Wednesday, September 13, 2017

In Search of Lobstah in Portland Maine…

image_thumb[24]

Our quest while in southern Maine was to find some delicious lobstah! Just up the road from our park in Saco is Portland Maine which of course we had to visit as well. Portland is a large city with a very popular waterfront. It felt very touristy along the waterfront and as such parking was $5 per hour but just a few blocks removed from the waterfront we found free two hour parking.

image_thumb[8]image_thumb[7]

Since Sharon and I were mostly interested in a good urban hike parking away from the waterfront was no problem. We were also in search of some lobster to take home. First up was a visit to the Visitors Center on the waterfront where a nice gentleman guided us to a few places to see such as the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow house built in the 1780’s and he pointed out a fish market where we could purchase some lobstah!

image_thumb[5]DSCN9351

Portland is a very walkable city with a nice vibe and some interesting architecture. We wish the visitor center would have had a self guided walking tour but since they didn't we took it upon ourselves to walk all over Portland. We did find the local fish market in town but these lobster come from a different socioeconomic class than we do. So we finished up our walk and on our way home we discovered Allagash Brewery which luckily for us actually gives away four free samples of their beer since they don’ t sell it by the glass. Score!!!

image_thumb[2]image_thumb

After enjoying some tasty samples we drove home along the coastline via Old Orchard Beach still a little disappointed at the price we found lobster to be back in the city.  Old Orchard Beach was quite the touristy town which surprised me as I was hoping to find a nice and quiet little Maine town full of fishermen. No Lobstah here!  Happily, though as we were driving home Sharon spotted a small sign that said Sam's Lobster so we turned down the small side road where in about a block or two we saw a guy sitting in his yard next to a his small shop.

DSCN934820170909_172519

Here we met Sam who is the owner/fisherman who told us all about the lobstah around here. Inside the shop were large tanks containing all sizes of live lobster! He was very friendly and helped us pick out a couple of beauties to take home. Once home the poor soles took their last swim in our lobster pot and became a real Road Treat and a very tasty dinner for the two of us. YUM YUM!!!

imageimage


Our last day we spent some time bike riding on the Eastern Trail Bike Path which is a 65-mile section of the East Coast Greenway connecting Kittery to South Portland Maine. Of course we didn’t ride all of it but we did enjoy a nice leisurely bike ride along a beautiful and well laid out trail. Afterward we visited another local brewery thus calling our visit to southern Maine a wrap…

image20170910_131918

NOTE: We are still in Exeter NH and will head south in a few days…

9 comments:

  1. Nothing quite like fresh east coast lobster, glad you found some.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the lobSTER. We noticed some Maine lobster in the Red Lobster tank. However, we settled for their endless shrimp.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would think there would be a lobster restaurant on every corner.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh but there is... but we wanted it from a vendor not in a restaurant. Wanted to cook our own!

      Delete
  4. Near Freeport is a campground called Desert of Maine, if you have time check it out, the historical dunes are in the middle of the woods not by the shore.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jose, can you see, by the dawn's early light of Tuesday on Cape Cod. Sheesh. Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll get pushed far far away. Check out nhc.noaa.gov

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Regardless of Jose we have already changed our plans since Sharon finally got a doctor's appt in Jacksonville Fl earlier than we expected so not going to Cape Cod afterall. How did everything fare in Vero Beach?

      Delete
    2. Yea for Sharon's appointment. No structural damage to the condo. Lots of plant debris and the beach is gone. We never lost power! Bonita Springs got hit almost directly. Plans for Nov?

      Delete
  6. I have been reading your posts regularly which is specially for retirement .I need to say that you are doing a fantastic work. Please keep it up the great work.
    retirement

    ReplyDelete