Portland, Maine and area Sept1-7

I wished we could have spent more time in Acadia, but Joel was antsy and had a bad case of "hitch itch" after only a few days so we headed to Portland, Maine.  Our goal was to find a "landing place" for the up coming Labor Day holiday.  We ended up at an American Legion in South Portland overlooking the bay.  We checked with the person in charge of the Post who seemed really surprised we would want to park there.  There were three truck trailers full of  telephone books to be  distributed,  but other than that no one ever parks in the lot. The parking lot was also adjacent a nice bicycle path which went to the commercial district one direction and all the way out to Spring Ledge Lighthouse the other direction.

The view from the parking lot over looking Casco Bay towards the commercial district of Portland in the early morning.

The Delorme Map store was just a few miles up the road in Yarmouth.  Unfortunately Eartha was going through an update and wasn't working, but was still worth the visit.

This is the view  from the third floor of Eratha.  Eartha is almost  four stories tall.

LL Bean's Flagship store  is also located not very far from Yarmouth and Portland  in Freeport.  The town of Freeport is a shopping mecca full of high end stores and includes such stores as Patagonia, North Face, and others and a few outlets.  I really didn't need anything, nor was in need of "retail therapy" but enjoyed wandering around. The LL Bean store is several separate stores located on the same campus.  It could take one all day to go through the LL Bean's Home Store, Bike Boat and Ski Store, and Main Store.

I didn't know our WIN friend  Maynard owned a chocolate store!!!

Another day we all rode our bikes down to the commercial district of Portland and explored some of the wharfs.  There were several seafood markets that had reasonably priced fresh seafood.

I saw this neat mural on one of the buildings.

There were several side streets in the commercial district which were interesting. Note the old buildings.

One evening we took the bicycle path out to Bug Light Park. There was a replica of one of the old liberty ships from WWII.  Portland, Maine had several ship building yards and I believe 32 Liberty ships were built here.

Bug Light. It had recently been painted. Originally, in 1855 it was a wooden lighthouse.  Later it was remodeled using cast iron plates.  Corinthian columns cover the seams of the the cast iron plates.

Just down the way was Spring Ledge  Lighthouse.  We got there in the early evening so the sun cast an eerie glow. Darn, the days are starting to get shorter already! This is a classic example of a "spark plug" lighthouse.

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On Labor Day we visited Cape Elizabeth and the Portland Head Lighthouse which is in Ft. Williams Municipal Park. Ft. Williams park is managed by the town of Cape Elizabeth, mostly by volunteers and donations.  It's evident the community takes pride in t he park.  It is well kept. 

 Portland Head Lighthouse was the first lighthouse in Maine, activated in 1791.  It overlooks the Casco Bay and entrance to the harbor.  I think it is one of the most picturesque lighthouses I have seen so far.

The Goddard Mansion located in the park.  It was a summer cottage at one point.  The stone work is fascinating.  I couldn't find much information on it, but in its day, it must have been very beautiful. 

The sunsets are not as spectacular as in the West, but they are pretty nice, never the less.  This one is looking over towards Portland from the Portland Head Lighthouse.  

Well, the holiday is over and we are well rested and I think we have seen some of the highlights of Portland and its time to move on. We headed towards Manchester, New Hampshire where I will catch a plane to Virginia on Friday to see my son Justin.  I haven't seen Justin and his wife Liz and my four legged grandchild Jezebel  for over 1 1/2 years and I can't wait!