Gleason Brook

Geo: 43.8514, -69.6283

Weather: low 70s and sunny

Casual wake up and breakfast in the hotel. Free breakfast again! Gotta love that. Hotel-wise, you win some, you lose some. This one wasn't terrible but to not for the memory books. Paul called it the Quality Inn the lobby and breakfast room only. Go for cheap, feel cheap.

Off to...Ben & Jerrys!!! Ice Cream before noon! Life is good. What a fun place. We took the tour of the factory and had a tasting of their salty caramel ice cream. Oh my. Yummy. Then Matty and I had some chocolate peanut butter heaven in a cone, Daddy and E got a raspberry smoothie and Ben got a Cherry Garcia. Fun morning.

Today we were on our way to Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 6 hour drive. Big driving day. Along the way, we did stop in Montpelier, Vermont's state capital. Paul and the boys played catch on the lawn of the Capital building while Elizabeth and I sat on a bench chatting until...remember the raspberry smoothie?... until Elizabeth decided my white pants needed some color. Happy dance. Got most of it out grumbling along the way. We are living out of the trunk of the van. Wouldn't you grumble a little?
We went inside the Capital Building to browse around. It is the only capital building that doesn't have security. You can wander all over the building even when senators are there voting. Weird. It was very cool to see the House and Senate Chambers. They appeared to have the original desks and chairs that they sit at or at the least, very old. We got a stamp from the Sergeant at Arms saying we visited the capital. Apparently there is a booklet in which you collect stamps from the S at A at each capital building. A woman in front of us bought the last one. Would you believe she was from MIchigan? We had him give us a stamp on a business card to stick in the book when we find one.

Then the drive of all drives. The roads are windy and rolling. Barf. I napped part of the way. I get car sick. The kids watched a couple of movies. Quiet. Ahhh. We drove and drove and drove some more. We left Vermont behind and wound our way across New Hampshire.

Around 7 PM we finally reached Boothbay Harbor Maine. What a cute and beautiful little town. Exactly what you'd picture Maine to be. Beautiful blue water filled with sailboats and fishing boats. Homes lining the shores and restaurant decks dotting the shoreline in between. We rented a cottage at Harborfield Inn. It is a cute cedar shaker cottage on the more rustic side over-looking Boothbay. Beautiful. Perfect.[PHOTO_ID_L=dinner-at-the-lobster-dock.jpg] Before we settled in, we drove back into town and had dinner at the Lobster Dock as suggested by our cottage neighbor next door, Rick and his two dogs, Riley and Clover. It was also quite Mainely perfect. A lobster shack (nicer casual) where you order up live lobster and they cook it right there. We had lobster, mussels in wine sauce, calamari, corn on the cob and sangria. Perfecto!

Now we've settled in here for a couple nights. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings. Too busy to miss home right now. We just keep moving forward in our adventure to see our beautiful country. I can't believe I'm saying this but this is as great or better than Italy. Our country is so beautiful.Read more