From My Mind to....

Final Stop: Portland, Maine

Hi Folks. Just returned from a Fall Foliage cruise on the Pearl Mist from Pearl Seas Cruises. This was the same ship we took on a tour of the lower four Great Lakes in July 2024. It may have been a year older, but the amenities were still top notch.

Despite our cruise being cut short a couple of days due to the nasty weather coming up the Atlantic coast, we had a great time. Though we missed our planned stops of Iles de La Madeleine, Quebec; Lunenburg, Nova Scotia; and Eastport, Maine, we spent a few extra days in Portland, Maine. A lot of ships on the northern Atlantic made port in Portland and Boston ahead of the anticipated rough seas. It was quite a ride for a while.

Though I had lived in Maine for more than ten years growing up, I never visited Portland. That was my loss--if you ever get the chance, take time to tour Maine's largest city, its 19th century architecture, specialty shoppes, and the waterfront. Lighthouses? There are several to visit around Portland.

If you like lobster, don't pay $100 or much more for your meal at home. The market price was $12.99/lb--in a local restaurant, your meal might be $20-25 ... cooked right. At the fish market we toured, we saw lobsters from one and one-eighth pounds (the smallest the lobster boats can keep) to four and a quarter pounds. Normally, the boats don't bring back anything larger than three pounds. By the way, what do you think is the largest lobster ever caught? Answer ▼

Maine's record is twenty-seven pounds off Maine's coast; and according to the Guiness Book of Records, the world record is forty-four and a half pounds off Nove Scotia.

Flying home was much less eventful, and quicker, than flying to the cruise in Quebec City. Only five and a half hours to landing in Springfield, Missouri.

But more to come starting at the beginning tomorrow.