Trip to Maine, Part 1: Portland Head Lighthouse

My sister and I headed to Maine a week and a half ago and we had a blast. We made the most of the 7 hour or so journey there, stopping along the way to take in some of the sights. I'd been to Maine many times, but there were still a few places off the highway that I hadn't seen yet. One of them was this lighthouse.

This is the gorgeous Portland Head Light, located just south of Portland, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. We stopped here after about 3 hours or so to rest and get some photos. I tried to be a little creative with the above. Below is the classic scene. You can see it on just about every postcard of Portland. Sure, it's been done...but you can see why!

It kind of looks like a postcard, but this is actually how it looked. The red and white lighthouse is really striking against the rocky coastline and the sky was that perfect shade of blue.

And it's the same scene on the welcoming sign when you enter this charming town, too.

Frank's hotdogs give visitors to the light an excuse to picnic on the lawn, overlooking the ocean. The man in the red suspenders was so cute.

We could see another lighthouse off in the distance, which I learned is called Ram Island lighthouse.

Here you can see that the Portland lighthouse looks out to the Ram Island light. There were quite a few people there, considering it was a Thursday afternoon. You can tour the lighthouse and there is a little museum inside, but it was beginning to look a bit stormy and we decided to get back on the road and on the remaining 4 hour journey we had ahead.

I would really love to make a summer trip to Portland and explore the city itself. If anyone has been there or has any tips I would like to know! I'm thinking of staying in the Old Port section of the city, the travel guides claim it has the best shops and restaurants. It's only about 3 hours from me, so it would be a great weekend adventure.
My sister and I decided on taking the Coastal Route, route 1, on the way up to Bar Harbor, so the rest of our journey was very scenic. More to come...