With the flight leaving at 6:15, we had to be up around 4 in the morning. Thankfully, the airport was RIGHT there, so we didn't have to run around too much.
Check in sucked. Delta had switched to this booth only system of checking in and of course, the machines couldn't find us! So, we had to talk to a Delta employee, which meant waiting for one. Grrr. After that, we ran off to security.
The layout of Pittsburgh's airport is rather unique, but poses some problems. The "land terminal" (check in, security, baggage) and the "air terminal" (the gates, which are all in one building) are separate by a tram. Kinda cool, but a little silly and it means getting things from one end of the terminals to the other takes a lot of effort. The design of the airport also uses random neon signage, which makes me happy in dorky ways. It reminds me of the Ontario Science Centre in a way. The air side has a ton of shopping and food opinions, probably because it serves all of the planes coming into the airport.
Our planes going out were little Embraer ERJ-145 jets. Let me say that I hate little planes. I find the bouncing in them more upsetting that larger planes. I had a rough flight in 2005 that had what felt like 30 minutes of turbulence, physically crashing my laptop's hard drive and I've never really liked flying since then.
Add to this that the landing into JFK was so messed up and steep than the first flight was stressful. Ugh.
Delta's terminal at JFK is kinda scuzzy. At the very least, it didn't look like it had been renovated since the 1960s. On the other hand, security there was probably the nicest we saw on the trip. Our flight was delayed and Steff had to leave to smoke several times, but security was really relaxed and didn't have a problem with her popping in and out.
Finally, we made it to Portland, Maine. Portland's airport is like Thunder Bay's, being... well, small! My first reaction, though, was to the smell of the air. Yes, the air DOES smell different. There's a clear scent of sea salt in the air, with something else that might be dead fish, but it smells better than you'd think. What it doesn't smell like is the ocean scent you get in scented candles. :D
We picked up our rental car, a little red number that they gave us after Steff asked for the smallest car they had. This time it actually was small! The trip up to South Bristol is a bit hazy. We were running on very little or no sleep. Steff pointed out some towns, but I don't think I was very good conversation for the first bit. Plus, we got a little lost. Don't ask.
We got out at Damariscotta, a cute little town north of South Bristol. It's touristy, but in a cute, laid back way. You get the impression that the downtown is used by locals as well as visitors, not like Boothbay Harbour. But the Harbour is a tale for another day's report. ;) Damariscotta, on the other hand, has food places serving things other than seafood. It's very old fashioned, and the drug store we visited was the most charming one I've seen in as long as I can remember.
After a while, we figured that we should probably head into town. Since it was long after lunch, we stopped at the Harborside for chow. This was my first run-in with it's low pricing. You see, they had omelettes on the menu and I like omelettes. There was one listed as the "Monster Omelette". Since the rest of the omelettes were priced by the food items in them, I figured that ths Monster would have a bit of everything.
I was wrong. The damn omelette had a cup each of every potential omelette item. But I ate it! HA! I conquered the giant omelette!
So, with Steff happily full and me stuffed, we went to check in at the Bed and Breakfast. Our hosts were okay, but pretentious. The room was nice and clean and the beds were comfy.
Steff wanted to walk to the swing bridge, so I came with. The hills around town are shockingly steep and wear you out after a bit. Needless to say, this was the last time we walked to the swing bridge. After that, we drove!
Along the way, I decided to buy a can of root beer from a vending machine near the bridge. This was a bad idea - the can was bulging and had a best before date from December 2007. No, I didn't drink it.
My memory gets hazy again, but I think we took a nap, or I did and Steff was kept up by my snoring. We woke up in enough time to run over to the Harborside again, where we ordered a pizza and the owner was kind enough to keep the kitchen open long enough to feed us. We took the leftovers back to the B&B, where we ate it overlooking the river.
I also had a bottle of Moxie with dinner, which can only be described as a very bitter cola. It's the offical state soft drink of Maine, though. o___O
Next time, Day Three (Sunday the 14th): Lighthouses, Sweaters and Racing Against The Kitchen's Closing Time!
As always,
Steff has photos, so go look!![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
