After our first stop for fuel just outside Washington, we did 1786 miles (2875km) averaging 31.3mpg (7.51 l/100km) which is OK but our old Escort would have achieved 40mpg.
Trip to Maine 2009
Portland, 20 – 22 Aug 2009
I liked Portland so much, I'd be happy to live here. I say that knowing I was there in the summer and that the winter is long. It was sad to leave and I hope we go back one day.
This was a high point of our trip, both literally and figuratively. After checking into our hotel in Portland, went to look at the nearby Portland Observatory and it was our great fortune to find it open on Thursday evenings! The observatory was built to watch for ships, not stars— as soon as approaching ship could be identified by a watchman with a telescope, he would hoist a flag visible at the docks so the wharves could be ready for its arrival.
We are lucky it is still here. Built in 1807, the Great Fire of 1866 came so close that boys were sent up with buckets of water throw down on the walls to keep them wet. Saved from that catastrophe, it lay abandoned from 1923 when radio made it obsolete until the 1990s when restoration work begun by which time it had fallen into disrepair. There is a fire station next door now so there will be a swift response if anything happens.
To the extent that Portland has a central business district, it is about a mile away in this direction.
Our hotel is just beyond the trees at the top-right.
Step 1: Procure 8 beams, each 65 ft (20m) long.
Rather than foundations that reach into the ground, the structure rests on the ground but like a sailing ship, has stones at the bottom to provide ballast to hold it down.
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This magnificent house has been subdivided and run as a hotel. We were on the top floor under the triangular roof. When trying to find accommodation in Portland, I was getting alarmed that everything I looked at was either full or over $250/day and then I saw this which is a little further from the touristy wharf area but facing the water. One room was left at $165 so it was ours.
Given the style of the building, the popularity of "bed and breakfast" (B&Bs) in the state and the difficult-to-navigate web site, I assumed this was a B&B but was surprised to find it wasn't but that we had our own kitchen which Lan used to cook our dinner the three nights that we were there.
The property is for sale as condos so if we go back to Portland, we'll have to find somewhere else.
It appears that we are looking out to the ocean but there are islands in the distance forming Casco Bay. You can see exactly where we are on Google Maps.
Buildings of this vintage normally have heat provided by hot water piped to radiators but I've never seen a circular one like this.
The hotel's office, manager's apartment and a few guest rooms are in this adjacent house. Note the window's walk on top.
The tour started on the corner of Middle and Exchange streets opposite this building which I thought was quite attractive. We had trouble hearing the guide because he spoke too softly and would start speaking before we'd caught up but he noted that asymmetrical buildings were fashionable at the time and I thought he said it was Queen Anne Style.
Iron was the material of the new industrial age and it is on display here. Rather than use wide stone columns supporting thick stone lintels to hold up the brickwork above, the new style used slender iron posts that let in more light and showed off the merchandise to greater advantage.
Ships once tied up on the right side of this street but now Wharf Street is a block away from the water! When railways were introduced, merchants realized the advantages of getting trains right up to the ships so they filled in the waterfront adding more warehouses and the rails. If you look at Google maps you'll see the rail lines stop at each end of what is now the touristy bit of Commercial St.
I was surprised to find that this building dates from the 1880s. To my eyes it looked modern in a way that was intended to blend with the older buildings around it. In fact, it is the older building.
Now called the Mission to Seafarers, the organization provided boarding, education and of course, religious instruction to seamen who were waiting for the next ship to sail. It thus provided an alternative to activities seamen are more commonly associated with i.e. drinking, gambling and visiting brothels.
The eye-level sections of telephone poles are covered in rusty staples from hundreds of flyers that have been posted there over the years. While this one is about entertainment, I saw another calling for action against the continuing problem of slavery.
There was a stone sculpture of a dolphin in the middle of the roundabout.
This building once housed an early power station and though the real estate company that now occupies the building has no need for a very large chimney, historic preservation requirements prevent it being removed.
Two things to note on this late Victorian building:
- The decorative arches over the windows
- The bumps on the wall are tie ends—large brick walls can collapse if hey are allowed to bow outward in the middle. Engineers solved this problem by running iron rods through the building and capping each end on the outside wall. However, I think the guide says these ones were fake.
I should note that by this point on the tour that although the overcast sky protected us from direct sun, it was rather warm and very humid.
Local residents apparently objected to this modern design which was so different to historic buildings nearby. Although it is called Post Office Square, I think it housed the local newspaper.
Seen on a building on Commercial Street. I wished they provided more details for the engineers and environmentalists among us i.e. me.
If you ever go to Portland, take a ride on the Lucky Catch with Captain David and First Mate Julie to see for yourself what all those lobster boats are doing in Maine waters. This was the highlight of the trip to Maine even though Lan was skeptical that she'd enjoy it.
A significant population lives on the islands near Portland which becomes a substantial population in the summertime. The Casco Bay Lines ferry is the way to get there.
Lan with her favorite dinner. However, this one was too small and had to go back in the water. At least in Maine, the measurement from the ridge above the eye socket to the back of the abdomen has to be greater than 3½" (9cm) but less than 5&quarter" (13.3cm).
The idea is to allow the small ones to grow to maturity and to keep the very big ones since the females produce a huge amount of eggs, perhaps 100,000 whereas a smaller but sexually-mature female might will produce 5,000-10,000. It seemed stupid to me but the laws are state-based and not harmonized so in neighboring New Hampshire, large lobsters are offered no protection and in a further twist, waters more than 3 miles (5km) from shore are under Federal jurisdiction and I'm not sure there were any restrictions.
I asked about the sustainability of Maine's lobster catch. Unusually, he has a degree in Marine Biology and so can perhaps speak with some authority; he said the amount of fish put into traps as bait is so great that immature lobsters probably have a better chance of surviving now than before commercial fishing started.
David put the rope around an electric winch so he wasn't straining his back as previous generations must have done.
Each buoy is attached to lines for two traps and they have to be done in sequence.
There's a reason seagulls follow lobster boats around.
If the bait is not eaten after two days, it has to be changed so the old bait is quickly seized upon.
One final note about Maine lobster fisheries: David told me that licenses are issued to individuals and they can only take lobsters from their own boat which has the interesting side-effect that it is not possible for a corporation to buy up all the licenses and boats. As such, the industry is unusual in having a large number of owner-operators.
We came back to the dock with two lobsters of legal size which Lan bought and cooked for dinner—though she only ate one that night. Thanks David. Thanks Julie.
However seeing beaches like this makes me more aware of the wonderful beaches in Sydney, the most famous being Bondi.
The light is just peeking over the headland.
Cushing Island is in the background and Ram Island Ledge Light, to the right of this photo, marks a dangerous reef on the far side.
The most photographed lighthouse in America and one of the oldest. More ….
Dating from 1891, the attractive keeper's cottage actually housed two families since there was an assistant keeper as well.
Also see the video.
A ship once foundered in the gap between the headland and the adjacent rock. According to lighthouse's web site, "Late on Christmas Eve in 1886, the three masted bark Annie C. Maguire struck the ledge at Portland Head. Keeper Joshua Strout, his son, wife, and volunteers rigged an ordinary ladder as a gangplank between the shore and the ledge the ship was heeled against. Captain O'Neil, the ship's master, his wife, two mates, and the nine man crew clambered onto the ledge and then to safety. The cause of the wreck is puzzling since visibility was not a problem. Members of the crew reported they 'plainly saw Portland Light before the disaster and are unable to account for same.'".
One of the Cape Elizabeth Lights, south of Portland, viewed from Two Lights State Park which paradoxically, does not contain either.
The rocks at Cape Elizabeth had such stiking layering they looked vaguely like the petrified tree trunks we saw in South Dakota years ago.
Lan clambered over the rocks to get a better look at the waves but then had to come running back when a larger one threatened to give her wet feet. It was sunny when we got out of the car but fog was rolling in and Hurricane Bill was moving north stirring up the ocean. Indeed, our intention was to go whale watching that morning but the boat tours were cancelled for fear of big waves and seasick passengers.
The horn is about 8 ft (2.4m) high and although loud, isn't as deafening as I imagined. Certainly nothing like the fire alarm in my building which forces me to cover my ears every time it is tested.
In the distant past, molten lava has forced its way though cracks in the sedimentary rocks and then cooled, an igneous intrusion.
We drove up to the lighthouse and discovered it is a private residence. The Coast Guard automated the light in 1963 so presumably what was formerly the keeper's house was sold off, or an employee lives here doing other things.
The other lighthouse was dismantled in 1924 but there is another tower nearby which we thought was a former lighthouse.
If Kennebunkport is known to Americans, it is because the Bush family has a "compund" here. This is a town for the wealthy and those that want to be seen to be wealthy. Just to the left is a food stall selling "fried dough" which sounds down-market but the price of $3.95 suggested otherwise!
Though it has to be noted that this mansion is on the Kennebunk, not the Kennebunkport side of the river.
Now subdivided and being sold off as individual units. Unit 3 on the 2nd and 3rd floors is 1681 ft2 (156m2), 2 bed, 3 bath with off-street parking for 2 cars for $399,000 if you are interested.
This was the second ship in the US Navy to be named the USS Maine, not the ship whose sinking in Havana harbor was the trigger (or excuse) for the Spanish-American War.
If it wasn't for the volunteer guide at the Portland Observatory, we would not have known that these pilings once supported a pier that was built for the SS Great Eastern, an icon of the Victorian industrial age but the ship never came here. Portland was to be the US destination for the ship's trans-Atlantic route because of an agreement reached between the ship's owner's and Canada's Grand Trunk Railway whose line from Montréal terminated here.
You could once travel all the way to Montréal on these rails but the remaining section is now operated by the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum. There's more on Portland's railway history.
New construction in the historic district was supposed to reflect old buildings but at the same time, not look like them. This building seemed to do the latter better than the former.
Incidentally, there was a bakery nearby, set back from the street, that Lan quite liked and we bought some fruit pies. I thought their selection was rather too limited; I saw nothing featuring chocolate for instance.
The East Coast Greenway, a bike path under construction from Calais, Maine to Key West, Florida! What a fabulous ride this will be! 3000 miles (5000 km). Can I take a few months off? Official site
I can only hope we can all learn to be more tolerant of each other.
As we walked the mile or so back to our hotel, we saw a layer of fog sliding across the water and then up the headland.
A little further back I saw a woman with a tight T-shirt with the message Let's focus on ME!* which made me laugh but I didn't think it appropriate to take a picture of her chest.
* For those outside the US, the postal abbreviation for Maine is "ME".
A rather fitting end to our long walk and our vacation coming to a close.
Incidentally, Lan received a phone call at about 3:20pm when I took the photo of the USS Maine memorial and was engaged in conversation until just before this picture was taken at 5:00! It was a great trip and there were many stories to share and that takes time.