Maine - Day 1

Our first day in Portland, Maine started just before lunchtime. We woke mid-morning and made our way to the Old Port section of Portland. The entire day had overcast skies and a brisk 60 degrees. It was odd to see people wearing jackets in June.

We parked next to Casco Bay and went to lunch at Flatbreads, a completely organic pizza place. It was quite good seeing that Rigby and Lucy ate a small pepperoni flatbread and Erik and Stacy finished off a whole sausage, onion, mushroom and sundried tomato, which had no tomato sauce.

After lunch, we began our walking tour of the Old Port. We found a great toy store, Treehouse Toys, and the kids loved it! We left with a three-headed red dragon puppet that Rigby played with all day long (and still is at the time this is being written, 11:45 p.m.). We checked out a well-known gallery, Abacus, and actually bought a Christmas gift or two.

After a couple hours walking the cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks and visiting and passing by shop after shop, we chose to venture out of Portland and drove 60 miles north to Boothbay Harbor. We drove through small towns (Bath, Wiscasset) along State Route 1. One thing we noticed and loved was that there were no billboards!! We could enjoy nothing but great scenery.



Boothbay was a very quaint little seaside town. There were dozens of lobster boats in the harbor, as well as kayakers strolling along. It was what you think of when you think of Maine. It was great walking through the curvey streets and boardwalks of the harbor.



After leaving Boothbay heading back south, we found Fort Edgecomb, a U.S. installment from the early 1800s. It was used as a prisoner of war camp during the War of 1812. It was never used after the Civil War.

The tummies growled for food and we visited Gritty McDuffs Pub in Freeport, just north of Portland. We enjoyed some tasty local seafood and pub fare, as well as brewed-on-site beer. The Black Fly Stout was chocolatey, coffee-type, black as night brew. Tasty! Lucy and Rigby enjoyed pink lemonade, which had Lucy declare that Erik was having black lemonade. After dinner we went into the "Brewtique" and purchased some Gritty gear.

Of course, Freeport is known for L.L. Bean. It was 10 p.m. but no fear, the L.L. Bean store is open 24 hours, 365 days. What a mecca that was. We walked through most of the place and only purchased a pink and purple jacket for Lucy - a small victory for our wallet!

So Day 1 has ended. Baths have been taken. And now the Lakers Celtics game one is coming to an end.