhibition of Edward Hopper paintings.  These were all paintings that he made in the Gloucester area.  It was a lovely small museum that was dedicated to the artists from that area.  The Hoppers were different from others I have seen but still interesting to see.  We stopped to look at a great sculpture on the coast dedicated to all those who had died at sea from 1623 to 1923 – a great sculpture!

The above by Hopper.

Our next stop was in Portsmouth, NH.  There is an area of old houses called Strawberry Banke; we didn’t get out and walk around but enjoyed looking at the historic homes.

Our next stop was for lunch in Kittery at Robert’s Maine Grill; we shared a lobster roll and fried whole belly clams – all yummy!  Kittery is home to LOTS of outlet stores, so we looked in a couple but didn’t find anything we had to have.

Onward north to York and the 1876 Cape Neddick Nubble Lighthouse on a rock outcrop in the Atlantic.

Afterward we continued to Ogunquit to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art; it was a very interesting museum.  We especially enjoyed the sculptures on the grounds.  

Afterward we stopped into one of the most photographed and visited places in Maine – Perkins Cove.  Let me tell you; it is NOT undiscovered.  The place was teeming with people.  By the way, the day was full sunshine, low 70’s and beautiful!  People were walking around or sitting and watching the surf.

We kept going and ended up in Kennebunkport at the Breakwater Inn and Spa in a truly lovely room on the ground floor (no elevator – so they guaranteed ground floor).  We had a wonderful back porch with Adirondack chairs looking at the junction of the Kennebunk River and Atlantic Ocean.  We sat on the porch and enjoyed the late afternoon sun on the water and the sunset – we had earned a rest!!!

 

We ended the day with dinner at Nunan’s Lobster Hut which has been around since 1953.  It was absolutely fabulous.  I had a 1 ½ pound lobster caught nearby earlier that day (which I shared) and John ordered another lobster roll.  We topped it off with homemade blueberry pie a la mode.  WOW!  What a decadent day….….with plans for lots more lobster to come!

We were lazy finally the next morning, awakening whenever it happened. Our first move was to go look at the Walker’s Point Estate, otherwise known as the Bush Compound, the summer home of George H. W. Bush.

We decided to do some shopping in Kennebunkport. We had a bunch of luck and landed a parking place right in the middle of all the shopping area. Then we walked around for a couple of hours…..ending with lunch at Ben & Jerry’s — more decadence!

And my favorite spotting amid all the Bush/Reagan/Cheney goodies in the shops!

And I thought the sign below was reserved for B & J, Beth and John — no, Ben & Jerry!

We then drove through Kennebunk and our favorite sight there was the Wedding Cake House.

And then we were off to our next stop…..on the next blog!

Later,

Beth