Mosh Glass

So today started really late. And when I say started, we did nothing. But you need down time on a long vacay. Do laundry, clean house, grocery shop. All that crap.

Anyhow, the day involved a lot of house cleaning and organizing and doing dishes. We went to a local furniture store and got a sofa bed. They delivered same day and actually just followed us home. We helped unload and put in house.

Also went to Waterville to look at stackable washer dryer combos. Did not buy one. Then home.

We sat around in afternoon playing hearts and having cocktails. BBQd some oysters. Played more cards. Drank cocktails. We made a sort of rum sangria. Very nice. Bottle now empty.

Right now some are doing dishes and doing general clean up. Glad I am at the table not doing that. But, I do appreciate their hard work.

I think we are all drunk enough and full enough to go to bed. Not much else we can do. I hope tomorrow we can do more. Like go out to a place to drink and eat. We do have a play at Lakewood playhouse at 8 pm. Should be fun

We are going to Portland today 7/5, I posted late. About a 2 1/2 hour drive south of here. Son Michael is flying in today in late afternoon. The rest of us are getting an early start, or trying to get one, and go to Peaks Island and later to a Sea Dogs game. The Sea Dogs are the Red Sox farm team in Portland. Minor league baseball at its best.

We have a few issues here before we go. The water heater is screwing up and we are getting little to no hot water. I don’t really care. My shower was warm, not hot. But, my 22 year old daughter get hit by cold water. OMFG!!! The world ended! She was screaming and crying and shivering. To which I gently say, shut the hell up. No one cares. Insensitive? I think not. Its cold water, not poison. Drama queen. So far this has cost us 35 minutes of our day waiting on her.

We got going by 8 o’clock. Wow we can get moving early. Non descript drive down 295 and managed to find parking at the waterfront. We walked to terminal and managed to make the 1015 ferry to the island. Only takes 15 mins to island.

Walked around for about 45 mins and went to lunch at The Peaks Island House

After lunch we walked around the island some more then went to dock to wait for ferry. Uneventful trip back but the day is beautiful. Sunny and warm with gentle breeze. Very nice.

Upon return we stopped in an oyster bar for drinks and oysters duh. Nice place with cheap happy hour drinks and cheap happy hour oysters. Good combo.

At this point I left the group to go to the Portland Jetport to pick up Michael. Plane was 30 mins late. Great. Finally got him and we drove back to Portland to pick up the crowd from some other bar they were in and took off to Hadlock Field, home of the Sea Dogs. They played New Hampshire Fisher Cats at 7pm
Great game. Scoreless till 8th. Sea Dogs error gave NH two runs. That held up and we lost.

2 and half hours back to the camp. 50 miles of nighttime road work just for fun.

But, fun never ends. We had to play musical beds when we got back cuz we did not have one for Michael. Emily and I decided to sleep in the trailer. Great. The roof leaks it turns out. Had a couple days rain after we arrived and some got in. Not to severely wet but the lining of the trailer is a wood bead board paneling. That’s buckled across the roof. And it “feels” wet. We slept soundly and well anyhow. Still very comfortable. No plans for tomorrow. Maybe buy a sleeper sofa.

Happy 4th!! Today is Independence Day. So in honor of our freedom we are going to go do what we want.

A trip to Moxie falls this morning. It’s about a 1.5 mile hike to the falls. Of course, it’s a one hour drive to get to the trailhead. No worries.

After the hike we are going to stop at a brewery local to the falls and drink beer. Now that is an American tradition for the 4th.

Well it’s 1045. What are we doing?

Eating breakfast. Yes, we are slow. Emily is having gruel and Marika is having a peanut butter cookie.

I really think we are going to Moxie. Maybe soon. Of course I have thought that he last two days. This is like herding cats.
See, we got there. Nice walk too. Was a cool day with very few bugs. The falls are beautiful.

Lunch at Kennebec River Brewery which is about five miles from the Falls. Food really was fantastic. I can’t speak to the beer because I don’t drink it. Though everyone else had seconds on it. This an after lunch shot. I forgot to pic the food. Oops.

Drive back to the lake after lunch. I slept most of the way. When we got back we realized our short term renters next door had left. And left a huge mess. Definitely losing their deposit. Spent 2 hours cleaning that up.

We had planned cocktails at the Jervy’s and dinner at Dee’s house. I puréed some blueberries for the cocktails and made traditional daiquiris with blueberry purée. Quite nice.

We had stuffed scallops for an appetizer and this is dinner For those who can’t see it, ribs, homemade beans and salad. We have homemade ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Isn’t vacay awful?

Actually, this is paradise. Another sunny, light breeze, warm day on the lake. It’s nice.

Today we are supposed to go to Waterville. Probably have a nice lunch. Emily wants to look at sofa beds. Maybe go to Modern Underground which sells retro furniture and housewares. Nice place. Maybe we can hit Giffords.

Right now we have had breakfast and coffee and are taking turns in the bathroom. I’m next.

Takes awhile to get moving when on vacay cuz we have nothing that has a strict time to start.

Finally. 1pm and we are headed out to lunch. Dan just got back from fish market with lobster and shrimp for the risotto he is making tonight.

We have been sitting around doing laundry, sitting around waiting for all to be done with morning ablutions. We only have one toilet and shower. Dan is entertaining. IMG_2531

Still sitting around at 1130 getting ready for our day. We move SLOW.

Went to Big G’s deli in Winslow. The best deli in Maine, or so says their sign. The sandwiches are huge, you have to share them. I wish I had taken a picture. The cookies they make are the size of small pizzas. Great place for you to visit next time you are in Central Maine.

No trip to Waterville is complete till you go to Marden’s for discount retail shopping. So we went there. We ran out of time for other activities. We had to get home early enough for Dan to make his lobster risotto. We are having friends for dinner tonight. No fava beans. No Chianti.

So here we sit doing the Maine thing

Dinner is done. A little entertainment before Dan is too drunk to play. IMG_2534

So now we sit around after dinner. Full and half drunk. Solving the world’s problems. Truly the end to a full day. Very nice.

Still waiting on dessert which is rhubarb on ice cream. Soon I hope, the level of discussion and volume is driving me crazy.

Maybe we can finish our game of hearts later. I was winning.

I am going to stop numbering my days here. Makes it seem like a prison sentence. We did not really have any plans it turns out. We do a lot of this
This is good vacay time. The weather here is almost perfect. Temp about 80 deg, light cooling breeze, a few clouds. Sounds awful don’t it?

The lake is looking good today.
Don’t be jealous. Water is absolutely perfect temperature. I mean it. Just dive in, refreshing without any shock. We have a canoe, a kayak, couple paddle boards and assorted floaties. And a private dock on each side of the lake for our use. OK, be jealous. I am.

We had breakfast at the Lakewood Inn, about 500 yards from our front door. That’s eggs Benedict with filet mignon instead of Canadian bacon. I recommend it.

The Inn is Next to the Lakewood Playhouse. They have a summer run of shows, seven days a week.

Today is a sit around day for the most part. We did drive in to Waterville, about 5 miles, to Reny’s which is a Maine discount store. Various and sundry items and food. Then home to sit around.

We are getting together with local friends tonight for a chicken mole dinner. I am providing cocktails, tonight is daquiris to which I add raspberry purée. They are nice.

Dinner was fabulous. as were the cocktails if I must say so myself. Since I am writing this, I have to say so myself.

We are getting ready to go to Gifford’s. As I mentioned previously, worlds best ice cream stand. And mini golf. We will be playing mini golf tonight. We already had ice cream.

Well, I beat the hell out of everyone at mini golf. It really bothers Emily. Too bad. So sad. Something I’m good at. Anyhow, we did skip more ice cream. You can have too much.

We came home and sat around for an hour and off to bed.

So this is more like day two, except yesterday I woke up in New Hampshire and then drove to Maine. So I figure today for first day of vacay.

We got up earlier than I wanted. Our friends got up at 830. I coulda stayed in bed except the only bathroom is in our bedroom. So if anyone is up, so am I.

Not much going today. Emily continues to clean. She put up wire on the porch railing to keep the stupid dogs from jumping and killing themselves. Yes, two of them tried. Jaxon did a face plant that sounded like he broke his jaw. Which is what he landed on. Dan and I drove to the hardware store for a couple things. We sat around till around 130. Then Dee and Marika came over and we all went to the Bigelow Hill Brewery for food and beer. Everyone else had beer, I had a sarsprilla. As most know, I don’t drink beer. We also had a couple pizzas which were very good.

Came home about 3 and putzed around a couple hours. We decided to BBQ burgers so back to grocery store for all the fixings. We invited the in laws over too. Nice dinner, I made cocktails (see the theme?) and BBQ’d burgers. We had pasta salad too. Emily made rhubarb upside down cake with ice cream.

A full day. Not sure what we are doing tomorrow, I think maybe a trip to Moxie Falls. Will see. I am going to bed cuz I’m still tired from drive

Since we got robbed of sleep yesterday we slept in till 8 am. 5 hours sleep is just great. The Motel 6 (a real gyp cause it felt like 5) did not serve breakfast. We went to McD’s. Delicious. Next stop was the New Hampshire state liquor store. Cheaper than Maine. Weird how it’s so busy in the morning. I have a new portable bar, called a Cock Tail Gator. I have bartending duties here in Maine and have to lug around tools and supplies to every party so I can make drinks for everyone. It’s a blessing and a curse.

We jumped in the car and off across the bridge and we are in Maine!! Finally. After 3000+ miles. We zipped through Maine quite quickly, listening to The Nighingale on CD. Stopped for gas once. No real excitement. Arrived at our cottage at about 230. Unhooked. Unpacked. Emily cleaned.

Our friends from Florida, Dan and Susan, arrived at Emily’s folks house in Skowhegan about 5 and we got there a few minutes later. Beth (mom) made American chop suet, dee (sister) made bread, I made cocktails and we had dinner.

After dinner we went back to our cottage at the lake as did Dan and Susan. We stopped at the grocery store to stock up on necessaries. Then we did what we do most every day here. We went to Giffords for ice cream. Greatest ice cream on planet earth. They have five ice cream stands here in Maine. The one here in Skowhegan is my favorite. I had a black raspberry frappe. Excellent.

We went to bed immediate after getting back. Hey, I am damn tired. Five days of driving sucks the life out of you.

Continue reading “Way to go Ohio”

Well we overnighted in Lincoln, NE. Nothing real special there. There was a fast food joint next to where we stopped that has three full size gorillas on its front lawn and one on the roof. Called King Kongs. Go figure.

Spent the next five and a half hours of my life trying to get through Iowa. Very boring. See my previous post about Nebraska. Almost identical with absolutely nothing of interest. Note to self: flyover next time.

A moment ago we crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois. Things are looking up. And I have connectivity!!! Maybe I can do live updates.

We are making good time today with the usual stops for gas and to water the dogs. We are at 400 miles for the day right now at 230 central time. We want 400 more before the day is out. The only thing that will stop us is boredom or gassy dogs. We are listening to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. So that stops boredom. Don’t think I can stop the dogs.

My daughter has recommended I add some remarks or details that explain why we are crazy enough to drive from coast to coast and back again this summer. Well, reread that last bit and focus on he word “crazy”. Seriously, we had a plan. Had.

Our family owns a cottage in Madison, Maine. It is on Lake Wessurunsett. Madison is about ten miles outside of Skowhegan in Central Maine. We go there every summer but usually fly and rent a car.

First, I mention we have three old dogs. Very old. Geriatric. When planning to go to Maine this became a huge deal. One of our dogs, Jaxon, a cocker became wery ill. Lot$ of visits to the vet. He ended up in a medicine chest full of drugs 3 times a day. Plus confinement and he needed care. My wife, Emily, decided it would be a good idea to drive across country instead of flying because we could never find the care that Jaxon needs while we were gone. And I thought this sounded like a good idea too. Normally our judgment is not this bad. Really.

Too make things easier (yes, we really thought so) we decided to camp our way across the country. I researched small trailers and we decided on the teardrop you see on our home page. Fortunately, American Teardrops makes these in Auburn, CA. That’s only 45 miles from where we live. I was able to go visit the factory and spoke to Bud Hausman, the owner. He is also the entire production staff. I ordered a teardrop that day for delivery a month and a half later in late June. We decided to leave for Maine when the trailer was done. And we did.

After three days on the road, lots of junk food, stopping at a lot of truck stops for people and dog breaks, I realize this is a lot of work. We are enjoying the trip, and except maybe the driving. It’s not so bad being locked in the car with three gassy dogs and theee cranky people. I admit I like it more than airplane travel. We do drive where we want and stop when we feel like it. Many people on the road check out our rig and many laugh at the little car and little trailer. They’re just jealous. We look uber cool.

For the future we are already planning some camping trips. Though for now, just local to our home in California. But we may do the long “road trip” again. We did a 3500+ mile trip around the Western US each of the last two summers. No dogs. Two people. Same little car. I think these trips could have been improved with the trailer accommodations.

So if you see us on the road please smile and wave. Laughing is ok but remember, we will laugh back at you.