Portland Discovery Trolley Tour

Website: Portland Discovery Trolley Tour

This is the way to do it! Get to explore Portland and find out all kinds of history by starting out on the Trolley tour. We had a Portland native, retired fireman as our guide. We did get extra information about how many areas burned down. He also pointed out how many old schools were turned into retirement apartments and how the headlines often read "Woman Dies in her 5th grade classroom." He showed us his high school where he will probably die. He also liked to drive past the real high dollar houses and he knew how much they were worth and how much they sold for. Throw in some Stephen King stories and famous people. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a Portland native and has his statue in one square. Another statue tribute is to John Ford (movie director and winners of many oscars) who grew up in Portland.

Lobster Company

Website: Portland Lobster Company

The tour company recommended eating lunch at the Lobster Company, and when you are there you can see why -- it's on the same pier as the tour company! With all the various tours leaving from that port, the Lobster Company is very busy! Stand in line. Place your order. Get a plastic lobster that lights up when your order is ready, and try to find a place to sit. All seating is outside and some tables covered by a tent.

Spoiler: the six of us were not that impressed with the lobster roll that everyone bragged about. Po'boy bun with mayo and cold lobster chunks. Yep. Ron wanted some Tony's to spice it up. Dana just wanted it to be hot and dipped in melted butter before hitting the bun. We concluded we were all more used to more seasoning. Perhaps if you want to eat cold lobster, just skip the bun and the mayo!

Portland Discovery Harbor Tour

Website: Portland Discovery Harbor Tour

We had the most awesome day for our Harbor tour. All their harbor tours end around October 27th. In fact, we learned that a lot of things close down after Columbus Day. That day is very important in Portland because life changes. The cruise ships don't arrive. Few tourists. They basically go into "hold on until Spring mode."

The Harbor tour was quite enlighting! You've learned the description "he's an islander" and you are supposed to gasp. Well rightly so, Maine has more than 4,000 islands off coast. This harbor tour took us past many, and several are privately owned. Many islands are evacuated during winter because there will be no electricity supplied after Columbus Day. Some of the private islands have huge solar panels. The rich folks that leave, usually have a caretaker left behind, and that would be a great description of an 'islander'. Someone that can make it through the winter without much.

Residence Inn in North Conway

Website: Residence Inn in North Conway

After our harbor tour, we packed it up and left for North Conway, New Hampshire(about 2 hrs).

Black Cap Grille

Website: Black Cap Grille

We all enjoyed our first dinner in North Conway at the Black Cap Grille. We sat at the table at the back wall.