12 of 12, July 2009: A Day in Portland
I was reminded by teapot37's 12 of 12 post that for once, and completely without planning, I actually took pictures on the 12th. Yesterday I spent a wonderful day up in Portland, ME with three lovely people (scripted22, adinarj, and avipedia) and I had a few pictures from the day that I wanted to share anyway, so I figured why not pick twelve pictures and make it a 12 of 12 at the same time?
After meeting up in a parking lot right off the highway we headed into Portland and walked up and down the waterfront at the Old Port, but I managed not to take any remotely interesting pictures during that time. Then we wanted to sit and plan what we'd do for the rest of the day, so we chilled in a Starbucks (of course) briefly and adina called a friend of hers, Mark. Mark was able to come join us and he was not only extremely nice but as a Portland local he was also very helpful. He immediately suggested a spot for lunch and we headed to the Miss Portland diner.
Lunch there was good (I had fried clams--yummy), and then Mark suggested we head to the Eastern Promenade, which was a great suggestion because it gave a wonderful ocean view. These next few photos are all from there.
From there we wanted to head to Portland Head Light, and the drive there took us back through town where I noticed they were having a Boat Building Festival, which I thought was pretty cool. I'd like to build a boat! Anyway, I just nabbed a picture from the car after the light was already green, so you can't see much, but I'm including it anyway.
After a bit of driving around (including a pass by--well, a few passes by--the Church of the Googly-Eyed Jesus, which someone else will have to share a picture of because I have none since I was on the wrong side of the car) we made it to Portland Head Light. Now, the lighthouse and the scenery there was gorgeous, to be sure, but the first thing that really caught my eye and everyone else's...was a tiny little ball of fluff running along the path in front of us! The ball of fluff--later revealed to be a Maltese puppy, and the smallest I've ever seen in person--was quickly scooped up by its owner, but I couldn't stop following the guy around trying to get a glimpse. I snuck one picture first, but later I decided I really needed a better one so I stopped its owner to ask what kind of dog its was and to get a little photo op (I wasn't the first stranger to do that--this was one attention-getting dog). The picture's cute, but believe me, it does not do this itty bitty guy justice.
Finally I was able to move my attention from the puppy to the beauty around me, so I'll share a few pictures of the lighthouse and the view.
And of course we took several group pictures over the course of the day, most of them with only three of us (the fourth taking the picture--we took turns), so here's the one without me. What a nice-looking group of people, huh?
We left Portland Head Light and headed back into town and did a little bit of shopping/browsing in the shops.
And that was basically it. A bit more driving around, a lot of chatting, and then back to the parking lot where we said our sad farewells to scripted and headed back down to MA. It was a really nice day. And we couldn't have been blessed with more perfect weather. It was sunny and warm and beautiful.
After meeting up in a parking lot right off the highway we headed into Portland and walked up and down the waterfront at the Old Port, but I managed not to take any remotely interesting pictures during that time. Then we wanted to sit and plan what we'd do for the rest of the day, so we chilled in a Starbucks (of course) briefly and adina called a friend of hers, Mark. Mark was able to come join us and he was not only extremely nice but as a Portland local he was also very helpful. He immediately suggested a spot for lunch and we headed to the Miss Portland diner.
Lunch there was good (I had fried clams--yummy), and then Mark suggested we head to the Eastern Promenade, which was a great suggestion because it gave a wonderful ocean view. These next few photos are all from there.
From there we wanted to head to Portland Head Light, and the drive there took us back through town where I noticed they were having a Boat Building Festival, which I thought was pretty cool. I'd like to build a boat! Anyway, I just nabbed a picture from the car after the light was already green, so you can't see much, but I'm including it anyway.
After a bit of driving around (including a pass by--well, a few passes by--the Church of the Googly-Eyed Jesus, which someone else will have to share a picture of because I have none since I was on the wrong side of the car) we made it to Portland Head Light. Now, the lighthouse and the scenery there was gorgeous, to be sure, but the first thing that really caught my eye and everyone else's...was a tiny little ball of fluff running along the path in front of us! The ball of fluff--later revealed to be a Maltese puppy, and the smallest I've ever seen in person--was quickly scooped up by its owner, but I couldn't stop following the guy around trying to get a glimpse. I snuck one picture first, but later I decided I really needed a better one so I stopped its owner to ask what kind of dog its was and to get a little photo op (I wasn't the first stranger to do that--this was one attention-getting dog). The picture's cute, but believe me, it does not do this itty bitty guy justice.
Finally I was able to move my attention from the puppy to the beauty around me, so I'll share a few pictures of the lighthouse and the view.
And of course we took several group pictures over the course of the day, most of them with only three of us (the fourth taking the picture--we took turns), so here's the one without me. What a nice-looking group of people, huh?
We left Portland Head Light and headed back into town and did a little bit of shopping/browsing in the shops.
And that was basically it. A bit more driving around, a lot of chatting, and then back to the parking lot where we said our sad farewells to scripted and headed back down to MA. It was a really nice day. And we couldn't have been blessed with more perfect weather. It was sunny and warm and beautiful.