June 2012 - Sunday Drive

As I've said, June is definitely the time to get out of the house when you live in New England.  After the long, cold winter,  I long to roll down the windows and hit the road.  More often than not, it's the coast that calls to me.  The ocean is only a couple of hours away from me now.  It is far closer to me than it has been for most of my life and yet, now, I feel seriously landlocked.   I think the fact that it is so close is why I feel this way.  Just knowing that I can get in my car and be there in a short amount of time makes me want to go there even more.  Thankfully, the same thing is true for David.  It is a passion that we both share.

One Sunday morning when the weather was picture perfect, we decided to take a drive.  Whenever we head to the coast, the first stop is always Rye Harbor.  I literally could spend hours there just taking in the view and activity of the harbor life.

And we can't visit Rye Harbor without having an amazing lobster roll which we enjoy at a picnic table overlooking the harbor.  It is truly one of my favorite things to do.

After a short time spent enjoying the sunshine and some lunch, we decided to head farther north and hit a little sweet spot that we were introduced to on our visit to the coast the previous month.   The Ice House Restaurant is the perfect little place to grab some ice cream.  They have a full menu for lunch and dinner if you are looking for something other than dessert.  I've never had anything but ice cream there; but, the meals that I've seen others have look delicious.

This was another casualty of not blogging it when it was fresh.  I think this one was a coffee Kahlua brownie or maybe that's what I had the month before.  Whatever it was, it was amazing.  Note to self and to David.....  no need to be piggies.  One is plenty to share.

Time to move on up the coast. 

 Where should we go?

Kennebunkport, I love.

Kennebunk?

It seemed kind of uninteresting on this particular day.

Old Orchard Beach was the next destination in mind so we kept driving with the intention of strolling along the boardwalk.  I'm sure on any given Sunday in the summer when the weather is perfect, it would be way too busy there and this day was no exception.  We did a drive by and refused to pay for parking...

that is IF we could even find parking.  

We decided to keep traveling up the coast. 

   

I really wanted to go someplace that I had never been and to find a lighthouse would be absolutely perfect.   I did a quick search on my phone and the closest one  was Cape Elizabeth Light.    We drove down a narrow dead end road and found this beauty at the top of the hill.  Unfortunately this one is not open to the public and there wasn't any place to park and explore.  As beautiful as it was there, it was not what we had in mind.  Time to move along.

Portland Head Light was exactly what I had in mind and it came with the bonus of  Fort Williams Park.

 

If I lived in the Portland, Maine area....which appears to be an fantastic city, by the way....I would spend a lot of time in this park.   On this particular day, people were out like crazy enjoying the beautiful weather.  There were barbecues and football games and kids and pets running around.  There were frisbees being thrown and kites being flown and  people laying on blankets in the sunshine.   The amazing part is that there was plenty of room for everyone to enjoy the outdoors comfortably.  What a great place!!  

David and I took advantage of the beautiful day to walk around the park and along the cliffs and take photos and enjoy the sunshine and the company of each other.  

I would have loved to have spent more time there and even grabbed a room to spend some time in Portland; but it was Sunday and getting late.  We both had to work the next day and we were a good distance away from home.  We added this area to our Bucket List of places to visit again and headed back south.    

Neither of us were ready to head home just yet though and we had walked off the lobster rolls and ice cream and were getting hungry for dinner.  Stopping back in  Rye  and giving Ray's Seafood a try seemed like a good idea.

How can you go wrong with sautéd lobster?

or

baked seafood with scallops?

Another quick walk on the beach after dinner to collect some rocks for our Beach Stone Feet and it was finally time for us to reluctantly head home.

It was a long but amazing day with lots of miles traveled....lots of laughs shared....and lots of memories made.   Thank you for allowing me to share them with you here.