Pick of the Week

A famous meteorological term which means...find something to do outside, its gonna be a great weather day, so we had no choice but to take advantage of it.  But, what to do on this "pick of the week" day?  If we had been planning ahead, we would have gone to the Botanical Gardens, or maybe a ride on the ferry to Peaks Island, but we didn't, sooooo...bike ride, day at the beach, what to do, what to do.  

We decided to pack our books, beach chairs and beverages and drive, rather than ride, to Bug Light Park.  We arrived around noon and found the park very quiet and kind of windy.

We selected a nice spot near the top of the hill so we could see out into the bay, as well as the river and Portland Harbor.  

There was a lot of action on the water...ferries back and forth, sailboats keeling severely thanks to the wind, an oil tanker unloading and The Cat arrived.

It was so nice to have the option of just sitting and watching all the activity with no agenda, then doing some reading and "resting our eyes".  

We packed up our things about 2:15 and drove to the nearest cafe/sandwich shop...The 158 Picket Street Cafe.

photo from their Facebook page

Well...they closed at 2:00!  CRAP!  We really had no idea where else in the area to grab a sandwich but after driving around for several minutes, we came across Dipietro's Market where we got a salami and provolone italian and some chips.

Our plan was to walk from the 158 to Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse so we drove back and parked across the street, where we had parked the first time.  It was a short walk, maybe 5 minutes to the lighthouse park.  We didn't find any picnic tables, so we sat at the top of the steps leading down to the beach and ate our lunch while we tried to keep everything from blowing away in a very stiff wind!!!

It wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I pictured lunch at Spring Point light but the view was beautiful, just waaaay too windy.  At one point, it blew Bill's hat off, blew over the bottle of soda and bag of chips and blew the napkins down to the beach, which Bill aptly collected before they blew out to sea.  

From there we walked out to the light, which was kind of precarious because my hair was in my face every step I took and basically, the walk is a granite jetty so it's rock to rock, some are close, some are far apart.

We walked around to the far side, just because we could.

Looking out toward Portland Head Light

Looking out toward one of the Casco Bay islands

We walked along the path, past the remains of Fort Preble

and onto Willard Beach.

rocky shore

We came cross these interesting rocks...

These colors would make a nice quilt

We continued walking as far as the lifeguard chair, then returned.  We found the house we want

and the house we can afford

Actually, we probably can't afford either of these either.  

Thought this peace symbol was appropriate, considering the state of the country and the world right now.

What next...ice cream or a good cup of coffee?  Siri found us a coffee shop on Commercial Street, so we headed that way.  The problem with Siri is that she isn't always current on her suggestions and the coffee shop was empty and being remodeled. No worries, we had no agenda so we parked and took a walk; we haven't been to the Old Port in years.

Thankfully we walked far enough to discover the Bam Bam Bakery and figured they sell pastries, they must sell coffee.  Not only did we each get a very good latte, we each had a wonderful macaroon and got to use the restroom!  The trifecta ;o)

It was a great day all the way around!

Thanks for stopping by...

;o)

Gym Hookey

Decided on the spur of the moment to skip the gym later and spend the afternoon at Two Lights State Park.  The fact that it was around 90* and humid helped us make a quick decision.

Perfect day to sit, nap, read and listen to the music of the sea...

It was pretty close to high tide when we arrived

and not so high tide when we left, maybe three hours later.

We'll catch the gym another day, today we stopped to smell the roses.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)