Maine and New Hampshire

After our brief stop in Salem, we drove to Maine, where we stayed in a rural house on a lovely lake. Nearby was an amazing self-serve cheesecake shop called Momo's. You literally go in and take what you want from the refrigerators and pay on the honor system (yes, there were cameras, but still...). The cheesecake was delicious, and the assortment of flavors was astounding. Choosing was not easy.

From the house, we drove to Acadia National Park by way of Bar Harbour, which is a lovely little town that has perhaps been a bit overrun by tourists. We had lunch in there, and since we were in Maine, I had to eat lobster at least once.

Acadia National Park is beautiful, and although Cadillac Mountain is not very high, the views are fantastic. 

What elevated our visit to another level, was the people who had brought their four (!) Samoyeds up to the top, including Teddy, who had an amputed foot and only one eye, but is still a very happy dog (not as happy as Shana was, of course).

Another quintessential Maine thing we did was stop in at the LL Bean flagship store, which is huge, and is really part of a large and growing campus. 

After Maine, we stayed in a hotel just outside of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. On our way, we stopped for coffee in Belfast, ME a cute little town. Not only were the coffee and pastries really good, it allowed us to get this great shot in a giant Adirondack chair.

Not sure what it is about Maine and oversized items, but they do make for great photos.

In Portsmuth, we took a cruise around the city's harbor and into the Piscataqua River. The area is really interesting. Portsmouth Harbor was a major site for the construction of US submarines, and is still used for their maintenance. In the photo below is the USS Texas, a Virginia Class nuclear submarine (note that the submarine is mostly submerged, look for the black tower just out of the water on the left).

This area was also important in the run-up to the Revolutionary War, and there are many old building and lighthouses from that era.

On our final day in New England, we returned to Maine (a short drive from Portsmouth) to visit Kennebunkport, which was made famous by George HW Bush who had a summer home there. The town is another cute Maine town that has become overrun by tourists.

We learned that the decorations on the house in the top left picture are lobster traps (not popscicles, which is what Shana thought they resembled). These can be seen everywhere in Maine, from keychains to all forms of decorations. And finally, because it was fall, many towns had displays of gourds (and not just pumpkins). But, none was more impressive than the one in front of a hotel in Kennebunkport.

Although we did not hit the peak for fall colors, the scenery was spectacular as we drove from place to place. 

And that was our time on the US east coast. We were particularly impressed with Maine, which was beautiful and seemed like a place you could spend time enjoying lots of outdoor activities. Who knows, maybe we will go back.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana