Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Trip Start Jul 24, 2007

Trip End Aug 24, 2007

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Flag of United States Portland, Maine, United States
Wednesday, August 8, 2007

In the morning we were all to happy leave our hotel room. Let's just say that it was not the best place we have ever stayed in...first of all the only room left was a smoking room. And actually, that was not a major problem, the room didn't really smell like smoke. However, people were smoking in the hallway which seeped into our room under the floor, ew. Also in the morning the people in the rooms surrounding ours were really loud, annoying and even mistook our door for another and knocked loudly on it. So we got up and out of there by 9am.

There also wasn't anywhere to eat that we could see or wanted to eat at near the hotel so we drove down the highway a bit until we found a place. We picked a sign off the side of the highway and ended up eating at the "Purple Cow." It was another mom and pop type place and had an extensive breakfast menu. Everything we ordered was huge, the size of the pancakes, the potatoes and the interesting order 2 eggs, get a third one on your plate for free (Dad liked that a lot)

The Purple Cow

. Everyone else at the restaurant besides us of course looked like lumberjacks, and when they departed I could see them all get into their large heavy duty work trucks and head off to the woods somewhere I assume. One odd moment during breakfast that almost ruined my meal for me was seeing our waitress sneak into the not so hidden side room with her lumberjack boyfriend to kiss before he left and got into his truck. It was another...interesting...place....

After eating massive amounts of pancakes and eggs we got back on the road and headed to Portland, ME. We went there to see the house that the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grew up in. The house was made of brick, the first in the city to be built out of brick at the time, which protected it from the many fires that the city endured. It was built by Henry's grandfather Peleg Wadsworth for his family after the Revolutionary War where he had fought with George Washington. There he and his wife raised ten children including Henry's mother Zilpah. She married Steven Longfellow and a few years later when her father moved the rest of the family to a farm up north he gave the house to Zilphah and her husband. Henry was the second child born to Stephen and Zilpah and lived in the house until he went to school at Bowdoin College. He graduated at the age of 17 along with others in his class like Nathaniel Hawthorne, and a man who was part of President Lincoln's cabinet

Dad and I at the Longfellow House

. After he graduated, he taught Modern Languages at Bowdoin, traveled to Europe and began writing poetry. His publications such as Evangeline, The Song of Hiawatha and Paul Revere's Ride would make him one of the most popular people in America, equivalent to a movie star or rock star today. After the house tour we went to the museum that showcased an exhibit on his very artistic and talented family. It was very interesting, I liked it a lot, and so did the parents, especially Dad who is a big fan.

With nothing left to do in Portland we made a quick stop at a used bookstore for Dad and then drove to Boston. We decided to stay outside the city in Bedford to avoid people and traffic congestion. Tomorrow we will see Lexington and Concord and may venture into Boston, but probably not. We are not sure that we want to attempt the crowed city.