The weather was gorgeous on Saturday and Sunday. Perfect blue skies with just little poofs of clouds here and there, lots of sun, and although it was windy and I was chilly, the 60 degree temps in Maine in April were a welcome surprise.
This is the Welch House where we stayed. Here's a view from the roof deck:
And here's from the window of our room (The Captain's Lady):
Saturday morning after our yummy (and my adventurous) breakfast, we took a walk down the hill into town to watch the morning's Fisherman's Festival activities. We'd missed the Cod Relays (yup--dressed up in fisherman regalia tossing giant fish at each other) but were able to get to the dock for Trap Hauling Contest. In this event, contestants ran down the dock, untied their boats and jumped in. The Skipper hauled that sucker out into the harbor where the contestants raced to find, bait and drop a few lobster traps and then haul ass back to the dock, tie up and run back up the dock. Fastest time wins. Our view wasn't great--we were on the next dock over and two boats were in between us--but we got the vibe. Especially when those lobster boats came full speed into the docks and the wake shook us around a little bit.
I didn't have sweatshirt with me and was getting a little cold, so we decided to walk back up the hill to the inn. We spent some time on the roof deck relaxing, reading and listening to more of the festivities. After a little while, we decided to walk around town again since there were a few other goings on. We did a little shopping, stopped by the craft fair and watched the crowd around the docks some more. Then we decided to take a drive. Stopping by the market, we grabbed some lunch, got some beverages and drove out of town to Ocean Point, a rocky coast on the opposite side of the harbor.
We ate our lunch and hiked along the rocks. It was windy, but really pretty and D took some great pictures. These shots are his--I was using our little point and click camera and it was so sunny, I couldn't even see the screen to know what I was taking a picture of. A photographer I am not.
We came back to town and took another walk around, this time stopping at Orne's Candy Store. This place is awesome. Everything is handmade and they've been in business for 125 years. We thoughtfully chose our favorites (I definitely bought two peanut butter cups because I certainly wasn't sharing one with D) and walked toward the shipyard. Supposedly there was to be a tour of a big sailboat and D was looking forward to it. However, when we got to the shipyard, not only was there no people around, there was no sailboat. Anywhere. Not even a little one. We suspect the boat just never made it. A bit of a bummer for D, but I was ok. I had chocolates.
Later that evening, we finally decided to go to dinner at Robinson's Wharf, a cute pub-style restaurant with seating on the dock (in the warmer weather) and a pub upstairs with a deck and live music. We stayed downstairs and grabbed a seat at the window so we could look out at the water (until it got too dark and all we saw were our reflections). I stopped being adventurous and ordered a burger and fried, but D was in his glory trying the lobster BLT. He described it as a lobster roll topped with a BLT sandwich for garnish. And he was very excited to have gotten two primary vacation food groups in one meal--lobster and bacon.
(See, I told you I wasn't an photographer.)
The next morning we awoke to another wonderful breakfast. This time is was blueberry pancakes the size of the plate and sausage, with good old fashioned New England maple syrup. They were fantastic, as expected. After, we took a brief walk around town, stopping to take some pictures. We walked down to the pier and I remembered that next time we visit Boothbay, it has to be during whale-watching season since they do great whale-sighting cruises out of the harbor. I'm sure my niece will give me a hard time though because she's wanted to come visit for years ever since she learned that I live somewhere close to where she can see whales.
We walked out on the dock and I actually did take one cool shot, so maybe I'm not that bad a photographer after all.
And then I had to share this one. It's a really big shop specializing in magical-dragon-fairy-rainbow stuff. It's hilarious. This tiny little coastal Maine town described by a local as "a drinking town with a fishing problem" can actually sustain this store:
For reals.
Later, we checked out of the inn, thanked Michael for the wonderful stay and hospitality and drove to Pemaquid Point, another rocky coast--this one boasting a lighthouse from the 1800s--a little further up from Ocean Point. It was a great day for a drive and again, D got a lot of great pictures. The lighthouse wasn't open, but we walked around the grounds and hiked the rocks, enjoying the late morning.
After basking the warm sun and chilly breeze, we decided to head back. I teased D about stopping at Subway for lunch. Unamused, I offered that we stop at Red's Eats, a very popular-- and it turns out very yummy--food stand right on the corner as Route 1 goes though the town of Wiscasset.
D had crab cakes and I just got chicken tenders, but the food was yummy. And the people where great. They run a very tight ship, but a great operation. Super friendly staff. It's just a little place, so all the seating was outside and I think part of why they were so busy was the beautiful weather. Everyone was taking advantage. When we sat down, I noticed a sign that listed probably 100 publications/TV broadcasts where Red's had been mentioned or featured. It was pretty impressive and not just limited to New England. Sure the Boston Globe and Phantom Gourmet had noticed Red's, but so had newspapers in Indiana and Alabama, the Food Network and even a PBS special from Pittsburgh. Pretty impressive.
So our mini-moon was a relaxing success and of course we'll be going back to the Boothbay Harbor. I didn't make D stop in Freeport to shop on the way home, but I'm thinking next time, I might just have to do that.
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