Portland, Maine - Day 2

 Day Two in Portland was an absolutely gorgeous day - beautiful blue skies and sunshine and perfect temperatures! 

And it started off with our first of two visits to HOLY DONUT!  These donuts are insane - they are made of potatoes and are huge!

They have incredible flavors such as dark chocolate sea salt, blueberry lemon, maple bacon, sweet potato coffee cake, and honey lavender! YUM!

First real stop of the day though - the Portland Head Lighthouse and Fort Williams Park!  I mean really.  Look at this. This is so quintessential MAINE!

I mean, is this gorgeous or what? And check out Ram Island Ledge lighthouse in the distance, on the right.  That one was opened in 1883 but it's closed to the public (a little harder to get to!)

You know I like a good superlative!  Built in 1791, the Portland Head Light is the oldest lighthouse in Maine! (I'm mad this picture is blurry!)

Todd and the kids went out on the quartzite and phyllite rocks near the Lighthouse.  This is allowed because there is a little open gate there for people to go out.  I only had sandals on, so I stayed behind!

I don't know what was going on with Todd's phone to make all of his pictures so blurry.  Down here by the water, the waves came crashing in (but no one got wet!)

I didn't know they took this picture until I was doing this write up and I laughed SO hard at this!

A tall lighthouse with a tall lighthouse.  The Portland Head Light was actually 20 feet shorter than this until it was raised during the Civil War.

My fam, sitting on the rocky shores of Casco Bay, watching the ships roll in.

The sun was bright today!

Maine's shoreline is so beautiful. I can't get enough of it. We really need to get up to Acadia!

The Annie C. Maguire shipwrecked right here on Christmas Eve 1886, despite clear conditions.  Thankfully, everyone lived!

One of my favorite facts about the Portland Head Light is that it was dedicated in 1791 by the Marquis de Lafayette! (Human for scale.)

I love this little bit about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  No matter where you go in New England, Longfellow seems to follow you.  

Nerd alert:  I also love benchmarks.  I have to admit - I've seen a lot of National Geodetic Survey benchmarks, but never a National Ocean Survey benchmark!

Todd is explaining to Natalie about the waves, probably.

Me and my girl, who is definitely taller than me, but her shoes have a bit of elevation to them. WHY ARE ALL OF TODD'S PICTURES BLURRY?  Oh well, I like this picture anyway.

I wonder aloud how climate change will affect this beautiful national landmark.

This one was taken from a bit farther out from the lighthouse, as we headed up toward the Battery Hobart.

Look! Natalie is touching the top of the Portland Head Light!

Look!  Grant is touching the top of the Portland Head Light!

After we walked down to the Battery Hobart (which we actually missed because we were looking for bathrooms), we all walked up to the Battery Blair where we learned that "In the largest class of gun batteries available in the nation’s arsenal, the reinforced-concrete Battery Blair was mounted with two Breechloading Rifles on Disappearing Carriage Mounts, each firing a 12-inch diameter, 1070-pound shell up to eight miles."  It was built in 1903 - only the guns themselves were out of date by the time World War I rolled around.

The Fort Williams Park website says, " On the day after Pearl Harbor, Battery Blair was practice fired, and the resulting concussion blew out the ends of wooden garages in the field in front of the battery. Obsolete, the battery was never fired again. Filled in after acquisition by the town, the half-excavated battery is now the Battery Blair Memorial."  Oh boy.

That didn't last long.  Well, at least it makes for an interesting story - and it provides nice views of Casco Bay!

After our trip to Fort Williams Park and the Portland Head Light, we went back into the city to go on an afternoon harbor cruise.  Natalie and Grant found a piece of the Berlin wall (which they found strange, having lived in Germany for so long) down by the harbor.

We found this really cool, quiet spot between Portland Pier and Custom House Wharf while we waited a bit for our harbor cruise.  This side is the Custom House Wharf side, and is the location of the Harbor Fish Market.

She might actually be a mermaid???

Not gonna lie, this might have been my FAVORITE find in all of Portland!  Unfortunately, due to some graffiti and obvious desecration of the marks (see the two high and low marks that would be on the wooden pole on the bottom right, I think?), there isn't much left here.  People suck.

We finally boarded the harbor cruise and one of the first things we passed was Bug Light in South Portland.  It's actually the "Portland Breakwater Lighthouse" but it's affectionately known as Bug Light due to it's small size.

The Bug Light area was formerly a World War II shipyard, but is now home to a bunch of ugly oil tanks.

We even cruised down to see the Portland Head Light from another view! 

Ahhh, she's pretty from all angles!

The cruise continued on down around the islands, including around Great Diamond Island where an eagle's nest was situated among the tree tops.

Our guide said to look closely near the top of the tree in the middle - and there it was!  But I guess my quest to see an eagle in the wild will have to wait until another day because no one was home.

However, as we came back toward the city, we passed Halfway Rock and saw this seal swimming around! I think this was the high point of the boat ride for Grant and I!

We got a nice view of Fort Gorges on the way back, which was modeled after Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Our guide pointed out that it has a bunch of greenery and shrub growing on the roof that was put there to protect the gunpowder magazines from attacks.  Unfortunately, the fort was actually never used since like many other forts around here, the artillery that it was built for was outdated before they could finish the fort.  It was a storage facility during the World Wars though.

It was windy as we pulled back into port and Grant had fun fighting the wind on the upper deck.

Alas, the boat ride was over and it was time to try to find an early dinner (cause the Celtics were on!)  I think Wharf Street is one of the prettiest streets in all of Portland.

We stopped at the Independent Ice Co for dinner.  Which, contrary to popular belief, is NOT an ice cream shop!

It's actually a WHISK(E)Y AND BOURBON BAR and restaurant!  Ah. That's why I bookmarked it in Google! Todd ordered the smoked rye Manhattan and it literally came with smoke! He was very amused.

Todd got the lobster roll...

...while I got the bone-in pork chop with risotto and apple chutney! It was awesome!

Walking back to the car after a fun-filled day, we passed this vine covered building that I liked on Union Street.

We went back to the hotel to watch the Celtics WIN to take them to the NBA FINALS against Golden State which made our second round of Holy Donut THAT MUCH SWEETER.

Of course, in true Bailey luck fashion, there was big accident on 95 South near York that closed the highway down for about a half hour.  But we didn't let that ruin our trip!

Until next time, Portland (Maine!)

Portland, Maine - Day 1

We went on an adventure to Portland, Maine for Memorial Day weekend!  You would think that because it was only a couple of hours from Boston, we might have already been here before, but - nope!  So we took a few days to explore this city that was settled in 1632 and is the largest city in Maine!

We decided to go up on Friday night to have a FULL weekend experience.  When I found out the Sea Dogs were playing and that there would be a fireworks display after the game, I had to get tickets!  Of course.  That says "Game Tonight: 6 pm."  WHO THE HECK HAS GAMES AT 6 PM??? Particularly on nights where there will be fireworks after the game, which will inevitably end around 8:30 pm because of the new pitch count rule, and that time is not even dark enough for fireworks!  This is the second game this year that we have gone to that started at 6 on a weeknight - I don't know how working people can make it to the game on time.

I digress.  The tickets I bought were on top of the right field wall, and with it, you get unlimited food for 1 hour before the game until 1 hour after the first pitch.  Thanks to traffic on 495, we arrived at the game around 6:50, only to race to the picnic area and find that they had indeed NOT closed yet.  There were hot dogs, hamburgers, beans, coleslaw and ice cream sandwiches!

The Bailey's had a good dinner at Hadlock Field!

But we didn't get seconds.  Because this place closed a hot minute after we got our food. Well, at least we got something and the high price of the tickets (ha ha- $33) didn't go to waste!

After we ate, Natalie and I had to go to the bathroom so we ran back into the tunnel only to spot a Sea Dogs Wall of Fame!  Remember when she was little and she could name ALL of the Red Sox players by position even before Grant was born!? I can still remember the cute little way she said, "Papelbon!"

In about the 4th inning, we finally made it to our seats! Aren't these seats cool?

One of the COOLEST traditions at Hadlock Field is when the lighthouse comes up from behind the center field wall with some little fireworks anytime a Sea Dog hits a home run! Whoo hoo!  I'm so excited we got to see this - Hudson Potts hit a solo shot!

I love a good evening at the ball park!

The people behind us arrived late too, and when they sat down, they discovered a baseball rolling around at their feet - so they tossed it down to Natalie!  We figured it was probably a ball was hit up here during batting practice.

 I couldn't get in my own selfie because my arms aren't long enough so - peace, fam!

In the end, the Portland Sea Dogs lost to the Somerset (NJ) Patriots 3-2.  But the kids got a wave from one of the players!

After the game, we got to see a really cool fireworks display which the Sea Dogs put on to celebrate the unofficial start of summer.

So beautiful!

After the game we stopped for a quick pic at the Hadlock Field family sculpture.

We wanted to hit up Holy Donut in the morning, but we just didn't have time because we woke up too late (naturally) and had tickets to the Victoria Mansion that we couldn't be late for.  So we swung by Dunks and grabbed some donuts and breakfast sandwiches!  The woman that took our order was hilarious- she grabbed two plain frosted donuts but Grant had asked for two chocolate frosted and she just gave him all four - and he ate them ALL!

Hello there, Portland architecture! Swoon!

After breakfast, we went to the Victoria Mansion, which is may be as close as we can get to a European-like structure here in the States.

The Victoria Mansion is also known as the Morse-Libby Mansion because the original owner and builder was Ruggles Sylvester Morse and his wife Olive. This brownstone was built in the late 1850s and was completed in the Italianate style around 1860.  The home was built in this location due to it's proximity to the first water and sewer lines in Portland.

The arched front door was one of the first of its kind in a single family home (as in - not at a hotel, which the Morse family owned many.) Ruggles was a hotelier down in New Orleans - and although he made his fortune down there, he and his wife Olive were originally from Maine and built a summer home to escape the heat of Louisiana.  The Morse family weren't in the home very long when the Civil War broke out, and although some say Morse had divided allegiances, he and his wife moved back to New Orleans during the war.  It was no secret that he owned several slaves so it's widely thought he was a confederate supporter.

If you were visiting the Ruggles family, or eventually the Libby family who bought it from Olive Morse when her husband died in 1893, you would wait in the lobby area for the servants to announce you and for you to be "admitted" into the house.

This was one of the first houses in America that had stained glass too- which was usually reserved for churches or fancy hotels.  Since a hotelier built the house, there were a lot of features in the Victoria Mansion that you would only see in a hotel, such as double sinks.

This flying staircase is named so because there are no visible supports beneath the staircase (except the lowest step.)  

The chandelier above, which is actually a gasolier (gasoline-lit-chandelier), spans two stories.  Up near the top, it appears to be bolted to the walls, but of course that is metal piping that brought gas to the lamps. The 25-foot stained glass ceiling features the state seals of Louisiana and Maine.

I am obsessed with this gasolier. (Side note: I think this was converted to electric over the years but I am not sure and don't remember if our guide said that or if I dreamt it.) Look at the detail on the frosted glass bulbs!  You can see below the chandelier a wall fresco - the wall paintings were done by Giuseppe Guidicini in the trompe l'oeil (or "fool the eye") style, which at first glance tend to look like they're in 3D.

The German Gustave Herter did most of the wood and plaster work on the inside of the Victoria Mansion, and about 90% of the interior remains the same as it did during Ruggles ownership.  That includes a lot of the furniture!  When Olive Morse sold the house to the Libby family, she sold it with all the furnishings in it.  When they eventually left the house in 1929, everything was still largely the same as it was when the Morse's moved in back in 1865.

I thought this was really cool.  Do you see the dark gray rectangle on the right side of this painting?  This is what the room looked like before it was restored.

I want a whole house that looks like this.

The flying staircase leads to the second floor, which we were also able to tour.  However, it does not lead to the third floor, which is current not open to tourists. There is another staircase on the second floor (kind of hidden) that would take you to the third floor.

I liked the story of the thresholds in the entrance to every room.  If they were white, like this one, then anyone was allowed in the room - like this dining room, for example. If they were dark brown, then you had to request entrance to the room!

The dining room is currently under renovation, but the ceiling is still really impressive.

We were told to take a closer look at the "woodwork" here above the mirror.  It's not really wood!  In fact, most of the "wood" inlay was NOT actually wood!  It was just plaster work painted and designed to look like wood!  You can see this in a few places where the paint has peeled away, exposing the white plaster beneath it. Plaster was always cheaper than wood, so this was a money saving technique.

I totally want these glass lamp coverings.  Look at the etchings on the frosted glass!

The entrance to Morse's office had a brown, wood threshold. Everyone has to ask permission before entering - even his wife!

This was a great story - this is an oil painting of Queen Victoria's and Prince Albert's home, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, painted by the German artist August Becker in 1869, which came from Buckingham Palace as a gift from King George VI (the current Queen's father.)  The curator of the Victoria Mansion Museum wrote a letter to the King, telling the story of how the museum would be named the Victoria Museum after the late Queen.  He was hoping for a small little token or memento that he could include in the house, and was instead sent this beautiful painting!

They sent a letter along with the painting from Buckingham Palace!

This picture was really only included because Todd was standing there with his arms folded, but because the mirror cut off, it looked like our tour guide was holding on to his arm!

Look! A toilet! Inside the house! 

This incredible mansion even had a Turkish smoking room - which was (like a few other things in this house) the first of it's kind in an actual house in America.  Many hotels had Turkish smoking rooms, but definitely not any homes.  This room was my favorite!

This room makes me wanna smoke! (I kid, I kid!)  I didn't get a picture of it, but it even had these beautiful sliding doors to keep the smoke inside.

Grant thought this was a door knocker, but it was a hook so you could tie up the horses for grooming here in the courtyard.

After our tour of the Victoria Mansion was over, we headed back to the car to drive closer to the downtown area. This is on the next block and across the street from the Victoria Mansion and I LOVE IT.

Streets of Portland.

We did not hit up Holy Donut on our first day, but we did walk by the downtown location for a quick photo op with Nat.

Next, we went down to the docks and had a couple of drinks down at the Porthole on the largest deck in Maine!  Superlative, check!

Ah yes.  There it is.

They had nice views down at the Porthole. 

Everyone loves happy hour.  We were going to eat lunch but everyone was still full from our massive breakfast at Dunks.

After some time down by the water, we decided to take a stroll around the city, stopping in Post Office Park to terrorize a dumpster diving seagull.

Portland City Hall was built in 1909 after two others burned down.  It resembles New York's City Hall, which makes sense because the architects were from NYC.

The First Parish in Portland, Unitarian Universalist is just down the street from City Hall and this was the church of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow when he was a child (when he was born in 1807 in Portland, it was a part of Massachusetts.)  This particular building was constructed starting in 1890, but there has been a church here since 1740 and the First Parish was established here way back in 1674!  Despite the building being "relatively" new, it's still the oldest church building in Portland, largely because it was one of the only buildings to survive the great Portland fire of 1866 due to the fact that it was made of granite.  The State Constitution of Maine was drafted in the original church in 1819!

Next we swung around to Monument Square to see Our Lady of Victories Monument (it's big - see my kids there?)  About 1/6th of Portland's population died fighting for the Union in the Civil War, so the city put up a monument in their honor in the late 1800s.

This little mini lighthouse statue on Federal Street was so cute!

Is this the Flatiron Building? Where am I?  New York?  Ah, nope.  This was actually an apothecary from 1859-1964, however.

Wall art on the east side of town, off of Middle Street.

We decided to walk down the Eastern Promenade Trail down toward Fort Allen Park and they all wanted to walk on the train tracks.

The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad actually does short 40 minute coastal tours from here, but there weren't any going when we came by as service didn't begin until July 1.  I think I would like to do this if we ever come back!

The Fore River and some of the islands off of Portland.

Todd, Grant and I went up the stairs to Fort Allen Park where we checked out this cannon from the USS Maine.  There's also some 4.5 inch siege rifles here, along with a bandstand and a 9/11 memorial.

Grant and I walked up to the USS Portland Memorial, where he looked at the mast of the ship and says, "That blue, white and red striped one on the left is the Allied Occupied Germany flag!"  And of course, when I Googled it, he was right.  This heavy cruiser saw a lot of action in the Pacific in WWII, however.  It had been named after the city of Portland, Maine and was one of the most decorated ships in all of WWII with 16 battle stars.

And then, my little flag-loving geography whiz started laughing hysterically because the Russian flag was upside down! (It is?  Who knew!?)  This is the Arctic Campaign memorial which sits right in front of the USS Portland's mast.  It was a gift from the city of Murmansk, Russia to the people of Portland for the over 3,000 men and women who gave their lives on the convoys between the two countries.

Natalie finally joined us up the stairs at Fort Allen Park and I liked the thunderstorm in the distance so I made her take a pic with it.

We knew the storms were coming, so we walked back toward the downtown area and swung into Brickyard Hollow for a happy hour JUST as the rain started.  We love a good bar that has games!

Natalie's latest obsession is Shirley Temple's.  So no, that's not a cranberry and vodka ha ha.  Meanwhile, Grant was getting us started off on another round of Jenga!

This is my game face. Drink in one hand, winning at Jenga with the other.

We went down to J's Oyster for some dinner.  We had to wait a bit, but we got to sit outside under a tent as it rained. It was kind of nice!

Todd and Natalie had lobster rolls!

On the way back to the hotel, we snapped this picture of Grant at the Holy Donut. We got one of Nat in the morning, and one of Grant in the evening.

And after the rain, we saw a really awesome rainbow out over South Portland as we were walking back to our car!  What a nice way to end the day!