(But I live in Maine… I think it’s mandatory for citizenship.)
When we lived down south I missed lobster. So when we came home on vacation? I had lobster omelettes for breakfast, lobster rolls for lunch, lobster quesadillas for bar appetizers and lobster chowders with baked stuffed lobster for dinner.
Picnic? Lobster salad.
Day at the beach? Lobster bake.
We’re pretty lobster-centric in these parts.
Which made it hard for me when I came up allergic to the glorious crustacean about 7 years ago and could no longer eat it without becoming violently ill.
Yeah.
No more of this –
Or this –
Which makes me want to do this –
I’m teased by lobster at every turn living here.
There are festivals devoted to lobster.
Lobster parades.
And lobster boat races.
My husband orders lobster for dinner and eats it in front of me.
We go to motorcycle rallies where they serve endless streams of lobster.
Every friend who visits from out of state wants to don silly bibs and eat lobster.
It kills me. Each and every time….
But now?
There’s a restaurant we pass on our way up the coast that’s really rubbing my nose in it.
When it’s hot in Maine? You head for the coast where the sea breeze cools the temperatures considerably.
So that’s what we did on the July 4th weekend.
We battled the tourist traffic on Route 1 and headed north with a cool and calm demeanor.
Seriously….. there’s a reason we call you people Massholes. You’re not going to find a barista on every corner in this state, please go back to Boston.
Boothbay Harbor was packed, so we kept going.
Through downtown Rockland where they clearly wanted us to eat something. Hopefully not the building itself.
And through downtown Camden where the cows are always smiling.
Camden is a gorgeous harbor town with lovely old homes lining both sides of the main street.
This one always catches my eye…
Not your typical New Englander to be sure.
We wanted to stop for a drink and a bite in Lincolnville….
But sadly the Whale’s Tooth Pub didn’t open till 4:00pm.
It’s hot in Maine. Really hot. Surface of the sun hot.
Too hot to drink hot.
Okay… I got carried away there, it’s never too hot to drink. But we’ve been in the low 90’s with high humidity for days and that’s simply too hot for me. I don’t like hot and come from a long line of women who detest sweating.
(Actual portrait of my ancestress)
So on the 4th? We headed to our friend’s camp at the lake for the day.
There were cute young people in hats…
And boating…
And swimming…
And frozen raspberry margarita consumption for those who were doing neither.
Saturday we had tickets to an afternoon festival promoting local beer and food. It was called The Taste of Summer and was being held on the old Navy base. The band were friends of friends and we were looking forward to it. Until the heavens opened up on the way over….
It was raining, thunder was booming and people were standing on line wearing trash bags.
We sat in the car for a while, thinking it would pass… which is when it started to hail and festival goers ran for cover.
Seeing that trash bags aren’t a good look for me, and I generally prefer to do my drinking while dry…. we left and headed for Boothbay Harbor.
Which is always a good idea.
Boothbay is one of our favorite places to walk…
To sight see…
To eat…
And yes, to drink.
(Don’t be shocked, it’s been know to happen on occasion.)
First stop… The Boathouse Bistro.
Best damn food in Boothbay Harbor.
Appetizers were Coconut Lime Ginger Mussels for the husband and my friend.
Those babies were huge!
Cajun Shrimp and Cheesy Grits for me.
I hate grits. I love these.
Enough said…
A Harborside Lemonade and a Summer Bliss later, I dove into Pan Seared Scallops on Parmesan Mushroom Risotto with Citrus Wilted Arugula. You could have killed me right then and there… and I’d have died happy.
Husband had a deconstructed Beef Wellington with split lobster tail and goat cheese mushroom compote.
Girlfriend had 2 rum punches and a Bourbon Brown Sugar Glazed Ribeye with rosemary fingerling potatoes and broccolini.
We were happy campers.
But onward.
Technically it already had, we were two cocktails in… but the bar hopping portion of our afternoon/evening will now commence.
Trust me when I say a good time was had by all.
Second stop… The World is Mine Oyster. A bit of a dive, but keep walking… through the hallway, up the winding stairs, thru the restaurant and out on the deck?
One of the best views of the harbor.
And 2 sea green margaritas.
Life is good.
Third stop… The Harborside Tavern.
This was a place we’d never been before and though we sat at the bar instead of enjoying the view….
One extremely strong bourbon filled Perfect Storm later?
I didn’t much care. The bartender was so heavy handed she either loved us.. or hated us. I still don’t know which.
Fourth and final stop…. The Boothbay Harbor Inn, where things got interesting.
Needless to say we were feeling no pain by then.
This is across the harbor from where we started and has a beautiful view as well.
Our bartender was an adorable little exchange student from Romania named Meihi.
With whom my soon to be divorced friend was instantly smitten.
Of course Happy Hour Blueberry Mules may have had something to do with that.
At this point it started to pour again….
So what else could we do but stay and drink?
We drank. And made friends with a group that was staying at the inn.
We drank. And watched the cute bartender play bar games.
We drank. Until the sun started to set and I figured we shouldn’t drink anymore.
For this…
My cheeky friend flipped me off.
Sunset.
In Boothbay Harbor…
Is a beautiful thing.
My girlfriend trying to pole dance on the parking meter?
Not so much.
Clearly some of us had a better time than others….
But I spotted a few of these beauties the other day…
And realized it was time to get the Baltimore Oriole feeder out.
20 minutes later…. after tearing the utility (read – I don’t know where else to put all this crap) closet apart, I remembered a raccoon had broken last year’s feeder trying to drink the nectar and I never replaced it.
May in Maine means Orioles.
It also means there’s not a feeder to be had within 500 miles. We northerners are starved for color after a long white winter and take our bird feeding seriously.
Jeff Bezos to the rescue.
Good thing I don’t use Alexa.
2 days later Amazon Prime came through with an interesting new triple threat feeder.
A flat dish for nectar.
Spikes for holding orange halves.
And 4 reservoirs for grape jelly.
I’d never done the jelly before, but Holy Hell! They love it.
River's world..... 