The beer blahs.

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Another beautiful fall day, another scenic drive in the never ending search for good beer.

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North to Bangor.

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To the Bangor Beer Company.

Hidden behind the mall, in the back of a Chinese restaurant… it was an odd little place.

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With a line of old pinball machines and some quirky art.

The beer? Maybe we’re too picky… we try a lot of craft breweries and may set our standards too high… but we found this selection dishwater flat and not at all interesting.

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Elderflower grapefruit martini for me.

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We expected the sesame chicken appetizer to be better seeing that it came from the large Asian restaurant in front, but it was so tough and stringy we didn’t bother ordering a full meal.

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The men’s room floor made my husband smile and snap a picture, but that’s not reason enough to ever visit this brewery again.

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Passing through downtown Bangor…

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We grabbed a quick sandwich and took the back roads home.

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😊

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Too much.

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Life is filled with ridiculous things… and when I run across them?

I feel it’s my duty to share.

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Of course they are…

Because shodding the entire human race in hideous footwear isn’t enough.

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I saw this item at the paint counter at Lowe’s the other day and had to ask the clerk what the hell?

Turns out it’s a smelly powder people are adding to paint to change the odor. It purportedly lasts two months once applied and the paint guy said it’s so strong he smells like coconuts (lavender vanilla, fresh linen, roses) for days after opening it.

We already have scented candles, scented wax, air fresheners, fabric fresheners, plug in oils, diffuser oils… do we really need smelly paint?

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I’m hoping this is AI generated, because if it’s not … Mark will be remodeling his bathroom and Tara will be tracking me down for revenge.

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No.

Just… no.

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Hope springs eternal.

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Even when we’re taking a scenic drive…

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Just cruising some fall foliage…

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My husband has to stop.

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And while I don’t mind antiquing once in a while, these overstuffed, packed to the rafters junk stores drive me crazy.

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No room to move and entirely too much crap overloads my senses… but the husband loves them and always thinks he going to find buried treasure.

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Photo of my husband failing to find treasure inside and checking out behind the building.

🥴

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Thankfully they wanted $1,200 for this old wagon, otherwise he’d be building another extension to our shed.

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Go for the beer, stay for the cocktails.

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On a beautiful autumn day we went beer hopping.

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Heading north to Brewer…

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To visit a brewery about which we’d heard good things.

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The space is large and funky…

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With windows behind the bar that look directly into the brewery.

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After sampling a few beers… the current tap selection was too IPA heavy for my taste… I snagged the cocktail list, and Oh. My. God!

I set to work.

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A true artisan was at work here and luckily he was our bartender.

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I started with the Black Seeds which was a fabulous twist on a margarita.

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We could have sat outside on the patio… but it was too far away from the cocktails.

😉

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The menu had a sense of humor.

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And the Truffle Pig pizza was amazing.

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But my second (and yes, okay… my third) drink was a masterpiece.

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Lilith’s Last Kiss was a complex, multi layered flavor extravaganza that I would happily drive the hour and a half for again.

👍

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Before and after… finally.

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Our front porch remodel is now complete. New door, new stone siding, new ceiling, new posts, new railings, new decking, new light fixture.

Ka-Ching!

And while there were a few bumps along the way… I have to say we’re pleased with the results.

For someone who’d never worked with stone siding before, my husband did a good job.

As long as you don’t look too closely. 😉

Before and afters.

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Cleaner, fresher and much more attractive.

👍

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News you can’t use.

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No one can use it and yet the headlines keep on coming.

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Makes you wonder what underwater chef is flinging pasta to test for doneness at those depths.

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Here’s the reason – the food is disgusting.

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Is she though…

Is she really?

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You go girl.

Or rather, grandma.

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And all these years I thought it was full of cheese.

Talk about disappointing.

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I’m going to be watching movies with a whole new eye now…

Damn it.

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The grass is not always greener in Rangeley.

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Leaving Sugarloaf without having secured a late lunch, we changed direction and headed for Rangeley.

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The town is named after the lake, one of Maine’s largest, and I felt sure we could find a decent restaurant there.

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Blog title aside, we parked next to some very green grass and entered a likely looking spot.

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With a welcoming front porch and some stellar trees..

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It was a bit brisk to sit outside so we ventured in.

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There were tables with nice views…

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So my husband headed straight for the bar.

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Where the view wasn’t as nice but the autumn sangria made up for it.

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The staff wore these shirts…

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But I didn’t, so we moved on to tater kegs with chipotle aioli.

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These were great but my husband wasn’t pleased with the pub food only menu, he wanted more of a meal.

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Next stop.

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The cranberry mule was lovely.

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And though I passed on the banana bread old fashioned? I thought of you Mark.

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Sadly, even though the loon/bear totem pole was interesting … the food was not.

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My fish sandwich was so thin it was flipping itself off.

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And not finding much more in the way of full meals here than he did at the first place, my husband’s chicken tenders were flat, over breaded and clearly frozen. He sent them back and we moved on.

Giving up on a good meal, we headed for home.

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Where it started to rain and pretty much put an end to our leaf peeping.

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🥴

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Random rambling..

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I saw something online the other day and need to ask my Arizona readers if it exists…

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What say you southwestern friends….

Is the #1 place for #2 for real?

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This begs the question .. why?

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His Lordship.

I’d like to say he’s leaf peeping but he was actually bird stalking.

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Remember the old Hugh Grant movie Four Weddings and a Funeral? These words were spoken in the eulogy and always choke me up.

❤️

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Sugarloaf color.

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Continuing north through the Carrabassett Valley on our leaf peeping day trip we passed Sugarloaf,

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A popular ski resort I’ve often heard of but never visited.

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First impression?

It’s huge.

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Long winding valley roads filled with spectacular autumn color.

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It took us a while to find the main lodge..

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And though we were hoping to stop in for lunch and a toddy their annoying restaurant was only serving breakfast and dinner.

Boo to that.

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So we explored instead.

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Past golf courses and condos and glorious trees.

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I love this time of year!

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😊

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🍁🍁🍁

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