I'm all set to describe more of my day when I realize I just blogged about..the weather!!
Isn't that the dreaded small talk I'm constantly complaining about?
Next I'll be telling you about returning tea towels to Target.
We started our day bright and early, walking the Marginal Way, Ogunquit's most famous attraction.
The ocean is shimmering..the rocks are inviting, and the path can be steep in places but there are plenty of benchs to rest on.
Benches with affirmations printed on them like "Be Kind" and "Love Humanity" and "why'd you wear those shoes? You're going to get a killer blister"
We were dressed for light rain and wound up in a not so light sweat, but I've always considered a walk on the Marginal Way a "must do" for anyone visiting Ogunquit.
We started the trek at the Sparhawk Hotel and ended at the renouned Perkins Cove, a quaint little village peppered with boats and shops and Labradoodles.
The little gift shop we used to go to is gone.
My favorite memory of it was when I pointed to a tote bag that I wanted that was secured to the high ceiling, and when the clerk said she could "get it down for me" I asked, "so how much will it now cost?"
(I got the discount and the bag that I still use)
The shop was replaced by a terrific place called "Maine-ly Drizzle" that sold essential oils. It was one of the most fun things we've ever done under the umbrella of shopping.
Carla ,the owner ,gave us several samples in tiny paper cups of oils that tasted like tangerine, or coffee, or vanilla.
Everything was delicious and we bought two TSA approved bottles.
I can't wait to use them and set the house on fire.
Don't tell Evan, but we may sneak a little of that espresso oil next time we grill the london broil he enjoys when he stops by for dinner..
Carla told us that Bette Davis loved Ogunquit too..she lived nearby, and was hired as the first female lifeguard on Ogunquit Beach.
I can hear her now on the megaphone:
"Fasten your seatbelts..It's going to be a bumpy night with torrential downpours that'll make you laugh yourselves silly"
It wasn't even noon and we had already walked the Marginal Way, drunk in nature's beauty with a great appreciation, and sampled a bunch of oil.
We had lunch overlooking the sea at "Jackie's Too"..one of our favorite spots in Perkins Cove. A seagull stared us down from a nearby rock. I'm guessing he comes daily, but he was not getting any of my lobster roll, or the best fries I've ever tasted.
We were not on the beach yet we were having the time of our lives! We had done so much and it was just a few minutes after noon.
We visited the famous Perkins Candy, where Jim got a bag of unsweetened coffee beans, and I got a square of peanut butter fudge that was probably not a good idea.
We then made the spontaneous decision to board a lobster boat, run by women, and it was great fun.
Heather steered the boat while Marie explained all the sights, using a mic that made her a little inaudible, even 'though there were only like twelve passengers, and we find out that a few of them lived just around the corner from our home in New Jersey.
Marie described what to expect from the tour while Heather drenched her hands in fish guts that smelled worse than my t-shirt.
Or maybe it WAS that t-shirt that I was smelling.
Karen, Calm Down.
They explained all about lobstering, how males have meatier claws but females have meatier tails.
I bet there are other ways to tell the males from the females. I bet the males demand a little male lobster man cave.
Maine produces one hundred million pounds of lobster a year(did I get that right?) but a lot have to be thrown out for being the wrong size.
(Like me that time I tried to get into Studio 54)
They told us that the smart lobsters know how to escape after eating, exiting through the kitchen and parlor, but the dumb ones get caught and eaten.
(According to fishery experts from New Hampshire who set up cameras..I don't know how I'd personally decide if a lobster was dumb or not. I might ask them if they ever watched "Jersey Shore" and get my answer)
Heather dropped her stick in the rocky waves..the stick that holds up the lobster trap she's trying to host up--but the gal has abs of steel and quickly retreived it.
There was a five year old on our tour named Nico who asked fascinating questions about marine life. He was there with another five year old, Dante, who was only interested in where he could throw up.
(I was sympathetic. I felt like a lot of fish and/or birds were going to get some of my lobster roll from lunch after all)
A bird flew onto the ship's bow that Marie and Heather called Jonathan, as in Jonathan Livingston Seagull. An aggressive grey bird also flies onto their boat almost daily. His named is Steven Segall.
Why do birds..suddenly appear..every time..guts are near??
(I thought they should change the name of their ship from "Finest Kind" to "Sylvester Stallone" because it was so Rocky.)
Ba-da-dum!!
Seriously, I highly recommend taking a lobster cruise if you're ever in Maine. Especially if a bright kindergartener is along for the ride and asking scientific questions while his friends sleeps off the urge to vomit..like a true Housewife on Bravo..
I just can't believe how GREAT this day was and we didn't even get on the beach!
I'm usually only happy when I'm wet, but we did a lot!
I sat on benches with daily affirmations, I dabbled in oil, I scolded a seagull, I had some peanut butter fudge, I laughed with my husband and learned about lobsters and how to catch crabs, something I wasn't interested in when I went to college.
We sought shelter and we made friends and we laughed and sang and filled our glasses with freshly squeezed lemonade and our hearts with joy.
We're going to a very special restaurant tonight in Cape Neddick, recommended by a total stranger we met for five minutes in a parking lot but recommendations from strangers is my jam.
The restaurant sounds like a place to go to if you want to impress a first date. But don't date the kind of men my cousin did when she was single. She was talking to a blind date over the phone, before their first in-person meeting, and when she told him she was a paralegal, he wanted to cancel, saying "I don't think your wheelchair will fit in my car"
We fly home tomorrow, but part of the reason I wanted to come to Ogunquit Maine in the first place was to recreate some of the magic we shared in 1988 when we first vacationed together.
I wanted to capture all that wonderment and the laughs and the joy and the young love.
I think I accomplished that goal.
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