Saturday, September 29, 2007

Days 13 - 16: San Jose, California

I'll have a complete set of the day's photos posted later but for now, check out this video I made of my time in San Jose, visiting my friend, Jo Ann:

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Cape Neddick: The Nubble Lighthouse

We continued on up the coast to Cape Neddick, where we photographed the beautiful Nubble Lighthouse.




Day 12: Touring Southeast Maine

We spent our last day in New England touring around the coastal area of Maine between the village of York in the south and the city of Portland in the north.

We started off with a large breakfast at the Gazebo Inn.


We first drove south to York to take a look at this very historic, very beautiful little town.






On the northern edge of York, Kristi pulled off beside some park. It revealed a number of magical surprises that were so indicative of the magic of Maine.



Monday, September 24, 2007

Dinner: Fisherman's Catch

For dinner, we told Scott that we wanted an unpretentious place with great food. He directed us to a local place called Fisherman's Catch. It was absolutely amazing! It's owned by a local family and offers SUPERB seafood at reasonable prices - precisely my kind of place!





Ogunquit, Maine

We arrived in Ogunquit just before 5pm. Kristi had booked a pair of rooms for us at the Gazebo Inn. I didn't know what to expect but it turned out to be a truly amazing place! We were greeted by one of the owners, Scott, who immediately made us feel very much at home. He then gave us an introductory tour of the immaculately restored 1847 house. Shortly after we arrived, we went for a walk along the incredibly beautiful beach. I even took off my shoes and socks and went running through the water, as I was determined to touch both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on this trip!




Belfast, Maine

We made an extended stop in the town of Belfast. The architecture there was adorable. It provided a real glimpse into what small town living in Maine must be like.


You will notice that there are several ridiculous photos of me, yet none of Kristi. This was by design, namely hers!



We had lunch at "Young's Lobster Pound". It looked like a great big red barn parked on the side of the ocean. It felt like a simple, local place but the prices were anything but. I guess they realized at some point that their establishment had become a tourist destination so they didn't hesitate to inflate their prices. I thought the food was okay but we had better elsewhere.


The Interesting Coastline

Much of the day was spent driving. The road didn't hug the actual coastline as much as we would have liked but we still did see some interesting things. Here's a sampling:



Day 11: Back Down the Coast of Maine

This was a long, but eventful day. I'm going to break it up into a few postings, as I have a lot of great photos that I'd like to display.

It started out really early, with yours truly getting up at daybreak to catch the sunrise. I didn't quite catch the first few minutes but was there soon after. In this initial video, I realized just how slurred my voice was. One might conclude alcohol [from the night before] was the culprit but I assure you I had none! Rather, I hadn't yet had my [much needed] morning coffee! Some say I'm quite pathetic without it. Maybe this is proof?!? :-)







Sunday, September 23, 2007

Day 10: Bar Harbor, Maine & the Acadia National Park

Kristi and I left Portsmouth around 8:30am and drove straight up to Bar Harbor, Maine. We checked in at our [most delightful] B&B, The Seacroft Inn, and then went for a stroll through the town.





After lunch we drove to Cadillac Mountain, which is essentially in the center of the eastern half of Acadia National Park. The views were incredible!





After descending part way down the mountain we drove clockwise around the park, eventually coming to beautiful Sandy Beach.




We got back to the B&B around 6pm. I was tired and took a shower. Kristi went exploring. For dinner we went to a recommended place called Poor Boy's Gourmet Restaurant. This place was exactly my kind of favourite eating establishment: Great food but unpretentious, plus a beautiful waitress from Romania who was a computer science and math student no less!