The final installment of our trip that started in Williamstown, MA for a wedding, then Boston for a week with Allie, then to Portland, Maine for the following weekend before returning home.
Friday, Sep. 15
We got packed and cleared out of the guest apartment by 10am. Barb settled into Allie’s apartment to watch TV. I went to the 6th floor lounge to work on this journal. I must say, The Kensington is a mighty nice apartment building. I’ve been very happy here for this week and thoroughly enjoyed my urban vacation.
Once Allie got out of her final day of work at Cirkul we picked her up at 2:30pm and headed to Portland, Maine. Also headed there were the remnants of Hurricane Lee which were due to pelt the Maine and Maritime coasts with rain and wind on Saturday. Nevertheless, we hoped to have an enjoyable little break together and find some good food in Portland despite the weather.
The 2.5 hour drive was fine once we got out of Boston. Allie had partied with her co-workers until 3am the night before after the Red Sox game so was a little worse for wear. She slept most of the way to Portland. She said most of the office was hurting so it was a quiet final day.
Our hotel, the Hampton Inn Downtown Portland was well-located near the cruise terminals. Barb recognized it as the one we stayed at in October 2014 when she and I last visited. Our King suite had a view of the harbor and two cruise ships, if you ignored the parking lot, several scruffy buildings and two streets immediately in front of the hotel. It wasn’t much of a view, but we could see the water.
We hadn’t made dinner reservations anywhere in Portland mostly because by the time I tried to make reservations at several popular places they were full. So by necessity we decided to play things by ear. I had planned to go for seafood at the highly recommended Eventide which was next door to the hotel and didn’t take reservations anyway, but Allie expressed a preference for pasta. She and I scanned Yelp and TripAdvisor and decided to take our chances at Street & Co., with David’s Restaurant as a potential backup. We walked a short way to Street & Co. and were not surprised that the only opening was after 9pm, too late for us. We headed onward but Allie found an OpenTable reservation for two at Street & Co. the next night at 7pm which she grabbed.
Barb was getting a little grumpy by the time we got to David’s at Monument Square at 7pm. They could seat us at the Chef’s Counter at 8:15pm which seemed fine to Allie and me. Barb was not thrilled but was outvoted. We went next door to Shay’s Grill Pub to get a drink and an appetizer to kill the hour until our table was ready. The folks at Shay’s were probably not thrilled that all we ordered were some nachos, a cider for me and a soft drink for Allie. Barb stuck with water.
We wasted as much time as we could at Shay’s and went back to David’s at 8pm and were pleased to be immediately seated. Could we have come earlier? We’ll never know. The Chef’s Counter seats were at a bar directly in front of the open kitchen where we watched the 5 chefs hustle through their paces. Barb was especially fascinated as we figured out the responsibilities of each chef and watched their orchestrated yet seemingly improvised routines. Allie and I ordered the lobster ravioli to share along with starters of clam chowder and grilled swordfish skewers with heirloom tomatoes. Barb just got a beef carpaccio appetizer. The food was tasty but it was more fun watching the chefs. Allie was appalled to learn that Barb turned down an offer from the waiter for free garlic knots.
We got back to the room and the girls quickly went to sleep to yet another Harry Potter weekend. I followed soon after, wondering what the hurricane would bring the next day.
Saturday, Sep. 16
Barb and I woke around 8am and let Allie sleep while we went downstairs for the typical Hampton Inn breakfast of prefabricated cheese omelet, turkey sausage and mixed fruit. There was no rain in Portland, just a blustery 20-30 mph breeze from the west.
Barb and I decided to drive 30 minutes north to Brunswick to see the Robert McCloskey exhibit at the Curtis library. The exhibit was spread in multiple areas of the impressive local library and featured much more than just Make Way for Ducklings. I recognized a few of the others but was surprised to recall Burt Dow Deep Water Man as a book I definitely owned and enjoyed as a child. I’m even more surprised to learn that the far-fetched story of a crusty old seaman and a school of whales that want band aids on their tails is loosely based on a real character.
We spent longer at the exhibit than I thought we would. Barb enjoyed reading all of McCloskey’s books on display but was frustrated she could not successfully complete the library’s scavenger hunt for kids.
On the way back we scouted Freeport, Maine, home of L.L. Bean and a host of other outlet stores. We checked with Allie and decided we would return with her in the afternoon for a shopping trip. Allie had roused herself and did some window shopping in downtown Portland, finding a few shops she wanted to show us.
The weather continued to cooperate, with the rain holding off and the wind dying down through the day. The hurricane was pretty much a non-event for Portland though it struck with more intensity in northern Maine and Nova Scotia.
We reconnected with Allie and went to Eventide for lunch. We were told it would be a 45-minute wait for seats, long enough for us to scope out the shops Allie had found. One was a bookstore, Sherman’s, with a good supply of jigsaw puzzles and other games. Allie got Barb a puzzle for her birthday. We got back to Eventide and still had to wait a bit.
Eventually we were seated at the bar next to the oyster shucker. Allie and I shared a half dozen while Barb watched the young man doing the shucking. We also shared a cup of clam chowder (not as good as the night before’s). Barb and Allie got lobster rolls while I opted for halibut ceviche and a Ginger Brew. I had a bite of lobster roll and was not greatly impressed; the chowder and the ceviche were not that great either. Nevertheless, we had a good time, especially once the shucker got some downtime and Barb started asking questions. We learned more than we knew about oysters and how to shuck them but we did not get the free sample that Allie and I hoped for.
We drove back to Freeport and Barb dropped a few hundred dollars on a pre-birthday shopping spree for Allie. I also got some new Bean slippers out of the deal. I shopped with little luck at Bean and Brooks Brothers for my outfit for Sara’s wedding but ended up deciding I could order a shirt and tie to match her color scheme and still wear my basic gray suit even though it is not an approved color.
We got back to the room around 5pm and rested for a bit before Allie and I left Barb to her Harry Potter marathon while the two of us went to dinner at Street & Co. We had a delightful time, sharing an excellent heirloom tomato salad with sardines and a truly impressive grilled lobster over linguine with butter and garlic. We stopped at Beal’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream and brought Barb a cup of mint chocolate chip after Allie had her share.
Sunday, Sep. 17
We had breakfast together in the hotel and then wandered Portland for a bit in the morning. We stumbled upon a nice pet supply store, The Fish & Bone, that looked like a restaurant from the outside but had a good variety of cat toys and treats. We shopped for quite a while and bought Perri and Manny a few goodies.
We scoped out the two American Cruise Line ships and the Hurtigruten Roald Amundsen docked in the harbor evidently to ride out the storm. We wondered how the passengers felt about spending a couple of days in Portland rather than their regular itineraries.
We window shopped along Portland’s Commercial Street, stopping for a while in the Sea Bags flagship store where we learned the story of their exorbitantly priced tote bags locally made from leftover sails. We also stopped briefly in The Holy Donut, a Portland institution but Barb was not especially interested in their potato donuts.
We opted for lunch at Luke’s Lobster flagship restaurant on Portland Pier which I was surprised to learn is one of Portland’s top restaurants. I’m familiar with Luke’s as a chain for lobster rolls but this restaurant had a more extensive menu of seafood favorites. Barb got the basic lobster roll; Allie got a trio of lobster, crab and shrimp rolls, and I got a fried haddock fish and chips platter. I was interested in the steamed clams so we got that to share as well. The clams were a disappointment, coming whole with their sandy little feet which we cleaned in salt water before dipping in butter – I was hoping for a more Italian preparation with oil and garlic. Lesson learned. The rest of the food was good though I ate altogether too much.
After lunch we checked out of the hotel and drove back to Boston. While driving, I was able to catch on the radio the last few exciting innings of the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays game in which the O’s came from behind twice in the 9th and 10th innings to win and clinch a playoff spot.
Barb and I dropped Allie off at her apartment and checked into our room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Boston – Downtown two blocks away because the Kensington guest apartments were not available. We came back to Allie’s and watched Perri drift into ecstasy with her new catnip panda toy.
At 6pm we met two of Allie’s friends, Christina and ??? for dinner at Jiangnan, the new Boston outpost of this upscale Chinese restaurant. We had to wait 45 minutes for a table so we got drinks at the new Trillium outdoor beer garden in the Boston Common. At Jiangnan we shared a half order of Peking Duck along with a so-so pork belly appetizer, soup dumplings, good green beans with pork, some seafood fried rice that turned out to be lo mien noodles. Barb had a spring roll only but enjoyed the company.
We wrapped up the dinner and said our goodbyes to Allie in time for Barb and I to get back to our hotel room by 9pm for her PBS murder mysteries, Unforgotten and Van der Valk. The next day was Allie’s first with her new employer, Lume, where she will head up marketing for their new line of men’s deodorants, Mando. We wish her good luck and hope this proves to be a good company worth sticking with for a while.
Monday, Sep. 18 – Drive Home
The drive home was relatively easy despite some heavy rain, departing at 9am and arriving around 5pm with a couple of stops.
I couldn’t resist my persistent urge to get fried chicken at the end of these road trips. Royal Farms did me proud with a box of dark meat and some macaroni and cheese. No green beans though. I would have to cook them myself the next day for an even better set of leftovers. Manny was happy to see us and even happier when we gave him his catnip toy.
This was a very enjoyable break for me and I think for Barb. It was our first journey together since her official retirement and our first chance to stretch out our travels and (hopefully) relax. The hotel in Williamstown was a misstep but otherwise we had a decent time in Western Massachusetts…though we could have done with one day less and are in no hurry to go back. Our week in Boston was a lot of fun for me; Barb at least got a lot of reading and word searches done. We had a good time seeing Allie and Perri and had many good meals. The Portland break worked out well despite the hurricane threat. Overall, I ate too much, especially over the second half of the trip. I gained a few pounds and my plantar fasciitis flared up so I haven’t done much walking to work it off. That needs to change. Other than that, I’d be happy to do another trip like this sometime next year if Barb’s willing.
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