Mainely Maine

I've been back from vaca for a few days, but I've been so busy that I have barely even had time to sleep, let alone post the longest entry ever (though that honor probably goes to Deals - she always has the best posts!). Here we go!

Friday, July 7


We left DC about mid-morning, and the traffic was light and airy. Well, not airy, but not overflowing with cars. So that's a plus. We flew through Maryland and Delaware (most boringest state EVER, by the way), and stopped for lunch at a lovely, wooded rest stop in New Jersey. Um, right:


Because of all of the crap that went down in NJ that week regarding the budget, the rest stop was closed, and had been for a few days. The trash cans were overflowing, the rest rooms were locked, and there was junk everywhere. Yum! Disgusted, we had a snack rather than lunch and took off as fast as possible. Because really, when even scary truck drivers and Harley guys won't use the port-a-potties, you know to avoid them.

We eventually had to explore Jersey somewhere off of the interstate, mainly for a restroom. And we discovered that Jersey roads make absolutely no sense - what with the driving a mile down the road just to turn around to get to something on the other side. Much like the "Michigan Left" but a million times worse. Anyway, we found our salvation in a dirt-ass strip-mall McDonald's:


And damn if people weren't serious about their Jersey hair. Wow.

There were some fun things along the way, including the truck with the gondola strapped to the back:


And the best name for a city on the east coast:

Mahwah!

The Lady was none too pleased with my through-the-windshield picture-taking. I guess she had a point, as I was the one driving...

We got stuck in a big fatty traffic jam for over an hour while breezing through New York state. But because of that morning's ingenious purchase of a portable DVD player (love the Target), we were entertained by Rachel, Joey, Monica, Chander, Phoebe, and Ross.

We stayed in Poughkeepsie that night, which was hosting its annual hot air balloon festival or some crap. Explains the gondola, at least.

Saturday, July 8

After a lovely continental breakfast, we were back on track. Man, the east coast sure loves their Dunkin' Donuts, don't they? I mean, I do too (not a fan of the Krispy Kreme, honestly): I got a fab cappuccino blast that morning. LOVED IT.

Saw the best license plate ever:


A Scrabble player's worst nightmare. The plate reads: ZXXQME.

The Lady had her first lobster (of many) of the trip for dinner. I had sirloin tips because lobster isn't good unless it's Bar Harbor lobster.


We stayed in Wiscassett, ME that night, just over the border from New Hampshire. Our inn was so pretty:


Sunday, July 9

We arrived in Bar Harbor, Maine on Sunday afternoon, unpacked the car, and headed down Main Street. We ended up at Stewman's Lobster Pound and Pier for an early dinner. The Lady had lobster (again), this time in roll form. I had a fish sammich and a margarita, of course. YUM.



Then we went to the Bar Harbor Whale Museum (I know, but I can't help it. I love museums!).


FYI, Bar Harbor is just one of several small towns on Mount Desert Island, just off the coast of Maine. Most of the island is designated as Acadia National Park.

Monday, July 10

Today, the laziness really began. The driving finally caught up with me, so after reacquainting ourselves with the town (found the cute internet cafe!) and a bit of shopping, we lounged at the pool and read. We later had dinner at a little place called Carmen Verandah. Ha! We sat on the verandah where we had a fun view of Main Street:


Chicken pesto pasta and sangria. So good:


Tuesday, July 11

Tuesday morning was overcast and foggy. It did not bode well for the whale watch we planned on for that morning. But the watch was on despite the weather, so we were at the pier at 7:45 a.m. and boarded the AtlantiCat at 8:00.


It was 45 degrees on the Atlantic Ocean, and the sun was nowhere to be found. Needless to say, I was a Donut-sicle:


After two hours of searching, we saw one whale, a finback. It was so foggy (about ten yard visibility), that we were lucky to see him at all. Now, a finback whale is nothing to scoff at - it's the second largest creature on the earth, behind the blue whale. The whale watch company only refunds money if no whales are spotted, but they were super awesome and gave everyone vouchers to come again. We planned on going later in the week.

Between those two masts? Yeah, there's an island there. Really.

Even though it was cold on the water, it certainly wasn't cold in town. We got back to the hotel, peeled off the sweatshirts, and headed to Acadia for some hiking. We explored Cadillac Mountain, the highest peak on the eastern seaboard. You can see more of how ridiculously foggy it was that day:





That night, we had an amazing dinner at Guinness and Porcini's Restaurant. It was Italian, abut like nothing I had ever had. It was a nice escape from fish and lobster. I had a great cocktail with vodka, strawberries, and basil. Sounds strange, doesn't it? So good...

Wednesday, July 12

On Wednesday, we drove to the maine-land (any shop or restaurant or business with the word "main" in the title was switched to "maine." Clever.) of Maine and visited Ellsworth - a cute little town with small shops and restaurants. After lunch at a Bistro, and about an hour in a used book store (I am so easily amused), we headed back to Bar Harbor. Once on Mt. Desert Island, I spotted The Log Cabin Restaurant. Now, they just had to have homemade blueberry pie.

They did.

Saw some fun street signs on the way back to town:



We weren't ready to go back to the hotel, so we headed back to Acadia and sat on Sand Beach to read. The Crazy Lady went into the 60 degree water. I read.

Bird's-eye view of Sand Beach

Thursday, July 13

We were scheduled to leave this morning, but it since rain was in the forecast, we decided to wait it out and try whale watching on Friday morning. We hiked at several places in the Park, went to lunch in Southwest Harbor, and started to head back to Bar Harbor. We stopped a few times along the shore:





We soon spotted a sign for Echo Lake, a fairly secluded part of Acadia. It was a sparkling freshwater lake with a small public beach and very few people.


I finally had lobster for dinner, in the form of lobster linguini. And it was fabulous. The Lady had a 1 1/4 lb. lobster. It was only slightly smaller than this lobster:


Friday, July 14

Ah, Friday. Whales!

We checked out of the hotel early and headed down to the waterfront (it was so awesome having a hotel on Main Street and being able to walk to everything). The sun stayed out all morning and though I shivered as the boat headed from the protected Frenchman's Bay into the open waters of the Atlantic, once we reached the whale's feeding grounds, it was sunny and pretty and warm.

Not ten minutes into our wait, a humpback whale surfaced. Amazing. Soon, it was joined by another humpback and they hung out, side by side. Later, another humpback. Lastly, a right whale surfaced a little further out from the boat. Right whales are so named, we learned, because they were the "right" whale to kill. They literally float in the water and let whalers harpoon them. So they're slightly endangered, to say the least.

Now, my camera's good, but not great. The whales didn't do anything crazy like breech, so the shots I was able to capture are more of them surfacing than anything else. They're not that spectacular, but they do show how damn close these things were to the catamaran. They're all humpbacks, as the right whale was too far to get a good shot:






We returned to Frenchman's Bay and Bar Harbor, and didn't want to get off of the boat! Here's a pretty sailboat:


We disembarked from the AtlantiCat and headed to the car and out of Bar Harbor. It was sad. After being there a week, it was like we owned the town, like we were locals.

The view up Main Street from the pier.

We drove for hours and eventually stopped in Waterbury, Connecticut. As we passed through Hartford, I noticed a Prius behind me and I definitely checked to make sure it wasn't Rory Gilmore. I am such a nerd.

Saturday, July 15

We left Waterbury at 8 a.m. and arrived in DC in the early afternoon. It was strange to be back - a whole new lifestyle. And heat. There's quite a difference to being in a town on the Atlantic Ocean and a town in a swamp. We ordered Thai and watched a movie. It was ridiculous. The Lady left Sunday morning, and it was sad. I headed to Eastern Market and cheered up a little. Going back to work on Monday was hard, but not too bad. I can't wait for my next vacation: the Outer Banks of North Carolina. August 8th is too far away!