Our campground is in the nearby town of Scarborough, and our site looks out on a pretty lake.
We took this opportunity to further explore the Portland area, which is known as a foodie destination. The downtown, which adjoins the waterfront, is quite impressive, with lots of nice shops and restaurants. We had lunch at an establishment called Duck Fat, whose chef is a former winner of the James Beard award (a very good thing). The lines and wait times were long.
Their Belgian fries are twice cooked in duck fat. That may not sound very appetizing, but they were possibly the best we've ever eaten. The sandwiches we ordered were okay but not up to the standards of the fries.
We were so impressed by the pretty downtown that we dropped into a Remax real estate office to find out what kind of houses and condos were available. The housing inventory is currently rather limited, but the prices seemed reasonable. We particularly liked the section of Portland where grand homes overlook the bay. We are fans of the city and have added it to our list of possibles.
Last evening we sat outside at our campground talking with the couple whose motorhome adjoins ours. (Theirs is bigger.) He is an ER physician and their home is on the southwest coast of Florida. We were saddened to learn that those magnificent white sand beaches we were so impressed by a few months ago are now plagued by something called blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) bloom, which is toxic and ugly and makes those waters unusable for the next several months. And this seems to be becoming an annual event.
As we sat there at dusk, we noticed some mosquitoes in the air, but the conversation was fun and we didn't retreat for a while. Today we have a bunch of itchy mosquito bites, from feet to earlobes. This is something that just didn't happen when we lived in the Santa Cruz area. A black mark for the East Coast, a plus for the West Coast, but who's keeping score?
Nancy's reservation was with American Airlines, the only direct flight to Philadelphia, and was scheduled to leave at 1:46 PM today. Around 3PM she received a text informing her that the flight had been canceled, and her new departure time was 7:24 PM. While we were on the way to the airport, she got a text saying that there was a new departure time - 8:05 PM. We started back to the campground to wait for a while, but soon she got a text telling her that the updated departure time was 7:30 PM. I reversed course and dropped her off at the airport. You can imagine our tearful farewell at the curb.
American Airlines must be the worst airline in America. From the exorbitant ticket prices for that particular route to the nickel-and-diming at every opportunity to the reduction of seat room to a schedule which apparently can't be depended on, we're not going to be recommending that you fly those particular skies.
I just spoke with Nancy. She told me that American Airlines, while she was at the airport, texted her several times to change the scheduled departure time. Finally she was expecting to board at 7:40 and was sitting in a restaurant when she heard, "Last call for Wilson on AA flight 1936". She ran to the gate and the flight took off at 7:09 PM. Total confusion. She arrived safely in Philly, and her brother Ren picked her up and took her to her hotel.
Nancy will be gone for three days. I'll miss her desperately. The dogs are distraught.
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