I MET JOANIE!

This evening while Michael was hard at work on his website (more on that to come soon!), I had the chance to attend the Beach to Beacon Volunteer Celebration. For those of you who don't know, the Beach to Beacon race is an extremely well-known, prestigious 10K race that's held right here in Cape Elizabeth, from Crescent Beach State Park to the Portland Head Light. This year, it sold out in the first twenty-four hours registration was open! After signing our lease in June, and finding out that the course runs right by our house, I knew I just had to be a part of this race! Also, the day we signed the lease, I made it a goal of mine to meet the founder of the race, Joan Benoit Samuelson, one of my running heroes!

My fear of going to an outdoor picnic, where I would not know a single soul, quickly vanished when I drove down the driveway to Breakwater Farm. This evening's hosts, the Hagen family, graciously welcomed us to their absolutely breathtaking property. Tonight we were blessed to feel and smell a cool, Cape Elizabeth salty breeze, while we looked out upon both rocky and sandy beaches. To the south was Richmond Island, an island high on our list of places to explore once we find access to a boat. Being "from away," I feel lucky to have been invited to such a beautiful piece of land and experience so many of my favorite bits of Maine, all in one area!

After mixing and mingling with the other race volunteers, I was so excited when I saw Joanie come under the tent. I was immediately struck by her warm, inviting attitude toward all of the volunteers, but I had no idea where I was going find the nerve to somehow speak to her. My apprehension got the best of me and I started making excuses in my head, like "oh, she's extremely busy," or "no way, I have an ice cream sandwich in my hand, I need to look like the pillar of health!" I had made peace with the fact I was not going to meet Joanie... at least not tonight.

After a presentation honoring all of the volunteers for the race's eleven year history, it was raffle time! I'm usually not big into raffles, but this one was different. After all, they were giving away posters signed by Joanie, a book, and some apparel from both the Boston Marathon and the Women's Olympic trials. I was literally giddy with anticipation as they called each one of the winning numbers... so giddy that I did not even believe that my number was actually called! Jim, one of my fellow volunteers, brought me back to reality and told me to go get my prize, a commemorative poster celebrating Beach to Beacon's 10th anniversary, signed by JOANIE! YAY!

When all the raffle prizes were handed out and it was time to go home, I noticed something quite peculiar, Joanie was alone! All of the volunteers that were still around were talking to other race coordinators. This was my chance! I totally went for it! I thanked her for the poster and the wonderful evening, told her I just moved to Cape Elizabeth this month, and how I was working the water stop at mile three. I was then informed, (by Joan Benoit Samuelson, herself!!!) that mile three is where the race "really begins to come together." Someone pulled her aside and we said our goodbyes, and I practically skipped all the way to my car, completely BEAMING with joy! Needless to say, I'm psyched about the race on Saturday! I'm also excited to get another taste of Beach to Beacon fun tomorrow, when I work the CELT table at race registration in the evening. Who knows, she might even be there tomorrow...(!) Keep your fingers crossed!

Breathe easy everyone! It's something I haven't quite been able to do since I met one of my heroes.

Where the Hills Meet the Sea

Saturday, I had the rare chance to experience one of those times where you can't help but get lost in what you see around you. From the rocks at Ocean Lookout in Camden Hills State Park, on the first sunny day in a week, it seemed like the whole world was right in front of me.



Meredith popped out of bed rearing to go at 7am on Saturday morning, and I'll have to admit, I was not exactly mimicking her excitement. While I rolled around somewhere between Candyland and a beautiful tropical beach, Meredith went in search of a yoga class that did not exist. Luckily, the Dunkin Donuts (I know, I know, but there are no Krispy Kreme's up here and if you just give them a chance, they are not that bad!) was on her way back to our place, and after one bite of a Boston creme pie, I was ready to fall out of bed and follow her to her favorite town in the entire state.

Two hours north of Portland lies one of the most incredible towns there can possibly be in the entire nation, or even world for that matter. Literally, "Where the Hills Meet the Sea", the quaint streets of Camden magically wrap themselves around a small cove at the foot of mountains. Seemingly untouched since its founding in 1771, this small hamlet has that perfect quintessential New England coastal village feel.



To better enjoy the town, Meredith and I decided to tire Orvis out first, by taking him to Camden Hills State Park. After two hours of hiking a windingly-steep trail to the top of Mount Megunticook, Meredith, Orvis, and I were sidetracked from our destination and captured by the incredible views from Ocean Lookout. While we could have spent hours lying on giant rocks in the sun, overlooking both the town and the sea (shrouded by a heavy fog), our stomachs finally got the best of us and we high-tailed it back down the mountain to find some food in town.







Unknowingly to me, Meredith had already settled on a place to eat. Richard Russo, one of Meredith's favorite writers, chooses the Camden Deli to brainstorm his next piece of small-town fiction. Luckily, Mr. Russo has great taste in sandwiches and Meredith and I were able to enjoy a delicious BLT while overlooking the wooden boats dotting Penobscot Bay. It's hard to describe a town as cute as Camden, Maine, where even the public library is hidden largely underground to preserve the colonial look of the old library building on top. The shops crowd Main Street, sloping with the curve of the road, and the backs of every restaurant have incredible views of the bay. Even the Megunticook River flows straight through town and empties into the bay over a beautiful waterfall, surrounded by a perennial garden, for all to enjoy.





I could spend hours talking about this town, but I will leave it at that. Already, Meredith and I are counting the days until we return to Camden, which has now become my favorite town too. If I could take any of you to only one place in this entire state, it would be Camden. It's the truly perfect place to breathe easy.

Fried or Steamed: Deliciously Fun Time at the Yarmouth Clam Festival

Last Saturday, squeezed between thunder clouds, Meredith and I made a trip just a few miles north of Portland to the infamous Yarmouth Clam Festival. A beautiful town without the festivities, once a year Yarmouth comes alive as people from all over make the hiatus to celebrate all things clam related. All kidding aside, we had a wonderful time eating delicious seafood and blueberry crisp, supplied by local fundraising organizations. Unfortunately, Meredith and I did the festival in reverse order, partaking graciously in the feast, before the fun. After eating our fill, Meredith took a trip down memory lane to the days of Cheyenne Frontier Days (a festival in Wyoming), and ushered me onto the creaky, yet fun carnival rides of Smokey's Greater Shows. After an exciting trip on Thunder Road and a dizzying trip on the Tilt-a-Whirl, we spent the rest of the night struggling to hold down our scrumptious dinners. Still, the Yarmouth Clam Festival is definitely an event worth attending, just make the conscious effort to ride the rides before crunching the clams. 

Breathe easy, because sometimes you're a little wheezy (and this is a little cheezy!). 

Beer, Baseball, Boston Accents, & Beaches

Before we forget, we wanted to make a little addendum to our previous post on the fine Portland cuisine. On the beverage side of the table, Michael has been hard at work sampling as many of the numerous microbrews that seemingly every town in Maine has to offer. With no less than twenty varieties of blueberry wheats, and hundreds of pale ales, Michael has his work cut out for him. 

What goes well with a good glass of beer? Minor league baseball on a summer evening! Luckily, we found a town with a minor league team as interesting as the famous Durham Bulls. The Portland Sea Dogs are a AA feeder team to the Sox, with an impressive history of wins. At our first trip to Hadlock Field, complete with its own “Bean” boot in the outfield stands, Michael bought a Sea Dogs hat to blend in with the locals, and we treated ourselves to Cracker Jacks and Sea Dog Biscuits (a delicious ice cream cookie sandwich).  It was an exciting game with the Sea Dogs winning out of a three-run homerun. There will definitely be plenty more trips to Hadlock Field in our near future.

On July 4^th Michael, Orvis, and I made the trek over the bridge to the Big City to watch the fireworks from the Eastern Promenade. After meeting with Emilie and J for the First Friday Art Walk, we hiked up the hill and staked out what we thought would be a great place to see the show. Unfortunately this show proved to be more of the people around us than the colorful explosions in the sky. Don’t get us wrong, the fireworks were gorgeous, but the interesting teenagers tossing M-80s and cussing in thick Boston accents, turned out to be quite entertaining … and a little scary.  For fear of our own lives and Orvis’ eardrums, we cut our trip short and caught the grand finale out of the rear window of the car on I-295 South.  Luckily most of the people we have had the pleasure of meeting share few similarities with the interesting crew from the Fourth of July. 

To round out the post on a positive note, Michael, Orvis, and I had the grand opportunity to visit Peaks Island in the Casco Bay.  Orvis’ first ferry ride went off with little hitch besides his reluctance to exit the boat at the end of the trip. We had a great time on the beautiful beaches of the island, complete with a picnic by the sea.  We cannot wait to take another trip back there sans puppy to have the opportunity to ride our bikes all over the island.

Breathe easy.

Yum Yum Yum

So, it's been a little more than a day, but Mere and I wanted to make this second post about the delicious cuisine that the area has to offer.  (Disclaimer - not the best to read if you're hungry)

First off, the restaurants.  Less than two miles south of our place is the good Lord's answer to homemade desserts.  The Good Table on Route 77 hands down offers the best, freshly made desserts, complete with seasonal berries from local farms, of any restaurant I can remember in recent history.  It's a crying shame that I have already started accounting for a "Good Table Dessert Fund" in my budget.  It was total luck that we discovered this priceless gem the very first evening we were in Portland.  With delicious local and Greek style entrees, the dessert won't be the only part of the Good Table that adds to my increasing waistband.

If you're looking for the most picturesque seafood lunch or dinner around, you need not look any further than right down the street from The Good Table.  Right outside of Two Lights State Park is the Lobster Shack, voted best lobster roll in the Greater Portland Area (and confirmed by both me and Meredith, who coincidentally has had two of her own).  Only the second day here, I was absolutely shocked at the view that awaited me from the gravel picnic area outside of this little "shack".  Set on a cliff overlooking the foggy New England coastline only scratches the surface in describing the majesty of this delicious eatery.  To top things off, it even has a lighthouse in the background!  I'd eat there even if they served nothing more than old hotdogs.

Although it seems as though Meredith and I have had our fair share of restaurant dinners, we have actually eaten in the majority of our time here.  All of our dinner have been great, but our favorite, and the most documented, would definitely be our own lobster dinner.  Also down the road, near The Good Table, is Alewives Brook Farm, a little local farm that on top of fresh fruits and vegetables, also offers fresh lobster, brought in from the ocean everyday.  As we've done a number of times before, and strongly recommend to any "from away", Meredith and I took this chance to play the "We're from North Carolina and just moved here" card to get a little assistance with picking out our first succulent crustaceans and the people at Alewives were more than helpful.  We left there not only with two 1 and 1/4 pound lobsters, but also with a wide assortment of brochures and manuals to make our first time as easy as possible.  Using the lobster pot that Cindy and Justin (friends from NC) gave us, we turned this experience into a deliciously successful one, but only after sharing a quiet moment after dropping Tom and Fred into the pot (backs down of course).  Needless to say, that'll be the last time that we name our next meal.

Well, aside from some delicious ice cream and pizza, that about sums up the food part of our attempts to catch everyone up to where we are now.  Stay tuned (if you wish) for our next installment, where we'll actually try to cover the fun things that we've already had the chance to do.  Until next time, Breathe Easy.

Cue Scene

To catch everyone up on what has been happening since we arrived, and to explain why the first two posts are almost two weeks late, I'd like to first denounce Time Warner Cable - Southern Maine. Two weeks is an unacceptable amount of time to get the internet running at a paying customer's residence. Even after playing the "I'm a web-designer, I need it for my job" card, attempting the self-install kit, and threatening to cut the service completely, it still was another week before they even came out to see what the problem could be.

Still, Meredith and I have stayed extremely busy in the internet-less time we've had together up here. The condo is sweet, the town has so much to offer, and Portland is less than ten minutes away. Our place is one of four condos in an 1890's farmhouse that was renovated six years ago (see pictures). Hardwood floors, traditional moldings, and after we got rid of the estrogen-rich pink walls in the bathroom and bedroom, and got most of the boxes unpacked, we've really had a chance to sit-back and enjoy it. Orvis on the other hand, has decided to spend the majority of his time inside stalking our neighbors and their dog Jack. he stands sentry at the living room window emitting a high pitched whine to alert us to our neighbors' every move. The other night while cooking dinner, I turned around to find that in his excitement, he had pushed through the screen, had the window drop close on him, and was stuck attempting to play with the neighbors.

Our place is in Cape Elizabeth, a small town (9,000 residents) just south of Portland. It's most notable for the Portland Head Light (beautiful white lighthouse rocking all the Maine postcards without moose or lobster), but to be honest, Mere and I have only visited it once since moving in because the town has so much more to offer that exceeds the tourist realm (we're locals now). We joined CELT, the town's land trust that maintains tons of trails, natural areas, and local farms in the area, and Orvis has really been enjoying all of the land that it has to offer. I have even started to mountain bike - if riding a bike on level, well maintained trails, twice in two weeks can be considered mountain biking, or "starting" for that matter.

Mainely (like that?), I just wanted to take this chance to kind of set-up the backdrop for the astounding adventures of OMM (Orvis, Mere, and Michael) and get some pictures up for everyone to finally see. I think that tomorrow I'll try to give my first from-away tip, and also tell a few of the stories that we already have from both the trip up here, and the last two weeks.

So until next time, "breathe easy" (another Maine motto).

Intro: Aside from that extremely long thing that none of ya'll will read over on the right...

Writing something that will be read by more than just a tired TA or professor who could honestly care less is a truly unique feeling.  This being my first blog entry ever, I'd like to clear up a few things...

1. I am NOT a blogger.  I won't pretend that my life or my thoughts are any more important than the next schmuck's.  In fact, outside of our families (you guys have to), and the few friends that just want to see pictures and use this as some sort of neo-facebookrastination, I don't expect to see all that many new visitors a week, month, or lifetime.
   
2. On that previous note, to the dozen or so people who will be reading this (at least once), thank you for reinforcing my own neo-facebookcrastination.  I love each and everyone of you in the least creepy way possible.
3. Finally, I hope that this turns out in a somewhat coherent manner.  There really is so much great stuff to do and see here, and not only will this allow Mere, Orvis, and I to share it with ya'll, but it will also help me to remember everything, since most of us know that my memory is worth about as much as my poli sci degree (that's for you Dad)!

Now, let's get this started.