Leaf Peepers

So we went to Maine and did the fall foliage thing. We started off in Portland, which seemed like a cool little city. We only hung out there on Saturday night and Sunday morning but we both thought it had a good vibe. I did score a huge bargain- this book for half price! Since the first anniversary is "paper" this became my anniversary present. Then we headed up the coast to Camden by way of Boothbay Harbor. We tried to stop at the HIGHLY ANTICIPATED Red's but it was closed for the season. Little did we know at that point that we would become intimately familiar with that phrase... We settled for a lobster roll at the joint across the street, which was okay but maybe not what we (meaning P) had hoped for.

After driving through a very uninspiring Boothbay Harbor, we stopped at Moody's for a $2 grilled cheese and a piece of four berry pie with real whipped cream! Easily two of my favorite things. The sandwich was perfect and the pie (did I mention real whipped cream?) was even better than that. Moral of the story is that you can't take a pregnant woman on a road trip and be surprised when the trip is all about food. Moody's is such a great place though- really a piece of diner history. From the menu, which serves things like Grapenut pudding, to the Brylcreamed guy sitting at the counter... I loved it.

So we finally hit Camden- very cute town and one of the prettiest libraries I've ever seen. After Camden we headed up to Mt Desert Island. The weather was perfect- mid-70s- so we decided to go to Acadia and enjoy the sunshine. We hiked (I use this term loosely since I have barely exercised since getting pregnant) around the top of Mt Cadillac- me with a sandwich in one hand and P laughing at me the entire time- and then flopped down on some rocks to enjoy the sunshine. That night was spent in the most budget-y of budget hotels. I have to say, we got what we paid for. The bed was no better than sleeping on the floor, we could barely see the 15" TV and between the flower and angel decorative motif I thought my eyeballs were going to explode. At least it was clean.

We wandered around Bar Harbor a bit, although most of the stores are souvenir shops and once you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all. Since it was the end of the season, we couldn't go whale watching, or kayaking, and lots of things were closed. So we did a lot of exploring around the island, and sitting in the bar while I watched P enjoy local brews. We also went to Bangor for lunch one day- which is like going to Pueblo, CO, for kicks. So while it was nice to get away it was an extremely low key vacation.

Things we learned:

• While Mainers hate "Massholes" they loooove the Sox
• It was weird being in a place where I couldn't pronounce most of the river and town names (Wiscasset? Waukeag?)
• Pie with real whipped cream makes me ridiculously happy but causes horrible heartburn
• That accent is really how they talk
• Martha Stewart has a home on Mt Desert Island (that one was for my mom)
• If our future children want to go to College of the Atlantic we will tell them they are on their own
• Did you know that there are lobsters and lighthouses in Maine? We hadn't noticed.
• That Moxie is the most terrible drink and when our waitress said it was "hard to describe" we should have taken that as a sign
• There are no seals in Seal Cove, or in Seal Harbor, for that matter

Enough of that. Pictures!

Did I mention the pie?