PORTLAND, ME

My grandparents lived in South Portland so we visited every other year for some 25 years. I hadn't been back for 15 years and was overwhelmed by nostalgia for the people and places I had loved. The people were gone but many places remained. The Old Port Exchange was still around as was DiMillo's a wharfside restaurant specializing in seafood. The lobster boats and Casco Bay ferries were pierside. Cap'n Newick's Lobster House was gone; the loss of a fine restaurant.One of the biggest disappointments was that the tugboats were locked behind chainlink fence. When checking with the Portland Port Authority it seems this is one result of Homeland Security. My grandfather had taken us on many trips courtesy of his friends the tugboat captains whom he plied with fresh garden vegetables.Portland Head in Cape Elizabeth remains as always one of the most beautiful and well photographed lightouses in the U.S. Its never changing presence and sturdy build brought solace to the trip. Another side trip took me to Two Lights and into the Lobster Shack still the very best place to feast on lobster and lobster rolls. It was quite humid the night I was there and the deep steady sound of the foghorn combined with the ocean air was blissful. They say you can't go back but in Portland maybe you can.