Road Trip: New England
Day 8: Sunday, May 01, 2022 - Portland, ME, and Kittery, ME
Day's statistics:
Weather: Light rain
Steps: Steve 8,091; Linda 8,298
Drove: 315 miles
Breakfast was a toasted bagel with cream cheese, juice, and coffee. Again.
After the site of next year's Mind Games (MG) was announced -
Columbus, OH - the Mensa Select winners were announced, and the games give-away was complete, we checked out, packed the
car, and headed out to start our way to the next location.
We planned on meeting Samik - one of Pam's friends that we've known for almost 20 years - in Kittery as we passed through on
our way to Concord.
But before getting to Kittery, we passed through Wells. Linda wanted to visit the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge.
But due to the timing, we wanted to have lunch first. So we visited the Maine Diner.
We were told we had an approximately 20 minute wait,
so we visited the gift shop next door, and picked up our Maine shot glass.
Eventually, the meal paging device went off and we headed over to the restaurant to eat.
Linda had the crab cakes with cole slaw.
I had the "Eddie Andelman", homemade mac & cheese with a 1/4 pound frank, with cornbread.
Mr. Andelman, "Boston's first Sports Radio Personality, loved this combination."
After eating, we went up the road to the Wildlife Refuge. Just pulling into the lot... another overheat. The timing was
actually rather convenient, if something like that can be convenient. We parked and went for a walk in the woods.
The main trail is almost a mile long, but flat. We didn't see too much fauna - or flora, for that matter -
because, for Maine at least, it was still a little early in the season.
Linda spotted this "painted rock" at the leg of a bench, near marker 10, that she may or
may not have picked up to leave at another location on a future trip...
We finished up in Wells and continued on Route 1 to Kittery.
Shamik was not available when we were in Kittery, but we took in some sights anyway, including some interesting bridges.
We were, again, a little ahead of schedule. According to the GPS, the ME / VT state line wasn't that far out of Kittery.
A little more than a mile out. And while we looked, we didn't see a "Welcome To" sign. We didn't see the big black
line crossing the road either.
Not much more than an hour later we arrived at the
Hampton Inn
in Concord, NH, and checked in. Though I gave the girl at the
desk my ID, after I asked her where there might be a supermarket, she told me as if I would have ANY idea where "State
Street" was (or whatever street it was that she told me). Uh, hello, I'm seven-hundred miles from home...
The woman told us to take Route 93 North one exit to exit 13. We wound up getting on 89 instead - which literally started at the
exit where the hotel was. We went north one exit to 2 and got off the highway. While we could have got back on the highway
south to 93, one exit north, we decided to just head in the general direction of the capital, using the GPS as a quiet assistant
(we didn't program the address, we just used the map to help guide us - you know, like the frontier people used to do).
We eventually found the Market Basket. We picked up some wine, but were a little light on anything else. I asked a customer in
the store if they had prepared food. She said they had cooked chickens. We wanted some salad and or something else that would be
light, and easy to eat in a hotel room (though I am sure that one [or more] could eat a chicken in a hotel room). She told us about
another Market Basket "down the road a bit, turn right at the light, go down two more blocks, and you'll see the plaza with
another MB." We paid for the wine, grabbed a candy bar (to share) at checkout, and headed to the other MB.
We had another overheat incident after the market, pulled over for five minutes, and, yet again, all was fine afterward.
We spied the capital off in the near distance, so we did a quick drive-by, since it was in the direction of where we were
going anyway. And we'll have more pictures of it tomorrow too.
Between that customer's description, and my navigation skills, we easily found the second MB. At this one, we picked up a
small loaf of bread, and a "large" chef salad for sharing.
Upon returning to the hotel, we unpacked the car and headed in. Our room was on the first floor, though one enters the hotel
on the second. In the lobby was a typical "Elevator ↑" sign. So we went that way. But there was NO other signage
down the hallway indicating where the elevator actually was. Going straight at the first 'T' brings you to a storage room.
Turn down the hall at the 'T', and there is a long hallway in front of you. A couple was walking out of the area on the left
where there was no audible door opening or closing, so we asked if that is where the elevator was, and they said "yes".
Neither the second floor, nor our first floor had any elevator signage. A simple hanging sign from the ceiling would solve
that problem. How many people step out of their room and have trouble orienting themselves to where they are? I made the
sign suggestion at the front desk. We'll probably never know if anything was done about it...
We found our room, unloaded, and ate our salad.
After eating, watched a little TV, washed up, and went to sleep.
Fun fact: Maine is the single largest producer of blueberries in the United States.