We took a trip up to New England last week. Although the weather wasn’t that great, I’ll use my next few blog posts to show some of the photos of that trip.
We spent three nights of the trip at the Marriott at Sable Oaks in South Portland, Maine. The last time I visited Portland I was a teenager in the summer of 1964. I took the bus from Philadelphia to Portland to visit friends of the family. The main memory of that trip for me was taking the ferry out to the islands in Casco Bay and exploring old abandoned military fortifications.
This time we didn’t do any exploring through abandoned forts, but we did do some exploring around the streets of Portland. The main part of town is divided into three districts: the Old Port; the Arts District; and the East End. We spent a little time in the Arts District with its many galleries, but we spent most of our time walking around the Old Port area which extends up the hill from the busy port of Portland.
The Old Port is filled with shops, restaurants, and cafes, and has something of a 19th century European feel to it thanks to its many narrow cobblestone streets and old brick buildings. Commercial Street runs along the harbor at the foot of Old Port which has docks for the Casco Bay ferry to the islands and The Cat high speed ferry to Nova Scotia, as well as countless yachts and fishing boats.
A stay in Portland wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the LL Bean flagship store located in Freeport, Maine, a short 15 minute drive north of Portland. Besides the LL Bean Flagship Retail Store, which is huge, there is also an LL Bean Hunting & Fishing Store, an LL Bean Bike, Boat & Ski Store, an LL Bean Home Store, and an LL Bean Outlet Store, all within two blocks. The town of Freeport obviously exists because of LL Bean, but there are also many other shops and restaurants to explore along Main Street, plus a small outlet mall. We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant just off Main Street called the Corsican Restaurant. I had a bowl of clam chowder that was the best I’ve ever tasted.
The highlight of a trip to Portland for any photographer has to be the Portland Head Light Station on Cape Elizabeth, south of the city. The lighthouse is one of the most photographed in the country and will be the subject of my next post.
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Better soup than out of a bread bowl from Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco?
ReplyDeleteThe soup here was better, and you could get it in a bread bowl, but I didn't feel like tackling that.
ReplyDelete