MAINE: my final frontier. These are the voyages of the Scooter Vespa 250 i.e. Super. Its continuing mission - to explore America's most heavily forested state - to roam the vast coastline, numberless lakes, and mighty mountains. To boldly go where no scooter has gone before!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

AARP calls Portland, Maine, Number One Vacation Destination in USA

Who can argue with the organization of the elderly and the near-old? Here, in part, is what AARP's monthly magazine said in putting Portland above New York City, among other cities:

"Modern-day Portland is the state’s largest city, a commercial hub where glass-and-steel high-rises house multinational corporations. But it’s the revitalized, working Old Port that makes the city so appealing. Lobstermen still commandeer wooden fishing boats, and the air rings with the music of ship bells and foghorns. Stroll the wooden wharfs and cobblestoned streets. Dine on fresh seafood, including lobster, at spots like Portland Lobster Company and hip Fore Street. In fact, in 2009, Bon Appetit named Portland the Foodiest Small Town in America for its roster of award-winning restaurants and top chefs."

In this post, you'll see no photos of the highly recommended "Old Port." Formerly a rough but real neighborhood, rich newcomers decided to make it cute and nice - and too expensive for most Mainers.

My recommended sites include:


Longfellow Square


Monument Square 


Tate House of 1755 (under repair)


The Victoria Mansion, finished in 1860


The West End, with some of the oldest homes in Portland


The Waterfront, where you can dock your yacht at your doorstep. And if you can afford to live here - you've got a yacht!


Finally, you've got to love a city where a headless manikin is used to advertise a hair salon!

4 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your personal tour! And you gotta know I love that last photo!

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    1. Thank you, Martha. I don't know how busy that place is, but it has a great location near Maine Medical Center and the posh West End.

      If I had enough hair left on my balding pate to bother with, I'd give it a try.

      Tom

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  2. Love the Victorian Mansion. What a beauty! And, of course the last photo is so great. Nice one.
    ~Keith
    Circle Blue

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    1. Thanks, Keith. I'm sorry that I must confess that although I've admired the Vic Mansion for years, and have read about and photographed it many times, I have not been through it.

      Yet people come from miles and miles away just to see something that's 6 miles from my home. It's closed for the winter, but when it reopens, I will be there!

      Tom

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