Last day - September 19, 2015

Had a lovely hot breakfast at the Inn before heading off for Bangor, ME.  Uneventful drive on Highway 9 through Maine.  I had overheard someone mentioning the "Red Dog" pub in Bangor as having good lobster roll, so we decided to go there for lunch.  First we checked into our hotel for the night, the Four Points by Sheraton at the Bangor airport.  Our room was ready so we dropped our bags and headed off for lunch.  Turns out it isn't the Red Dog, but the Sea Dog, as we discovered when we did a GPS search for it.  Anyway, it's a big place right on the Penobscot River.  We ate at the bar since there was to be a 25 minute wait.  There were lots of empty tables, but perhaps they didn't have the staff to cover them.  I had my final usual lunch of clam chowder and lobster roll.  Both were good, but not the best of the trip.  Michael had a caesar salad.  I asked for a 12 oz beer but the bartender fortgot and gave me a pint.  We laughed about it, but in the end he didn't charge me for it, which was very nice.

After a little walk down the river, we headed off to return the car since they were open until 3:00 pm and we didn't really need to keep it anymore.  Found the Enterprise office and they gave us a ride back to our hotel at the airport.  There we spent a quiet few hours catching up on the computer, napping (Michael) and watching TV.  After an unremarkable dinner in the hotel restaurant, off to bed.
Overall we had a delightful trip.  It was a little disappointing that the fall colors weren't out yet, but we still saw some beautiful country and ate some great food.

Oh Canada - September 18, 2015

Checked out of the Fort Knox Park Inn (Fort Knox is across the river and apparently took 25 years to build before they gave up and left it.  Now it's a park, but not very interesting from where we stood) and had breakfast at the Rise and Shine Diner which was pretty good.  Seemed to be a locals spot.

Then off on Highway 1 again, with a few diversions to get closer to the coast.  Stopped for lunch at Lubec, Maine at a pub called Cohills.  I didn't see lobster on the menu, so I had a clam chowder and a salad with cranberry, walnuts and feta cheese.  Michael had a smoked fish sampler appetizer which he reported was good.  We could have crossed a bridge into Canada at that point, but then would have had a devil of a time getting north to our next destination of St. Andrew's, New Brunswick, Canada.  There are lots of islands in that area and the ferry service is spotty that time of year.  So we had to backtrack a little (misread the map earlier) to get back to Highway 1 and make our way up to the border town of Calais (pronounced Calis by the locals), Maine to cross into St. Stephen's Canada.  Then it was a drive south to St. Andrew's and our hotel, Rossmount Inn.  This was a beautiful mansion converted to a hotel and our room was large and beautiful.  The only negative was a tiny bathroom.  I believe I could have sat on the toilet, brushed my teeth in the sink and washed my feet in the bathtub, all at the same time if I'd wanted to.  We drove into town and walked around a bit and had an ice cream.  Since we didn't have any Canadian dollars, we paid the $5.40 on a credit card.

Back at the inn we had dinner reservations at 7:00 pm.  The dinner there was one of the best I've ever had.  We shared the salmon trio appetizer and then I had the tuna and Michael had the pork with risotto.  For dessert I had the panne cotta.  I told Michael that if I could order my last meal, that would be it.

Fitbit registered 4,309 steps.

More coast of Maine - Bucksport, ME September 17, 2015

Had a basic breakfast of bagel and cream cheese at the motel, then had to wait for our clothes to dry.  The dryer was in use the night before and we couldn't get ours done before it closed at 9:00 pm.  The clerk kindly opened it for me around 8:30 rather than make me wait until the scheduled opening at 9:00 am.  So after 45 minutes or so we were on our way.  More coast driving, which often times isn't even coast driving since the forest is so thick you often don't even know that water is there.  We got to the motel in Bucksport, the Fort Knox park Inn, early and our room was ready so we dropped our bags then went across the street to one of only 2 restaurants in town called McLeod's.  Michael had an excellent caesar salad and I had a very good hamburger.  I felt a little "done" with lobster rolls for the day.  Then off to Bar Harbor, about an hour away.  We didn't even stop to get out - Michael was more interested in driving the area since we'd been here on a cruise before.  So more driving until about 5:30.  We got gas somewhere along the line for about $2.30 a gallon.  The Focus gets about 32 mpg, so it's very light on the fuel requirement.  Since we'd eaten a late lunch, we walked around town for a little bit although there really isn't much to see.

Since lunch was so good, and there aren't many choices in this tiny town, we returned to McLeod's for dinner.  I had a good chicken picatta, Michael had chicken curry soup and a caesar salad.  Dessert was an excellent warm lemon souffle, which was sort of like a heavy lemon flavored meringe.  Delicious.

Back across the street to our motel, which was a step up from the one last night, but definitely not worth the $150 price tag.  At least we had 2 double beds.

Fitbit registered 7,245 steps

Can we get there from here? - Maine, September 16, 2015

For breakfast we had the yogurt and fruit parfait things we bought last night.  It was the thickest yogurt I've ever had - almost like cream cheese.  Then downstairs to pick up our Enterprise rental again, this time a Ford Focus which was pretty basic.  We didn't bother to connect a phone to blutooth, but just used our GPS on the phone to find our way out of Boston and onto Highway 1 which goes up the coast.  Apparently we weren't paying attention and we actually got into New Hampshire after Salisbury, MA and before Seabrook, NH.  We didn't see a Welcome to New Hampshire sign and didn't realize where we were until Portsmouth, by which time we were almost to Maine.  But since there's only 18 miles of coast in NH, I guess we can be forgiven.  We wandered onto Highway 1A right on the water and saw some of the most beautiful homes - as beautiful as in Newport, but probably not nearly as expensive.

We had lunch at Mike's Clam Shack in Wells, Maine.  I had a good clam chowder and a so-so lobster roll.  Not terribly impressed.  Michael had a caesar salad and a delicious Italian lemon cream cake.

That night was at the Knights Inn in Brunswick, a completely forgettable motel.  The room was tiny with a double bed (my fault, I decided not to pay extra for 2 doubles).  The only good thing was the laundry facility that we made use of.   Dinner was pretty good pizza at Amato's, a small chain in the area.  Watched the CNN Republican debates and was impressed by Carly Fiarina.

Fitbit registered only 3,296 steps.

Give my regards to Boston - September 15, 2015

Today was back to Flour for breakfast - same order, same guy who took the order and remembered us.  Then we decided to walk a little more of the Freedom Trail.  We'd actually done lots of it already,  so today was just a leisurely walk and stopping at churches and cemetaries we missed on our previous walk.  The Boston Library is a particularly beautiful building.  We had a nice lunch from a Japanese place in Quincy Market.  About this time, I decided that my poor feet and back were desparately in need of a massage.  I checked and fortunately there is a Massage Envy close to the Westin and they had an opening at 2:00 pm.   Dorise did a fabulous job.  Then a relaxing afternoon in the room until we went to Fabo de Chao, which is a Brazilian steakhouse, also known as a churrascaria.  We ate at one in Rio de Janeiro.  While we thought the meats were more interesting in Rio, the salads were much better here both in variety and quality.  The service was excellent.

Tomorrow we pick up the Enterprise rental car here in the hotel and off to Maine.

Fitbit registered 13,807.

Duck, Duck, Go - September 14, 2015

This morning, on the recommendation of the concierge, we went to a local bakery/coffee place called Flour for breakfast.  I ordered a breakfast sandwich and we each had a delicious French roast coffee.  this was a jumping spot with lots of young people stopping for a pastry and coffee.  I overheard a woman interviewing someone for a nanny position.  I observed that everyone seems to carry either a backpack, a cup of something, headphones, or a telephone - sometimes 3 or 4 of those things at once.

Well, we didn't actually do a Duck Boat tour, but we did a Hop On - Hop Off bus tour today.  It included a tour of the Charles River, which was interesting, and a Seaport Loop, which wasn't.  For lunch we went to the No Name Restaurant, which was recommended by neighbor Al Stewart.  It was mid afternoon so we split a lobster roll (!) which was probably my least favorite so far of the trip.  We also had a beer sampler at Harpoon Brewery - both of these establishments were on the Seaport Loop run.  Then back to the regular tour bus route.  On our way back to the hotel we hit a gust of wind and Michael's Australian hat blew off and out the window, which was less than a window and more like just the open part of the bus.  Unfortunately, it was gone, but we did save his new sunglasses - the kind that fit over his regular glasses.  Not the most fashionable, but they get the job done.  So now he's lost 2 things on this trip.  I told him he better keep a close eye on his wallet.

Neither of us were very hungry for dinner so I just bought a salad from the take out store in the hotel.

Fitbit registered 10,057 steps.

Off to Boston - September 13, 2015

Check-out was at 11:00 and at first we thought we'd wait until then since our train from  Providence to Boston wasn't until 1:30 pm.  But then we decided to take a longer route back to Providence, so we left around 10:30.  We took a minor highway through Bristol, and it still only took about an hour.  Thank goodness for the GPS on our phone since the maps we had weren't very detailed, but we found our way back to the Enterprise rental place with no problems.  We walked up to the train station and decided to take the earlier train since we had plenty of time.  It costs us a little more to change the ticket, but it seemed better than hanging around the station for an extra hour.  The trip took about 45 minutes.

The Westin Copley Plaza is only a couple of blocks from the train station so it was an easy walk.  We were upgraded to a River View room and it was ready, so we dropped our bags and took off to explore the area.  Again, lots of walking.  Michael wanted to have dinner at Durgin Park restaurant where he ate probably 40 years ago and remembered having a great steak.  So after a couple hours of walking, we got there at about 4:30.  They were open, we were hungry and thirsty so in we went.  It was almost empty, but filled up before we left.  We had a cup of clam chowder (very good) and a caesar salad (also good), then shared a 16 oz piece of prime rib.  We were a little disappointed - not much flavor, but it was tender and the baked potato, carrots and squash were very good.  We split a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.  Then a little bit more walking around before catching an Uber car back to the hotel.

Watched a coupld of episodes of NCIS then off to dreamland.

Fitbit registered 13,919 steps.