Long TR -- Maine and NH, Pt. 1

[davidski]

LONG TR -- Maine and New Hampshire-- Pt.1





Originally my wife and I were going to make a trip to Glacier National, but that changed to Portland Oregon, but flying on SWA standby passes we knew we would have to keep our fingers crossed and we jokingly told people that if that didn't work we'd go to the other Portland-- the one in Maine. Well that's how it worked out in the end. We arrived Manchester, NH at 11:30PM --- got upgraded to a Subaru Outback and drove just short of Portland where the next morning our trip began



a drive by the Northeast Portland







We spent that first day mostly at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. Something much more extensive and fascinating then we had expected. It is set on the grounds with most of the original buildings of the ship makers Percy and Small who made their last great six mast schooner, the WYOMING in 1919 - the frame is being reconstructed in scale but they only have the stern and bow completed, this is the same spot she was built and launched





















the best weathervane I've ever seen -- it won't point in the actual direction of the wind because the sails are set in true poosition so the direction would have to be calibrated; complex and beautiful

















Incredible museum for any one interested in ships or woodworking, an apprenticeshop next door continues to train craftspeople and build serious boats (if not six mast schooners)









AND NOW the real issue LOBSTERS



OK, so the way it works is that the best lobster is where they are bringing it off the boats; the places where that happens are on working wharfs and are called Lobster pounds (containments) They move them inland from there but most of them also set up a shack and some tables and sell them retail, live or cooked.

















They don't sell beer but don't give a damn what you bring in -- we saw lead crystal with chardonnay, and a big family whose elders were swilling Jim beam and club soda. People had driven from Boston to eat a lobster sit for a while and head home.















The standard combo is a 1 1/2 lb lobster, a pound of steamers (clams) or mussels, and an ear of really sweet corn . Some people were splitting 3 lb lobsters, claws the size of a lady's fist, they give you smooth rocks to break them











the best one we went to was Muscongus Bay Lobster on Round Pond. The way they and all the good ones cook the stuff is also very cool.



The lobsters are stored in tanks with water that is pumped up and from the bay below, The lobsters are also boiled in huge vats with the sea water. And the cooks sing crusty old new england shanties as they drop the lobsters in, it comforts them, the cooks not the lobsters .. (ok, that last part isn';t true)



It was incredible





Second night was on the coast, definitely not NC in mid-June













And the next day would be ACADIA, my parents had a coffee table book when I was a kid--Readers Digest Scenic Wonders of America-- Acadia always looked good to me from the vantage point of the Texas panhandle.

[teledave]

I'd lahk ah lahbstah paht.