We used Portland as our home base for the first two days of the trip. After attempting to remedy the lost bag issue with a trip to Macy’s we dined at Costa Vida Mexican and put the day to bed. The one noted feature of the evening: while Julie and I executed tag-team shopping excursions to Macy’s, Elijah managed to acquire, from Borders Books, a new stuffed penguin because: “Maine is a cold place where penguins are most comfortable.”
The next day started with a trip to Whole Foods for Julie and Elijah.
Our first day of appointments to look at houses in Waterville went well though the most compelling attribute of the first house was its proximity to a well known playground. I stayed with Elijah at said playground, for a cold and windy hour and a half, while Julie visited and enrolled Elijah in the local Montessori school. We looked at one more house that lacked the necessary qualities we were looking for and we then headed south with stops at Staples for printing of the following DIY card
and then another stop at Whole Foods in Portland for dinner to round out the day before checking in at hotel number two: the Embassy Suites at the airport.
I attended my much anticipated Tweetup while Julie and Elijah played in the suite. I quite enjoyed the Belgian beer (though way pricey) at Novares in the port section of town, and the Tweetup was fabulous. I picked up a fused glass necklace from @magpiecreative for Julie for mother’s day and was home by 11.
The next day we were back in Waterville and found a great house to rent.
Close to campus, newly remodeled, etc. We toured campus a bit, lunched and then while Julie met with a colleague (Margaret from American Studies) I was back at the playground with Elijah- but this time we met the Director of the Colby Museum, Sharon, and her son, Finn! We stayed that evening with Sharon, Marty and Finn and much fun was had by all. Sharon showed us all the great food shops in the area and made an awesome risotto for dinner. The boys played, endlessly. Breakfast the next morning, an outing to Finn’s soccer game and more playground time, lunch and we were off.
We needed to be home to NY by the end of the day and we still needed to make one last excursion to the coast to Booth Bay Harbor.
Ruth Guillard, TM teacher and Mainer, welcomed us to Booth Bay. Her husband, Bob, is the algae and plankton specialist at the marine research center in Booth Bay Harbor and her son is the general manager of the Booth Bay Harbor ship yard. She and her two dogs, Benny and Moxie, welcomed the three of us for afternoon tea in her beautiful farmhouse overlooking the river. Ruth produced a small stuffed wolf for adoption by Elijah.
As is appropriate to the Maine coast, weather started to move in, and fog and rain with it. We started down route 1 toward Portland and one last stop at Whole Foods before hitting the road to NY state. A busy 4 days for sure with much accomplished.
