These rocky places can be dangerous, according to this stern warning. The wind was picking up, the waves way down below were becoming rough. I stepped back a little more from the edge.
I spotted this interesting building on the way back from Pemaquid Point - the "Willing Workers Hall," which is now rented out as a meeting hall but has an interesting history that, as far as I can tell, involved freed slaves ("willing" workers) who settled in this part of the country.
Our morning ramble continued from one pretty little town to another - Bristol, Wiscasset, Brunswick, and finally Freeport, home of the L.L. Bean Flagship Store and a major tourist attraction. It is obligatory on the part of visitors to have a photo taken by the big boot, so we did.
Then we had lunch, bundling up in the increasingly cold and windy conditions (good weather for selling winter clothing!), across the street at Linda Bean's Maine Kitchen and Topside Tavern. I did not learn until later that Ms. Bean, heiress to the L. L. Bean fortune, made a controversial donation to the Trump campaign and was herself an unsuccessful Congressional candidate. "Extreme Caution Is Required During Stormy Conditions," I remembered.
After lunch, I had some coffee while Martha wandered through the giant L. L. Bean complex. I spent some time marveling at this amazing exhibit on display - the famous "Locked Moose of New Sweden, Maine."
In 2006, a woman found the remains of these moose on her property, antlers locked together in battle in a fatal embrace. "The antlers have never ever been separated since they first became locked in the Fall of 2005," the accompanying plaque explained. I wanted to find some political significance in this taxonomic display but it was becoming too cold and windy to spend much time thinking about it all, and we had decided not to take Trump or a deadlocked Congress with us on vacation.
We stopped to see the big, bustling city of Portland and its historic Old Port area, with its cobbled streets. And then we headed on toward Kennebunkport, home of a Republican President I actually respected, George H. W. Bush, our 41st president and a decent and intelligent man whom I once saw in person when he was campaigning for President. The Bush Complex was on a rocky peninsula out in the harbor. By that time waves were smashing onto the shore, and the wind was so strong you could barely open the door of the car.
We were nearing the end of our day, and of our time in Maine, so we decided to have lobster at a Kennebunkport tradition, Mabel's Lobster Claw, ca. 1952, an old-school lobster place famous also for clam chowder and blueberry pie. (We had all three, as I remember it!) Mabel's was voted America's Second Best seafood restaurant by USA Today readers - quite an honor. I learned from our menu several things I had not known about lobsters:
- Lobsters can live to be 100 years old or older.
- During colonial days, lobsters were plentiful and were the food for the poor.
- A lobster's brain is in its throat, and it tastes with its feet.
- Lobsters are heart-healthy, a great source of Omega-3 fatty acids.
- They have on average only 96 calories and only 2 grams of fat.
- Lobsters can grow up to four feet long and weigh 100 pounds.
- Lobsters are green or yellow or bright blue; they turn red when cooked.
We allowed the little plastic bibs to be tied around our necks, were given the claw-cracking utensils, and submitted to a photograph.
And yes, if my sister is reading this, that side dish in the foreground is actually turnips, prepared the way my Mom used to prepare them (mashed) for every Thanksgiving Dinner we ever had growing up in New England.
Our Inn was the Yachtsman, a truly unique place right on the harbor, which we could not properly enjoy in the increasing wind and rain. Martha booked all of our reservations for this trip, and I don't know how she found gems like this one!
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