The Maine Event

Day 1: Started our trip from Jersey to Maine by hitting the road around mid-morning. On the way up there, WH discovered I'd never been to a Cracker Barrel (even after living in mid-Missouri for three years and visiting the South countless times) so she took it upon herself to give me my first Cracker Barrel experience. It did not disappoint. My country fried steak was heaven in my mouth and the cheesy hash potatoes were totally awesome. Let's not forget the candy selection in their store. It had every old-fashioned candy you could think of and more.

A few hours later we arrived in Freeport, Maine, and checked into our humble abode for the week, The Hampton Inn. A large moose statue sat at its entrance ready to greet us. The property was surrounded by trees and felt warm and cozy. I think my favorite part about staying there was the endless supply of hot chocolate and the freshly baked cookies that came out at 6 p.m.

Once we unloaded our belongings, we drove around town to get a feel for it. We stopped at a nearby Thai restaurant for dinner then headed home to rest after our long day of driving.

Day 2: We decided on an early start to get most of our sightseeing done since rain and snow were predicted for the following day. We started off at Bradbury Mountain State Park to look at what was left of the foliage. Thank goodness we went here first, because I don't think I would have made it to the top of Bradbury Mountain at the end of the day.

We chose the Summit hike, which was supposed to be the shortest but steepest of the hikes. A .2 mile hike? Piece of cake. As we started, we saw a group of children making their way down and thought, if they could do it, we surely could. Ummmmm, they weren't kidding when they said it was the steepest of the hikes. Halfway through I lost my breath and had to stop at least twice. I collapsed when I got to the top. I was wheezing, huffing, puffing and doing everything I could do to not toss my cookies. When I thought I was OK, I stood up, but the head rush that followed quickly put me on my ass again. Was it all worth it? Yes, it was. Check out these pics of the view from the top:

My camera obviously does not do it justice, but hopefully WH will send me the ones she took with her supercamera.

After enjoying the scenery for a few quiet moments we made our way back down, which was soooo much easier and faster than the hike up. Obviously. We jumped back into the car and headed to Wolfe's Neck Woods State Park to see the water. We followed one of the trails, which brought us to this, a view of Casco Bay and the Googins Island Osprey Sanctuary:

 

When I close my eyes and think of Maine, this is pretty much what I envision. How awesome would it be to own one of those houses in the distance?

After hitting the water it was time to head to the desert. Yes, you read that right. There is a desert in Maine. Apparently a glacier caused this natural phenomenon. To find out exactly how it happened, check out the video:

Here are some great views from the Desert of Maine:

 

 

After all that we decided to look for a lighthouse. This little trip brought us all the way to the Portland Waterfront, which really didn't impress us all that much. Since we were starving, we gave up on our search for an accessible lighthouse and headed back to our little hamlet for some Japanese food. Food coma eventually hit us so we returned to our home away from home and waited for the cookies to appear at the front desk. We were exhausted. Actually, I was pretty much wiped out after our hike up Bradbury Mountain. Yeah, I really need to work on being in better shape.

Day 3: We passed by a cantina/pub called Pedro O'Hara's numerous times, and of course, we had to make a stop and see what it was all about. We decided on a late start since we had such a long day the day before and it was freezing...luckily there was no precipitation. Pedro O'Hara's had some interesting cuisine--some Mexican, some Irish but the clientele proved to be much more interesting. There was a group of senior citizens from the South at one table and a rather odd family at the other. I could try to describe them to you, but I couldn't do them justice. Control and freak are the two words that come to mind when I think of one of the women at that table. She really had some issues.

Anyway, since Freeport is the home of a rather nice outlet shopping center and L.L. Bean, we decided to do some shopping. With a little push from WH (or perhaps a shove) I finally bought the furry winter hat I've wanted for the past year.

Yeah, I'm going to be stylin' this winter. LOL!

Next stop was the Cold River Vodka distillery. We got there just before they closed and were able to sample some of their vodka, including their special blueberry vodka. It really did smell and taste like blueberries. Hours after we drank it, WH and I were still burping blueberries. Yeah, you probably didn't need to know that, but I just thought I'd share so you'd get the full experience.

Although our day was short, the shopping and drop in temperature were enough to tire us out so after our potato vodka lesson we picked up some lobster rolls and chowder then made our way back to the hotel. Have I mentioned how much I love lobster rolls? We had them twice while we were up there and that really was not enough. WH had never had one before and now she's addicted. My coworker told me about a place in the East Village called Luke's Lobster, which I'm definitely going to check out if I need a lobster roll fix!

Day 4: Time to say goodbye to our little Maine home. Luckily, the day was sunny and clear, which made the ride home pretty easy. No traffic at all and we only saw two cops! I did think it was funny how the sky turned gray as we made our way back home.

If you've never been to Maine, I highly suggest a visit. It felt a little weird to be so far away from the rest of the country, but the scenery is incredible and well worth the trip.