August 14-15               Maine            

Our journey to Portland, our final destination, was again by US 1.  The day was beautiful and the traffic was light.  We enjoyed passing through the charming small towns along our route.

We were amazed by the huge port on the outskirts of Portland with its myriad of equipment and facilities ready to serve the large ships docked there.  The nearby downtown area was pristine and we easily found our hotel, the Hilton Canopy.  Again, Pretzel was warmly greeted and provided with a special bed, food dishes and a toy.  The room was spacious, modern and convenient to the waterfront and the old town area.

After a long nap, we walked down the street, perused the shops and found a lovely restaurant on one of the cobblestoned streets.  Vis Vecchio was crowded but graciously found us a great table.  Fried artichokes were our appetizer followed by salads and delicious seafood entrees.  We would recommend this place to others.

We returned to the hotel and visited their rooftop bar for drinks and desserts.  As it was dark, our view was limited but it was fun to experience the ambiance.

Rain began as we exited the hotel the following morning so David took me to the entrance of the Portland Art Museum.  It was a delight to once again see their collection of art and artifacts.  Their Impressionist paintings included works by Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and Cezanne.  N.C. Wyeth was well represented by several scenes of Maine.

Our trip home initially was in heavy rain but after an hour, we saw the sun.  We chose to stay on Interstate 95 all the distance to Wickford, hoping to avoid heavy traffic.  Once again, the area near Boston became very congested.  Too many people and too many cars!  We safely arrived at the boat about 5:30. We had traveled more than 700 miles on this trip.  Too weary to unpack everything, we collapsed on the sofa for a long nap.  Good to be home!