Roadtrips Maine, Lobster Festival 2009

 When I was in elementary school and a cub scout we had Boys Life magazine and in the back were ads from Time Life Books. They are collectables now and available on e-bay. I scrounged a dime somewhere and taped it to the postcard and they mailed me my first book. It was the the State of Maine from the United States collection. The deal was you pay for the books on a monthly basis the first few were a dime. When my parents got the letter telling them I signed up for the collection. They cancelled it immediately. But I had MAINE.

I read that paperback book stem to stern and by the end of the week I knew I had to get to the annual Lobster Festival. I guess it was on my (a 10 year old's bucket list.) (Did I invent that?...the bucket list). 

It would play on my mind all these years, about 46. All the years in food service, cooking eating and serving lobsters. In 2009 we made LOBSTER FESTIVAL, the Williams Family Vacation. I cobbled my Southwest Airline points, my Hertz rental points and my Hilton points to make this a practically cost free trip. 

We flew into Manchester NH and rented a Mercury Marquis. The girls said it was an old man car, bordering on a State Patrol vehicle. It was big comfortable and had a V8. Embarrassing... no way. So off we went hitting various preplanned stops. 

The Hampton by the Wholefoods in Portland is where we spent the first night. We bought their healthy prepared foods buffet and loaded up our snack stash. In the morning continuing along the coast stopping next in Freeport to tour the LL Bean HQ and outlet store.  We made various photo ops at lighthouses and while stopping for literature at a local tourist center further North we were told the best sea/ocean glass to be collected was right here in Penobscot Bay. "Go down to the blinking light turn towards the Holiday Inn, park in the city lot and wade out." We were waiting to get further north to collect our sea glass, up by Martha Stewarts Summer House (another must see) ...chuckling to myself.

I thought we made a huge dent in the vacation already getting great photo ops and a basket of ocean/sea glass and could skip Martha...but no we went on, spending several nights in the capitol Augusta doing day trips around Central Maine and a trip to Martha's. We were rewarded there with a tall wooden fence and celebrity hiding pines. There was a nice beach where we waded into the water, but the wind was too heavy to get some sun.

Maine is a great place, slow pace and lots of history and least funky antique stores. We loved it.

Oh yeah the LOBSTER FESTIVAL...Harbor Park Rockland Maine. The poster at top is number 2 signed that year by artist Bill Ronalds. He's done the annual poster for years and hand signs them. 

We were number one in line when an elderly lady came up and asked if she could have the number one spot. Apparently she had been there every year for however long getting the first poster. Well trying not to be a Rickie Bobby where "if you're not first you're last" I relinquished my spot. 

Turns out the park and festival was the size of the Holy Rosary Carnival every Summer in Gary Indiana. The Lobster rolls were delicious and a great time was had by all. I guess when you're a kid things look bigger. I am happy with the Time Life experience results. We got a primo parking spot at the Walgreens across the street.

So was that the end? Nope we had a Clark Griswold experience too. I pulled into the hotel and curb smacked a tire. I thought no harm no foul. The girls said they heard air escaping from somewhere. I chuckled no way. They were right I had killed the tire and we had to have Hertz send us a new ride. This time we got a Ford Explorer which made the girls happy. We had a nice meal at the 99 er and made our way back to the airport. Thanks to my muse Kuryn for inspiring this review.