Edra took Amber to work this morning, and returned with a bag of lobster rolls (the bread itself, not the lobster filling). She prepped the water, boiling it, and tossed in some spices. Mark was obsessed and repelled all at the same time—he didn’t want to look or be involved with the lobster boiling, but he didn’t want to miss anything, either. So he shadowed Edra carefully, from a distance, camera in hand, repeatedly asking, “Bob, how’s the water? Bob? BOB!!”
(He’s got a sick sense of humor, like me—we both thought this magnet, which Amber gave us, was HILARIOUS.)
I kinda felt like Mark—curious, but I also kept my distance. Edra shouldered all the hard work, and I washed the dishes afterwards. She kept cracking jokes, which she later admitted was a way to tune out the fact she was about to cook a live lobster. I totally understood the joking.
We had a little mechanical difficulty (Amber was right, the stock pot was too small), but 12 minutes later, we had a bright red lobster and some toasted rolls, all thanks to Edra. We thanked the lobster for its sacrifice and for providing us with sustenance, then rinsed it off and broke into it, slathering the pieces with melted butter. It was delicious!!!
I also got to see another Maine native in action today--the little groundhog who lives under Amber's garage! He's elusive, and although Edra and Mark had seen him, I still hadn't gotten a good view. Today was my lucky day! I just wanted to go out and hug him, he was so cute!
We were meeting Amber for lunch, but we had some time to kill first, so we headed back to Freemont. We still hadn’t tried a whoopie pie yet, and figured we’d pick some up at Wicked Whoopies.
The entire store was filled with whoopie pies! I wasn’t quite sure what they even were—cookies? Filled with frosting? The lady behind the counter explained they were like inside-out cupcakes—two cake discs with a marshmallow-fluff frosting on the inside. They had a bazillions different flavors—maple, banana, red velvet, pumpkin, chocolate chip, lemon, mocha, orange creamsicle, oatmeal, strawberry, just to name a few! They all looked fantastic, and I couldn’t decide on just one flavor.
So, I didn’t. Instead, since there were four of us, we picked four flavors: mint, red velvet, peanut butter and a basic chocolate pie, which the woman recommended if we’d never had a whoopee pie before. It was gonna be an awesome whoopee pie sampling!
We still had some time left, so we moseyed across the street to the chocolate factory. That’s right—homemade chocolates! We were gonna have a sugar high all day long.
While drooling over the goods, the cashier announced they were having a hands-on lesson in the back—they were making chocolate owl cake lollipops. You could decorate two owls for $6, so I signed Mark up before he even asked.
The store was actually empty except for us, so Mark got a private lesson from the chocolate chef. She taught him how to dip, decorate and dry the owls, and when he accidentally lost on in the tub of melted chocolate, she just handed him another one. He had a blast, painstakingly stinking eyes and a mouth, and then a colorful little Mohawk to his owls.
Amber finished working the same time Mark finished his owls, which was perfect. We bagged up the owls, and rushed over to get Amber.
We drove back to the super cute lobster shack we’d seen the day before for a late lunch. On the way, we stopped at a roadside farm stand. The young girl working there was super chatty—I think she was just glad to have someone to talk to. She had everything-- homemade blueberry pies, fresh vegetables, even challah! (It was Friday.) It was the cutest little stand.
The lobster shack was amazing. I’d already had my lobster for the day, ad honestly, by Day 4 in Maine, I was getting a little burned out on lobster. (I know, I know—blasphemy!) Instead, Amber and I got shrimp and chips (phenomenal!), Mark got more clam chowder, and Edra tried the lobster roll and onion rings. We were all super happy!
By about 3:30, we were ready to go on to our next adventure, to Camden, Maine, where Amber had promised Mark a boat ride on a pirate ship. What I didn’t know was that Camden was about two hours away—don’t know how I missed hearing that, but I did. After 14 days in the car (and three days out of it), my mental state immediately crumbled at the thought of a long drive. But Amber was really excited to show us Maine, including the cutest town in the state, and her favorite harbor in Camden.
Maine was beautiful, and Amber was right, the little town was super cute. However, I am not proud to admit that my mental state continued to degrade the longer I was in the car, an Mark was not far behind me. (So much for being a good example!) Suddenly, half an hour from Camden, we came upon a little wine tasting store and I shouted, “STOOOOOOP!!!” My wonderfully patient beyond words and dear friend Amber complied.
Not only could you sample wines, but you could pair it with cheese, too! It was all so good…I purchased a hunk of Maine white cheddar and a bottle of light, summery wine, and a corkscrew. (The cashier gave us some cups.) With a happy buzz and a renewed spirit, we finished the drive to Camden.
No one was starving, even though it was now evening. But we parked right next to a little deli, so we went inside and purchased some salami, crackers and water to go with our cheese and wine.
Unfortunately, the last pirate ship was leaving the dock as we got to the bay. Instead, we found a couple empty benches, and enjoyed a happy hour by the bay. We divvied up the whoopee pies, which were AWESOME. The classic chocolate was good, the red velvet, not so much. The real winners were the mint and peanut butter filled pies, which made us happy, happy, happy!
They were rich, though, and even between the four of us, we couldn’t finish them. Instead, we spread the happiness, and gave the leftovers to the grateful man sitting next to us.
We wandered through the streets of Camden, weaving in and out of the little shops. It was Friday night, and kinda late, so most of the shops were closed. I liked this sign with the shop hours:
But we did find a couple cute stores that still had the lights on. In the last one, an employee walking by noticed the camera around my neck and asked if I’d seen the moon outside. I said no, so she pointed me out to the back deck, where I saw the most incredible full moon ever. The mosquitoes swarmed me as soon as I walked out there, but it was so pretty, I let them bite me while I took about a hundred pictures.
We finally packed up around 9:30. We had a long drive back, but we had friends and that gorgeous full moon to keep us company along the way. We also had bellies full of good wine, cheese and whoopie pies, and really, how much better can life get than all that?
I’ll tell you: not much.
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