Seascape-Our Trip to Maine

Gwaltney Family Vacation





Cape Elizabeth, Maine

July 2011

The Gwaltney Family Vacation to Maine was very special as it consisted of three families, all children, grandchildren, or great grand children of Dwight and June Gwaltney. The Rick’s, Julie’s, and Mark’s were all represented and several “all family” get-together’s during the week were a fabulous way for Aunt’s, Uncle’s, Cousins, and Grandparents to spend quality time with one another.

The Julie's

The Rick's

 The Entire Clan

After a morning of traveling, PJ's was the lunch stop and our first Lobster roll.  A staple made famous in Maine is a simple hot dog bun with mayo covered in lobster meat and drizzled with butter on top.  The picture does not do these things justice. 

The Mark Gwaltney family stayed at a house on the sea with a beautiful view in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Seascape was a quaint little house that overlooked the sea, a lighthouse, many traveling sailboats and an occasional cruise liner. We enjoyed our mornings overlooking the ocean and our deck with an occasional cool breeze. Cape Elizabeth had record high temperatures during our week in Maine, sometimes into the high 90’s, which made the lack of air conditioning in the homes and restaurants tough to endure at times but this group never stopped enjoying our time together.

Seascape housed The Mark’s which included Mark (Papa) and Tami (MiMi), Malinda (Momee), John (Dadee), and Ethan (Lil E), Jenny (Denny) and Alex (Duck), Wallis (Yallis) and little brother Kyle (Big E or KyKy).

John and Ethan checking out the coast line upon our arrival at Seascape

The view from our deck Saturday evening

Saturday, after a full day of traveling, good food at PJ O’Sullivan’s, and a trip to Sam’s Club to buy food for the week, the Mark’s went into South Portland and discovered it is a great district with wonderful restaurants, shopping, and bars only about 20 minutes from Cape Elizabeth. We landed at The Dry Dock restaurant where we enjoyed a view of the harbor and Oysters and local beer on tap. Ethan enjoyed the oyster crackers, milk, running up and down the deck and climbing the stairs.

Sunday, we ate at the infamous Lobster Co. at Long Warf harbor. The steamed lobster was right from the water near the harbor and they were wonderful! That evening The Mark’s hosted the first “all-family” dinner at our home. Grandpa and Marsha, The Julie’s, and The Rick’s came and we had shrimp taco’s with mango and corn salsa. The highlight of the evening was the “Headband” and “Vegetable” games, and our brother/sister competition with attempts at the dance move “the worm”. We laughed and laughed until late into the evening!

The Lobster Co.

 Ethan's newest trick is to say trash and take whatever he deems as trash to the can to throw it away.  It is pretty cute.  He didn't want Momma's napkin on the floor so he happily helped pick it up!

 Yummm...speaks for itself!

 What can I say? He is my baby brother!

Monday, the day of the lobster! We hit the sea for our “Lucky Catch” Lobster tour. This was a highlight for everyone, especially Alex and Ethan! We experienced everything from baiting for lobster to pulling up the cages and putting the rubber bands on their claws. After catching lobster all afternoon we headed to Julie’s house to sit by the pool and refresh before heading to dinner. That night we ate at Bull Feeney’s Irish Bar and Grill and enjoyed another wonderful dinner and live Irish music. Everything was great but the highlight was Papa’s grilled lobster; this became our new favorite way to have lobster prepared. Grilling it made it so good! That evening Jenny, Alex, Wallis, Kyle, Malinda and John stayed in South Portland and played table hockey and sang karaoke while MiMi and Papa spent time at Seascape with Ethan.

On board "The Lucky Catch" Lobster Tour

 The newly engaged couple-what a cute engagment picture! (ha-ha)

 Ethan loved to look at the lobsters in the tank with MiMi

Alex baiting the lobster.  He boxed out to get this job!

A true hunter gatherer indeed-That is why we love him!

Wallis looking gorgeous in the lobstering uniform!

 The Lobstering "Laws" are pretty intense.  Each lobster has to be measured to ensure it is not too small or too large and not a breeding female.  This one was just right!

A very captive audience!

 Papa and Ethan driving the boat back to the harbor

 After lobstering hanging out avoiding the rain before heading to Julie's pool

Alex's signature picture smile! 

 At Julie's pool with the cousins

Tuesday, the big boy’s all headed to Portland for their Deep Sea fishing trip, while the ladies and Ethan headed into Portland for shopping and lunch. John caught the first Stripe Bass and Papa had the biggest catch of the day. Everyone caught Mackerel to use as bait for the “big catch”. Although, they didn’t catch as many big fish as they had hoped all “the boy’s” loved the experience and would love to do it again. The ladies enjoyed the Flatbread Co. restaurant for lunch and homemade local frozen yogurt while shopping. Ethan LOVED the chocolate peanut butter yogurt and wore it on his face and shirt the rest of the afternoon! That evening the Julie’s hosted the “all-family” dinner lobster throw-down. This was the unanimous highlight for the food for the week. Each family brought fresh lobster and Julie's family prepared corn, brats, potatoes, and it all went into a pot to be steamed. It was so good! Prior to boiling the lobster’s we had a lobster race and snacked on the fish that the boy’s caught while deep sea fishing.

Shopping in South Portland

The "ThrowDown"

Wednesday, after a lazy morning at Surfside the Mark’s headed to “The Lobster Shack” in Cape Elizabeth for lunch and to see the lighthouse. The name doesn’t lie as you stand in line at a shack and order fresh seafood and lobster to eat at picnic tables over looking the sea. The fact that it is a shack doesn’t hurt business as people come from all over to eat there. Ethan particularly loved this one as he could run around outside and point to all the ducks while picking up rocks on the ground. We then took Wallis to the airport before heading to the Rick’s for dinner. They hosted the Wednesday “all-family” dinner where they served hamburgers, seafood couscous, clam chowder, jalapeno poppers, and strawberry shortcake! After Papa, MiMi and Ethan headed to bed, the big kids-Malinda, John, Jenny, Alex, Kyle, and cousins Jason, and Angie all headed into South Portland for a Jenga competition. The Old’s (Jason, John, & Angie) challenged the Young’s (Malinda, Jenny, Kyle, Alex) to a dual and the Old’s narrowly escaped with victory, Apparently, KS dominates the Jenga board as we drew spectators from the others in the bar as our tower continued to grow taller and increasingly wobbly. After Jenga we continued the evening by participating in Karaoke at another place down the road.

Thursday, we headed to a beach to find sea shells and sea glass. The water was FREEZING but in the heat it eventually felt good to walk around in. The water was very sparkly and had a lot of sediment in it that looked like pepper and diamonds. Ethan loved the beach and especially loved throwing the sea shells back into the water and watching them splash. Kyle and John threw rocks and Kyle won for skipping the rock the most times. Thursday evening we went on a Sunset harbor cruise. As we headed farther from land the cool breeze was refreshing and we saw more of the area’s homes, old forts, ships, and local wildlife. We ate at 555 and enjoyed the best Mussels and Oysters of the trip.

 Sisterly Love!  I may be older but it's still fun to beat up on Kyle!

 It is much tougher now!

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Friday, our last day, we beat the heat by heading to The Julie’s pool. We enjoyed playing pool games like world record football throwing competitions, pole Frisbee, and under water swimming competitions with the kids. It was a refreshing and very relaxing way to end our time in Maine. Our final night we had intended on grilling our own fresh lobster and cooking in but due to the heat, we went with Plan B and headed back to Dry Dock, where we began our trip, and all had one final lobster dinner. Kyle met his goal and had lobster every day that we were in Maine and all of us had it most days of the week!

This vacation was so wonderful and a trip that I will always remember!  We enjoyed the presence of family and friends and stepped out of the fast paced, technology crazed, world we now call life.  The truth is, even with the heat, I wouldn't change a thing!