After more bagels and lots of coffee for breakfast we left Boston and once again Google Maps worked just fine to get us out of the city and avoiding the toll roads. As we had lots of time to kill I plotted a route taking us along the coast so we could experience as much of the scenery and coastal drive as possible. This of course meant avoiding the highways and we mostly stayed on the US-1. We got some more shopping in from a Walmart on the way and took a leisurely drive to Ogunquit, passing many, many scenic and quaint towns on the way.
The sea and coast aren’t THAT scenic along this route, but the drive itself, with lots of really pretty houses and towns certainly is. At our first stop on the coast, Salisbury, it turned out to be really foggy and we could barely see the sea – though the beach was surprisingly packed with people in bikinis, while we were shivering in our long sleeves!
Not too far up the coast from Salisbury we stopped at Brown’s Lobster Pound for some clam chowder. I wasn’t impressed with the clam chowder at all as it mostly consisted of cream and I am not a great fan of cream soups, but maybe that is how it is supposed to be? I did see a lot more appetising looking chowder further on the trip though didn’t try it again (so much food, so little time!). Brown’s was an experience in itself though and I suspect that most lobster pounds would be similar – different counters for ordering different things – steamed clams at one counter, lobster at another counter, and chowders and fried foods at yet another counter, with a ticketing system and casual seating once you have your food. The place was fairly busy with locals even though it was early when we got there, which I always take as a good sign, and of course it’s great being able to experience things that are so typical to the areas we visit.
We carried on up the coast from Brown’s, stopping on occasion to see what the beaches were like, but it is fair to say they were generally very underwhelming! Ogunquit itself is a lovely little town, with what is generally seen as Maine’s best beach. We went to have a look at it as soon as we reached Ogunquit, but didn’t stick around long due to extortionate parking fees. In fact, the whole town charges extortionate fees for public parking as I expect it gets totally rammed in the summer season. We checked into our room, which was very nice, and took a walk down to Perkins Cove, which is a very nice little area of shops and restaurants, and also the finish (or start) of the Marginal Way, which runs along the coast up to Shore Road. I had to try a local lobster roll at the Lobster Shack, which was OK but nothing to get too excited about, before we finished the evening at Jackie’s Too with a couple of drinks. Ogunquit is a great place to spend the night and our hotel, The Grand Hotel, was very good, with a huge separate bedroom and sleeper couch.
Biltong and Burger 