So now I’m back…
It was a really nice little trip. And believe it or not, NO RAIN, at least not until we were driving home today. But no rain for the Sea Dogs game on Wednesday evening, and no rain on Thursday afternoon. It did rain a bit late Wednesday into Thursday, but by the time we were ready to go out, the sun was shining.
The ball game was nice…the Sea Dogs won. The only annoying thing was this stupid fat guy who was sitting to the right of me, who had NO concept of personal space…he kept moving his stupid arms around, nudging me over so far that I almost ended up out of my seat and in Mike’s lap. Luckily, there were plenty of empty seats, so we took the easy way out and moved. We moved to the row in front of him and his two stupid friends.
All of these guys were gross. During the game, one of them started talking about going to karaoke at some bar after the game. Apparently, at this particular establishment, the “girls” who hang out there are easy…”they will do ANYTHING for a drink”, according to one of these guys. Yeah, that and twenty bucks, I suppose.
How can anyone be so desperate for a free drink at what sounds like a skeevy bar, that they will do “anything” to get one? And with these guys? Hell, I wouldn’t care if they offered to buy me a beautiful gold anklet or some other nice piece of jewelry, I wouldn’t give them the time of day! If I want nice jewelry, I can buy my own, thank you very much!
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We had a nice day on Thursday. We had lunch at Gritty’s, and hung out there for a while, then we went and walked around the Old Port. We saw that there was a lighthouse cruise running, that would get us back in plenty of time for our 6PM dinner reservation at Fore Street, so we took it. But we weren’t sure if we’d get to go or not. Since it was a weekday afternoon, and not quite tourist season yet, the guy at the ticket window wasn’t sure if they’d run the 3:30 cruise. They needed ten people booked to make it worthwhile to run, and Mike and I were numbers seven and eight. But since the guy said that we could get a refund if the boat didn’t run, we bought the tickets anyway.
We ended up getting exactly ten people, so it was a go. It was one of our better boat trips, because of not too many people, and no little kids. All adults, in fact. It was just nice to sit, enjoy the scenery, enjoy a couple of beers, and relax in peace. This picture was taken from the boat with my camera phone; I also blogged it on the boat as well.
After the cruise, we walked over to Fore Street, even though it was just past 5PM and our reservations were for 6. We knew that we could hang out at the bar and have a beer while we waited to be seated. For once, we got there early enough, that the bar was still empty, so we got seats there right away.
Our table was ready by 5:45; they do seat people early if they are there early and it’s possible.
As always, we had the wonderful mussels with garlic and almond butter appetizer. They had fiddleheads on the menu. We had heard a lot about this legendary Maine veggie, but had never tried them before. They are only in season for maybe two weeks, and we knew that if we didn’t order them this time, we’d have to make like we used to when the Red Sox sucked, and *wait ’til next year*. So we split an order of fiddleheads, and Mike had grilled monkfish, and I had duck.
It was all very tasty, fiddleheads included. Someday, if I can ever get hold of them at a store, I will try cooking them at home.
We had dessert…we split a plate of cheesecake made with goat cheese and creme fraiche, with maple ice cream. Yummie! 
Oh, and even though we downed a good deal of beer yesterday, no worries. We opted to leave the car at the Inn at St. John, where we stayed, and took the bus to the Old Port. Buses stop kind of early in Portland, though, so we decided to take a cab back. The cabbie was very pleasant and polite, and he drove sanely, so unlike the nutcase cabbies we have around here. It didn’t cost that much at all, well worth not having to drive and worry about parking and drinking and all. The cabbie gave us a business card, which I’ll keep in my wallet for when we’re back in Portland. We’d use that company again, for sure. I’m just not used to being treated well by a cab driver!
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Today we checked out of the hotel, and headed up to the L.L. Bean store in Freeport. I had to pick up the jeans and shorts that I’d ordered online and asked to be held at the store, and Mike needed new pants and shoes, as well. I snapped this picture of the giant Bean boot that’s outside the main entrance.
I also bought a pair of these sneakers in blue. I like that I can go to the men’s shoe department at Bean’s, and there are no skinny anorexic salesbimbos around to give me any crap about asking to try on men’s shoes. This has happened to me at other stores, at the Evil Mauls. But at the L.L. Bean flagship store, the shoe salespeople are smart enough to take one look at me and see that the women’s sizes just ain’t gonna fit me!
Finally, on the way home, we stopped off in Kennebunkport and had lunch at Federal Jack’s brewpub. And then, home! The cats missed us, and we missed them, too. They were VERY happy to see us!
