Travels With Wesley

Got to Ellsworth Mon. evening, staying at the Hampton Inn.  What a nice little hotel, clean and friendly.  Tuesday was more of the same with rain off and on, and generally grey.  We drove down into Bar Harbor.  Three cruise ships in the harbor.  The vermin run off the cruise ships as soon as they dock, and infest the streets.  Two logged vermin I’m speaking of.

A pretty little cove in Bar Harbor.

We drove on to Blue Hill, bought a book at Blue Hill Books, then drove on the Deer Island and Stonington.  Stonington has the only working harbor left on the island.  A Stoinington cove.

A leaf.  why I don’t know.

I should belong to this organization.

Ate dinner at a great family owned lobster pound in Trenton, Lund’s Gateway Lobster Pound.  Highly recommended.

Sunday in Portsmouth was rainy again.  Church at a nice Episcopal Church, coffee and buns at a coffee shop, then a performance of Cabaret at the local rep theatre.  An excellent performance.  A mediocre dinner at the river House on Bow Street, then bed.  Monday dawned the same, overcast and rainy.  We had tickets for a boat trip on the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth.  The weather improved throughout the day.

Here is an interesting building on the river, the Portsmouth Naval Prison, no longer used, too expensive to renovate and too expensive to tear down.  It is on the property of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Here is a link to info about the prison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Naval_Prison

Fort Constitution and the Portsmouth River Lighthouse: http://www.nhstateparks.com/fortconstitution.html

The weather was in and out blustery and sunny all morning.  This is the Whaleback Lighthouse at the mouth of the river.

http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=552

An abandoned structure on the whaleback ledge near the lighthouse.

Pulling up lobster pots in the river.

After the river trip, we started north to the Ellsworth area in the rain which started again as we left the boat.

 

 

 

It was a rainy, dreary evening in Portsmouth, N.H.  The fog and mist reminded one of a london pea soup.  Walking across the Memorial Bridge, closed now to traffic, being readied for demolition,

I caught sight of this dreary boathouse on the Kittery, ME side of the river.

It was that kind of an evening.  Being however a happy soul, I saw the boat house as bright, beautiful, how it might have appeared on a better evening.

After a fine lobster dinner at Warren’s in Kittery, ME, we walked back across the bridge and found ourselves in the middle of a celebration of the bridge, and one of the best firework shows I’ve seen, made even better by the pea soup.

Waiting for the bus, I became entranced by this church steeple in the fog.

Portsmouth is a nice little city, and I recommend it as a place to visit.

Some People have to work pretty hard to make a nickel:

These folks were filming a commercial taping people’s comments regarding Wheat Thins. She was just a pedestrian they pulled in for the job:

I never get tired of the river:

The skyline via the bean:

An interesting structure:

Taken on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  This statue, immediately recognizable by almost anyone in the civilized world, graces Michigan Avenue near the Chicago River bridge.

I often wonder how iconic Marilyn, and others, would have been had they lived a normal life span.  Think of Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc.  Had they lived might their popularity have dimmed somewhat?

Those of you old enough, remember how risqué this photo was thought to bewhen it first appeared?

Had a couple of good days in downtown Chicago while I was up there for the two art shows.  Gina joined me for three days, and she enjoyed the trip. No town I like better than Chicago.  Spent a lot of time at the Art Institute, and had a couple of great lunches at local Italian restaurants.  I especially recommend the Italian Village at 71 W Monroe.

The Art Institute has an exhibit of Marc Chagall’s America Windows. From the Institute’s publicity:

“This fall, after a five-year absence, the Art Institute welcomes the much-anticipated return of one of the most beloved treasures in our vast collection, Marc Chagall’s America Windows. First debuting at the Art Institute in 1977 and made forever famous less than ten years later by an appearance in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the “Chagall Windows,” as they are more popularly known, hold a special place in the hearts of Chicagoans. Following an intensive period of conservation treatment and archival research, the windows return as the stunning centerpiece of a new presentation at the east end of the museum’s Arthur Rubloff building.”

Absolutely beautiful with the light behind them.  The photos don’t really do them justice.

Another exhibit was the Soviet propaganda posters from World War II.  From the Institute: