Northern Vacation- Day 3

One thing I was beginning to notice about New England in the summer is that the sun comes up REALLY early.  We had to wake up early anyways but being awake at 5:30am AND before my alarm went off is just annoying.  But that gave me plenty of time to repack and haul my seemingly massive luggage downstairs.  After a quick breakfast we took the commuter train into Boston's North Station again and then waited for our train to Maine.  As we waited and watched the daily commuters file in and out of the station, we treated ourselves to some coffee from one of the TWO Dunkins Donuts in the station...they had to be less than 500 feet away from each other.  (In truth, that number is just a blind guess because I have absolutely NO concept of distance.)

Portland Bay

It wasn't long before our train was given a platform and we were off to claim our 1st class seats.  You heard right, we were traveling in style!  And let me tell you, 1st class was totally worth the extra few bucks.  The journey from Boston to Portland, Maine was about 2 1/2 hours and to be honest, I spent a good amount of it napping.  I have fallen asleep on many a train but give me reclining leather seats and it's a 'for sure' that I will be sleeping.  I did catch a few sites as we made our way through New Hampshire and into Maine.  Though I do have to say that given my strict travel rules, simply traveling through New Hampshire does not count as a visit.  For me, you have to have stopped and seen something New Hampshirey for it to count.

We arrived in Portland and were picked up by our car rental company.  It's never fun to be at the start of a trip and think, 'I'm going to die'.  Well thanks to our lovely driver, that's exactly what we were thinking.  Nicole and I kept giving each other frantic looks and hoping that we would arrive soon.  Thankfully, we arrived in one piece and picked up our car.  We had been to Portland a few years ago and I liked it right away.  It's just got that nice blend of old and new; still an active fishing port but also has cute little shops and great places to eat. 

Since we had been to Portland before, we had hit the big sites already.  In the planning of the trip, it seemed like all we were going to do was eat and drink.  But before we got down to the fun stuff, we decided to take a tour of Portland's Victoria Mansion.  The mansion, also known as the Morse-Libby House, was completed in 1860.  The original owner, Ruggles Sylvester Morse (I just HAD to get that name in!), was born in Maine but had made his fortune in New Orleans.  The Victoria Mansion was their summer house.  The house fell on hard times when it was damaged by a hurricane in 1938 and two years later, it was set to be turned into a gas station.  But thankfully it was saved and restoration continues even today.

The skies were darkening as we made our way to the mansion for our tour and in retrospect that was probably the tour guide gods warning us.  Alas, we had no idea what was waiting for us.  As we walked up to the gift shop, a couple and a pre-teen boy were wandering around the outside.  Imagine our surprise when the pre-teen boy turned out to be our guide through the house.  At first I thought, 'how adorable' and I was totally on board.  Within five minutes I realized that we had walked into a nightmare.  That kid was the WORST GUIDE EVER!  I would have loved it if he actually knew what he was talking about but as the tour continued, I began to think that we had just paid to be this kid's babysitter for an hour.  A long hour.  He glossed over the history of the families connected with the mansion and instead focused on pointing out porcelain statues in each room.  It went from bad to worse when he tried out some jokes, 'two people died in the house and, funny story, there was also a murder in the house...nah.'*  As we went through the house, Nicole got an alert on her phone, too made it wasn't a horrible guide alert.  It was only an alert for flooding.  Frankly that was beginning to sound like a better option!

Our room at the Inn

We survived the pain and went to check in at the first B&B of the trip.  The Inn at St. John was lovely; though, a continental breakfast only?  Come on, that ain't right.  But I digress.  Once we were all settled in our room, we called a cab and headed down to the waterfront.  It was time for some lobster!  The goal of this trip was to pretty much eat as much seafood as possible and Portland was a great place for that.  The Portland Lobster Company sits right on the water on one of Portland's many wharfs.  It's a pretty low key place, eat in out on the wharf or get it to go.  And nothing goes better with lobster than a nice cold pint of Fatty Bampkins cider, a British style cider made less than 25 miles from Portland.  For Nicole it was, nothing goes better with lobster than a local blueberry ale.  It smelled great and, not being a beer fan at all, it wasn't horrible tasting.  (Talk about high praise!)  But the obvious star of the meal was the brave lobster that gave its life for our enjoyment.  I normally have a healthy amount of guilt when eating meat (the worst was eating lamb after watching them bounce around all day, never again!) but crustaceans are different.  They're just too darn yummy.  Though I will add, I don't make eye contact with the lobster tank when I walk by.  There's no need to rub it in!

The aftermath

Tomorrow we would begin the drive up to Canada so it was nice to have a calm and chill day in Portland.  The city definitely carries on that chill vibe.  I would be always more than happy to return to Portland for a visit.

*Not an exact quote, but you get the idea.