We drove into town on a Friday morning, arriving at 9:45 AM. Our plan was to take a trolley tour around the city, and we found one that also went to the Portland Head Light. This allowed us to see as much as we could without having to drive ourselves or figure out parking. We parked down by Long Wharf and then walked to the trolley ticket window where we were able to get tickets for the 11 AM trolley tour. That gave us some time to walk around and do some shopping in Old Port.
Before we made this trip, I had ordered a few new t-shirts from Life is Good that I really liked. So when I saw a Life is Good shop, I had to go in. We bought a couple of shirts. We didn’t want to carry them all day, so we dropped them off at the car. It was then that we noticed a shop on the corner – you’ll never guess what it was!
It was Ethan Allen! If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know that I was disappointed to learn that the Ethan Allen of Vermont fame was not, in fact, a furniture maker. So of course we had to go in. I took several pictures of the furniture arrangements to pretend that I was at Ethan Allen, of furniture fame’s, home, ha ha!
The trolley tour was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of the downtown Portland area and learn about the history of the area. The best part was when we went to South Portland to the park where the famous Portland Head Light is situated. If we didn’t do the trolley, we were going to drive out there the next day, but when we saw how the place was set up, we were glad we had front-door drop-off service with the trolley. We had about a half hour to take pictures and such which we found was plenty of time. On the way back to the end of the tour, we had some extra time, so the guide took us for a closer look at the lobstering boats and traps.
When we put the address into the GPS, she told us that Maine Flavor may not be open yet as it was reported to open at 2 PM. Bummer. But wait! Let me call them and find out if the hours are really true. The lady who owns the place answered the phone and as we talked, she invited us to come on by anyway, that she’d open up for us since I’d come all the way from Florida! Her name was Susan and she was so sweet and welcoming when we met her. And let me tell you, it was so worth going by. We got the oat waffle cones which were thick and sturdy and most of all, delicious! And because we were still in Maine, I got the maple flavored ice cream. It was so good!!!
From there, we headed over to the hotel in South Portland. We were able to check in and get settled for the rest of the afternoon and evening. The hotel had an indoor swimming pool that looked inviting, so I got ready to go for a swim. Just as I was about to get in, the fire alarm went off, so we had to evacuate the building. I’m so glad I hadn’t already gotten in! It turned out that a staff person has bumped into the fire alarm and set it off. I still got my pool time afterwards. It was nice that they had good ventilation in the pool room because sometimes it’s not and it’s hard to stay in long.
We did have a few repairs we had to handle for the room. When we first checked in, the thermostat indicated it had a low battery, so we got them to come fix that. Then after my swim, I found out that the shower was a seriously slow drain AND that instead of putting body wash in the shower, they had put body lotion. Thankfully I noticed before washing with lotion – yikes! So we reported both issues and someone came up to unclog the drain.
I have been doing hotel reviews on TripAdvisor every day. My common themes in the reviews are about water pressure, towels (fluffy or not fluffy), and whether we had to get things repaired in the rooms we were assigned. I try to live by the concept of make things better than they were when you got there, and I realize that there are some things that the hotel staff won’t know about unless the guests tell them. But it does seem that there should be some sort of routine maintenance checks on things like clogged drains and batteries that need to be replaced. Whenever they ask me at checkout how things were, I do let them know of anything that needs to be repaired/replaced or if I’d had any other issues. Sometimes they offer me extra points for the hotel loyalty program. But I don’t do that for the points – I do that so that the next person staying in the room won’t have to.
The next day, we didn’t try to get out early as it was chilly and we didn’t have a lot on the itinerary for our second day in the Portland area. We went out to Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse which is on the campus of Southern Maine Community College. It was a cute lighthouse, but we couldn’t walk out to it because it was too treacherous for me. There were people who did walk out, but they were younger and more sure-footed than we are.
Next we drove the short distance to Bug Light Park to see the Bug Light lighthouse. This one we could walk out to, and there were quite a few other people there, too. While we were there, a couple of tour groups from the cruises that were in port showed up. So we were glad we were about ready to go when the crowds started coming.
We went back to the hotel for a while and decided to get our laundry done. The weather was beginning to get cooler and we only brought two pairs of long pants / jeans with us, so we thought we’d better take advantage of the time we had to get reset again.
For our restaurant meal, we went to Docks Seafood in South Portland. Several years ago, they converted their kitchen to have completely gluten-free fryers which meant I could have fried shrimp again! I had really enjoyed it when we were in Virginia Beach, and while I had also enjoyed the fried haddock I had in Bar Harbor, my favorite seafood is shrimp. And at Docks, they served a huge plate of fried popcorn shrimp – even better because I haven’t had popcorn shrimp in ages, either! In addition to the shrimp (DH got his grilled), we shared an order of salt and vinegar fries. These are hand-cut and soaked to get the extra starch out, and then brined with the vinegar before being fried. I know all this because the server was also one of the cooks. I told DH as we were eating that I wished we had gone to Docks the day before so we could have gone again, that’s how good it was to me!
So, overall thoughts about Portland. DH wasn’t crazy about the crowds and narrow streets and parking. He enjoyed the trolley tour, especially the stop at the Portland Head Light. That was a highlight for him because he recognized the icon that it is. I loved the Maine Flavor ice cream and the Docks Seafood. And the Portland Head Light, especially without it being a hassle to get to it. I also love my new shirts from Life is Good. One of them says, “Play more, Worry less.” I’m glad to be retired so I have the time to play more! The downtown port area was pretty much as I had remembered it from when I was there before.
Portland is the last of the big cities we have on our itinerary, but that doesn’t mean we’re done with paid parking and crowds and narrow streets. Tune in to our next entry to find out more!
~ Cindy D.
I love that you are posting about gluten free food. Burt has been GF for 15+ years and it's tough to find fried seafood or biscuits for him!
ReplyDeleteWe loved Portland and the lighthouses! I'm enjoying your report so much!
I did so much advanced planning for possible meal options so I would have an idea of what to eat. So many more options in the northeast than the south, for sure
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