The Bailey Planet : Portland, Maine

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!