New England Vacation – Day 15: Portland Lighthouse, and Kai’s Happiest Time

The day started off quietly and ended with a roar, but in a good way (mostly) this time.

Maine is said to have a lot of lighthouses, but we hadn’t seen too many of them, perhaps partly because of the fog that was present during most of our stay.

But on our last day there, the fog finally lifted. So, on our way out of Portland, we went to see the Portland Head Light.

This lighthouse is Maine’s oldest, and one of its most photographed. After seeing it, I understand why.

The park surrounding the lighthouse is beautiful. And on this day, we were finally able to get a clear view of the shoreline, and of the islands nearby.

And then we were off, stopping briefly in Kennebunkport to get one last look at Maine’s rocky shores.

Once back in Massachusetts, we visited Salem, famous for its Witch Trials in the late 17th century.

We went to the visitor center and saw a film that described the events of the day, where hysteria reigned and people were hanged on the flimsiest of evidence. We then walked through a memorial that honors the victims.

We made it to our hotel in Cambridge around 3PM which left plenty of time to hit the pool and then leave for our final major activity of the vacation – taking in a baseball game at Fenway Park.

Being a big baseball fan, this was the one activity on the trip that was mostly for me. I had never seen the venerable old ballpark and it was on my bucket list. Kai did have a good time last summer at a baseball game in Japan, so I was hoping he would tolerate this okay,

When we found our seats and sat down, I was a bit disappointed. We had seats in the last row of the lower deck grandstand, and while we could see the playing field fine, our views of the rest of the park were obstructed by the upper deck hanging over us. Plus, as my wife pointed out, the seats themselves were very small and uncomfortable. And with Boston not scoring any runs early in the game, the crowd was somewhat subdued. It did not compare at all to the fabulous experience we had at the baseball game in Hiroshima.

But just as I was resigned to leaving the park early, Kai started to get really into the game.

From the time we were in the car earlier, he was making comments about how awful Boston was, primarily because of all the walking he had to do when we were here at the start of the vacation, and how crowded the city was. (He seems to have forgotten that we had some good times in the city as well including visits to the aquarium and science museum). And so, he would be cheering for the opposing team, the Kansas City Royals, just because he wanted to root against Boston.

Kai wasn’t paying too much attention to the game at first, but when the Royals jumped out to a 5-0 lead, he started to get excited. I was happy that he was enjoying himself, but was concerned about him disturbing the fans around us as he was cheering for KC (or more accurately, cheering against the Red Sox) quite loudly.

He did pause his cheering of the opposing team to join me and the crowd in the traditional singing of Sweet Caroline.

With Kansas City leading 6-2 late in the game, Kai was very loud on every pitch.

“Get him out! Get him out!” he exhorted when Boston was batting.

“Dad, I’m finally having fun in Boston!”

He thought the game was won.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Red Sox loaded the bases and brought the winning run to the plate. If the Red Sox were to miraculously come back and win the game, we’d have a very angry boy on our hands.

So, though I was cheering for the Sox the whole game, I was very relieved when they made the final out.

Kai was thrilled. It was the happiest he had been the entire vacation.

The only thing that made him even happier is what we are doing tomorrow.

“Dad, we’re going home tomorrow! Woo hoo!”