Scarborough, Maine to Boston

10-25-09

Scarborough is just south of Portland, Maine. We did not have a good map for this area but we knew that the most photographed lighthouse was on Cape Elizabeth. It is called Portland Head Light and first operated in 1791 under the authorization of President George Washington. It was the first lighthouse built after the founding of the United States and it is one of the oldest lighthouses in continuous use in the country.

It took us a while to find it, as they do not name the street you are driving on - only the cross streets. So you do not know if you are driving on the right street! Very stressing! We have found this a problem in many places in New England.

Well, we found it and it was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous. We visited the museum inside the lighthouse and Jalil was fascinated by the fact that a ship was sunk by a German sub-marine nine miles from the coast in 1943. He spent some time with the volunteer talking about this. He told Jalil that this was not known until two years ago and this did happen often but the Navy kept it secret. Ships were built in Portland, Maine, to be sent to England. The few survivors pushed for this to become public knowledge and they paid for the plaque, telling the story.

We drove around the old town of Portland but did not find a parking place so we turned around and headed south. We ended up in Old Orchard Beach where we sat outside and had something to eat in the sunshine. There were a bunch of middle age motorcycle people who were also enjoying the sun. This was a big tourist place but it was deserted now.

After quite a few wiggles on small, beautiful country roads, we reached Kennebunkport. It was a cute little town and we walked around but,if you do not want to eat or shop, there is not much to do than to take a few pictures.

Further south, we reached York - one of Maine's oldest and most historic places. It was settled in 1624. It was now late afternoon and I wanted some more seafood but we could not find any restaurant open. There was only one child on the beach - every parking spot was empty!

We now headed south and were planning on staying near the border of Massachusetts and there was a Visitor Center near the border so we went there for advise where to stay. This man seemed surprised that we wanted a cheap place. "You just want a bed to sleep in?" "Yes, with a coin laundry, a microwave, a refrigerator and WiFi and is safe", I answered. He spent some time looking and came up with a few places that we could call. He seemed quite disinterested. Jalil insists that he was drunk but I did not feel that he was. Well, we ended up in Econolodge, Malden, north of Boston. The back was fenced off so we had to park in front. This made Jalil loose some sleep, worrying that the car would be broken into. There was no laundry so I could spend the evening on the computer instead.