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.