Cindy deRosier: My Creative Life: October 2025

This is my fourth post about our New England and Canada cruise aboard the Enchanted Princess. I recommend reading the first, second, and third posts from the trip before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received complimentary admission tickets for some of the places we visited during our trip. Other places are free for everyone; we paid full price for the rest. This has no bearing on my reviews.

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Portland, Maine

On Tuesday, September 16 we visited beautiful Portland, Maine.

Our first destination was Long Wharf.

There's a piece of the Berlin Wall on display, the third we'd seen in 5 days. I should start documenting the sightings the way I do when I find one of 8 Places to Find Moon Rocks. On the right, Portland's solution to a love locks problem.

We boarded the Harbor Queen for the Harbor Lights and Sights Cruise by Portland Discovery Land and Sea Tours.

In Newport and Boston, Jonna took Princess-organized shore excursions while we did our own thing. In Portland, she joined us for this tour.

The weather was absolutely perfect. We were so lucky during the entire trip.

There's our ship in the distance.

This is Portland Head Light, Maine’s oldest lighthouse. It was commissioned by George Washington.

We saw many lobster traps during the tour. Actually, it's more accurate to say we saw many lobster trap buoys during the tour. The only actual traps I saw were with this fisherman.

This is Fort Gorges, completed in 1864. It was used as a storage facility during WWI and WWII.

There's our ship again!

We saw several other lighthouses and many of the islands of Casco Bay.

Our guide was outstanding. He kept us informed and entertained during the entire trip. I highly recommend taking the Harbor Lights and Sights cruise when you're in Portland.

After the tour, we visited locations along the 2-mile Portland Freedom Trail. The Trail marks 13 important sites in Black history, specifically those dealing with 19th-century men and women who fought against slavery. All of the sites were really interesting, but the one I enjoyed learning about the most was the barber shop of Jacob C. Dickson. During the time of the Underground Railroad, Dickson's barber shop served as a places to exchange information, help change people's appearances, and arrange for transportation for fugitives.

Walking along the Portland Freedom Trail gave us the chance to see more of this charming city.

Why, Maine? Why?!

Interestingly, every souvenir shop sells a bunch of stuff featuring the Pine Tree Flag. And literally nothing with the current state flag.

They also sell a lot of things related to lobsters, like books, toys, sachets, keychains, pins....

... lobster trap ornaments, more books...

... and sweatshirts with trick-or-treating lobsters dressed as ghosts. Obviously.

We had a wonderful day in Portland, Maine! I'm so glad we were able to see more of the Pine Tree State. I hope to return soon.

This is my third post about our New England and Canada cruise aboard the Enchanted Princess. I recommend reading the first and second posts from the trip before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I received complimentary admission tickets for some of the places we visited during our trip. Other places are free for everyone; we paid full price for the rest. This has no bearing on my reviews.

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Boston, Massachusetts

Steve, Trevor, and I have been to Boston twice (most recently in 2023) so we'd already seen many of the major attractions. But there were two we missed previously that we were eager to see during our short time in Massachusetts' capital city. They're conveniently located next to each other at Columbia Point.

The first was the Commonwealth Museum.

We've been to some spectacular state museums across the US and we were hoping Massachusetts' would be similar. As it turns out, the Commonwealth Museum has good exhibits, but it is very, very small. The museum is housed in a large building, but only a tiny part of the facility is actually the museum. The rest is the Massachusetts Archives. Not only is the museum quite small, but when we arrived there were students just starting a guided field trip. They filled half of the space, so we moved around as they did to try not to be in their way. That made it difficult to enjoy the exhibits.

There are a few hands-on activities that are fun.

Can you name the three states, besides Massachusetts, that are Commonwealths?

The most impressive part of the Commonwealth Museum is the Treasures Gallery. It is home to one of 14 original copies of both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Also on display are the Charter of Massachusetts Bay, the Charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Follow the link to see the Treasures Gallery, as no photography is allowed.

So would I recommend a visit to the Commonwealth Museum? Yes, for three reasons. 1) Despite being small, the exhibits are interesting and informative. 2) It's free. 3) It's located right next to an outstanding museum that you absolutely should not miss. That museum? The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

The building itself is reason enough to visit. It was designed by I.M. Pei and is considered among Pei's most significant projects. It's beautiful, inside and out.

It features stunning views of the ocean and of the Boston skyline.

As wonderful as the building is, the true treasure is inside. The first exhibit at the Presidential Library is about Young Jack. Apparently, his early efforts in school were... inconsistent.

He went on to graduate cum laude from Harvard, then published an expanded version of his senior thesis as a full-length book (affiliate link). I had no idea that he was a young author.

JFK served in the Navy in WWII. He received a Purple Heart for the back injury he sustained when a Japanese destroyer crashed into his patrol torpedo boat. If you don't know the story of JFK's heroism during that event, it's well-worth a read.

How many other presidents do you think have a Purple Heart? Click here for the answer!

The next portion of the Library is all about the 1960 election.

Newsracks are featured throughout the Library, showing the headlines from different newspapers across the US that correspond with each portion of the exhibit. It's really clever.

Trevor and I spent a long time studying the diagram of the seating arrangement in this exhibit about a state dinner. It was fascinating who was seated where.

President Kennedy has an Emmy medallion and and Jackie received a Trustees Award at the Emmys. No other First Ladies have an Emmy, but two other former presidents do. Can you name them?

The JFK Library is packed with interesting memorabilia from his short time in office. When you reach November 1963 chronologically, you enter a dark hallway filled with small screens showing news broadcasts reporting the shooting and death of the President. It is very powerful and a respectful way of documenting the tragic events.

The next portion of the Library is all about the legacy of JFK. I was giddy when I spotted that NASA logo.

Yep! That's a moon rock! Add it to the list of 8 Places to Find Moon Rocks.

That's a piece of the Berlin Wall.

I absolutely loved the JFK Presidential Library. Of the four Presidential Libraries we've visited, it's my favorite. But we weren't done quite yet. There was a temporary exhibit about Presidential Pets.