Travels in Maine: Cape Elizabeth

When PP and I were in northwestern New Hampshire we suddenly realized we were only 1.5 hours away from the Atlantic coast of Maine, a place I always have wanted to visit. I have imagined that it looks a lot like the Swedish West Coast (Bohuslan), and since New Jersey's shore is only sand and mud, I have been longing for coastal rocks for a long time. So we went on a day trip, down to Portland, Maine, which is famous for its lobsters, severe winters, and probably more that I don't know about. Right south of the city of Portland is Cape Elizabeth, which guards the entrance to the Portland harbor with a pair of twin lighthouses.
Can you see Sweden? This is the most northern place I have been to on the Atlantic coast, but it is still not up at Gothenburg's latitude I think. Vresrosor (Rosa rugosa) grows here too, just like in Sweden. Lots and lots of kelp and other seaweeds (algae), since it was low tide. We looked for creatures in the tidal pools and didn't find many. There must be huge storms here in the winter and fall.
Some green and red algae in a tidal pool. In the crevices we found lots of tiny blue mussels, and barnacles covered large surfaces (below). Littorina snails were also around, but not too many. Right outside the rocks great cormorants and eiders were fishing. The male eiders look like something out of a black-and-white comic magazine.
The rocks are not granite like on the West Coast of Sweden, but instead very folded sedimentary rocks that sometimes look very similar to petrified wood, and they erode similar to how wood rots too. They were created at the same time as the Swedish Mountain chain, hundreds of millions of years ago. Large quartz lines runs crosswise through them.

Petals of the sea shore rose (Rosa rugosa) and a coastal lichen (Xanthoria, vagglav in Swedish). Just like in Sweden.
There were at least two types of barnacles, probably more, but I am no Darwin to tell them apart (he was an expert on barnacles after doing the Beagle voyage). I felt bad stepping on them, but they were everywhere, covering the whole surface of some rocks. The way they feed by opening the top and whisking in little creatures with a feathered thing is quite amusing and amazing. Imaging living your life as a barnacle, pretty boring, right?
At Cape Elizabeth is also a great little restaurant, very unassuming, perched right on the cliffs next to the sea called the Lobster Shack. When it storms bad I assume they need to close, that is how close you are to the waves. The restaurant has been reviewed by the Roadfood crew, see here. We ordered two traditional things - lobster roll and fried clams. The roll is a bun filled with fresh cooked lobster, mayonnaise and some spices (and a pickle), and they were great. It was the first time I have had this. The fried clams were even better, the best I have ever had. Moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I don't know why people don't fish for clams in Sweden, they are so good! In New Jersey people dip their fried clams in tomato cocktail sauce, but here it was tartar sauce. Those clams were among the best food we had on the whole trip.
We also saw a seagull steal a large chunk of lobster from a very surprised couple. The man got very angry and attacked the seagull, which eventually flew away with a nice piece of lobster tail meat. PP said at some restaurants they have signs that they are not replacing food stolen by the gulls. I bet! In Stockholm they have the hot dog gulls, here there are lobster gulls.

I want to go back to Maine, one day wasn't enough. I wonder how it is in the winter, with snow and storms and ice...