Trips
Boston & Maine Coast
We had a blast on this 7 day trip. Here's an overview.
- Suburb s of Dedham & Norwood and the updated Skating Club of Boston
- Boston (museums, the city and more)
- Day trip up to Maine
Dedham / Norwood
Quiet Suburb & Skating Facility
is a beautiful, quiet suburb south of Boston.
The Skating Club of Boston was recently updated and looks amazing. This year it hosts the Excel Nationals and next year it hosts the International ISU world competition.
Good food
There are a lot of nice and upscale restaurants and shopping. On the west side of Dedham, Legacy Place had Whole foods, Vineyard Vines, Legacy Seafood, and more. Northeast of Norwood, there's a Wegmans and a lot of other shops for whatever you might need.
We also really liked a nice local Italian restaurant, Chateau. The Haddock was juicy, sweet and flaky
Maine daytrip (from boston)
Back in time for Dinner, but found we'd like to back another time
We didn't know anything about Maine, so this was a small investment day trip to check it out. It turns out that we all loved it and would want to go back for a longer stay.
The drive up to the north end of this trip was 2hrs. That first stop was for lunch at Wells Beach Lobster Pound.
Changing scenery
We started with the traffic jams of Boston and that thinned out in the suburbs of Massachusetts. Soon we were on an interstate through the forest. We crossed into New Hampshire and soon exited it as well as that portion is very small. About 1.5 hrs into the drive, we exited the main highway (95) and drive onto smaller and smaller roads towards the beach.
Wells Beach & Wells Beach Lobster Pound
Wells Beach is a nice beach vacation town. We had a wonderful time at Wells Beach Lobster Pound (see below). The found was good and you can get lunch, personal sized lobsters or massive lobsters suited for a family get together. They were also very nice and knowledgeable. Did you know that you can tell a male from a female lobster by its tail and that this difference has an important purpose? Also, some like recently molted lobsters. The shell is softer, but the tail is visually smaller than expected.
Coastal Drive to Nubble Lighthouse
After being satiated from lunch, we hopped in the car and drove along the coast to Sohier Park (which is the parking area for the Nubble Lighthouse). We passed many quaint towns: Moody, Ogunquit and York. I apologize for not getting more pictures of these picturesque towns. Ogunquit is quite famous and you can find more information on the web. York is really nice. There's a city center for walking around at Main St and Ocean St. There's a beach and a children's playground at Short Sands Beach.
Nubble Lighthouse
Nubble Lighthouse is at the tip of Cape Neddick that reaches far into the Atlantic Ocean. It's a place where you can feel and hear the ocean breeze. Many people visit and take pictures there. Some will take long leisure sits on the benches there. I saw one group set up a picnic table by their RV. I enjoyed climbing the rocks with my kids and finding wildlife in between the rocks.
Ice cream and a restful drive back
Nubble Lighthouse has a restaurant nearby (Fox's Lobster House). But since we just wanted a treat / snack, we went down the street to Dunne's Ice Cream. Their selection and size are impressive. One of my kids had bubble gum ice cream with real bubble gum. I remember a time when the bubble gum was temporarily banned. After enjoying the ice cream and stopping by the restrooms, we drove back to the hotel.