Today was Kathy’s birthday so we celebrated with a drive north along the coast of Maine. Our first stop was the LL Bean headquarter’s store in Freeport. To be honest we just went for the tourist photo of the giant boot but we did go inside and it was a huge store. The crazy part is the store is open 24 hours a day every day, even all holidays. A worker said other than a few days at the start of the pandemic, the store has never been closed in over 10 years. That’s crazy! Would love to know who shops there at 4 AM!
We then drove to the little town of Boothbay Harbor. It had a nice harbor but also lots of shops with really reasonable clothing embroidered with Boothbay Harbor. Look out grandkids, you got lots of t-shirts coming!
We then drove to the town of Rockland. It too had a nice harbor, a quaint Main Street with lots of stores and shops but also two lighthouses we wanted to see. The first one was called Owl’s Head lighthouse. It was nestled in the back of state park where you could only drive so far and then had to walk about 5 mins along a path to get there. You also had to climb about 50 steps to get to it. The views from the top were beautiful looking out over the water. The second one was called Breakwater lighthouse. When we got there, we realized it was about a mile walk out across this pier that had very uneven large rocks you had to walk across. It was like playing hopscotch to get out there! We finally got there and went to tour the inside and it had just closed! On top of that, it wasn’t a traditional looking lighthouse but rather a house with the lighthouse beacon sticking up from it. It was OK but not really worth the long walk!
We then drove to Camden where we had Kathy’s birthday dinner at a place called Peter Ott’s on the Water. We luckily got seated right away since soon after that there was a very long line waiting for a table. We shared a lobster corn chowder soup which was literally the best chowder I’ve ever had. It had big chunks of lobster in it and tasted so great. For the main course, Kathy got steak with crab meat on top and I had… you guessed it, a lobster roll! As they say, when in Rome! And for her birthday dessert we got a chocolate lava cake with hot caramel sauce and whipped cream with a candle she could blow out. Yummy yummy!
It was getting late and we had a long drive home so we decided to head home. We really wanted to stay to see the sunset but then realized if we did we’d get home really late. So while we’re driving, a little after sunset, we come to this stretch of the road where there was a lake and a beautiful sunset hanging over it. So we pulled over and snapped a pic of a glorious sunset!
So all we had left to do was drive home but we realized we were getting low on gas. Here’s where the interesting adventure begins. Me being my frugal self get out my Gas Buddy app and find the cheapest gas between our route and home. The average gas in this area is like $4.99 but I found it for $4.57 just a few miles from our AirBnB. But the tricky part is, will we make it that far without running out of gas! We don’t know this car, we don’t know what gas mileage it gets and we don’t know how much gas will be left when we see the low gas light indicator come on (which we know it will!). We also knew the gas station closed at 10 PM but we thought we could get there by 9:50 PM or so. So we keep driving and ding, the low fuel light comes on! No we start to panic a little since we’re out in the country and don’t know where we’re at. We finally get off an exit and can see the Mobil station with gas at $4.57 and we look at the clock and it’s 9:53 PM so we’re feeling we’re home free! You won’t believe it but as soon as we’re ready to turn into the gas station they shut the lights off and close down! And it wasn’t even 10 PM yet! But then another panic sets in, what if all the other gas stations close!! But luckily a gas station right up the street is still open and we fill up with gas. Whew… crisis averted!
We actually fly home tomorrow but plan to go somewhere in the morning to explore. Hope everyone had a great weekend!
The Wandering Italian 