Maine Days 2 & 3

[olivermoss]

Lobster traps at the harbor. These traps didn't move the entire time ... I wonder if they are just left there for people to take that classic Maine shot of sea gulls on lobster traps?

On day 2 I pretty much just walked the city. I went downtown and just walked for a few miles. Then I walked a path up the coast for ... maybe a mile and a half?

I didn't wind up taking a lot of pictures on my trip, which is weird for me. I brought my OMD and 2 lenses. But I guess I just wasn't catching a lot that suits the range of things I shoot. The one pic I kinda wanted of downtown Portland would have meant standing in the middle of the street and no.

Anyway, on the second day I went right to the Maine Narrow Gauge Railway and Museum. They have restored vintage cars from the old narrow gauge railways. I don't know much about narrow gauge, except that it's what existed before Pullman and the the standardization of rail to accommodate Pullman cars.

This is pre-Pullman rail travel:



I got a ticket for the first class cabin. #luxlife Some of the other cars were more trolley-like. You can see the regular coach in the background of the shot.

They run it along some track along the coast, and then back. First class tickets come with a free soda, so I had a train, a breeze, a Diet Coke and my camera. Pretty much a perfect start to a day.

Then, I just sat at the harbor and watched the water for a few hours ... because there was no ground transportation. I could not get to the Cryptozoology place.

I was sitting in the shade, but dumbass me forgot that water reflects the UV and I got a LOT of sun. I mean ... I was only raised on the New England coast maybe I should like remember the basics of being next to an ocean. Anyway, no taxis no lyfts no ubers. Just ... nada.

Then I was finally able to get a lyft and went to the area with the museum.



The place was small, and sort of cute. Whoever curated that collection and runs the place obviously loves the stuff. They had a lot of random action figures and merch from shows like Harry and the Hendersons, they had plaster casts of bigfoot foot prints. They had a large collection of art prints of cryptids all by the same artist and they were really cool, and they even had the ancient computer some cryptozoologist write their books on. But the people on site were not into it and didn't care that the bathroom door wasn't locking. They thought it was funny. They also blocked access to half the gift shop. I asked twice to just look at the T-shirts for a second, but they were too wrapped up in chatting with each other. So, I left.

Afterwards I just walked the area because hey, I'd managed to get all the way out there. Then I went back to the hotel.

For that night, I had a plan. I took a shower, grabbed my writing stuff and headed out to an Applebees. It was hard to sit and write in the room but writing at a booth at Applebees with a cocktail was going to be fun. I have multiple food problems and for 15 years I've relied on them to feed me safely when I am out and about ... so of course it turned out they've 100% ditched their allergy menu. I walked out and then had to turn around and walk back.

Between that, all the staffing problems making the downtown restaurants have 3 hour waits and not being able to have a meal at the airport I am weirdly craving just having a nice, hot sit down meal somewhere. Dinner was a can of soup in my hotel room and I did more reading.

I need to redo my list of safe places to eat. Most of them are gone or have stopped.

Anyway, yeah, trip was super a mixed bag.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

That is a delightfully classic Maine shot.

The rail car looks awesome! I love that color scheme. There's a section of an old abandoned narrow gauge track in one of the county parks around here, but I always forget which one.

It's a shame the Cryptozoology place had such lousy staff on-site. I find stuff like that really fun, but that sounds frustrating.

Also extremely frustrating that a place that had an allergy menu would get rid of it. :/

[olivermoss]

Like I said, a very mixed bag. I feel betrayed by Applebees. I get made fun of for being so fond of them, and then they do this! I figure it's stripped down operations for Covid. Maybe it'll come back. It looks like I could actually eat at a Chilis?

The little rail trip was a lot of fun. The cars were in amazing shape.