Eating our Weight in Maine Lobster

Cabbage Island Clambake

What a feast! Our friends were in town and we wanted them to experience Lobster in a quintessential way so Lynn found Cabbage Island Clambake. Sold out for weeks in advance, Lynn kept refreshing the website hoping for a cancellation. Eureka – just a few days before they arrived a cancellation appeared and we nabbed 4 tickets!

You embark the ship in Boothbay Harbor and cruise for about an hour, catching glimpses of light houses, remote islands and learning the history of this coastal area.

Once we arrived at Cabbage Island, we were seated at a table with nice views of the bay and treated to clam chowder as a starter. Then we made our way to the clambake area to pick up an overflowing plate of 2 lobsters, clams, corn, potato and onion.

I can’t believe you get 2 lobsters each — I thought there was no way we could eat it all. But we all did!

After loosening our belts and devouring the lobster, along came the tallest blueberry cake you’ve ever seen. Slightly comatose, we walked off the lunch by exploring Cabbage Island before heading back to Booth Bay.

Lucky Catch Lobster Tour

A few days later, the night before our friends were leaving, we boarded the Lucky Catch ship for a lobster tour around Portland Maine.

Unlike the Cabbage Island Clambake, this tour was designed to teach you more about lobstering, pulling up lobster traps in Casco Bay.

Each of us loaded smelly fish in the traps before launching them overboard.

Each time we pulled up another trap, the captain measured each lobster and threw back those that were too small or pregnant.

Pregnant lobsters are marked by slicing a piece of their tail so other fisherman will not keep them. Once a pregnant lobster is caught, it is unlawful to keep it in the future.

We would also pull up crab and some would zen out if you flipped them on their backs.

Before ending our tour, we caught an up close view of the Portland Head Light.

Once the tour was complete, we took 4 lobsters from our boat over to the Portland Lobster Company — they perfectly cooked the lobster and provided all the fixings. We really enjoyed our visit with Greg and Kathy Tawes.

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Cycling through Portsmouth New Hampshire

Portsmouth is one of the oldest cities in America, incorporated in 1653. This area is the cradle of the American Revolution. We’ve all heard the story of Paul Revere riding into town shouting “The British are coming” or “The Red Coats are coming” — to warn the Revolutionists that the British were on their way to attack. Portsmouth is where this took place in 1774.

Portsmouth is a coastal city and was an important trade route for the early Europeans and a fishing mecca.

Our good friends from Florida (Greg and Kathy Tawes) were visiting so we decided to take a cycling tour around Portsmouth — it’s a great way to see the city and get a little exercise.

Starting in Portsmouth, the tour follows the Piscataqua River (a tributary to the Atlantic Ocean) to New Castle, New Hampshire.

Along the way we stopped at Four Tree and Pierce Island.

After cycling, we headed into Portsmouth for a popover. A popover is a light roll made from egg batter, baked in a special pan that shares its name, which has deep wells with straight-walled sides. Their origin is English-inspired. Settlers from Maine who founded Portland Americanized the pudding from Yorkshire. If you visit this area, you must have one.

After filling our bellies, we visited our son and daughter-in-law’s farm then headed to York Maine to see the Nubble Light house. There were a few guys fishing off the banks, pulling up squid.

We really enjoyed the visit with Greg and Kathy and you’ll see more blogs in the coming weeks covering our escapades.

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Stowe Vermont’s Beauty Rivals Breckenridge Colorado

After living in Colorado for almost 15 years, I considered Breckenridge one of the most beautiful mountain towns. We recently visited Stowe Vermont, nicknamed “The Ski Capital of the East” and it is surprisingly beautiful.

Situated in the scenic Green Mountains of Northern Vermont, Stowe feels like a Colorado town. It has more hiking trails than anywhere I’ve seen, tons of bike paths, rivers and streams, covered bridges, and well groomed walking trails in town leading to parks and an assortment of restaurants.

We stayed in Sterling Ridge Resort just outside of Stowe. As you drive through Stowe on VT 108 towards Jeffersonville, it runs through Mount Mansfield State Forest — and it is stunning. The road narrows so that 2 cars can barely fit and you are suddenly surrounded by hiking trails, climb-friendly rock formations, rich green forage and expansive mountain vistas. It has plentiful parking pull offs for a quick hike.

Sterling Ridge Resort has about 20 cabins for rent, from studio cabins to plush cabins with huge fireplaces and decks that surround the home overlooking a large pond. We visited with Cameron, Kara and Hadley, so we chose a pet friendly 2 bedroom cabin near a smaller pond.

The resort has 2 ponds, hiking trails, fishing, heated pool, game room and outdoor activities including corn hole and horse shoes.

They supply a fire pit for a relaxing end of the day.

Just a short drive from Sterling Ridge Resorts is Mount Mansfield where you can take a gondola to the top for amazing views and hiking trails. For those of you into electric vehicles (EVs), I spotted a Rivian truck at the base of the mountain.

It was a cloudy day so even though it limited our views at the mountain top, it made for temperate hiking.

Ziggi surprised me at how nimble she was as she climbed the rocks.

Just a short gondola ride is a little village that reminded us of Keystone or Telluride Colorado.

On our last day in Stowe, we walked around the town and enjoyed the parks via the paved walking/biking trails.

If you are ever in New England, I highly recommend a visit to Stowe and if you get a chance to get there by driving through northern New Hampshire, you’ll also be rewarded with stunning views of the White Mountains.

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