Peace and quiet... and fun!

How awesome has today been? Ok, so now I'm just being mean and rubbing it in. This one is going to be long...

We started the morning, as you know, going 'ooooohhhh myyyy gosssshhh loooook outside!!!!!'. Then we ventured downstairs for breakfast - homemade everything: muffins, all kinds of bread (we had the bacon/egg/cheese bread and the Maine potato bread), and jams - all overlooking the harbor. We chatted with another couple, got some recommendations for sightseeing from one of the inn keepers, and headed out.

Can I just say GORGEOUS... I know that's becoming a theme while we are in Maine, but it really is truly unbelievable. Our first adventure was a short hike to the top of a cliff. The area used to be a rock quarry, and the view was incredible, not to mention how quiet and nice the walk was (although the entire time I'm clinging to Ronnie afraid of bears - sheesh I'm such a wuss).

Then on to the upper side of the island where we took a quick ride down to Pumpkin Island Lighthouse - again, gorgeous view. Ok, this is getting pretty boring, so I'm going to give you the summary: we stopped at multiple places all day long, got out, took pictures, and marveled at what we were seeing. Done.

Our ultimate goal was to reach Acadia National Park (Deer Isle is just south). On the drive, we stopped in Ellsworth for lunch. We didn't have a clue, so we wandered around, first stopping in a pub that looked promising only to find it inhabited to drunk local characters - at 11 a.m. Ronnie of course is like, this looks great, but I on the otherhand, put on my 'don't argue' face and promptly walked us out. We ended up eating in a great little sandwich shop, where Ronnie asked for a Diet Coke and of course, we're in Pepsi land, so he ordered a root beer instead haha. After browsing in an antique shop and barely getting me out of there alive, we were back on the road.

We wouldn't have believed that our day would bring even more beautiful scenery from what we had already seen, but when we arrived in Acadia we ate our words. AMAZING. We simply drove around for two hours looking and taking pictures (we would have actually ventured outside the car, except it was below 40 and windy, and I'm in a heavy sweater, a coat, scarf, hat, gloves, and boots and still feezing my butt off, so outside the car was a scary place for me).

Before heading back we stopped at the Atlantic Brewing Company and Sweet Pea Farm winery for tastings. Then we drove back, tired and happy for the day.

So now a story about dinner...

We are on an island. An island that is an hour away from anything that takes Visa. There are lots of local restaurants on the island, but all but one of them have closed for the winter. And this one restaurant is a tiny street side cafe where guess what, all the locals eat, too. So we journey across the street (literally, stumbling distance) and walk in, barely getting a table, and starving to death.

The crowd is split down the middle: older tourists (we are the youngest aliens here) and older locals. Picture country club vs. shipyard, and us. Half the tables are 'reserved', which we still can't decide who these were 'reserved' for, and you basically hear tourists complaining about everything from the temperature to the lack of pre-dinner bread baskets and the locals complaining about the tourists. And we are literally sitting in the middle of the freakin' restaurant, trying to look inconspicious and eat our meal.

Ronnie had a lobster roll and I ordered spaghetti. We've been photographing our plates everywhere we go to make a collage at home of all the meals we ate, so of course, we want to snap a picture of what we ordered, but there's this whole 'war of the local and tourist worlds' going on, so I try to do it quickly without being seen. Sure enough, a local sees me, and comes by our table to say, "No one takes pictures of spaghetti" and gives Ronnie a little punch on the arm.

Now understand that this is the local that ate the ENTIRE lobster. Not just the tail, not just the claws, but everything, all the guts and glory. And then he ate his wife's ENTIRE lobster. And this local is probably 6' 5", old and haggard, and looks like he knows pirate-like ways to kill you. So we nervously laugh and tell him that we're trying to get pictures of everything we eat on our vacation, and pray that he doesn't think this is the wrong answer to give. And guess what? He laughs and smiles and says, "Well good!" and goes along his way, as pleasant as can be. So we have officially decided that locals are 100% ok in our book, and the fuddy-duddy tourists complaining about their not having bread before they order can go jump in the harbor.

And with that, I say good night. I have my pj's on, a crackling fire going, and another day to look forward to :).