Wednesday, July 2

Moving on to Maine...

Before we move on to Maine, let me just say that dinner last night was great.  If you ever find yourself near Portsmouth, NH head out to Petey's Summertime Seafood and Bar (open year round) for a delicious seafood dinner.  You know when you pull into the parking lot of a restaurant at 7:00 on a Tuesday evening and you need assistance navigating the sardine like rows, there will be a significant wait for dinner, when you see the line out the door you figure you've found a gem.  When the hostess told us the wait for a table would be 30 minutes, we headed for the bar.  It turns out that the funky almost Caribbean feeling bar was seat yourself and first come first served.  As we were trying to get the bartender's attention a high-top opened and we scored a table in no time!  We enjoyed a lovely, leisurely, luscious dinner.  

Seafood Chowder

This is the Lazy Man's Lobster, all I had to do was dip in butter and eat!

After dinner we had a brief stroll on the rocky out crop that was the "beach".  

We headed back to the hotel for an early night of reading, blogging, and researching to come up with a plan for today.

This morning we headed out early and went straight to Maine,(which really means crossing the Piscataqua River) hoping to find a backroads route to Portland, ME.  We found several backroads but none with the hoped for ocean views.  We did stumble upon the Cape Neddick Lighthouse on Nubble Island which is located 100 yards off the coast of Maine. Construction began in 1879.  It is still an active lighthouse.  The keeper is a part-time employee who also teaches English.  Apparently when school lets out each summer he moves out to the island as caretaker.  Sadly, visitors are not allowed on the island so we settled for views from the shore. The lighthouse, island and waves crashing on the rocky shore made for a delightful morning.

When we had our fill of sea views we pointed the car towards Portland, ME and its small but interesting Art Museum.  We were going seeking Winslow Homer but as we were chatting with the woman at the information desk we found they had several Wyeths as well.   Chester county art snobs that we are we were surprised to learn that Maine also laid claim to a Wyeth.  They claimed NC Wyeth.  Still learning new tricks!

After a brief stroll around the old city port, an area filled with galleries, shops, restaurants and bars we headed to Freeport, Maine.  Freeport is the home to the Maine Beer Company as well as LL Bean's flagship store.  

The Maine Beer Company was a hit.  Lester enjoyed his "Lunch" beer and I tried and enjoyed a "Peeper".   I'm not turning into a beer drinker but I do want to participate in exploring local micro brews with Lester on this trip.

Note: I drank the smaller, ligher beer on the right.

We finished the evening with a picnic dinner in our room.  Wondering if the weather will be clear enough for us to visit the top of Mt. Washington tomorrow as we head towards VT for a long weekend with dear friends.

A&L