So last week we were sequestered up in Maine, avoiding the armageddon that was supposed to come hand in hand with the Democratic Convention. Not surprisingly, the DNC drove away a large percentage of the populace from greater Boston, such that those who remained were treated to speedy commutes and empty streets. I had a fleeting worry that the projected gridlock would just shift up to Maine instead, but it didn't, there were plenty of people but not an inordinate amount.



We were staying for the third time in Newcastle, at a place on Lake Damariscotta that belongs to one of Beth's friends, Gigi. It's small and in rough shape (the front door doesn't lock any more, for instance), but not too rustic, as it has indoor plumbing and hot water and so on. Chloe and Justin become real homebodies as soon as they get there, which was too bad because when we arrived Saturday it was dinnertime and we had to make our first trip, to the grocery store. On Sunday there was a special event at the Owl's Head Transportation Museum, and Chloe decided to practice being a teenager (even though there's still 4+ years to work on it) and complained the whole time that she was bored and wanted to leave. After that they settled down, though. Maybe if she'd seen an actual owl's head she would've been more interested. It's actually a huge place, in a fairly new facility, and while it's a bit remote unless you're already well on your way to Bar Harbor it has quite the collection of antique cars and planes, many of which actually work (it's adjacent to a local airport).



That museum was about the only place we went that we hadn't been to before. Another day we drove to Boothbay Harbor to see the Maine Resources Aquarium, which we've been to on every trip. It's basically one room, but has a lot of ocean life that you can pick up and look at, crabs, lobsters, starfish, clams, etc., and a central tank with several small sharks that like to be petted. The kids can spend hours doing this (Chloe wanted to go back later in the trip so she could pet the sharks some more). They also have a live demonstration about lobsters and lobstering.



On the way back from Boothbay we peeked in at the Kenniston Hill Inn , known to tourists and historians as the place where Beth and I got engaged. The b&b has changed hands since we were there, and now they claim to take kids (the fact that they didn't was of course one reason we chose it back in '88). Coming back from Owls Head the previous day we had also stopped at the Craignair Inn, another b&b from the early days which we had visited last time, but this time we were hoping to get in on dinner. Unfortunately there was too much time to kill and not enough for two cranky kids to do, so we ended up coming back to Damariscotta and eating at a place there that wasn't that good or that cheap.



There was no tv reception at our lakeside retreat, but there was a radio, and Beth found an NPR station so we could listen to Edwards and Kerry's speeches at the convention, feeling like we were living in the '50's. There was also a VCR so the kids could watch some tapes, and we even brought the tv with the built-in dvd player so we could watch a couple of movies ourselves at night. Otherwise I had a bookbag full of books to get through for the Hugo and Retro-Hugo nominations, and Beth practiced knitting, which she has recently been trying out. She spent most of her time knitting a scarf (which for awhile there was starting to look like it would come in handy), and both Chloe and Justin wanted to be shown how to do it too, making me the only non-knitting member of the family.



Friday it was starting to get downright warm, so it was a good day to hit the beach, and since there's usually a good breeze at Pemaquid it kept things from getting too hot, but wasn't so windy that you got a mouthful of sand every time you open your mouth (which has been known to happen before). We went to the Pemaquid Point lighthouse first, which is on one of the more spectacular rocky promontories that I've seen, and the kids had fun climbing on the rocks. By the time we were done with the beach it was past time for lunch, and while Chloe and Justin were lobbying for McDonalds, we decided to go to Wiscasset to stand in line for fried seafood at Red's Eats. I figured by the time we got there the lunch crowd would've gone, but there is no lunch crowd at Reds, just a crowd, and even with arriving at 1:30 we stood in line for an hour before we got our food. But it's probably the best traditional fried seafood place I've been to in Maine, and the long lines show most other people think so too (including a lot of locals, it seems). There are a couple of lobster shacks right on the Kennebec river that have sprung up practically across the street from Reds, with their own parking and more tables, and they were basically empty.



Woe to the Maine visitor who doesn't like seafood, there's definitely places to eat for them, but not nearly as many. We generally ate sandwiches at the house for lunch, and then hit a different restaurant for dinner every night, returning to several of our favorites, including Sarah's in Wiscasset (actually across from Red's, with an odd mix of Mexican food, seafood, homemade soups and huge desserts), King Eider's Pub in Damariscotta (fresh oysters from the river, mostly seafood, especially the crabcakes) and the Muscongus Bay Lobster Company in Round Pond, on the Pemaquid peninsula, for mostly outdoor dining right on the dock and nothing but lobsters and steamers ("in the rough" as they say). They have sodas, corn on the cob, and a few other things, but most people bring their own side dishes and beverages (including wine). The hard-shell lobsters may be more work but there's a lot more to eat. Before we left on Saturday we tried out Moody's Diner in Waldoboro, a roadside place right on Route 1 that's been there forever and also drew huge crowds regardless of the time of day. They have plenty of non-seafood and tons of desserts (to the point that they have to ration the pie to one slice per person max), seemed to be another place that catered to locals and tourists alike.



To help work off all this fine dining I had brought my bike along on this trip, and was able to get out for a ride four days out of seven (could've done all seven if I'd tried, since there weren't any seriously rainy days). Although I'd had my bike there last time, I didn't feel like I'd be able to negotiate the hills, but this time I was good enough shape (and inspired by three weeks of watching the Tour) to crawl to the top of some of the steeper hills (simultaneously bestowing them with mythic-sounding French names like the Col de Lutheran Church or the Col de Phil's Hill Road) in order to go upwards of 50 kilometers an hour (as Paul Sherwen would say) on the descents. If you can handle the rolling terrain, the roads around and near the lake were otherwise ideal as they were in good shape, there were few cars no matter what time of day, and virtually no side roads for traffic to suddenly appear in front of you.



I'd also brought along a soccer ball so the kids and I could play some impromptu games before dinner, inspiring them even to play on their own at other times. At one point Beth and I were inside and Chloe came rushing in to announce that the ball had gone into the lake and was stuck under the dock. She then remembered to also mention that Justin, in trying to retrieve it, had fallen into the lake head first and fully dressed. The lake is very shallow around the dock (it can't handle much more than a rowboat) so Justin was unfazed by the incident, although his sneakers took a couple of days to dry.



On the way home it only took three hours to make the trip, a full hour less then the drive up, barely enough time for a couple of movies in the backseat, leaving me an extra hour to recover before returning to the real world.