Boston is Boring, but Portland is a Gem

this part gets kind of confusing. we realized that we were running out of time, that there's alot of road between Maine and SLC, and we only have a week or so to get back. so a few things happened, but i cant be positive of the exact order.

first off, we rolled around Boston on some segways - still the best way to travel.

and were surprised to learn that most of downtown Boston is newer than 20 years old. there's been alot of redevelopment and alot of controversy over it. apparently, city officials are giving sweetheart contracts to their friends.

the next night we drove through Cambridge to check out Harvard. it was fascinating, and it felt weird to be dumber than average. the town is old and on a Saturday night is swarming with smart college kids and you can only guess what schemes they're hatching. we weren't able to give the place the time that it deserved, but it was still interesting seeing that it existed.

we also went up to Portland, ME, the only populated city in the whole state - which is huge and has lots of famous lighthouses, like this one. you may have seen it in a painting

and any self-respecting tourist has to do two things in Maine:

watch some whales
and eat a lobster

we did both.

first we stowed away on this fine vessel
and sailed away through the mist toward the open ocean. it was spooky

here's a fine picture of jenn right before she hurled

then the fog lifted and we found ourselves surrounded by water. we all held our breath as we came to the edge of a deep sea ravine, supposedly this is where whales like to feed. we saw a few small "minky" whales, and then, after an hour or so, our captain got really excited as we saw the back of a Fin Back whale. they're the second largest whale (but we could only see its back as it came up for air). it would come up, take five deep breaths, and then dive down deep to catch some fish, usually staying down for about 5 minutes. it would surface a hundred yards off and we would speed over to it before it went down again. we followed this guy around for almost an hour. it was pretty cool (but hard to take pictures of - sorry!) due to time restraints, we were going to point the car south and start the trip back home, but we happened upon Bruce, a very kind Portland native, who volunteers giving tours of parts of his city and he offered to give us a personal driving tour! first he took us down through Cape Elizabeth and told us about the rich heritage of his city, which has been a major port town for hundreds of years, and the trade has made some residents very rich, who, in turn, built some fantastic homes.

he took us to The Lobster Shack, an unassuming local place right on the beach

and he showed me how to push the guts out of a lobster, and which parts are a 'delicacy' - i stayed away from the green gooey parts!

a big thanks to Bruce for taking the time to show us around his very charming little city - we would have came and left without having the slightest idea about what a gem of a town Portland Maine really is. Bruce, good luck during the 4th, we know you'll do fantastic!