Boothbay, Maine

Maine is full of tourist attractions. One of the most popular is Boothbay. We drove up there and met Ashleigh's parents. We all took separate vehicles because we were all coming or returning to our own places. Because the Arledge family has a strict heirarchy of priorities, the first thing we did was eat at a local lobster stand. Each of us got a lobster sandwich. Yum! It was my second and last time having lobster in Maine on the trip.

After that we had reservations for a couple hours of sailing on the Appledor schooner. We had an hour to wait and the weather moved in during that time, dumping a sudden and somewhat shocking amount of rain. Right on cue, however, it cleared up a few minutes before our sailing time, and we didn't have any rain the whole time we sailed. Susan wasn't feeling well enough to go on the boat, but the rest of us had a good time; Bob and I helped raise the sails. ("We're sailors!") We did not see any special wildlife, but we saw more buoys marking lobster pots than I could shake a stick at. Seriously, there were hundreds in every direction. It would be impossible to navigate around them, and the captain did not try.

Bob said goodbye after the boat ride. The rest of us stayed at a hotel for the nite. Ashleigh and Susan stayed inside the hotel; I stayed in the parking lot, like an unwelcome dog, but at least they let me shower the next morning. Then the two of them took me into Belfast for a cafe breakfast. We wanted to eat at one certain place, but of course it is the super popular place, and was totally full. Instead we ate around the corner, where our meals were nothing to write home about. It was time for Susan to say goodbye, and I took their picture, but they weren't paying attention, so I took it again, and they still weren't paying attention, so I took it a third time, and they still weren't paying attention, so that was it. All three pictures are cute.

By then it was about noon. Ashleigh and I climbed into our chariot and rolled to Bangor, where my uncle George and aunt Shirly live. We met at their house and sat around talking for a while, had very good pizzas for lunch at their favorite hole in the wall, then sat around talking for a while longer. I met my cousins Kathy and Colleen. George gave me some advice for my trailer, and they all wanted to have a look at it. Like so many other people on our trip, they marveled at how tiny it was, almost like a real trailer, except half the size. Ashleigh told them that it hurts my feelings when people call it "cute", so they all agreed that it was manly, impressive, dominating. We were invited to stay for the nite but we wanted to wake up near Acadia National Park so we headed out, southeast toward Bar Harbor. We slept at a Wal Mart.