Advertisement
Published: June 25th 2016
Edit Blog Post
So here we are 'on vacation' here in the US, visiting Damon, Sarah, and the grandkids Elliott and Layla. Our first week was just a catch-up with them all at home in Silver Spring, Maryland, but for our second week, we decided to take a trip all together to Maine, the most far North-Eastern state of the US, which borders with Canada.
It wasn't a great start with our short flight. Since we were unable to confirm seating on the flight prior to the day, and wanted to ensure the 4 and 2 year-olds sat with their parents, we made it to Washington National airport 2 hours earlier than required, only to be told they couldn't seat us all until we were ready to board. So we ended up with a totally unnecessary 2 hour wait at the airport trying to entertain 2 young kids. We were finally seated as requested, but with no one in 'Customer Service' showing the least friendliness or interest in assisting. You really wouldn't want to fly by American airlines if there was any other way to travel.
Our first three days in Portland were spent checking out a number of very pretty seaside
resorts within easy drive of the city. To the south, we took in Kennebunkport, where the Bush family own their large family retreat, but unfortunately no invitations were forthcoming. To the north, our main destinations were the similarly very attractive towns of Boothbay Harbor (yes, I know - American spelling) and Wiscasset. At the latter, we queued up for some time to purchase one of the famous Lobster Rolls from Red's Eats, which get rated #1 in almost every tourist brochure. This followed similar cuisine the day before at the Clam Shack at Kennebunkport and on arrival at Andy's Old Port Pub in Portland. So which one won? I'll sit on the fence and call it an honourable draw!
While not my cup of tea personally (pardon the pun), my son and d-in-law are fanatical beer testers and the number of breweries based in Maine had them in seventh heaven. I think in our short time we visited each of Allagash, Oxbow, Shipyard, and the Maine Brewery, each time being treated to the customary six 'tasters', which were a steal at only $15. So I think I can confidently admit to 'tasting' at least 50 different beers in our
short time in Maine, and while not all were to my taste, I certainly found plenty to quench the thirst on a hot day.
Day 4 saw us motor up the coast some 200 miles to the famed Acadia National Park, which is situated on Mount Desert Island, just short of the eastern Canadian border. We rented a great house in a bush setting and spent most of the time exploring the various key park attractions, although unfortunately the grandkids and Joan's lack of mobility precluded too many bush hikes. There is a 26-mile Park Loop Road that skirts both the Frenchman's Bay coast and some internal lakes and affords some spectacular views of the 32,000-acre park. The main highlight was the visit to the peak of the 1,500-foot Cadillac Mountain, where scrambling over the pink granite rocks, we could get a 360-degree panorama of the mountains on one side and the lush green islands dotting the deep blue Atlantic on the other. Of major appeal to others, but less so to us Sydney northern beach residents, was the famed Sand Beach, somewhat unique in the region for the very item that gave it its name!
Fortunately for
us, the flight back was a little friendlier than the forward trip. Obviously the Portland airport staff have been trained to smile, a skill still seemingly lacking in the airports of almost all major US cities. Our final week was back to babysitting duties in Maryland before the trip home, comprising our traditional overnight stopovers in New York and Honolulu. All going well, my next blog will be in September from Kazakhstan.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.45s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 39; qc: 147; dbt: 0.1444s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Maine is marvelous
I love these kind of places.