Flexibility...

We thought Larry and Annie (current hosts) were arriving back in Portland on Saturday.  It actually says that in their original posting.  They actually arrived back on Friday around 5 pm.  They offered to let us stay with them Friday night, but after Wednesday night with Lunabelle, we decided to find an alternative.  Lunabelle was not feeling well on Wednesday and slept a lot.  I left her sleeping on the couch when I went to bed.  At around 1:30 am, she started crying and scratching at our bedroom door.  These two dogs have never bothered us at night; so it seemed unusual.  I thought she might still be sick and went to see if she was alright.  Instead, she seemed quite perky and started barking and running around the house.  She woke up Toto, who also started barking and running around.  I told her to go lay down and went back to bed, but Lunabelle kept barking and running around through the night.  We did not want another night like that, so we opted to find a place for the night.

We found a hostel in downtown Portland for Friday night, so that we could stay and attend the Art Walk from 5 pm - 8 pm in arts district and around downtown Portland.  It seems that art walks are held the first Friday of the month in Portland.  Various art galleries, museums, and other venues are open for free. Artisans sell crafts as well.

Thursday, we took the dogs to East Beach to run and then took them on a long walk on East Promenade and then through the neighborhood.  On our walk, we went by a building that looked like a red brick lighthouse. 

Lunabelle-Mae on our walk

The view from Fort Sumner Park

Fort Sumner Park (was a fortification on Munjoy Hill (1794)

View of for the park

Portland Observatory

The Portland Observatory is not a lighthouse and was built in 1807 as a signal tower.  Captain Lemuel Moody ordered the construction of the 86-foot high tower was built on Munjoy Hill and Moody charged ship owners $5.00 for subscription to his signaling service.  Ships in the harbor could not be seen from docks of Portland until they round Spring Point Ledge (the site of the Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse that we visited on Wednesday).  Using a powerful telescope at the top of tower, incoming vessels could be identified as far away as 30 miles.  Moody used a signal flag to let merchants know of approaching vessels.  The invention of the two-way radio in 1923, made the signaling system obsolete.  The Portland Observatory was donated to the city and it was opened to tourists1939.  It is the only remaining historic maritime signal station in the United States. 

We made our way back to our car with two tired dogs.  They definitely slept well Thursday night.

On Friday, we got up, had breakfast, and walked to the EVO Climbing Gym.  It was a nice climbing gym, close by, and with a good variety of routes.  After climbing, we went back to clean up the house and pack our things into the car.  We headed to downtown Portland and the Black Elephant Hostel.  The hostel was nice and very convenient to the First Friday Art Walk.  We get settled in and then we took a walk.  A little after 5 pm, we headed to the Art Walk.  There were galleries, art stores, and art vendors.  We walked through some of the stores, checked out the Maine College of Art and Design and the Portland Art Museum.  

Lunabelle Mae and Toto (Still tired from our walk)

The house sit in Portland

Outside the Black Elephant Hostel

We ended the evening with dinner at Asmara Restaurant which was an Ethiopian / Eritrean Restaurant.  The food was delicious and it was served with injera which is a fermented flat bread using a grain called Teff.  You eat your food using the injera to pick it up. 

Dinner at Asmara's