If it's Maine, it must be lobster!

We whizzed right through Vermont and New Hampshire on our way to Maine, but plan to spend a lot more time in those two states when we return from Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. We were also anxious to get to lobster country! We were not disappointed. Ordered 4 small ones ahead (already cooked and hot when we arrived). With candles, wine, guitar music on CD, we had a superb meal --at half the cost of a restaurant.

We are staying in Kennebunkport, a very touristy town with a nice beach area, and lots and lots of motels, inns and restaurants. We drove by the Bush mansion, but since they didn't invite us in to dinner, we had to stop at a clam shop for fried clam strips for our dinner. A lucky lunch stop was a little place on the road -- the Maine Diner that advertised chowder (clam chowder was another one of our "musts" for this area!) It was the busiest little diner ever, and in the summer season people will wait 2 hours to get in. They've been featured on the Today show, and they are advertised on American Airlines. We sat at the counter so the wait wouldn't be so long, and it was just like sitting at a 50's diner with waitresses coming and going like crazy. They've won awards for their chowder--we can see why. (We're very partial to the clam chowder at Bodega Bay, too, and this just may have surpassed it.)

We enjoyed walking through the Rachel Carson Wildlife Reserve. Her book "Silent Spring" is one John has been reading--a radical environmental book. She was quite a researcher and spokeswoman that helped change the way we think about the environment. I had read her earlier book many years ago, "A Sense of Wonder," and still wish I could use that title to write a book myself!

We have been disappointed, though, that we can't drive along the Atlantic and see the ocean easily. We did drive to Portland, Maine, in the rain today to go through the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow home/museum. Built in the early 1800's, and lived in by Longfellows until 1901. Interesting home and life. Found another little Chowder House that was raved about. Can you tell we like the food in Maine?