Route 1 and 1A North

I didn't stop until I hit the Maine welcome station, where I met a lovely fellow who suggested some stops along my route.

The first stop was the Cliff Walk in York, ME. As I "hiked" along the well marked path, along with multiple small groups of families and curious folks, I couldn't help notice two very important things. First, Maine is very beautiful- the beaches do have some sandy parks, but the round rugged rocks seen along the MA coastline is replaced by sharp, layered rocks that jut into the ocean like knives. The second thing I noticed were the signs proclaiming the "Cliff Walk is CLOSED. It is unsafe and dangerous to your life!" Had I not noticed them, the 5 year old in the group ahead of me would have pointed them out in his happy sing-song little voice every few minutes.



Also in York, ME was the Nubble Light-- a very attractive light.



The next town was Ogunquit, ME which had some pretty beaches as well. I think this one was from Ogunquit- the beaches are all blending together. I have GOT to take notes when taking scenery pictures!



In Ogunquit I ate at Mike's Clam Shake and had outstanding seafood chowder. It had haddock, scallops, shrimp, clams, potatoes and all sorts of strange stuff in it. It had very few potatoes- every spoonful was 90% seafood. It was so good, I ordered a bowl to go and had it again tonight for dinner! Thank goodness for coolers. Next door, Mike's had a seafood store to buy lobster- at $7.99 a pound I had to buy a lobster in order to compare them to the MA lobster I've been eating down here.

I learned a little bit about why lobsters in the restaurants are so expensive. For starters, lobsters freak OUT when you put them in the pot- and their calm demeanor with the tucked tail turns into a spread eagle position that is difficult to get into the chosen stock pot. Second, said freak out makes inexperienced murderers like myself feel like maybe I should be a vegetarian since the only thing I'm comfortable with first hand killing is a carrot. Third, I overcooked the poor thing and had to eat it anyway because I felt guilty. The only thing that makes me feel better is that in the future I will let someone more experienced kill the lobster because they are probably more humane than me in the process. I think Fred the lobster would agree. (Yes, I broke the rule and named him).

My final stop was Kennebunkport, ME. It is a place of really elaborate houses and nice ocean views as well. One such elaborate house caught my eye and I stopped to take a pictures. I asked a jogger running by who the house belonged to (it was obviously someone well-known due to the scale and placement). She laughed, "former President Bush, of course!". Ha. I found papa Bush's house! It's not hard to find- follow the coast and look for a really big house.



It occurred to me later that the jogger may have been secret service. She was buff enough and had on sunglasses.

It took me almost 8 hours to reach President Bush's house in Kennebunkport. It took me a little over an hour to ride 95 back home. Gotta love the scenic routes!