Last day in Boothbay

July 13, 2007
Boothbay, ME

No paraskavedekatriaphobia here. Who cares if it’s Friday the thirteenth? Not us. In our house, it’s just Merlin’s Birthday. The big dog is 9 years old today, and just as feisty as ever. A little slower up the stairs at times, but who isn’t at his age? Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Last night we ate well, which means we ate light. After a mid-afternoon lunch, neither one of us felt like cooking or eating when we got home. Since we had salad greens on hand and a chicken breast in the freezer, voila -- salad with grilled chicken sounded perfect. Accompanied by a cheap California Pinot Noir (Pepperwood Grove, actually not too bad for $5/bottle), it made for a nice late dinner.

Today dawned brighter than we’ve seen is over a week. There was no fog and the welcome sunshine was accompanied by a light breeze. We almost had our coffee out on the patio, except that we both got tied up online, Geri searching for new recipes and me checking to see how well our IRAs did in the market -- :-) -- and updating our Quicken data. I checked to make sure that Geri’s prescription refills made it to our mail service in South Dakota (they did) so we’ll get a mail shipment next week before we leave the US.

We took another drive today, this time out through the Southport peninsula. It’s rumored that Martha has a place there, but I think people are confused with Southport, CT, to be honest. Needless to say, we didn’t see her but we did have a chance to stop at the local public pier for a while. It was nice to snap a few photos and just sit for a while. We’ve noticed that “sitting for a while” is a popular activity at the vacation homes here. I reckon it’s the same as “settin’ a spell” in the South, and something to be savored. This is obviously a popular vacation hangout, as we’ve seen as many out-of-state cars as those from Maine. The majority are from New England plus New York and New Jersey (the latter surprised me, given the popularity of the “Jersey Shore”), with a good dose of Quebec representation. We’ve seen only a couple of plates from the Maritimes (they have their own vacation spots!) and from elsewhere in the US. That’s too bad, because it’s really nice here.

After our excursion to Southport, we headed back to Boothbay Harbor. We’d thought about doing a short tour boat cruise, but the skies have started to cloud up so we stopped in the local Coffee House and Wine Bar. OK, we didn’t have any coffee, but we had a couple of nice Cabs (St. Francis and BV), a California Mourvedre (Cline) that was decent, and a Spanish Tempranillo/Garnacha that was downright port-like. This was accompanied by a cheese plate that, while not labeled and sequenced correctly, was also decent. We just wished the place had an outside seating area; it was basically the first floor of an older colonial house just up the street from the main shopping district. They had paninis and some tapas-like offerings in addition to the cheeses, about 30 wines by the glass (no flights) and 6-8 beers (including Guinness on tap, if I’d been so inclined). Traffic was on the slow side, so it’ll be interesting to see if the place is still here the next time we come through (whenever that is).

After we got home, we lit the “bar” sign, mixed a cocktail (purging ourselves of another bottle that won’t need to make the border crossing to Canada, Tanqueray “Ten”) and sat outside for a while. The gathering clouds held off for a bit and the sun came back out. We’re parked next to a relatively new Prevost conversion by Marathon Coach (Marathon’s factory is right across the street from Monaco’s in Coburg, OR, right off I-5). For those who don’t know, Marathons are 1.5-2+ million dollar rolling mansions that make ours look trailer-park-ish in comparison. Anyway, their sides are polished stainless steel up to the mid-line, and very reflective. Since the sun was shining at just the right angle, we felt like George Hamilton getting a tan while we were sitting out, at least until the sun went back behind the clouds. We’ve only seen the “Prevost People” once in the 4 days we’ve been here, and that was only for a few minutes while they stopped by to check up on things. We’re assuming that they’ve just parked it here while they’re spending time on their yacht. After all, if you can afford a $2 mil coach, what’s wrong with another few $$$ on a boat? And we’d be right with ‘em if the damn PowerBall numbers came through… :-)

Tonight, we’ll continue to “live off the land” and eat away at things in the freezer. Geri had tucked away some pre-made tortellini with proscuitto and cheese, and we picked up some Rao’s sauce at the Hannaford’s, so we’re continuing to get ourselves ready for border crossing. We'll couple it with a nice 1997 Barolo from Pio Cesare that I've been saving for a good meal like this. Tomorrow, we’ll have the last of the steaks we brought with us, and we’ll be ready for seafood once we cross into New Brunswick.

Well, that’s it for today. I’ve uploaded a few of today’s snapshots at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/AlbumBoothbay2