But you can stop on the roadside across the inlet from the Bush home and take all the pictures you want. In fact, so many sightseers want that souvenir photo that a paved turnoff was built at the overlook to accommodate them.

As for the Bushes, you might get lucky and catch a glimpse of them in town, though residents say the former first family hasn't been getting out and about as much as they used to. On my visit, I learned that a couple of days before I ate lunch at Mabel's, the former president and his wife, Barbara, stopped there for ice cream.

I missed them, and likely so will you, but that's not the reason most visitors come to this quintessential New England coastal town.

They come for its beaches, Down East ambience, and laid-back elegance.

One-of-a-kind shops line tourist-oriented Dock Square and Ocean Avenue. Just about any specialty items can be acquired here - pottery, jewelry, fashions, antiques, or toys. You can even find a souvenir for your pooch.

Dozens of restaurants, from paper-napkin eateries to white-glove dining rooms, serve Maine's best-known delicacy - lobster. Nearly all of the country's lobsters are caught in the waters off the Maine coast, and even the tiniest take-out diner will cook one for you.

One exception is a giant, 20-pound crustacean named George, who was spared a boiling death earlier this year when activists successfully pleaded with a New York City restaurant to let him go free. Fittingly, George was released in waters less than a mile from the home of another George (Bush).

After their lobster, visitors likely will finish with another major Maine product, blueberries. Try them in ice cream for a real treat.

Sandy beaches nestle in coves all along this rocky coast and are among Maine visitors' favorites. The summer sun is great for tanning, but even at this time of year, the waters may still be a bit chilly.

Gooch's Beach is a popular strand near town, along with adjacent Middle Beach and Mother's Beach. The latter has a playground for kids. In the summer, you must have a permit to park at the beaches. Stickers ($15 per day, $25 per week, $50 per season) are available from the town hall, police station and chamber of commerce. Farther up the coast is a less-known beach - mile-long Goose Rocks.

Kennebunkport has a variety of accommodations, with inns and B&Bs especially popular with visitors. Among the major hotels and resorts are Nonantum Resort, the Colony Hotel, and the Breakwater Inn, all of which have excellent dining facilities.

Visitors can take a horse-drawn carriage or the Intown Trolley for a tour of Kennebunkport, but a different sort of ride is offered by the Seashore Trolley Museum, which boasts that it is "the oldest and largest electric railway museum in the world." With more than 250 transit vehicles, most of them trolleys, from almost every state and many countries, the museum offers unlimited rides on its 2-mile demonstration railway.

Also worth a visit is St. Anthony's Franciscan Monastery, whose 66-acre grounds are open to the public. Most walkways are paved, and visitors will come upon a number of religious shrines, including the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Chapel of the Stations of the Cross, and a sculpture that graced the Vatican pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Nothing is too far from Kennebunkport. Boston is 11/2 hours away. The outlet shops of Kittery, Maine, are less than a half-hour away, and Ogunquit, Maine, with its popular 76-year-old summer playhouse, is just down the road.

The Kennebunks

Kennebunk/

Kennebunkport Chamber

of Commerce

207-967-0857

www.visitthekennebunks.com