Trip to Maine: Day Two

It snowed all night long.  The power went off in the hotel at some point because the alarm clock in the room was flashing.  We woke up at about 7, and pulled the curtains aside to see this.  As it turns out, Maine got hit, but not near as hard as Central MA, Connecticut and New Jersey did.  

Bright red foliage and snow

A good samaritan let my squeeze borrow his snow brush/scraper to clean off the car, because all we had to use was one of the room towels.

The plows were out in full force.

On the way to Waterville, along I-295.  I'd never been any farther north than Lewiston before.  (Or as it's known in the area: "Sewerston").  

Getting closer.  Oh, and the state capitol, Augusta, is also known locally as "Disgusta".  Do you see a trend here?

I-95 North.

We arrived in Waterville at about 10:30 and his niece's restaurant was serving till 1:00, since it was Parent's Weekend at Colby College, so they were trying to eek as much business as they could out of that crowd before closing for good. So to kill time, and since we couldn't check into the hotel yet, my squeeze introduced me to the wonder that is Marden's.  Oh. My. God.  We were only going to get some work gloves, but we scored Field & Stream winter coats for $18.00 each!!!!!!  He got 2 other jackets and a killer tool bag that was only $3.00.  I wish I had gotten one of the bags too, for toting my crafts around!!!  In fact, on their website, it even says, "I should have bought it when I saw it!!!"  lol

We went back to the restaurant to wait for the UHaul to arrive so that we could start disassembling the kitchen.  The snow was already starting to melt and although it was still cold, we warmed to the work pretty quickly.  

Part of the moving krew.  I should have taken a group photo after we filled the truck but the camera was in my car and by that point, all I wanted to do was collapse with exhaustion and a bottle of Advil.  As you can see, my sweetie grew his beard back for the winter (at my request).

We followed the UHaul up to where his niece was going to store her stuff.  Passed over this river on the way.

By the time we got up there, the icy wind was screaming across these fields.  Fortunately it took WAY less time to unload the truck than it did to load it.  We hobbled back to the hotel, freezing, exhausted and barely able to move.  

Don't die of shock, but these are all the photos I shot on this trip.  There wasn't anything to see on the highways, and we were just too busy with the move on Sunday for me to take photos of us working.  We still had the following day in Waterville and didn't know if we would be able to continue to help with the move.  We ain't 20 no mo' and are badly out of shape.  So we kicked around recuperating the next day, maybe do some light sightseeing in the area....go to Marden's again....

Then it happened.  His phone rang at 11:30 p.m. and let's face it, calls that come in at that hour never bring good news.  His best friend's father died suddenly late that afternoon.  He was very close to this family, her parents are like his second parents.  He was devastated.  Now we were leaning towards cutting the trip short and just coming home the next day.  We got up in the morning and I called my mom, who has still been sick.  I asked mom if she wanted me to come back early and she said yes.  So that pretty much decided it for us.  It was a gorgeous, sunny and clear day and the temps were warming up, but we couldn't stay and so I was unable to take anymore photos.  We arrived home at about 2:30 on Halloween afternoon, so I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, and the squeeze gave out candy to the whopping 4 people that showed up.  Of course our outside light was off and we had no decorations so it's not like our house screamed "STOP HERE!"

The trip was kind of jinxed from the start, but I was so happy to get to spend time with Michelle & John, and meet his niece.  And of course you can't beat the deals at Marden's.  We'll get back up there plenty more times,  in warmer weather and to sightsee more and I promise: Next time there will be more photos!

Trip to Maine: Day One

It was a cold, grey morning when we departed for Freeport, Maine, at the end of October.  A bad Nor'easter was predicted for several states for that evening, with heavy rain and high winds (gusts to 75 mph) for coastal Massachusetts, but heavy snow for the rest of New England and down into New Jersey.  

This tank in Dorchestor (just south of Boston) was painted in 1971 by artist Corita Kent.  If you look at the left side of the blue, you can see what looks to be the profile of an old Asian man with a long beard.  There was a bit of a controversy at the time it was painted, because it was supposedly Ho Chi Minh, which of course didn't go over well being Vietnam War times in the USA.  Afterwards in the 80's, it was known by the not-very-PC term, "The Chinaman".  Now most people just call it Fu Man Chu.  

John Hancock Building in Back Bay, Boston.  Built in about 1976.  The old Hancock building is the lower one with the spire, on the right. The fatter part of the spire is a weather light.  Solid blue means a nice day, flashing blue means bad weather, red in the summer means the Red Sox are in town and red in winter means snow.  

Boston

This funky new bridge is new since I last lived here.  

I have always loved this view, right before you cross into New Hampshire.  Because the view is right on the highway, on a bridge, in fact, you can't pull over to shoot it from the road, so this is the best I will ever get.

Welcome to New Hampshire, or as I have always called it, "Cow Hamster".

Just a teeny sliver of NH rests between MA and ME.  Did you know that Maine was originally part of Massachusetts?  It's true.  Maine is not one of the 13 colonies.  This is the Piscataqua River Bridge, on the border of NH and ME.  It was one of the landmarks on my way to Saint Joe's, on what always seemed like an interminably long trip from the Cape to the College.  When we got to Piscataqua, I knew we were only an hour or so away.

We had intended to stop at the Kittery Trading Post so that I could get some winter boots, for the impending storm.  There are tons and tons of factory outlet stores in the area too.  Well, we were yakking and missed the one and only exit to Kittery, which is almost immediately after you cross over the bridge from NH.  One illegal U-turn on the Maine Turnpike later, we were on our way to the store.  I found a decent pair of boots that are really comfy, esp. with the thick socks I got as well.  And some postcards.  And a fridge magnet. 

B&M Baked Beans factory in South Portland.

The Winter People statue in Freeport, which is where we stayed our first night so that we could see my bff/sister, Michelle & her hubby, John.  

Rolled into town around 2:30 and had to kill time before check in so we just drove up the main street.  LL Bean is in Freeport, along with more factory outlets.  The town was packed and it was getting bitterly cold, so for once we didn't pull over and join the hordes of people on the street.  There are a whole ton of carved pumpkins that were set up all around LL Bean and on a giant scaffold outside the main store.  I'm sure it was quite a sight to see at night.  The only store we went in was The Beadin' Path....it was my squeeze's very first time in a bead shop!  Then we got some eggrolls and chicken wings at the Chinese restaurant to tide us over till dinner because we were starving. 

We met up with Michelle & John at Buck's Naked BBQ which was unbelievably delicious!!!!!  We were having so much fun talking and catching up on old times and laughing (and laughing....and laughing some more) that I totally forgot to take a picture of the food we ordered!!!  We started with fried pickles.  I know, I know, it sounds gross, but they were WICKED GOOD!!!!!!  It was an excellent nom.  

Then we went over to Michelle & John's house in North Yarmouth for an hour or so.  This is their license plate.  Isn't it cool?

Michelle and the latest member of her family, Princess, from the Collie Rescue League where she has gotten all her doggies.  Princess' story is very sad, but she's finally got a happy "furever" home.  She's an elderly girl, with a lot of health problems and appears to be deaf, but she will live out her days with peace, affection, food, warmth and love.  She's a very sweet and friendly dog.  She got along pretty well with Peepers too.

Auntie Michelle giving Beanie some lovin too.

When we left, big huge fluffy flakes of snow were falling hard and had already accumulated.  It was only a 10 mile drive back to Freeport, but I'm glad he was driving and not me.  I hate driving in snow.  It scares me.  We stopped at a convenience store about a third of the way back, and I shot this sign. So which is it? No parking at all or parking for 30 minutes? lol  See the snowflakes?

Next up: Day 2.

Friendship

This photo was taken 29 years ago, in early September 1982, of me and Martha in my dorm room at Saint Joseph's College in Maine.  Martha lived across the hall and we became fast friends.

And here we are in early August, 2011, at her family's cottage in Dennisport.

Where did the past 29 years go?  I still think of us as teenagers just starting out in life.