Summer 2013 East Coast Trip - Day 1 by: Michael Giovanis

Day 1
Michael here, writing the first return post of our beautiful little travel blog. This time we are taking a splendid trip down the East Coast via car. This may sound like a nightmare to most angsty teens, but to me it presents a wonderful opportunity to see and experience the variety of culture our nation has to offer. We started our odyssey in Portland, Maine (unfortunately the cooler Portland is on the opposite side of the country). It is a surprisingly beautiful landscape, the blending of old civil war buildings with modern day industrialization makes for a startling contrast that is brings a rich cozy, homey feeling to the town. We were scheduled for lobster catching at 5:30, so we left the hotel at around 1:00 to explore the town. We started off with lunch at Olive Cafe, which was a "casual Mediterranean food experience".  The food was quite good and the service impeccable; the owner-a Lebanese man-acted as both waiter and chef, and personally spoke with all the guests. We also saw a man wearing a huge multi-colored sombrero, with tight biker shorts and a bright yellow running shirt. He ran up to a woman and hit her on the butt with his bag and then ran off.

 
We then walked around the various shops until we found a fortune teller. My siblings and I decided it would be fun, but mother clearly has a dark mantra around her because she refused to do it, citing fears of a bad fortune, which doesn’t make sense because she is super old, and it’s pretty much an uphill battle from here on out. Then we got some gelato! I was then forced to choose in-between watching construction workers mill about or go shopping with the Girlz. I chose the former. Construction workers; I thank you for the limited entertainment you provided me. We then meandered down to the wharf and checked in an hour early for the lobster catching. I decided to take a nap on a bench. This is where things got weird, I am still not quite sure what happened, nor have I seen the pictures, but my family thought it would be great to use me as a prop while taking pictures with strangers. From the limited information I have gathered an Australian woman almost gave me a wedgie and a wild bird decided to take a nap on my back, all the while I stayed blissfully ignorant.

 

 

We then went out lobster catching which was surprisingly fun, we also saw quite a few beautiful sites, and hopefully the editor includes some pictures.

 

We then came to shore with our live lobsters and walked straight to a restaurant who cooked them for us; I doubt I have eaten a fresher meal in my life; the lobster still had a hint of seawater when we ate it.

Still hungry, we stopped at a pizzeria, there I met this kid who was reading some pretty cool comics, but since I’m waaaaaaaayyyy cooler I gave him some recommendations. Ok maybe it was the other way around, but at least I don’t live in boring Portland. I now finish this post freshly showered and clean before I get a goodnights sleep. Day well spent.