The Fisherman’s Grill | Boise Childbirth Preparation & Women's Gatherings

Over the last two days Porter has experienced days full of firsts. Enjoy the photo journey!

Thursday

On Thursday we attempted to go to the bakery near our hotel for breakfast, but they had a very limited selection and no espresso, say what?! So we ended up at Port Bean for the second day in a row. It is a great coffee shop right down the street from our hotel. They make really good espresso drinks and their breakfast sandwiches are made on the spot from scratch, delish.

We then headed over to Casco Bay Ferries to catch a ferry across the bay. It was Porter’s first boat ride and as you can tell, he’s pretty pumped.

Here is the mighty vessel that will transport us across the water. It was a car carrying boat, which is pretty cool if you need to get your car across the water. There are many islands off the coast of Maine and many of them are inhabited.

Leaving the dock from Portland.

Headed to Peaks Island about 20 minutes by ferry.

The best part about nursing is that Porter’s food is always handy whether by air land or sea, my child will eat! Plus the Udder Cover made a great wind break while he napped on the trip.

View of Portland from the Ferry

Our destination. We didn’t get off since Porter was passed out and we really just wanted to take a boat ride.

This is what Porter thought of his first boat ride.

Back at the hotel we did some of this…

…and some of this.

Then it was time for another first- swimming! Thanks Lissa for these awesome baby swim trunks.

Porter loves being in his dad’s big arms.

He didn’t hate it, but he wasn’t super thrilled either. I think he was mostly confused, but he did great and was a good sport.

A good swim always deserves a good lounge. The water really takes it out of a little guy.

We followed the swim by having dinner at Gilbert’s Chowder House

In an attempt to try something new I got the clam Steamers. They were just okay, not as good as my friend Chelsea makes, and these had the appearance of a small geoduck (pronounced gooey duck), slightly phallic with a little bit of grit, hmm. Luke got the clam chowder bread bowl, he liked it better than the one he had from another place on the first night of our visit.

We then cruised to downtown Portland, just a block up from the docks in search of ice cream. The historic downtown is awesome. There are lots of brick buildings, cobbled streets and brick sidewalks. Most of the stores are local and the town square looks like a great place to sip on coffee or eat ice cream on a summer day.

There are also many bars here, half of which have Irish roots. On our way home we encountered this lovely sign and had a good chuckle to end the day.

Friday

We got a late start on Friday, but that didn’t keep us from seeing all sorts of new places. We drove across Casco Bay to Cape Elizabeth so Luke could help his co-worker Brigid set up the Internet in her home office. She just moved to Maine from Washington DC and lives in an adorable house in an adorable neighborhood just houses from the sea. She and her husband were nice enough to treat us to lunch at The Lobster Shack, near Two Lights State Park. The light house in the above picture is one of the “lights”.

The Lobster Shack is known for their lobster rolls and the views of the Atlantic from their red picnic tables outside of the small restaurant. Seeing the Atlantic is another first for Porter on this trip. In the last two months he has now been to the furthest reaches of the country: Maui @ 2 months and Maine @ 4 months. I say this boy picked the right life!

Of course we got Lobster rolls with the required french fries. What isn’t pictured are the giant homemade whoopee pies that we had. I thought they were the bees knees. I’ve now had two lobster rolls from two different places here in Maine and this is what I think: 1. none of the lobster in Maine is as good as the buttery yummy lobster from the warm waters in Hawaii 2. Lobster is really expensive 3. I liked the scallops from The Fisherman’s Grill better.

The Atlantic Ocean from The Lobster Shack picnic tables

I absolutely loved their wind mobile collection.

Porter decided he was hungry too so we stopped at Fort Williams State Park.

Luke’s chowder bread bowl was so good the night before that we decided to go back to Gilbert’s Chowder House.

No more experimenting for me, I ordered the seafood chowder bread bowl and it was FANTASTIC! It had shrimp, scallops, lobster, clams and fish along with chunks of potatoes in a tasty (but not as tasty as a sourdough) bread bowl. I would order this chowder again and again.

Porter had a good time with the package of crackers.

We finished the evening with more ice cream from Mt.Desert Island Ice Cream

I ordered the Chocolate Orange and Luke had the Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo. They also have pretty outrageous flavors that include curry and chili, which is why their slogan is “fearless flavor”. President Obama chose Coconut on his last visit.

This vacation has been truly fabulous. We have gone sight seeing, tried new and amazing food, napped, swam, visited with new friends and experienced a whole new city. Travelling with a baby is easier than I imagined. I have been carrying him in the sling everywhere we go, and while the first day I was sore after carrying a small baby tank all over the city, it has become much more comfortable by the 4th day. I like carrying him in the sling because he gets to see the sights or nap at his leisure, my hands are free, it’s a great workout, and I like hearing and seeing about how cute my baby is from all the passers by. Since he’s getting bigger I will probably start traveling with the stroller, but I hope to carry him this way for a long time. The hotel we’re staying in (Marriott Residence Inn) is also heaven sent when travelling with a young baby. It has a full kitchen, king bed, crib, pool, breakfast, laundry, wi-fi and is located within walking distance to just about everything we’ve done on our visit. Happy trails!

Today we took a long walk around Portland, took a family nap, and finished the day at the Fisherman’s Grill. It was beautiful, sunny, warm in the sun and slightly breezy. Much of Maine shuts down in the winter and doesn’t open until Memorial Day, so we are a few weeks early for all the real action. The town is quiet and all uphill from the water. A walk was the perfect thing to get us in the east coast mood. Luke said that Portland is like San Fransisco meets Baltimore meets a small town. I’ve included pictures of some of the architecture. There is a lot of old brick work, gobs of siding, and of course bay windows. From what I gathered today, Portland has all the old school east coast history and buildings but is laid back and hip. It’s swarming with hipsters, hippies, all things REI/Northface, bars and coffee shops. I love it.

There are many many buildings that look like this or some version of it.

The Observatory

The previous homes all look out over the bay, in the next picture.

The Eastern Promenade Park, Fort Allen over looking the bay.

Porter rolled (and napped) in the Rockin’ Baby Pouch

And in dad’s arms.

It’s spring here too!

I thought the building in the middle of the channel was like a mini Alcatraz, but Luke informed that it is Fort Allen.

Portland is a deep water port with Trans Atlantic ships and many tug boats. We aren’t sure why this tug boat is behind the ship, hmm…

Our walk then hooked up with the greenbelt along the shore and an old rail road track.

Old railroad track complete with old rail cars.

Shrink wrapped and dry docked boats.

Random broken down coal car with plants growing next to a dry dock.

The actual, working, tour train.

“Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co.”

Previously a dock, I’m pretty sure?

Random rock wall on a trailer, just for fun!

So here’s how we came upon two heaping piles of fresh and fried seafood. Luke did a bunch of research about the best place for seafood and came up with The Fisherman’s Grill. It is a hole in the wall next to The Fisherman’s Net, which is where all the restaurants come to get their fresh seafood. So, the grill gets first picks of all the days catches. We go in, somewhat timid at first because this place looks really local, and are greeted by the cook, a very friendly former Deadliest Catch in Alaska type dude who regaled us with stories of Alaskan timber wolves (huge beasts who howl like they’re “gonna getcha”), bow hunting, and his almost deadly accident on the fishing boat in AK. He knew EXACTLY where each piece of seafood was caught that was on our “plattah”. Initially, I was planning on a bowl of chowder, but he recommended the Fisherman’s Plattah (yes spelled correctly). Being that he said everything was fresh, super fresh, we got it. Little did I know that everything here, fresh or otherwise, is deep fried. I mean really? Who fries fresh seafood? I guess we’re about as far from the Hawaiian islands as we can be, so I was silly to assume it would be grilled or seared. It was, however, delicious. We had shrimp, crab cakes, haddock, scallops, and clams. I will admit that I peeled off some of the fried breading to reveal tender sweet morsels of goodness from the sea. Next time, though, I’m asking for it to be seared so I can eat guiltlessly. But my oh my was it yummy. We also had to take a bunch of it home because there was so much. It had a side of home made Cole Slaw, super yum, and fries. Those were left untouched. I highly recommend going off the tourist trail to eat here if you’re ever in Portland, Maine.

This is what Porter thought of the whole experience, and how we ended the day. Really the day ended with me doing laundry, but this is a better way to remember it.