The Food-Part 2

With those popovers, we had soup.
Paul had lobster stew.
Are you kidding me?!?! That is a chunk of lobster...

Shrimp scampi pizza with roasted red peppers and fresh garlic and basil.
Perfect with the famous Maine Bluberry Ale.

I didn't know Maine was famous for their fresh blueberries.
Until we were there.
They have blueberry everything.
We had fresh blueberries every morning with breakfast.
And Paul had this dessert twice on the porch of our Inn...
Fresh blueberry and strawberry crisp.

Oh...and breakfast.
Each morning we were served a huge country breakfast.
They had different things every day.
Homemade scones.
Seafood quiche.
Fresh blueberry jam.
My mouth is watering just talking about it!

And if you're wondering,
YES.
I gained weight.
But it was totally worth it.

The food-Part 1

Yes, I actually need more than one "Part" to document the food on this trip.
I feel like I keep using the same words over and over...
Amazing, incredible, fabulous.
And I want to use them all again to describe the food!!

The freshest seafood I've ever eaten.
And I could LIVE on seafood.

Fresh Maine Lobster.
Paul loves lobster.
And we had it one night.
A night I learned a little lesson.
If you share a bottle of wine before dinner,
and then have a long wait to be seated,
don't accept the offer of a "drink special" just because it's cheap.
And tastes like lemonade with a piece of mint in it.
Although it is good, there is a good chance you will have hazy memories of your fresh Maine lobster.
And that is very very sad.
Just go for the ice water with lemon.
Heck, even throw in a spring of mint for fun.
But skip "The Ambassador".
That's a much better choice.
And one that I did not make because I was perhaps overly giddy at the thought of a fancy meal with JUST my husband and no children.
At least I have photos...

While in Acadia Park, we ate at the Jordan Pond House.
They have been serving fresh squeezed lemonade and homemade popovers in their lawn since 1871!
That's a long time and I do believe they have perfected the art of the popover.
Look at this thing...

Every single meal we ate was divine.
And oh how I do love food.
So this was definitely a perk of being on the coast of Maine.

Acadia Park

Simply breathtaking...

Whale watching-Part 3

I do realize that nobody will find this nearly amazing as we do.
But we were there.
And each whale part that came out of the water was incredible.
So I want to document it best I can.
These photos nowhere near show you how huge these animals were.
It was truly incredible.

Whale watching-Part 2

Whale watching-Part 1

It was super windy.
We were super happy.
And I had to crop out my four chins that were at the bottom of this photo.

We first spotted whale spray.
Can you see it?

And what is it about whale tails?
I have tons of photos of the whales, but the ones of the tails are my favorite.

See the first photo?

See where it says "Right here"?

That is the specific spot where the following photos took place.
It was beautiful.
And amazing.

And a place we would love to visit again with the children.

Sometime after Ayla turns eight...
teen.

Have I mentioned that I loved this place?!?

Oh Maine...

How we miss you already.
Reality has slapped us in the face.
Lazy days are gone for a while.
But at least we have the memories...

Not sure how I'll do this

I want to document this trip properly, but I could bore you all to death.
So I'm deciding how to do it.
This is one of my favorites though.
One of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

More on the "P" word

I knew I should have never uttered the word. Let alone typed it.
But I did.
And thing everything went haywire.
I truly don't believe in jinxing things.
Well, at least I didn't believe in it.
I may now.
We missed out last connection and there were no more flights out of Cincinnati.
So guess where we stayed last night?!?
I tried to make the best of it.
It was a nice hotel. Kind size bed. A tv for the first time in 5 days. AIR CONDITIONING.
So that was fine.
Up and back home by 9:30am.
Hour drive ahead of us from Cedar Rapids.
Made it to town, my heart was beating fast as I thought about reuniting with my kids.
Then I hear a pop.
Tire blew.
About 1/2 mile from my kids.

DEEP SIGH.

But now we are home.
Everyone is happy.
I think mom is especially happy! :)
We miss you already Maine...

She might be a genius...

Or, she might be plain adorable....

I'm guessing she's both.

The end

This is it.
We are all checked in for our flights tomorrow.
We fly out at 3:12 pm. Anxious to see the kids.
I'm tempted to throw out the "P" word regarding this trip.
But I hate to use that word.
Ya know, like when you're in labor and they ask what your pain level is. You want to say "TEN! THis is THE worst pain I have ever had in my LIFE!" But you don't. Because you KNOW that you will one day have worse pain than that. And you'll think, "Man, labor was a piece of CAKE compared to this!" So instead you say, "I don't know, an 8?!? Maybe 7.5?" But you are thinking secretly in your head that it's a 17.
I'm like that with the "P"word. Ya know, perfect.
So, I'll simply say that this trip was nearly perfect.
ALMOST perfect.
Although, right now, I have no idea what I'd change to make it perfect.
But stay tuned, because Paul wants me to make sure and be careful WHO I tell that this was an amazing trip. He's sure that not everyone would enjoy it nearly as much as we did.
We'll discuss more on that later.
For tonight...our last day...I'll leave you with this quote we saw on a sign in Acadia Park today....
"Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in...where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul." (John Muir)
That is what Maine has been to us....beauty, cheer, strength.
Now we are ready to be home.
Night.

And we call this series of photos "Dancing Queen"...

Please God, don't let this be foreshadowing of her college years...

Lesson learned

I should have brought my computer. :)
Went whale watching today.
Oh.
my.
gosh.
Seriously amazing. We saw several humpbacks up close.
Three of them stayed right by our boat for probaby an hour.
I truly almost cried.
They were rolling around and play with eachother.
Incredible.
LOTS of pics. Should have brought my computer to sort through them.
I know I won't have all the time I need when I return home.
Tomorrow is our last full day. We are heading back to Acadia Park for the day to hike.
Schedule got changed today and we didthe whale watching at 1 instead of sunset.
So we're heading back tomorrow for the day since we had no plans.
Tuesday is travel all day.
Amazed by this place, but starting to miss the kids.
I'll be so happy to see them. And to share stories.
Also, we can't get Paul's phone to work now either, so no more mobile uploads on Facebook or instant replies to texts.
Off to roam around town...