by Jeremy & Audra dePrisco
That is the question that
Audra and I were out to solve on this, our third major vacation
as a couple. Las Vegas was outrageous, and New Orleans was gastronomical,
but we knew that it was time to head North for something different.
The running joke "everything is better in Maine" comes
from our friend Mike Kattner. Mike spent his college years attending
College of the Atlantic (COA), located in Bar Harbor, and has
been back to visit several times since graduation. Maine always
gets good reviews where topics like dining, entertainment, art,
and outdoor activities are concerned. The people in Maine are
said to be great, and so is just about anything else (from what
we've heard).
Over the years, he has extended
the offer to take us to Maine, but our schedules almost never
match. The thought of driving 12 hours each way for a long weekend
getaway has just never seemed appealing to us, the uninitiated.
Not to mention the wacky antics that occurred during the Vegas
trip with Mike (see the Vegas report and you'll see what we mean).
However, with a stroke of luck, we are now on our very own Maine
adventure.
A fellow teacher at Audra's
school has a family vacation home in Edgecomb, not far from Boothbay
Harbor, and we were invited to use it for a week this summer.
Between the price break of not having to pay for a room, and the
background on the region that we already had from Mike, we couldn't
pass this up. What follows is a look at some of the highlights
of our journey, and some wisdom from the road.
Audra and I agreed on a budget,
and we determined that this would be yet another food pilgrimage.
And that meant sampling the local specialties. In Vegas, it was
the colossal buffets. In New Orleans it was beignets, gumbo, and
the endless assortment of Cajun and Creole fare. In Maine, they
grow some great blueberries and make some amazing clam chowder
(say "chow-dah"), but the focus would be the mother
of all tasty local food products, the most prized crustacean in
the ocean, practically the symbol of Maine itself! No, not the
moose, silly! THE MAINE LOBSTER!!!!!
(Note: The photographs below have been resized, but they are still
hi-res. You might want to let the page load completely before
scrolling down. Maps are from Microsoft Streets & Trips, or
from old maps we found in Boothbay.)
Approximate route to Booth Bay, ME.
***
6/21/02
We left Bloomsburg around 7:45, and made a
pit stop in the Drums valley to pick up the cable that goes with
my brother's digital camera. Aside from one other stop for a bathroom
break and to switch drivers, the first leg of the journey was
fairly uneventful. From Pennsylvania up through New York, the
landscape didn't change that much.
By 12:00 PM we reached Connecticut. We decided
to stop for lunch, and since we weren't very particular we chose
a small Italian restaurant in Southington, CT named Kry's. We
ordered the popcorn shrimp appetizer and the eggplant Parmesan
pizza. The portions were large and we were satisfied with both
the quality and service. An older couple beside us was just leaving
when the waitress told us their story. They were regulars, married
for 57 years. The waitress says that the husband probably won't
even remember he was there after five minutes because he's got
Alzheimer's. The waitress hears him say "As long as I have
my wife I'll be OK."
The antique stores were tempting, but we wanted
to stay on track, so we got back on the road. Up through Massachusetts
we passed some interesting street names like Burncoat, and I saw
a tow truck along side the road in need of repair and wonder who
will tow it. On through New Hampshire briefly and into Maine…
Ah Maine. We've heard so much about it from
our friend Mike that we could hardly contain our excitement when
we saw the "Welcome to Maine" sign (blurrily reproduced
above). Our first experience in Maine was less than pleasant,
as we ran into some unexpected traffic and road construction along
495. We got to see what Maine drivers are like at their worst,
with people pulling out in front of us, frequently without turn
signals. To be fair, they weren't all from Maine, as we noticed
plates from Colorado, Ohio, South Carolina, Massachusetts and
New York. Maybe all roads really do lead to Maine…
Once we got through the traffic, we were back
on track and soon found our destination.
"Finally!" I thought
to myself as we crossed this great big bridge and entered Maine.
But I spoke too soon. Jeremy and I had been taking turns driving
in two hour shifts and it was my second turn. Not that I minded.
Heck, I was glad that I was driving. Anyone who's ever
ridden with Jeremy knows driving is not on his list of favorite
things. He's okay for about an hour, then as the minutes wear
on you can see him getting more and more tense, gripping the wheel
as if to tear it out and throw it, his knuckles ultra-white. And
he gets cranky... very cranky. Fortunately, I was driving
when we reached the Maine turnpike. Cars flew in and out of lanes,
thinking nothing of crossing three lanes of traffic in one go.
Then... gridlock. 15 mph traffic for what felt like a thousand
miles. So we finally get moving again and Jeremy has to pee. I
began to look desperately for a rest stop and found none. I didn't
want to pull off on the side of the road, for fear the ground
was as marshy as it looked or that we would be accosted by Greenpeace
or the Maine Highway Patrol for doing something to mess up the
environment. Finally, I just pulled off at an exit and got him
to a Dunkin' Donuts before he exploded. Then we were back on the
road, but Jeremy had clearly had enough driving and riding for
the day and needed this trip to be over.
Fortunately, it soon was as
we passed through Wiscasset and into Edgecomb and onto a few smaller
roads to The Sheiling.
Our directions read "…
and the road turns to a dirt road…"
Boy does it… not only
that, but it turns into one of those roads that cars drive down
in a Steven King movie, usually with some psychopath chasing them.
We approach the house, and are completely surprised that it is
waterfront property, with a great view, and the place is completely
surrounded by trees. Not a sound of civilization to be heard,
and the whole place would be to ourselves.
"The Shieling"
Sign on front porch
The house doesn't look like much from the
outside, and it's not very fancy on the inside, but it is perfect
for this get away. There are enough rooms to set up a bedroom,
temporary studio and writing area. We were warned about one potential
nuisance: squirrels living in the attic. While setting up the
studio I could hear them in the walls.
There is a room off to the side of the dining
room, in the front of the house, that I am using as a secluded
writer's quarters. Except for low hum of the refrigerator, it
is completely silent in here, and I can comfortably set up the
laptop and/or use a small bed for reading/writing. There are postcards
from Thailand, Scotland and the Adirondack Mountains on the walls.
Maps of the local bay, and what looks like child's drawings and
things from someone's youth.
I was blown away by the house.
I had seen pictures in the office at school that Sue had put out
for people to see, but they couldn't do it justice. I knew the
house was near water, but didn't think it was quite this close.
And it was big and filled with books... as I would expect since
Sue is our school's library and media teacher. The place exuded
tranquility. All the benefits of camping without the leaky tent.
I set us up in the front bedroom
upstairs with the awesome view and unpacked a little. I was tired
and hungry, and though I didn't relish the thought of getting
back into the car to go get some dinner, I was excited by the
fact that we were going to eat at a place I saw featured on Food
TV and that LOBSTER was on the menu.
View from behind the house.
Back porch
After we arrived, we got cleaned up and decided
to head back into the nearby town of Wiscasset to try one of the
local delicacies: Lobster roll. Featured on Food TV on the program
"The Best Of", Red's Eats was the place to go, and we
just happened to pass it on the way to the cottage. So we headed
for town and got our lobster roll, (lobster meat on a hot dog
bun with some mayo), and we chowed down on a side of fries and
some fried mushrooms. By then it was past 9:00, so the tourist
shops had closed. We plan to return to get some postcards and
visit a music store that was close to Red's.
Red's Eats in Wiscasset.
6/22/02
A restful night's sleep was interrupted by
Nature's call.
Augmented by a band of renegade squirrels in the attic and walls.
After an attempt to sleep in late, we agreed
to get up and start our day early. While Audra read, I took the
camera for a short expedition out behind the cottage. Yesterday
I spied a path that I knew went down the hill and to the water,
and I wanted to see what else was behind the trees.
In the morning mist I saw what looked like
a scene from the computer game of the same misspelled name (Myst).
The path led to a small wooden staircase. The steps ended at a
wooden platform that extended out into the water and terminated
in a ramp that led down to a floating mini-dock. There were other
suck docks on the other side of the waterway. The surrounding
aural landscape was just as surreal. Birds, water sounds, distant
boats and rhythmic mechanical noises all contributed to an otherworldly
soundscape.
The Myst Dock at high tide.
The Myst Dock at low tide.
The morning fog affected the camera lens,
so I had to put off taking pictures until the fog burned off.
After taking some shots, I did some exploration near the edge
of the water. I found some beached kelp that contained large numbers
of small insects or crustaceans. I picked up some small shells
from amongst the other debris. Bright yellow-green lichen could
be found on a few of the rocks.
After my little adventure I came back into
the house. Audra was still into her book, and it was too early
to head into Boothbay yet, so I decided to browse the book collection
in the house. I found an assortment of fiction and nonfiction.
Science fiction seemed to be a particular favorite of the family
who owns the house. Other genres included how-to, finance and
the outdoors.
My eyes caught two newer Analog magazines.
I say "newer" because these were 1996, while I had some
from the 60's in my own library. I had only begun to appreciate
their worth recently when I started getting more serious about
writing. I picked up one of the 1996 issues, and picked a story
at random………………. By the time I was
drawn into the story, Audra was ready to go into town, so I set
the magazine aside to finish the story later.
I, as I expected, slept like
a baby. But then, I knew I would. What a fantastic place! I couldn't
get over how relaxing it all was and I couldn't wait to get my
hands on the books I had brought with me to read. As I have explained
to pretty much anyone who asked me how my school year went, this
year was like a large dog badly in need of obedience school. It
drug me from September to June... sometimes I was able to keep
up with it, but mostly I felt like it was yanking my arms out
of their sockets while I screamed, "HEEL! HEEL!"
One of my hobbies I never
had time for was reading, which I can do voraciously. I planned
to make up for it on this trip. I had gone to the book store with
the gift certificates a few of my school parents had given me
(a great choice on their part) and had spent them on a cookbook
I had wanted, a guidebook for this trip and three paperbacks,
one of which I finished before the trip. I had packed the two
books I had left: Bloody Bones by Laurell Hamilton and
Big Trouble by Dave Barry. I picked up Bloody Bones
first. It is one of her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter books. I have
been picking through the series for a while and really like it.
Okay, so it's not exactly Tolstoy, heck, it's not even on par
with Ann Rice, but it'll do. I was over halfway through it before
we headed for town.
We stopped at Edgecomb Pottery
briefly before going into town. The pottery and metal sculptures
were beautiful, high-priced, and clearly out of our league.
We were staying in Edgecomb, about 15 minutes from Booth Bay Harbor
where we spent much of our time.
Boothbay proved to offer more easily obtainable
products and services. After a brief self-produced motor tour
of the basic layout of the tourist traps, we stopped at a small
aquarium where we were able to see a giant lobster, blue lobster
and other denizens of the sea like sea cucumbers and jelly fish.
We got to pet some small sharks and a manta ray, and we were able
to handle a variety of crabs, star fish and clams. One large clam
did not appreciate my picking it up very much, as it immediately
opened its mouth and stuck its tongue out.
AGHHHHHH! Giant Lobster Attack!
Woke up this morning... Found I was blue... Now I'm in this tank...
staring at you...
The aquarium was fun, but it was clearly geared
toward children, and it was not long before we were done. We came
outside to find a steady but light drizzle. We parked the car
in another area of the tourist traps for $4, and started hitting
the shops on foot. We soon came to Enchanted, probably the largest
and most all-encompassing New Age shop that I have ever seen.
It's as if all of Jim Thorpe was rolled into one shop. Two on-site
seers and a full line of Stevie Nicks clothing, drug paraphernalia
(which we avoided of course) and full Wiccan library complimented
the typical selection of music, jewelry and incense. Both of us
reflected on how the place would have been really cool circa 1995
when we were into the Wiccan thing. Still, there were some decent
examples of Tibetan and Buddhist art. They even had the Jesus
action figure.
After hitting a couple other unimpressive
shops, we went into a used book store where we found a copy of
The Satanic Verses, a book that both of us had been wanting to
read, just to see what all the concern was about. At $1 (hardcover),
we couldn't go wrong. Audra found a couple other things, and we
moved on to seek out a place to have lunch. It was still raining,
so we headed for The Chowder House, a chowder (duh?!) place that
we saw on the way in.
We sat on the covered deck at the Chowder
House while the rain got steadier. I had a bowl of clam chowder
(duh again), which to my surprise had a very herbal taste - possibly
fresh oregano and basil. I also got an open-faced grilled cheese
sandwich.
I also got the (duh) chowder
(remember: "chow-dah") and a tomato stuffed with a tasty
chicken salad. The chowder was really good and the salad was okay,
all things considered a decent meal.
After lunch we went into shops to avoid the
rain. We got postcards for our friends, and a few other souvenirs,
including a book on lighthouses that looked like it would be a
quick read and good for writing material. With the rain picking
up, and with our interest in shops waning for the day, we decided
to head back.
Standing by the dock in the rain.
On our way back to the cottage we stopped
at the grocery store. Though we planned on eating out for many
of our meals, the cost of doing so would require us to budget
ourselves for smaller meals like breakfast and lunch. Having cereal
and sandwich stuff on hand would help us save our money for the
really intense meals that would follow during our outings. It
also looked like we were not going to be out anymore today since
most of our plans involved being outdoors.
After stopping at the store, we returned to the cottage. I uploaded
the pictures I took into the laptop. Audra and I returned to our
reading, and I ended up drifting off into a nap. We ate a late
dinner of sandwiches, and I retired to the makeshift studio while
Audra went back to her reading.
My objective in bringing my musical equipment
along was not to be under the gun to produce a major work, or
even to record everyday. During our Las Vegas trip, I took a guitar
and my DAT recorder, but I ended up playing very little because
there was so much to do. The DAT came in handy for capturing few
sound effects, but it was a liability to carry around. In New
Orleans, I didn't bring anything because we took a plane, and
I wouldn't have been able to justify putting a guitar in jeopardy.
Besides, New Orleans turned out to be so much fun, and the guitar
would have gone untouched.
Not the case here. I knew I'd be able to bring
stuff and that it would be relatively safe while not in use. I
knew we'd have downtime between activities, and I've been rather
prolific lately, so I wasn't going to chance regretting not bringing
at least a guitar.
The idea of recording while here was appealing
before we saw the house we would be staying in. Then when I saw
the layout, and heard how quiet the environment was, I couldn't
wait to see what might come out of the trip. With plans to work
on a solo cover disk as well as a blues demo, I was eager to continue
the two-track experiments that I was doing in Bloomsburg.
Jeremy's travel studio (CAD M177 mikes, Blue Tube preamp and Tascam
DAP1 DAT recorder)
By the end of the evening,
I had finished Bloody Bones and was interested in getting
into Big Trouble on Sunday. At this rate, I will have consumed
eight or nine books by the end of this trip. It's a good thing
we stopped at the used book store in Boothbay. We would need lots
more books by the end of this trip.
6/23/02
Last night's sleep was less restful than I had hoped. This time
instead of squirrels it was sunlight and cold that kept me from
falling asleep. The temperature dropped down lower than expected,
and I didn't prepare myself with extra blankets.
We slept in until about 10
AM, and had a cereal breakfast before checking the weather on
the radio. It was looking like another rainy and foggy day, so
we decided to head back to Boothbay Harbor to see the shops we
missed, and to have dinner. Since it was Sunday, we didn't want
to chance driving to Bar Harbor or Portland only to find that
places would be closed. We also knew the outdoor activities we
planned would not work with scattered rain showers in the forecast.
Arriving in Boothbay Harbor
once again, we parked the car and headed down a different set
of streets to see some different shops. For those familiar with
Jim Thorpe, Booth Bay Harbor has a similar layout. Shops are located
on two primary sections of road, one above the other, with intersecting
roads on hills connecting them. It is definitely not handicapped
friendly, since the hills, high curbs and staircases prevent easy
access unless you are bipedal and agile.
We found a great bookstore
called Sherman's (www.shermans.com) where we purchased a few more postcards
and a newspaper. The first floor was touristy stuff while the
second floor was a full fledge books store similar to Media Play,
only with better selection.
Taffy machine.
Just down the street was Biscotti's, a simple
coffee and teashop. I say "simple" because the teas
were in bags and the specialty coffees looked like they were prepared
with syrups rather than with actual roasted coffee. The biscotti
were decent, and the bathroom was clean, but perhaps the most
fun for me was the hare in the window. I presume he was wearing
his spare pair of spectacles, as we all know he lost his
original pair.
The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles
At Willow's End, a needlepoint shop that also
sold tea, I spilled one of the tea samples all over the floor
in front of the display. The shopkeepers were very good about
it. Luckily the container was plastic, not glass. We ended up
buying some tea anyway.
After some more browsing we
decided to take the footbridge to the other side of the bay and
locate the Lobsterman's Co-op, where we planned to eat. It was
only 3:00 PM, but we figured after a long walk we would be hungry.
Fog started to roll in to the bay, and we didn't feel like going
to get the car. So we walked all the way across the footbridge,
and around the other side of the bay.
Trolley in Booth Bay. The driver waved while I took this, risking
the lives of all on board.
Sitting on the dock of the bay...
By the time we got there we were still not
hungry, so we decided we would walk back to the car after all.
On the way back we played a game of pool, and by then we both
started to feel hungry, so we got the car and went to the Co-op.
This was it. This was what
I'd been waiting for. The whole steamed lobster dinner. For roughly
$15 each we got a 1 1/4 pound lobster and sides. I dove right
in. I'd seen Emeril do this lots of times... you start with the
tail. Upon dislodging the tail, I managed to splash what is called
the tamale (the icky green stuff inside the lobster) across my
shirt. (That's right, laugh it up, Kristy!) I had partially anticipated
this happening (because of what happened to one of my favorite
white t-shirts the first time that I picked Maryland blue crabs)
so I wore black. I was enjoying dismembering my dinner. Jeremy
wasn't. He held it too delicately and didn't like getting his
hands dirty. It was delicious.
In New Orleans it was shrimp, and in Maine
it would be lobster. Part of the "fun" of eating lobster
is supposed to be the shell cracking, dripping tamales, and morsels
that get under your fingers, on your clothes and in your hair.
Then there's the smell that you can't get off your hands for hours.
By the time we were done we both needed a shower. Still, it was
yummy.
After returning to the cottage for a break
and to clean up, I took Audra down by the Myst dock. This time
everything looked different because the tide had gone out and
left the dock beached on the shore. When I went down on the shoreline
that was previously covered with water, I could see the remnants
of the seagull's dining and some other creatures that were still
alive, mainly mussels.
Before
After
Later we visited the Ice Cream
Hut, an unassuming little place between where we were staying
and Booth Bay. From the road it doesn't look like much, but the
ice cream was very good, and they have a well-sculpted pond and
garden area with lots of wildlife.
First there was a chipmunk,
then a frog, then a duck, and then goldfish… and they all
seemed to think we were there for a show because they carried
on like they were playing for tips. There was also a small seashell
museum, mini-golf and arcade.
Two down... ??? to go...
6/24/02
Today's adventure took us
to Bar Harbor, ME to explore some areas Mike had been telling
us about for years. The weather forecast was favorable: sunny
and mild with no rain. We started out around 9:00 AM and took
Rt. 27 to Rt. 1, through a number of small towns and eventually
into Bar Harbor.
I don't travel for long periods
well, so we had to stop in Belfast at The Maine Chowder &
Steak House, not to eat, but just to use their bathroom. Throughout
the rest of the trip up, we noticed a number of used bookstores
and some Jim Thorpe-like towns that looked like potential stops
for the way home if we had time.
We were thinking the trek to Bar Harbor would
be a two-hour trek. That would still be quite far to drive considering
we were on vacation and driving is one of my most stressful activities.
It turned out to be a three-hour drive. By the time we arrived
in Bar Harbor, my nerves were shot. The traffic in town was steady,
and there were people everywhere. Maine has this little law about
stopping at crosswalks, but there aren't any stop signs proper,
so it is assumed you will stop. That only added to the anxiety.
It took us a while to find a parking place. We had our choice
of 2-hour and 3-hour parking. There didn't seem to be any places
to leave the car for any longer, so we figured we would play it
by ear until we saw how long we would want to stay. We chose the
3-hour parking, which was close to our first planned stop: Lompoc
Café.
Lompoc Cafe, Bar Harbor, ME. Worth
driving 6 hours round trip??
Mike had raved about Lompoc, so we were determined
to put the place to the test. We were greeted kindly by the host,
and seated at one of the outside tables on their patio. As we
began to look over their lunch menu, I immediately recognized
the smell of old, wet cigarette butts, but I couldn't determine
where it was coming from. I had already removed an ashtray from
the table, but it had been clean to begin with.
We placed our order, and Audra went to the
restroom. While she was gone I continued to look around for the
source of the smell. They I went to the restroom to wash up after
our long drive. Just after our drinks came, I spied the source:
a half-full metal pail of cigarette butts, probably used as a
dumping ground for ash trays, was only a few feet behind me next
to a bench. I immediately moved it further away, which seemed
to help… but that is a smell that stays in your nostrils
for a while. Moving the pail prompted another trip to the bathroom
to wash my hands.
Our Persian Plate appetizer came: a mix of
feta cheese, hummus, grape leaves, vegetables and pita bread.
These were all quite good. The iced tea, made from a blend of
three teas, was probably the best we've had while traveling since
New Orleans. Our main courses arrived within a reasonable amount
of time, and Audra and I were both pleased with the results. Audra
got the Felafel, while I got the Shawarma Sandwich. Both were
served in warm homemade pita bread that was excellent.
So, overall, I would give Lompoc a high rating
for food and service, but not for atmosphere. Perhaps if I were
a smoker I would feel differently.
By the time we finished lunch
it was about 1:00 PM. On the way in to Bar Harbor, we noticed
the streets were lined with shops, many of them similar to what
we already saw in Booth Bay. Always hoping there will be something
new and unusual around the corner, we decided to circle the town
and see what the shops had to offer. Aside from a really great
organic food market, we really weren't impressed. Most of the
shops contained the same touristy gifts and local crafts that
we found in Boothbay, but prices tended to be higher.
Bar Harbor on a busy Monday.
We bought some herbal tea and some blueberry
jam. The sun was pretty intense, and I really wished that my prescription
sunglasses had arrived before our trip. After another two hours
of schlepping around the shops, we weren't hungry enough to go
for dinner. Our time was up on the parking, and we couldn't just
move our car to get another three hours. The parking attendants
mark your tire with chalk so they can tell where you've been so
you would have to find another lot, or assumingly be ticketed.
We really didn't see much point in sticking around. Then there
was the inevitable three hour drive home hanging over us…
My single thought upon leaving
Bar Harbor was "F*@%ing Mike!" I cooled down on the
long ride home. The day being a bust wasn't his fault. In a way
we HAD to go and see this place we've been hearing about for aeons.
It's just unfortunate that the ride was so exhausting we didn't
even have the energy to go explore Acadia National Park, one of
the main sights to see in Maine. We were just that fried.
A beautiful sunny day.
Wine is sold in shops like this, as well as in the grocery store.
The basement of a wood working shop.
Since I drove to Bar Harbor, the deal was
that Audra would drive us back to Boothbay. It would turn out
to be the most unrelaxed part of our vacation. We stopped several
times at some of the used bookstores we saw on the way up. In
Ellsworth we stopped at the Big Chicken Barn Books & Antiques
(www.bigchickenbarn.com).
The place was absolutely huge. There were sections for just about
every genre of book, including an extensive selection of old magazines,
comic books, records and sheet music. I even saw some piano rolls.
Unfortunately I did not have the camera when I went in, or I would
have taken some pictures. By the time we left they were getting
ready to close. I bought a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan CD, and Audra
bought one book.
We stopped at another place called the Book
Barn in Stockton Springs. Run by a tall, eccentric-looking gentleman
with a deep voice and a penchant for cigarettes, this place was
like something out of a Tom Waits song. Yes, it really was a red
barn, though much smaller and less organized than the Chicken
Barn. Aside from the shelves and shelves of books, there were
bags of books on the floor that you could trip over if you weren't
watching in the dark, narrow aisles.
All throughout the place there were ashtrays,
which made me wonder about the safety of the collection. Andrew,
the owner, seemed to be somewhat knowledgeable about the inventory.
When I asked him to show me the reference section, he pointed
it right out. There were even books similar to the one I was hunting
down, but not exactly what I was looking for. This time I had
my camera, so I shot a few pictures.
The Book Barn.
Those stops provided relief from the in-car
time that was now approaching six hours. We were both parched,
so we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts drive thru drinks.
The rest of the ride home was hot, aching
and all around gruesome. It could be summed up in four words:
Are We There Yet?!?! It's a good thing we had NPR. They were talking
about the recent stock scandal with Martha Stewart and I was able
to crack a joke about it with the punch line "…put that
in your wicker basket and smoke it" to lighten up the mood.
The other bookstores we saw were closed, but
we figured we would stop in one of the small towns that we saw
on the way up. By the time we got to those towns, they were rolling
up the sidewalk. We were going to stop at Shaw's Lobster Wharf
in Bristol at the recommendation of our hostess, but according
to the road sign that would have taken us 15 miles out of our
way. After all the driving we did we just wanted to cut our losses
and head for Boothbay. I needed a shower, and we both wanted to
decompress and go for a stress-free dinner.
Approximate route to Bar Harbor, ME.
We finally arrived at the cottage just after
7:00 PM. I got a quick shower while Audra made reservations at
Pattaya Thai on Union St. in Booth Bay. We really didn't need
the reservations, so they didn't take our name. When we got to
Booth Bay, there was no place called Pattaya Thai on Union St.,
but there was a place called Talay Thai, so we just went there.
We ordered chicken satay,
seafood coconut soup, and two main dishes, one with lobster and
peanut sauce, and another with mixed seafood. Of course we also
ordered the required Thai Iced Teas, which turned out to be similar
to what we were used to back in PA.
Like most Thai restaurants we've been to,
this looked like a family operation. What I presumed was one of
the owner's children was playing with a Slave I (Bobba Fett's
space ship from Star Wars) and a Federation star fighter. There
was a sushi bar too, but the sushi chef looked like he was Anglo
- clearly not Thai - and younger than my brother.
The appetizer was decent.
The soup came out, but it was chicken coconut instead of seafood,
and the waiter apologized profusely the rest of the night. One
thing about Asian restaurants, you have to be careful that they
don't commit Hari Kari on you before the meal is over. It was
clearly an honest mistake that was easily and quickly fixed (our
guess is they just took out the chicken and put in the seafood
since the broth was the same).
The soup was decent, and the
main courses arrived on time. The mixed seafood was a disappointment,
and looked more like a Chinese dish. It did not have any of the
characteristic Thai seasoning, and the seafood was a hodge-podge,
prepared similar to a chop suey style dish, with scallop, squid,
shrimp and breaded (??) fish. Still, it was food, and after the
day we had, it was good to sit down and relax.
The lobster and peanut sauce
dish was better. It did not have the same intensity of the dishes
we've had in PA, but again, it was food. After getting our check
(and another apology for the soup mix up) we walked out to the
car. We noticed that the sign for the place was painted over.
At one time it was Pattaya Thai. You could still see the "PA"
part of the name under the new coat of paint for Talay Thai.
We stopped at the grocery
store to replenish some supplies, then went back to the cottage
for a night of reading and tea before we passed out exhausted.
6/25/02
Slept in and spent most of the day writing and reading. While
Audra read at lightning speed yet again, I sat outside with the
laptop on a tree stump typing away much of yesterday's entry.
Then we went for a nature walk along the coast of the Sheepscot
River behind our cottage. It was once again high tide. Audra spotted
a snake, and I spotted another one. Both where very well camouflaged
in the brownish red backdrop of leaves and sticks.
Mussels can be found at both high and low tide all along the shore.
A late lunch of sandwiches
followed since last night's Thai dinner was so pricey. Afterwards
we went to Wiscasset to check out the music store and some other
shops. Sheepscot Emporium Oriental Rugs & Music turned out
to be a really good find. Dave Brown, the owner, keeps a collection
of music that looks like it came right out of my own CD collection.
There was a large portion of stuff from Indian, Pakistan, Armenia
and Brazil. We rapped a bit about tabla, Indian music, Shafatullah
Khan and some other artists, and I think I may have turned him
on to Jai Uttal, a favorite kirtan singer of mine.
Most shops were closing up
by that time. As Audra put it, this is a geriatric tourist area.
We were going to go to a tearoom in Boothbay, but we realized
they were also closing, so instead we stopped along the way home
to get some take-out shellfish to go with some of our other ingredients
for dinner. I really wasn't crazy about clams in the past, especially
after Mr. Gatski's biology class in high school. Audra and I both
dissected clams in his biology class (a year apart), and our fondest
memory was Gatski's constant reminder "When you eat clams,
you're eating everything. You're eating the gonads!" I guess
we like gonads, because these clams were really good.
After dinner, Audra played with the laptop while I did another
nature walk, this time at very low tide. I was able to see some
crabs (both dead and alive) that were left behind as the water
went out. Those that were not snapped up by the seagulls were
baked in the sun. At least that's what I am assuming as they were
soft shell crabs and several appeared to be completely intact,
though clearly deceased.
This softshell crab was surprisingly timid, but alive.
This one was more feisty, as if he was saying, "Come on,
you want a piece of me?"
Once again there were snails everywhere. If
you watched closely you could see them moving. The kelp (or whatever
it is) covers the ground after the tide goes out. The crabs hide
in it sometimes. It doesn't take much to hear the "mushy"
sound of water draining and creatures crawling all over the ground.
I feel like Doctor Who when I'm walking on the living carpet below.
I saw even more mussels on this walk than on any other. Audra
and I talked about harvesting some for a dinner one night, but
the cooking supplies in the cottage may not hold up to the task.
Then there's the whole Buddhist thing about harming sentient beings.
I haven't determined if shellfish fall into that category or not.
Buddhists are also not supposed to accept food that has specifically
been killed for them. In some cultures that is an honor, but in
Buddhism it is a no-no since you've contributed directly to the
suffering of another being. Again, the question arises if lobster
is in that category. The other day, I did not at any point pick
out the specific lobster I wanted to eat. Audra points out that
someone else would eat the lobsters anyway.
All of this is too much right now, and we are in the lobster capital
of Maine, so I'm going with the flow. If we end up stopping at
one of the many zendos here, (some of which we passed on Monday
without me realizing it) then perhaps I can ask them what they
think.
I know my teacher in PA would say to just go with the flow, and
she would understand it is a difficult question.
After dinner, I tried to do
some recording, but my one mike totally died. That pretty much
kills the recording plans I had for the rest of the week. So I
returned to reading and writing.