First ever lobster roll (September 25, 2021)

I had my first ever lobster roll at a highly-recommended food truck that supposedly offers the best lobster roll in Portland. The lobster was cold and rubbery.  Ugh! I think a hot lobster roll would be better.  Is there such a thing?

Gilbert's Chowder House on the harbor, I think.  Seafood, seafood, seafood!

Portland's harbor is the second-largest tonnage seaport in New England as well as one of the largest oil ports on the East Coast (the second-largest prior to 2016). The port had nine terminals and two passenger facilities. About 100 cruise ships docked in Portland in 2019.

Beautiful end to a beautiful day.  Sunset over Portland from Fort Sumner Park in the Old Port part of town.  The fort, built in the 1790s, is no longer there. The main feature is the Fort Sumner Steps, which cross over the summit of Munjoy Hill. 
 

Portland Head Lighthouse (September 25, 2021)

Tumultuous Casco Bay from the Portland Head Lighthouse.

Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station sits on a head of land at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor, which is within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. Completed in 1791, it is the oldest lighthouse in Maine.

On Christmas Eve in 1886, the Annie C. Maguire ran aground on the rocky shoreline of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, just below the iconic Portland Head Light. The ever present tribute on those very rocks has been painted and repainted for135 years, the original letters inscribed there by the son of the lighthouse keeper whose family helped rescue the ship’s passengers and crew.

Beautiful setting for a wedding.

We visited with Scottish artist Kris Kristiansen, who with his Maine wife Marilyn ran an art store in Scotland for 25 years.  They have since settled in Marilyn's family home in Cape Elizabeth.  He sells his art in the lighthouse parking lot.
 

This could be the very spot where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was inspired to compose his poem "The Lighthouse." "Sail on.  Sail on ye stately ships; And with your floating bridge the ocean span...."

Portland, Maine, and Willard Beach at high tide (September 25, 2021)

Walking back to our HomeAway after the lobster cage pulling.  We passed a cemetery with graves dating back to the Revolutionary War.

We returned to Willard Beach at high tide.  Sure enough, the tide pools were covered and the water was up about 9 feet.

I thought the water would rise to the bottom of the steps.  Hard to gauge 9 feet compared to low tide.

Cheryl on the same stairs at low tide.  See how many more rocks are above water?

 

Pulling lobster traps on Casco Bay, Portland, Maine (September 25, 2021)

When we were out on the water, we passed Fort Gorges, a former United States military fort built on Hog Island Ledge in Casco Bay. Built from 1858 to 1864, no battles were fought there and no troops were stationed there. Advancing military technology, including iron clad ships and long range guns, made the fort obsolete before it could be used.

On the tourist version of a lobster boat, in a protective apron against sea water and what???

We pulled up a trap with lobsters in it.  Captain Brian showed us how to measure a lobster to determine if it's of legal size to keep. The minimum legal size lobster must measure at least 3¼” from the eye socket to the back of the carapace where the tail joins the body. The measure was increased twice in the last ten years, and allows more females to extrude eggs and reproduce before reaching legal size.

Any lobster with a greater than 5” carapace must be returned to the sea. This law exists to protect the “breeders”. Larger lobsters are capable of reproducing greater and healthier numbers of offspring and Maine lobster harvesters feel very strongly about protecting this brood stock.

Also, females carrying eggs must be returned to the sea. After the tail has been marked with a v-notch in the right flipper next to the middle flipper. This ensures that the viably reproductive female will continue to produce young lobsters until she outgrows the notch in her tail, which may take up to two molting (shedding) cycles or approximately two years. The practice of notching and returning females provides a 10-30% return to the brood stock, a significant contribution to protect the resource.

These two Maine laws (maximum size and notching females) in effect since the 1930s have been recently adopted in federal waters. Lobster harvesters may voluntarily re-notch females to provide the resource with an ongoing brood stock.

We mostly caught crabs.

Cut up fish used as bait in the traps are thrown out and replaced with new bait.  Guess who's interested in the old bait?

Cheryl is about to throw back a lobster that is too small to keep.  

We boated past the Spring Point Ledge lighthouse.  Before the lighthouse was built in the 1890s, numerous ships ran aground on Spring Point Ledge, which extends into the main shipping channel into Portland Harbor. In 1832, the lime coaster Nancy hit the reef. Water and lime make a volatile mixture, and the seawater entering the hold combined with the lime to start a fire that was difficult to extinguish. The inhabitants of Portland helplessly watched as the ship burned to the waterline.

After this spectacular disaster, an outraged public demanded a warning system on the reef, but government officials insisted that a light on the planned breakwater at Portland, over a mile away, would be sufficient for the entire harbor. Finally, a huge spar buoy was anchored at the edge of the main channel where the reef began, but it did little good at night or in times of fog, and the shipwrecks continued.

The wreck of the newly commissioned 393-ton bark Harriet S. Jackson proved to be the final straw. During a fierce storm, which caused damage all along the New England coast in 1876, the ship ran hard aground on Spring Point Ledge in the middle of the night. The crew hung on until dawn, when they were astonished to find that they were so close to the beach at Fort Preble that they laid down a plank and simply walked ashore.

Eventually a 900-foot breakwater was built out to the lighthouse.  Thousands of visitors from all over the world walk out to the lighthouse every year.

 

Casco Bay, Portland, Maine (September 25, 2021)

The Old Settlers Cemetery marks the location of the first settlement established in what is now South Portland, Maine, in 1658. The settlement was abandoned 20 years later due to King Philip’s war, which lasted from 1675-1678. The land was destroyed and deserted until nine families attempted to resettle another 20 years after. In 1703, eight of the family members were captured by local Native Americans and the remaining 25 were killed. where 25 of their people were killed. The next wave of European settlement began in 1716.  Eighteen headstone remain.

 

I wondered how people get out to their boats  Swim?  Cheryl, who used to live on Cape Cod, explained that the dinghies are available for anyone to use to row out to their boat.  You tie the dinghy behind your boat and return it later, when you need to row back to shore. But I saw a lot of motorized boats without dinghies tied behind them, and saw dinghies anchored in the bay.  Maybe you "park" next to your boat?  What if none are still parked there when you return?  I'm probably making life too complicated. 

Low tide v. high tide (September 25, 2021)

Cheryl and I visited Willard Beach in South Portland at low tide in hopes of finding tidal pools.  High and low tides refer to the regular rise and fall of the ocean's waters. High tide is when water covers much of the shore after rising to its highest level. Low tide is when the water retreats to its lowest level, moving away from the shore.

We were in luck! Tidal pools are pools of salt water left by an ebbing tide.  They'll be completely under water again at high tide.  

Toes in the cold Atlantic.  Dogs are allowed on the beach from 7-9 a.m. and 7-9 p.m., at low tide.

Sometimes you see starfish, green crabs, and sea urchins in Maine tide pools.  We only saw barnacles. They will often open their shells and sweep their legs through the current, ushering plankton (tiny, floating organisms) into their mouth.  But we only saw them closed up.

Low tide at Willard beach was at between 1-2 feet.  See the rocks behind Cheryl?

High tide, 6 hours later, at between 9-10 feet.  The tide covers rocks that were visible earlier.  During high tide, the ocean’s waters creep up the shore, deepening the water. This happens as a body of water gets closer to one of the two bulges created by the moon’s gravitational force.

 

Maine writers (September 24, 2021)

 When Cheryl and I travel, we always stop by local bookstores so she can ask if they'd like to carry her books.  Her latest, Sand People, takes place in Galveston.  Because many people visit Maine for its beaches, and there are islands in the bay, the owner (background) gave her is card and asked her to send him the books.  Cheryl is now a Maine writer!  You've probably read Stephen King, the most famous Maine writer...so far. 

Ferry to Peaks Island (September 24, 2021)

The harbor was a little over a mile from our HomeAway, a refreshing walk.

Sailing ships next to the Peaks Island ferry

Just 3 miles from downtown Portland, the 763-acre Peaks Island has about 900 year-round residents and is mostly a commuter island.  Love the orange door and accents.

Impressive that this potted fig tree is laden with fruit.

Peaks Island garden

 Waiting to board the ferry back to Portland.

The other Portland (September 23-27, 2021)

Cheryl and I visited Portland, Maine, for our annual girl trip.  September 23 ended up being a longer travel day than we'd planned. American Airlines eventually came through to get us there.  After letting us know at 4:30 a.m. via text that our 8:10 a.m. flight was a "go," Cheryl Ubered to our house.  By 5:15 a.m. American sent us a text saying our flight was cancelled and we'd been re-booked on a 1:30 p.m. flight, with a 4-hour layover in Charlotte, NC.  There weren't may other options on such short notice so we took Cheryl home until the new flight time.  Cheryl and I rolled with it in Charlotte, enjoying dinner and finally getting to Portland at around 11 p.m. instead of 3 p.m.  Our HomeAway was an easy walk to Casco Bay.  Such a beautiful way to start the first real day of our trip!

Loaded apple tree at Casco Bay

Thriving community garden on Casco Bay

 

Long overdue home improvement projects (August 2021 until at least August 2022)

Tom bought the House of Light and Joy in 1984.  One elm's had branches stretching diagonally from the back corner of the lot to the front corner.  The driveway was gravel.  Shel Silverstein must have been inspired by a sidewalk like ours for "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

By September, we'd already painted the A-frame over the porch, the porch itself, and the garden edges. Still a zillion projects to do!

Tom's on it!

 

September started with a "meow" (September 6, 2021)

Fox and I picked up Rainbow and her 5-day-old kittens from Austin Pets Alive on September 6.  Fox plans to keep one.  How to choose?

Sunkist, the only female, fits nicely in Fox's hand.

They haven't opened their eyes yet.  They can barely toddle around on the island.

On September 11, at 10 days old, Sunkist is a good napper.
 

Fossil Falls (August 31, 2021)

Ramzi recommended that we stop at Fossil Falls on our way to LA and we're glad we did. The spectacular lava flow was sculpted by rushing water and wind late in the Ice Ages--a "fossil" of nature's handiwork. 

Bands of Native Americans lived here as early as 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, camping along the now dry river. They harvested resources and hunted the large animals which lived there at the time. By 6000 BCE, however, these early inhabitants were forced by increasingly arid conditions to partially abandon the region. As conditions began to switch back to a relatively moderate climate at around 4000 BCE, Native Americans started to return to the area. They practiced a new culture, which emphasized using the resources available to them in the desert. The way of life that these people practiced survived until the 19th century, when the native tribe called the Little Lake Shoshone first made contact with Europeans.

Fossil Falls is off US 395 on a mile-long washboard dirt road.

The otherworldly site was formed by the interaction of rushing water from the Owens River (which in wetter prehistoric times flowed at a much higher rate) with lava that poured from nearby volcanoes as recently as 20,000 years ago. 

Rock climbers left caribiners behind.

Looking down 60-70 feet into the chasm.

The car keys are in Tom's pocket.  I told him that if he fell, I'd have to walk back at least a mile and hitchhike for help as there was no phone service. Whoever is least likely to fall should always have the keys!  Or a satellite phone.

The red cinder cone behind me is called Red Hill. A cinder cone is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or cinder that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions or lava fountains from a single, typically cylindrical vent.