I Walk In This World

LOL!  I cannot imagine how the scale will have jumped afta are the big meals I’m eating on this vacay.  It’s been worth it (mostly) for the ginorm B&B Breakfasts we’ve had along the way.

Yesterday (Sunday) we drove from Bar Harbor down to Portland along scenic Route 1 instead of the highways.  It was fantastic b/c there are some fabulous harbor towns to stop in on the way.  Totally cute and arsty with sailboats on the water and fancy Inns on the small roads. 

Before heading out of Bah Haabah, we ate our last lovely Inn Breks. 

I ended up not eating the French toast b/c it wasn’t anything special.  But I did eat the bacon and most of the yogurt + granola.  On the 2nd plate, I ate half the eggs (snuck some to Hillybean), 3/4 of the toast, and 2 of the potatoes.  This was my morning view…

We packed up, said bon jour to the pretty little town, and drove on down the road. 

We stopped in Camden for lunch, which is the prettiest little harbor town.  In fact, it gives Annapolis a run for it’s money, and that Is Saying a Lot cuz Annapolis is my favorite town.

I ate the fresh, local crab and veggie wrap, which was handpicked local crabbies mixed with cucumber, red onion, and bell peppers with fresh lime squeezed in.  It was so clean and fresh tasting!  We walked around a bit and then headed on down the road.

I needed a potty/caffeine break and we stopped at McD’s cuz that’s all we could find.  And look what we found while there.

Um.  A crazy guy was walking around with this bird, like this was Okay to Do.  And he plopped her down here while he ran in for burgers and fries.  She just hung out saying Hello to me over and over.  And I musta talked to her for all 10mins the Crazy Guy was inside.  When he came back out, he gave her a french fry and she LOVED it.  It was pretty cute.  In fact, I chatted with Crazy and he told me he rescued the parrot from a local hotel where she was a lobby attraction (and abused).  So he takes her everywhere now, and it was actually pretty sweet to hear him talk of how much he loved this bird.

(((sweet Crazies)))

We got to Portland around 5pm and did a 2 mile walk along the Harbor Greenway.  We let Hillybean play in the water which was HighLarious b/c she’d never done that, so was really excited and kept dipping in the water then doing sprints up and down the beach (with glee).

Dinner was at Gritty McDuff’s, a local brewerey.

I had their IPA and Hubz did the samples.  And for Din I had the bison burger with grilled onions.  It was Fantastic!!  I ate most of those chips too.  They were homemade which is Very Hard to pass up.

We moved on to Sebago Brewery where I had their IPA (plus another) and got a little buzzed.  Hubz was Def Drunk!  In fact, he awoke at 1am to tell me how much he loves our dog and to make sure my hand was okay (I hurt it pretty bad the other day, then passed back out again.  lmao!

Yah.  I’m accident prone.  I twisted my ankle (bad) hiking on the slippery kelp in the tide pools the other day.  And almost broke my hand on Sunday.  I fell and hit it on the corner of 2 walls.  Broke my  fall on the edge of my hand in fact.  It’s twice the size of my other hand!  Hubz was appropriately concerned once he saw the swelling.  He was worried I broke it!  Fortunately for me (and my sister better not rat me out!), I’ve broken my hand before and know the signs.  It’s def not broken this time around…just swollen and very sore.

Ok kiddies, Erin’s heading back to the Jerz Wednesday.  This has been 1 Fabulous Trip.

Hi bloggy friends.

Thx a mil for all your lovely anniversary wishes!  Means a lot to me.  *muah*

Sunday (our anniversary) was a great RELAXING day.  We decided to have a totally low key day since our lives are always go-go-gadget-arms (bonus points for peeps old enough to remember what cartoon that’s from).

We spent the morning relaxing over a leisurely breakfast with Harbor views.

I had eggs + salmon with toasted sourdough, fresh fruit, New England potatoes (ate 5).  Then I went back for 1 mini blueberry pancake (Maine specialty) + a blueberry muffin (ate half) + homemade yogurt and granola.  This was an amazingly full breks but sometimes you just have to enjoy what life offers.  And my anniversary offered a BIG breks.

After breks we did some respective computer work (blog important stuff for me…stay tuned for a visit to Stonyfield Farms coming up!) and then went for a lovely walk into Bar Harbor.  Stopped at the Bar Harbor Brewery to sample a few beers.  That was fun, duh. 

Hubz did some impulse shopping and we had to take his loot back to our Inn before back into town for lunch.  We had our fill of seafood, so I went with the beet salad (plus goat cheese, Niman Ranch chicken, and herbed olive oil) and a spicy pale ale.

After lunch we window shopped and browsed thru the SUPER cute art galleries and artisan shops in town.  We ended up at Cadillac Mtn Sporting Goods where I bought these super fabulous, no-blisters-causing, supporting-your-feet miracle sandals.  I already have hiking Chacos, but when I saw these flips, I turned a blind eye to the price and dove on in.

After more shopping and some afternoon ice cream, we walked back to the Inn where I suited up the doggy and went for a run on the Harbor hiking trail.  Hillary was a reluctant companion.  I guess terriers aren’t natural runners?  I jest of course.  Her short stocky legs barely clear the pavement as is.  But I’m a stubborn lass.  I figure if my short Irish legs can run, so can hers.

We had anniversary cocktails on the Inn porch before heading off to dinner.  Mine was a Greyhound martini (grapefruit + vodka).  LOL, why do I look 3-sheets to the wind in this pic?  I’ve only had 2 sips so far!

Anniv din was had at a local place overlooking the harbor.  A bit swank, but nothing too beyond.  I had the scallops and smoked harbor shrimp.  It was just ok.  I have come to realize that much of New England (vacation) fare is average.  Plain and simple.  Ain’t got nothin on kick ass Jersey food or the marvelous eats I’m familiar with in the South.

We had a wonderful and loving anniversary and I still feel like a lucky lucky gal to have married this dude.

Ciao for now peeps.

Er

Hi bloggies,

We are checking in to the blogosphere from our B&B here in north central MA.  We are located up in the the Quabbin Reservation, a giant swatch of forested lands protecting the Quabbin Reservoir that provides beautiful scenic views AND drinking water to 2.4 million MA residents.

And here we are, dualing-laptops a-going on our bed at the B&B.  God bless WiFi cuz there’s no tv/dvd etc. 

We just got back from dinner at an interesting spot.  Since we are in a remote part of MA, we’ve come to find that A Lot of businesses simply aren’t open every night of the week.  Our innkeeper here at the B&B informed us of the 2 local restaurants “open on a Tuesday.”

Now maybe I’m uber jaded from living in the most congested state in the union, but isn’t it simply crazy that of the 20 or so restaurants in a 20-mile radius of here, only TWO are open tonight?  Is it like that where you live??

So, I had friends in low places expectations.  And this joint didn’t disappoint (my expectations).  

The 1st course = 2 melba toasts + pimento cheese. 

Really.

There was a nice bread basket!  I had half a roll spread with some camera shy pimento cheese.  Not sure what it’s deal was.  It was happy as a clam to be photographed on the melba toast.  Stupid cheese.  I guess you might call this the 2nd course.

3rd course = salad  that was meh, but ok.   Imagine iceberg lettuc drenched in fat free vinagrette.

For Din,  I got the bay scallops, which ended up being nice, but I had to dig them out of the bath of buttered bread crumbs they were buried under.  Gross.  The real baked potato was nice.   The brew was Berkshires Brewing Company some kind of hoppy-ish pilsner.  It was very good, for a pilsner…Hubz got the apple berry crumble dessert.  I had 2 small bites.  Also just kinda eh.

Have a look at where we’re staying (the Highlight of our evening)!!  Upon arriving we had a nice long walk around the grounds, which were wooded paths.  So peaceful and nice to unwind after being in the car all day.

Our room, called the Charleston (like SC…our innkeepers lived there for a while).

The drive up here was supa easy, and we did some stops along the way.  We tried to stop at Paper City Brewery in Holyoke, MA, but quickly realized that Holyoke is a shithole and we had no business being there.  Google it for images if you’re curious.

Continuing 10 mins up the road we found Northampton, MA, home of Smith College.  THIS is a very hippy greeny town and we loved it.  Only about 3 blocks wide, but full of eclectic shops and restaurants.   Like where we ate lunch…

This Moroccon restaurant is apparently a hidden jewel of Northampton.  And we stumbled upon it and sat down b/c it had outdoor seating and we had Hillary with us.  Boy did we luck out!

I ordered a spicy lentil sandwich and it was Amazing.  One of the best sams I ever had!  These lentils were spicy and delicious, and mixed with spinach, some kind of peppers, red onion, and a clean-tasting white sauce that reminded me to Tatziki sauce you’d find in Greek restaurants.  It was served on a fresh baked lavish or pita bread (not sure which).  I ate 1/3 of this.

Hubz ordered a small plate of desserts too…a honey fried macaroon and a pistachio laced baklava slice.  I took 1 bite of each and that was more than enough.  Neither dessert were my cup of tea, but I don’t care for Greek/Mediterranean type desserts.  WAY too sticky sweet and chock full of too much butter.

We walked around town to digest.  Stopped to get Vitamin waters and have a walk thru the Tuesday Farm Market in that little square behind me!

So.  Tonight we relax.  Our B&B Breks is scheduled for tomorrow at 8:30am.  I hear they make award-winning pear pancakes!  So I plan to not-be-a-lazy-ass and get my tookus gigantus out of bed BEFORE hand to go for a run thru the woods.

G’night from MA!

Er

Morning everyone.

We leave for New England today! 

Our trip includes…

• driving to MA, staying at a B&B
• driving up along VT/NH border, staying at a B&B (visiting maple sugar & cheese farms too)
• driving over from NH thru the lake district of Maine, drop down to Portland, stay 1 night
• drive up to Bar Harbor, say at a B&B 3 nights (celebrate anniversary + do cool things)
• drive back down to Portland, stay 2 nights
• drive home

I am so excited!!  I haven’t had a vacation since our honeymoon to Costa Rica 1 year ago.  This should be a great time together.  Hubz and I love to do all the same things (we’re queer like that), so we travel really well together. 

Breks was one an oatmeal/banana pancake with nutella + maple nuts in honor of our trip, a faux sausage patty, and the very last remnants of our berries.  All produce has now  been consumed.

All that’s left to do is pack up the car and GO!  I plan to do some pub/restaurant reviews while vacationing, and will be blogging daily, hopefully.  We’ll see how tired I am from hiking and beers.

Last night I was up late again, but packing this time around was much calmer.  Of course this was after taking a sedative and suffering the first anxiety attack I’ve had in months.  When that happens, I am reminded that I am crazy in the brains.  Boo.

Hubz was politicking so I was solo for dinner.  Just more cleaning out the fridge fun.

• rotini with Dad’s marinara + portabellas + ground turkey (ew)
• last sad bits of salad + cukes + carrot + peas + maters + peanuts + Goddess dressing
• last bits of the delish cheese garlic bread from the dinner party Saturday

I watched Housewives of NJ, my new fav trash show, whilst eating.  Hubz came home and joined me.  I had to Pause the TV to Explain all the Drama so he could Understand What was Going on.  Oh my gah…he doesn’t read my blog too often, so it’s unlikely he’ll know I’m totz ratting him out.  Drama lovah!

I did 2.1 miles running at the gym + every possible arm weight/dumbell lifts imaginable.

Work pressures started the anxiety today, mostly b/c I had a bunch of things to wrap up and then had to assign my responsibilities over to coworkers to handle while I’m gone.  Bah.

Lunch was leftover tandori chicken + lentils and leftover whole wheat naan.  This was great to eat, but later really ripped my tummy apart.  This made me oh so sad.  Weird, cuz I adore curries.  Hm.  It was probz the stress.

For all you peeps still in college, enjoy every tiny second of it.  Real life with a real job, family, etc are so demanding and stressful at times.  And in a very different way than the pressures of academia.  I’m just so glad I Lived It Up in college.  Cuz it’s kinda hard out here!

Swenyway, we gotta go now.  I’ll be blog reading when I have time.  Y’all be good!

Ciao,

Er