KENNEBUNKPORT

Today was a beach day. The plan was to get up early and go to Kennebunkport. So the first thing we did was get up late. And I had spotted a bagel shop that I thought would be nice to go to for breakfast. Except I had failed to notice that it wasn't open on Saturday and Sunday. What kind of a bagel place isn't open on Saturday and Sunday?   So we decided to go on to Kennebunkport and we stopped on the way and got a breakfast sandwich at McDonald's. I noticed at the drive through that you could get a lobster roll at McD's for $9.  I wonder where e lobster comes from?  The usual price for a lobster roll seems to be from about $12 to as high as $24, but usually around $12. 

Kennebunkport is about 25 or 30 miles from Portland. It's an easy trip even if we had gone on highway 1, and made even easier because we went on the highway which is a toll road and cost a whole dollar. Of course when we got there, there was no on-street parking, not even if I used my handicap placard, which of course I brought with me. So we had to pay three dollars an hour to park, which is actually a bargain in these beach towns.

We did a little retail exploration, and then we took the scenic drive out to have lunch with the Bushes. We bought our lunch at a very cute deli in town, which also included a Whoopie pie.

Apparently these are a big Maine specialty.  We also visited this really neat little Episcopal church which is also out on Cape Walker (where the Bush compound is) and is entirely built from local stone and river rock. It looks very Arts and Crafts, bungalow look.  

And then we finally made it to the beach. Beaches in Maine are very different from beaches in California. On this particular beach it was about 60 or 70 feet to the water. But all the sand except the last 5 feet was so wet you couldn't put a blanket down. Everybody brings chairs to sit on at the beach.

 If you ever look at some of the romantic beach paintings by the Impressionists, it's because they are at beaches like this.  These reflections are very cool.  The water seemed relatively warm, warmer than California actually, but in fact the Atlantic in this part of the world is only about 55 to 60°. So this particular beach is apparently somewhat of an anomaly.

We were going to have dinner in Kennebunkport, but we decided to come back to Portland and go to this cute little restaurant down the street from our hotel called Bao Bao. It's a dumpling restaurant where most of the menu is Chinese dumplings.

And they are really good. We had scallion and pork dumplings, chicken curry dumplings that came with a coconut sauce, and a salad.  

John has not felt felt well for almost this entire trip, and he didn't feel well most of today either. So we have really cut down on the number of things we might be doing. Like, for instance, we were going to go out and get ice cream tonight, but he's too tired to go and his stomach is upset again.  The ice cream place is about a half hour walk,at least at the speed he's going, and it's uphill all the way back.  Frankly I think I can do without the ice cream anyway.  I feel like a turkey being fattened up for thanksgiving dinner.   I may not bring any of my clothes home, because I can't get into any of them anymore.