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As I mentioned in an earlier post, We stayed at Extended Stay America in Scarborough. Thanks to some deft use of HotWire.com, our three night stay came to less than $150–not bad for a holiday weekend! ESA is a no-frills sort of affair. The beds are basic but reasonably comfortable. We had a room with two double beds, a kitchenette, a table with two chairs, and a bathroom with a tub that might have fit Her (She’s only 5′3″ tall and doesn’t quite make 110 lbs even before she dries off) but certainly not me. There was air conditioning and a small television with decent cable. ESA also provides wireless internet access for a one-time $4.99 fee.

One of the areas that ESA cuts corners on to reduce costs is linens. Unless specifically requested, the linens are not changed during your stay if it’s less than one week. In fact, housekeeping does not even enter your room unless you request it. There is, of course, an extra charge if they do. This was fine with She and I, but it might bother some people. Again, cost was our number one concern, so anything to save costs was fine with us. There was soap for the sink and the shower, but strangely no shampoo or conditioner. I’m not entirely sure whether this was intentional or merely an oversight, but since I had brought my gym bag with me and not taken my little travel bottles out of it, it was not a problem for us.
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Our nice dinner out for this trip up to Portland was at Natasha’s, 82 Exchange Street. We got this as a recommendation from the bartender at Vignola’s the night before and thought we’d check it out. The meal was very good, and the restaurant quite charming. It was not, unfortunately, the best Portland dining experience we’ve ever had.

We made a reservation for 8:30 PM on Saturday and arrived about 10 minutes early. We were seated promptly in a small dining room in what appeared to be one of two adjoining buildings that had been combined to make one restaurant. Our first warning that this might not be a perfect dining experience was when a waitress told us she’d be right with us and then we waited for ten minutes until a waiter showed up to take our drink orders. The very nice, if pricey, glasses of wine arrived pretty quickly, and we ordered our appetizers and entrées. I ordered the pirogies and a filet mignon, medium rare. She ordered the lettuces with chèvre and beets and a filet as well.

Several minutes later, the waiter re-appeared with menus in hand and sheepishly informed us that they were out of filets mignon (even though the person at the table next to us had ordered one and received no such report from his waitress) and that our meals would be on the house. She ordered the duck, and I requested the mixed grill with sirloin and scallops. And then we waited.
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It was hot today in Maine. I mean really hot. We saw a couple bank thermometers in the mid-90s. Today was about apartment hunting, so We turned on the A/C in His car and trudged on. Except for a few stops. Like the beach. We took a ride out to Prout’s Neck to check out our dream home (pictured above) and passed the Scarborough State Beach and thought we’d dip our toes in the water to see what it was like. The beach was nice, and fairly busy actually. But the water was decidedly not warm. We got in up to our ankles, but that was about it. Several intrepid souls actually got their whole bodies in, but I think we’ll need to be Mainers a while before we go swimming in May.

We did get to see several neighborhoods and a few actual apartments today. So far the most promising is an apartment on Spring St. in Westbrook, about 15 minutes from downtown Portland. The more time we spend in the Portland suburbs, the more we’re not sure we want to actually live in Portland. I think if we can find anything in Westbrook or Scarborough that fits our needs, we’ll probably jump on that. The Portland neighborhoods we looked at included Woodfords, Deering, and Libbytown. All of these are on or near Back Cove and are fairly nice. We have another viewing in Libbytown on Saturday, and got a lead on a place on Back Cove from a waitress in Old Port. If we’re going to live in Portland, I think it will be around that area. We took a look at some places in the East End and also one in West End and were not thrilled with the neighborhoods. I think if we didn’t have a dog, they might be nice. But we do, and so we need a place to walk her.
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After about four and a half hours on the road (four hours of driving plus a stop for dinner), we’re in Scarborough! Our plan to miss traffic on 495 worked perfectly. I highly recommend making this trip at off-peak hours. 495 is a much more enjoyable highway at 80 mph than it was at 8 mph last July! We rolled down all the windows when we hit the Maine border on the bridge leaving Portsmouth, NH. The air up here is just wonderful. It’s about 60 and not very humid at all right now. Simply perfect for May.

We’re staying at the Extended Stay America hotel in Scarborough, and we have internet access, so I’ll be able to blog about the trip while we’re up here. I’ll do a full review of the hotel when we get back, but so far are initial impressions are favorable, especially for HotWire’s price of $43 and change a night. Ok, that’s all for now. It was a long drive and I need some shuteye.

Time to put the bags in the car and get on the road. It’s about 275 miles to Portland, so I’m hoping we’re looking at about four hours on the road. Here’s hoping I-495 isn’t too busy at 7:30.

Three apartment appointments so far, plus a realtor or two. I’m hopeful we’ll find a place. Either way, I have my camera, so we’ll bring back some pictures.