American Holiday - 1
To Maine. Girlahead had been to that marvellous state, entering it from New Hampshire in the south, just to get as far as Kennebunkport. This time was going to be different. It was a four-day tourist trip. Yes, tourist, with three girlfriends., above. A two-hour bus, which runs every hour from Boston, went straight to Portland, Maine, transport center. And there was check-in at the historic Eastland Hotel, now it's Westin, and very suitable for a quick turnover of clientele – one word of caution, don’t stay there if you're allergic to the colour brown. After a superb dinner at Nancy's home, which included enough beef fillet for 20 instead of the four young ladies, and a birthday cake for one of the other pals, tourism started proper the following morning.
A tour of Portland Museum of Art PMA with the head docent was an eye-opener. Portland is a brick bonanza and this particular building is a brick sculpture, designed by Henry Chong, who also did Boston's tower holding Four Seasons Dalton. The PMA building, finished in 1988, could be called a homage to Winslow Homer, 1836-1910, and, later that day, a visit to the late artist’s studio continued the learning. He took over what can best be described as a simple two-floor varnished-wood house because of the external light, and the location’s privacy. A couple of bonsai cedars decorate otherwise-unadorned grass. Twenty meters away are cliff tops going down to the ocean
Artists came, and come, to Maine for its coastline, the longest of any US State thanks to its signature inlets-intensity, and its luminous light. Another ‘lesson’ was an introduction to the Wyeth family, an ongoing art dynasty that includes the mighty impressive Andrew 1917-2009 and his wife and business manager Betsy James Wyeth as well as Andrew’s father, the not-so-pleasant N. C. Wyeth (Newell Convers Wyeth, 1882–1945), who met his Maker when his car collided with a train
But just as Maine is water with inlets, so the land is lush. Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens warranted more than the six hours Girlahead gave it. Over 300 acres, designed in 2007 at the cajoling of ten enthusiasts and subsequently planted now attract over 350,000 visitors a year: visitor numbers sky-rocketed after the Gardens’ board invested a total million dollars in five bespoke wood trolls made on-site to a design by Danish recycling activist Thomas Danbo – see Lilja, above. Thirty horticulturalists oversee 17 garden areas, working with their teams pre-dawn to avoid disturbing the day-trippere.
Over three meticulously planned days, 8-8, Girlahead learned, ate-and-drank. There were lunches at the Gardens, an historic inn, and outside a yachting club. A private members’ club garden was venue for one dinner, a modern seafood restaurant for another. She was taught to eat whole lobster, see below, in a 600-seat highly polished restaurant converted from a long-time busy car ferry by the father of present owner Johnny DiMillo. It’s reached by a stylish gangplank from land but it’s still moored: most of the small part of Maine that Girlahead had time to see on this See Portland Harbor, above.
