Day Seven - Beautiful Kennebunkport, Maine

HELLO friends & family:
I woke up in my cozy bed in my good sized baby blue room at The Breakwater Hotel in Kennebunkport, and walked onto my balcony to watch the little fishing boats putt-putt by on their way to find my lobster for dinner. After grumbling with the front desk about the internet not working in my room (the hotel is supposedly wireless), I glumly lugged my laptop down to the dining room and set up shop.

The Breakwater is a wonderful white shingle building, old with a swinging screen door New England-feeling. There are 4 floors with no elevator, but the breakfast is complimentary (however the restaurant - coffee - is not open until 8am), and the staff very nice (even with cranky LA divas).

Today my destination was the town of Kennebunkport so away I went - parking is pretty crazy but I found the one open spot in a lot where the sign said "Paying for Parking is on the Honor System.." I put $2.00 in the little box. There are all kinds of fun shops, ice cream stores, restaurants, and wonderful arts & crafts galleries all over the main drag which is Ocean Avenue. I will confess I found a "must have" glass pumpkin (ONE pumpkin Colleen), and a few this & thats.

There was an unusual store just across the bridge that sells these fantastical wind thing-a-ma-jigs (attached is a photo which will show you what I'm talking about). Bill and I saw the same artist's work
in Sedona, AZ years back, and we thought we should buy one for the backyard, but they are all so beautiful it's impossible to make a decision which to buy (kinda like glass pumpkins). Several months ago we had a pine tree taken out by our pool slide and have been looking for a replacement that won't drop leaves in the pool - I think I have found the perfect solution! Now ---which one? (hmmmm they really do look best clustered in 3's...)

For lunch I stopped into a corner restaurant and ordered up a cup of lobster chowder to start, followed by a lobster roll sandwich, and topped off with a root beer. With re-newed energy I decided to break away from the shopping and take a drive over to the nearby beaches. Unlike ours in LA, these beaches have very wide flat expanses and there are people and dogs everywhere enjoying the day. The water was supposedly unusually warm, but it sure felt freezing COLD to me. A local told me the ocean in Maine is only warm enough to swim in 2 weeks a year, but this year was amazing as it's been warm enough 3 weeks in a row! I took a long walk and took photos of seaweed ... another crafts project in the works.

All over town there are tall colorful street signs (see photo) directing you to this store, or that park. There are also trolleys you can jump on for a tour, and many boats that take you out in the harbor to cruise around looking for whales (which I'm told are plentiful this time of year) and BIG BIG beautiful houses.

Speaking of the later, I decided to take a drive up Ocean Avenue away from town & my hotel to get a look-see at President & Barbara Bush's summer home "Walkers Point". I stopped on the side of the road to take in this beautiful home, compound really as there are maybe 5 or 6 buildings that stretch across this slip of land that juts into the ocean. As I zeroed in with my zoom lense... what do I see - but a black boat trolling behind a motor boat that is pulling up to the dock...I zoom in a bit closer and realize the black boat is secret service detail for the motor boat which has President Bush in it (wearing a red jacket). He hobbled out of his boat, moving slowly and hunched over. He IS 85 or something, right? Anyway, Walkers Point is simply magnificient in every way - the home and it's dramatic location.

Next stop was the Lobster Shack across the road from my hotel, where I indulged in a $22.00 dinner of salad, blueberry cornbread, summer squash, and a 1 1/4 lb. lobster. It was all I could do not to grab a few more chunks of that cornbread for my midnight snack... The menu by the way stated "Lobster is highly nutritious and a dieter's dream - low in fat, calories, and cholesterol...lower than lean ground beef or skinless chicken" Hmmm... maybe I'll have another one tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, on the schedule is a 20 minute drive south to what I am told (by Denni at the office) is the picture-perfect postcard town of Ogunquit. After stopping in a few of the lovely shops, I plan on walking along The Marginal Way, the 1 1/4 mile paved footpath that meanders through the rocky edge of cliffs lining the Bay. I've been so blessed with nice weather - I hope tomorrow continues this trend as I'm charging my camera battery overtime tonight! Bye for now!
Until then...