NOTE: I was too lazy to go back and spell check this. Ignore the grammatical errors that I am SURE are there.
I have 16 days left and boy am I EVER counting down.
It's cold now in the basement at work and the heater doesn't work.
I can't even take walks around Merryspring now because I have so much office work to do.
I guess that there have been some happy things in the past week:
I got this idea off Pinterest. Little bat cheese balls rolled in poppy seeds, blue corn chips for wings, and olives for eyes. I made these for FHE.
And then of course there is the Mom and Dad visit. They decided that they wanted to get a look at Maine in the Fall. I don't blame them. It's pretty amazing-though I have heard this has been an off year. If this is OFF I can't even imagine what a NOT OFF year is like!
First I picked them up from the Manchester Airport (it rained the whole drive there). Things sunnied out and we headed to the State Park I worked at last year-Pawtuckaway
Here are Mom and Dad next to a giant White Pine tree.
Dad in front of one of the Many glacial erratics (AKA big rocks) at Pawtuckaway.
Burnham Marsh in the fading light.
The colors on Pawtuckaway Lake. They were actually BETTER in New Hampshire!We got home late but enjoyed some AWESOME and GIANT wraps at a restaurant called "Silly's". Of course it took us FOREVER to find it...but it was SO worth it. You know, you can get a peanut butter bacon shake there? Seriously, you HAVE to go and check out there menu HERE
The next day was Owls Head/Rockland day. First we drove to Birch Point state park in Owls Head.
Leaves and moss and sun
Dad looking through a large tube of white birch bark. He thought it was SO COOL how the insides rotted before the bark and you could pick up the log and all the insides would fall out leaving this hollow sleeve of bark.
Mom and Dad as we walked to Birch Point.
I actually think this was at the top of Mt. Battie. Maybe. Or maybe at Merryspring. Oh well. Dad holding up a large golden Striped Maple leaf in front of his face.
Mom and Dad in front is the courthouse I think...well...SOME cool building in Rockland.
Here's that cool building again.
A cool metal sculpture of Kestrels in downtown Rockland
Mom and Dad stand under The Strand theater for me.
Train Track no longer used in Rockland.
THEN we went to the Breakwater Lighthouse. This is kind of a "need to do" thing in the area.
Mom and Dad at the lighthouse. It was COLD and WINDY.
Mom is flattened by the wind against the lighthouse!
Okay...not really...
The Jetty.
And then there was dinner. Even though we were ALL super exhausted, we made stuffed baked pumpkins. Italian sausage, dried cherries, pumpkin, peppers, onion, apples, a butternut squash risotto...it was amazing.
Yeah, so this PICTURE isn't amazing. But it was horrible light!!
Huh. I guess I decided not to include any Saturday pictures. I guess I figured you have seen PLENTY of picture of Mt. Battie and Camden.
We went breakfast at The Mariner's restaurant. I would pass that place all the time when I walked downtown and there is a hand painted sign that says "blueberry pancakes" with a hand-painted picture of blueberry pancakes drenched in syrup. It always makes me want BLUEBERRY PANCAKES!
Guess what I didn't get there? Right. Blueberry pancakes. I got a breakfast Monte Cristo (on French toast) and a BANANA pancake. I didn't KNOW they had things that sounded better than Blueberry pancakes! But dad got one and shared. It was ALL very good.
Then we went to the farmers market. I love that little market and my FAVORITE place is Polly's (who is apparently leaving next year! I'm glad I caught them). They sell jams and pickeled things. They always have free samples and the old man that usually runs that place is the cutest old man EVER. I LOVE him.
We wandered downtown, we drove to some pretty places in Rockport, we drove to the top of Mt. Battie, and then we made Lobster Mac and Cheese for dinner. It was spectacular. Oh yeah, I took Mom and Dad to Fresh off the Farm. I LOVE that place!
Sunday, we went to church, napped, and I took them around Merryspring. Nothing amazing.
MONDAY.
We drove to Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park
A view of one of the streets of Downtown Bar Harbor. This place was SO touristy. A place I only need to visit once. It reminded me of Gatlinburg in Tennessee (which is like this FAKE old fashioned looking town just outside the Great Smokey Mountains National Park). Bar Harbor was like FAKE cute New England. But it was still an experience. And I enjoyed it!
We got lunch at this "gluten free" place called Morning Glory Bakery. They didn't have as much gluten free as we hoped. But I got a shrimp, tomato, Parmesan quiche and Italian artichoke soup. I also got a hazlenut "steamer" (which I guess is just steamed milk). Warm/hot milk always sounds gross. But add a flavor? YUM. It was so good.
Mom and Dad after lunch which we ate at the Bar Harbor Village Green.
Dad next to the ice cream lobster in front of this ice cream/fudge place that looked SO GOOD but they overcharged EVERYTHING. I was so upset because I was REALLY looking forward to fudge and ice cream!!
After some window shopping we finally headed into the park. I have to say, it wasn't super user friendly finding out how to get to a place to pay for entry. I guess that's what we get for going in the off season. But once we got going it was wonderful. We didn't have a lot of time so we drove a lot around this road that went on part of the perimeter of the park.
The road we took.
A view from the summit of Mt. Cadillac. I think that's the Gulf of Maine in the distance.
From the summit of Mt. Cadillac (that's Bar Harbor down there with TWO cruise ships)
This was taken CLOSE to the summit of Mt. Cadillac. Lovely.
Just another view along the drive.
We walked one of the rocky beaches. It was low tide and this large rocks were covered in glistening seaweed.
How amazing would it be to live in that house??
We got our fill of views (I could have seen more but we were losing our light. Darn you Maine for being in the furthest part of the Eastern time zone!!)
We went to a lighthouse nearby. I actually don't remember the name...I was kind of tired.
Dad reading a sign at the lighthouse.
Another full day. I let Mom drive home and slept part of the way back. If *I* was that worn out I can't even IMAGINE how tired Mom and Dad must have been!
The next day we arose early so that we could see a giant chocolate moose and eat yummy food before I took Mom and Dad to the airport.
This is at Len Libby's. An amazing candy shop. Lenny is the life size moose crafted entirely from CHOCOLATE!!! The mama bear in front of him is libby and she has two dark chocolate cube in the background there. AMAZING!! The water that Lenny is standing in is white chocolate!
The Red Arrow Diner in Manchester NH. I've been there twice and their food is awesome. It's this tiny little diner. Maybe even smaller than Broadway diner. And they are known for having had lots of famous people eat there. Like Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman, Patrick Dempsey to name a few. Their special was Shepherd's pie, which I got. YUM, but so HUGE! Gosh I love that place.
Then it was time to say goodbye. I dropped mom and dad off and headed back home.
On the way back I stopped by Smiling Hill Farm (somewhere Jason had apparently gone). There wasn't much. There might be more to do on weekends or during the summer. But I stopped by the restaurant/ice cream shop at the top of the hill. I got Indian Pudding ice cream. It's basically gingerbread flavored ice cream and raisins. YUM! I also bought some mint Oreo fudge (since I didn't get any in Bar Harbor, humph!), blueberry milk, and some Havarti dill cheese. WOO! Gotta love dairy farms!
Here is a flock of geese on the lovely, picturesque farm.
And that was the fun time I had with Mom and Dad. CONDENSED believe it or not. I'm sure they will have their own account of things.
Meanwhile, I have NO job lined up for when I get home. No clue exactly what I am going to do. And TONS of things to do at work. And it's almost IMPOSSIBLE for me to focus on doing work on the computer ALL DAY.
And lets not forget how cold it is in that basement.
And my stupid uncomfortable chair.
Sorry. After wonderful and grand times it's been hard being sucked mercilessly back into reality.
Two and 1/2 weeks.
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