Shipping off to Boston...er...Wells, Maine.

 

A while ago we had decided to start our trip with a tour of Boston. However, after seeing a weather report for this monday, we decided to take our time getting on the road and head straight up to Maine. We'll just visit Boston when we get back!

The weather wasn't that big of a disturbance to driving, but it did take us a while to actually get past Warwick, RI! (I kept forgetting things...)

We finally did get on the road and went to Maine, passing through NH on the way. We found a delightful duty free liquor store in a barn (yes a barn, it was wonderful). We bought two bottles of wine and some liquor (the wines were Debauchery and Woop Woop - we only picked them for their names).

We finally arrived at our campsite at dusk to set up our tent in what light was left. Brent, being the confident person he is, decided it wasn't necessary to practice setting up an unfamiliar tent...so we tried our best to read directions in the dark. We set it up surprisingly fast, and then moved our attention to the campfire...

Not exactly the biggest success of our trip thus far. We gave up after we set about 50 newspapers on fire and the logs wouldn't catch. We decided to call it a night, chugged our Debauchery and went to sleep.

We woke up bright and early at 10 the next day. It was probably the best sleep I've had in a while. We explored northward for some breakfast and found ourselves at a wonderful place in Kennebunk called Perfecto Cafe. They put omelets inside of bagels...genius. We used Brent's phone aps to help us find places to visit. We ended up at Back cove in Portland, which would have been nice for a run, but besides that it wasn't terribly impressive. Then we drove around to find other places, ending up at a dead end, then in a park that first appeared to be quite charming. Upon closer investigation we realized that there was a group of people being spoken to by a few police officers, two sketchy people on a bench (the woman told me my camera was pretty) and lots of ducks and duck droppings. We didn't stay long. We found the Portland waterfront but decided we would much rather head to a beach. So we went back down to Wells (where our campsite was) and got suited up for the beach. We then found a nearby beach, but there were no waves and it was small and a bit crowded. We turned around and headed out to find another beach. We spent probably close to 45 minutes searching for free/low cost parking (as it would have been $15 to park for the public beach we found). Turns out, when we gave up and went back to pay to park at the lot, no one was watching the booth and we got in for free! Yay!

The beach was gorgeous, and the waves were huge. It was quite chilly though, so we didn't end up going in the water. There were plenty of sand castles and various sand creations though, so I got a few pictures. We went to dinner at Barnacle Billy's Etc. after that. Great food, a bit pricey but not too bad for the area. Very scenic! Service could have been friendlier, but it seems that a lot of people in Maine aren't all that friendly. No one smiles back at you when you smile at them, no one says excuse me or holds the door, and people just seem to be in a funk most of the time. I expressed this view to Brent and he said he completely agreed and thought it was just him! Ah well, there are a few friendly people up here, but they're few and far between!

After dinner we headed back to the campsite and had a couple drinks and attempted the campfire again...this time with lighter fluid. TA DA! Lighter fluid makes all the difference. Our fire caught on quickly and kept going for quite a while. We played cards and listened to music until my laptop died, then went to sleep.

About 3 am I woke up and heard something rustling in the woods. I wasn't quite sure what it was and I woke up Brent and said there was something outside. His guess was a raccoon. I said it was probably a Moose...I've wanted to see one so badly up here, but not that close. He laughed and said it wasn't a moose. I had to go to the bathroom so I ventured outside and made it all the way without being attacked by a marauding moose or a scary Frenchman. I got back and laid down. My head was facing downward on a slant, which isn't the best idea after stuffing yourself with greasy seafood and booze. Suffice to say I wasn't feeling my best after that, but eventually got back to sleep. I woke up again to a rustling right outside our tent. A MOOSE!!!

No I'm just kidding...I woke up Brent again and he said it was definitely a raccoon. The thing was practically climbing up the side of the tent to get to our garbage bag. I figured it was going for the leftover hotdog buns in the garbage, but I just wanted to sleep. So I figured I would just give the little guy our buns and he would thank us kindly and leave us alone to get more sleep. I unzipped the tent and the bugger ran off...his loss.

As far as I know, the raccoon didn't come back. And I still haven't seen my moose. But we're on our way now to Florida. It'll take us two days of driving, unless we're feeling zealous and drive through the night (which we just may do). The next two days will be a bit rough, but we'll get to see the whole East Coast! Weee!!!

And we still have that Woop Woop in our trunk (shh!)
Talk to you all soon!