On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Elma
I have never been to any of the New England states before, so I was looking forward to this. It was a holiday weekend, and beautiful warm fall weather, so lots of people were out enjoying themselves. I found Boston confusing to get around in, even on foot. But I really want to go back and spend time in Portland.
After a leisurely day at sea, during which I got invited to dine at the Captain’s Table (probably because I booked another tour while on board) we arrive in Portland Maine. We all had to bring our passports and be looked at by US Customs before we could leave the ship. Portland is a beautiful city with a great harbor.
We had very nice coaches that took us out to the Portland Head Light; then on up to Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. It was a holiday weekend, so there were massive crowd. We had to stand in line at the Clam Shack to pay $49.00 for a lobster roll, purportedly the best in the world according to someone on the Food Network. I thought it was rubbery and tasted like nothing by mayonnaise. Give me a Friday night perch fry any day.
The next day was our tour of the city of Boston. It was also Indigenous Peoples Day, so the city was overrun with tourists. No one at the Quincy Market admitted to being from Boston. This woman was outside the Old North Church with her glass harmonica.
The last day of the tour, for most of the group, saw us going out to Lexington and Concord. Our local guide, who was a retired middle school teacher, was at pains to tell us that no battle ever occurred in Lexington. Rather, it was a massacre. The Americans were withdrawing from the field when the British shot them in the back. There was a long story about escaping prisoners and officers’ pistol shots, a huge SNAFU. The only reason there are all the monuments on the Lexington Green is that President Grant was coming to mark the centenary in 1875 and the town had to have something to show him. Anyway, the guide was hilarious and I enjoyed his shtick enormously.
The tour company offered an extension and I stayed on for a couple more days since I had never been to Boston before. First we went to Salem. It was two weeks before Halloween, but the place was crawling with “witches”. The cemetery was very interesting and memorial was really moving.
Then we went to Cape Ann, ending in Gloucester, with the iconic Seafarer statue.
I found the monument to the families even more interesting.
On my last day in Boston, I took a duck boat tour. Because it was a smaller vehicle and because it was no longer a holiday weekend, we got a more interesting tour of the city. The last thing I did was have high tea at the Public Library.
JPL
As much as I love lobster, $49.00 for a lobster roll is a tad steep. What a fun trip.
Paul in St. Augustine
A “tad steep”? Sounds like a rip off, as if the lobster roll purveyor thinks “Tourists! They’ll pay whatever I ask.”
HinTN
High tea at the library seems a fitting end to a lovely tour. Thanks for the trip. Happy Thanksgiving, jackals.
Spanish Moss
$49? Outrageous. I live in MA and the going price we saw on the shore this summer was closer to $30. I have seen the Clam Shack line and was never motivated to stand in it. How special can it be? Lobster rolls are pretty basic and if a restaurant starts adding a bunch of stuff to it they have gone off course. A properly buttered and toasted bun is key, with plenty of lobster and just a little mayo. Possibly a little celery.
The Lobster Pool is our favorite. It’s a seafood shack right on the water of the Cape Ann coast between Rockport and Gloucester, so the view is fantastic. It gets a lot of traffic but doesn’t have an outrageous line. And it’s close to Halibut Point State Park, which is always nice to visit
Love the lighthouse photo!
There go two miscreants
I have always loved lighthouses, and yours is a particularly pretty picture of one!
Elizabelle
@Spanish Moss: The Lobster Pool. Halibut Point State Park. Looked them up. Committed them to memory. They go on the bucket list, too.
Elma: where is your next cruise?
eclare
Those photos of Portland are gorgeous.
Elma
@Spanish Moss: The people in front of me in the line at the Clam Shack ordered burgers. I thought that was funny at the time, but in retrospect, it might have been a better idea.
delphinium
Sounds like a lovely trip! Have been to Boston, which I loved, but not to any of the other places. High tea is a great way to end a trip.
Elma
@Elizabelle: In June, sailing from Dublin, after a short tour in Ireland, to and around Iceland. I have never been to Ireland; and my only previous time in Iceland was to change planes. I hope it will produce some good On The Road pictures.
Skepticat
New England is beautiful and never boring. You hit all places with which this old Yankee is long familiar, and I’m so glad you enjoyed them. I grew up a few miles from Portland Head, and in WWI, my grandfather commanded the now-decommissioned fort where the lighthouse —said to be the most photographed lighthouse in the country—is located. The Clam Shack staff usually just waves the mayonnaise jar at their lobster roll—$49 is an off-season price but obscene. l also Iived in Massachusetts and had an office within sight of the Old Burying Ground and an ancestor’s grave in Salem for many years, but I used to let my staff off the last week of Haunted Happenings, which makes the city a nightmare for a month.
Nettoyeur
@Spanish Moss: I think I’d go to the harbor and just buy some cooked lobster and a beer.
Kevin
Went to the Portland Headlight on our honeymoon after a ski trip up in Maine. We can’t wait to go back to Boston and Maine sometime soon. Looks like a fun trip!
Tenar Arha
@Elma: ooh, the tea room at the library, fun!
I hope you get to spend time looking at the Puvis de Chavannes or the Sargent murals
ETA also, nice photos
Elma
@Tenar Arha: Yes, I saw those. I had been told there were lots of things to see in Library and I had time to kill because the 1 pm seating in the tea room were lingering. The Abby Room is also interesting. It was a good thing that there was a guide to explain all the murals or I would have been very confused.
Dagaetch
As a Salem MA resident, October is when everyone visits, but we’re a wonderful place the rest of the year too! Tons of stuff to do: witchy yes, but also general history, world class museum, good food, and so on. Love living here and encouraging others to visit :).
And @Elizabelle: Halibut Point is a great place for a visit, and very close to Rockport which is an artists colony and has many cute shops. Plus Motif #1!