Crustaceans And Photography

Day Two of the expressed purpose of flying all the way to Maine so one can eat lobster at the source. Yesterday was a good start. The lobster roll at the Lobster Shack at Two Lighthouses was filled with plenty of very sweet meat and just a touch of mayo on the top so it wasn't a lobster salad. (Turns out today when we were all done, I read in a magazine that was in our Airbnb of a woman who did a state wide lobster roll tasting marathon. She rated the Lobster Shack as her #2 favorite. Cool!)

But today the goal was to have a for real steamed lobster dinner. I did some research and settled on Pemaquid Seafood in Pemaquid Harbor. This IS NOT on the beaten path to anywhere. It is totally lacking the uber tourism of so many places. But we will get back to that later. Wife and I decided we wanted to have our lobster meal in the mid-afternoon as our main meal of the day. So we had a lot of time to kill and the other thing we had planned to do is photograph. Our wonderful Airbnb hostess told us the drive to Bailey's Island was really nice so we headed there.

The Maine coast is a wonderland of peninsulas. You go down one, drive back up, go down the next, on and on. We found a lot of good places for picture taking. I was focusing on composition only especially the use of lines to direct viewers attention. You know what this means of course (insert ominous music here). There will be a post of 'art type' pictures coming in your future. Bwahahahahahaha!

At around 12:30 we started out toward Pemaquid Harbor. It would be a drive of one and a half hours. We had to schlep along US Route 1 which goes through many a tourist town and brings traffic to a crawl. Finally we headed down the peninsula we sought. Our Tom Tom GPS was very confident in its directions but it seemed like we were going far from any place that was going to have a restaurant. Finally we arrived driving down a small road that came over a ridge and looked down upon one of the millions of Maine harbors. On the ridge was a small building and outside were a number of picnic tables. Below was a dock where lobster boats were coming in to unload their catch. As we got out of the car, a couple who had finished came to theirs to go home. They were from Virginia and had been coming here for 27 years. They told us we would not be disappointed. A second woman we passed going it said the same. They were right!

We placed our order. It took around 20 minutes as everything was cooked to order. Wife had the lobster dinner which included a whole steamed lobster, an ear of corn, cole slaw and bread. I had a dinner that added a pound of steamed clams to that. There is very little that is better than the sweet taste of really good fresh lobster. This was top of the line. The clams and corn were equally good. And to top it off, the whole meal cost us no more than our two lobster rolls at the Lobster Shack! Crazy! $44 for two lobster dinners?

Feeling pretty good, we went on and did one more sightseeing/photo stop then headed back toward Yarmouth where we are staying. It was already late. We had plans to stop at Freeport, the home of L.L. Bean to maybe go and shop at their outlet store. There was also a place associated with Beans, a restaurant that lobster bisque and lobster stew, which we thought would make a nice light dinner back at the Airbnb. But then it started to pour. Wife was driving and we were both not excited about walking about in the rain. I said I would skip the shopping.

We entered Freeport and the rain started to let up. We drove right past the parking for L.L.Bean. We turned at the next street and there is the restaurant we're supposed to go to. Just a block down the street is free public parking. Drive in and get a parking place right away. I look across the street and see and Orvis outlet store. I had almost bought an Orvis quarter sip outer merino wool sweater just before we left (for our next trip) but delayed buying it because I thought it would arrive while we were gone. I told Wife as long as we were right outside the door, we might as well take a chance that they had one. They did! In my size! It was $50 compared to $125 with shipping to get it online. I have channeled my inner Armenian Deal Hound and Buffalo Deal Negotiator. Right up the street we get our bisque and stew, get back to the car just as the rain starts again. The whole process only took 30 minutes.

We had our dinner in our rooms. Both Wife and I felt the soups were good but the lobster meat (of which there was a lot) did not match our meal of earlier. Nonetheless we both felt pretty sated as far as lobster goes. We have had each of the things we wanted and top quality. Now it is off to North Carolina.  The hurricane storm track looks like it will go inland and miss the Atlantic coast where we will be.